Interview Nick Polak (Dool): Musical Identities
After 2017’s ‘Here Now, There Then’ and ‘Summerland’ – this site’s album of the year in 2020 – ‘The Shape of Fluidity’ is the third excellent release by Dutch dark rockers Dool. Appropriately for an album that has been written around the theme of change and identity, Dool went through a number of changes that might have influenced the sound of the album. Guitarist Nick Polak tells us more.
“In terms of writing, this album was much more of a team effort”, says Polak. “Or at least more of a shared effort between Omar (Iskandr, guitarist), Raven (van Dorst, singer/guitarist) and me. Where Raven used to be the one taking the lead when it came to the songwriting on the last two records, we have really worked together this time around.
I think you can hear that, in the sense that there are more actual riffs on the album. In a Black Sabbath kind of way: true riffs, whereas the last few albums featured more arpeggios. The title track, for instance, is a song the three of us wrote together. That’s probably where you can hear it best. It starts with a couple of chords that continue throughout most of the song. Omar came up with those. And then the riff kicks in with the band; that was my riff. Then we finished the song together with Raven.
There is a lot of all three of us in that song, and I think you can hear our identities as guitarists and songwriters when you listen to it.”
A Sign of Appreciation
“As guitarists, all of us are assigned clear roles. I think Omar sees himself as a musician and producer rather than a guitarist. He is the kind of guitarist who never tried to figure out a riff of a band he likes. When I was fourteen or fifteen, I was trying to figure out how to play lots of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest riffs in my bedroom. Raven is more or less somewhere in the middle of those extremes.
I think that I am probably the most traditional guitarist, so to speak. Omar uses his guitar as a means to an end. When I was a kid trying to figure out how to play all those riffs, my intention was actually to eventually become as good as Glenn Tipton. That is my background.
There are no egos in this band. We actually inspired each other a lot. When Omar and Raven had written ‘Venus in Flames’ and I got that demo in my mailbox, I immediately thought: oh shit, this is so awesome that I need to come up with something that is just as good. Not as a way to prove myself, but as a sign of appreciation and inspiration from what my bandmates are doing. That’s how I came up with the majority of ‘Self-Dissect’.”
Enjoyable Experience
“We all had our own roles when we were recording the album as well. We have adopted a very efficient approach, which has contributed significantly to the fact that recording this album was a really enjoyable experience. That is not always the case, as it can sometimes be very stressful and rushed.
While Omar and I were busy recording guitars, JB (van der Wal, bassist) was recording vocals with Raven in a different room. Everyone has their own role in this band, in addition to simply being a musician.
Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg recorded the album with us. He doesn’t do that very often; usually his focus is on mixing and mastering. When we were in the planning stages for this record, we approached him and asked: do you know anyone who could produce our album that we may not have considered yet? And he immediately said: yeah, me! Ultimately, he was quite a logical choice, since he also mixed ‘Summerland’.”
Creative Spirit
Another important change for Dool in the past year was the departure of their longtime drummer Micha Haring. ‘The Shape of Fluidity’ is the first album recorded with Vincent Kreyder behind the drum kit. “Working with Vincent was quite a bit different than working with Micha”, Polak admits. “That was something I needed to get used to. In the past, we would usually record a demo that already had drums, after which Micha would play it just like that, but more tastefully, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.
Just like Omar, Vincent is a very creative spirit, with loads of ideas. So every time we presented something to him, he would have a lot of other ideas for it. It was simply a matter of trying lots of different things. For a while, I felt like I wasn’t sure where everything was going. But when we went into the studio to properly record everything, I suddenly realized: wait a second, this is much better than the initial ideas.
There are drummers who tend to play too much. I myself am not a big fan of very proggy drummers. I personally prefer drummers like Dave Grohl and John Bonham. But while I do think a lot happens in our new songs when it concerns drums, I think Vincent has found a way to play those parts very tastefully by putting his own stamp on it. The process was very different, but I think that has brough us a lot that we didn’t have before.”
Stained Glass
‘The Shape of Fluidity’ is not the only recent Dool release. Less than five months prior, the band released its first live album ‘Visions of Summerland’. “That was Micha’s farewell concert”, Polak nods. “We recorded that show, not necessarily intending to release it, but once we played the show, we were so happy with the way it turned out…
It was a very special show. It was recorded at the Arminius Church in Rotterdam, one of the most special places I have ever played. When I was on stage, with all the stained glass windows around me and the big church organ behind me… That was really something else. Because we had the recordings, we decided to release it as a live album. Also because Dool live as opposed to Dool on record is quite a different experience.”
A common issue when playing in churches is the excessive amount of reverb, but that wasn’t the case at the Arminius Church, Polak emphasizes: “Much less so than we expected. Even on stage, and I think that the front of house sound was quite good as well. And part of it is the great mixing job by JB as well.”
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