Krakow

There are two bands called Krakow: 1)Krakow started in 1999 in the apartment of Piet de Pessemier. He was forced to play softly not to wake the neighbors and this way of composing suited him perfectly. Pretty soon Gert Cools and Wim Grosemans joined him and provided the necessary musical backbone with bass and drums. As a trio they steadily kept on working on songs and soon they figured the sound lacked a female voice. A problem quickly solved, when Niné Chipolletti joined the band. With her fragile voice she manages to move the audience over and over again. Soon the first concerts were booked. The continuously improving compositions and their most important trademarks, simplicity? and vocal harmony always seemed to convince the audience. Their title-less debut EP sold very well after concerts and was consequently soon sold out. Nevertheless Krakow decided not to press any extra copies, because they had noticed a certain change in their way of playing. Even more fragile and sensitive. After a series of concerts Wim decided in 2004 to leave Krakow, due to personal reasons. Bart Ivens was to replace him. Bart was already a fan for a long time and had been playing with Gert in another band called Burtis Asla. Since one of the original members was already being replaced, Piet saw the time fit to look for a second guitar player as well.Wim Smets, who creates the samples and soundscapes in the band Willo the Wisp, seemed to be the right man for the job and his sound proved to be the perfect match for Krakow. Even as a fivesome Krakow strictly sticks to its own rules of simplicity and restraint, even if the last one is sometimes disturbed by a huge wall of sound. Nevertheless Krakow always holds on to its basic rule: ?Always play slowly 2) Kraków consists of Frode Kilvik, René Misje, Kjartan Grønhaug and Christopher Swahn Zibell. The four-piece was founded by Frode, Kjartan and René in the fall of 2005, and within a couple of months they had already recorded their first three-track demo. Inspired by bands like Mastodon, Iron Maiden and Queens of the Stone Age, Kraków have developed their own unique sound and style on the metal scene, and have been compared to bands such as High on Fire. 2007 saw the release of the bands first release, “Dusty Roads EP” (Kontrabande Records), as well as the bands first tour during the fall. Kraków was also invited as support for Brant Bjork (Kyuss, Fu Manchu) as he visited Bergen, Norway. After another gig supporting Norwegian band The Grand, journalist Stig Ødegaard of Scream Magazine stated in his review; “Why haven’t I heard about the band KRAKÓW before? Strange, because with so powerful and melodic songs, these guys from Bergen should be more known to the audience.” Kraków kicked off the new year by playing the Psycho Holiday festival the first weekend of January, before concentrating on developing new material. In May the band will headline Molde Metal Festival, and the summer is devoted to pre-production of the coming album which will be produced by Ivar Bjørnson (Peersen Production, Enslaved), who said about producing the album: ”First time I heard Krakow I thought this was a band that will be going somewhere! Their choice to go with stoner/ classic metal/ hard rock might not be groundbreaking in itself; it is how they do it – how they mix it up with elements from all ranges of the wondrous world of metal: the melodic, the extreme, the heavy, the powerful and the psychedelic foundations are all there. When they asked me the produce their debut album I immediately jumped on the chance to be a part of this band’s evolution from the get-on!” Kraków continues to unleash their legacy, with lyrics looking at doom days ahead and other downfalls of mankind.