Scorpio: You've recently signed to Nuclear Blast. I think you're the only band from Eastern Europe that has signed a deal with this label. How did you manage to do that?
Zoltan: I'll tell you the story. We played at the Summerbreeze festival in Germany in 2002, and there was a Nuclear Blast club event too, because PRO-PAIN and some other Nuclear Blast bands performed there. At the end of that year, my band was almost splitting up, and I heard from my ex-manager that Nuclear Blast was interested in EKTOMORF. So I called them — they were happy, and I was happy too, because they were happy. Then we met and signed a deal.
Scorpio: And now you have prepared your new album "Destroy".
Zoltan: Yes.
Scorpio: What can you say about the music on your new effort?
Zoltan: Everyone says that we are influenced by bands like SEPULTURA and SOULFLY. And I don't want to lie, because my favourite musician is Max Cavalera from SOULFLY and ex-SEPULTURA. But EKTOMORF was never a copy. We just worked in a similar way to SEPULTURA, so you can hear the influence of SEPULTURA or SOULFLY, but our music is different. Especially now — we really have our own sound.
Scorpio: I've read that you add some folk elements to your music.
Zoltan: Yes, gypsy elements, because I'm half-gypsy. My father is a real gypsy and my mother is Hungarian, so I am a half-blood. I was really interested in my roots and I listen to that kind of music. On our album "Kalyi Jag" you can hear a lot of gypsy elements. Now we also use the gypsy stuff, but not as much.
Scorpio: What are your songs about?
Zoltan: You know, I wrote every song on "Destroy". The songs are about feelings — the feelings you experience every day: love, anger, disappointment, or just something that fucks you up. My music is about feelings. I really pour all my emotions into the music.
Scorpio: Let's talk about all the tracks from "Destroy". So, the first one is I Know Them.
Zoltan: OK. I Know Them is about the feeling when you're fed up with those fucking people who say "Hey, I'm your best friend, man, I'll do everything for you" when we're together, but when you really need that kind of person, they're just gone like fog, you know. The song is about that. And I know them, because now I'm a thousand kilometers away and can "see" that kind of people. And it's better when they go away, because I don't need "friends" like that — people who just say they're your friends but are fucking not.
Scorpio: Sad but true...
Zoltan: Yes, sad but true.
Scorpio: Next, Destroy.
Zoltan: It's about things... You know, when you're sitting in front of the television and see these people who want to serve you everything in the world — cheap shit — and they want to change your image. If you have your own image, they say: "Hey man, that's not good. You need to go the way everyone else does and be the same as your neighbors." And I'm really sick of them and I really don't want anything more from them, so — Destroy. I go ahead, because I have my own way and they cannot buy me, for sure.
Scorpio: Gypsy.
Zoltan: Gypsy is about me. If you're a gypsy in Hungary, you face a lot of fucking discrimination. I think it's like that in every country, but in Hungary, if you're a gypsy, you get a lot of shit. And when I was a child, I always got it, you know — in kindergarten, in school, and after. When I had a girlfriend and she introduced me to her parents, they said "Oh, a nice guy." But when they went to the kitchen to bring some food, I heard from the kitchen: "My daughter, you cannot bring this guy here anymore." Like that. This is so fucked up. And when I was working at a butcher's, because I was a butcher for a while, I got a lot of discrimination. They said I didn't get brown from the sunshine. One time they wanted to paint me white. So, "Gypsy" is about me — about what I've experienced in Hungary because I'm a gypsy.
Scorpio: No Compromise.
Zoltan: I have my own way, and there are people who say, "I know what you're doing, and you're really cool at it. But if you keep going like this, for example performing music, you'll get much more." No Compromise, because I do things my way, and no one can tell me how.
Scorpio: Everything.
Zoltan: It's about our former manager. He really fucked me and the whole band over. He always said, "You know guys, you have no money anymore," and he had it all. When you do something shitty, you get it back. If you do something good, you'll get it back too.
Scorpio: From Far Away.
Zoltan: This is a strange one. We were playing in Germany at a festival, jamming on stage between two songs, and suddenly I thought: "I come from nothing, I come from nothing." And that's about us, EKTOMORF, because we come from nothing — and you too, the guys who like this kind of music. But in people's eyes, we're like nobody.
Scorpio: Painful But True.
Zoltan: Painful But True is also about everything — it's also about my ex-manager. I was talking about friendship; with that guy I was really like brothers, I really followed him, I really believed in him. And one day everything broke down. And it's painful but true.
Scorpio: Next one is Only God.
Zoltan: It's about people like you and me, you know. We like this music and we have long hair or different clothes. We walk on the street and people say behind your back or maybe right to your face: "How do you look! You look like shit!" That's about how everyone can think whatever they want, but only God can judge us, because we're all humans with blood in our veins.
Scorpio: You Are My Shelter.
Zoltan: This is the love song. I devoted it to my girlfriend, because I really love her, and she's the first person in my life who really understands me with all my stuff, you know. I'm a musician and I'm on the road all the time and I'm not an easy person. She understands me and that's really cool — she's my shelter.
Scorpio: A.E.A.
Zoltan: It's a hardcore song. I got this one when I was on stage — I can't remember when and where — so I was watching the people and said: "A.E.A. It's me!" When I'm on stage, I see the faces of people; they're aggressive but in a good way. It's a great gig song!
Scorpio: Next, From My Heart.
Zoltan: From My Heart is also a personal song. I wrote it when I had to leave my girlfriend in Holland, in Amsterdam. It's a song about feelings — when you're in that kind of beautiful pain.
Scorpio: And the last one, Tear Apart.
Zoltan: It's about Hungary. When I lived in Amsterdam for a year and also lived in Germany, I really saw the difference between Hungary and those countries. They of course also have poor people, but the difference is that they can still live normally. In Hungary, if you have no money, it means you're fucking poor — really fucking poor. You don't have money to buy bread or basic things like that.
Scorpio: What can you say about the differences between people from Holland, Germany, and Hungary?
Zoltan: The mentality is different everywhere, you know. German people are really hard workers, but they have a lot of fun too, of course. They really know what they want to do. Dutch people are a bit more reflective, more relaxed, but they can also work hard for the money and for everything. And Hungary is so fucked up. You can buy almost anything here for money because everything is for sale. But people don't have much money for all those things, and that makes people aggressive — some of them turn to robbery. They're depressed.
Scorpio: I saw photos of you together with members of SOULFLY.
Zoltan: Yes, it was in 2000 in Austria, at a gig on their Primitive tour. I was just lucky enough to meet Mike, the SOULFLY guitarist, and their drummer. I took the picture, which we put on the old website.
Scorpio: And what about the new website? There's not a lot of material there.
Zoltan: The new website is very fresh, that's why. In the next few weeks, my manager and I will work on it, and it will be quite full, with a lot of stuff.
Scorpio: What were your impressions from meeting the SOULFLY guys?
Zoltan: It was really cool, you know, but it wasn't a big meeting — it was just a moment: we took the picture and they left. I didn't meet Max, because you can't meet him if you're just a fan. Maybe you'd have a chance because you're a writer for a magazine. Max Cavalera is a real idol for me. I like SOULFLY, I liked SEPULTURA, but without Max it's not SEPULTURA.
Scorpio: So we can say that you dream of performing on one stage with Max.
Zoltan: It would be my dream, yes, yes! It would be cool! If it happened, I think I'd fall over. That would be really great.
Scorpio: So try hard!
Zoltan: Yeah, thank you. Maybe in the future. You never know — maybe it can happen. And then I hope you'll be there, man!
Scorpio: Tell us about some moments from the band's life.
Zoltan: We started the band in 1993, me and my brother — he's the bassist and I'm the guitar player/singer. But things were always changing: drummers changed and guitarists changed hundreds of times. But I think the current lineup will stay for a long time, I hope.
Scorpio: We don't know much about the Hungarian metal scene, so can you tell us about it?
Zoltan: You know, the chance to make something big is not in Hungary. Because Hungary is a fucking small country and there's a really small fan base, you know. There are only 5 or 6 thousand people who are into this music — maybe more. But there is one band in Hungary, a punk rock band called BANKRUPT. They are really famous. If they play somewhere, there are always 2 or 3 thousand people. There are also heavy metal bands, like REPLICA for example. I don't know if those names mean anything to you, but they're famous there. Our country is so poor; there aren't really any good clubs, maybe 2 or 3 in the whole country, but the fans are really cool. When they go to a gig, they go crazy! I've heard that russian guys are really cool at gigs too — that they also go crazy. Is that true?
Scorpio: Yeah!
Zoltan: I would like to play there.
Scorpio: You also have a brother, Csaba.
Zoltan: Yep.
Scorpio: Do you fight often?
Zoltan: Fight? I think that's normal. When you're in a band and when you're going on tour — and even every day — we fight, but at the end we always make peace.
Scorpio: And what about playing games together, football?
Zoltan: I do sports. I like to run, do some exercises, but sports like football we don't really play. My brother Csaba did though. He was in a football club for a year, and I was too, when I was 12 or 13, so it was a long time ago.
Scorpio: Your guitarist, Tomas Shrottner. Does he have Austrian roots?
Zoltan: I don't think so — he's a real Hungarian. But maybe, because our country is near Austria.
Scorpio: What can you say about your school years?
Zoltan: School years, heh. I was a fucking bad student. The teachers hated me because I never listened to them, you know. But I really liked History and Grammar. Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, though — I hated those. I was expelled from school two times. In the end, I finally got the diploma, but my father... My father always told me: "You need to go to school." I was not really good at school. I hated it. I was thinking about music all the time, and you know, when I was in school I was wearing typical metal clothes. Really tight stuff and a jacket with a lot of patches — SODOM, KREATOR — and skulls, long hair, and skull rings. They did not like me at all. I was really bad in school.
Scorpio: And what did the teachers say about your clothes and skull rings?
Zoltan: That I couldn't wear them, really. One time, man, they sent me home from school. I had just gotten the METALLICA album, and in their picture I saw that James had his pants cut at the knees. And I did the same with my new jeans. I went to school, of course with skulls and everything, and the teacher said: "You can't come to school like this, you have to go back." I just said "OK." I said fuck them and I went to the instrument shop and played guitar the whole fucking day.
Scorpio: So you had problems because you liked metal music.
Zoltan: Yeah. I was really isolated at school. They didn't like me. I think everyone who's into metal music has had that kind of discrimination at school, because you're different, because you love this music. But it's cool, I think.
Scorpio: And what about Csaba?
Zoltan: He was like me, but he was a lot more polite. He was a good student. He got his diploma on the first try and was never expelled from school. And my parents always said, "If you want a good example, look at your brother."
Scorpio: Is he older than you?
Zoltan: No, I'm one year older. I'm 28 and my brother is 27.
Scorpio: I asked because usually the older brothers are good at school and the younger ones not so much.
Zoltan: No, in our case it's different, because I was really shit and he was really cool.
Scorpio: What are the last CDs you've bought?
Zoltan: It was MACHINE HEAD, the new album. And it's really great. I like it.
Scorpio: Are you mostly into industrial metal?
Zoltan: Yes.
Scorpio: And what about RAMMSTEIN?
Zoltan: They have some really cool songs and really powerful music, but it's not really my style.
Scorpio: What do you think was the best album of last year?
Zoltan: Huh, really hard question. For me... for me... I don't know, er... Maybe the last IRON MAIDEN album. Because they came with something really cool.
Scorpio: Oh, you know, I'm also a big fan of IRON MAIDEN.
Zoltan: Really?
Scorpio: I think the first real metal album I heard was by IRON MAIDEN.
Zoltan: For me too! It was "Powerslave" — it was really cool.
Scorpio: And for me it was "Virtual XI". You know, I'm younger than you.
Zoltan: How old are you?
Scorpio: I'm 18.
Zoltan: 18?!
Scorpio: Yeah.
Zoltan: Oh man, you are fucking young. I could hear that in your voice, you know. But I thought you were maybe 20-22. You're really young. I hope, Vladimir, that we'll meet soon! Maybe in russia — that would be very, very great. Or you could come here one day, to Germany, to our show.
Scorpio: Don't know, but maybe. We'll see. Never say never!
Zoltan: Yes, never say never — you are right.
Scorpio: Do you like reading books?
Zoltan: I do, but I'm not the kind of person who can just sit and relax. You know, when you read a book, you should sit, turn on the lamp, and relax. And I'm not really like that — I prefer to listen to music, or just play the guitar, or just hang out a bit. And when I do read books, I read something like Stephen King.
Scorpio: And what about computer and video games?
Zoltan: PlayStation. Not very often, but when I play games, it's PlayStation.
Scorpio: What games?
Zoltan: Huh, everything — I have no favorites, but mostly fighting games. That's the kind I like.
Scorpio: What can you say about the nature of your country?
Zoltan: It's nice. It's quite flat; there are no mountains. And when it's summer, spring, or autumn — because those three are my favorite seasons, I hate winter — it's really nice here. Especially in autumn. Really, really nice. Hungary is not so famous for its nature, but I like it because I was born here.
Scorpio: What city are you from?
Zoltan: I'll tell you, but you won't understand. It's called Mezekova Chazo (don't know if it's 100% correct - auth.).
Scorpio: Maybe I'll find it on the map.
Zoltan: It's in the east, and it's a very little town — just 7,000 people. Really small.
Scorpio: You said you're interested in history.
Zoltan: Yes, but not very deeply. It was the only subject I liked at school. It was the only one that could catch my interest.
Scorpio: Do you know anything about Elizabeth Bathory?
Zoltan: No, not really.
Scorpio: It's mostly interesting for black metal bands. She was a daughter of a Polish duke. Once she gathered many young girls and bathed in their blood.
Zoltan: Huh.
Scorpio: Yeah, horror stuff.
Zoltan: You know, I don't like black metal, because for me it's too bloody, too gory. I give respect to the musicians who do it and the people who like black metal, but I'm not into it.
Scorpio: And what about other metal styles? Death metal?
Zoltan: Death metal is cool — it's closer to me, but the closest to me is hardcore.
Scorpio: Hardcore, thrashcore...
Zoltan: Yeah, hardcore, thrashcore. Punk too. But also heavy metal like IRON MAIDEN. And death metal — CANNIBAL CORPSE are really great. DEATH, early DEATH was really cool.
Scorpio: What do you know about my country?
Zoltan: When I was a young child, I learned your language. And I can speak a little if you want. I can say "Ya zhivu v gorode" (I live in the city - auth.). Did I say it right?
Scorpio: Yeah, cool!
Zoltan: And this is silly, but I know this word — "zaychik-pobegaychik" (hare from tales - auth.), he-he. And I know that your country is really big and beautiful. And there are a lot of metal fans. I was never there, but I want to visit. And when you have winter, it's fucking cold, right?
Scorpio: Yeah, but you're talking about russia.
Zoltan: Yes.
Scorpio: And I'm living in Ukraine.
Zoltan: Oh, sorry. We call it Ukraina here.
Scorpio: Yes, yes.
Zoltan: The first thing I know about your country is the mafia. Here in Hungary, the Ukrainian mafia is really tough. Like Hungary, you're not a very rich country.
Scorpio: Yes, and it is said that many Ukrainians go to Spain, Portugal, and Italy to work.
Zoltan: The same as in Hungary. Our people work in Germany, or farther away — like America or Switzerland — because there they have much better chances of earning money.
Scorpio: You know, there's a guy from my city who works at Microsoft.
Zoltan: Cool, that's really cool. He has a big future with that.
Scorpio: Yes, he's one of the best programmers there. What are your dreams and plans for the future?
Zoltan: To earn my money with music. To live a normal life. To get to as many places as we can and play there.
Scorpio: Last words for our readers and your fans.
Zoltan: Always believe in yourself.
Scorpio: Thank you for the interview. We'll say goodbye.
Zoltan: And thank you too.
Scorpio: Maybe you know how to say "goodbye" in russian?
Zoltan: I knew it, er... How was it, man? Er... No, help me please, I forgot.
Scorpio: Do svidaniya.
Zoltan: Oh, do svidaniya, yes. So, do svidaniya, Vladimir!