Doomed Confessionary: Péter Suvada (Zephyr)
Zephyr is a four-piece stoner/sludge/groove metal band from Budapest, Hungary.
Founded in 2021 by former Dusty Chopper members, Zephyr currently consists of Péter Suvada (vocals, guitar), Szabolcs Hőnich (bass, vocals), Mátyás Csajági (guitar) and Hajdú Farkas (drums).
Zephyr’s debut full-length album »Grand Voyager« was just released on January 2nd, 2025 and is available now on all major streaming platforms.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Zephyr started out in the end of 2021 after our previous stoner band, Dusty Chopper folded, due to ongoing struggles after the pandemic. Levente Séd the drummer and I started to write new songs and thinking about carrying on with new music and finding some new members. We pulled and old music buddy from mothballs who we both had different bands with in the past, Szabolcs Hőnich, he did not actively play music for 6 yrs at the time, but hopped on the train after just one rehearsal, based on what he heard we were cooking up. He is a steady bass player and still part of the band. We needed a second guitarist but did not really find them for long, than connected with Mr. Jácint Kiss through Facebook ad. Unfortunately we did not find common ground musically and personally so we parted ways after a year.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The first full iteration of the band, 4 people had 3 fathers in it, all of us in our late 30s, early 40s. Time/energy/funding allotted to band activities was severely limited. Not enough to elevate the band itself to any palpable levels, even locally. We also dropped ourselves in a very limited niche genre in our home country, Hungary, where the stoner music scene nearly completely folded after a solid boom some 15 years ago. Now it’s just a handful of bands scraping by, none of whom can even come close to make a living from their music.
What can you be most proud of so far?
All our albums so far had some complications, setbacks, disagreements, financial problems but we managed to write and record some solid music that we are ok with. We did it in house too, which is a steep learning curve and may run into some subpar results along the way, but financially this was our only option. There is certainly no shortage of musical ideas, we are years ahead in recordable material!!
What was your biggest regret?
There were times were we as a band lost focus of just having fun and constructing music for the sake of just that, playing music. Too much internal clashing on minute stuff that is not relevant to moving ahead, or not fostering the camaraderie needed to be in a functioning band, happened. This unfortunately necessitated in band member changes after a while. We are working on presenting the new members in a meaningful way and this will happen soon.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Zephyr literally had 1 single concert so far, but I swear we will try to change this in 2025 😀 The fact that it happened was a vindication, although the gig itself went down in flames of technical issues/local venue problems. We did get money from the gig! It was enough for a 10 day Facebook ad! 😀
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Literally the fact that compared to our old learned ways, where if you make music it connected with it’s genre audience, is completely gone. I have never really stopped making music, recording, gigging in the last 25+ years but now, it seems very hard to getting your voice out and your music heard. Does not matter if you give your music for free even, carrying any type of small local band is now less than 20% of making music itself. Graphic design, all social media, streaming, (expensive) videoclips, recording, trying to scoop up gigs, everything is on us band members.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
I listen to everything nowadays from The Cure through Amorphis to technical death metal, and lots of stoner, old and new.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Don’t quit your dayjob for your band? 😀 Not that I ever came close to a level where this was an option, but sure would be nice to get so far 😀
Ok, as an honest answer, maybe that – do not change your style, your songwriting, your own voice to cater to more people. Natural style changes are good and expected, writing stuff or omitting music for any questionable “broader audience” is futile. You have to like your own songs to be able to play them as much as needed.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Thank FXK I am off of real boozing for a good time now, but smoking clings to me like a fuckin’ leech still. Also, I don’t think it’s a guilty pleasure, but I listen to all music nowadays without any genre consideration, not metal, not rock, whatever. 15 years old me would be pissed! 😀 Except modern rap, eff that 🙁
Can you say something more about current music scene in Hungary?
Hungarian rock/metal scene in general. It was limited even before the pandemic to start with. If you go to a rock festival in Hungary, or look around who has longer tours, it’s the same bands that are literally 20-30-40 years old. Staple names from even when I was a teenager. Pandemic than took the rock/metal scene here as a sheet of paper, crumpled it and threw it in the bin. Most small and middle size venues, the ones that would accomodate our size of bands, are gone. Now there are foxholes that barely have a stage or enough room for 4 musicians, and 1200+ venues. You are very much in luck if you land yourself in a thematic festival (and it will not be a Stoner Fest mind you…) Or we pray for a tattoo convention, a motorcycle rally or a USA car show, where there is an inner circle of bands so good luck getting in. That’s it. Rebuilding is still ongoing but venues that cater to exactly our band’s size are not there.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
No idea yet 😀 We have 2 new band members where we have to get up to snuff again to give a really good show.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
I’d be very happy if the band could chug along for as long as possible, 10-15 yrs+, without further member changes or folding due to outer pressures/situations that seem to present themselves endlesslya nowadays.
How can people best support your band?
Please visit our Bandcamp page, share it with friends, and listen to our work on our original YouTube channel. While it is flattering that multiple entities re-upload our work, those views and channel subscriptions do not come to us in the end. It’s funny to see views/listens in the 1000s on other channels while the original barely reaches couple of 100s.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Please do share your thoughts about our music in YouTube comments, Bandcamp endorsement, Facebook, we love to get feedback (any, not just positive), and share our work with people you know would dig it. We know there is large stoner audience out there, but it is hard to reach them from our little corner of the world! Thanks for your support!!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well