Interview with SCRUDA

Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.

Tell us a few things about SCRUDA (Members, Starting Year etc).
The band itself started in 2020, however we’ve known each other since 2013. We met on a concert in my hometown all those years ago. The group was formed much later, I was playing in a death metal project at that time, Conqueror and Firecracker were active on a more punk adjacent scene. They messaged me asking if I want to play some METAL, I replied that it depends if they know how to write songs about the devil. The rest is the history, we met once in a rented rehearsal space then it instantly clicked. For me it was something fresh as I was used to bandmates asking for certain drum parts in certain parts of the songs (as it often happens in metal projects) and here I was free to do anything as long as it fits the vibe. Ever since we’ve been experimenting with what actually means to play metal and how can we do it.

You are going to release your new album ''Fury Among Ruins''. Tell us a few things about this project.
The most unusual part about the album is the fact that we’ve been playing with a second guitarist (Evil Golem who also happens to be my younger brother) for some time when we started working on the songs. He wrote some of them, and recorded guitars on said album. In the end we parted ways with the Golem and returned to being a trio. Since our now ex-guitarist was a huge Death and death metal fan, it ended up influencing the sound as well as the songwriting. We had to rearrange the compositions for three musicians but it did not affect the album that much overall. Even if Scruda ended up one Golem lighter, the music became a tad bit heavier. Of course it was not just him, as the album is a culmination of hard work of all the members of the band. Other than that, as was the case with our first EP, we tried to break the boundaries of what we did before and come up with music that was born of our past endeavors while also being a very much METAL album.

How did your cooperation with Godz Ov War Productions occur? What do you prefer, Label or DIY and why?
To me, mix of both approaches works the best on the kind of scene we are currently active on. Having a recognizable but independent label backing is of much use when it comes to finding gigs, contacts and getting the general know how from a person who has more experience on the promotional side of things. We all have dipped our toes in the music marketing with our past projects however having a person who’s specialized in doing specifically that certainly helps. We still need to do much work ourselves as even with the most well-meaning labels and people (and I certainly count Godz Ov War Productions among those) underground bands need to keep working as the labels have their limits, deadlines and other projects too. This is why I
consider mix of DIY and Label to be the best approach for us currently. We are obviously happy with how the cooperation with GOW has been so far, we’re grateful for all the hard work Greg is doing and all the advice we got. As for the start of our cooperation, when we first began gigging with Scruda we played a couple shows with another band from Godz Ov War rooster, Garota. We became friends and for a long time we felt like we are compatible, it resulted in an idea to record a split album, Godz liked the idea too and here we are.

Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Nothing’s ever funny in METAL.In all seriousness, all kinds of wacky stuff happens all the time. The funniest thing related to our band activity I can think of currently was back when we were playing with Evil Golem, he is actually much younger than the rest of the bandmates were and as a result had less disposable income when we were gigging. We used to buy him all sorts of weird food items so he did not have to spend money on food. Whenever we were able to find some obscure burger from convenience store or gas station we would get him one for the sake of science. Other than that, since you get to spend a lot of time with folks you tour with, it’s always like a school trip but without teachers to look out for you. Mix that with hungover humor and you have a recipe for all sorts of stupid ideas. For us it’s often me and Firecracker who get yelled at for having too much fun. On the other hand I understand that sometimes it’s distracting to the crew or the person who is currently being recorded.

Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
Personally I am not collecting that much physical media anymore. I have a couple hundred CDs I collected back in high school, nowadays I am getting other kinds of merch to support the groups I like. Not that I have anything against physical releases, it’s great for collecting or preserving less known music and other kinds of media. I would get more CDs if I had anything to play them on if we’re being honest. I believe it’s good for any artist to have both digital and physical media available. It’s easy to miss out on a great recording when using digital only as there’s just too much stuff around. I really appreciate all the bands of whose records I physically own. Even the weirder CDs I bought not really knowing what to expect over the Internet. As for CD vs Vinyl, I have no preference here, I certainly own more CDs so I guess that’s the answer. Anyway, it’s good to have both physical and digital versions of the recordings.

Your music style is Black/Speed Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
If we’re speaking about influences close to home, I would have to point to Dark Funeral being my favorite Black Metal band, Toxic Holocaust, Satyricon or Devil Master along with Midnight and Hellripper. But to be perfectly honest, bands that inspire me the most aren’t really Black or Speed metal related all that much. Nowadays I am listening mainly to sludge/doom metal and some crust punk projects. Eyehategod, Whores, Anti Cimex, Polish band MAG have been toping my charts last year. We also got to play two shows with Brujeria this year and to say that they did not inspire us would be a lie. Conqueror was really into Terrorizer and Sepultura in the recent months. Our more recent stuff was heavily influenced by In Twilight’s Embrace as the Firecracker was kind of obsessed with them lately. Other than that, I like digging up obscure bands from the past and one of my big inspirations however stupid that might sound is a band called Bombarder which was formed in Yugoslavia. I bought their first album on CD 15 years ago not having idea what to expect, not sure if their more recent stuff is any good but the Speed Kill certainly affected me.

Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
This is more of philosophical question to me really. It’s more of a lifestyle choice if anything. If you want to take playing music even on the underground scene seriously it always takes a lot of work and to do any kind of work you always need to make some sacrifices. Obviously if somebody just wants to play for a bit with their friends once a month then sure, pretty much anyone can fit this kind of commitment in their schedule. However, if you want to take your playing to any level that can be named a success, you will have to adjust the way you live for what is the time spent on practicing your instrument (not even the band practice) if not sacrificing something you could be doing otherwise. To me as with everything in life, you make choices, some things you do some things you don’t and no matter what you do you won’t be able to do everything you can, nor should you really. I do not think that most of the things I haven’t done in my life were really sacrificed as I did not want to do them in the first place. We choose to pursue playing music as one of the things that we do mostly because we want to, the concept of sacrifice implies that there is something else we’d rather be doing instead. So yeah, you spend time that could have been spent on other things but it’s not that we were forced by anyone to make the decision so I would not call it a sacrifice.

Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
Our ideal show is our next show. We always try to come up with new things to entertain the audience when it comes to music as well as the performance itself. I do not really have a plan for a perfect show laid out but I would say that it would not be an open air one. The kind of performance we aim for works best in a club.

What attributes do you think that a new Black/Speed Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
It’s hard to tell really. I think that the most unique ideas need to come out of the head of the performer. It’s not a matter of coming up with a plan to do something that will make you stand out. To me it’s often about the sound and the show on stage. Metal music in general has some issues with bands trying to sound like a certain other group or fit within a boundary of a specific subgenre. Additionally, it’s really hard to define what is original and what is not. Just like with every new and fresh thing, it becomes old the moment somebody comes up with it. To us, the idea is to play with form and ask the question what does it really mean to play metal and what makes it what it is. To some it could be a novel concept, to others it will not.

Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Black/Speed Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
Yes I do and I am going to die on this hill. All the new or less known artists benefit from the fact that we have Digital Platforms of today. We will never know how many great bands were lost to time due to them never really getting a recording deal in the past. As to the ideal way of promoting the band. It’s really hard to tell, there’s a fine line between being innovative and becoming funny in the eyes of the public when overdoing things online. There are bands that became popular due to their good online presence but it’s easy to go a step too far and become a parody of what you’re trying to achieve.

Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Poland (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
The one place I will always hold dearly will be Motor Rock Pub in Słupsk. That’s the place I played my first shows, met my current bandmates, attended countless gigs back when I lived there. They have been active for many years, ran by metal maniacs resilient and hard at work to keep the scene together. I wish I could do more to promote them but this kind of shoutout will have to suffice. The other maniacs hard at work to keep the scene going are Tomek and Kuba from No Fun Booking, they organize a ton of shows, run a zine and a podcast. They are solely responsible for revival of metal scene in their area and I really admire them. Next person that comes to mind would be Szczepan from the band Calm Hatchery/Black Thunder who’s been organizer of Thunderfest who’s been working on that endeavor for years with large success. For the bands I enjoy the most, there are aforementioned MAG and Garota, Misguided we tend to tour with quite often, Wielki Mrok and one more group in our proximity would be S.O.M.A. I tried to avoid mentioning the leviathans of polish underground scene as everyone already knows and loves them to death.

Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
Truth be told, aside from Sceptic Flesh and Rotting Christ, not much but I will gladly take recommendations.

In the last 4 years, worldwide in the world, we have faced many dark, strange, and new situations in our everyday lives (covid, lockdown, etc.). Did all of this affect you positively or negatively?
It’s also hard to give a clear answer here. We as SCRUDA began around the time when Covid was all the rage. With lockdowns lifted we were free to play more but since the band did not really exist before the pandemic hit it’s hard to talk about how it affected the group. Personally, I did not see that much change in my life back then as I was working an essential job which required me to move frequently anyway. Then the following years changed my life around a lot, now I am in a much better place both mentally and physically. Was it really related to the events? I think not, but as always in life, the worst is yet to come. Let’s just hope we won’t have to talk about it when the time comes.

What are your future plans?
Release the album, play METAL loud and fast, we already have plans for shows in 2025. We’re always hard at work on new music, show ideas and the band in general. For now the goal is to promote Fury Among Ruins as much as possible, try to play more shows in more remote locations and try to bring the barbarian horde abroad. We have much more in store for everyone interested, just come and see.

Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thanks for supporting the scene!

By Steve the Filthy Dog.

SCRUDA CONTACT:

https://www.facebook.com/scrudabarbarians

https://www.instagram.com/scrudabarbarians/

https://scruda.bandcamp.com/album/barbarian-state-of-the-mind

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4SWiWfAvJBrUO9Iult0LjI

GODZ OV WAR PRODUCTIONS:

https://godzovwar.com/shop/en/

https://www.facebook.com/godzovwarproductions

https://www.instagram.com/godz_ov_war_productions

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/music