Hello Przemo and Peter how are you doing? Welcome!!! There was snow, it was frosty and sometimes the sun even broke through the clouds. Overall everything is ok! We are healthy and preparing to promote our second album “Piąty Wymiar” Tell us something about the Village, City where you live? Przemek: Toguslav Brandt is a trio from Ełk and Gołdap. Michał is from Gołdap😊 Gołdap is a spa town located in the north-eastern part of Poland. Very close to the border with Russia. I come from Gołdap, but about 15 years ago I moved to Ełk and it has stayed that way 😊 Piotrek: I am a born resident of Ełk. Ełk is approximately 60 km below Gołdap. The city is located near Lake Ełckie in the Masurian Lake District. We have a lot of lakes around and a lot of greenery. Fans of sailing, relaxation and fishing will find a perfect place here. Please tell us about the start of the band; Toguslav Brandt? Przemek: Toguslav Brandt was founded on June 24, 2000 in Gołdap. The band performed for one concert and were to play in front of the Polish blues band TORTILLA FLAT. After that, we decided to continue playing as a cover band. We played first as a quintet, then as a quartet, and then as a trio. At some point, we moved away from playing covers and focused on creating our own original material. And so it is until this point. Piotrek First, an album summarizing the period of about 15 years of Toguslav’s activity was created – “Stara Gwardia”. However, the current album “Piąty Wymiar” is completely new material composed almost entirely by the current line-up and a completely new face, Toguslav Brandt!!! I joined the lineup in September 2022, before the new material was created and I don’t intend to leave it for now haha What does the name Toguslav Brandt mean, most readers are from outside of Poland, so they probably don’t know what it means? Przemek: Well, the name was a bit of a problem because none of us really had any ideas for it. It was only supposed to be one show at that point. At the last minute, someone changed the name and surname of one of the members of the band as a joke and it stayed that way 😊 How/When did you get involved in rock music? Przemek: Well, for me it all started around 1986. First it was rock and I listened to it a lot. However, I did not limit myself to the style called heavy metal and I also like it very much. Piotrek: Are you that old already? (hahaha) Well, just kidding, I also became interested in rock music sometime in the second half of the 80s. However, in my case there was a little less rock in the speakers than a Przemek’s and more music from the broadly understood heavy metal genre. What are some of your favorite bands? Przemek: Deep Purple, Dire Straits, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Polish bands TSA, KAT, TURBO And many many others… not enough time to mention 😉 Although I also don’t avoid newer bands like System of a Down or Incubus . Piotrek: Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Helloween, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Slayer, Death, Morbid Angel, Carcass, and from the Polish side, certainly TSA, KAT, TURBO, ACID DRINKERS, VADER. We can speak and speak until the next day. The new album: “Piaty Wymiar” just saw the Light of Day. Please tell us about the writing process time in the studio and how Press and the Fans received the album so far…? Piotrek: Work on the album started in October 2022. We recorded two songs and… everything changed. The idea for the cover has changed, the bassist has changed, our approach to creating has changed. We decided to tighten up the music. We moved from soft rock to playing more aggressive rock, which is closer to heavy metal. Our bassist Michał was responsible for the entire recording and composed the material in his WATERTOWER Studio. Everything turned out very well and even exceeded our expectations. It took a year. Various life obstacles prevented us from making this material, but it finally came out and we are very proud of it!! All keyboard parts on the album were composed by Michał.Przemek: The individual riffs had been in my head for a long time, but I couldn’t implement them with the previous lineups. Toguslav’s first album “Stara Gwardia” is a nod to the light variety of rock. However, “Fifth Dimension” is a more equal and fuller album, and at the same time sharper musically. For now, the album is only available on YT and streaming channels, but it will be available on CD in the first quarter. Any live shows Coming Up in the near future? 8 XII 2023 Bartoszyce – Pub WIRAŻ 9 XII 2023 Łomża – PUB POD RATUSZEM 19 I 2024 Warszawa VooDoo Club 26 I 2024 Augustów PUB PARK 27 I 2024 Szczytno PUB AGATON That’s all for now, but we are sure this is just the beginning!! Any plans to play outside of Poland? At the moment we are not planning any concerts outside Poland. But if there is a specific offer, we will definitely consider it. It would be nice to play somewhere outside our country 😊 There are very preliminary plans in Great Britain, but we don’t want to talk about it too much yet, because we know many bands announcing big tours abroad, which later turned out to be unfulfilled or disappointing 😉 Where the readers can find all info about the band? Funpage on FB:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063501936603 and a YT channel with several old songs and the entire album “Piąty Wymiar”:https://www.youtube.com/@toguslavbrandt9520 You can also listen to our music on all kinds of streaming platforms: including: Spotify, Tidal, Google Play….. Do you have a last word you want to share with us? Listen to a lot of rock’n’metal music!!! Go to concerts!!! Take care of yourself and stay healthy!!! Happy New Year !!
