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To Pasha Pakhomov
TRIANGLE
RUBBER FOOTWEAR
RED TRIANGLE Since 1860
DANGER OF DEATH Keep Away
FURNACES & CHIMNEYS
SOVIET PAPER
SOVIET WALLPAPERS
AF Production presents
a film by Xenia Alzey and Alissa Alexina
UNDERGROUND: HOW NOT TO BECOME A STAR
Dude! Dude, wake up!
Oh, f*ck this!
It's time for rehearsal.
Metal is waiting, c'mon!
I brought food!
Oh look, we have guests right from Moscow!
NO SMOKING
All young musicians are very ambitious,
everybody wants to be a guitarist, a vocalist,
and if 6 strings seem too difficult - they want to become bass players.
Sorry, Pasha.
And nobody wants to be a drummer,
because they sit in the back,
so there is a constant shortage of drummers.
[Forum posts: "Drummer Wanted!"]
I'd like to be a musician and play the drummies!
When I was 5 I listened to Led Zeppelin's "4"
and I thought it'd be cool to be a drummer.
I don't know, I had some experience of playing.
Or singing, more like.
So I guess I don't want to go back.
When you see musicians,
you cannot but immerse into the atmosphere,
you want to be on the stage,
you want to be that person that electrifies the audience.
For instance, like Doro
ůor Angela Gossow.
It'd be very cool to overthrow Angela Gossow!
Like earlier she was like
REVOLUTION BEGINS!
Something like that.
Growling is cool. To be in an awesome band.
To come on stage and blow the audience away.
Yes!
I used to go to music school.
Piano class.
I guess, you sang, hung out and had fun?
No, I was little!
I want to learn to play every instrument,
but first of all the guitar,
like any rock music fan.
I want to learn to play the drums cuz it's my favorite instrument.
I like the keyboards, the drums.
I don't like the guitar.
It's gotů how many? Five or sevů
It has six strings
and it's so difficult to press them with my fingers.
I'll get blisters.
So, it's not interesting.
That's all I can play on the guitar, unfortunately.
Better strumming the drums!
So much adrenalin.
I guess, singing.
And if it's an instrument, it's gonna be the drums.
I think that people play music because it gives them pleasure.
Maybe somebody wants to become popular, to get on TV!
Well, for starters, they want more chicks.
To get laid more often!
Well, of course it's about girls!
I wish to believe that it's not only about chicks or success.
It's like a getaway.
I wanted to play black metal.
But not because of girls - because it's so horrifying and gruesome.
Just for the soul.
It all comes from the childhood enthusiasm.
Like this that's playing there.
Oh, it's Nikolai Baskov!
It is always from the heart,
it's always the love for art,
desire to express oneself through music.
I got a Metallica tape in 9th form.
Oh, same here, btw.
I got so hooked.
I listened to it and I was like "wow, that's awesome!"
Then I went crazy about Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden
and other old school stuff.
I came to my uncle, I was like 13.
I saw his acoustic guitar and I felt a freaking urge to play it.
I got a book, "Fun But True" about Metallica.
I was dying to specifically sit behind the drums.
I made myself sticks out of wood
and I knocked them on cartons and other stuff.
It was an accident.
I met a guy who said "Let me teach you how to play the bass".
My major was cello.
It was a doom metal project called Painful Memories, in mid 90s.
I started playing keyboards in the Azeroth project.
I got the idea of Vergeltung and I got all this:
It's more like electric producing now.
I went on short rations for half a year,
on my scholarship,
and bought my first electric guitar
and started to play music that I liked.
And I was in a shop once, I touched an electric guitar.
Damn I nearly got a ***.
I've been rolling ever since.
MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
F*CK NO SWEARING
BESTSELLER
Flutes, how are they different?
We have a flute from the music school, butů
Among the cheap ones, I'd recommend this one.
Like, from the heart?
Well, from all the heart!
Can I take this one?
Fiddly-diddly noisy trinketsů
There is a saying that there are 5 rock bands
per every citizen of Saint Petersburg.
Well, bands, because it's more fun,
it's easier to break the wall.
People get in bands in different ages,
some come to music when they are 14, some when they are 20, some come later.
Creative people need some kind of self-actualization.
They need to let their energy out, and also it's a kind of leisure.
To make it funny with funny lyrics and a funny message.
I used to play KVN game shows,
so we decided to make that kind of musical comedy
or more like comedic music thing.
I got in my first band not because I played well,
but because I was very tall.
In the 7th form before the New Year I was close to be expelled from school -
I had a fight with a classmate and I broke his face really hard.
I thought I had to do something...
So I assembled a music band.
In the New Year's eve we performed on the school talent show and we won.
So my teacher decided not to get me out.
I took the drum sticks in my hands because it seemed interesting
and I started to play the drums.
I liked it and then I took the guitar and became a guitarist.
And then I became a drummer.
And now I'm kinda bassist.
You were handed the bassů
"I passed an IQ test and they told me that I was a bass player.
The IQ level - Bass player!"
There is a lot of jokes about us, like we're all dumb and stupid.
Faust, start the telega. Like Pauk, naprimer!
I also was a vocalist for a while.
To get laid!
Stars have a much bigger popularity, much more fame,
and the fame that we have, which is not bad at all,
is incomparable with the stars popularity.
Baptism ofů
Fire!
It's so cool when people like you!
It's euphoria. You're just a god!
Like you're walking down the street and somebody says,
"Oh, you're so cool, can we get an autograph,
can we get a picture with you?"
You're just standing, drinking beer
and somebody comes up and says
"oh, you're cool, give me an autograph!"
Or "gimme the beer!"
"Oh, you're so cool, you're from Stigmata, right?"
Rock stars are people who play their music well
and they got in the wave. Rock...
Valera Kipelov, first of all!
Would you shut up?
They gotta go on world tours,
live in top class hotelsů
ůmisbehave.
You f*cking drunks! Where's cheap *** here?
Beer-***, beer-***, beer-***ů
And they must throw a TV out of a closed window.
It's very low.
If we were on the sixth floor, no problem.
Oh, yes, that is awesome!
The TV doesn't go through the window,
that's the real problem!
We would do that!
Why they threw TVs out of the window in the old days?
Because they fit!
And now it's a problemů
The size of TVs and windows nowadaysů
A TV twice as big as a fridge.
I'm really trying to move it but I can't!
Take Valera Kipelov - he's a rock star,
and Dima Bilan.
Nah, I'm full of ***.
I am the rock star!
Call me!
Look, look!
Lemmy is the rock star.
Not only a rock star on stage,
but also in life.
He drinks, he smokes,
he has sex with everybody in a row,
he has all kinds of fun.
That is a rock star!
Well, first of all, a rock star is me!
A real rock musician should swear, naprimer.
And say "naprimer" and "taschemta".
Taschemta, rock like hell.
Drink port, kinda Crimean wines.
Yeah, I'm great.
We're just arrived to a hero-city of Sevastopol, naprimer.
We're gonna take picture in front of the train
with some strange writings.
DEATH TO FASCISM!
So we're planning to kick some f*cking *** from this cannon, naprimer.
Turkish ***?
Yeah right, Turkish ***, to make them tremble.
Regards from the Crimean soil!
Let's drink port, guys!
Hail Russia! Hail all of us!
Hoorah, comrades! Hoorah!
Who drinks the most *** is the rock star!
First of all, I'm a rock star
because I listen to Valera Kipelov. I think...
He's f*cking awesome!
Riding a star!
Rock stars are creative personalities who mingle in showbiz.
They do their favorite metal music and they earn money with it.
And get on TV!
The music sucks! Hate it too!
Most examples are what?
Hot lady's men!
After my first concert I got a girlfriend.
She just came to me and said that I was a very cool guy.
Gorgeous)
You don't even have to ask me, just film me.
Call me. Just film me.
Let's not say that they constantly get laid.
But being a musician is...
a sort of advantage.
You can always pick up a girl by saying
"hey, I'm in a band!"
Been there, yup...
Yeah, I had a couple of times.
Many times!
All girls at school were mine.
It helps! It does.
100%!
Quoting Faust, they assembled ITEMů
No, first it was Faust and the Crocodiles...
To get laid!
Specifically for this!
Girls, we will give our CDs to all of you if you do this!
Trust me!
I think Sveta is the winner!
Can I kiss you?
Thanks a lot! Thank you!
Other girls, please don't go!
We've got some consolation prizes for you!
Sveta, please don't get dressed yet!
And now please take your prize from my hands!
No, not like this.
Right! Like this!
Thank you!
Yeah, at first it's cool, but then it passes.
That is so low!
To achieve fame, to become a mega-star, it's not a reason toů
It's also self-actualization.
To see will I be able to perform on stage or not.
I'm confident. I come on the stage - I am confident.
Everybody dreams about a crowd, to come out, to be heard.
Specifically this piece of their soul,
for it to be accepted and not lost in vain.
All is in our hands, guys!
To get worldwide recognition,
to become a famous bandů
A person who plays music and says that he doesn't care about becoming famous
is just a hypocrite.
Fame is one of the things that is always around musicians.
When I first took the instrument in my hands I immediately wanted fame.
Wouldn't it be awesome to stand on one stage with Metallica?
To come to the Ledovy stage
or get a full Olimpiysky stadium,
to get a sea of fans at the stageů
We couldn't play anything, we couldn't sing
but we had the ardor.
We decided that we'd create a rock band, a metal band
that would be greater than the Beatles
and would blow the world away.
But all that was nonsense,
girls were much more important then.
Although it's getting harder in Piter in this respect
because there are too many musicians.
OKTAVA REHEARSAL STUDIOUS
FURNACES & CHIMNEYS
That must be the wrong door then.
There's a huge garbage container
and a red door with a sign above it.
No, not "furnaces"!
"Bag Profusion" or something like that. No furnaces.
NO SMOKING, EATING OR DRINKING IN THE STUDIOS
We played at the Union University once.
It was a big concert called 10000 Stars.
There were Fabrika Zvezd, some black guy
and, as a local talent, - our band, Citadel.
So they ask us "where is your tape?"
We're like "We don't have a tape".
They say "alright, play live.
Here's the gear of pop star Oleg Gazmanov
so soundcheck, but don't touch anything".
I come to the amp, I'm going to turn a ***,
and the sound engineer is like "F*ck are you doing?"
I'm like "Why, I can't turn the knobs?"
He's like: "No, you can't.
When you're a rock star, then you'll turn the knobs".
Remember us young!
We all wanna be rock stars!
I can do this!
We've got a fan-club!
I am a 99% rock man!
Will we be on TV?
No, but you're gonna be on Facebook.
Yay! Facebook is better than TV!
Concerts? Well, yes, occasionallyů
If White Snake comes, you're sure to go to that show.
Well, of course.
And would a band that plays similar music be interesting?
A Russian band?
Yes, local.
I don't think so.
It's gonna be crowded at the Prodigy show in Ledovy!
Who are the Prodigy and who are us?
That's what I'm saying. They do not care that
Vergeltung and ITEM perform the same day.
I came from Moscow to Piter
to listen to my favorite bands and hang out with them.
It's gonna be like my 50th ITEM show.
I'm here for the first time in this club so it's all new to me.
We have prepared several new songs.
Today we'll see how they go on the show.
What's taking them so long?
Hi!
Hi there!
Hey. I'm saying, they ought to be playing by now.
You see, it's a sellout.
Yeah, life of musicians is something.
Starting from sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.
Although, it's not how it used to be.
Today metalheads prefer tea.
Get musicians some tea!
We got tea!
But no coffee, btw.
We got raisins with seeds!
Some seeds have legs and they are running around.
I guess I'll get them all over my case and my clothes.
Stop it, man!
Cockroaches?
Yes, and f*cking huge ones!
Let's have some beer!
Vergeltung are drinking Jagermeister!
He's assembling some S&M stuffů
Well, Boroda, you know about these things!
Boroda hold it for me please.
Hey, Boroda?
Hold who?
Like this.
No, now you're in my way.
Like this! Yes.
Sometimes you get spaced out and then you gotta do
everything all over again.
It's cool that they started giving tea
to musicians in Orlandina now.
I'd say it's a real progress!
Why are you drinking tea?
Being a musician is really cool, butů
It's exhausting, really.
Especially in conditions of Saint Petersburg.
I wonder, when musicians get technicians to do this,
is it cool or not?
It's cool if the technicians are competent.
But it's cool to do it with your own hands, right?
When you f*cking go on a f*cking tour for a month
and you do this every f*cking day,
so much that your hands are shaking
and washers keep falling down like thisů
It's not cool at all.
It's f*cking depressing.
You are a part of the underground elite, so to say.
You come and you know everybody,
you are in the center of attention.
I was searched all over, it f*cking sucks.
I wasn't searched at all.
I mean, all over.
Well, you bring only one backpack!
The guards just said: "Any pointed or bladed weapons?"
I said "My weapon is my word!"
I wonder is it only our country where they search musicians
or is it common practice?
I think it's normal. Totally.
I think it's not f*cking normal.
Why do you think so?
Well, I just do.
Well, if a club has a rule that you can't have a cold weapon on you,
then it doesn't matter if you're a musician or not.
It should be taken away.
And how did Epidemia do their opera with swords?
Well, it's different.
It's like props.
A knife is a thing universally considered a weapon.
I got this little knife in my pocket.
I carry it around and nobody says it's a weapon.
That's bad.
Boroda, this security guy stopped me like five times
and said "hide the chain!"
I was like "are you f*cking nuts? It's just a chain".
This one?
Yes.
What could you do with it?
I don't know.
I guess somebody did something to him with a chain.
He knows what!
They must have screwed his balls!
He wasn't speaking with a high pitched voice, was he?
No, the voice was usual.
But still he's a f*cking ***!
Are you sure this thing will fit the door when you assemble it?
Is the crowd big?
No! Not big and very small in fact.
I came home today and there was World's 100 Best Shows on MuzTV,
and there was Rammstein.
They are coming in February.
F*ck, so I'm thinking.
Why think, we're gotta go!
You think so?
What's in February?
What about the show?
Will you be breaking guitars?
Our show is us!
What about guitar breaking? Didn't you ever want to break a guitar?
We're not that rich.
I'd love to break a guitar
and someday I will buy a guitar just to break it!
I think it takes practice to break a guitar properly.
And for this you need guitars to practice guitar breaking.
Of course you can make some plywood guitars for it.
You can saw it a little!
Faust, there are inflatable guitars in Toy shop!
How can you break an inflatable guitar?
That's the point! It's hard to break
and you gotta hit it f*cking hard
to break a rubber one.
Then there'll be no problem with real guitars.
It's not about hitting it f*cking hard!
It has to be spectacular, beautiful, see?
You have to break like 50 guitars in front of the mirror
to be able to break it like Kurt Cobain.
To make the audience believe.
Or you gotta rock like Kurt Cobain?
I'm not that healthy to rock like Kurt Cobain.
See? So you're gonna have to buyů
I never even tried ***!
So you're gonna buy it.
He didn't want to spend money on 50 guitars,
so he spent it on ***. That's it!
Want some, Faust?
Spirit.
I just got soberů
Pure spirit.
Tastes like crap but you gotta do what you gotta do.
A security guy drove us from the tables.
What? Drove you off? Un-f*cking-believable!
The security guy drove us off the tables.
Boroda, are you nervous?
I'm sleepy.
Guys, can we borrow your pilot?
They don't seem to have it.
F*ck, where is it?
Here.
Gotta untangle it.
What, this is it?
Yes.
Give them encore. Go play!
No time to relax.
It was positive today.
But not long.
You lazy bones!
The people are few, but they rock.
Good thing it's not hot.
But I couldn't hear a f*cking thing.
If you want to hear what you play, you gotta play from the audience.
I've been suggesting it for a long time,
since musicians are more than the listeners,
they gotta be on the stage and we gotta play in the audience.
That's a good idea!
It's more convenient, the sound is better
so let them suffer!
Set list!
That is freaking energetic!
That's why we do it!
You can earn money by playing music
if you play in Luzhniki or Olimpiysky stadium,
go on tours.
If you just play in clubs, I don't think so.
The fee of ITEM
paid for honest and uncompromising performance!
I'm sorry for not letting you hide the money.
Pasha, take it and run!
Run, run!
What did you spend your first fee on?
I don't remember.
Beer!
Beer.
Beer!
We boozed it. I think, alcohol.
We drank it, I guess.
It was tiny.
Fee is a cool word.
It's like when they get you something for fee.
No, that was "for free".
Remember, we had one.
When? When?
We played in a band in Crimea
and we spend it on a taxi.
I remember us going to Sevastopol on a taxi.
Yeah, we were late for a gig 200 km away.
Freaking late!
We put the concert fee to the pool.
Let's put it in a bank for interest.
A bank?
A bar! Let's put it in a bar!
For interest, for degree.
That's very profitable.
It will never go down,
no crises threaten it.
Put your money in the bar, people!
ADMINISTRATOR
RED TRIANGLE STORE Since 1860
ADMINISTRATOR
STUDIO
STUDIO
Cool!
I couldn't do without it.
What about this?
This - oh, no.
This and this
and I don't need anything else.
Is it a snack?
Yeah, we gotta eat something.
We're like cosmonauts here.
Mork recorded NU-NATION drums on my drums.
Last time the recording with Vanya was ok with his mixer.
But then Faust said that we need a f*cking great mixer,
do here's a f*cking great mixer
and I don't see any f*cking great in it.
Well, get a new one then.
Who's that?
Soboleg.
Sometimes even stars don't have technicians.
In Extremo?
We are now in the very ***
that is called the underground.
Mainstream is something popular
and underground isů
Unpopular.
It's like a limited run movie.
At the Swedish cinema retrospective.
Bergman! I'm alone in the hall.
It's a sort of a place where people want to hide
from reality.
It's something under the ground.
I always thought that underground is
a rapid transit system.
In England.
Underground is something that opposes itself
to the situation
that is stronger than these people.
40 years ago rock music
was something new,
something that had not previously been aroundů
It was a riot! A real riot!
And now I don't see what we are rioting against.
And now compare it with jazz in the 60s.
It was music with traditions, it wasů
Okay, let's talk about the 30s, cuz thenů
Dude, don't.
Jazz was also new music,
and people were like, wow what are they playing there?..
Dude, and now it's 2009
and rock music also has its traditions
and it can be studied in universities.
I think it's hard to impress someone with something now.
You play a riff and think,
hey, I heard that *** before,
it's not interesting, it's not in the trend.
I'd love to get in a time machine
and go to, say, 1973.
There's a shitload of bands in the underground,
but very few of them can actually play.
Or they play something that's been already played a hundred times.
There's a real shortage of something interesting.
Or it's not promoted well enough.
You don't see those bands on the MTV.
They don't get stadiums, like Olimpiysky.
The border is professional - not professional.
I don't think there is such a thing as underground.
It's what used to be called "amateur".
We do it only as a hobby.
This is underground.
And there are a lot of guys like us,
you can shoot us for fun.
For me underground is
to sit at home and record black metal music on a tape recorder,
release 66 copies,
print it on a cheap inkjet printer
and sell it to friends.
It's about ideology!
Black metaaal!
Maybe it's just a certain stage?
Metallica started as underground, right?
All bands start from underground.
At first it's small
but then it grows bigger and bigger
and then it's a huge machine
that infects everything on its way like a chimera.
And masses of those fans are just an enormous force.
Who gets to the top?
Many get to the top, don't they?
Some producer will come and say,
guys, you're what I was looking for.
But it's improbable.
Of course we haven't achieved what we wanted.
We are working on it.
Underground are the people
who can't get any further.
Not many succeed.
Stigmata, Psiheya, and so on.
Those who work hard, they can do it.
The important thing is to do everything right,
not moan "Nothing's gonna come out of it anyway,
I'd better get drunk".
ATOMICA had the audacity
to send an application
to the Eurovision song contest.
I bet they wrapped a herring in it.
If you ask,
is it possible to go out of the underground?
We say
Yes, it is!
It's cool when
somebody recognizes you in the street
and says "hi"
and then you say "hi" too.
To be that famous to be recognized on the streets
is almost impossible.
Yes, if you invest a lot of money in a hot blondů
No-no-noů
ů never minding her singing skills.
It's not even about talentů
Acquaintances, connections, that's the only way.
I think it's all about money.
If you have it it's simple.
Forget it!
I guess there is no recipe
how to get to the top.
Either money or pure luck.
Not everybody gets a chance.
Black metal?
Hopeless.
There is a point in trying to go West.
Let the world know you.
Yes.
The West seems like a Promised Land.
It wasn't Russia who invented metal
and other heavy styles that our young bands play
so you have to be really special
in comparison to what you listen yourself
to become successful among those guys
who's been in it since the 60s at least.
It's gonna be like one in thousands.
Like t. A.T.u.
Yes.
Nobody needs us there.
They got their stuff ten times more and 10 times better.
It must be even harder to gain success there.
On the other hand, when a band leaves the underground
it becomes in one way or another dependant on someone, whether it wants it or not.
That's the time we live in.
On listeners, on labels, on organizers.
They are no more free as birds, no matter what they say.
I used to play Black Metal,
but modern youth has different trends
so now I'm an emoboy!
We decided to play "***".
I wanted something else, something besidesů
gloom.
You want chicks! Gloom will punish you!
Popularity sets certain limits.
Musicians play what people like, not what they like.
What brings fame and money.
No.
Youth! We gotta make a song for the young!
Few people play what they want.
They play what people want to hear.
This is what is called popular, right?
We'll know when we'll get out from the underground.
You should've asked Cobain about this.
He did not want to be popular but became a star.
He was afraid of it. He just wanted to create.
We too want to create.
And earn money with it too.
Yeah, a lot of money, but being underground.
We are happy people because nobody tells us what to do.
I think that famous Piter bands
play what they like
because sometimes
a band has to oppose
the opinion of masses or society.
It depends not on popularity but on the person.
How free inside he is.
When they become incredibly popular
they start to do what they want
because nothing holds them,
they got the money, they can do whatever they want.
I want to at least be in a band.
At first I'll be there not to earn money.
I'll just want some popularity,
I'll want people to like my music, to really enjoy it
to bliss out!
You want to get on the MTV?
It's hard to call it underground
when people from TV think that
it might be interesting to general public.
[AMATORY] are kind of pop-ish already.
Everybody loves to use these words: pop-ish, commerce.
No, it's a product that is currently in demand with the people,
that people want and expect.
So if musicians make it,
their band becomes famous and their work is heard.
If what they do is unwanted
no money or PR campaigns are gonna help.
Because nobody wants it.
Heavy music in Russia is not very popular
so you can say that it is underground.
Black Metal is a sort of chamber music.
90% of our club bands can be called underground.
If we take top hitmakers
we'll see that there is a lot of rubbish.
But this rubbish is presented so awesome that people dig it.
people wanna listen to it.
It's a huge media bomb that really had an effect.
I don't think Rapper Syava himself expected that.
When he released 7th or 8th video
we decided to parody his original song (the first one).
If you don't have money, but you have brains,
it's 50% that you're gonna succeed.
We were at my kitchen and I said
why not upload it in YouTube.
See where it has come to, damn it?
Internet is one of the very affordable ways to become famous.
If you learn to do something that people like
you're gonna play at stadiums.
I for one have such ambitions.
Professionalism is the first thing
that a musician needs to become something.
14 years ago I had one dream in life -
to become a professional musician.
Who'd refuse to make money with something they love?
Making a living with music is possible.
Play in bars, be a session musician.
If you're some freaking virtuoso, then I guess you can.
Composing for money,
making remixes for money.
Alexei gets lots of orders for arrangements
from f*cking Moscow pop bands.
If you want to earn money
you're gonna have toů
Have a gimmick.
Not a gimmick, but you're gonna have to be flexible.
A pop star must have an ***.
A huuuge ***!
In pop music they produce you in the ***.
And if not in the ***, then somewhere else.
We'd love to play pop,
but nobody takes us, we're not pretty enough.
Totally.
I just have no ***, that's why I can't play pop.
You're gotta have *** to play pop.
Or be a pretty boy. Yes.
Good pop has very good musicians.
I tried to play pop for money.
I played pop for money, and jazz and classic.
I'm fed up with it.
In our country to play pop means playing to tape.
It'd be fun to get on TV, wouldn't it?
Would you be dancer for Moiseev?
DOWN WITH GAYS!
I don't want to sell myself like that!
There is nothing bad in me getting money for my singing.
It's much better than being
a street cleaner or a bus driver, or someone else.
When your hobby becomes your work,
it often stops being your hobby.
For us the most important thing is
to start earning money with music,
it doesn't matter what music.
Our music.
We're going to play our music anyway.
Even if I hate these songs, it doesn't matter.
I'll sing what I like in my free time.
There is no problem in earning money with music.
The question is - what music? Yes.
If you want to play jail ballads, no problem.
F*ck didn't you say there'll be no rehearsal?
To make you come!
Because I just found out myself.
See, Killer's not here, Faust also f*cks around somewhere.
F*ckers.
Well, yeah.
Did you drink all night?
Well, I just woke up.
Right, there's a double bed.
I wasn't going to come.
I just wanted to check how things are.
Everybody cleans, what about us?
Who's gonna clean it?
I don't know.
Is it my duty? That's why it's so dirty here.
Two former classmates meet after 10 years of not seeing each other.
One says "how are you?"
And he says: "well, I got a car, some old Mercedes, all rotten,
a five bedroom flat with bugs,
a wife, my kids go to school,
well, it's all good.
What about you?"
"Well, I'm a musician. I recorded an album."
"So, do you sell much?"
Yes! My flat, my carů
Not only music brings no money,
it also takes a lot of money and time.
That's a pricey toy.
I don't have a problem with it, becauseů
I don't know what else to do with my time.
Earning money? Honestly, I don't think that
if I give it all up right away and start on my way to success I'll earn much.
You have to think clearly
and try to earn money with something else
with music being just your hobby.
Of course if I earned money with only my music
I'd be wearing the same T-shirt for years.
And my weight would be like 28 kg.
We all do some other stuff
and we all have decent income, thank God.
And if we didn't have it we'd just be dead.
Surviving is what we do.
I prefer other ways to earn money.
Go on.
The influenceů of Londonů
in politicsů financeů education and entertainmentů
Alright, let's say you did it. Give it to me.
STUDENT'S RECORD BOOK
The only thing that doesn't let us play our music
is work.
A guy spends eight to nine hours a day on a factory
where he is screwed by his boss,
where he makes some machine parts.
That is the lot of an underground musician - suffering.
Which, as we know, purifies the soul.
My last job was sound engineer
for Orlandina club in the summer of 2002.
I work at heights, I install windows,
do some engineering works, industrial high rise works,
air-conditioner installation and so on.
So it's everything where you don't have to use your head, where mind is free,
where I can not show up in case of a concert or a tour.
So I'm not tied neck and heels to this job.
I work in CGI,
I've been doing it since my first year in academy.
Since I was 3 I've been doing visual art,
I have a degree in art and restoration.
I'm a military, naprimer.
Insane internal forces ensign.
Construction site supervisor.
I work in the office.
I'm currently unemployed.
Usually I sell construction materials.
We have two furniture makers in our band.
But I'm afraid of these woodworking machines.
Here's my finger.
It doesn't bend, see?
The stretching sinew on my finger is torn,
it can't be healed.
My hand got into an emery stand and it cut my finger to the bone.
So there was a chance that I'd play the guitar with only three fingers.
Everybody knows the Abordage vocalist Andrei Mashoshin,
he plays with no fingers at all.
That's the spirit!
A job that you have to attend takes a lot of time and energy.
What music can you play after that?
So if we didn't have to work it would be heaven.
Music is a getaway.
A good one!
ADMINISTRATOR
We need a scotch tape, Nikita has it.
That is fetishism.
Well, at least it's not a dude.
F*ck!
That's how it's done.
Why Ferro?
Right, f*ck the dude at all.
Like this?
No, closer, so that it's clear.
Like this?
No, a bit farther.
Like this, yes.
Now I'm sure that work will be a pleasure.
I am happy.
Great!
Now I see what you're going to do here.
What?
The usual!
What?
Practice!
I guess it's good enough for practice.
It seems like everybody plays music.
The whole Piter!
I used to be like all music, nothing but music.
Now I wouldn't like to do it.
Somebody may prefer another career.
I'm trying to ride horses, I'm trying to play music.
I'm up to lots of things.
I started to organize concerts and I had no time to play.
You can do all of these things,
the question is what do you need the most.
If a person does it for money or fameů
Somebody may set a certain goal for himself
and then reach it or not reach it
and become disappointed.
First, they do become disappointed,
second, they see things unrealistically from the start.
Everything seems rosy
and they think that what they do is what millions want.
It's been so many years
and still nothing outstanding came out.
It sucks all your energy and gives very little in return.
They give more than they get from the audience.
And then it's out.
You got used to big audiences and then ***! -
you have 200 people in front of you.
20 people on the concert.
10 people show up.
And with time comes the understanding thatů
Nobody needs you.
There is no point in going on.
It's much easier to sit in front of the TV with a can of beer in your hand.
Or maybe you've just grown up.
Family, work.
Yeah. Family, work, kids.
If a person is interested in music
he'll find a way to combine it with his work,
with his family,
he'll have a 24-hour marathon,
he'll have no time to sleep.
It's hard to do something when you didn't get enough sleep.
Why didn't you? Night shift?
Yes, I went to bed at 5 a.m.
You can't really be fed up with it if you have it in you.
The game is worth the candles
and it's very interesting and venturous.
I don't think some of us will ever stop playing music.
I get thoughts like that after some failures.
Almost everyday.
Why am I doing it? Why am I spending so much effort?
I had it too, I even gave it up.
For two years.
I quit it for 5 years.
I disassembled my guitar,
assembled it back, put it in the case,
put the case in the closet and decided that
I will never do that again.
It's just stupid to give it up!
You devoted all your life to it and suddenly you quit.
Re-read your life like it's a novel
And dare you not step back
Your conscience calls upon you
What will you answer it?
Never! Not ever!
Anyway, I got back.
There is something above us.
It's like drugs, really.
A real drug.
Once you're on the stage, you're hooked.
I stopped drinking, I stopped smokingů ***.
Every Friday we quit
and every Monday we start again.
One dose is fatal.
"We're pumping rock'n'roll along the veins". Who said it?
Faust.
Yeah, Faust.
If I don't play the guitar for a week, a month
and I'm shaking like an addict.
I'd like to do it right now.
Underground is such an ambiguous thing
where zealotry and altruism are welcome.
There are a lot of cool people, a lot of friends
who are ready to support you in the underground.
Everybody plays for free.
You can't earn money here.
But it's very cool and interesting, rock-n-roll and all that.
My family always welcomed it.
My mom and dad like music very much.
I feel the support of my parents,
I didn't have these weepy stories like
"No, you are going to be a doctor!"
Some f*cking surgeon or psychiatrist.
But I said "F*ck all this"
and started to play the guitar and drink ***.
Hey, Killer, where's my bro?
Hey. Check out there.
Pasha. Come help me tune the mike.
What will I get for this?
A lot of tasty stuff.
Is there anything tasty?
Yes, there is. Come and tune the mike for me.
Get me up!
Am I supposed to get you up?
Is there anything else you'd like me to do?
You - no.
I'm always getting this.
Drive me to the concert, wash my cuffsů
You didn't wash them, by the way!
Because I forgot.
Killer, help me, I can't do it on my own. Spleen has me.
Well, yes, I guess, something like that.
I always said that
good boys are brought by storks and bad - by woodpeckers,
and bad boys grow up to become drummers.
Well, my brother is not an exception.
He doesn't want to teach me to play the drums,
so I have to practice on my own.
Take one sticků
Yes, take one stick, here.
Don't hold it in your fist, hold it with your fingers.
You don't move it from your shoulder,
it's more like you're making a wave.
Your hand is lax, no tension, everything has to be sharp and even.
You don't work when you play, you rest.
I've always tried to separate my personal life and music.
But it's not always the case.
With music women started to look my way like
"Wow, he's a musician".
And I was like "Yeah, I'm a musician".
FOR EVERY KURT THERE IS COURTNEY
And now it's like a curse, like "Ew, musician!"
Yeah, now it's like a curse.
Women say, "you're musician,
you'll never have time, you're loser".
Today you rock and roll
and tomorrow you get married and that's f*cking it.
Your wife's gonna go like
"earn money, stop playing this ***,
you go across the city with your guitar, you're gonna be a father soon!"
It's no use arguing with a woman,
she thinks she's right.
Women are the source of all evil,
this we can state authoritatively.
I completely agree with that
and I'm trying not to be like that.
I'm trying not to behave like a woman,
not to make eyes at somebody during the rehearsal.
There was this guitarist who at the first rehearsal
started to make compliments to me
and I said "Look. Let's have a deal:
either you play with us or we date, not both.
For me it's more important that you played with us".
There are a lot of musicians
whose personal life was ruined by music.
For example, you.
No.
Music brought us together.
If somebody manages it, they are an exception to the rules.
But the rule is not to bring your personal life to the stage and tour busses.
It's a fact.
And then like:
As a rule personal failures
make a musician to sublimate,
to take his instrument and play it for pleasure with his friends.
It is productive.
These emotions are the basis for a creative process.
You can make a song out of anything.
Music discovers a person.
It's a feeling of freedom or maybe love.
Suddenly you hear a melody in your head.
Inspiration and the things that inspire us are something inconceivable.
You just tune in to it and here it comes.
I see the world around me as a matter for creativity.
All that is destroyed, old, industrial,
cosmic events.
There is this guy who is in the International Association of Radiofans.
He intercepted communication of International Space Station with Earth.
When I heard it I knew it was material for a new song.
I used the voices of our Russian pilots and cosmonauts as samples.
The good thing about rock'n'roll and underground is that it is a forward motion.
Underground and avant-garde are the same in Russia.
And Russian Rock totally sucks ***!
No, the real Russian rock is
when a kid takes a guitar and starts signing:
War sucks!
Stop the war!
We've had enough of suffering!
We've had enough captivity.
I'm more attracted to English.
I think it's more melodic.
I am ecstatic about dictionaries.
Learned English without any help from Muzzy!
They didn't let us in the club,
they said "you can't sing in English here".
So we started singing in Russian.
We don't know Norwegian
and Russian sounds stupid with extreme vocals.
If you want to be popular in China you should sing in Chinese.
Rock and metal assume English,
no matter in what country you play it.
We're in Russia, but we don't play rock with balalaikas.
And if you want to be popular everywhere except Russia,
you have to sing in English.
We have songs in German, too.
Atomica sang in four languages
with all the philological education that we had.
An album requires a lot of time and money and feelings
and when you see the final product you feel satisfaction.
It's like a weight off your shoulders.
Either disappointment or
"Wow, how cool is that!"
I always buy CDs
and try to get autographs from musicians.
It is something very mythical, very amorphous.
It's for friends and relatives.
Why spend money on CDs and tapes when there is the Internet?
Neither Internet, nor mp3 can replace live communication with musicians
with the atmosphere of a live show.
NU-NATION 1st performance at ArcticA club
Hi!
Hi!
Hey, a scratcher!
F*ck!
Are you going already?
What's this mike doing here?
It's Faust's mike. - It's mine!
Mork, do you need help?
Let me see.
Only if to hang a clamp, the rest is fine.
Hey, M&M! Let's go hang stuff.
I'm coming.
Where's Mork?
What's good?
Good song?
Hello.
Hello. F*cking great!
You liked it, Dima?
Yes.
Nu Metal feature! Scotch tape?
Come to the stage!
Rock and jump with us!
That's rock, anyway.
It's rock-n-roll!
We are NU-NATION!
I sawů
I'm standing there, jumping and f*ck!
ů and I see that you are closer, closer to the stage edge and think f*ck!
The tall one is about to fall.
But the tall one didn't fall.
I remember the time when I was really scared to come on stage.
I was at our first solo concert in Yubileyny.
That was totally f*cking scary.
During first gigs I was terribly nervous,
the pick kept on falling out of my hands,
I kept forgetting my partsů
My voice was trembling during the whole performance.
I get sweaty hands usually.
Dima is nervous if he doesn't drink.
But usually it turns out ok.
The show is very important.
Working with the audience.
Audience is cool!
Especially chicks!
Of course it's not cool when few people come, butů
But it's bad not for the band but for its managers.
If somebody needs you it is already a gratitude for your work.
They came to listen to us, it is already cool,
no matter how many they are.
It's cool to make people a holiday.
90% of the information we get is through the eyes.
One can listen to music at home.
But a concert is a show. You have to come and watch.
Well, that's an invention of our own.
If you press the button it goes like this:
F*uck, I even squeaked!
Two membrane buzzers and a filament lamp.
The buzzers were taschemta stolen from a military object,
I'm not telling where exactly.
And there's another thing, it's from the Metro.
Most of you must have walked past it a hundred times.
Light, smoke, beer, show,
clowns, fireworks, waterfalls,
***, costumes...
What costumes?
That is sicků
Image is very important for every musician.
Even if it's a low-class club, it doesn't matter,
you come on the stage, you show yourself to people.
All my costumes are individually made by tailors or ateliers.
Specifically for the topic of the concert or the cover of the album.
This is my first dress in which I performed.
For the album presentation I ordered costumes for the entire band in one style.
I had this grand beautiful dress with the Sacrament logo.
I like black and red.
A fancy skirt with a side cut that allowed me to show my leg.
I guess it's my favorite costume.
And the most expensive too.
Put the belt in the middle and it's a dress.
It's a jacket of our friend,
vocalist of Fear of Insomnia.
Like...
Classic gay style.
It smells gay, honestly.
I'd say that too. But, it's alright forů
For Joutsen.
It's a part of his entourage.
I'm sure he cleans his boots with it after the concert.
Well, at least don't come to the concert in the same T-shirt in which you woke up.
After drinking.
For the TV program they dressed us in these costumes.
Turned out to be appropriate and rather funny.
Even if you are a super musician it's hard to sound well in our clubs
because there are no conditions for that.
So at least look good!
You come there and they start to paint your face.
Girls walk here and there
and you are kind of in a similitude.
I can't make up other people!
Liza is too expensive, so you have to.
Eyelining is f*cking sick.
You stick this pencil in the faceů
Yeah-yeah-yeah, I nearly died.
It is show business!
Even if it's underground, still, it's show business,
albeit in embryo.
It's hard to pull off something like that in our clubs.
It's cramped.
To make it really look cool, classy,
not amateur.
If Piter musicians took as much drugs
as stereotypical rock stars who throw TVs out of the windows,
break guitars on stageů
No problem. Just give us a couple of guitars.
We'll do that.
I once broke a guitar at a gig.
I wanted it to be cool and it flew away.
A guy bought a brand new guitar
and decided to break his old crappy guitar at the concert.
I don't want to f*cking break this one.
He plays his new guitar, here comes the last song.
He takes his old guitar and starts hitting it against the stage,
but it doesn't break.
Finally, ***!
And the stage cracked.
A loser rock star.
Whoever wants to feel like a rock star in Russia
is more likely to feel stupid
because in this country the stage is more likely to f*cking break then the guitar!
You're listening to Radio Roks, 102 FM. Hello.
Good afternoon, I'm Oleg Sobolevsky and it's news time on Radio Roks.
Something blew up or somethingů
Train.
96 wounded, 25 dead.
18 more are missing.
The explosive capacity of the improvised bomb that blew up the Nevsky Express
is estimated 7 kg TNT.
That's why there are so many cops everywhere today.
Serega might get pulled over in that black Ford.
Where is KOTH?
I don't know.
Not here.
Swedish band Pain of Salvation were going to perform tonight at Glavclub.
Yesterday the band played in Moscow
after which they were to leave for the Saint Petersburg show
but because of the Nevsky Express catastrophe
all trains to the Northern Capital are delayed,
so the musicians didn't make it in time.
Klinov asked me today how long we can play.
Vergeltung band were to open the concert of Pain of Salvation.
They are going to perform in any case and there is still hope
that the Swedish musicians will make it to the show.
Is there any info about it in the Internet?
What kind of info?
I mean some ads that the Swedes are not going to be there.
What's the point in advertising it? So that nobody comes?
Wellů
They are trying to hide this info.
Maybe there is some honest *** who wrote it.
There is.
Yes? Really?
That Sobolevsky. He posted it on the rockell.ru.
That's how I knew it.
It is hard to say when exactly the musicians will arrive to town.
He also wrote that the concert may be cancelled.
That's an interesting concert. Force majeure.
You have to be in contact with the terrorists
to know when the concert will be cancelled.
To be warned in advance.
If you contact terrorists the concert is sure to be cancelled.
No, I mean, they'd e-mailed about it.
Then you're gonna needů
"Guys, we're planning to blow the hell up he railway,
so keep in mind that you might wanna prepare enough material to play for 2 hours,
the Swedes are not coming".
Damn it!
Zhenya!
Yes, I can hear thatů
Alan, we're not taking the drum set and we're not taking the amps
because there is no need anymore.
The Swedes are totally late, they may come at like 9 o'clock at best.
The show organizers promise that Pain of Salvation
will perform in Saint Petersburg in any case,
but when exactly the show will begin - 11 p.m. or later - is so far unknown.
I wonder, do I need to take extra cymbals? What if the Swedes will ask for them?
And don't forget to take this cymbal! [F*CK]
So, do we take the buzzer or not?
Let's take it.
Take it all!
Ok, let's take it.
What kind of a performance would that be without a buzzer?
Alan is here!
Hello!
So, how was the terrorist attack?
What?
ů due to the emergency at the rail road
the train with Pain of Salvation is directed via Vologda.
They're screwed, right?
Maybe be they were the real object of the terrorist attack?
That's not good. Swedes are our friends.
I suggest we just come out and say "We areů
Pain of Salvation! Hello, Nizhnevartovsk!"
"Hello!"
Are we going to drink?
Yes.
Wait!
Well, come on.
Where is KOTH, by the way?
He was kinda silly today.
KOTH is silly when he's having a lady at his place.
He's so polite then.
Gonna grow such hornsů
And for me?
Lying in the ditch With its wheels up
Nevsky Express is laughing!
Zhenya and I applied logic that led us to the conclusion that
you were having a woman, taschemta.
What?
At your place.
No.
KOTH, Zhenya said that you were being silly and talked too politely.
I just woke up.
Oh.
Are you always that polite in the mornings?
Yes.
So if you want to have a heart-to-heart conversation with KOTH,
call him in the morning while he's asleep.
About 6 a.m.
Yeah, before he starts being a bully.
We can get everything outside.
Ouch!
Oh, please forgive me!
Pain of Salvation is on its way, they still have 250 km to cover to Saint Petersburg.
ů they are still about 70 km away, let's wait for Pain of Salvation.
Pain of Salvation finally made it :)
I don't go to concerts, or I rarely go.
Because sometimes I don't have enough money,
sometimes I don't have a company to go with.
I'm afraid to go alone.
Everybody is shouting, jumping, waving their hands,
with long hair.
I'm afraid I'm so small, what if I get carried out legs forward.
Today is day of mourning in Russia.
The country is mourning the victims of the fire at the Permian night club.
For 24 hours the state flags will be flown at half mast
and all entertainment events cancelled. [NO FIREWORKS!]
In temples of Saint Petersburg people light candles in memory of those who died.
As of this day the number of casualties is 112.
Vladimir Putin is expected today to visit Perm.
According to the sources in local administration
the visit is connected with the Lame Horse tragedy.
When so many people die, mourning has to be observed.
You can't have fun in the day of mourning!
The day of mourning spoiled all our plans,
because there was going to be a very good concert
but it didn't take place.
Mourning is a personal thing for every person.
Because when you are forced to mourn and be sad, it's not right.
It's sodomy!
We were on tour that time, we didn't know.
I was texted by the director of Glavclub
that our concert on January 2nd is cancelled.
They started inspections in clubs, some got closed.
I'm gonna say this with a sober voice - it sucks!
How can they close clubs?
It really sucks!
Fireball and Glavclub are already closed.
Orlandina can be closed tooů
THE CONCERT HALL IS SEALED. NO ADMITTANCE.
They're gonna close everything because nobody follows fire regulations!
We're all gonna die!
There are some good rehearsal bases.
We're gonna make a special party at Oktava rehearsal studio,
with ITEM band as a special guest.
We're going to play on the streets! In underground pedestrian crossings!
Or give house concerts.
Well, house concerts are not feasible...
If you don't stop the noise, I'll call the police!
The State Kremlin Palace will never be closed!
Never be closed!
Because Medvedev hangs out there, so they won't close it!
So, we'll have to make rock shows there.
We'll have to.
Although, safety is very important.
Why don't they close theatres?
Let them closed Mariinka, fire safety also sucks there.
There are a lot of frames with pictures in them.
They burn really well.
Hell, chairs also burn well, they are also synthetic,
everything will burn, everybody's gonna die.
We all are gonna f*cking diiiie!
STOP! DANGER OF DEATH
Yaaaay! Deth! Deth! Blud! Satan!
Guys. You're scaring me!
Raise your hands those who are for the End of all Days!
1, 2, 3, 4... 5!
When I die I want everybody to drink and have fun.
Because if there's an afterlife,
it's there not for looking at some sour faces.
Vampires. We feed on the crowd energy.
A concert is a specific atmosphere, live sound,
it's a really fantastic feeling!
Stunning emotions, feelings, nerves!
Is metro closed already?
It's closed! Six-six-six!
So we stay here for the night.
Why the f*ck are you standing? Get f*cking crazy!
You come and you slam.
It gets you, it's adrenaline!
Jumping, waving your hands, shouting, banging your head!
You can shout something like "you suck!"
It's always fun and positively affects the mood of everybody.
In the underground crowd everybody knows each other,
you meet the same people at concerts.
Music is not of the biggest importance really.
People come here to hang out.
To have a drink.
Drink beer.
Well, no.
I guess I come to the concerts to hear the music
that I hope will become the blood that runs in my veins.
She goes to concerts because of music!
You give musicians a part of your soul in exchange for their part of the soul.
That's what rock is!
Make it an octave higher.
It's easy to say. I'll have to turn differently then.
Back in 1993 on a tour in Izhevsk
our guitarist was nearly shot dead.
We were sitting in a kitchen when somebody fired a shot from outside
and the bullet flew in the window and went just a centimeter away from his head.
We had some rough talks with bandits when on tour in the same bloody 90s
in Nevel we were taken from a rock fest to some bandit wedding
with guns pointed at us
and they made us sing sang jail ballads and Russian Rock
for which we were given two packs of cigarettes and life.
Tour basses with showers, saunas andů
*** rooms and all
are not common in Russia.
So we have to confront the reality.
ROCK CONCERT
TICKETS ARE SOLD AT THE RAILWAY TICKET OFFICE
DISCO DANCE HALL
GRAVESTONES
We get our things, we change our clothes and then we'll talk.
I can't do it now, I'm too tired.
Hello!
Hey! I see your beard is bigger that mine!
It was even bigger!
So why the hell did you crop it?
I didn't want it anymore.
We are now getting offers of Russian and European tours.
But since I'm in the army now,
I cannot leave, especially abroad.
Ours is no country to play metal.
There was a period when we stopped playing for a little over a year
when I got in the army.
They didn't even let me go home and take my tooth brush or anything.
They just hand-cuffed me right on the street and f*cking sent there.
I got a text: "KOTH. I'm f*cked. I'm in the army now".
I rushed to him to Novgorod...
To my oath of enlistment.
No, even before that, right away!
Oh yeah, you're right!
I saw a f*cking rookie!
He had this long hair when he left.
When I saw him he was bald and mosquito-bitten.
Two years is too long, of course.
Many people just turned idiots there.
Many became drunks, like me.
I drank everyday. Once I almost died of hangover.
We ITEM never had such a problem.
Nobody got in the army. Never.
Same here, btw.
Well, it's not gonna happen now.
Not anymore.
Except for you.
Of course fans wish that their dream band never broke up.
But in reality only few survive,
the rest break up, sooner or later.
A band didn't even make it through their first show and it already breaks up.
Maybe they differ in their understanding of music.
This stupid f*cker still can't play blast beat on his f*cking drums!
Maybe they got financial problems.
Gotta have the money.
Maybe some bands need some adult approach.
Whether it brings money or not, it's still work.
If somebody starts to fail or separate himself from the group -
eventually he'll just have to leave.
Maybe it's because of a conflict in the band.
Somebody f*cked his bassist's girlfriendů accidentally.
The bassist found out about this and beat the *** out of him.
And the vocalist said "I'm not playing with these f*ckers."
Everybody fell out over a woman!
But not over me.
Human factor. - Yeah, human factor.
I don't know how many bands manage to be together for years.
Maybe they just match.
No conflicts in a band.
100% mutual understanding.
Common goals, common ideas.
Everybody has to be interested in playing music together.
This is the most important thing.
Don't be a stubborn ***.
No Santa Barbara ***, no fighting and other crap.
On the other hand, don't be too adult.
It's only that childishness that keeps the spark alive.
Colleagues or not, but without personal relationsů
Without a certain element of friendship, I guess it's impossible.
If you only see each other at rehearsals or concerts,
it's not gonna work.
We spend a lot of time together.
We understand each other without even speaking.
You gotta have very warm relationships.
Drink together, snack together, have fun together.
A band is a family, first of all.
A good company you're never bored with.
I really don't know a band that would still go on,
except for ITEM that are still up and running.
Somebody feels high doing business.
All the best to these people, they are good at it.
And I play music, because it's fun.
I just can't live differently.
I just can't do anything else.
I can't do anything else at all.
I can't get up in the morning and not take a guitar.
I play the drums because I enjoy it.
And it's very cool that somebody else besides me likes it too.
I just like playing music, I get high.
It brings me an incomparable pleasure.
Any man's got to have a harmless hobby.
It makes sense to want to have the underground as a hobby.
And we're just cool guys!
Underground is here and it's not going anywhere
and history shows that underground eventually becomes classic.
JOHN LENNON STREET
They were those who really made it to the top.
Of course there was an awful lot of effort and money involved.
But even when they were not superstars yet,
people crowded the Cavern club just to see them.
When we encounter some bad luck -
too few people came to the show, too few albums were sold,
we keep telling ourselves that we are doing it for ourselves, for pleasure,
and that we don't care much that somebody didn't came.
But in reality
bad is the soldier that doesn't wish to become a general.
And we all dream about stadiums,
back stage ***, and all that stuff.
I think that if Metallica hadn't set it their goal to conquer the world,
they wouldn't have conquered it.
You have to be a bit idealistic to get this thing going.
You have to have it burning in you, you have to believe in it, if you will.
But just dreaming about stadiums, millions of dollars and all can be harmful,
because the more bitter the disappointment will be.
But really you have to set a high goal right from the start.
BAND CONTEST TO WIN OZZY OSBOURNE SUPPORT
I never had the goal to be world famous,
or Russia famous, or even Saint Petersburg famous.
After 10 years enthusiasm went down, experience went up.
In the end it turned out that
the only reason to play music is music itself.
Just enjoy it!
It's what runs in my veins,
what I feel and what I'd like to share.
The easiest and the hardest way to do it is through the stage.
When you're on stage
You give it to people, give from here to there.
And if you manage to make at least one person's eyes glitter,
that is worth it.
It does not matter how many people came.
If at least one person listened to you
and heard what you were trying to say,
that means you haven't live your life in vain.
For me the process is more important than the result.
If you have it in you, then I guess you will become popular.
Because sincere people always get popularity.
And it's also about a miracle.
We had only 2 demo songs recorded.
Somebody liked them, somebody didn't.
Ozzy Osborne really liked us!
So a young Saint Petersburg band will warm up Ozzy Osborne.
The Great and Terrible himself selected Lowriderz out of thousands candidates.
Only luck can help. Or your guardian angel.
It's just destiny, you never know, so to say.
Be in the right place in the right time.
This is true, and not only about music. It's about life in general.
For somebody music is life, for somebody - just a hobby.
If it's a hobby, then it's gonna end sooner or later.
And if...
What was it that Faust said?
Pumping rock-n-roll through the veins?
Well, that's about the real musicians.
Man, it's not your fault.
Pasha, it's a rockhell party, calm down.
It's okay!
I neverů
I knew from the start that we'll play less, it was a fact.
Well, I don't want to play like that, see?
Well, that's the only way if there are 6 bands and we play last.
We'll always have our set cut.
So we're never playing with blast beat again!
It's the right thing IMHO.
Pasha!
Look at me and do the same.
Gotta pack the drums.
We have 15 minutes left and I haven't plugged in yet.
What's gonna be here? A disco?
Yes, a disco!
Party till you drop.
Hey, hon, call Killer or Faust.
What do you need?
Call them.
It's not musicians, it's some f*cking drunks!
Whose banner is this, guys?
It's ours.
Could you take it off, I'm starting already.
Guys, 2 minutes!
Pasha, are you going with us? Or not?
Where are you going?
In October 2010, ITEM broke up.
But there are thousands of such bands.
And every day new bands are formed...
1 December 2010 Pasha [DRUMMER] Pakhomov
tragically died.
UNDERGROUND: HOW NOT TO BECOME A STAR