Collage is a very talented Polish Prog band that plays mostly Symphony-Rock-based progressive music. They started in 1985, when most bands in the country were not playing progressive rock. Collage always wanted to be different.
The band's debut lineup was: Mirek Gil (guitars), Jarek Wajk (vocals) Wojtek Szadkowski, (drums), Jurek Barczuk (guitars), Przemek Zawadzki (bass guitar), Pawel Zajaczkowski (keyboards), and Ania Milewska (keyboards). The group searched long and hard for a capable vocalist. After Jarek Wajk left the band, he was replaced with Jarek Majka who seemed to mesh with the Collage style well. Unfortunately, his stay in Collage was a short one.
The group hired Tomek Rozycki who joined the group in the studio to record their first album- `Basnie,' (Fairy Tales), in 1990. Though the album was entirely sung in Polish, it was very popular in other countries, even being re-released in Italy (on Vinyl Magic) in 1992, receiving excellent reviews. Before touring Tomek Rozycki left the band, leaving Collage vocalist-less again. Luckily they found a fine singer/songwriter- Zbyszek Bieniak, who not only had a good voice but he also was a very talented songwriter. The band was invited to perform in: Sweden, Germany and Italy besides their Poland gigs.
In January 1992, Zbyszek Bieniak left and Jarek Wajk returned to the band for a short time. Collage then recorded the demo to their most well-known song- `Living in the Moonlight,' (and others- `The Blues' and `Lovely Day').
More lineup changes took place the following year. Collage- now a duo of: Wojtek Szadkowski and Mirek Gil, added three new members- Piotr "Mintay" Witkowski (bass), Krzysztof Palczewski (keyboards) and Robert Amirian ((vocals) ex- Varius Manx).
Collage then recorded a tribute album Nine Songs of John Lennon. After only about a week in the band, Robert Amirian, new to the Collage style suffered a brief time of transition applying his voice to the bands. His vocals in the Lennon tribute seems less confident than his excellent present singing.
`Moonshine' was released in 1994 (SI Music/Metal Mind Records)- included more than 67 minutes of excellent progressive music and fantastic sounds to great critical acclaim.
In 1995, `Changes,' their next album, was a fanzine-like album, containing old demos and the band in its different stages and a thank you to the group's followers.
`Safe,' was released in 1996. Almost released under a different band name (because the music was different), the band decided to keep the Collage name. The album was a lighter, happier album that even included a love song or two.
In 1998 Gil, the guitarist for Collage released a solo album and plans to release his second solo venture soon. The band has currently worked on solo material and pet projects.
In 2001 Wojtek Szadkowski (who penned the majority of Collage's music and lyrics), created a new band called SATELLITE. Robert Amirian will sing wiyth the group and an album will be released shortly. Wojtek assured the Prog community that though more melodic, the album will definitely be Prog.
In 2013 Collage members met again and started heavy rehearsals for the upcoming tour. Their brand new album is planned for late 2015.
Collage's current lineup is:
Robert Amirian - vocals, acoustic guitar
Mirek Gil - guitars
Wojtek Szadkowski - drums
Piotr `Mintay' Witkowski - bass
Krzysztof Palczewski - keyboards
DISCOGRAPHY
BASNIE (1990)
NINE SONGS OF JOHN LENNON (1993)
MOONSHINE (1994)
CHANGES (1995)
SAFE (1996)
Living In The Moonlight 2005
SOLO ALBUMS
AMIRIAN: BARDZO NIEBIESKIE MIGDALY (1996)
MIREK GIL: ALONE (1998)
