Interview with Jakub Żytecki of Disperse
Disperse were founded in the Polish city of Przeworsk in December 2007 by guitarist Jakub Żytecki, vocalist / keyboarder Rafał Biernacki¸ and Marcin Kicyk on bass.
During the next six months, the group composed four songs, which formed the basis of their first demo release Promo 2008. For their first shows, which included the prestigious GO-Rock Festival, Disperse worked with session drummer Konrad Biczak, who was permanently replaced by Przemek Nycz in summer 2008.
This article was written in a series of interviews that DPRP.net did together with powermetal.de during the Generation Prog Festival 2015.
Raimond Fischbach
Hello guys, I am Raimond from the DPRP – Dutch Progressive Rock Page. We're doing a series of interviews with bands that play the Generation Prog Festival, together with our German partners powermetal.de.
It's been a while since your last album Living Mirrors, which was released in February 2013. When can we expect to hear something new?
Jakub Żytecki: We've got a few songs written already, but there's still a long way to go. If we are not going to release the new track this year, then it's going to happen on early 2016, I reckon. The new album will be out around summer.
Tell us about the new songs you are working on at the moment.
Jakub Żytecki: It's hard to talk about it because we still don't really know what the final effect of the music will be. There are some visions and directions we'd like to take, but it's difficult to fully control it. What I can only say is that for now, it kinda looks like we stick to the typical song structure, short format of a track. It's all about a good chorus. Prog fans are going be pissed, haha!
With drummer Maciej Dzik leaving the band recently and a new bassist, you've had to replace the entire rhythm section of the band. In what way does this affect the band's style and new music?
Jakub Żytecki: Definitely. We've got Mike Malyan in the band now who is a musical genious, he will definitely have an impact on the new music.
We really wanted to have Wojtek (exDisp bass player) involved in a writing process but he decided to leave pretty much from the same reason as Maciek, which was the lack of time basically. Even if we get a new permanent bass player soon, he won't be involved in the writing process of this album, I guess I'll try to handle it both for writing and recording. Yeah, the band suffered from a lot of departures recently, which sucks. However, we feel stronger than ever, ready to write the best shit we can!
Bassist Marcin Kicyk wrote all the lyrics for Living Mirrors. Who picks up this duty and how will it influence the writing process and new songs?
Jakub Żytecki: Yeah, he wrote most of the lyrics for LM. He's still writing great stuff and he's really fine with letting us use some of his lyrics for the new album if those only fit the vibe. I guess I'll try to write something as well, Rafał might be too.
As Mike Maylan is unable to play right now, who will play drums at the Generation Prog Festival?
Jakub Żytecki: It's Józef Rusinowski. The bass player is Łukasz Adamczyk.
You played quite some parts in shooting star David Maxim Micic recordings and on stage in Destiny Potato, if I saw that right on youtube. Will that add variety to DispersE's new material, or even produce a general shift style-wise?
Jakub Żytecki: The fact of knowing and playing with them is really inspiring. And because of that spark of inspiration that they, and many others great musicians around are giving us – we're doing everything to push our boundries of creativity and musicianship.
DispersE, like so many bands that play a modern form of progressive metal fusion, is quite often associated with djent. I find it a bit unfair, as djent is just a narrow spot in the treasure chest of styles you guys combine. Not that I want to put you into a certain drawer, but where on the musical palette of styles would you locate DispersE?
Jakub Żytecki: Considering the new music that's being shaped, an experimental rock would be the safest term I guess.
Jakub Żytecki of Disperse, promo photo
What bands and artists inspired you initially to create your unique atmospheric progressive metal in the first place and who do you listen to for inspiration these days?
Jakub Żytecki: Well, I can just speak for myself now, but we're all blended with a similar musical aesthetic. I love alternative music, electronic and ambient stuff. Right now, I'm blasting a lot of those German magicians from Moderat. Apparat, who's a member of that group, does some sick solo work as well. The Neighbourhood keeps rolling on my Spotify list too, such a good music. We are all fans of stuff with vocals, so we'll try to really focus on that matter with the new album.
Name one somewhat recent album that you think everyone should hear!
Jakub Żytecki: Moderat's self-titled debut. Fucking mint!
After you've played at a couple of festivals now, are there any plans to bring your music closer to your fans with a tour in the near future?
Jakub Żytecki: Of course! Once the album is done, we'll do our best to come to the places we've never seen before and promote the music on many stages.
OK! Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with us, it's highly appreciated. I wish you a lot of fun on stage and with all the illustrious bands and fans! And of course all possible success!
Jakub Żytecki: Thank you! See you in Nuremberg!
Update January 2023
This interview was conducted late 2015. In February 2017 they released a third album titled Foreword. Their Facebook page mentions several gigs after that, and posts as far as late 2020. It has gone silent after that.
In 2020, keyboard player / vocalist Rafał Biernacki started a new band Undefy.