So, after half a year, you came back to Poland, am I right? As a headliner of Czad Festiwal.
Jonathan, Ian: Yeah.
And I was wondering – is there something special in our country for you, of course besides Ben’s roots? Something specific, reminding you of Polish people as a whole?
Jonathan: Yeah, Ben has a bit of Polish background. But, you know, we had started a good successful tour in Germany, long time ago we also wanted to go through the whole Europe. So we come to Poland as we have a lot of other places just because we want to play there. But, we love to come here, because we’ve been treated very nice.
So you liked us, great.
Ian: It’s very similiar to Canada – climate wise, and just overall.
Are there any other similiarities?
Ian: The weather is almost identical, it’s equally cold as in Canada. You know, we’ve been able to play in Kraków, finally, and it was a really beautiful city. We’ve also been playing in Warsaw. It’s great to see new parts of the country gathering together.
Sure. Come to Katowice!
Ian, Jonathan: * laugh *
Jonathan: Kraków has beautiful architecture, it’s a really great place.
Yes, I agree. From my personal point of view, I can say that you make equally strong records. You stick to your roots and make rock solid productions. But, how do you see your future as a band? Are you planning something firmly different, something that will scream ‘surprise, surprise’ in future records?
Ian, Jonathan: * laugh *
Ian: I think we tried that on Billy Talent III album. This was a whole different process – working with the guy like Brendan O’Brien on the record, you know. But I think, the sound of the band is really important for all of the songs, so I can’t see the sound changing, but we’ve always been experimenting with instrument setups, interpretations. Maybe those are the things that we will change, but we always rise a very high bar for quality and production.
I understand. I’ll stick to your albums for a moment. I was wondering if there is any story behind naming of Billy Talent, Billy Talent II and Billy Talent III albums – is this some kind of a trilogy, spontaneus decision to name them like that, or what?
Jonathan: We’ve wanted to name the first record Billy Talent just because it was our first record out there and we’ve just wanted to say ‘this is a Billy Talent’ by that. When we were working on the second album, Ian came into the studio and said ‘you guys want to just call it Billy Talent II‘ and I think we’ve all said ‘yes, sounds good’.
Ian: SOUNDS GOOD!
Jonathan: … and III – we’ve decided that three is like trilogy number. It was also a bit of… maybe anxiety, from the lack of better word, for trying to pick a name for a record that represents all piece. So it’s been an easy way to avoid that. And then we’ve decided we should come up with the names now.
So, what’s the story behind the names of the rest of albums?
Ian: Well, with Dead Silence we wanted to change the numbering system, so the theme of that album was some kind of world ending, it was 2012 and people were talking about that, a lot of doom and gloom. A lot of disasters happened. So that’s why the album cover shows underwater scenery.
Ian: And with Afraid of Heights – it was a little bit more political than Dead Silence. You know, there was a lot of things happening, unoccured things before Donald Trump became president. And the fact that people were still supporting him after he made his all offensive and racist comments just blew my mind. So a lot of songs on that were about why, as people, we are so afraid of heights, afraid to do the right things. That was a metaphore for that.
Do you have, you know, some kind of a ritual before playing a concert?
Jonathan: We have a little practicing here, we usually practice for a half of hour, vocal exercises, things like that. We don’t really do any other rituals, they’re boring stuff * laugh *
Ian: * laugh *
We were talking about Poland, but maybe it’s time for a small reverse – do you miss Canada during the tours?
Jonathan: Well, when you’re touring you have always that comfort of returning home what you may miss. But we try to balance our tours to the point when we don’t really miss our home that much, but you know, we have family, friends, all there, so that’s the stuff you miss, but it’s really enjoyable to tour the world and play, especially over the Europe, so it’s nothing to complain about.
Ian: Yeah. After a month you start missing home. First 3-4 weeks are so fun.
Well, as a band, you received a big recognition in the whole world, but is there – still – something that you want to achieve, despite the amount of popularity and appreciation you acquired?
Jonathan: More fans!
Ian: Yeah! I guess – connecting with as many people as possible, that’s our ultimate goal. For us, for any band – spread the message and music to as much as possible. That’s the plan.
Thank you – and see you soon at the show!
Interview: Piotr Kozioł
Photo: Marcin Twardysko
