Doomed Confessionary: Michał Rogalski, Marco Caponi & Tomek Rudnicki (1965)

Photos by Adam Staszak

1965 is a heavy psych/stoner rock trio based out of Warsaw, Poland. The band consists of Michał Rogalski (vocals, guitar), Marco Caponi (bass) and Tomek Rudnicki (drums).

1965 has always been a misfit. Too old-school to be proclaimed the next big thing, too innovative to satisfy vintage rock purists. To loud for mainstream and not heavy enough for metalheads. But what seems to be the band’s weakness is actually their advantage. Not being chained to any particular genre is the source of their unique vibe and allows them to explore new musical territories.

On their new EP, 1965 went for maximum eclecticism. Sabbath-like riffs are mixed with synths, catchy Monster Magnet-style choruses are intertwined with instrumental parts reminiscent of bands such as Yes or Rush. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of surprises hidden behind the trippy cover art, which Jack Kirby himself would not be ashamed of. »Paranoid Betazoid« EP will be released on November 29th, 2024.

Can you say a few words about your band?
Michał: I guess we can say that we’re a band that misses the days, when bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or groups like Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins were allowed musical freedom to surprise their listeners. You know, when a band could put a heavily fuzzed heavy metal song, an acoustic ballad with a string arrangement or an experimental synthesizer-based song all on one album.
Nowadays, bands are expected to be so one-dimensional. Personally, I find artists like Marilyn Manson (in his prime) or David Bowie, who would turn their music style upside down with every album, really fascinating. So I think our music reflects that fascination too. Not to say that we’re nearly as good as any of these artists that I’ve just mentioned. But no one will stop us from trying, haha.

Tomek: I’d say that we summarized our band and our approach to music in a song from our last LP called »Anything We Want«. To rephrase it: we can do anything we want and there’s no way to stop us.

Marco: This is the band I’ve been in the longest of all the bands I’ve ever been in. Many bands don’t manage to live so long and I think it’s because they are lacking a few fundamental elements that we have: we respect each other as people, as musicians and we respect each other’s opinions. Every decision is made after a discussion and confrontation with each other, until we get to a final agreement. And these things are tackled regularly, so that we don’t forget them or take them for granted. It’s not always easy, but I think those things can help band members to overcome differences of personality, music taste and lifestyle.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Michał: Finding a second guitarist. We’re still searching, actually. Most of our songs were written with two guitars in mind and many of them have solos. But it’s not easy to find someone who has the chops to shred, but also has the restraint to play minimalistically sometimes.
In the studio we can record as many tracks as we want, but it’s a lot of pressure on me to be the songwriter, singer, guitarist and on top of that the “lead” guitarist. Live, we can still rock out as a power trio, but it’ll be nice to recreate some of the richness of the studio arrangements on stage. So we’re still looking, but we’re quite picky, because we only want to play with someone who really gets the vibe of 1965.

Tomek: Our search for a lead guitarist has already become one of these never ending stories for sure, haha. But in my opinion the biggest challenge for us is and probably always will be to agree on the final form of our songs, haha. We work on it, but it isn’t so easy to find a compromise when you have three stubborn heads in one room.

Marco: I think the biggest challenge in the past was going through lineup changes in the first 3 years of the band. At some point, a solid core was established (Michał, Marco and Tomek) and, as Michał said and described, now we have to face looking for a lead guitar player.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Michał: Apart from our latest EP and absolutely dope cover artwork that Konrad Kęska made for us, I’d say I’m proud that 1965 is still alive, haha. But seriously, we exist for over a decade and during these ten years a lot of brilliant bands came and went. So many bands emerged just to release one amazing album or EP and then break up. We also had tough moments, line-up changes, like Marco said and a few times we were on a brink of extinction if you will. But we survived all these obstacles and we keep on growing and evolving. And I’m very glad we did overcome these difficulties, because one album definitely wasn’t enough to say all that we want to say.

Marco: I am proud of being attached to this band, because it’s paying off the effort and the resources we are putting into it, although slowly. In the contemporary music scene, it’s difficult to see results; the equation effort = results doesn’t hold up, but we can still see a direct proportionality between our commitment and our achievements.

Tomek: Staying active is one thing but we actually always try to do more, to develop. I’m really proud of that. We didn’t stop or give up even if there were many obstacles on our path forward.

What was your biggest regret?
Michał: Trying to “break through” (whatever then means) with our first record, before getting back to the studio to make more music. I think we wasted too much time trying to convince people that the music we’ve made is great. What we should’ve done instead was making more great music. Nowadays we’re trying to spend more time creating and less time doing bullshit. So, by the time of the release of our upcoming EP, we’ll be already writing new songs.

Tomek: For me it’s for sure instabilities in our touring schedule. We had a few moments where we really were able to travel a lot and play in many interesting places all over Poland, but each such period was followed by some time of stagnation. I always wanted to perform, the more the better and this one thing was always a bummer. Of course, the older we get the less time we have for proper tours, but my hopes didn’t vanish.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Michał: There were so many, that it’s hard to pick one. Especially, that each gig is great in a different way. Sometimes, we fuck up all the time and the sound is shit, but the audience has the time of their life, so we have fun too.
And sometimes we are supertight, but there are like five people in the audience, clearly waiting for us to finish, so they can see the headlining band. In these instances, we also have fun, but I just wish more people would see it, haha.

Marco: The next one, haha. I always vibrate with desire to step onto a new stage. But to be honest I had a lot of fun at our concert at Potok club in Warsaw in September of 2023. Maybe the sound wasn’t the best, but I had a lot of fun on the stage.

Tomek: There was this one gig in a small pub in Lublin in the southeast of Poland. This was one of the gigs on our Poland-wide tour, we were opening for a well-known Polish band Transgresja there and we were in great form and in good mood until we arrived at the club.
The club was completely unprepared for a concert to take place there. there was no equipment, there were no suitable conditions. We had to drive to the nearest electronics supermarket to buy additional extension cords.
It was a stressful few hours and even now I can feel uneasiness, while talking about it, but long story short, the gig not only happened, but the pub was full and what’s most important I think we had an amazing time on stage that night. I still have flashbacks from this performance, haha.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Michał: Maybe not a surprise exactly, but what is interesting for me is how often and how easily gigs and tours are being canceled these days. I think the pandemic was a big gamechanger in this field. Obviously, Covid was a massive blow to the music industry and especially to touring, but on the other hand I think people realized that it’s not the end of the world if you cancel.
Overall, I think it’s a good thing if people feel allowed to cancel gigs due to health reasons, including mental health. But if they cancel, because they didn’t sell enough tickets, it’s a completely different story…

Marco: I am surprised at how many people don’t realize how much management and how many musicians and collaborators are behind a single famous artist. We tend to give most of the credit to the artist, not considering all the team that contributed to package them as a sellable product.

Tomek: I think that the biggest surprise was to discover how many people responsible for live events don’t care at all. They just don’t give a shit. You try your best, prepare the act, promote events, are always on schedule and yet there is almost always somebody that you depend on that just sabotages everything. This was the biggest surprise. It’s a bummer because you try to do everything you can to make people’s time amazing and yet… Eh, maybe I was naive, but I hoped for more from people that are in this business for years.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Michał: To be honest lately I find myself listening to much more mellow stuff, like The War On Drugs, Bon Iver, Khruangbin, Nick Cave… When it comes to heavier music, for sure, Rival Sons will be back in my headphones soon enough. Last year we went to their gig and they blew my mind. It wasn’t just, like, “hey, they kicked ass, solid band”. I was more like “it was a mystical experience”. They’re one of these larger than life bands that are few and far between.
From among stoner/heavy/psych bands for sure Weedpecker comes into my rotation on a regular basis. These days I also listen to bands of more psychedelic prog-rock persuasion, like Elder and Slift. And talking about prog-rock, our friends from Gallileous released an album this year, a really trippy record with a lot of synths, worth recommending.

Marco: Rocking with bands like Extreme, Judas Priest, or other old bands that show how they may stay alive and fresh even in 2024. If I am afraid of missing a train, the good ol’ times of In Flames help me in the rush hour, hehe Chilling out with stuff like Black Pumas, Paolo Nutini, Ndidi O. Having fun with “chiptune” game music, synthwave/retrowave music with 80’s and “Miami” vibe.

Tomek: Recently I came back again to my high-school classics: Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Korn. But that’s not everything. Not long ago, I discovered amazing bands like Leap and Royal Republic that I also listen to on repeat. I could continue like this for ages, but let’s just say that if something grooves, it’s part of my musical rotation nowadays.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Marco: “Not everything can be under your control when you are on the stage. Even when you think the sound is shitty… you are there to do your job.”

Michał: “If you have a vision or an idea of a direction in which the band, or the album, or the song should go, communicate it as clearly as possible to people you’re working with, whether they’re your bandmates, your recording engineer or the artist responsible for the artwork.
Don’t expect people to guess what’s going on in your head or to catch everything after you said one word. Talk about your vision, explain it in detail, listen to feedback, engage in conversation. Because each of us is different, each has a different background, each of us perceives reality differently. So even if you have the same goals, the same values, you dig the same music, it’s easy to create misunderstandings and frustration.”
This might be kinda obvious to many people, but when I was starting out, trying to put together a band, I thought that if a bunch of musicians gets in one room, they can communicate telepathically and that we’ll become one organism by the sheer power of rock and roll. But turns out it’s just not how things work.

Tomek: I don’t like to give advice to anybody. The steps I take in life might not work for anybody else thus I try to avoid generalizations and other such things. One advice I was given and I can forward is don’t play after too many drinks. It’s no fun for you and neither for anybody else.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Michał: Life’s too short to feel guilty about the things that please you. I apply this rule also to music, movies etc.

Marco: Singing out loud under the shower. It’s just stronger than me.

Tomek: Doing nothing. That’s it. Always feeling guilty about it.

Can you say something more about current music scene in Warsaw?
Tomek: Warsaw is full of young bands that try to make it, there’s always a concert that you can attend, but truth be told a heavy scene isn’t that popular anymore. There are much more alternative or hip-hop bands in town. You know, basically everything that people under 30 listen to.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Tomek: This year comes to an end, thus I’m afraid there won’t be any more gigs this year but we plan to show up again next year. Look for us in Warsaw for sure.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Michał: In the near future, we’d like to celebrate the release of our EP with some concert(s). And get back to writing, creating. There are so many ideas for new songs and so little time.

How can people best support your band?
Michał: Yes. Go to our Bandcamp and buy a t-shirt. We have really cool t-shirts and you will look so cool wearing them, I promise.

But on a more serious note, we are grateful for any kind of support. If you listen to our music on any of the streaming platforms, if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, or if you subscribe to our YouTube channel, that’s also appreciated. Because thanks to this you will know when we will come to your city to play a concert. So you can come to the gig and buy our t-shirts, haha.

Tomek: Listen to our music and show up to gigs. Of course, there’s our merch and CD’s available on Bandcamp for those that want to support us from afar, but to those that have a chance to see us live – just come and have fun with us. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing people having a good time on your show.

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Michał: Please, buy our t-shirts, hehe.

Marco: Also read our lyrics; they are nice. And buy a guitar for your kids; if they ask you to send them to music lessons of any kind, allow them to take them.

Tomek: Our new EP »Paranoid Betazoid« is coming – look out for it online and hopefully see you somewhere on tour.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well