Hello Petr. Presently I would like ask you about Your history.., because the origin of the band dates back to 1996, I must confess myself, I never heard about You, can you tell me something about Your beginnings?
Hi! Hi! At one time Tanker was „hobby band“ We played things like a Manowar, Helloween, Whitesnake, etc. Well, we learned to play from them. After about two years playing, sometime in 1998, we were making our own things already, we decided to release demo. In that time still on cassette. By 2006, when the group got settled, we released several demo CDs and one official album „Everleave“.  And the reason that you did not hear about us? We don’t  have management, which would take care about us. We all do our own work, we have a studio and many another activities. This is also question of money. Either you pay for club yourself, or sometimes you get paid for fare etc. And we don’t have money to pay agency for locking in concerts. We will rather put that money into our study and we will help to another bands with their promo or demo recordings. But since CD „SINS“ we’ve decided to stir rock/metal scene and we are starting give to know about us with the help of internet and various e-zins. By the way we will already have second entrance in Metalhey order of Hey! radio, so maybe next fans will know about us.

It’s common in musical business that bands go through personal changes, this has also happened to Tanker. So how is the group now? Are you content now and do you think that actual group of Tanker will work well together in the future? 
Oh, yes! My dream came true. To have a group in which we are not only musicians, but also friends. That forms creative atmosphere. It is difficult to be good with me, but actual Tankers probably know how I am, because we don't argue.

Now I would target something more actual. This year new CD called „Sins“ was released. How did the recording proceeded? Where was it recorded, how long did it take and so on?
So recording was still made in studio ASI in Frýdek, it is a studio by our friend Michal Smolan, but mastering and other things about production were made in our own Tanker studio, which has official name FM STUDIO. We wanted to do the recording in own studio, but we are still missing some equipment and so on. Preparing of EP „Paradox“, which was released by our selfs in the beginning of 2007, was born after 9 months... so it is like our child. It was recorded in about 3 months. Mastering took the longest time, because in the band we have two sound engineers and each heard it differently...

What was the feedback of the CD by critics and fans, was there any rating?
We did that little differently and we put our songs on www.myspace.com/tankermetal, that is our official english web. And we found out, because of feedback in e-mails and also in commentary, that people like it very much. Every day about thousand people listen us. We were very pleased and we put cca. 500 copies of CD's of  „Sins“ into circulation. 300 are sold already. We were achieving succeses on concerts as well. At first people stood with opened mouth, because they did not know how things go, and after we saw how they yell together at the end of each song! It is a problem with us, we are not typical metal band with witch you can shock and bang your head upon the stage. We are auscultatory band. But on our next CD will be half  for shocking and the second half for listening... I promise!

Are You satisfied with end-result? Do you already have some ideas about, for example, what would you changed in preparing next album?
Everybody would change something after CD releases, but my general impression is good. Maybe to put there more harder songs, how I wrote above, such as typical metal music...

As I got to know, You are main author of all music and lyrics. Where do you find the inspiration for composing and writing songs?
As a saying is in one of our new song „Life is best writer ever“, so all it is from life. I had few affairs with ex-girlfriends, I have two daughters, I am divorced (luckily 6 years already), I was abroad long time and I am private eye... So what more can I say?

I read on Your profil on Your sites, You like autumn. Is this melancholic autumn atmosphere influences You on making music? In my opinion this is the best season for all artistic work. How is it with you?
I absolutely agree. Most of our CDs, whether they were promos, demos, or EP, all started recording always in October or Nowember. I love autumn for silence, sadness, when also from the biggest optimists, pragmatics and realists people become potencial melancholics...

I am quite interested to mention that between your activities there is also martial arts, in the concrete Aikido. I also did Kung Fu (Wing Chun) myself once upon a time, so I know Asian martial arts have above all beauty in their philosophy. Has this aspect has influence on your music or texts?
Yes, first of all in approaching people. Most of people who only know me casually, they think that I am bigheaded or stiff. But when they get to know me more, they find, it is little bit different. Simply, I had lot of experiences and I have good self-confidence. I don’t play myself on false modesty. I go in one motto „Who knows, he can!“ So when I am discussing with someone, I do it frankly and cleanly. I hate dirty tricks and quibbles. In music it is similar. If you don‘t play yourself on something, music will show you itself and composing will go easy. And also the listener can feel it.

And who influenced You the most from Your favorite bands? I have first of all Royal Hunt band in mind, which are evidently the closest to Your music production.
Those guys I recognized quite late (2001) and their progressiveness charmed me. The style of symphony keys and quitar. And singer D.C.Cooper... He is invincible, and he always will be that. Singers before him and after him....are only singers. And new group.... that’s a pitty... it will never be like before.

You are not only guitarist, but also singer in the band. I do recognize, Your vocal is very interesting. For example, in some parts of the title song „Sins“, I recollected Ville Laihial from Sentenced, which sounds little contrastly with Your music, but all the more it is interesting. How did you manage to get this voice? Many years of singing practise or do You have this in You and is this Your natural voice?
Thanks a lot. I sing from childhood and probably I have it in me. Of course I practise, so that I may get better and better. And as I wrote it at the beginning, the best school was the „hobby music starts“. Trying to sing „Future World“ by Helloween and after that „Fighting The World“ by Manowar...

When you started with music, did you have anybody .... who forms Your musical person or you are so called „self-made“?
My musical ... was Eric Adams from Manowar and guitar ... was Yngwie Malmsteen. Indeed I am trying to beware of the mistakes of many musicians, do not copy anybody. So that I am trying to be „myself“.

In Your profiles on Tanker sites, there are very well desribed profils of individual band members. I must ask you on one thing. You show that headstrongness is Your bad habbit. How is that showing in practise? It is interesting, bass player Honza is also the same with headstrongness. How is it go in Your band?
I am boss and others... Not!... With us it is strictly keeping so called veto-democracy. I always have at the end veto power. Nobody from other bands or fans wanted to believe, that we have this „terror“, but other members it don't not mind it. Simply: you must not drink alcohol at auditions and at concerts, you must come on time on them and I made members understand this. It is simple, I am 13 years older than the oldest member of Tanker. So probably I have the most experience... Simply, between us... there is natural authority. And I always made Honza understand this... He flood me by sound engineering terms and I flood him again by musicals. I don’t understand how can some bands function, when they are drunk at auditions and after they don’t remember what they played, one shouts down the other and everybody is right...

How about live performances? When I looked on Your tour list, all of them were or are mainly on North Moravia. Don’t you plan any concerts in Bohemia or in Slovakia next year?
That’s a problem with time and money.... We had played in Mariánské Lázně, in Kysucké Nové Mesto and other places, but where do we get money for it? Therefore we have an advantage, when is action, we arrange it mostly. Frýdek, Staříč, Brušperk, Ostrava etc. But next year, metalfest from Slovenia has promised us, that they have booked us for August. And Slovakia? Why not?
Most of the bands, who play in whole republic, they do it by system of exchange concerts, they are substituted by agency, they pay it from own pocket and wait, if somebody take notice of them.
They are maybe students, who do not work and so on. We really have many others things. Our drummer play on bassguitar in other band and make sound, our bassguitarist play on drums and make sound and our singer teaches singing and she sings on some different actions... And I? I write book, compose music and texts for other bands, teach guitar and singing and other things... So as you can see, we are glad, we meet once a week on audition and once a month on concert...

What is the feedback of fans on Your music on concerts?
As I wrote it above, absolutely great! Probably it will sound like I am big headed, but we really get patting on the back and after concert they still talk with us and so on. It is very pleasant feeling to know, that you play for people who maybe are not metal heads, but they will come at the end and say: „So, it was a bomb, why I never heard about you before?“ and „Do you have any cd?“

I asked purposely on feedback of fans, because Your songs have catching melodies which stay in mind. So I think, it is not a problem for public to sing with You.
Yes, such a „Bad Boy“ or „Hard Times“ how fans start to shout, it is something after that you have goosebumps.

How do you see Tanker's future? Do you have any personal wish, what would you want to achieve next in music or for example to play  on definite place with definite band?
I always see future well (I still see the bottle half full and not empty). I want to get us into wider subconsciousness, so when we will make videoclip on some song from cd SINS, we go to Madhouse. And I would like to play with band Royal Hunt or with Manowar. And where? Wacken Open Air festival certainly. And from our bands with Arakain. So and I want to achieve that our songs would be heard at full blast by people on the whole world.

So thank you a lot for Your answers and I hope that I will hear about Tanker more often. Have a nice time and I am sure we will see each other on one of Your next concerts.
I also thank you a lot and I am looking forward to meet again and hear from you again!