Although there was a time when the musicians enjoyed the prominence of a top band in Poland, they are quintessentially an off-mainstream group. During their first few years in the business, they created an aura about themselves of being an alternative superband made up of artists with long histories of playing with other bands and given to an unpretentious mix of musical borrowing from many styles, often with a dab of humour. 

They did not appear on the radars of the general public until they joined forces with Zbigniew Wodecki - and even then it took them a while to make themselves known. Wodecki and M&M first got together on stage in February 2008 during a concert in the Radio Three concert studio. On that occasion, the band invited Wodecki to sing two songs together. Wodecki, who was a highly popular singer, claimed in a subsequent interview that he had not known whether the musicians were Polish or... Italian. No wonder, given their stage names: the two leaders are just Mitch and Mitch, while the others include Serious Mitch, Crazy Mitch, Mad Mitch, Mr Bitch, and Mitch the Kid. Thus, the band members and Wodecki started out speaking in a foreign language... In 2013, the band and Wodecki reunited at the Off Festival with material derived from Wodecki's debut album in its entirety. It was smooth sailing from there, with concerts in successive cities regularly sold out, followed by the release of their best-selling album 1976: A Space Odyssey. 

One should also bear in mind that, for a dozen plus years, Mitch & Mitch have been one of the most remarkable and influential Polish groups dishing out an elegant blend of alternative music, jazz, avant-garde and independent rock. They are the flagship artists of the Lado ABC record label. The band was created by "the two Mitches": Macio Moretti and Bartek Magneto, who had already been known individually on the national scene. As they themselves describe it, they started by playing alternative country drawing heavily on the spirit of anarcho-punk and the energy of rock, all the while retaining their liberal avant-jazz approach to music. This mix is wonderfully reflected in their first two albums: Luv Yer Country and 12 Catchy Tunes. In later years, the quintet grew continually until it became a nonet. Their album with Wodecki brought together even more musicians. Many of the band's artists, including Bartosz Weber, Miłosz Pękala, Tomasz Duda, Tomasz Ziętek and Hubert Zemler, have gained prominence in Poland in recent years. 

An excuse for holding many of the concerts in the JazZamek series is the release of the band's new album. The same is true for the Mitch & Mitch concert. Its description reads that the current year will see the release of "a limited edition vinyl EP summarising many years of the band's infatuation with the underrated musical genre of library music."

Tomasz Janas

translation: Krzysztof Kotkowski

Mitch & Mitch concert, the Zamek (Castle) Cultural Centre, Wielka (Grand) Hall, 13 December,  8pm, admission: PLN 40 and PLN 50

© Wydawnictwo Miejskie Posnania 2019