Hipgnosis

Filip Goddard Wyrwa(born on July 24, 1975) is a musician and guitarist from Krakow, Poland. He started playing the guitar at the age of 15 and have played and plays in many different groups from jazz to rock and progressive music. He is married to Anna Maria and is a father to Oliwia (6.5) and Kacper (11 months).



Filip's first teacher was Jacek Korohoda, with whom he is a close friend for 20 years now. One of his earliest bands was progressive band Poseidon that played together for about a year in the mid 90's, with Robbien as a vocalist, Wojtek Trytek on guitar and Rafal Paszcz on drums (who later joined great Polish art rock group Albion with Ania Batko on vocal).



Later for two years and a half he was studying guitar at Cracow School of Jazz and Pop Music lead by Grzegorz Motyka. In the school he has become familiar with jazz idiom and get an extraordinary support from great teachers and musicians like Grzegorz Motyka, Marek Janicki, Artur Malik, Adam Kawonczyk, Adam Niedzielin and others. He has also meet there many musicians who become his friends and with whom he still plays on different occasions (including Sebastian Perlowski, Blazej Chochorowski, Artur Jochym, Piotr Kalicki, Piotr Domagala).



Filip has took a part in many Polish and international jazz workshops including Kraków (lead by Isi Rudnick, Gary Wittner, Leszek Kulakowski), Pulawy (Marek Napiórkowski guitar class), Chodziez (Susan Weinert, Jan Jarczyk and again Marek Napiórkowski) and Neunkirchen (Susan and Martin Weinert, Cezary Konrad) in Germany.



In 1997 in Chodziez he has meet great young saxophonist Tomasz Karaszewski from Katowice and together they have decided to form a group which debut concert was the final performance at the Chodziez' workshops in 1997. The group also included Dorota Zaziablo on piano, Blazej Chochorowski on electric bass and Sebastian Perlowski on drums. The group was the first of the electric jazz-oriented groups that was to follow and called Goddard Quartet or Quintet. Different lineups of the group played together from 1997 to 2003.



In 1998 Goddard Quintet with Tomasz Karaszewski on saxophones, Dorota Zaziablo on piano, Artur Jochym on electric bass and Lukasz Walczak on drums has recorder their debut demo album 'Songs of the X-Ray Boys and One Light Girl' that included few standards and Filip's composition 'Ballad for Eva' and wonderful cover designed by Robbien. The album was recorded live directly to the CD (using the first commercialy available and affordable audio CD-recorder from Philips) by Jacek Korohoda. Group was the first artist in history of the Polish most famous and 35-year old festival Jazz nad Odra in Wroclaw who has sent its demo in the CD format in 1998. They played on the festival presenting Tomasz composition BAA BAA mostly in 5/4 with some wonderful folk music influences and unbelievable saxophone solo including permanent breathe technique. Group has also won the 1st instrumental price in the Proszowice festival for young musicians in the same year.



Next lineup of the band playing as a Quartet was Tomasz Karaszewski, Blazej Chochorowski on electric bass and Sebastian Perlowski on drums. In 1999 the band recorded its demo album titled 'Blue Skies' which included some original songs like BAA BAA, Ballad For Eva, but also compositions of John Scofield and Thomas Chapin and wonderful cover again designed by Robbien and including Gustav Klimt's paiting 'Portrait of Emilie Floge'.



The band has took a part in recording the album of Robert Robbien Galuszczynski entitled 'Angel Eye' and as a Quartet with Przemek Sokól on trumpet has recorded another demo CD entitled 'All The Things You Are. Are Not What They Seem To Be' with standards and one original composition 'How High The Sun' written by Sebastian Perlowski. CD cover was again designed by Robbien and included some controversial pictures.



At the end of 2003 Filip accepted an invitation from drummer Ssaweq to join the rock/electronica/progressive band he was forming along with Darek Kaminski on guitar and ThuG on synthesizers. The band was originally called Hemia, but in 2004 after it was joined by Ania Batko from Albion on vocals and PitU on electric bass it has become Hipgnosis. Demo recordings of the group included a song Von Troba, which was later released as a CD-single with radio versions of the album' songs. After Darek Kaminski left the group in 2005, band recorded its début album 'Sky Is The Limit' (released in 2006). On the album, Filip has played mostly guitar synthesizers. One track on the album has included guest appearance on guitar by Goolary, who has become one of the band members for the next year and a half. In June 2006 one of the promotional concerts presenting band's début album have been recorded (a performance in Radio Krakow). The recorded material was very different from the studio album, so the band has decided to release it as a CD entitled 'Still Ummadelling' in 2007. The album includes 2 new instrumental songs: Hipgnosis version of the Pink Floyd's classic 'Careful with that Axe, Eugene' and as a bonus - one premier studio track 'Wherever The Angels Fall' written by Filip Goddard Wyrwa.



The band has played many concerts in Poland as both leading act and support for the bands like Riverside, Indukti, Quidam and RPWL. In 2008 the band was a part of the IIIrd Night of the Prog festival in Lorelei, Germany playing on the same stage with Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze with Lisa Gerard (both artists has released DVD's from their concerts and Hipgnosis is included in a snapshot in the 2nd disc of Klaus Schulze and Lisa Gerard DVD set).



Although the music for the 2nd studio album of Hipgnosis has been finished and was ready for recording, at the end of May 2009, Filip's and Hipgnosis' paths split due to Ssaweq's constant dissatisfaction with Filip's input and commitment to the group.



At the end of 2008 together with Michal Matragon Worgacz, Filip started a project called Twelve Moons with Rysiek Wilk on bass guitar and Lukasz Marek on drums. The band has played few concerts with the high acclaim from the Polish artrock portals. Band's playlist included some music of King Crimson and some compositions of the co-leaders. The band was reactivated in September 2009 with new rhythm section including Krzysztof Wyrwa on bass and Warr guitars and Grzegorz Bauer on drums! As if it was not enough that Filip and Krzysztof share the same surname (and Filip's father is also Krzysztof) Krzysztof and Grzegorz both play with Przemek Sokól in Frittata.

In November 2009 band recorded a promo CD entitled 'Magical Mystery Vrooom' - a homage to the Crimson King on his 40th anniversary with 10 songs of the Mighty Beast. The album has gained a lot of attention worldwide and the band has been even mentioned in the news site of King Crimson official page.

On December 12th, 2009 band played their first formal concert in the current line-up and recorded it as a promo DVD entitled 'A Construction of Live'. You can find 5 of the songs on the band's yt channel: http://www.youtube.com/twelvemoonsofficial

More to follow!



In April 2009 together with his friends, Filip started a cover band called Red Beat. More to follow.



Below you can watch Hipgnosis playing live Mantra and Careful With That Axe, Eugene (recorded on February 4th, 2006 in Krakow, at Louis club):



I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V3.6!