George Rain: “I feel like I’m going through the most active creative period of my life…”
George Rain is certainly not the kind of musician who knows how to stand still. With SEBASTIEN, he is preparing a new album; in CITRON, he has stepped into the role of lead frontman; at RockOpera Praha, he is enjoying the world of major stage roles; and at the same time, he is finishing his first solo acoustic album. Add more songwriting, the Erazim project and an undiminished desire to keep moving forward, and it is obvious that this is anything but a quiet period in his life.
In this open interview for Rebel Sound, we therefore did not limit ourselves to just one band. We talked about the new energy in SEBASTIEN, the responsibility that comes with carrying CITRON's fifty-year legacy, life behind the scenes at RockOpera, hate on social media, artificial intelligence and the passion that drives George forward just as strongly off stage as it does under the lights. We also ventured into a world that may seem miles away from distorted guitars: ancient coins.
After the album Quo Vadis and the somewhat unusual departure of former bassist Petr, the arrival of young blood in the band — Adam and Vojta — seems to have given you a second wind. Was writing new songs in both Czech and English a conscious effort to finally turn the page, or simply a natural reaction to the new chemistry within the band?
For me, creating new music is a lifelong process. Before recording each new album, the guys and I usually have at least 20, sometimes even 30, ideas ready, and then we choose the best ones. It is true that Adam and Vojta have complemented and energized us "older guys" amazingly well, and both of them write music too. There is a great atmosphere in the band again, but the creative process itself simply continues in the same way it always has.
You are recording the new singles simultaneously in Czech and English, and you have involved both Czech and international guests. How difficult is it, when composing and writing lyrics, to make sure the phrasing feels equally natural in both languages and that the English version does not sound like a mere translation?
I try to keep the melodies the same in both languages whenever possible, but Czech is actually much more difficult. It always stresses the first syllable and has an incredible number of consonants. I once talked about it with Fabio Lione, and as an Italian he simply could not understand how we manage to sing in Czech or where our vowels are. 😊 On top of that, I always want our lyrics to be good and to carry some kind of idea or message, and when I try to combine that with a sweeping melodic line, it can be quite demanding. In the end it always works out, but the truth is that a Czech lyric takes me much longer than an English one because I have to deal with all the stresses, long and short vowels, and I want everything to be genuinely singable in correct Czech.
The change of name from Navar to Sebastien also happened partly because people abroad had trouble pronouncing "Navar." Yet in 2022 you released the album Návrat Havranů under the Navar name through Smile Music. What was it like to return to Navar's Czech roots after all those years, and how much of that original songwriting spirit still lives in today's Sebastien?
It was hugely nostalgic for me, and I really enjoyed recording it. They were basically songs that were 15 to 20 years old, which we had never managed to record and release during Navar's active years. So we treated ourselves for the band's 20th anniversary. Bart was fully enthusiastic about it too, and I am grateful to Smile Music for releasing the album. I still really enjoy listening to it today. It was also interesting because, after all those years, I found myself with instruments in hand again alongside Ondra and Radek, with whom I founded Sebastien in November 2008! In terms of the line-up, Navar's Návrat Havranů was therefore closer to Sebastien's debut, Tears of White Roses, than to the Sebastien of today. But I love the old material and the new material equally…
Thanks to the new line-up, you can put the guitar aside more often on stage and focus entirely on singing. How have you changed the most as a frontman now that your hands are free, and in what way did the guitar used to give you a certain sense of security on stage?
On stage, I am happiest with just a microphone! I love the freedom and the ability to communicate with the fans without any limitations. When you are singing and playing guitar at the same time, you have to stay in one place by the microphone stand, and every now and then you also need to keep at least one eye on the fretboard. I think I am a better frontman when I am purely the lead singer. I enjoy the guitar most in the studio, or when I am composing and making demos. Of course it is still my number-one instrument, but on stage I simply enjoy myself most without it.
When CITRON and Láďa Křížek went their separate ways, it must have been an enormous challenge. What was your very first thought when it became clear that you and Pavel Hanus would have to sing the legendary band's entire repertoire between the two of you on stage? How exactly did you divide the roles and vocal ranges, what kind of chemistry do you have together at the microphones, and what does it feel like to carry CITRON's fifty-year legacy without a traditional main frontman?
It really was an enormous challenge, because Láďa is obviously an excellent singer and CITRON has 50 years of a successful career behind it! Put simply, both CITRON and Křížek are legends. Before the first concert where Pavel and I were supposed to handle the vocals, I was genuinely nervous — and I have not suffered from stage fright for more than 20 years and normally always look forward to concerts. But it went really well, and the most important thing was that the fans supported us! They were simply amazing! CITRON's songs have such power that they carried us through that crisis period. At the same time, people in and around the band kept saying that CITRON should have a true frontman — someone in the center of the stage, the main singer. Well, recently things developed in such a way that the role fell to me! My debut as CITRON's lead singer was at this year's Holba Rock na grilu in Opava, and it was only the second concert in the last 20 years that I had been seriously nervous before. This is simply something you do not want to mess up! Once again, though, we felt enormous support from the audience, and I hope we can continue in that spirit. With another band, I might be the first to say that there is no point carrying on without members of its most famous line-up. But CITRON has gone through so many eras and styles and has had so many musicians and singers over the years that I honestly believe we should keep this incredible story alive and write its next chapter. I will do everything in my power to make that happen.
Jirka, the Rock Castle festival has an incredible atmosphere thanks to the castle grounds in Moravský Krumlov. What is it like for you to step onto that stage at the head of a legend like CITRON and feel the fans' energy in such a distinctive setting?
I always love coming back to Rock Castle. The atmosphere you are talking about really is unique. On top of that, we will perform there together with Jarda Bartoň and Vašek Vlasák and play an exclusive set with them from the album Plni energie, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! I am really looking forward to seeing both of them. It will be a special concert, and I hope the fans enjoy it with us.
You have been involved with RockOpera Praha for a relatively short time. Did you have any theatre or acting training beforehand, or did you jump into the world of costumes, props and precise stage direction as a complete newcomer straight from the classic metal-club environment?
My first performance at RockOpera was on New Year's Eve 2023, and it is true that before that I had absolutely no experience of the theatre world. Milan Steigerwald called me and offered me the chance to alternate with Kamil Střihavka in the role of Odin in the opera Ragnarock: Vikingové, and that was simply impossible to turn down. I enjoy RockOpera enormously. Today I already perform several roles of my own and also alternate for Kamil, Viktor Dyk, Honza Toužimský and Jirka Zonyga. I mostly get cast as the "bad guys," and I absolutely love those roles!
From a performer's point of view, what is the biggest difference for you when you step onto the RockOpera stage? How restrictive is it to have to focus not only on powerful singing, but also on stage movement, the continuity of the story and the reactions of the other characters?
Roles at RockOpera really do combine several "disciplines" at once, but I simply love it and I always look forward to every performance! It was another one of the challenges in my life, so I never underestimate it and I always go on stage prepared. I have even experienced a situation where I had to learn an entire role, including the songs and lyrics, by the following day! Those are the moments when you push yourself to the limit, and I find it fascinating to discover just how much the human brain can absorb and handle when it is under pressure.
RockOpera brings an incredible mix of personalities together on one stage — from metal musicians and opera singers to acrobats. What is it like working with such a diverse group, and what kind of atmosphere is there in the dressing room before the lights come up?
There is one thing that unites everyone involved — they are all people with incredible heart! And that is actually the main reason I enjoy RockOpera so much… Milan and Pavla have created a fantastic team at the theatre. We always have a lot of fun, while at the same time you know that everyone will give their absolute maximum on stage. Our dressing-room conversations and fits of laughter with Honza from Arakain, Petr from Motorband, Honza from Černá or Martin Sluka are legendary!
Do you feel that unhappy people tend to immediately make a big issue out of everything online, while those who are satisfied simply enjoy the concert and do not write anything? Over the years, how have you learned to filter out hate on social media when you are standing in front of a sold-out crowd singing those songs back to you?
You are right, there is a strange disconnect between real life and the virtual world! Sometimes I genuinely feel as though I was at a completely different concert from some of the haters. Overall, I just find it strange. I have never written a hateful comment myself, and I do not understand why I should spend my time insulting or mocking somebody else's work. If I do not like something, I have the right simply not to engage with it, don't I? Time passes so quickly; every moment is an enormous gift and it will never come back. So why spend it deliberately going to the page of someone I do not like and thinking up ways to ruin their day? What kind of mark am I leaving behind by doing that? And how would I feel in the shoes of the person being attacked? It simply makes no sense, so please, let us try to respect each other and spend more time playing with our children instead!
Your cover of the iconic Olympic hit with Láďa Křížek has collected hundreds of thousands of views without any paid promotion. Why do you think fans responded to this particular cover with such enormous respect and enthusiasm?
With our version of Slz tvý mámy, everything just happened naturally. From my phone call with Láďa and the idea of doing this particular song together as a duet, through the recording itself — we tracked the vocals in the studio of Vitacit's guitarist — all the way to the RockOpera video by the brilliant Míla Levek and our meeting with Petr Janda! The whole thing was one huge experience. We were excited, and I think that emotion can be heard and felt in the final recording and video. I was surprised myself — especially in the context of your previous question — that even in the merciless world of YouTube comments, the overwhelming majority of reactions have been positive or downright enthusiastic! I resisted doing covers my whole life, so I am all the happier that when we finally decided to take on someone else's song, we managed to do it exactly this way.
When you were 14, you were told at music school that you had no ear for music and there was no point trying — and you only ended up behind a microphone because you were slightly less shy than everyone else. Is your story proof that passion and perseverance are a thousand times more important in metal than official assessments from school?
I have to correct you slightly here — although I am amazed by how much you know about me! I was told that I had no musical ear when I was enrolling in primary school, when I was about six. My dad had been a musician when he was young and wanted to put me in a class with an extended music curriculum. I had been singing to myself at home since I was little, but at that age I suffered terribly from stage fright! I started singing the opening of the Czech national anthem in front of some kind of committee with a trembling voice, loudly swallowed in the middle of the second word and stopped. I am not surprised they did not want me! So I ended up spending my childhood with toy cars, a BMX bike, Spider-Man and Batman, and only later, when I was nearly 14, did I find my own way to music. Or rather, it found me. On the night of December 14–15, 1997, I heard my first melody in my head, and that evening my life gained a clear direction and purpose! I believe passion and perseverance are the only road to success, whatever you choose to do!
AI-generated music is a huge topic today. What is your view of this phenomenon — do you see it as a threat to the music scene, or do you believe that no computer algorithm can ever replace the sweat, emotion and raw energy of a live stage?
When AI-generated music first appeared, I was fascinated and a little worried. I wondered whether we musicians might end up like punch cards or computer floppy disks — consigned to the dustbin of history. Today, though, I think we can stay calm. It is certainly amazing to hear, within seconds, a seemingly perfect compilation of the best things AI can pull from its database in response to a prompt, but it is essentially a completely different discipline. We musicians make music because we want to say something, and because we want to interpret and share the ideas that are born inside us. We are not perfect, but that is exactly the core of what makes each of us unique! That is our advantage! That is why I believe AI will never replace art created by people. It does not even have that potential, because it is actually doing something different — creating a polished combination of everything available to it. It is interesting, it can stir an emotion for a moment and it sounds modern and sexy, but to me the authentic words and notes of a particular musician or singer whom I genuinely like in that wonderfully old-fashioned, human way mean far more. A person is always influenced by something too, of course, but the final work is seasoned with that little piece of themselves — and that is something no AI can do…
You mentioned that you are preparing two new songs with videos in both Czech and English and that you are continuously working on more material. What are your main goals for the coming period — can we expect a full new SEBASTIEN studio album soon, and are you planning a larger tour across the Czech Republic, including Prague?
Let me take a small detour first and start with a goal that has just been achieved and is the freshest thing happening right now — Tanja's new EP. It is called Plamen, and I wrote three songs for it. I am really happy with the result, it seems the fans like it, and I wish Tanja every possible success!
And now to Sebastien — yes, the band really is working on a new album. The first songs are completely recorded, including some very interesting guests and brutally great production by Martin "Holly" Hollandr, and we have already shot a video for the first single, once again in collaboration with Míla Levek! And that is far from everything! At the moment, though, we are still waiting a little, discussing the ideal timing of the singles with Smile Music and choosing from our pre-production which additional songs will ultimately make the final album. It should be released in spring 2027, and of course we will support it with plenty of concerts, which I am already really looking forward to!
Before that, however, Smile Music will release my first solo album, featuring a selection of my songs in acoustic form. I have played a whole series of acoustic shows with my wife, and we have also performed that way with the guys from Sebastien — for example, in Hamburg last year. It gives the songs a completely different face. Eventually I also played acoustically on my own at one Smile Music event, and they liked that version so much that they offered me a CD release right there on the spot! The album is already fully recorded, including all the vocals, and is currently being mixed. It will contain a selection of my older songs plus two new tracks that have never been released anywhere before. Every single sound and instrument on the album comes from me.
Another major musical priority for me now is, of course, CITRON! The line-up has become clear, Djordje is back, and I cannot wait for us to start creating new material! I believe there is enormous potential in the band right now, and we simply have to make use of it!
And, as if that were not enough, I am also part of — and one of the creative forces behind — the multi-genre, multi-generational project Erazim. Against the historical backdrop of the legend of Erazim, the last Pauline monk of the Kuklov monastery, we explore themes of good and evil, love, and the seven deadly sins as defined by Pope Gregory I the Great.
Overall, I feel like I'm going through the most active creative period of my life right now…
One of your great passions is appraising ancient coins for an auction house. What makes the world of coins thousands of years old the perfect way for you to switch off from distorted guitars and endless travelling in a van — and what would you like to say to Rebel Sound readers in closing?
Numismatics is, alongside music, my second lifelong passion. Or perhaps obsession…? I simply do not know how to do anything by halves!!! I started collecting historical coins before I ever picked up a guitar. When I was only 12 or 13, I was already attending meetings of the Numismatic Society in Pardubice and studying the development of monetary systems in the Czech lands, every coin catalogue I could get hold of and other literature. At the time I was most fascinated by the Czech Middle Ages and the era of the Prague groschen. In recent years, however, I have focused on antiquity and — naturally — I have completely fallen for it! I have essentially become an expert on coins of Imperial Rome, roughly the first four centuries AD, and that is why I offered my services to the Aurea Numismatika auction house, which I have now been working with for quite some time…
As you can probably tell, I approach it with the same passion as a metal concert, and both things give me enormous enjoyment and energy! They are like two opposite poles in my life, with my beloved wife and my daughters at the center. I need all of this in my life; without it, I would not feel complete.
And what should I say in closing? First of all, thank you very much for the interview. Take care, and I look forward to our next meeting. To the readers and all rock fans, I wish joy and passion in life. May every day be worth living, and may great music played nice and loud be the soundtrack to it! I appreciate every one of you very much. Thank you, and I'll see you at the shows…
One thing comes through absolutely clearly from our conversation with George Rain: he does not treat music as a job or as another item in his calendar, but as a lifelong driving force. Whether he is fronting CITRON, writing new material for SEBASTIEN, stepping into another role at RockOpera or closing the studio door and immersing himself in acoustic music, the same determination to do everything at full intensity is always there.
That is exactly why it will be fascinating to see where this extraordinarily busy chapter takes him next. One thing is already certain George Rain has many more chapters ahead of him and, in his own words, he has absolutely no intention of slowing down. Rebel Sound thanks him for the open interview and wishes him as many future concerts, songs and new challenges as possible.
Matess