"Sailing in the moonlight is something for romantic souls. Nice melodies, some bombast, clear, trained vocals, intelligent arrangements. It all flows smoothly through ears to the head. And it stays there. It doesnt prompt pressure leaps or seasickness. It is beautiful with its symphonic calls, gothic mystery and magic of old- time music, but sharp with metal claws. It is executed with heart and passion. It is not a product. It is music. MOONLIGHT is really cool, because it is accessible but far from being hackneyed." "Brum", 1997 r.
M O O N L I G H T
Their search for a unique musical identity and a vision of Moonlights music began in 1991 at the Szczecin High School No. VI. The school club saw the first rehearsals of a band called UNDER THE VEIL OF HONESTY. After initial personal fluctuations, the first regular line-up included: Maja Konarska vocals, Kasia Michalewicz vocals, Andrzej Kutys guitar, Arek Wlazło guitar, Daniel Potasz keyboards, Szymon Gebel bass, Tomek Kopczyński drums. They named themselves MOONLIGHT.
"We always wanted to have a female singer. We tried a lot of them, at one time we had two of them. We were lucky to meet Majka. We often agreed that we should look for a real talent in one of many Szczecin choirs. One day we went for a search. We stood in the hall and didnt know what to do, and whom to approach. Maja was the first person we talked to, and now she is with us. Andrzej Kutys, for Machina, 1996.
In this line-up, in the legendary studio of Akademic Radio Pomorze (it hosted the first recordings of Hey, Kolaboranci, Firebirds, Quo Vadis and others) MOONLIGHT recorded their first demo-tape on the turn of 1992/1993. It contained nine new songs. In a very short time an independent company from Szczecin RocknRoller offered them to release it on cassette. The material was well received by both listeners and journalists.
Then it was different. On one hand, the band played a decent number of gigs, including the last Jarocin festival (with Mancu and Fading Colors), the first gothic rock festival in Grodziec, the Mayday festival in Glogow, Polish qualifying to the Le Printemps de Bourges festival in Koszalin, the Słowianin club in Szczecin and many smaller gigs.
On the other hand, they were not free of trouble, primarily with the rehearsal room and the line-up particularly on position of drummer and bassist. Personal matters finally cleared up begin 1995. Tomek Wieczorek was employed as the new drummer, and Pawel Gotlas as the new bass player. Before the holidays the band lost the second guitarist - Arek Wlazło. The whole line-up was as follows: Maja Konarska vocals, Daniel Potasz keyboards, Andrzej Kutys guitar, Paweł Gotłas bass, Tomek Wieczorek drums. In this constellation they performed at the Rock Block festival in Szczecin and took the main Prize. This event helped MOONLIGHT to record the second demo, which was destined to further promote the band.
Holidays A.D. 1996 was a busy, but successful time in the bands history. In a very short period of time they played at two prestigious festivals: FAMA in Swinoujscie, where they qualified to the final concert, broadcast live by Polish TV, and in Wegorzewo, where they won two prizes, awarded by the journalists and the audience.
From the start I must admit that, as far as the jury and their awards are concerned, I sympathise most with the journalists and the audience. Their awards went to MOONLIGHT, a band with a very competent singer. The rest of the band is confident as well, and together with the singing lady creates moods ranging from progressive to gothic rock. XL, 1996 r.
In the same summer the musicians visited also the Stop Olecko (playing in the final concert) and the third gothic festival in Grodziec, where they got an excellent reception from the crowd. The latter concert was witnessed by a representative of Metal Mind Productions, and already at the end of the month (August 96) the band singed a contract and began recordings of an album in the Fonoplastykon studio in Wroclaw.
"(...) The first Moonlight album, featuring Maja Konarska on vocals, who is definitely a candidate to the pantheon of our talented female rock vocalists, contains some very inspiring music. It shines with some cleverly constructed atmospheres, usually lyrical and mellow, but with metal moments, sometimes progressive- psychedelic or Arabic-Jewish. (...)." Tylko Rock, 1996 r.
Information on the band, interviews and reviews of the album appeared in all large music magazines in Poland. Each of them praised the originality, great vocals of Majka Konarska and stylistic diversity of the music of MOONLIGHT.
After the release of Kalpa Taru the band played a tour with the British prog legend Pendragon. Their route went through Poznan (Eskulap), Warsaw (Stodola), Zabrze (The House of Music and Dance) and Krakow (TV studio in Leg). Despite the risk of a dissonance MOONLIGHT plays somewhat heavier after all it turned out that the audience, critics and the PENDRAGON members were all very positive about the common tour.
"For me the concert didnt begin until MOONLIGHT. (...) It was mostly due to Maja Konarska. The girl has a great voice, and she knows how to use it. She immediately caught the attention of all fans (...) Tylko Rock, 1996 r.
More gigs followed in February 1997. Moonlight, together with label mates Sirrah, played in Gdansk, Poznan, Lublin and Szczecin.
Their most important performance at that time was the concert in Krakows Hala Wisly, where they warmed up for Mercyful Fate and King Diamond in front of a few thousand people. Again, the gig proved that Moonlight is unafraid to play for very different audiences. Also the orthodox metal one.
"The opening band was Szczecins MOONLIGHT. Maja Konarska, standing still at the microphone, somehow managed to catch the attention of the crowd, which wasnt easy. Each number, even though quite different stylistically from the headliner, was received with handclaps." Tylko Rock, 1997 r.
It was not the end of live shows. In the same year the musicians were able to play twice in the Katowices spodek, each time in front of multi-thousand audience. The first occasion was the big METALMANIA in May, along with Tiamat, Samael, Anathema, The Gathering, and the second one in October at the METAL HAMMER FESTIVAL, headlined by one of the most popular, alongside with Metallica and Slayer, heavy-metal outfit, Megadeth.
With that many gigs under their belt, the band has worked out their scenic image in front of a large and different audience, which paid off with a large interest from fans. MOONLIGHT was even offered supporting the Ritchie Blackmoores band Rainbow, but the concert was eventually cancelled.
In most of music summaries of the year 1996 MOONLIGHT had their share. Tylko Rock nominated them to the award of the debut of the year, Brum gave an honourable mention to Maja Konarska in the female vocalist category, Machina nominated Kalpa Taru for the album of the year etc. Before the recording of the next album the last personal change had to be made: the drummer Tomek Wieczorek had some health problems, which prevented him from playing. He was replaced by Maciek Kamierski, previously in FIREBIRDS. In spite of completely different musical background, Maciek quickly feklt right at home in the artistic and scenic image of MOONLIGHT, and, together with Pawel Gotłas, built a solid base for the other musicians. It was noticeable already at Metalmania (the change took place around April 1997).
In optimistic moods the musicians started to compose the new material (a few bits were presented before at promotional gigs). During the work in the studio they heralded some changes in style:
"We are going to use more percussive instruments and build more space, the new album shouldnt be so flat. I cant complain much on Kalpa Taru, but its obvious that we want to produce the next album better. I believe that we will positively surprise our fans." Daniel Potasz, for Metal Hammer, 1997. The main conclusion we drew from the first album was that our music lacks a distinct rhythm. And the rhythm was the thing we paid most attention to during the making of the new album. Andrzej Kutys, for Brum, 1997.
The new album got an equally mysterious title as the first one: Meren Re, and was released almost exactly one year after Kalpa Taru. It was again received positively by critics and fans, confirming the common opinion that MOONLIGHT is one of the few, if not the only band, able to make original music by blending art rock, metal and gothic.
"Meren Re is the name of a beautiful and mysterious old-Egyptian princess. The new album by MOONLIGHT is as beautiful and as mysterious as she must have been, and major credit for this should go to Maja Konarska, who shows an undeniable talent. Lyrics, written by the main composer in the band - keyboard player Daniel Potasz, fit perfectly to the overall atmosphere, which, in comparision to the debut album, remained very eerie but got more rockish at the same time. Keyboards are still the dominant instrument, but the rhythm section moved in front, which made the bands sound fuller and more convincing. This pack from Szczecin play overly charming music, that can be filed somewhere between rock, gothic and classic metal categories. Machina, 1997.
Unfortunately, the Metal Mind Productions company, which had been very supportive to the band and was totally involved in promoting it, seemed to lose interest. Yes, there were a few reviews and interviews published in papers, songs were played on air several times, but one important element of promotion was missing: concerts. It was very obvious and depressing in comparision to the corresponding period after the release of the previous album. Naturally, the interest from fans in MOONLIGHT became to sink, and high places in numerous musical summaries (a spot in the best three live groups along with Acid Drimkers and Vader, according to Metal Hammer readers, was probably the most significant one) did not help.
The lack of live gigs was not the only problem the band had with the record company. Until now the members of MOONLIGHT dont know the sales figures of their albums, and inquiring the companys representatives was in vein. There were also serious problems with distribution, which were reflected in letters from fans, who could not trace MOONLIGHT recordings in shops.
Eventually, the deal with Metal Mind Productions was terminated by MOONLIGHT, because of the company not fulfilling the duties, they were obliged to by the contract. Attempts to find another label resulted in developing a contact with Morbid Noizz Productions.
Once the composing work was finished, the band entered the studio for the third time to record an album.
"What is it like? We did not change our style, thats for sure (laughing). It is very atmospheric, carefully arranged and better produced in comparision to the past albums. I am very satisfied with it, in terms of both vocals and production, which was supervised by Bartek Straburzyński." Maja Konarska, for Brum, 1998. ["I like making up such names. I am studying history and in some scripts I find nice and very accurate names - Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian. If I have a detailed explanation what the word means, it may sometimes suit to one of my particular concepts. Then I use this word, or invent it myself." Daniel Potasz, for Metal Hammer, 1997.
The new material got positive feedback even before its official release date, and gained the prestigious patronage of Polish Radio 3. Another novelty was the recording of a professional video to the song Flos. Unfortunately, this initially successful cooperation dramatically collapsed at the beginning of 1999. The release of Inermis was delayed for 4 months - the album was presented in radio and papers, but still could not be purchased! It had good reviews, but the good chance of broadening the fan-base was lost.
"With a small delay [sic!] we received the third album of MOONLIGHT. It contains absolutely mature material, which can compete with the best Western bands, without any Polish complex. On Inermis Maja Konarska continues to improve as a singer, exposing her fabulous voice of almost unlimited abilities. The music written by Daniel Potasz and Andrzej Kutys finds the right balance between metal, gothic, art- rock and any other strange genre. Sometimes we are even treated with a classic ballad. An almost artistic manner of songs is transparent not only in the oriental feel, but also in intelligent lyrics by Daniel Potasz, which, sadly are still a rarity in todays bands. MOONLIGHT does great even as a garage band - covers of Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode) and Army Of Me (Björk) are simply amazing." XL, 1999
MOONLIGHTs version of Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode, which was a bonus track on Inermis, will appear on a compilation dedicated to Depeche Mode, together with artists like Maciek Maleńczuk, Blenders, IMTM, Hedone.
"Shortly, we play music because we like to do it, and because it is very important to us. We come to rehearsals, we practice, and we often feel shivers coming down the spine. We never consider, if the song we are just working on should be adressed to the gothic-metal audience, or maybe the progressive one. We would really like to be appreciated for what we do, because we do not calculate nor try to hit the market. We are 100% honest in presenting our own vision of music to the public. And if people are interested in what we offer, we will be very happy." Andrzej Kutys, for Brum, 1999.
