Kuba Ryba: Big bite, sweat and rock'n'roll!

Interview with Kuba Ryba from the band Rybičky 48: About the new album, harder tones and sober playing

The Kutná Hora band Rybičky 48 has been active on the Czech scene for more than 23 years. In the fall of this year, specifically on October 1, 2025, they released a new album called "BIG/BÝT", with which they are setting off on a big autumn indoor tour. On November 1, fans can look forward to its first stop - in Brno.

In order to soak up the Brno atmosphere in advance, the band decided to organize the event "Come to Brno for a beer", which took place on Monday, October 20, at the Metro Music Bar club. The band decided to meet with fans here to have a beer, talk about the new album, take pictures and enjoy a relaxing evening full of laughter and good mood together.

Of course, we from the Rebel-Sound editorial team could not miss such an opportunity - and on that occasion we interviewed the band's frontman Kubu Ryba, who openly told us about the new album, preparations for the tour and life.

How is the album BIG/BÝT different from the previous albums you have released during your time? What is new about it?

From my perspective, it's different in that we weren't afraid of other styles. We've been in the band for about ten to twelve years, which is a terrible way to define the Rybiček 48 style. We play what we're enjoying, what we want, and what influences us at that moment.

From my perspective, it's different in that we weren't afraid of other styles. We've been in the band for about ten to twelve years, which is a terrible way to define the Rybiček 48 style. We play what we're enjoying, what we want, and what influences us at that moment.

Our record will always be new in something, although I can't describe exactly what. We just play what we enjoy. I think we really put a lot of effort into this record - both with the music, the lyrics, and the overall rehearsals. The interesting thing is that we all recorded the record together. We sat next to each other in the studio and recorded it all together. Then other instruments were added. The reason it's going so well is because the guys and I have bonded over the years.

You write on the website that BIG/BÝT is the fastest, hardest and funniest album you've ever released. Is that true?

Sure, it kind of fits. "We're always hard-core, so we do it on purpose. We're making a bit of a fool of ourselves, we even said it was the hardest album anyone's ever recorded," he added with a laugh. But yeah - it's our fastest. From my point of view, I don't know if it's the funniest, but the hardest too, we've probably never had songs as hard as this one.

How long did it take to make the entire BIG/BÝT album?

Some of the songs were already five years old – Big/Být itself, for example. The recording was done gradually, starting in the spring of 2024 and continuing in the spring of 2025. We recorded half of the album first and the other half a year later, because we were touring in the meantime and it was impossible to keep up with everything. So in total it took about two years, including the preparations we made with Filip Vlček to put everything together.

What does the BIG/BÝT album mean to you personally?

I feel like it's the next stage for the band. We'll see if we enjoy playing harder songs. I personally always enjoyed listening to them more. I like songs that you can kind of drive, not that I'm a fast driver, but I just like it when I'm driving in a car. I think we'll definitely enjoy playing it live more, until we turn on the lights, I'm really looking forward to that.

When you wrote the lyrics, is there anything different about them than before? 

The lyrics are different in that I tried not to put anything in there that I would be ashamed of in the future. Before, I used to do that, because I was lazy, I didn't like a sentence or a phrase, but because I had been at it for a long time, I left it there and in retrospect it probably pissed me off. This time I put more work into it, both by myself and also invited Jenda Vávra, who writes lyrics for other bands. He helped me with places where I was annoyed by a word and I didn't know how to replace it. And Pokáč also helped me with one verse.

What would you like the fans to take away from the new album? 

Our lyrics are often funny, but I always try to make them more than that. I've found many times that they took something completely different from what I originally intended. It's perfectly fine, it's a kind of art, I leave it up to people to be inspired as they want. We want people to take away joy, positive energy from every album, to feel good about it, whether it's the melody, the lyrics or the rhythm.

How are you preparing for the tour? 

What's behind it, how long does the whole preparation take? We've been planning it for more than a year, there's a lot of work behind it, which is done by people who are not visible - those who design the stage, lights, fires. Now we've also finished the LED production. Someone has to come up with the whole thing - we usually have an idea, but sometimes we leave it to others. It's more or less up to us to release the album, rehearse it and be ready. The management then takes care of all the other things, like securing venues and so on. 

Are you preparing anything special for the autumn tour? What haven't you had yet? 

Honestly, there's not much to come up with that we haven't had. We're trying to make it more like the whole evening has a great atmosphere. Jakub Děkan and Pekař will play in front of us - and we did it so that they have one band and they will take turns singing a song. Jakub Děkan will sing one and Pekař the other. As they are known, they will be joking around, and we want one of them in each city to win the "Golden Belt." The people will decide who was better in that city by clapping.

Do you have any rituals before a concert? 

I think it came out somehow with the guys. I think the guys and I always bang our fists – even with the technicians. It takes a while before we get around those 20 people. We always wish each other a nice concert. I'm used to it, and if it wasn't, I'd probably be sorry. I don't know if it's a ritual, but it creates a nice atmosphere – we all know each other, we rely on each other and we enjoy it together.

Can you combine band life with family? 

"If you're not an asshole, it's completely normal," adds Kuba. Of course, if I had a child in my twenties, I would take care of him differently than I do now. Or, on the contrary, it would cure me right away, because I'm a very family-oriented person. My son is absolutely everything to me. Everyone thinks that we're not together that often, but people who work from seven to three are with their children far less than we are. Since our child was born - and the boys too - we try to be with our children as much as possible. So we've slowed down the concerts - instead of a hundred or eighty, we play thirty to forty a year. How many times does it happen to me that when we play headliners at night, I put my son to sleep at 7, go to the concert, come back at night and he doesn't even know I was gone, how many times has that gotten to me. We have more interviews now, because of the new album, but otherwise I'm available at home practically from Sunday to Thursday. My wife also works from home because she's a ceramicist and has a ceramics workshop at home.

Do you have a funny concert story, something that really stuck in your head? 

Some are terrible, some are terrible but funny. In my most drunken days, we did a lot of stupid things in hotels, but we were never the ones who would break anything. While playing with Iné Kafé, I had an umbrella shoved up my ass at a hotel and forced him to open it. Once, I had the entire reception moved to my room without knowing it - I only found out in the morning. There were tons of things like that. I prefer not to remember some of them, but I mainly remember the ones that sound funny, even if they weren't funny at the time, they're funny now because they're time-barred.

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you weren't a musician? 

I've thought about it, but nothing has ever come to mind. "I honestly still don't know what I want to be when I grow up," Kuba added with humor. I really enjoy this with the boys. It fulfills me, but I think I'm far from saying it's my mission or anything like that. I still enjoy this for now. So when we stop, we'll go do something else. I've always been good at drawing, so maybe I'd illustrate something. I'm more of a creative type who can't stand being beaten. Maybe I'd work in advertising, I've come up with a few things like that, and I enjoy making ads. I enjoy it from the perspective of being able to pass it on to a friend. But if I had to sit in a corporate office and come up with it on a conveyor belt, I wouldn't enjoy it.

If you could go back to the beginning of the band, would you do something differently, or would you not have started at all? 

Sometimes these thoughts come to mind – what could you have done better, faster? Then I thought to myself that if I actually went back to the time when I was about 18 and I was founding Rybičky and had the knowledge that I have today, it might not have worked the way it works now, because I would have approached it with some calculation. We really did it by trial and error back then, we still do it to this day. Each stage – some were great, some were less good, but each stage had a big part of who we are in the end, not only as a band, but as individual guys in the band. It somehow shaped us, and I learned not to regret anything. 

There are things I wish I had done differently in the past, but on the other hand, I can't take them back and I can only regret them to the fullest. So I left it like this, that's how it should have been. I'm a simple person in this, for me it's the easiest. So this is how it should have been, this is how it is and I won't think about what if.

Finally – do you have a message for your fans? 

I would like to thank all the fans so much that they are still having fun and that there are more and more of them. It is actually unbelievable that 15-year-old girls are going to 40-year-old guys, and at the same time, 20-year-old, 60-year-old guys who are the age of our parents are coming to us. So I am actually just happy about it. I would like to thank the fans and that they share our sense of humor with us. 

I would like to thank Kuba Ryba very much for finding time for our editorial team and talking to us about the new album, upcoming concerts and life. You can see Rybičky 48 on November 1st in Brno at the first stop of the BIG/BÝT Tour. Get ready for an energetic evening full of new songs, but also older songs. If you like live music, harder tones and a great atmosphere, you definitely don't miss this stop.