Česky
Do you remember your beginnings as a musician?
We started the first band that was listenable when I was 17 years old. It was the Dead Camel Blues Band and The Mushroom Riders. We played blues-rock. All the bluesmen were pretty boring back then, so we made it more rock. We were even the first Czech band to get into the international blues festival in Katowice. Then I joined the band "TroSka z moSka", which started playing ska.
My three-year-old daughter likes your current band Mixle in Piksla, where you play guitar. How did it happen that after rock and ska you play punk for kids?
The band was founded by Márdi and Pítrs from the band vypsaná fiXa, whom I have known for about 20 years. As our children started to come along, we gradually found out that there was nothing to play for them - except maybe the band Kašpárek v rohlíku. Otherwise it was all Dáda Patrasová back then. My first child was born exactly the year we started. In the beginning, Márdi and Pítrs were just visiting friends who had children. Then they brought me and the bass player Ondra Stieber, who is a good instrumentalist. But it's all based on Márdi, he's a familiar face - parents know him, and that's why they dragged their kids to the gigs. He's really good with them, so he's irreplaceable for us.
How did the name Mixle v Piksle come about?
We named ourselves after the Four Leaf Clover. We're the generation that grew up on it. In an episode of the magazine, Myshulín invented a device for preserving sounds and smells. And that's what he named it.
How often do you guys get to play gigs?
We usually play about 30 gigs a year. We don't want to do more than that, because it's too much. You just can't play the song Jumping Dog every weekend. It also depends a lot on the gigs of the FiXa, which goes to festivals during the summer. There's no time for Mixle in Pikse at this time. We play the most gigs in June and September when there are a lot of kids days, the end and beginning of the school year. But this year a lot has been cancelled because of the coronavirus. We have a concert in Prague scheduled for November, but I think that's not going to work out either.
You're kind of preparing for the fiXa...
We've got concerts like this - to teach kids how to behave at a rock concert. We try to get the kids involved in the concert. When the stage is lower, we teach them how to jump off the stage, pogo dance, and give them other rock concert basics. We often make fun of other bands there. During concerts, we have pseudonyms based on childhood heroes to make it more interesting for the kids. I'm Superman-Batman, for example. My kids don't really enjoy it anymore, my older daughter used to come and hang on my leg and scream "Don't play, don't play!" because she wanted me to herself. Today my daughter is seven and it's different. My four year old son was never amused.
As Mixle in Piksle, have you ever had concerts associated with a FiXA?
We did it once in Prague on Strelecky Island, where there was an afternoon for children. I mean, it was for parents too, but we always let the kids approve if the parents can stay. Then it was followed by a concert by FiXa. It's a challenge, though, dragging it out into the evening. This year we planned it in Moravia, but it got cancelled because of the coronavirus.
When did you make your first CD?
In this line-up in 2013. We sang well-known folk songs and nursery rhymes on it. It was quite successful. Four years ago we made a second record in a similar way. That's how we exhausted the "folk music". Now we are inventing our own songs to attract the older kids who are in first and second grade. So we're looking for appropriate themes, sore spots as the kids grow up.
Are you recording yet?
No, we're still in the thinking and talking phase. Two years ago, we promised to record carols. It's impossible to listen to what's here for the kids. When my kids play classic carols at home, I always try to hide the CD from them. The Three Sisters have done something similar, but there's not much else. I have five songs recorded so far. We didn't get any further because FiXa was recording a record last year. I don't think either of our bands will be able to play this year, so it might finally happen.
Children sing with you on your records, do they also take part in your concerts on stage?
We have borrowed kids from various friends for the recording sessions, but they don't come to the concerts with us. We wouldn't be able to do that anymore. It took a lot of work in the studio to make it sound normal. We wouldn't dare do it live.
How do you sell records?
We have a website where you can buy our two records. Otherwise our manager sells records during gigs and people buy it all the time. We have clips on YouTube that you can play for free.
The band Kašpárek v rohlíku also targets the same audience. Are you competitors?
Márdi, who wrote a lot of songs for them, is also involved in Kašpárek. He also does TvMiniUni on Déček, where Chinaski are still performing in a music broadcast for children. We don't do TV. We rather think of Mixle in Piksle as a kind of underground.
Do you play in any other bands now?
Pítrs from Mixle and I play in the band Fundamentalista in the Gazi band. There are about ten of us there and we get together sometimes for rehearsals. But we're more into making shit up. We also do gigs. It's kind of a local Pardubice thing that goes to Prague sometimes.
In "everyday life" you work in Multiscan in Pardubice as a radiological physicist. What exactly does this job entail?
I originally wanted to work on the railway and first I graduated from the railway industry. But when I went to the hospital instead of the army for civilian service, I got a whiff of medicine and got hooked. I trained as a radiology assistant and got into radiological physics at Multiscan. We come up with radiation plans for patients. We'll get a report from the doctor, based on the CT scan, where the tumor is located to be irradiated. We have to figure out how to irradiate that spot without harming a healthy part of the body.
Mixle v Piksle
The band was founded by the frontman of Vypsaná fiXa Márdi (Michal Mareda) and drummer Pítrs (Petr Martínek), joined by Lukas (Lukáš Zahradník) on guitar and Ondroid (Ondřej Stieber) on bass. They play rock songs and nursery rhymes (Skákal pes, Prší, prší, Ententýky...). They have already released two CDs (2013 and 2016) and play dozens of concerts a year all over the country. They plan to record a record with carols and they are also preparing songs for children who have already started school.
