Doomed Confessionary: Piotr “Voltan” Sikora (Leash Eye)
Photos by Marek Kowalski
Hailing from Warsaw, Poland, Leash Eye have been following a well-worn musical path for almost 30 years, combining hard rock with stoner and southern metal. They blend heavy, distorted guitars with the dirty sound of Hammond organs and create a mix they call “hard truckin’ rock”.
Leash Eye’s latest album »Destination: 125«, out on March 12th, 2025, “is a journey to the very bottom of hell, where Jackie Chevrolet brews his specialty, Carolina Reaper hot pepper sauce. Listening to it is a kind of poker game, where the rule is simple “Do or die”, either you play big or you’re out. Out there a rattlesnake venom is like another shot of cold whiskey.” – that’s how the band describes their new album.
Leash Eye are Łukasz Podgórski (vocals), Arkadiusz “Opath” Gruszka (guitar, backing vocals), Piotr “Voltan” Sikora (organ, keyboards, backing vocals), Marek “Marecki” Kowalski (bass, backing vocals) and Marcin “Bigos” Bidziński (drums, backing vocals).
Can you please say a few words about your band?
Hi, we are Leash Eye, the hard truckin’ rockers from Warsaw, Poland. Our music at its core is mostly inspired by the rock classics, but we do it our own way, with a dirty but modern sound and a heavily featured electric organ. The band’s been around in some capacity since 1996 (that’s 30 years next year!) – I myself joined it back in 2009, previously being a fan after seeing them on local stages. We recently released our 6th album »Destination: 125« – do check it out.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Honestly, being a bunch of dudes in their forties (pushing fifty in a couple cases) playing niche rock and roll music in Poland is quite a challenge by itself. If I had to name a single event in the band’s last 15 years, it would have to be when our old singer Sebastian had to quit for personal reasons. There was never an abundance of great classic rock singers in the Polish alternative scene (I feel like this has been getting better though!) so we had a hard time finding a replacement – I think it took us more than a year and we were almost ready to give up. Glad we stuck it out though.
What can you be most proud of so far?
I’m just happy we still have pretty much the same drive to do this music thing after all these years. We never made it big and we likely never will but we’re not looking to give it up, which I can’t say for a lot of people I knew when I started playing in bands.
What was your biggest regret?
Probably not picking up the guitar earlier… I write a lot of music for guitar but can barely play it (fortunately though, I do understand how it’s played) and while I’m trying to learn now, it’s honestly not going great – that’s on me though, I’m not practicing enough.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
It’s been a while but my favorite concert memory is still that one time we opened a nearly sold out show for Judas Priest back in 2012. You don’t get to play in front of 10.000 people every day. I don’t think many of them knew who we were but the reception was fantastic. Funnily enough our next show after it was one of the smallest stages we ever played.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
That time I saw Mother’s Cake for the first time, having no idea who they were. I believe they were still teenagers at the time. If you’re not familiar, it’s a rock band from Austria. Check them out.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
I love finding new music all the time so I rarely have a “heavy rotation” – just because a lot of the time I’ll choose to listen to something I’ve never heard before over something I really like. Lately my playlists have been dominated by a mix of contemporary soul, jazz and funk as well as some modern metal. That being said – while I wait for the new Sleep Token album, »The Spin« by Messa and »Lonely People With Power« by Deafheaven have been big recent standouts for me.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
The key to good sound is good performance. Don’t count on your studio engineer to “fix it later” and don’t expect to sound great on stage if the band isn’t tight.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I don’t know if this counts but people look at me weird when I dip my fries in ice cream. You should try it!
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Warsaw / Poland?
Even though I think Poland has a lot to offer in heavy music, it’s still very niche in general. Historically it’s been mostly about extreme metal but it’s been becoming way more varied over the last decade or two… As for the Warsaw scene, specifically, you’re probably familiar with bands like Dopelord, Weedpecker or Belzebong. There’s more where those came from so yeah, I’d say it’s a pretty interesting scene, even if not a lot of people know about a lot of these bands.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
You’ll mostly be able to see us here in Poland. Unfortunately it’s hard for us to do longer tours that reach further – but who knows, maybe an opportunity will arise. We only have a couple more dates announced as I’m writing this but we will be coming back for more in summer and fall.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We keep on trucking. Immediate future holds a music video shoot and some more live dates. More long-term, I’m pretty sure we still have at least a couple more records in us.
How can people best support your band?
No surprising answers here… If you live close to where we’re playing, come to the show. Otherwise, buy a CD or a t-shirt. If you can’t do that, stream our music on the app of your choice. Most all though – tell your friends!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
If you’re even reading this, you probably know this already but… go to small local shows. Go see bands you don’t know. A lot of the time they’ll be way better than whoever’s selling out your local sports arena.
I guess that’s it. See ya on the highway!
Links:
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Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well