besides music i also organize shows so it’s fair to say that besides music i basically do nothing. i used to work in different clubs, labels and everywhere in between. we filmed the shows, made livestreams. moreover, i studied musical management in the university. i have simple hobbies – i used to play football , then nearly broke my leg and decided to call it quits. what i really want to do now is to make furniture, i like it for no particular reason. my girlfriend and i, we were redecorating the rooms at our place, and i liked the process a lot. it’s pretty messy though: you’re all covered in dust, paint and whatnot but anyway it was cool. i would like to do that for a living but i have almost no time for that. besides playing in the band i do some session work in the studio.
hobbies… i don’t know… i skydive, i am professional skydiver. also i work as a software engineer in pretty big russian company. aside from music, work takes a good chunk of my time. sometimes, when i have couple of free weeks throughout the year, i like to travel and see how other people live: i rent a flat, drive around in the car and explore. i am the worst vocalist in the world, and when i hear my voice on the recording (and it doesn’t matter whether i sing or speak), i just want to go to the darkest corner and sit there. the rest of the guys have more or less the same level of vocal abilities.
we used to try out some people, but then we realized that our material was made for some instrumental stuff and the vocals would be out of place there, especially if it’s not great (and it’s even harder to find great vocalist than great drummer), so we decided to get rid of this element. not every music needs vocals, that’s for sure. i can’t say that there is not going to be any vocals, and at the same time i can’t say like ‘yeah, our next track is definitely will feature vocals’. sometimes at home i take my acoustic guitar and sing. but only when i’m home alone so no one can hear me,
because i’m pretty skeptical about this stuff. i mean, if i can’t do it good, it’s better to stay with me. i think that only 3 or 4 people in my life have heard me singing. talking about the vocals in the band… in fact it was unconscious choice. when we started we were looking for vocalists, we really tried, and at the same time we were creating instrumental tracks. at some point we realized that our music became way too complex to fit the vocals in there. the last time i sang was on the back vocals on our first ep. we do have some hidden vocal parts here and there to be honest. we have some hellish screams in the track ‘ghostwritten’, the fifth track from ‘ghostwritten stories’ ep. we screamed there altogether, but it was mixed heavily in the back with clarinet solo.
we never tried it live, but maybe we will at some point if it’s going to sound organic. i used to sing in choir in high school, but i feel much better with an instrument instead of mic. i think there is no recipe for success. someone can finish musical school, have talent and hate music afterwards, because it was shoved into him. others, in opposite, missed this step during their childhood and later started looking for the ways to express themselves. the best is when the one had some musical education as a kid and didn’t lose passion as an adult, i think these people are the most versatile musicians. as you can guess, i have no musical education. i started playing guitar pretty late – when i was 18 or so, and i didn’t take lessons, i learned the guitar watching videos on youtube and reading tabs.
i think the most important for the musician is not the education but vision of the final product. as they say: the best photographer is not the one who takes a lot of pictures but who deletes the most. the same with the music, i guess. i have a concept that there are three big components that the one has to master to become a good drummer. these are: technical aspect, conceptual aspect, and emotional aspect. why do you have to master them all? imagine that we take one of them out and have only technical side and cool concept. everything we can achieve is being a great musician who teaches lessons and master classes. if we cut out conceptual part, we are left with technicality and emotions, the most we can get is a clone of successful drummer. yes, you’ll play great but you will never find yourself. the third option is an exception: you have a concept and emotions but you’re not the best on technical side. this thing actually might work.
the best example is ringo starr, the richest drummer in the world. i can't say that he played some really complex stuff, but how he did it and what he tried to tell with his drumming is really cool. developing these three aspects i don’t think that musical education is necessary because you have to mostly feel these things. i do have some musical education. when i was a kid my parents brought me to the musical school. it was common in that time that when the kid is going to school, parents put him in some different unnecessary activities. i hated it with all my heart and soul because while all my friends were having fun i had to go uphill and downhill during snow, rain, sun or whatever to study piano and musical theory every friday night. the teachers told me that i had talent but i didn’t have any passion for it so it didn’t really work. i barely graduated, i didn’t understand musical theory at all. i thought that i would never touch any instrument again,
but then when i was 13 or 14 i realized that i wanted to play guitar. my parents were very supportive and bought me my first acoustic guitar but with one condition: i had to take lessons and learn how to play it well, so i would be able to play not only three popular chords but i will really master it. i went to the same musical school, i didn’t have any special theory classes again but at the moment i started playing guitar i understood everything – intervals, seventh chords, arpeggios, keys and scales etc. so i realized that the most important part is passion.
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