How it all began
Scream Maker is a heavy metal band established in December 2010 in Warsaw, founded by Tomasz Wiśniewski (vocals), Marek Nadstawny (drums), Piotr Zieliński (bass), Michał Korbacz (guitar) and Michał Wrona (guitar). The band has undergone numerous line-up changes over the years and one musician from the original line-up is Michał Wrona, who currently, along with Sebastian Stodolak (in the band since 2011), Jan Radosz (in the band since 2014) and Tomek Sobieszek (in the band since 2016) forms the core of the band.
The group has managed to produce extensive and varied material (including three full-length studio albums and one EP) and present it at over 300 live performances in Poland and abroad. The bands that Scream Maker has shared the stage with include. Judas Priest, Motorhead, Megadeth, Saxon, Slayer, Nightwish, KORN, Sixx: AM, Black Label Society, UFO, Nightwish, Primal Fear, Tarja Turunen, legendary vocalists Tim „Ripper” Owens (ex – Judas Priest), Paul Di’anno (ex- Iron Maiden), Blaze Bayley (ex – Iron Maiden), Stratovarious, Civil War, Onslaught and Polish legends of heavy metal and rock such as Turbo, Acid Drinkers, Luxtorpeda, CETI, Mech, Alastor, Stos, Kreon, Wolf Spider, Proletaryat, Hunter and many others…
In autumn 2012. , already featuring new vocalist Sebastian Stodolak, Scream Maker released an enthusiastically received 8-track EP entitled „We Are Not The Same”, as well as recorded a video to the song promoting it – „Wanna Be a Star”. A few months earlier, the band got to the final of the prestigious competition Antyfest 2012, organized by Antyradio, and took 2nd place. Scream Maker’s songs are presented in many Polish and foreign radio stations, including Antyradio, Polskie Radio, Radio Near FM, Radio ZW, Radio Parada, Radio 1030 AM, Radio Bemowo.FM etc. The band was also recognized in the annual poll of the largest opinion-forming music monthly in Poland TERAZ ROCK, where by votes of readers was selected to the top in the category HOPE 2012.
In summer 2013 the band, under the guidance of the esteemed foreign producer Alessandro del Vecchio known for working with musicians of Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, Journey and Glenn Hughes and with the guest appearances of many foreign and Polish stars (including Jordan Rudess of Dream Theather and Wojciech Hoffmann of Turbo) recorded their first full-length album entitled „Livin in the Past” and signed a contract with American record company Perris Records, by which the album was released in several European countries, Japan and the United States. The album cover was created by Roslaw Szaybo, world famous designer responsible for the best covers of Judas Priest, M. Davis, Elton John, Carlos Santana, Krzysztof Komeda and Bob Marley. The world premiere of the album took place on April 8, 2014. The premiere of the album, which was enthusiastically received by fans and critics both Polish and foreign, was accompanied by a tour that included many concerts with legends of world heavy metal (including Primal Fear, the first Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’anno, another former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley).
In May 2014, the band also toured China for the first time, playing six major concerts at significant festivals, as well as unexpectedly going down in the history of Polish phonography as the first Polish artist to be released by a Chinese record label. After returning from China, with the participation of Polish and foreign stars, the band organized the first edition of the „King of Rock and Roll” concert in memory of Ronnie James Dio. In the following months the band, interspersed with work on new songs, toured intensively throughout the country playing with Tarja Turunen (ex- Nightwish) and again with Tim „Ripper” Owens (ex – Judas Priest). The end of 2014 was crowned with more accolades in prestigious magazines and websites (including a place in the top of the poll TERAZ ROCK in the category „Record Debut” for the album „Livin’ In The Past” as well as an unprecedented success in the nationwide crowdfunding campaign, organized by the band, thanks to which the fans supported the recording of the next album with more than 30 thousand zlotys.
The band started 2015 with the „Livin’in the Past Tour” in Poland after which they left for another 2 week intensive tour in China. After returning from the Chinese tour, Scream Maker organized, with even more momentum than the year before, the 2nd edition of the Memorial for Ronnie James Dio nominated by TERAZ ROCK as the concert of the year in Poland in 2015. In the summer and autumn of 2015. between gigs with Saxon, Black Label Society and Motorhead , the group recorded again at HEAR Studio in Warsaw under the guidance of Radoslaw Kordowski, as well as at Ivory Tears Music Work Studio in Italy under the guidance of Alessandro Del Vecchio, material for the second full-length CD entitled „Back Against The World”. In December 2015. Scream Maker was honored to play with the Gods of Metal and opened the Judas Priest and UFO concert at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland. The band’s new album, available for pre-order since early 2016, has received rave reviews and its store release took place on Friday, May 13, 2016. It was promoted by the singles „Far Away”, „All Because of You” as well as an intensive tour including shows with Megadeth, KORN, Slayer, the third 3-week tour of China as well as the third edition of the Ronnie James Dio Memorial Tour, this time including several shows. The band also performed in June 2016 as the winner of the Fabryka Zespołów competition at the Czech METALFEST festival sharing the stage with Nightwish or Stratovarious among others and also played at Pol’And’Rock in July. In late November and early December 2016 the band made its fourth tour of China giving several unplugged concerts. From January to March 2017, the band toured Poland and in the spring of this year organized another fourth edition of the Ronnie James Dio Memorial.
In December 2017, the band opened the first ever Polish concert of a hologram of the late artist by sharing the stage with the Dio Returns project. The band was also nominated in the prestigious annual Antyradio Gala in the „Best Album” category for their album „Back Against The World”. The band used 2018 busily to tour the Czech Republic, Slovakia, another DIO Memorial (featuring Whitesnake musician Dino Jelusic and former Accept frontman David Recee, among others), a tour in China and an acoustic tour with Thomas Zwijsen in Poland. The year 2019, apart from more domestic shows, brought another sixth tour in China, where the band was supported by Patryk Makać as a guest on second guitar.
In the fall of 2019. the group was joined by guitarist Ada Kaczanowska, who made her debut in a concert at Hybrid on 30 January 2020. Due to the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the group toured sporadically, including playing another Ronnie James Dio Memorial, and focused in 2020 and 2021 on fine-tuning and recording material for their third full-length album entitled „BloodKing,” which premiered on January 27, 2022. Before the premiere of the album the guitarist Ada Kaczanowska left the group after almost 2 years and was replaced by a new guitarist Bartosz Ziółkowski. The album „BloodKing”, which was mixed by Tomasz „Zed” Zalewski and in the case of two songs („When Our Fight Is Over” and „Hitting The Wall”) by Alessandro Del Vecchio, was promoted by videos for the song „Mirror, Mirror” and then „BloodKing”, where the role of the Blood King was played by Jerzy Zelnik, an actor known for his role in „Pharaoh” movie by Jerzy Kawalerowicz. The band’s new release was very well received by both fans and critics all over the world, eg. Metal Hammer in its review rated the album with the maximum note.
Scream Maker in February and March 2022 played a mini-tour promoting the album, also participated in the spring concerts of the groups Kruk and Crystal Viper as a special guest. During the summer vacations the band will perform at Zew się Budzi festival in Bieszczady, as well as at an acoustic concert in memory of Ronnie Dio in Sopot. Scream Maker has planned their own two-day festival ScreamFest 2022 in Warsaw for the beginning of September 2022 (with Turbo as the main star), which will also include another edition of the Dio Memorial. In the autumn of 2022, the band will go on another tour to promote „BloodKing” and the final Ronnie Dio memorial tour, after which they will devote themselves entirely to their own work, including recording their next studio album, which is scheduled for release in late 2023.
Band members
Sebastian Stodolak
Vocal
He learned English by translating Metallica songs into Polish. On the pretext of an interview for a newspaper, he met Bruce Dickinson for coffee. Giving in to an impulse, he started organizing tribute concerts to Ronnie James Dio. Heavy metal is in his blood and he cannot imagine himself in any other music genre. In Scream Maker since 2010 with constantly the same goal: to conquer the world. Besides singing, he is also the band’s manager.
Michał Wrona
Guitar
in Scream Maker from the beginning. If he didn’t have to work professionally, he would play heavy metal on guitar from morning till night. As a child he listened passionately to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, now he still listens to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Megadeth all the time. Likes good cinema, sailing, plaing tenis and video games, Arsenal London football club, loves composing and works hard not to piss off the rest of the team with his overbearing character. Believes that heavy metal should be listened to only loudly or very loudly
Jasiek Radosz
Bass
He joined the band in 2014 and Scream Maker is his first band in his career as a bass player. He is a vibroacoustician by education. Professionally, he explores the physical side of sound and carries out secret government projects at night. He learned music theory in primary school, starting with the piano. He fell in love with the bass guitar from the very first sound that put him in a constant, low-frequency resonance. He definitely prefers four strings and playing with the fingers. Musical inspirations are primarily Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Black Sabbath and Dio. His favorite bass players are Billy Sheehan and Geezer Butler. The greatest impression among the musicians met in person was made by Lemmy Kilmister, whom he met twice – in the iconic Rainbow Bar in LA and after the Motörhead concert at Torwar in Warsaw. The favorite drink is whiskey, preferably with a few ice cubes, and the sympathy for this drink quickly spread to the rest of the team
Tomasz Sobieszek
Drums
He owes passion for heavy metal to his parents. From an early age he grew up with music, listening to concerts of Iron Maiden, Metallica and solo achievements of Bruce Dickinson. He began his adventure with drums at the age of 14, when a music teacher discovered his talent at school. He joined Scream Maker in November 2017. Apart from music, his passion is sport and tourism.
Bartosz Ziolkowski
Guitar
Since the early years I was an active kid, always finding joy in any outdoor activities. At one point I was pretty certain that I’ll pursue a career in soccer. It wasn’t untill I was 13 that I discovered guitar and it changed everything. I spent following years practicing Metallica riffs and playing in a few amateur bands. I became obsessed and practiced relentlessly for hours. Currently I work as a guitar instructor in Warsaw. Apart from the guitar I’m into working out and music production.