Name: you.Guru
Members: Artur Maćkowiak (guitar, electronics), Michał Lutrzykowski (bass), Piotr Waliszewski (drums)

Nationality: Polish
Current release: you.Guru's UNtouchable is out via Antena Krzyku.

If you enjoyed this interview with you.Guru and would like to stay up to date with their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I don't know where this energy comes from. But for sure I know I need to do this (play music). It's an inseparable part of my life. There is no me without this activity.

Without doubt all my life and everything around it affects what and how I create. Dreams play no particular role.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

When I write music, I never think about the final result. I don't have any specific ideas either. Usually it is by chance and experimentation that I find an interesting musical theme.

There is definitely more chance than planning in my music. Maybe because I'm not a good enough musician to be able to play everything I have in my head.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

When I compose something new I don't need any of these things. But with the band, we do record songs at an early stage to listen and develop them later.

I don't do a special research but I'll listen to a lot of different music. That's more for a pleasere than searching for ideas, however.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Communing with art is certainly important and helpful. It's hard for me to imagine being creative without being powered by the artwork of other people. I don't mean to be directly inspired, although I don't see anything wrong with that. Also being in good physical condition is helpful in my case.

I am a big fan of coffee, especially espresso. Drink it a lot. Besides, I love good food. But I don't think any food has a particular influence on my creativity.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

The most difficult part is to start. Sometimes I don't want to do anything. Sometimes I think my head is empty and for sure nothing interesting will happen. But once I've started almost everytime there is something valuable, on this time of course.

Next I try to add more sounds to make the idea more complete. If it's good enough I show it to my band mates and we keep working together.

Sometimes we start with quite larg piece but sometimes there're just a few sounds. We keep messing around until we consider the song is finished.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

We absolutely prefer to following things. This method of working allows us to reach places we aren't able to invent.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

I am interested in new ways and solutions. Even if they are new only for me. I like to go in unknown directions. Repeating the same ideas and proven patents is boring in my opinion.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

The most pleasurable time of the entire process of dealing with music is writing a new song. More enjoyable than playing gigs or releasing records.

But I don't need to look for words to descibe it. Usually, they end up sounding patetic and stupid.

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

Yes, it's true. It's hard to say when a song is finished but we all in the band feel it when it's happened. It is usually when nothing bothers us anymore.

But it doesn't means we play the song always in the same way. Over time, we add something, sometimes we throw something away. Some songs have an open structure which means there will always be fragments that we'll play in different ways each time.

There are no rigid rules in the band.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

As I mentioned before - there are no rigid rules in the band. Sometimes a song is finished very quickly, after a few rehearsals. But sometimes after a year we feel something should be play in other way.

But always we give ourselves time for listening in calm. As much time as we think we need.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

They are important processes but if song is bad they can't help much. I prefer listening to interesting songs which have a poor production than a very well produced piece of shit.

Our latest you.Guru record UNtouchable was mixed and mastered by Michał Kupicz and he did it all by himself. We trusted him. When he sent us the first version of the mixm we had only a few places to improve.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Every process needs to end after some time. It must be a nightmare to end up with a never-ending journey.

I really like it when we release a record. It is the completion of a certain story, the end of a certain trip. Even if the whole process is more important than the final product (record), we need to finish it. After this I feel more space in my head. Space for a new journey and new experiences. It is a nice feeling.

I don't feel any emptines. I don't have any problem with returning on the creative path. Maybe it can be a little bit difficult to take a new direction, make new decisions where you want to guide your creativity. But making those decisions and wrestling with them gives meaning to doing art.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Absolutely. After making music, cooking is my other big passion. Making music and cooking is the same. I mix different sounds to make a satisfying composition and mix difference flavors to have satisfying meal. I use my taste, intuition, experiences in both cases.

In general, being creative helps in many different life situations. Music gives me the opportunity to express absolutely all my emotions, even those that I would not like to manifest in real life. Music is cleansing for me and no other activity can do that for me.