Tell us a bit about you, your background and your current work with music?

– I ‘ve been involved in the music scene, primarily metal, from various angles. Since 1989, I published a xeroxed fanzine (I interviewed Invocator, a legend of the Danish scene, when they were still at the demo stage), and in the 1990s, I used to be a vocalist in several bands, including Lux Occulta, where Vogg, leader of Decapitated used to play the guitar. We’ve released some albums, and performed live for some time, so I know how struggles of upcoming bands taste like. Later, I devoted myself to journalism, also writing books, including the world’s first biography of Slayer and the official biography of Vader. Right now I’m putting final touches to the book focused on metal scene in the indigenous communities in US.

I also host a late-night metal show on Polish Radio 3, write for the largest Polish daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, and I am the head of communication for Mystic Festival. 

I was involved with Mystic Festival in the early 2000s, then the festival took a break and I took a break from the metal scene, working on more mainstream/alternative festivals, such as OFF Festival. I returned to Mystic Festival in 2019. 

What is Mystic festival? Why should a band or a Danish metal fan go there?

Mystic Festival is Poland’s largest festival presenting metal music and related genres – 3 days, 5 stages, nearly 90 bands in the beautiful Gdańsk. You can fly in there from any corner of Europe – it’s one hour long flight from Copenhagen, but you can also drive there, because of the convenient ferry connections with Sweden. It’s happening in June, in 2027 it’s gonna be June 10 to 12.

Mystic Festival is an independent, grassroots festival that came into being a quarter century ago in Kraków, Poland – Emperor was the headliner, the conditions were spartan, and the local government were hostile. Yet, we made it happen then and we continue to make it happen now. Mystic Festival wandered across Poland, to finally find a safe harbor in Gdańsk where we feel more than welcome.

The biggest stars of metal and beyond have performed on our festival stage, such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Slayer, Bring Me The Horizon, Slipknot, Nightwish, Gojira, King Diamond and Sleep Token. We host both living legends and the hottest names of the moment.

The festival line-up is largely handpicked by the festival founders, but the Road to Mystic contest opens the gates to fresh blood from the Polish underground. We have about 400 bands applying per yer for the contest, with over 10,000 fans casting their votes. We also do Road to Mystic in Baltic States – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – in cooperation with Heavy Music Estonia.

Why would one go to Mystic Festival? It’s three days of great music, friendly environment, and the city is beautiful. And all of this for really reasonable prices.

You where part at Mono Goes Metal last year, what was your experience? And what do you look forward to this year?

– I loved every minute of it. Great idea, great execution, fantastic company and atmosphere. First and foremost, I love discovering new bands, I always check smallest stages and first slots at festivals, because this is where history happens. The Danish scene is blooming, so every time I come back it keeps on surprising me with new, fantastic artists. And we will have one that played at Mono Goes Metal last year on Mystic Festival 2027, but it wasn’t announced yet, so I can’t tell the name. I will tell you in Aarhus. Beautiful city, by the way. 

Meet Jarek at MONO Goes Metal Festival Meet Up 2026 at Headquarters.

Arrangementet er gratis og åbent for alle interesserede musikere og branchefolk.
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Tilmeldingsfrist: onsdag d. 11. november.

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