Erik 

For those who don't know, Wojtek Lisicki is the mastermind behind LOST HORIZON and LUCIFERION and the lead guitarist for the new force in metal named AGAINST THE PLAGUES. With the launch of AGAINST THE PLAGUES and their first album, "The Architecture of Oppression" and the new return of LOST HORIZON to the studio, I had the rare chance to get a few important questions answered regarding his musical past, present and future.


Did you originally have the vision of a power metal, or "true metal" band when you stopped LUCIFERION, or is that how it just turned out? I ask this because LUCIFERION was much more linked with Death metal.

Linked? It was purest death metal, with elements of black. At least back then. The album "The Apostate" is a different thing. Anyway, LOST HORIZON is a formation that was built on the fundamentals of our old heavy metal pal-band called HIGHLANDER, something that later became a split in two directions: LOST HORIZON and HAMMERFALL. Cans, Elmgren and Reffling become members of Hammerfall and me, Martin and Christian transformed Highlander to Lost Horizon. I am raised on metal from 80's, so moving in the world of melodic music is a natural thing for me. It's in my veins and is the most important aspect of music for me. So, after exploding the stages with LUCIFERION's tornado during some years creating a melodic metal act was a question of time. 1998 we revived HIGHLANDER, and changed name to LOST HORIZON in the same period we signed contract with Music For Nations 2000.

Regarding writing music, do you have any influences, musically speaking, that are constant for you? What I mean is, are there certain bands, musical artists that you love and influence your writing.

Well, it's easy to check. I guess everybody is able to do this test about some more or less permanent mental music phantoms. Just be observant while playing your instrument (including vocals) which artists (groups/musicians) pop up in your head as vague sensations just in the very same seconds you start fantasizing forth new music ideas. For me, there has of course been such artists too. It feels that some of them have kind of taken place as permanent representations of some aspects regarding some specific attitude, sound, way of playing, looks, choice of tones/beats/riffs etc. They are like pillars representing what particularly they are absolutely best at, in specific music genres. Well, it doesn't mean one has to follow those pop-up impulses, but they still pop up very often. To mention some remaining metal artists who work like that for me it would be: for brutal music - old MORBID ANGEL (all members separately), old SLAYER, old DEICIDE. For thrashy parts, as guitarist - Jeff Waters of Annihilator. For epic metal - at times old MANOWAR (to some extent even my pal Snowy Shaw, being a natural old MANOWAR's legacy carrier in many aspects). Through the years there have though been many transitions and many inspirations on several metal areas. Well, check the thanx list on "Awakening the World" for best clue.

Do you see AGAINST THE PLAGUES as another extension of your vision for LOST HORIZON?

Well, it's not my band, You know. I am assuredly not only a guitarist in the band, but it's still not me who write the main skeleton of the material, nor create the lyrical content alone. I guess You might have studied the lyrics of AGAINST THE PLAGUES and analyzed the general message. Well, then I understand one could assume it's some kind of LOST HORIZON extension when it comes to the message. But I can tell You that it's not really. For me personally what I have to "say" is universal for all enterprises, projects, formations etc I am involved in. As for the rest of AGAINST THE PLAGUES, the message of the band is also very natural for and was something they wanted to express and manifest since many years, but had no proper arena for it. They definitely have now.

When Heiman left LOST HORIZON, how much do you feel that affected the progress of the band?

Well, in one way not at all, in other a lot. Daniel's presence is not needed for making songs just as good as they were so far, but the time has shown that from the practical point of view there is probably no LOST HORIZON without Daniel. In theory there is, as there are a lot of great known singers in the world, who could do a good job, but they are just or mostly theoretical options. There are some main and some smaller reasons for both poles, which I won't include here. Although, worth mentioning about all those known singers around the world, is that during those three years of Daniel's absence none of these conceited dickheads has voluntarily shown interest in singer position of LOST HORIZON (not including the great number of contributions sent from a lot of different unknown singers from the whole world). It has proofed once again - for us and for those who always claimed that and knew it - that this is a scene/forum consisting mostly of primitive and superficial low lifes, with no depth and definitely no insight of what and who are of value. Their content-less and gigantically boring bands are the perfect arenas for those hollow cave troglodytes to flourish and hide behind. Fuck off.

Would you be opposed to Heiman possibly rejoining, or contributing vocals to the band again?

I would not. I am not seeing everything like I did before. Many of things that were important to me some years ago are not anymore, or I just gave them up. I have realized that some of them are fighting of windmills, or simply not worth energy loss when it comes to the bigger part of the forum it's received by, nor even closely adequate to the dividend. Nowadays it's more or less enough for me when people do their work professionally and are not respectless or pissing off (not talking about Daniel here at all, just general and meaning all areas in life). I don't expect dedication from anyone.

In your continuing vocalist search, are you looking for a new voice, or someone who sounds similar to Heiman?

Some of vocal values Daniel represents have definitely to be there. Like the vocal range needed for the songs, as well as the dramaturgy, but the voice sound/modulation itself is not a demand, no. We simply need a singer with a trained, but still magic and touching voice. He has to be a professional musician and a person who also is very self-running with practical, band related occupations. An updated and modern individual.

Fredrik Olsson left along with Heiman, are there plans to find another guitarist for the group LOST HORIZON?

Definitely yes. LOST HORIZON's arrangements are built for two guitars. The second reason is that I am not a solo guitarist, even if the result is always great on the albums, where I have many hours to train, warm up and make several takes. To be absolutely honest I close to hate playing solo and I am extremely bad at in real live. The next guitarist will most probably take care of more or less all solos live. I really want to skip that shit and have fun on the stage, confronting people and enjoying the magic between our music and their euphoria. I will most probably do all the solos on the new material, which is one of the factors that is going to delay the whole process, but I won't let anyone new to labour with solos on the new material, learning LH-needed magic in studio. I see it now and I saw it back then, that Fredrik's solos on "A Flame To the Ground Beneath" was a pure miracle, being a totally new member in the band and our pal community. I have no idea how he actually managed to make them such awesomely fitting our music.

Back before the band was LOST HORIZON, Joacim Cans of Hammerfall was the singer; do you foresee bringing him back into the band possibly?

I see You are a humoristic guy LOST HORIZON's vocal lines are made for Daniel-like singers, with all that this implies.

If no vocalist is found, is it possible that LOST HORIZON will release an instrumental album? If not what are the plans for the material that is being written and recorded at the moment?

Well, than would my mother's wish come true, as she always begs me to make instrumental music; of course not having anything against Daniel's, nor directly against any other singer's signing. But there will most probably not be any instrumental LOST HORIZON releases, unless some meant compositions for one or other purpose.

Do you see AGAINST THE PLAGUES becoming your primary focus in the future over any other musical projects?

No I don't. I do not see any of my projects become any primary focus, as there is no pleasure to do so, nor practical/economical common sense. AGAINST THE PLAGUES is a band I have with one of my closest pals from Poland, Varyen, something we both always wanted to do, which is absolutely great to finally achieve. I also like to play with Adrian and Logan, as they are awesomely nice and funny guys. Of course it must not to be forgotten to mention that I really need to play aggressive, fast, complicated and dark-mysterious music, just as much as I need LOST HORIZON's.


Thanks go out again to Wojtek Lisicki and all the musical projects he is a part of.

http://www.oncelosthorizon.com/

AGAINST THE PLAGUES - official headquarters

LUCIFERION - THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE

"This song is about smoking crack and worshiping Satan!"- Loren Tipton of Nihilist