Interview with Dyvan Lead Vocals with Epitome and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
Dyvan: Due to the profession of grinding death metal – we do not consider ourselves as an “artists”. This concept is reserved for people who have a talent for doing things that other people would have a huge problem with, even working at it all their lives 😉
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
Dyvan: The EPITOME band comes from Rzeszów. It was established in 1992. As You can guess, the line-up of the band has changed over the last 30 years, and with it – the approach to what this band is supposed to be. As of today, as we are no longer the youngest, we do not aim our music at the top of the charts, even those of the “metal” genre. Rather, we focus on making music that we enjoy ourselves first, and on playing as many gigs as possible. After all, it’s more fun than hard work 😉
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
Dyvan: We are certainly inspired by many bands, more those we admired in our youth than today. Not because bands play bad music these days, but mostly because it takes too much time to explore the music scene 😉
As for the themes in the lyrics of our songs – they are various, often very unpleasant, sometimes abstract, sometimes directly real. Often it depends on the author of the text, and there have been quite a few over the years 😉 In the future, as I am currently writing lyrics, I plan to write something like a concept for the next album. I am currently looking for new inspirations!
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
Dyvan: My aspiration is to have fun, without any senseless problems, interpersonal pressures. Just GRIND ‘TIL DEATH!
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
Dyvan: From the band’s point of view, the greatest success was to play 3 tours around Mexico in 4 and a half years, very often in places where no one else from Poland or Europe would be able to play 😉 By “tour” we mean playing concerts day after day, no matter what day it is. Weekend concerts are a misnomer these days as “tour”.
From my private point of view, joining the band, recording a jubilee album and playing concerts on the occasion of the band’s 30th anniversary!
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms
in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
Dyvan: It’s true, a lot of bands record and produce themselves, but it’s rather an advantage, because thanks to this, musicians gain experience, but also, and perhaps above all, musical awareness. Of course, the best promotion is to play live what was recorded at home or in the studio. We leave media promotion to a large extent to our publisher – Deformeathing Prod. But of course, we also work on the band’s existence as much as possible, primarily on social media.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
Dyvan: We work on concerts on the basis of using private contacts not only in our country but also outside it. Promotion of these concerts is, of course, work primarily on social media, etc.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
Dyvan: The world has moved in the direction we see it now. Until quite recently, downloading music from the Internet was not a very cool approach to the subject. However, from what we can see, this practice died on its own, thanks to the emergence of streaming platforms. Of course, we wish that everyone who wants to listen to our music will also buy it as a physical copy. However, we have no influence on people’s decisions. We won’t force anyone to do it 😉
That’s why we also use a platform known as Spotify.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Dyvan: The only songs we want to record are our songs 🙂 There’s no point in writing about it any longer 🙂
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
Dyvan: I think the answer to this question can be deduced from the answer to the above question about downloading and streaming music 🙂
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
Dyvan: We are currently working on new material that we would like to record next year and to play as many concerts as possible.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
Dyvan: You can find us here:
https://www.facebook.com/SupeROTic
https://www.instagram.com/epitomegrindcore/
Epitome links:
Band/Artist location – Poland
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp –
Instagram – Spotify –
Check our page for Epitome
