popup

The band POPUP was founded in August 2003. Its members have collaborated with each other for seven years. For the first time Tomo and Pawel met just before the disbandment of SIRRAH – one of few Polish bands that gained international renown. Before that Pawel and Barnaba played in gothic/metal band THRILL YOU that took part in Castle Party open-air festival in 1998. After spending the potential of these projects the musicians continued the direction initiated on the last Sirrah’s album. Using the name TheMANcalledTEA they self-released “Sketchpad1”. This exceptionally innovative material met very warm response from fans and was mercilessly ignored by labels. TMCTEA is a history now. Afterwards Pawel and Tomo started rehearsing and performing live in the sardonic extreme formation called KLATKA FARADAYA (Faraday’s Cage). It was ephemeral as well. The band members parted their ways. Since then Pawel had run DILDO on BOOGIE. A project that was emotionally close to KLATKA. After creative hiatus, a time devoted to his new-founded family Barnaba started writing his own compositions. AORTA 93 was a phenomenon that penetrated fields of dark-electro-industrial. Separate activity was not meant for them anyway. In 2003 they met again and founded POPUP.
At start the band comprised of:
Tomo Zyzyk (vocals),
Pawel Nafus (guitars, loops, samples, production) and
Barnaba Strzygocki (computer, loops, samples)
First POPUP songs were written in August 2003. Pawel was a composer, Tomo was meant to sing them. They were joined shortly afterwards by Barnaba. Initially his job was to play loops and samples from the computer. Inauguration of the band’s activity took place during the last summer holidays weekend in 2003. A concert in “Pod Muflonem” hostel in Duszniki Zdroj quickly turned into uncontrollable and shocking performance thus showing the element of unpredictability that has accompanied the band since then. The band has received fans’ interest and very enthusiastic reactions. In 2004 POPUP was joined by Mateusz Czech (drums and percussion) and Piotr Cerkowniak (bass). With this line-up they continued working on new compositions and gigged in Opole, Wroclaw, Katowice and Klodzko. Apart from live performances the musicians were meeting frequently in home-recording environment and SOHO studio. They decided to release their first EP by themselves. “Player one” hit the shelves on 01.03.05. The stuff was good enough to assure the support slot before Young Gods’ gig in Proxima, Warsaw on 29 of May 2005.Soon afterwards Piotrek Cerkowniak quit. In the meantime entered the studio and recorded one song “Czastko” that was later included on Piotr Stelmach’s (Polish Radio 3 presenter) compilation "3maj z nami vol.2" that was released on 23th January 2006.The band was joined by a new bassist - Janusz "Yasio" Kruszelnicki, also involved in ambient/drone project YUL. To everyone’s joy he turned out to be a saxophonist too and revealed significant skills in the field of looping and sampling.Currently POPUP is a proving ground of sounds and minds. During rehearsals and studio workshops they develop ideas and motifs prepared previously by Pawel, Barnaba and Yas in their home studios. All process is executed according to chaos idea -
“Create! Destroy! Enjoy!”
and from these actions organized compositions slowly emerge. Tomo is responsible for vocals and lyrics. He is often aided by Banaba. Mateusz exercises rhythmic control from behind his drumkit. Production and realization is being taken care of by Pawel. Most recently the activities of the band were being catalyzed by ETE – an unmatched remixer from Opole. POPUP owes him weird versions of their songs and lot of inspiration.The most fresh band’s release is a promotional EP “Konstrukcje” (constructions). It was produced in hand-made style and represents the most up-to-date sound image of POPUP. A debut album takes the final shape. POPUP & ETE common project “Rekonstrukcje Marzen” (Reconstruction of Dreams) is in completion as well. The band is planning to record a cover version of Bronski Beat “Smalltown Boy” for the vol.3 of Piotr Stelmach’s compilation and remix Agressiva 69’s song “Nie Widac Konca” (see no end) – the band that they will set off on a tour with soon.
The present line-up:
Pawel Nafus: guitars, samplers, loops, keyboards, vocals, production
Tomo Zyzyk: vocals, guitar, lyrics
Barnaba Strzygocki: keyboards, vocals, laptop, samplers, loops, lyrics
Janusz Kruszelnicki: bass, saxophone, loops, samples
Mateusz Czech: drums, peace-maker:)))))