Local musicians speak about their musical path and preferences, share experiences and talk about life and music at large.
Raised in an artistic milieu by an encouraging musician mother and a theatre director father, Nicolai was no stranger to the stage and performance from a young age, which nurtured his passion for music. His studies in music and social sciences in Norway and an Erasmus year at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk gave him the framework for a musical path. He is the founder of The New Thing Records and leader of the Wrocław-based psychedelic rock four-piece, The Fake.
The blues scale found me… suddenly I could improvise to songs without having to think or plan too much. Later I would go on to study music… and at that point I had to think more again about how I improvised, but the blues scale is this great, steady and safe shore.
— Nicolai Stensland Szewczyk
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Kraków Music: Why the guitar? How did it all begin for you?
Nicolai Stensland Szewczyk: In school we had some kind of music project as part of our music classes, I guess I was… 11 or 12? Anyway, this local musician led the class and was asking who wanted to do what. I guess I didn’t feel like singing in the choir, nor playing a tambourine or some kind of percussive instrument. So I first tried the bass guitar. That was fun. Then an electric guitar.
My mom, who’s the educated musician in our family, jumped at the opportunity when she saw her son started playing something (at all) so I quickly found myself in front of a guitar teacher, with my grandfather’s Alhambra classical nylon string guitar learning chords and stuff. I think my mom and my grandpa are the reason music is so important to me. Certainly the reason I respect it so much.
Then I got an electric bass from a friend of our family, Roy Magnus was his name, this fretless 80’s or 90’s Epiphone (still got it back in Norway), so then I started focusing on the bass guitar for a while. Like a good solid 4-5 months. Then I got a cheap Les Paul knock off from my parents during that summer in Poland. I had this cheap little transistor amp, and just the cheapest ZOOM multi-effect pedal, and I would just play for hours. Our neighbours there were very patient, didn’t complain, not once. That was also the summer I met my older brother (for the first time), and he actually knew how to play some songs, like Nothing Else Matters and stuff.
KM: How was the learning experience for you? Do you recall any particular teaching, mentoring, advice?
Nicolai: I remember having my mind blown by the blues. The blues scale found me… via my guitar teacher, and eh… yeah, suddenly I could improvise to songs without having to think or plan too much. Later I would go on to study music, and evolve my technique, and at that point I had to start more again about how I improvised, but the blues scale is this great, steady and safe shore.
Pretty soon you realize that many of the greatest guitar solos are just blues scale licks.
I’ve had the very good fortune of being taught by a number of great teachers, not that my playing reflects that. But I was taught by some pretty cool cats, like Maciej Grzywacz for example at the Music Academy in Gdansk. That was probably the most intense training I received. Just an amazing guitarist, and… a very patient tutor. I actually think he became a professor recently.
Buuuuut, one of my best teachers of music, if not the best, is a dear friend called Kristoff Siem. He was the one who kind of built me up, made me believe more in myself and taught me to give less of a shit about taking oneself too seriously. He had a studio, and we’d spend days recording ideas, and he taught me a lot about sound. He’s an amazing drummer, with such diverse technical skills… Probably my most important influence.
KM: What’s one of the songs you play (composed) that you’re most proud of?
Nicolai: Well man, there are a number of songs I’m really happy about, I guess it’s hard to pick one. I guess recently “Zeus” is one of the songs I’m most happy with, starting out with The Fake’s bassist, Anil Dursun, playing a random riff and gently shaping itself into a song about, well I’m not gonna say what it’s about, I’d like to hear what people think. It plays well live, people have responded very positively to it. A studio version will come out sooner or later, but for now there is a live version on The Fake Live EP.
KM: What’s your go-to guitar? What’s the one you usually play and feel most comfortable with?
Nicolai: Eeeeeeeeh… In the past 4 years with The Fake I’ve mostly played my Eastwood Sidejack, which is a cheap kooky Mosrite-looking guitar with a Fender Jazzmaster type tremolo. A great guitar for surf and psychedelic rock. Which was kind of what I wanted then, and still do kind of.
However, I recently had my Rickenbacker 330 Jet Glo set up after a long break from it. The guitar was this crazy gift from my dad when I began my music studies in 2011. It was my main guitar during my studies, and now it’ll probably return to its rightful role. But then again, it comes down to what sounds best. Like I have this amazing Danelectro 12-string I also adore, but there are only so many songs you can use it for, unless… you know, you’re playing in a The Byrds cover band.
KM: What would you say is your best skill playing the guitar?
Nicolai: I can – and this is true – play the guitar in such a way… that people think I can play the guitar. I reckon that’s a pretty good skill.
KM: What are you currently practicing? What are your short or long term goals in terms of technique?
Nicolai: The Fake is in the midst of changing quite a bit, something that I think will become quite clear in the next album, that’s not The Fake Live EP released on 14.05.2021, but our next project. I’m basically working more on speed, and… scales… sustainability… and eh… other stuff. I kind of learn whatever I need to learn in order to make whatever I’m going for possible. Not really good at the whole sit down and learn a complicated technique like tapping or shredding if I don’t have a clear reason to do so.
KM: What is your favourite genre of music to play?
Nicolai: Psychedelic rock, I think, is my main thing. Hell, my bachelor’s thesis was on creating psychedelic music.
KM: Feeling or technique? Which is most important?
Nicolai: They’re pretty equal. Depends on the genre your in. Like if you’re playing bebop then you kind of should have some technique, but without feeling you won’t be no Charlie Parker, you dig? But seeing as I lack technique, I’ll say feel is more important cause that makes me feel like a better musician. Man these are some tough questions you’re asking.
You know how we can sometimes feel like we are close to the people behind the music we listen to? I think music can be a great way to “freeze” time and emotions. You get to know a lot about a musician through the music they play or compose. That special… “feel” of a human being expressing themselves artistically. Maybe my music can be that for my son, when I eventually take my leave from this world, this’ll be that “portal” my son can use to be with his father.
— Nicolai Stensland Szewczyk
KM: What’s your most memorable moment on stage or your most memorable gig? Why?
Nicolai: One of the best gigs we ever had was actually one where we didn’t really have a stage. Eh, it was in 2019. In a club called Kalambur, in Wroclaw. Place was packed, a strangely high number of French people were there. We had members of the audience standing and sitting around us. Like literally in danger of being hit by a guitar or bass, or a combination of the two. That was a great one.
Then there was Nietota in 2020, which some say was our best gig. And then there was the first gig we had with Dominik as a band member in Krakow at Klub Buda. That was an unexpected triumph that also turned out to be recorded, hence… you know, The Fake Live EP.
KM: What can you say about inspiration?
Nicolai: It is the process by which something motivates you to create something else with that previous something forming some kind of basis for the new something.
KM: Is there any other kind of art apart from music that moves you?
Nicolai: Theatre and acting have a very special place in my heart. I spent plenty of my childhood days engulfed in the smell of the stage. I’d see my dad direct people, actors repeating scenes over and over again to get things right, and then seeing the finished product play out in front of a live audience.
It could easily have gone in that direction as well, but for some reason I felt more at home in music.
Also, growing up I would describe myself as “not one that is fond of” the art of tattoos. But that changed quite a bit when I met my girlfriend (now partner and concubine), Karina Byrska, who happens to be a tattoo artist, and indeed a painter, graphic designer and many other things. I’ve since found the world of tattoos to be fascinating, especially when she does it. Not that I think I would ever get one myself. But it requires so much technique to do right! And it can be such an amazing experience for the people getting inked. I mean from dealing with trauma or death to expressing the most extreme joy, and then to carry that on you with your body being this canvas of your (hopefully unique) expression.
KM: A lot of people say the music today isn’t of the same standard – what do you think?
Nicolai: Today’s music is… obviously a product of our time the same way the music of the past was. The airwaves are usually saturated with perhaps the most commercially viable stuff, but there’s some amazing music being created these days. In general I think we’ll know what was good now in a decade or three. It’s a hindsight thing. Back in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s or 90’s the radios were filled with commercial fluff that we’ve kind of forgotten about today. The really good music survived though, thanks to dedicated fans or indeed inspired musicians. Didn’t someone say The Velvet Underground’s debut album only sold 30 000 copies but gave birth to as many bands?
KM: What are three of your favourite musicians? Or which musicians have been to you the most influential? Why?
Nicolai: Pink Floyd, recently Chris Bell of Big Star, Gracious, The Beatles, Cream. That’s a hard question, it changes a lot over time. Like, I used to be heavily into Bigbang (the Norwegian band, not that Korean K-pop thing), I can’t say I am anymore, but they used to be the main thing I listened to and was inspired by, and they’ve shaped me as a musician to this day, though I don’t listen to them quite so often anymore.
KM: If you could jam with any famous musician, who would it be?
Nicolai: Never thought of that before… I don’t know. Could be cool to learn from any of the greats. But I think I would enjoy Syd Barrett. Piper at The Gates of Dawn is probably the Pink Floyd album I’ve listened to the most. Hell, it was basically my summer of 2012.
KM: Who or what is your dirty secret re music?
Nicolai: I had the strangest fascination for “The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies. In general The Hollies was a really cool band.
Also I kind of got into The Osmonds recently. “Down By The Lazy River” for example, and though I couldn’t possibly do it myself, I respect their dance moves when performing that song live. Kind of cool that they really went the distance on the choreography, and the vocal harmonies.
KM: Are there any over-rated guitar “Gods” in your opinion?
I don’t get the whole “guitar god” concept. I think rating anyone as a guitar god is overrated. They’re human beings who play an instrument, and their skills are a result of whatever they prioritized. Also, I know too many artists who get too little attention, despite being light years more talented and interesting musicians than those “gods” we so often revere. And why do we revere guitarists so much?
KM: Have you listened to any new music lately? Who?
Nicolai: Zambian rock from the 1970’s, known as Zamrock. Some amazing music there that was almost lost, but thankfully it’s being released and made available. Great Zamrock bands to listen to are WITCH, Amanaz and Peace. Check out “Living in the past” (WITCH), “Khala My Friend” (Amanaz) and “Black Power” (Peace), and their respective albums.
On the other side, Embee’s “Starlight”. Robotaki is very cool, with songs like “Los Angeles” or “Something from Nothing”.
KM: How do you fit music into your daily life?
Nicolai: Every Sunday we have a 5-8 hour rehearsal session with The Fake. We’re in touch almost every day, constantly planning or coming up with something.
KM: What kind of music do you usually listen to?
Nicolai: Anything from rock, to rap, to electronica, classical… I recently got into metal.
KM: Do you have any musical “guilty pleasures”?
Nicolai: Yeah I kind of like listening to my own music. For some reason that seems like a no-no. Very selfish. But I usually wrote the song for myself, right?
Apart from that I don’t really have any guilty pleasures. Don’t really feel guilty for listening to things I like.
KM: What kind of advice would you give to younger people who are thinking of taking up the instrument?
Nicolai: You’re missing out on one of the most extreme opportunities in life, if you’re not playing already. Being on the creating/performing side of art in general is something everyone should at least try.
KM: First of all, congratulations on your new born baby. The question is such a common place, but still useful: How do you feel?
Nicolai: It is the most extreme thing I’ve ever done. And I consider myself a person who’s done quite a bit. I’m Extremely proud, happy and fascinated. The first couple of weeks I was basically holding back tears of joy every time I looked at my son. A close friend of mine once said “nothing compares to it, it’s the best”. And I think he’s right.
KM: Will this new stage in life have (perhaps it already did) an effect on your music and your music life?
Nicolai: I think that ever since I became aware of my impending parenthood, I’ve begun seeing things in a more positive way. It’s definitely affecting my creative output as well as acted as a major boost to my motivation as a musician.
KM: With children, there’s the whole idea of passing on something to them. Musically speaking, what would you like to pass on to your child? What would you like your child to get from you as a musician and from music at large?
Nicolai: I Certainly hope my son will enjoy what his old man creates. I hope he’ll be able to experience and love music the way I do. Maybe he’ll want to be a musician too? I hope it’ll serve to enrich his world, and his life experience. Music is one of the greatest things humans can do.
You know how we can sometimes feel like we are close to the people behind the music we listen to? I think music can be a great way to “freeze” time and emotions. You get to know a lot about a musician through the music they play or compose. That special… “feel” of a human being expressing themselves artistically. Maybe my music can be that for my son, when I eventually take my leave from this world, this’ll be that “portal” my son can use to be with his father. Something that kind of let him know what he’s dad was about.
