Łąki Łan

Biography

Łąki Łan (Polish: [wɔ̃ki wan]) (Polish: Meadow's Field) is a Polish band consisting of Jarosław Jóźwik, Michał Chęć, Piotr Koźbielski, Piotr Pacak, and former Sistars musicians Bartek Królik and Marek Piotrowski. Its style is a mixture of "punk and funky" or "Łąki Funk", as the band calls it. Hailed one of the best concert groups in Poland, the band is known for their energetic, colorful, humorous shows and imaginative concert outfits that resemble various insects.

History

Łąki Łan was founded in 2002, though the very beginnings of the band's formation might be dated as far back as 1999, when Mega Motyl and Poń Kolny, back in high school, were overheard by Paprodziad (who is one year their junior) talking about their plans to start up a band. Paprodziad followed them later to a place where the older boys were meeting up and showed them his poems. By the time the band's debut album Łąki Łan was released on 12 August 2005, it had played over 100 concerts. The album, which was much anticipated, was described by some reviewers as a mix of funk, house, trip hop and drum'n'bass.
The band's second album, ŁąkiŁanda, was released on 8 May 2009 through EMI Music Poland. Grzegorz Dusza of Audio magazine wrote that "Łąki Łan are having a lot of fun, writing ridiculous lyrics with an ecological message. But the base of the music is a solid, funky groove with strong bass, expressive drums, rock guitar and pseudo-rapped lyrics. (...) The band also has an electronic side and their drum'n'bass tracks could easily be played in clubs." In February 2010, the album was nominated for the Fryderyk award in the category "Album of the Year – Alternative".
Łąki Łan's third album, Armanda, was released on 13 November 2012 through EMI Music Poland. Sebastian Rerak of Onet.pl rated the album 7.5/10 and wrote in his review: "Madmen dresses like degenerated fairytale characters warned that the new album may be a surprise. They didn't lie. Armanda has funk pulse, but not always connected with rock expression. A disco ball is spinning just as often as the smoke is coming out of a guitar."
Łąki Łan has performed at some of the most important Polish music festivals, including Open'er Festival (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013), Coke Live Music Festival (2007 and 2009) and Przystanek Woodstock (2010, 2011 and 2017).
In March 2022, after Paprodziad questioned COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence of 2022 Russian aggression against Ukraine and claimed the media covered the latter subject as a part of conspiracy, he was removed from the band by the other members.

Band members

Jarosław Jóźwik ("Poń Kolny") – keyboards
Michał Chęć ("Niesforny Bonk") – guitar, vocals
Bartek Królik ("Zając Cokictokloc") – bass guitar, keyboards, electric Guitar, vocals
Marek Piotrowski ("Jeżus Marian") – keyboards
Piotr Koźbielski ("Mega Motyl") – drums, vocals
Piotr Pacak ("Boykot") – drums, keyboards, vocals

Former members

Włodzimierz Dembowski ("Paprodziad") – vocals, songwriter – 1999–2004, 2005-2022 (removed from the band by the other members)
Krzysztof "Cyberbiedron" Wieszak - keyboards
Stanisław "Poważka" Wróbel - Bass guitar