My pleasure

Inside Out is now a part of Century Media so on one hand it's still the same label, but on the other—a completely different one, but since we signed a new contract with new cooperation conditions, we decided to try again.

"Out of Myself" was released abroad on the condition of changing the artwork. 'Cause it was released in Poland at the end of 2003 with a completely different cover. The new cover was designed by Travis Smith and this is how we met, and we've been working together for 10 years now. I think that his artwork for the latest Riverside album deserves huge appreciation. It's one of the best things we've done together.

We've been using the Hammond organ sound since our second album "Second Life Syndrome." Michał Łapaj, our keyboard player, is a big fan of this kind of sound. Before "SoNGS" he finally bought the original Hammond organ, and thanks to that you can hear it better now (laughs)

The lyrics are about various kinds of enslavement nowadays. In each song the protagonist can't gain control over his own life. And even if sometimes he thinks he can manage to do that—like in "The Depth of Self Delusion"—even if he runs and hides, he always remains enslaved.

I think that the most important thing is for what you do in life to give you pleasure. If you spend the bigger part of your day, and of your life, doing things that don't give you pleasure, then it's some kind of enslavement. It's really scary that some people can be stuck in one place, e.g. in some corporation, hating the way they earn money, and not doing anything with their life, letting the frustration grow with every year. Yes, I think that the degree of contemporary enslavement depends greatly on the level of frustration and bitterness in your organism.

The band was created by Piotr Kozieradzki and Piotr Grudziński. It was their idea to play this kind of music. Before they'd played in metal bands, so they wanted to try something different, they wanted to try progressive rock. Maybe at that point they didn't have a precise vision of the music but they started it, so generally they recruited themselves (laughs). I came to the second or third Riverside rehearsal, but I already had experience with this type of music and I had the vision. The fact that both Piotrs were from that different music world made this band so original.

Basically we were between two contracts. We wanted to use this opportunity and release something by ourselves. Out of curiosity.

We've been working with Magda and Robert practically since the beginning. We know each other very well. I also record my Lunatic Soul albums with them so they know and understand my artistic needs perfectly. Recently, their studio's changed the address, it's bigger now and improved. So we decided to record our album there.

I don't know that yet. I will tell you after the first leg of the "New Generation Tour" (laughs).

Each one of us knows his place in the band and agrees to it. We're bandmates, we're friends. Music wise, I'm some kind of an art director here. The guys trust my artistic visions and up until now everything have worked without any major screw-ups, so we're still alive and doing fine.

I wouldn't change anything. Imagine that you change something and then you come back to our Times and you see that Hill Valley is now a gambling paradise, Biff is a millionaire and your mom's his wife and has bigger boobs. Time travels are not advised, well, maybe just the musical ones.

Thanks!