Hello : Evergreen

The beauty of creative communities like this is that you never know what one interaction will lead to…

Take the case of our DJ competition in October 2023. We ran it to help promote our boat party. As always, the quality level was incredibly high so we showcased a whole range of entrants and gave some hypey feedback on YouTube

One of those entrants was Polish artist Evergreen. He knew he wouldn’t be able to make it over to London for the show but wanted to waggle his mix under our noses anyway. We don’t blame him. An absolute hooter of a blend bonanza with a strong dancefloor twist and wide array of his own tunes, it positively stank. So, once the stench of sickness had reduced to a safe level, we called him up to find out more and kept in touch

You see Evergreen has been on a very serious grind…

As a member of the Greenhouse Effect DJ crew he’d played a significant role at pretty much every Hospitality show in Poland throughout the 2010s and has dedicated every possible waking hour to Polish D&B ever since.

He is regularly called up to warm up for the biggest touring artists such as Andy C and Sub Focus any time they hit Poland, he and his friends run a beautiful little festival Pojanie (which myself and Akov were invited to headline and became their first ever international guests) and he’s started to whip up a lot of momentum across his homeland as one of the loudest advocates of Polish drum & bass. Last year we reported on this particular mix he did with Tom Encore and Inside Defect which comprises 100% Polish produce. Shortly after that he arranged the first ever Polish drum & bass awards.

With a proud persistence and passion that we can high key relate to, Evergreen (real name Janek Grzymala) sets an inspiring benchmark and highlights how important it is to get behind something you love and work as hard as you can to support it. As he gears up to make this year’s Pojanie event even more loaded with Polish art we asked him over for a fresh mix. Check it as you check his story so far…

I’ve just caught you after your work. Are you a full time ski instructor? That’s pretty sick.

Yeah it’s my main source of income and a big passion of mine. My goal is to grow my music career but always keep the skiing. I think a full time career in music is stressful. And because of seasons, skiing is very tricky full time. So for me the perfect option is to make a living out of those two which is also tricky but that’s what I persist hard to achieve.

The impossible balance. I know it too well! Last time I saw you was at Pojanie Festival. How was the rest of your 2024?

It was good. I have a funny story. Pojanie was supposed to be my only festival that summer because I was saving to go to Indonesia. But my friend Phill from Colorado called me and said he was going to come over and he pretty much ordered me to come to Let It Roll. He bought me a ticket! But this was very good for me. I got to go as just a pure drum & bass enthusiast. I wasn’t working there. I wasn’t thinking about stage managing or deadlines or playing a set or promoting Polish drum & bass. I went as a fan and I got to enjoy drum & bass as it should be. I really enjoyed it was very inspiring. I guess you can relate to that?

Massively. You need those moments to connect on the dancefloor and remember why you got into it in the first place!

Exactly. Actually I was dancing in the 360 tent where The Upbeats were playing and I had a moment like that. Their set was one of the best I heard and they played everything in such an inspiring way. Then in the middle of it all, they played a tune by an artist named Lukher who has released on labels like Device and Dvivid and Modus.

I knew he was from Poland and had been in touch about the Polish D&B project but we hadn’t met yet. He’d sent me tunes. In my mind I wanted to have him at Pojanie next year so I knew I’d meet him at some point. Anyway, The Upbeats play his tune. I hear it coming in and I’m so happy. My fellow polish producer is being played at Let It Roll!

Sick!

So I message him right away and I have no idea he’s there too! He text me back and said ‘I’m here too, I’m at Sub Focus, I’ll come to you!’ So that’s how we met. And now we have agreed to play at Pojanie and also Tesseracts, who are in my opinion the most versatile bass music producers in Poland right now. We’re playing 4 of us b2b2b2b only D&B and bass music. Only from Poland. And what’s most important nothing of that could happen without my amazing PoJanie organisers crew, I love them so much and can’t be thankful enough.

That’s so cool.

It’s loads of work but also interesting and exciting. I only started the Polish drum & bass project two years and ago and already I have involved artists who’ve released on Modus and UKF. I’m very privileged this happened and that Polish drum & bass is at a place where we have so much great music. So from now until June this is my focus – we have a small scene but so much talent and amazing productions and everyone is exciting to collaborate. We have now quite a few world class producers like Skrimor, Lukher, Tesseracts , Satl, Casper Levy, Silence Groove, Tom Encore and Radicall. They have released music on labels like UKF’s Pilot, Ram, Viper, Modus, Blackout, Evolution Chamber, Shogun, Critical, 31 Records and the list goes on. What is great there is a lot of young blood who are grinding their production hard to become as good as the ones mentioned above.

It’s great to see. It’s an exciting moment in your national scene and that’s inspiring to see.

I think your article about our mix was the first international article about Polish D&B as a scene. The first that has been written outside of Poland.

Oh that’s cool. You’ve also got your Polish D&B Awards now!

Yes this was an idea with my friend Greg from Greenhouse Effect the collective I am part of for 15 years. We decided to do it because there are so many great producers and promoters coming up. Also labels. We need to celebrate it and come together once a year and make sure people feel inspired to carry on with this.

What was the feedback like?

It was generally very good! There were haters too of course but I expected that. it’s new and different. People questioned my credentials but generally what I found interesting was that the skeptical people were the ones who aren’t very active in the scene much anymore and the people who are active and are busy in this music every day were very supportive and engaged with it. So I was happy about how it went. Now we are looking to build a hub where we can share Polish productions, mixes, news and information and interviews so it’s not just once a year but people can find out things every day.

Awesome! I can relate to the hate! People who usually moan about the awards were asking where they were last year! How about your productions? Have you had time to make any new releases?

Not as much as I would like to have! I’ve had to accept that some things are going to take longer because you just don’t have enough time, right? So I have been slower on production but I can say I have a single on Device in May and I have one on Grand Theft Audio. Now I’m working on lots of ideas but it’s struggle to finish tunes.

The endless struggle!

It really is! Finishing things and all those final details is a very boring part of it. But it is character building and I persist with it. DJing isn’t enough of a challenge. I’ve been doing it for 20 years. Producing is much harder but very rewarding. For now it’s quality over quantity. I know people are releasing all the time but I can’t keep up with that. A good tune every few months is better for me.

Much better than a bunch of bland rubbish!

Yes yes. I am not sure I am a natural producer. Like many I got into it to get more exposure as a DJ. But after a couple of years it has become fun but it took a long time.

You said 20 years of DJing earlier… You don’t look old enough!

Well I am 36 in June and I got my first decks when I was 16 and played my first gig when I was 17. I played as a part of a collective – Greenhouse Effect. We had an amazing time. We started playing around 2010 when Hospitality started coming to Poland. We won a DJ competition and throughout the years we played 20 shows for them. Big shows. The biggest drum & bass shows happening in Poland. They started slowing down and we parted ways. Jobs, girlfriends, all that stuff. Then around 2019 I launched Evergreen as a solo. The name is a reference to my roots and crew.

I love that

Yeah I wanted to connect it with my old DJ life. And what was amazing about the Greenhouse Effect was that we were old friends from school. We’d grown up together, played football in the park together as kids, got drunk together as teenagers and, a few years later, we are playing these huge parties. It was a great time. I wish we’d started producing then but it was still amazing.

Are you the only music guy now or are they all still involved?

Oh we’re still very close. Three of us are organizing Pojane! And all 4 of us are playing. We still meet and go on holidays. We’ve known each other since kindergarten, it’s a very deep friendship. I warmed up for Andy C and all they all turned up.

Awesome. Love how you’re now organizing Pojanie together. What’s the future for that?

We hope to build it very slowly and carefully and open it up talent all over Poland. Keep it very grassroots and DIY. We will have special international guests like you were last year but for most of it I want it to be the place where Polish upcoming talent can come through and have a place to showcase what they do.

It is all about the grassroots and DIY. Without it the future is very scary. But we’re definitely seeing a growth in new community-based events.

I am seeing it in UK too. I loved to see what Neuroheadz were doing for example. Small underground events which have communities around them.

Yes! Neuroheadz are a great example. Let’s talk about your mix. You go right across the board!

Haha it’s what I love to do. Not everyone likes this style and they prefer something consistent but that will never happen in my sets.

I admire DJs who can stay in one style but same here! I wish I had that patience to stay in one sound!

Haha yes and it can get very messy very easily but when it works it’s nice fun. Look at Andy C! I always admired how he could take a tune from 30 years ago and find something new and blend them. So if he can bring all the styles together then so can we, right? See you in Poland again this June…