Dream Reality

First off, I'm not familiar with the band with the exception of RIVERSIDE being from Poland and you being the first-ever Polish act on Inside Out Music. How did your deal come about for this second release?
We received the Inside Out address from our Polish label and sent them our debut album "Out of Myself" and our mini album "Voices in my Head". And they liked both of them. I think the response to our first European tour, which we organized ourselves in April this year, also contributed to offering us a contract for the next album. That's great because at this moment, I think, Inside Out is the best choice for us. And it's also a great honour, cause we are in the same label as many artists we've always respected and admired.

RIVERSIDE had a debut on Laser's Edge / Sensory correct? Can you tell us a little about that album, it's availability and the difference between that one and "Second Life Syndrome"?
"Second Life Syndrome" is the second part of a trilogy. "Out of Myself" is the first one. Well, the first album is more lyrical, while the second is darker and heavier. Each part of our trilogy shows a different frame of mind of the main hero. On "Second Life Syndrome" he takes up inner struggle with himself, he screams and shouts a bit more. I think you should listen to our debut - it's a more "charting" record" (laughs).

Everyone of you guys in the band have some sort of schooling as far as studying music; what's the background like on all of you as far as musical influences?
Each of us had played in different bands for more than 10 years before Riverside. The drummer played death metal, the guitarist - metal, I played progressive rock. Our keyboardist is a great fan of Deep Purple for instance. We listen to different kinds of music and there are alot of influences. What's most important is that we are inspired not only by music, but also by things that happen around us and to us, by books or by films... It all makes up our music and our style, on which we're still working.

"Volte-Face" is probably one of the best songs I have ever heard as far as having vocals and having such a wide array of progression, instrumentation, emotions and a wall of atmosphere backing it up. What does this song mean and what was the main thought process in coming up with such a good song?
"Volte-face" was one of the first compositions which we prepared for
the second album. It's different and it's quite specific. Most of all, it has a huge emotional load, which is building up throughout the song until it finally explodes with the words, "I'm not afraid!" It's a song in which the hero of the story decides to change and wages a war against his weaknesse.

Alot of your songs including "Volte-Face" have an uncanny texture towards the 70's Moog and B3 influence with keys and synths in the realms of like Gary Wright, Edgar Winter, Rick Wakeman and Manfred Mann; not many use it today and RIVERSIDE still sounds quite modern.
The credit for it goes to Michal, our keyboardist. On this album, he
introduced a lot of his own ideas evocative of the 70s, which sounds quite modern when combined with certain harmonies and the sound of the other instruments.

The instrumental "Reality Dream III"? Is there something I'm missing as far as I and II? (First album maybe?). Tell us about the making of this song....very phenomenal instrumental. Instrumentals alone are a dying breed it seems.
Our trilogy will be titled "Reality Dream Trilogy." The instrumental pieces with this title are one of the links between the albums. On "Out of Myself" there are the first two parts, and now, well, it was time for part three. It's a proof that Riverside is a band that composes not only longer or shorter songs but also instrumentals. Anyway, that's what we started from before I got at the mike". (laughs)

There's another Polish band called Indukti that plays a similiar style to RIVERSIDE but with violin; familiar with them? That would be a cool tour actually if both of you teamed-up.
Yes, I know Indukti. I'm singing on this record (laughs). They asked me to sing on their debut album and I agreed without hesitation because they gave me a free hand to use the voice, the vocal lines. They trusted me. In this way I wasn't just a performer but also a co-composer of certain tracks. Who knows what the future brings? Maybe we will play on the same stage one day?

The vocals of RIVERSIDE are great too with a mellow texture like that of A-Ha or some 80's band to like Live and then there's the aggression in an almost Death Metal style....this seems to work very well with RIVERSIDE's music; comments?
A-Ha? That's interesting (laughs). Riverside is a band that uses alot of contrasts. The diversified vocals conveying a wide range of emotions - from a whisper to a scream - are one of the elements of our style.

Plan on touring and is there any possibilities of coming here to the U.S. for support of the new album?
We're planning to tour Poland and Europe in April and May 2006. And
the States? Well, once we were already on our way overseas, but certain issues connected with visas made it impossible for us to jump on a plane. We'll see what happens next year - we're hoping to finally go to the U.S. and play a pretty nice concert there.

Final thoughts, recommended websites, links, anything you may want to add that was not mentioned?
You can visit our website - www.riverside.art.pl. There is alot of information that might be interesting for you. And, of course, at the end, I would like to say hello to all our fans overseas."