What is your name?
My name is Stak, and i play band WEESP.
What is your genre of music?
We call ourselves – alternative post metal.
Give us a little bio about you.
Weesp formed in the middle of 00s in Minsk, Belarus and in 2009 released the first record of the band – ‘Taste of Steel’ EP.
(2009-2015)
Weesp performed at numerous concerts and festivals, including those in Baltic countries, all over CIS, Poland, Germany and Czech Republic. The band also released a few singles and EPs during that period.
(2015-2017)
In 2015 the band released their first long play album ‘The Void’, recorded by Wieslawski brothers at Hertz Records (Behemoth, Decapitated, Vader). The album features 13 songs, two of which were done in collaboration with Cory Brandan from Norma Jean. Band kept touring across Europe.
(2017-2018)
The band has released the ‘illumination’ single at the end of 2017, together with the official video, and announced the second LP album name ‘Black Sails’. The band community noticed significant change of style and sound of the band.
April 5 ‘Black Sails’ album has been released. It consists of 9 songs. After the release Weesp got a lot of positive reviews and feedback.
Weesp are standing against the dictation of society’s conservative values. The band’s music is about finding one’s own path, it’s about hard choices, dreams and passion, about being different.
What made you go in to music?
No mystery legend here. We were teenagers, dreamers, hated school and loved music.
Lex just came up with idea to create a band once.
Everybody really liked this idea, even despite the fact that we couldn’t play any instrument and sing. But we started to learn though. I guess It all started in that old garage.
Except the drummer, (Gul joined later in 2010) no band members ever changed during Weesp’s life path. So we are like a big family.
Are you a signed?
No. We’re completely DIY
You released your album this year ‘Black Sails’ , tell us more about it.
Dynamic, diverse and wholesome Black Sails album is a 40-minute trip that consists of 9 tracks and is full of heavy riffing, melodic ballads, anger, pain and hope. The album sounds much heavier in both music and lyrical sense but at the same time, it preserves the same bright emotional message that’s typical for Weesp.
Even though the album lyrics is not in the form of a story but rather reflects emotions and visions, it still has clear and concise meaning that pierces through the whole Black Sails album. The theme of complicated choice and thorny path of a person that does not fit in “normal” world and for whom “normal” society values are not enough.
We do not blame society for one’s fate and mental state but on the opposite, encourage ours listeners to act, believe, struggle and find own way. Black Sails is an album about staying true despite anything.
Who did you work with on the Album?
We have ‘Black Sails’ recorded by Wieslawski brothers at Hertz Records at Poland (Behemoth, Decapitated, Vader) and Everest Media studio in Minsk.
Mixing were done also by guys from Herts and mastering were done in USA by Audiosiege studio. For this LP – we decided not to invite any musicians guests
Describe each track in three words.
Sure. Our album contains of 9 tracks.
All these tracks from the ‘Black Sails’ album have something in common. It’s the crucial idea that pierce the album – “You CAN! But don’t think it won’t hurt.” I mean we often think that we cannot do something just because we were taught that we cannot do it, but how do we know it if we don’t try?
Off course it’s risky and it’s not the easiest way to live your life, you know, that’s why with this album we want to show that these people are not alone. Together with that the tracks are diverse.
‘Black Sails’‘Who We Are’ and ‘Illumination’ the songs that are actually fully stand for the idea I just talked about.
‘Not Over’ ‘Roads, Hotels’ and ‘The Stream’ are more personal and emotionally expressive, ‘Monsters’ and ‘After Us’ are more into a game of contrasts that we always love to play.
Will you be doing a tour or any live dates?
We have a few Big festivals and a lot of smaller shows planned for next 3 month across Belarus. And starting from second part of November we’re going to play about eight shows thru Poland and Germany during the tour.
If so where will you be heading and where can more information be found. All our live shows schedule can be found here:
https://weespofficial.com/
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/820723
https://www.songkick.com/artists/2542671-weesp
How would you describe the difference in your music from then to now?
We grow from album to album, developing our own style.
You can see the whole evolution if you’ll listen through all of our discography from ep2008vol1 and Taste of Steel to The Void and to the latest stuff which can be found on our Youtube channel. One thing was never changed – the sincerity and energy that we always try to give to fans. Our music becomes darker, more serious and rough, it also becomes more progressive and complicated. We also evolve a bit in terms of sound quality on our recordings and show quality at our gigs.
What else can we expect from you?
We are already at the final stage of preparing acoustic versions of some of our tracks. Of course we will make a studio live session and write everything down to show to our listeners. Maybe even perform it during live stream. After that we start writing some new singles to film new videos for you, guys! And on top of it – a lot of live shows!
Do you play any instruments?
I play synths. Have a bunch of them. Other guys of course play other instruments: Mike plays guitar, Mi plays bass, Gul plays drums and Lex is on vocals.
Who are your influences?
When i was young i listened to all kinds of music (as i do now as well) – from gangsta rap to Metallica and Prodigy. My own heroes are Iron maiden, Cypress Hill, Nine Inch Nails and much more. But the musical influences of Weesp are a mix of musical heroes of all members, i’d say it is more in Tool and Deftones but with a modern look. Off course we discover new bands all the time. There are so many music we love. It’s inexhaustible source of inspiration.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
The thing is, we always try to be in interesting places, meet interesting people, and as a result – finding ourselves in interesting situation. Good or bad – this is a true impressions you can’t just make up from nothing.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
We will record at least 2 more albums, play at least 5-7 EU tours, tour across UK and US. Have much bigger tours and much bigger fan reach. So, the next 5 years should be awesome.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
Each of the members of course has other interests besides music.
Mi – our Bassist is fond of super low cars and builds his STANCE project and also runs his own IT company. Mike has his own music school with like four hundred pupils. I like to humiliate enemies in the Call of Duty playing online on my PS4, and Lex is a big fan of girlies =)
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
Stay true to yourself and to what you believe in. Always stick to this simple rule, it helps me do what i do.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
Practice a lot. Get good know of the instrument you play on. Do not be afraid to try new things, experiment with sound and direction. And never never give up.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Don’t let the world break you and you will change it one day” and “Persistence is always rewarded”. These are our hymns. One of them is printed on a cover of our latest CD – Black Sails.
Where in your hometown is the best place to Visit?
Our hometown is Minsk. This is in Belarus (Eastern Europe).
When you are here – you should definitely go to TNT rock club or Bruegge club to see best local underground acts. Or you can drop a line to our e-mail and we could hang out together.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Sure, here are few links:
Spotify
SoundCloud
Itunes
BandCamp
Web-site
YouTube
Instagram
