Two musicians - a common passion: the original hard rock of 70´s! Some time after their last production (Russel Square - "Satisfied") we (Thomas Polejowski and Klaus Walther) stood before the question in which musical direction the next CD should go.
It was clear for both of us that after the Russel Square "Satisfied" project no other pop rock production should be recorded. Also considerations to record songs with more commercial aspects were fast rejected.
The next album should contain influences of our passion - the hard rock from 70´s and 80´s- which should be expanded with more modern elements and sounds!
This was the birth of MAPULA!The very first song written for the CD was "April". Ok, it was still influenced by the earlier compositions (and not in the actual MAPULA style). Nevertheless, after long discussions we decided to take this title on the CD because it was the cornerstone and the beginning of "Different Faces".
The other songs move in a totally other directions. They where written and recorded as demo versions. Some friends, all very good musicians, heard the demo tapes and where directly willing to do the records to the final tracks. Sometimes Metal riffs were used, sometimes classical parts, as also loans from the progressive rock.
All this varieties in "different" influences, sounds and songs, gave the idea to call the album "Different Faces".
Now we looked for the right singer who could interprete these different colors of the songs. A lot of singers were tested but could not satisfy. Then they contacted Oliver Strasser.
Olli is a very busy rock/metal singer who also has worked for some international productions (e.g. "Final Chapter", a project in which also Tobias Sammet of "Edguy" and "AVANTASIA" performed). He made some tracks on the demo songs and it was... incredible! His voice gave soul to the songs! Everybody was very happy and satisfied with the result... "that's it!".
The MAPULA songs drifted a little bit away from his last bands and productions. MAPULA is no pure heavy metal. There are a lot of different influences. But anyhow Olli brought every song exactly on the way we only expected in our dreams! Olli's ideas and interpretations of the different titels gave the dot on the i to the whole project.
During the production we also could win Thom Thom for this project. Thom Thom is a very talented drummer and he gave with his rhythmical performance the finishing touch to the songs.
For the female parts and backing vocals we looked for a charismatic voice.
Their first choice was Jenny Cagna. We have known her from earlier productions and where very happy that she was willing to sing the parts.
What can we say... she made it wonderful!
All in all we think we have produced a various rock cocktail with these extraordinary musicians.
Hope you'll like the sound and have fun!
We wish you well
Thomas and Klaus
