Rafal Weinert - Fish Basket Adventures!
by John A. Wilcox
Based in Katowice, Poland, Fish Basket is a trio made up of Piotr Wicher on guitar, Oskar Gross on bass, and Rafal Weinert on drums and percussion. They play prog tinged with jazz, rock, and pretty much the kitchen sink! Their latest release is 2025's Fish Basket And His Second Album. It's packed with imagination and compelling tunes. I reached out to Rafal Weinert for an interview & here is our conversation...
PS: At what age did you start playing drums?
RW: My journey with drums started relatively late, although I had dreamed about it since I was around 7 - 8 years old, but I didn't have the opportunity. Because of that, my interests shifted toward football, but at school I sat next to a guy who reignited my love for music. Later, at the age of 16, I started playing guitar on the street and earned money for my first kit that way. Around that time, I bought my first drum set from a friend - the cheapest model on the market - but I still have it to this day. I will never sell those drums :)
PS: Is Katowice an especially musical city?
RW: Yes, Katowice even once had the status of a European City of Music. Music festivals in many different styles take place here frequently, from jazz to rave.
PS: How did the 3 of you first meet?
RW: Piotr and Oskar had already been playing together under the name Fish Basket. They had several drummers before, but eventually they were left alone and started looking through groups on Facebook. Up to that point, I had many projects in different styles, but none of them really worked out either. So I started looking, and literally in one of the first posts I found their demo. I invited the guys to my rehearsal space in Chorzowa neighboring city to Katowice where I live and after the first rehearsal we already knew that musically we matched each other almost 100%.
PS: Why did you decide to call the band Fish Basket?
RW: It came a bit as a joke, like many things in the band. We like to add humor to what we do. The name seemed so abstract to the guys that it actually fit the music, even though at the same time it didn't fit at all.
PS: I hear prog, jazz & rock in the music. What types of music were your biggest influences?
RW: There are no limits to inspiration. We try to simply play music that we like and that lives inside us, without worrying about genre. It's people who add labels to fit things into their worldview. What matters to us is melody, originality, and making sure the music isn't boring or predictable. We want to discover ourselves and our shared horizons.
PS: I'd love to know the story behind some of the songs. Let's start with Cartboard Racer.
RW: Oskar played the bass riff a long time ago. That motif kept appearing during rehearsals over the years, but it wasn't really developed into a full piece. At some point, we decided that since it had been following us for so long, it was a sign to finally sit down and finish it. It gained its final shape quite quickly.
PS: What inspired Imaginarium?
RW: It was the first piece we wrote in this lineup. The first Fish Basket album had been composed with previous drummers, and I only added some of my own flow to those compositions. Imaginarium came from Piotr's motif, and the rest was the first collision of our shared worlds in composition. That's why you can hear a clear shift in dynamics compared to the first album. Fast hi-hats and unconventional solutions are the result.
PS: What does NA-HU-HA-NE mean? How did the piece come into being?
RW: It's a play on words. In Polish, nachuchane refers to something like a stuffy or breath-filled room. After composing the piece, the idea for tribal-style backing vocals appeared, and one of us - I don't even remember who - started syllabifying na-chu-ha-ne, and it fit the context perfectly. To give it the appearance of a tribal chant, we wrote it in two-letter segments. Most of the piece came from improvisation, and it reached its final form after arranging and composing that improvisation into something with defined musical structure.
PS: I love the vibe of Ben I'm Sick. Who's Ben and who was sick?
RW: The vibe really is sick! I love that piece too and really enjoyed playing it live, but as of now it has been pushed out of our set in favor of new material. We have plans to return to it, but we'll see how it goes. Who is Ben and who was sick? I have no idea. I have a really good guess it's also a joke.
PS: Tell me how Rainfall came together.
RW: This is a piece from the first album, composed with previous drummers, so I can only say that the idea was to create a long, melodic composition that builds from something quiet and calm into a rainfall and later the final storm. I think that idea was realized beautifully.
PS: Any particular drummers that you listen to that have inspired you?
RW: Oh, I love many drummers. My first idol was Matt Cameron and his work with Soundgarden. Grunge, unusual time signatures, and that sound on the album Badmotorfinger - that captivated me a lot! Later, I was greatly inspired by Thomas Pridgen and Jon Theodore of The Mars Volta. It's one of my top favourite bands!
PS: Speaking of influences, what outside of music has influenced the band? Any art/film/literature that you all absorb?
RW: That's a very good question. We try to be inspired by the universe as a whole. Games, films, music, literature and even sports, or visual art - everything is a source of interesting interpretations and ideas. We try not to limit ourselves, either musically or otherwise. Fish Basket is an outlet for our inner art.
PS: Any live plans for 2026?
RW: So far, we officially have three concerts confirmed. One in my hometown of Chorzow in April, where we will host the qualifying round for the Zew sie Budzi festival, where we will also perform later in June. Additionally, we'll play at the Boskovice Festival near Brno. We have many plans, but we try to choose offers that align with our flow. If something about an event seems questionable, we think twice before agreeing to play.
PS: How important is a sense of humor to creating music?
RW: As I mentioned earlier, we add as many jokes and easter eggs to our artwork, music videos, and music as possible. At the same time, we want to preserve some meaning behind it all. Something that seems random isn't always random. I think a sense of humor is a very important element in everyday life. Without it, life is black and white.
PS: Please tell me 5 albums you always enjoy listening to.
RW:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Pearl Jam - Ten
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam In Goliath
Fish Basket - And His Second Album :)
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