Interview with Andrew Janda, founder, guitarist and leader of the band Metalfier.
You started playing guitar at the age of 11?
Yes. It all started with the fascination with Metallica’s Black Album, which was released in 1991. Last year, I came to the United States. When I heard this album, I picked up the guitar and that’s how it stayed. In the beginning there was a band called Disillusion, which I founded when I was 14.
When was Metalfier actually created?
I had the name in my head since 2006, but you could say that the Metalfier band was fully born with the release of their first album in 2012.
Are you the only Pole in the team?
Yes. And the only person from the first team. Currently Bernard plays drums, Mike plays second guitar and Jimmi plays bass. And of course I sing and play guitar.
How would you describe your musical style?
Our repertoire includes thrash metal, death metal and speed metal songs, but we also have ballads in the heavy metal style of the 1980s. So the term heavy metal rock probably best describes our playing, just like the Polish metal legends TSA and Turbo called their musical style. . I’m Polish, so I define our style the same way they do. We have been playing similarly since the beginning and combining all genres of heavy metal.
Do you have a lot of covers in your repertoire?
Yes, I think covers are very important. At cover concerts, we usually play a few songs by bands such as Metallica, Judas Priest, or Slayer. However, most of the songs are our original numbers. Virtually all the music and lyrics are mine.
Do you create only in English?
Yes, we play mainly for American audiences, so it’s quite natural. However, at concerts I sometimes perform songs by Polish artists, for example TSA.
How many albums have you released so far?
We have released 3 studio albums. In order, these were Devil Inside My Head in 2012, Into The Unknown in 2016 and Heavy Metal Life in 2018. We are currently preparing the next fourth album, which will hopefully be released later this year, and then we will go on tour around the United States.
Although you have made music videos for 6 of your songs, you are known primarily for your live performances. For example, you went on tour together with Marty Friedman, former guitarist of the famous trash metal band Megadeth.
Yes. We played with him in California and New York, among others. Amazing experience. We also performed with the legend of black metal, the British band Venom, with the queen of heavy metal Doro Pesch, as well as with the bands Queensrÿche and Destruction. There were a lot of these bands and concerts in famous places such as Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theater and Webster Hall.
Which of them was particularly memorable for you?
There were several of them. I have great memories of the concert with the band Accept at Irving Plaza in Manhattan, or with Marty Freidman at Whiskey GO GO in Los Angeles. I cannot fail to mention here the performances in front of Polish stars. We played for Lady Pank several times during their performances in the United States.
What are your musical inspirations as a guitarist and vocalist?
The biggest inspiration is definitely James Hatfield from Metallica. Next, Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi from Black Sabath, Jeff Hanneman from Slayer, and Rob Halford from Judas Priest. And from Poland, Roman Kostrzewski and Piotrek Luczyk from Kata, Wojciech Hoffman and Grzegorz Kupczyk from Turbo and Marek Piekarczyk from TSA. These are probably the most important ones.
What can participants of the metal festival at the Polish and Slavic Center expect after your performance?
Everyone get ready for some great heavy metal fun. We will definitely do our best. Just like during every concert. We will definitely play a Metallica cover, and since this is a party in the heart of the Polish district, we will prepare a Kata number. In 1996, I played at the Center with my previous band. Disillusion and I remember that the atmosphere was great then. It’s good that the tradition of metal playing has returned to the Center. I hope this will continue.
Thank you for the interview and I wish you good luck at the Festival.
