Photo Credit: Heli Andrea
As they make their way through their Friend Of A Phantom European tour, we catch up with drummer Adam Janzi from VOLA. During our interview we discussed how the tour is going, their newly released album, Friend Of A Phantom, and all about being a drummer.
How do you think the tour is going so far?
The tour has been going pretty well so far. Actually, great shows and good crowds. Good food also, nice venues. And yesterday was our first real day off. We’ve had a few like travel days, but then you just spend your time in a ferry or in the bus, but yesterday was the first day off here in Prague, in the Czech Republic. So, we explored. Some of the guys went to an escape room. I was just doing some sightseeing, found a great restaurant to eat. Showered in a hotel room, slept in a non-moving bed.
As you have played eight shows so far, has it met your expectations? Have there been any surprises?
I think it has kind of been a step up for us. So, my expectations were on the previous tour, and now the venues are bigger. Some of the venues are venues where we have supported other artists before. Now we’re headlining there. So, it has kind of been a bounce up one step up the ladder. I think it has definitely went a bit beyond my expectations, for sure. I’ve really enjoyed it so far.
How has the fans received the album during the live shows? Has there been any fan-favourites?
Yeah, I think so. We have kind of a band favourite, which seems to be a fan-favourite as well. The song Bleed Out is my favourite to play, some other guys in the band feel the same, and from what I’ve seen, seems like a lot of fans enjoy that one. Tray, I think that’s also kind of a hidden one, hidden favourite in my eyes, definitely, it’s nice.
When creating the album, did you guys have any ideas of what you wanted to have, in terms of any themes, compared to the other albums, or was it an experimental kind of album this time?
Yeah, starting out, we didn’t have a theme. We’re just kind of going where the music took us, and the theme arrived with time. But I think something that naturally influenced the album was the just the crazy times we were in during the making of the album, and just before the whole pandemic. Like, okay, it was crazy for obvious reasons. But also, one thing that we kind of took for granted is how it felt like we lost time. While at the same moment we were stuck in time. Like, I cannot tell you 2019, 2021, what was what, I don’t know. Seems like the same kind of thing. So that was kind of in a mood where time just disappeared, and time was just still. At the same time, it impacted the making of the album and I think that has somehow influenced the album, maybe in a subconscious way, but also the themes that arose from it.
It’s a friend of a phantom, it means, so Asger, our vocalist, is the one who writes all the lyrics. He has kind of brought this theme into something concrete, I think. But the friend of a phantom in its essence is this phantom. It can be different things that is sticking to us, whether it’s alcoholism, or you know, relationship issues, or even darker or more uplifting things. It’s this phantom that is always there. Different kinds of phantoms. You can say, but I feel like, overall, the general pandemic is like the zeitgeist of the pandemic. It feels like one of those phantoms that have kind of stuck with us somehow and stuck with the album, and from that, the vision of these different phantoms, or the phantom that we are a friend of. It kind of somehow made its way into our interpretation of the album and into Asger‘s lyrics.
I would say, though, that I guess the way it has happened is it hasn’t been a thing where we felt it. And we’re like, okay, we’ve got to write about this, but it appeared more like Asger‘s lyrics are there, and the songs are done. And then we realise that. Oh, that’s, you know. That’s what this means. So, it comes from a very intuitive place.
Do you guys have any pre-show rituals or routines that you like to do before the shows?
Good question. I don’t think we’re… we’re pretty laid back, so we don’t do whiskey shots, and we’re not, you know, throwing chairs everywhere, or whatever, I don’t know. We’re just like sitting backstage. We eat some dinner. Get dressed, and then, I’ve been trying to warm up a little bit; Asger does some push-ups and a bit of vocal exercise. Martin (keys) does some stretching, and I tried to warm up a little bit. But that’s about it. We don’t do any big crazy rituals before going on stage. I know a lot of bands do, and maybe we should. We’re pretty casual about it.
With this album, your drum patterns are unique and don’t follow the typical “just follow the guitars” approach. You do your own thing with it. Is it a process of experimentation, or do you just picture what you want to do with the drums as you hear the track?
It’s not a lot of experimentation. It’s also very intuitive. Some of it is because of the way we write songs; we all just send ideas to each other online, and then you know what we feel sounds good. We puzzle it together, and so on. Sometimes, one of us, like maybe Asger or Nikolai (bass), arrives with a full, almost full song, almost complete, with bass and guitar and drums and vocals like everything mapped out, and we all think it sounds good. Then we just kind of put our finishing touch on it.
Sometimes, you know, it starts with the drum idea, for example, and then they add on it, or you know, all kind of any combination in that sense, and in terms of the drums. It has been pretty intuitive, and I didn’t spend that much time perfecting the songs until shortly before we went into the studio and sometimes in the studio. Bleed Out, we actually finished writing it as we were recording the drums in the studio. So, a lot of it is just, you know, what feels good in the moment and just using all those years of inspiration and experience and putting that to the test or on the spot.
How do you balance creativity and technical skills in your playing?
I teach a lot of drums to students when I’m on tour. I do that online as well and that’s one of the things I talk about a lot, being creative with a purpose. So, the technical part of it is not what is supposed to kind of take charge, and it’s also not supposed to be a separate thing, the technical stuff. It’s like the tools that you have, and then the creativity is what you choose to do with it. For example, when you open your fridge and you see, oh, there’s some meatballs, there are potatoes, there’s pasta, there’s rice, there is chocolate. I don’t know what, strawberries, like all kinds of stuff. Okay, that’s what you have at hand. Then you see, you have a casserole. You have a frying pan for this and that. Okay, well, those are the options that we have to work with.
But then comes the question, what do you want to do? Maybe you just want to, I don’t know. Just want to cook some potatoes, and that’s it. Then the meatballs stay in the fridge. Then, the tomatoes are not washed and cut. That stays the same for drumming. The key is to find out exactly what it is you want to do or in what vein you want to work in. You know if you’re making the next Lord Of The Rings movie. You’re not going to bring a Ferrari for Gandalf to drive in. He’s going to have his horse and his staff like it’s the same thing there. It’s just that more difficult to visualise. But once you put yourself in that mindset, the technical part just becomes what you need. Oh, here we are. Gandalf needs to learn how to ride a horse because he’s supposed to ride a horse. Okay, well then, you gather that tool here. I need to learn how to blast and beat at that speed because that’s what I want to express. Okay, then I learned that. So, that’s kind of the long but short way to explain that.
Do you have any favourite drumming techniques or patterns that you use?
Not really. I’ve never really been that interested in drumming patterns, rudiments, or techniques. I like being relaxed when playing. I think that maybe if I have to choose something, then it’s about being as relaxed as you can be. That’s always something to improve. I’m trying to improve that. I’m always going to try to improve that. But feeling that you have a very loose grip, it’s a good feeling.
Do you have any songs that you find challenging to play live?
There are some but for a few different reasons. I think the most challenging thing that I have now on the drums is that I play on an acoustic drum kit. But then I have an electronic little drum pad as well because we have some, you know, electronic drum sounds in some of our songs. So those I play on that electronic pad, and the tricky thing is to switch from the acoustic kit to the electronic pad in time, because sometimes I have to hit like a tom or something over here, and then right away after going over to the electronic drums. I have to be very fast and then I have to hit the right electronic drum pad. So, it’s the right sound. That’s pretty challenging. So, I had to kind of figure that out. Also, another thing I have an eye disease where I have some issues with seeing lights, especially when it’s dark or when it’s raining. So, they look a bit smudged, and I have a hard time locating the exact positions. It’s fine. I can drive at night. It’s nothing crazy, but when you’re on stage it’s very dark to see the right little drum pad because, you know, they’re just small pads to hit the right one so that the right sound comes out. It can be challenging when it’s dark because there’s a little light as well. It can confuse me, like where exactly the pad is. But sometimes, I hit the wrong pad, and there is a weird sound. Luckily, it’s not… I haven’t put any animal sounds or anything in the pad yet, so. I’ll do that someday as a prank.
So before recording the album, did you listen to any artists, music, or any certain sounds that gave you inspiration for your style of drumming on the album?
Actually, not in, not for that purpose. I think none of us actually do that. Maybe a little bit sometimes, but for this album, I didn’t. I didn’t go into that. I was more into just this philosophy of seeing what the song is and then trying to match the emotion of it. But there was no music that I took inspiration from for the album. I know Asger, the singer, is usually very similar to that. Also, he doesn’t dive into a lot of music to get inspiration, like directly for an album. Both him and me. We used to listen to a lot of podcasts and various podcasts. That is inspiring to us. I like to, you know, follow a few interesting people who I feel have their fingers on some important topics or interesting topics. Yeah, so that’s probably more of where inspiration has come from. For me, at least.
Have you received any piece of advice that you have found quite useful when it comes to drumming?
That’s a good question! There is one thing that I always bring up. There is a drummer named Todd Sucherman who, I mentioned, is another drummer who said this thing, Stuart Copeland. I think it was Stuart Copeland who drummed with The Police, Sting, a great drummer. Stuart, if I’m correct, it was he who said that in order to become an interesting drummer, you should become an interesting person first. In short, that means that maybe to become more, you know, interesting and fulfilled on the drums. It’s not about learning every rudiment on the planet and learning every technique. Maybe it is about, I don’t know, visiting a town, going into a cathedral or a Buddhist temple, or going to a very nice restaurant, seeing what they have. Trying to camp and live out in the forest for a week. That has been a great piece of advice for me and something that I’ve kind of lived by for quite some time. Hand in hand with the inspirations that I have. Like Carl Sagan, he has nothing to do with music but everything to do with inspiration and life. The way he would talk about the cosmos, and just the nature of life and science and space and macro and micro and everything. Just kind of taking pieces of that, putting them into drumming, valuable.
What do you think is your favourite part of being a drummer?
That’s a great question. You have great questions. My favourite part about it is that it’s so physical, and you use your whole body for it. No disrespect about guitar or violin. All those kinds of instruments, but with drums and vocals, there’s something really bodily about it. And both of those you can practice anywhere if you want to practice guitar, you need a guitar mainly. Of course, there are probably some things you can do without it. But with drums, you can sit on the bus and just tap on your legs, and that’s practice. You can learn songs by just sitting and listening, and you know, tapping with your fingers. And there’s it’s there’s something like really human about it that I that I love.
The last question is if you could play drums for another band for the day. What band would you choose?
Oh, nice! There is, there are a few. My first choice or my top choice would definitely be Korn then. I would love to be behind the drums for a show. That would be amazing, but then there’s also, I guess, Chelsea Wolfe, who could be cool. Maybe to play the drums for Otep as well; that’s not Opeth, as it sounds similar. Otep is like a new American metal artist. Very cool. That would be nice, but if I have to choose one, Korn.
Interview by: Zena Morris
VOLA‘s new album Friend of a Phantom is out now via Mascot Records, available to stream or purchase HERE.
See VOLA live at one of the remaining dates:
Wed 27th – ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE, LU – Rockhal
Thu 28th – EINDHOVEN, NL – Effenaar
Fri 29th – HAMBURG, DE – Markthalle
Sat 30th – KØBENHAVN, DK – Store Vega
Tickets are on sale HERE.
