Mad Man’s Spirit is the new punk band that's got the scene buzzing with their debut EP, which dropped on March 7th, 2024. The EP got the royal treatment from Grammy-winning engineers Tom Lord-Alge and Ted Jensen, serving up a punk soundtrack with some real meat to it. The band is fronted by Tony Slacker, with Karu on bass, Celsn on drums, and Dome shredding on lead guitar. These guys show that punk knows no boundaries. As Tony puts it, "Punk is about being yourself, embracing your inner outcast, and forging your own way."
Hey Tony! "Lies" explodes with a rebellious vibe and a nod to classic punk influences. Can you talk about what drove the lyrical themes of deceit and self-deception in this single?
Well, the shove to the lyrics of “Lies” is a story of a friend of mine, who broke up with his girlfriend after a serious quarrel. Later it was found out that she was cheating on him for a pretty long time with his best friend(not me), while they still lived together. Also her coming back home late and some other weird stuff, was a part of their relationship. Actually a very horrible story, but as we were talking about it in a bar and being bit drunk, we started making fun of it. I told him: "Can you imagine you would have married her and you would have got kids together, who would be redheads like your buddy? Would you’ve ever notice that?". So that evening was so impressive, that when I got back home, I still had the pictures of that crazy story in my head and the melody (the chorus) was already there, a bit earlier, and in couple of hours the song "Lies" was finished. Of course I put in there some social and political topics about those, who always lie to the people, making loud promises and statements to improve their lives and end all wars or whatever. The intention was to laugh about people about their lies, and how they feel comfortable living in self-deception. Especially now, with all those social media garbage of “my fake life”, people lie to the others and especially to themselves, instead of just doing something to improve their situation. For me it’s funny, and that’s why the song got kind of jolly, kidding, and funny character.
Punk music has always been about pushing boundaries. How do you ensure your music stays true to punk’s rebellious roots while appealing to the modern listener?
The times change but discussed problems are still the same. And if those problems are still here that means no one is doing anything to get those fixed. For this reason we still have to put those into the focus of discussion, through our texts and music to attract people’s attention, and may be push them to some actions. Social topics of bad neighbourhood, poverty, violence against kids and teenagers in their families, confrontation between generations, impact on our nature, but also nice topics like making party, riding bikes, hanging out with friends, taking the best time of your life – these all topics still get the interest of modern listener. Of course we will speak about some current aspects of our life, like social media addiction, or AI fears, which did not exist during couple of decades after the birth of punk rock. All that will be packed into nice cheerful and energetic punk rock music, which we’ll try to make as attractive as possible for the audience and of course for us to play.
With members from different countries, how does this international mix influence the music and lyrics of Mad Man’s Spirit?
Actually this is great a mixture of different backgrounds and cultures, because you get a lot of refreshing topics and examples of music and lyrics from abroad. Quite often I get from my mates for listening German or Italian or even from other countries, which are more far away, different rock and punk rock music. You’re constantly being impacted by unusual interpretation of art and get new ideas, which people in other countries care of and unusual sounds and features in music. Those we can try to transfer into our own style and share it with our audience. It has also a huge influence from the technical perspective and in sense of quality of the sound and songs – big thanks to our German colleagues on that point. The songs are getting more structured, precise in timing, which in total increases the quality and gives more drive to the sound and composition as whole. Additionally the preferences and tastes of other band members give some new and sparkling touch to the songs. For example a metal music player won’t play 100% punk rock, he will always give it some special heavy touch, it can be like using double pedal on bass drum or a heavier distortion for the guitar in some parts of the song.
Tony, you mentioned that being punk is about being an individual and an outcast. How does this philosophy manifest in your songwriting?
As you know, the majority of the music and songs is about love, broken feelings, getting together etc. You will not find a lot of this in our lyrics. There is always more sarcasm and making fun of people’s sins, talking about issues, but sometimes not in the direct way. Also you will not find any stupid texts about gross things like vomiting, farting or any kind of vulgarity, which can be often found in underground punk scene. Those things actually are not a protest or a manifest of anything for me, may be more, lack of education. You can actually pack a lot of intellectual nice stuff into punk rock, which could encourage people to be like more curious about life, to find who they are or may be even to learn something absolutely new.
The single 'Lies' really brings back that Tony Hawk Pro Skater vibe. How crucial are these kinds of cultural throwbacks in defining the unique sound and vibe of your music?
Well, I try to share all the energy I have and put it into our music. Historically energetic sound of punk and skate rock was associated with active sports, which required and at the same time filled up young people with energy. As a teenager and young adult I was also a quite passionate downhill rider and inline skater. Now I still like to ride my bike sometimes, even like a mad man, but I don’t do it as much, as I used before, and don’t take each unnecessary risk. But being for a long time a part of that milieu, turning into a speed and adrenalin junkie, all accompanied with that energetic music, has left a huge footprint on me and who I am. This music loads you with enormous energy, which you need and wish to have, to do such active sports. It also takes away the fea,r when you practice stunts, makes you more dynamic and concentrated as your heart starts to beat faster together with the rhythm of punk rock, getting you ready for this adrenalin kick. That’s why the transferring of this feeling from active sports vibes, into our music is one of our ways to help people to go on when they feel bored, tired or getting down. You can turn on this music and get a punch of energy, which I felt during riding my bike downhill. It’s important for me that my music wakes up emotions and charges people with the energy I have in me, and I have a plenty of that. And it would be great, if my music could also encourage more people to do more active sports, which are healthy, fun and vitalizing more than just sticking to their smart phone or lying on the couch watching TV or Netflix or whatever.
The punk scene has evolved significantly since the MTV generation. What elements from that era do you think are essential to preserve in today’s punk music?
I’d say the structure and features of the way of playing together with more sense in texts should be preserved. All the nice stuff like power slides, solos, which don’t even have to be very complicated, diversity of chords, placing accents in riffs and different parts of a song, could be the good ones to be kept. You know I’m not the one, who can just listen to a 3 minute song, with only 3 chords and text consisting 90% of chorus. It’s not stimulating. It’s monotonous and maybe for this the reason we have the situation, where an average music consumer listens to a song for a minute or something like that. He just knows, that there is nothing interesting to expect, so skips to the next one. The whole composition hast to be many-sided in itself, with not even huge, but a diversity of sounds, so that it has ups and downs, to make the listener to follow it.
Your EP has a really polished sound, which is awesome. But punk is also about that raw energy. How do you guys manage to keep things sounding crisp without losing the rough edge that makes punk, punk?
Punk as a genre has its own features in sounds, melodies and ways of playing. We try to keep those and add something new. In some songs we have a bit heavier chords and melodies. You can always add a little bit more of dirty punk sound or attack to any song, by more hard strokes on the strings or unleashing feedback of the guitars, or palm muting, or making outstanding accents, which we also use. And of course we should not forget that the final touch to the whole composition is done by the mix and mastering. On that point, a huge “Thank You !“ to Tom Lord-Alge and Ted Jensen, those two super high professionals with immense experience and vision of how high quality sound can be applied to the specific raw energy of punk rock, who worked with a lot of punk rock stars like Green Day, Sum 41, Rise Against etc. and also on our EP. Working with such great mix and mastering engineers, who are actually sound artists, has brought us to that result.
If your band had a mascot, what bizarre creature would it be and what would you name it?
It could be a crazy robot like Bender from Futurama, whose sense of humour and the way he sees the things in life are kind of funny. But at the same time he’s like a compilation of all human sins and failures. His name would be Rofi – Robot Fail Intelligence – and who created and programmed the robot –that’s right – the human.
What punk rock song do you wish you had written?
Well if you mean in general, it is of course such a song, which could make people go crazy and sing it along with us in a crowded stadium. But to be serious I guess it could be “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by the Offspring or “Give It All” by Rise Against.
Looking back on the journey that led to your debut EP, what has been the most surreal moment for the band so far?
I guess, it was our third rehearsal, when we got together and for the first time we have recorded a demo in a very amateur way. It was not of a perfect quality, totally not ready for a release. But it had such a punch, that I still like to listen to it sometimes. It was unbelievable, that it was us playing this and it sounded so cool setting you in a kind of trance or musical euphoria. It seemed that each sound and tone was on its place, electrifying the air all around you. Even the professional studio recording did not wake up such a feeling, cause it’s something raw, wild and high instinctive.
Comments