AMBULANZA Archives

The AMBULANZA Archives.

Ambulanza Info 

AMBULANZA as a concept and as a band started in 2000, playing its own brand of Paramedical Funk music therapy. It has performed during many prestigious festivals both at home in Poland and abroad. These include Red Bull promotions, Creative Promotions, MTV and Viva, Pepsi Faza, RMF FM (Poland’s leading Radio), Bogatynia Music Festival, Goerlitz Music Festival, Przystan na Bosmana, Pepsi Sziget Music Festival (Budapest) and Szczecin City Council New Year’s Celebrations 2005 and Dni Morza. “Fly with Funky Music,” was the band’s first single which was power played by RMF FM radio Krakow and Radio Stacja Warsaw. The single was included on two consecutive Pepsi Faza compilations, and a video clip was broadcast on Viva in the summer of 2002. “Give it Back,” the next single came out in September 2002 and the video clip included shots taken during the Pepsi Sziget Music Festival in Budapest. Apart from AMBULANZA the festival boasted famous names like Morcheeba, Placebo, The Fun Loving Criminals, The Wailers, No Doubt, Ash, Run DMC, Bonfunk Mcs, K’s Choice and top DJs David Morales and Sven Vath amongst others. The video was broadcast by MTV Polska.

The band was revamped in the period 2003 and the new line up recorded a number of CDs including “The Pill,” 2003, “The Sweetest Medicine,” 2004 and “Doctors on The Stage,” 2005. 30th May 2005 “Something Out There,” the band’s latest single was published by one of Europe’s largest independant labels Matchbox Recordings. The track was included on the Advance compilation (check www.matchboxrecordings.co.uk) This has seen the single being powerplayed on some of the UK’s leading radio stations including London XFM, Kooba Radio and Matchbox Radio.

Dr Mario joined the   previous line-up for a short U.K. Tour and won the famous Vena Festival in 2006 with a new track 'Flash.' 2007 'Right @ The Core' proved to be the doctors' final album due to various mishaps that happened to the doctors themselves.  Many fans , always referred to as patients are still loyal to the AMBULANZA and keep on hoping to see the doctors back on the stage.

May 2007 a fatal car accident finds Dr. Max fighting for his life. His recovery and rehabilitation would take over three years. September 2007 Dr. Mario is diagnosed with a voice polyp which would make future vocalizations doubtful. He recovered after a year. October 2007 Dr. Subaqua needs to undergo knee surgery which would leave the doctor out of action for a full year. With Dr. Max's full return to health in 2010, Dr. Artur went out with a shoulder nerve injury which has kept the doctor out of the bass department till the present day.

The Crew

Dr Mario:

Mario Cordina (Vocals and Keys) Maltese national, full name Mario Joseph Gaetanu Cordina, is the band’s frontman and vocalist. He founded the band in 2000 and when the band had its first rocky moments managed to replace previous members with the current line up. He is a colourful character and made his way to a varity programme on TVP, Polish National TV called “Europa Da Sie Lubic.” His interests include the arts. (i.e. literature, music, grafic design and painting.) He graduated in literature from the University of Malta. Musically he has played with a number of bands before landing in Poland and launching AMBULANZA. Dr. Mario’s band history runs quite a long way back including Maltese based bands like Thin Ice and Goneastray to European bands like the Refugees and Nutcraker. As a member of the famous Amadeus Chamber Choir he performed in the UK, Belgium and Germany. Meantime he was also taking part in a number of musicals like “Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats,” “Oklahoma,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “HMS Pinafore.” Dr.Mario has been in Poland for the past six years. Locally he is known for AMBULANZA, ex-Supermario and Skambomambo. AMBULANZA is his baby and apart from the lyrics, dr.Mario is also responsible for some of the tracks plus recording and production at his Hospital Homemade Prescriptions Clinic. On an everyday basis he works as an English Language Academic Teacher at WSJO a Poznan University Branch in Szczecin.

Other Crew members. 

Dr Subaqua: 

Konrad Cwajda (Guitars) Dr Subaqua is the most experienced band member and had his fifteen minutes of fame with a rock ballad song entitled “Harry,” which saw his band Firebirds hit the number one spot in the Polish charts in the mid-90s. He formed a band called Supermario with dr Mario at the head before joining the doctors. 

Dr Artur

Artur Paragulski (Bass) Dr Artur is a locally well known bassist and played as a session musician for many well known Polish bands. He played for Firebirds before joining AMBULANZA and is responsible for recruiting dr Max and dr.Subaqua when previous drummers and guitars resigned. 

Dr Max: 

Dariusz Konklewski (Drums) The latest addition to the band dr. Max is a member of the Filarmonia in Szczecin an illustrious philharmonic society. He graduated from a music conservatory and plays paino when he is not thumping the drums. 

Previous Members

The band which started out originally in 2000 was composed of dr Pablo, dr Stettiner, dr Gadget, dr ? and dr Mario. The line up was revamped out of practical needs and to reduce costs. The members came from different parts of Poland and the distances made rehersals and organisation unrealistic. Some of their work has remained and must be mentioned here. Dr pablo was the first guitarist for the band and co-wrote “Fly with Funky Music,” “Tequila,” and “Give it Back,” with dr Mario although these songs have undergone a considerable metamorphosis. The same goes for the track “Telephone,’ and dr. Stettiner. Dr Mario still co-operates with these doctors on other projects. Dr Grochala replaced dr Gadget in 2001 and is still a great friend and now plays for Indios Bravos and is well known throughout the local Hip Hop scene. AMBULANZA wishes them all the best.

Song Writing. 

Most of the tracks originally came from Dr Mario himself using drum machines and computer programmes recording live guitars, keys and synth or live bass and vocals. Lately dr Subaqua and dr. Artur have all given in their own tracks and by the time the band starts rehearsing the whole song has taken on a new life of its own. Basically the band goes about destroying the original concept and comes out with a fresh team product. The fact that the band does its own recording and production means that the end product might lack the technical experience required but it also means that it is as close to the band’s ideal sound as it can get at Hospital Homemade Prescription Clinic. Unfortunately the band has not yet met a producer nor have the means to find one to understand where we are trying to go with their music. AMBULANZA has spent a lot of time and energy in finding its own particular sound and building its own repertoire doing its best to sound modern by using the latest techniques in recording. Having said this however AMBULANZA is fully aware that it has a lot to learn but as a band it is consistently pushing itself forward. “We do what we do because we love it and because this music means a lot to us.”

The Style. 

The style is fundamentally funk fused with influences from today’s music like Hip Hop, House, rock, pop, break beat etc. The music is mainly mainstream with nostalgic funk rythmns and 80’s sounding keyboards. Every song is treated as a seperate song in its own right which fits the whole. Gig programmes change gig by gig with new songs finding their way amongst the established ones and forgotten songs turning up again every now and again. The band plays an average 1 to 2 hours maximum per gig preferably without a break. Its hard to find where the band’s influences are coming from. All members come from different musical and geographical backgrounds. Mario’s gothic, rock, pop history and lately his dabbling with DJs in berlin plus funk and ska are pitted against dr Subaqua’s rockish instincts and raw Prince, James Brown and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and then against dr Artur’s fundamentalist jazz outlook and dr Max’s classical and 80’s leanings. The band is also consciously driving at what sells or what is selling at the moment and spends as much time listening to old time greats as tuning in to bands like Black Eyed Peas, Gorillaz, U2, Coldplay, Beyonce Knowles, the Chemical Brothers etc etc.

The Therapy 

The humourously titled AMBULANZA concept is one that considers music as a healing therapy whereby all band members are doctors or nurses, fans are called patients and gigs a therapy and venues an operating theatre. The songs themselves are linked to the medical cause and include titles like “The Sweetest Medicine,” “Emergency 999,” “What does a doctor do (with a girl like that?),” “Doctors on The Stage,” or to funk, “How we do the Funk,” “Fly with Funky Music,” “The Funkypower Generation,” and “Funky Bebe.” The theme running through the songs is “Sometimes all you need is a sweet little melody, AMBULANZA 999,” “Right at the core, all we’re looking for is some harmony, nothing more.” If the lyric is a little more serious then the music tends to be so too and basically our single “Something Out There,” is a song which stands out and is probably why it was chosen by Matchbox Recordings and included in their annual ADVANCE compilation. The name Paramedical Funk incorporates both the musical style and the concept presented by the band performing in doctors aprons and accompanied by a siren wail as the doctors start administering their musical cure.

The Location 

Szczecin a forgotten city with a population of 500 000, only a one and a half hour’s drive from Berlin and well linked to most major cities in Europe. Dr Mario landed here just before 2000 and set up AMBULANZA. The line up has changed throughout the years and included members both from Poland and Berlin. Nowadays the band is based in Szczecin also the home of Hospital Homemade Prescription Clinic Recordings.