Hello! Ukrainian Atmosfear is on the line. First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the whole band on the release of “Unbalanced”! What are the feelings of the band’s musicians six months after the release of the new full-length work?
Denis: The feelings are excellent! The feeling of a job well done, happiness for the guys and for myself. I want to fully enjoy my well-deserved rest and, with renewed strength, start a new work.
Andrey: “Golden” words just said Denis! I still have a sense of fulfillment of duty to the metal world!
Alexander: There is a feeling of satisfaction from the creation of the album, which, in my opinion, is the most complete in our history. Also interesting was the idea of making it not in Russian. With this album, a new round of DRUKNROLL history has started.
I won’t pester you with a banal request to tell about the history of the band, fortunately everything can be found in detail on your Internet pages, but what interested me is the designation of your style – on the one hand, the band is attributed to a complicated definition, like Progressive Death/Thrash with a bunch of different things, on the other – under your name you can find a kind of mark – Modern Metal. As I understand it, the latter was invented simply so as not to bother either yourself or the listeners with the definition of the genre affiliation of DRUKNROLL?
Andrey: I wanted to invite you right away to the DRUKNROLL team for the position of director with a salary of $ 10,000 per month, because you yourself simply answered your question perfectly and I have nothing to add to this! Of course, I myself would like such a job, but no one offers …
Alexander: DRUKNROLL is a way of thinking, and not music with a certain style or direction. As an example, I can cite the wonderful Infected Mushroom, in my opinion, they don’t bother with the names of styles, trends, they just see, or rather hear, this world.
I read in one of the interviews that your name, in essence, has no meaning. But to me, this word seems like a kind of reworked version of the phrase Drunk n Roll, “drunk rock’n’roll,” so to speak. Do you think I’m not far from the truth, haha?
Andrey: Maybe that’s how it all started and there is some truth here, but then I quit drinking, smoking (and I didn’t quit some other things and wasn’t going to quit) and started doing sports, and now I can say it like this: there was a drunk F … n’Druk’n’Rock’n’Roll, and now sober Druk’n’F … n’Rock’n’Roll, or vice versa, in short, I got confused myself!
In one of the central (in my opinion, of course) songs of the new album, “It’s not my way”, female vocals are noticed, however, as far as I understand, there are no girls in the line-up. Please tell us, what kind of vocalist took part in the recording of this composition? Was this thing specially prepared for a female lead vocal part or did it all happen spontaneously?
Andrey: Yes, this composition was specially written for female vocals, for about 5 years we racked our brains over who would perform it, we “tried” many different vocalists and suddenly, as if by accident, I found out that my own daughter Maria also sings and I had to entrust her with this difficult topic! It seems to me that she did a great job, and she also wrote almost all the lyrics!
Until (relatively) recently, the band’s lyrics were in Russian, however, the newest album, as well as the 2017 EP “Bad Math”, are presented in English. You decided to make your work as international as possible, heh?
Andrey: Yeah, here’s what one Chinese fan of the band wrote: “What the hell, bro! I haven’t gotten a single lousy theme, are you bawling in Vietnamese or something? Go ahead and sing in ours, in English!” How could I refuse my Chinese fan, and you’re talking about “international” creativity!
During the time of DRUKNROLL’s activity, quite a good number of video clips were filmed, and if you consider that the band is a representative of the Russian underground, then in general, you can give them a standing ovation… how do you manage, living in not the largest city in Russia (Saratov), to so actively support your recordings with video sequences of quite good quality?
Andrey: At first we took the easy way out, we called Moscow about the video, asked how much, they told us – $50,000… Yes, we were just a little short – $49,800, so we took on the matter ourselves, we wrote the script ourselves, we filmed it ourselves, we edited it ourselves (Alexey Gorbatov actively helps us with this) and we fit into the amount that we were short! Yes, and for $49,800 we throw a grand party to celebrate the release of the new video!
Alexander: Each video is like an adventure for us. A quest)). We need to put everything together: a song, an idea, a background, actors, a film crew and, of course, a budget!!!
Despite the fact that the group has not consisted of one person for a long time, as far as I understand, you do not engage in concert activity, preferring to work in the studio. Correct me if I’m wrong, and maybe I just haven’t found any information about concert events with your participation?
Despite the fact that the band has not consisted of one person for a long time, you, as far as I understand, do not perform live, preferring to work in the studio. Correct me if I’m wrong, and maybe I just did not find information about concert events with your participation?
Andrey: That’s right, we do not perform live yet, although Metal Scrap Records constantly invites us on tour. We are completely focused on studio work, and instead of touring, we try to make more video clips! And the DRUKNROLL team already has 40-50 people, I can’t say right away, because the team includes those people who starred in the videos!
Your group has been collaborating with the famous Ukrainian label Metal Scrap Records for quite a long time, but your debut work was released on the NewRock label. Could you tell us about this label, and why the group was not satisfied with the cooperation with this label, as a result of which you soon moved to Metal Scrap?
Andrey: Since it was the first album, we had no experience, we just wanted to publish as quickly as possible and through friends I got in touch with NewRock, but, as they say, no one promised promotion. And already by the time of the second album’s release I approached this matter thoroughly, dug around on the Internet and here you go – the Metal Scrap Records label! At first I cautiously signed the first contract with Metal Scrap Records, but then all doubts were dispelled, the label did everything it promised, not only the release of the CD, but also, most importantly, promotion all over the world! What can I say, because “Unbalanced” is already the fourth full-length album released on this label!
All your albums are recorded at your own studio DRUKNROLL. The technical nuances of the studio can be seen in full online, I would like to ask about how the idea of creating your own studio came about, was it hard to rise to a good, professional level? You probably record there not only your own things but also other artists? By the way, are there any other studios in Saratov that could be called, roughly speaking, your competitors, or, on the contrary, comrades/colleagues?
Andrey: The idea of our own studio was in my head for a long time, even when I wasn’t writing music, but only listening to it (well, jazz, etc.) and suddenly Doc (also a metal fan) and I decided that it was enough to mock the brain and immediately started building (as they say, we nailed every board ourselves). It was more difficult to assemble the equipment, but by trial and error we assembled everything we needed, although it took more than one year. Well, to reach a professional level, you just need to work hard and everything will work out! Yes, we record local bands (you can see everything on the portals druknroll.ru and druknroll.com). And what distinguishes us from our competitors rather than colleagues is that we specialize in recording heavy metal bands!
Alexander: It was interesting to watch how the studio was born and formed. During this time, the studio has become like a home!
Summer is ending, the time of various metal and rock festivals. Have you or anyone from the team gone to any major type of fest? If yes, what were your impressions?
Andrey: I wanted to tell you a little off-topic about the local rock festival SIM-Saratov Independent Music, of which I am a participant. Once a year (though in winter) thanks to enthusiasts of this business Y. Shvam and N. Shadrin, a rock festival is held in Saratov with the participation of local bands and a CD is released (in the last few years a double CD with a circulation of up to 1000 copies) not from a concert, but with studio recordings, which include tracks from up to 40 local bands, and which are distributed at the concert to musicians and spectators! It seems to me that if such an event were held in every small city, the popularity of rock music would increase many times over!
What is planned further in terms of promoting “Unbalanced”? Are there any developments on new material?
Andrey: We were planning a world tour with Metallica, but my pick blew up at the last minute, so the tour had to be postponed, but not for long! Work on new material is in full swing, 3 compositions are in the final stage of completion, which we want to release as an EP early next year! By the end of the year, we also want to make a new video!
Thanks for the conversation, would you like to say anything to the fans who read our publication?
Denis: Continue to be interested in underground music, read and learn information about bands from any sources, especially from ATMOSFEAR magazine. Quality music to everyone!
Andrey: Black death doom thrash power speed symphonic folk grindcore jazz to everyone!
Interview prepared by Den.