Review Fix Exclusive: Konrad Kupiec Interview

On a windy day in Newburgh, NY, Konrad Kupiec from the up and coming chicago thrashers Diamond Plate stands outside Gloria’s Pub. The band just came off of their first tour with Kittie and is now on the road destroying stages with Warbringer. Kupiec managed to spare a few minutes of his time to talk about his newfound lifestyle, music and much more.

Review Fix: How was the adjustment from playing locally to touring?

Konrad Kupiec: We as a band went though the same growing pains that any band goes through, starting with experiences building their own following in their hometown. It did take a while for us to get up in the Chicago scene because there wasn’t a lot of bands in Chicago playing thrash and doing what we were doing. We had to build the scene along with our own band. As soon as we got to a certain point, when we got signed, we started touring and it was kind of a natural progression for us. It wasn’t anything too hard to do. We were expecting it for so long and building up to it for so long it kind of made sense.

Review Fix: How has the reception been to you guys so far?

Konrad Kupiec: It’s great. The Kittie tour was surprisingly a really good tour for us. People really loved it and people that have never really listened to thrash metal or any kind of extreme music like that before were really kind of blown away by us. For them it was something new and fresh that they don’t experience as much like, say this Warbringer tour, where people are really used to hearing Warbringer and bands that sound like us and coming out here seeing us playing something that were used to playing so the reception on this tour has been pretty great.

Review Fix: What do you do on your down time?

Konrad Kupiec: In between tours we had maybe three days at home and that was completely filled with band stuff like writing and fixing the RV. So those three days off were really not days off because it was work for us as well. During the days on tour, we just kind of hang out, play music, read, smoke weed, **** like that. We just kind of hang out and stuff but its not bad.

Review Fix: What does the increase in the lineup feel like? Did being onstage as a four piece take some getting used to after being a three piece for so long?

Konrad Kupiec: There’s definitely a lot less room onstage to move around, but I think Mario brings a lot to the band live because there’s another personality onstage that people can watch. The second guitar in the back behind solos or the twin guitar harmonies – that really brings a lot to the live sound, which is exactly what we wanted from it. Its great and I love the kid to death and its just really fun raging it up onstage with him every night.

Review Fix: You recently filmed a music video for the song “At the Mountains of Madness.” What was that like?

Konrad Kupiec: The majority of the video was filmed before the release show actually started. It was about 2pm that day. It was incredible to see at 2pm on a Friday night a venue packed and that a lot of people came out and supported and that even more people showed up once the show began. We did about seven or eight takes of the same song and people were going apeshit at every take, so what people see in the music video is those seven or eight takes as well as some of the actual show itself.

Review Fix: There are a bunch of different camera angles in the video. How many cameras were set up?

Konrad Kupiec: Three or four; I’m not entirely sure. I know there were no more than four, but it was just take after take after take. We were pretty burnt out after it, but the crowd was still great so it was awesome.

Review Fix: There is another video for the same song that is much older when you guys were much younger. How old were you then?

Konrad Kupiec: I think that was about a month before my 16th birthday so I was 15 at the time. Jim was 16 and Jon was also 15. That’s an old ass video (laughs).

Review Fix: Why did you choose to do the same song for the new video?

Konrad Kupiec: The initial old version of it we did a whole set as part of that shoot we did a whole set. We actually have a DVD of the whole show. We put that video up just because we have it. The Earache thing was that they put it up because they felt that this is the song people know the most and it’ll get the best response when we shoot the video. It shows in the new video, people are singing the songs, they know the lyrics and it really works and we also wanted a comparison so people can see it and go “That old video?” that’s old us and then they look at the new one and they go “Oh this is how much we’ve progressed.” It gives people a good representation of how we’ve grown over three years.

Review Fix: If you could choose, which song would you say would be the next single for a video?

Konrad Kupiec: I’d probably say the title track “Generation Why?” because there’s a lot of stuff we could do with that as far as the concept and it is the title track which people could really get into.

Review Fix: What would you say is your favorite part of touring?

Konrad Kupiec: I think its just the fact that I get to travel and do what I love and make somewhat of a living off of it. It really is a good feeling to travel across the country in every city in America and share something I’ve created, myself and with my band. I love traveling and I love playing music so it works out well.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be on a tour with bands more your style as opposed to the Kittie tour which had you as more the odd band in the bunch?

Konrad Kupiec: With both tours we’ve been the best of friends with every band, so it’s not so much of “Oh we’re on two different tours.” It’s pretty much been the same kind of “brotherhood” except with Kittie its not really a “brotherhood,” but we’ve just been best friends with pretty much everyone on both tours and that’s what it’s about. You play for a half hour every night and then on tour you have to make connections with people and be out there as far as bonding with everyone on tour. It’s about hanging out and making friends on every tour, so its pretty much been the same experience but with a different group of people.

Review Fix: Any weird tour stories so far?

Konrad Kupiec: Well after the Kittie tour, our drummer started dating the singer of Kittie so that’s a bit odd (laughs). With the Warbringer tour it has just been a bunch of cool partying with everyone.

Review Fix: One last question, what’s your superpower?

Konrad Kupiec: I’d say the ability to read people’s minds because you can find out some fucked up shit that way so id choose that.