Wednesday, August 27th 2003 – Derek Roszkowsi, Neural Mass, Impaired Mind.

review by Psyko

Review: Impaired Mind
Interview: Mack, lead guitarist.

The night started off at le Petit Café Campus on Prince Arthur. The room was smaller than most but nice and cozy, and most importantly, ventilated and airconditioned! A good place, in my opinion, for bands to play when starting up. 

Derek Roszkowsi strummed and sang his heart out nicely on stage (boys, this is the best way to pick up chicks!). He surely did melt my heart! Then came on Neural Mass, the three very talented men with the unique sound, and all I was thinking was “yeah rape that f----- guitar!”. 

Then finally, the band we were all waiting for anxiously; Impaired Mind. I must say that the recordings of their songs (mp3’s) did them no justice at all. These guys are great to see live. Their energy, their confidence, their humor, their attitudes and best of all, their music. With Justin on drums banging ace beats for the songs, keeping our toes tapping and our heads banging, Yves on bass delivering his aggression and energy despite his smaller size (I couldn’t help but wonder if he had to shave his chest so he could put that Impaired Mind sticker on?!), with Kevin doing vocals roaring and singing his beautifully written lyrics, Michael on rhythm guitar whom I find an excellent new addition to the band and finally Mack on lead guitar, nicely raping Roxy (his axe) on stage, it was the perfect ingredients for a neo-rock band.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mack after the show, and I must admit I did feel a hot spot for his tight snakeskin pants, silver shirt and big hairspray 80’s hair-do, I only wished the whole night had an 80’s rock theme!

Psyko: Hi Mack! First off, I gotta ask, how sexy do you feel in those pants?
Mack: It feels really nice on my ass ‘cause you know, guys’ pants are so un-tight, so these pants, I dunno, they make me feel whole and kept inwards if u know what I mean!

Psyko: What’s your feedback on the night? Did it go as you expected?
Mack: Well I always expect more from my shows, I’m never fully satisfied with my performance, there is always room for improvement, but tonight was set out to you know, I know it’s a cliché to say, but to have a good time and put on a show. This is me inwards, I’m glam rock and it’s nice to be able to get in costume as my favorites like George Lynch. 

Psyko: You have a show planned for October, do you have any plans for then? Maybe another theme?
Mack: Well we don’t usually plan stuff like this, tonight my drummer was supposed to dress in 80’s but he “forgot his stuff at home”. It really depends on the mood and the atmosphere, next time might be something different, ya never know! You never know with Impaired Mind!

Psyko: What did you think about the crowd? (secretly referring to the high-pitch screaming girls at the front row!)
Mack: Well, the crowd was great, mostly people we know, and the MMS crew, it was great to see the reaction, you know I’m all talk on MMS about how the 80’s rock and the 80’s were the best, so it was actually nice to be able to put my money where my mouth is in front of the crowd, and it was great!

Psyko: Are you always that comfortable and confident on stage?
Mack: Always. Once I’m up there, it’s to play the song, whether I screw up or not, it’s just that I play very dirty, I’m a Stevie Ray Vaughn kind of player. I was a bit frustrated with my guitar tonight though because I had just changed the strings and it kept on de-tuning but aside from that, after the tuning and stuff I didn’t let it get to me, I played the songs to the max, tried to be as clichéd cheesy 80’s as possible.

Psyko: One thing I’m curious about is, why Impaired Mind? 
Mack: We’re Impaired Mind because we do not abide by the norms, we have taken our own approach to music and to helping people. We’re Impaired Mind because we’ve let go of all the pre-conceptions of what music and song writing is all about. Our lyrics may seem dark but if you read between the lines or come to the end, you will always find a silver lining. We try to pave our own way to making a unique mark.

Psyko: What are the influences to the lyrics of your songs?
Mack: Well, Kevin the singer writes all his songs through his experiences, past relationships, family issues or what not.

Psyko: What are your future plans? Would you like to see a change in the way things are going now?
Mack: Well, within a year we’ve gotten a decent fan base, enough people come to our shows, people know our name and we’ve met lots of people through the MMS, so last year, we’d never imagine we’d be right here right now, or dressed up like this for that matter!, but we’re putting up a new website, a flash website, we’re going to be promoting our album, we’re going to be recording a 12-song album which should be ready by end of December. Hopefully by next summer we’d get to tour with other bands, maybe in Ontario, but as for getting signed, it’s not really important to us right now, what matters is the people, the crowd, I wouldn’t change anything. Whether it’s 5 fans or 25,000 fans, the fact that they took the time off their busy lives to spend $5, it’s priceless and means a lot to us. We just want to have a good time, get our name around town and get people to know what Impaired Mind is all about!

Here we were briefly interrupted, you can really tell who your true fans are when one who’s had a little too much to drink, thinks you’ve got a Ricky Martin smile!

Then, I asked a random fan what he thought of the show.
Milos: It was fantastic show! I came to see the guys for the last 7 shows, I bought their CD now, really good music, kick ass! WOOHOO!

Thank you Derek Roszgovski, Neural Mass and Impaired Mind for a great night, and I’d like to conclude with Mack’s final words: Keep on rocking in the free world, ‘cause it’s only free… ‘cause you rock in it!

Check out their website at www.impairedmind.com 

~psyko~

If your band would like a review, please email reviews@montrealmusicscene.com 

Derek Roszkowsi

Neural Mass

Impaired Mind

Photos by Valigrrl