The story that led to the creation of a project called Bremenn began in 1995 in the city of Lublin. At first, it was present only in the head of guitarist and composer Grzegorz Kabasa – who was the originator of the whole thing. Musically, it was inspired by the increasing capabilities of computers. Creating a band was hard at this time in Lublin, because everyone on Lublin’s music scene was busy trying to prove their superiority above others. Creativity was understood as the skill to master all the tabs in the world. No one worried that learning how to play the instrument was just the beginning. In this case, a generic Sound Blaster and Cakewalk Express seemed to be salvation for a single musician. With the use of general midi sounds, solid tracks were completed and ready to show to possible partners. All elements were tightly assembled together, each of them fitted into its own time and space. The attempt to record guitars using a Marshall JMP1 preamp and a Ensoniqe DP4 processor were only partially successful, because the computer wasn’t fast enough to perform a perfect trace synch and add extra effects. Time passed, new tracks appeared, but the project that was later called Bremenn was still more virtual than real.

The surrounding reality gave lots of ideas for lyrics, which are quite important. Bremenn never forgets about the message – it’s a very important part of our creation.

Their first more human appearance dates back to 2003 – when Grzegorz Kabas invited Mariusz Kukuryk – drums, Mirosław Nieścior – guitar, Piotr Dankiewicz – bass and Jakub Tabaczewski – vocals. Since then the line-up changed as follows: In 2003 Tomasz Graczyk took over the bass, and he’s been playing with the band ever since. In 2010 Atek Radej filled in as a new guitarist.

There was around 20 tracks ready, so the band’s job was to familiarize themselves with the material. The effect is a fusion of electronic sounds and heavy guitars. Everything is set in a dark mood. Synthetic sounds were provided by the Virus plug-in, three virtuals from Spectrasonic Stylus, Atmosphere, Trilogy and Fruity Loops software. Since the band has no keyboardist, the synthetic sounds are played on a Macintosh Powerbook G4 notebook. Guitar equipment is three amps – Fender Rock 1000, Gallien-Krueger 700 RB, and Peavey 5150, Fender and Marshall JCM 900 columns. The band is also using effects such as Line POD XT Live and Dunlop’s Cry Baby. Our instruments are Ibanez Jem VBK 777, Charvel Jakson N6, Pearl – Les Paul Custom Model, Epiphone – Les Paul Standard, Fender Heartfield, Ibanez X and Flame CS-5, plus a Pearl Session Elite percussion set with Paiste Sound Formula – Alfa cymbals. Since the frontman has his own FocusFog recording studio, equipped with a Pro Tools Mix Plus system and Genelec monitoring, the band got the chance to record their material. They’re currently working on their first LP.

So far, a three-track promo was released. It’s a teaser of the upcoming album (the work on which began in 2007). To emphasize the universal character of the message, the lyrics are in English. It’s not a matter of trends, but a chance to reach foreign listeners. The only lyrics in Polish appear in the “Historia Ostatnia” track, created in 2004 for Andrzej Mathiasz’s movie “Numer”. Marta Grzesińska wrote them especially for this particular track.

The project called Bremenn doesn’t limit itself to a classic rock show. We’re currently creating a show filled with visualizations, light-effects, and acted out scenes. The first step towards those visual plans, is the series of our first shows, where we are using an unusual image more similar to that of an industrial metal band’s. Our listeners tend to put us in different categories, but it’s not important to us. Bremenn is dark, not spectacular, based on heavy guitar riffs with synthetic sounds. The visuals are supposed to emphasize and complete the whole show. We want the audience to feel that we want to reach them by professional means. The philosophy saying that real music will defend itself and doesn’t need any visuals, doesn’t appeal to us. Bremenn isn’t a band of dolls with make-up chasing western trends. We’re not sick about being original and unique. We’re interested in dark, mysterious intellectualism expressed by sound and vision. We simply defend reason. You could say that it’s already been done, surely that’s true, but it seems to us that many people had forgotten about it.

Grzegorz Kabasa


PS. Bremenn is simplicity – not commonery. Try to understand this theatre.