Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Exhumation Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new ep?
Vasily: We’ve been working on the new material since then, and we are looking forward to release a new full length album end 2014. Unfortunately our drummer and the founder of the band Alexey Kovalev decided to quit due to some personal reasons, so this EP may probably be our last collaboration with him. Luckily, we’ve found the replacement quickly, this fall we feature our new drummer Yuri Cherdantsev, currently we are working hard to get our show together and continue gigging.

2.Recently you have released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction of the new recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Vasily: Our current line-up is completely different from the initial one. We’re making headway since Ira joined us, the band has found not only the aggressive female voice, but also a real front-men. Our music has slightly changed, too. Since the current members of the band prefer different genres of metal, it also affects our music, making it more versatile; we all bring our personal influences to the songs.
Ira: Sometimes we are like five bears in one cave)

3.The band was broken up for a few years, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to reform?
 Vasily: Yeah, Exhumation was quite successful in Russia at the end of 90th - beginning of 00th. Unfortunately, we all considered ourselves as rock-stars that time. That led to tensions inside the band and finished with a split. It was my suggestion to revive the band, only after 8 years of silence. Together with Alex we made a decision to “exhume” Exhumation.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
Ira: Our songs reflect what’s in our own heads and closets, and what surrounds us – we never write about the things we don’t care about. In some of our lyrics we appeal to the dark side of human soul, its hidden wishes and fears. This world is tricky, you know, we’ve got all sorts of strange things nobody actually cares about, and all sorts of demons right here in peoples’ heads.
 Vasily: We are open to new ideas and if we have a feeling that some idea is good it'll become a song.

5.Can  you tell us a little bit more about the band name "exhumation' and also are you aware of all of the other bands that share the same name?
 Vasily: Heh, yeah that’s a tricky question! The band name was created in early 1994 by Alex Kovalev, since there were no bands with the same name at that time. But later we found out, that, actually, there was one in 1998, in Greece. We had long tensions with Marios Iliopoulos, the founder of the Greek “Exhumation” (currently no more existent), as he registered his band as a trademark that time. However, the war has finally come to an end this year, and we’ve played a great gig along with his current band “Nightrage”, here in St. Petersburg; this laid the foundation of friendly relationships between the two bands.  So now more war, only music. As for the rest of the bands with the same name, we actually don't care. We’ve appeared long before them and can prove that :)

 6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Ira: Oh, we’ve played lots of good shows, there was, by the way, a real good one last spring in Helsinki, Finland, “Liberte” club – the place was pretty small, but chock-full of absolutely crazy headbangers, all enthusiastic, jumping, screaming, singing along with the band and yelling out for more – the atmosphere was amazing – and the sound, too! We only had a real short sound-check, and everything was ready for us to get started. They were not letting us go, so we’ve played some of the stuff we were not going to play initially! Every performance is an absolute kick-ass experience for us, each of them is unique, so we do our best to drag all the demons out of everyone…or at least to make a couple of pussies wet)

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Ira: Yeah, we’re planning to have some shows in Russia and, maybe, Finland this fall, and we are also going to take part in some of the European metal fests next summer.

8.The new ep was self released but the band has worked with record labels before in the past, are you open to signing with another record label again in the future?
Vasily: Sure we are, but we do not see any point in signing with any label in RU. What our labels do is mostly a CD distribution, which is pretty dull. With the help of services like TuneCore we can get some money for our music, you see, not just the name of the reconcilable. Don't get us wrong, we are enthusiasts; we don't expect record label to make our pockets full, but at least some help with promotion would be much more useful.
Ira: We’re looking forward to signing with some good European or American label – why not? What we are interested in is touring, live shows, that’s what we expect from the label.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer music by fans of melodic death metal?
 Vasily: Positive, definitely)
Ira: Yeah, since our latest release we’ve receiving reviews and letters from different parts of the world. Actually we didn’t even expect such reaction, even though we knew our stuff’s good)

10.When can we expect another full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Ira: We plan to release our new full length end 2014, we’re already working on the new material and we’ve already got some real good stuff! We also plan to shot an official video end 2014-beginning 2015. As for the nearest future, we hope to go on tours around Russia and Europe after releasing the new album.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Vasily: Allegaeon, Arch Enemy, Anterior, Dissection.
Ira: Pantera, Children of Bodom, Slayer, Guns ‘n’ Roses, WASP... oh, too many! I also play the guitar, so I like those “guitar heroes” – Slash, Marty Frideman, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani. To tell the truth, guitar is my original instrument, not vocals)

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Vaasily: Snowboarding, computer games, beer, blondes :)
Ira: Snowboarding, BMX, workout – that’s a real kicks ass stuff! I’ve been doing snowboarding for ages, and BMX is my newest “addiction”. To tell the truth, any extreme shit can do for me. I don’t care about the blondes, and I don’t think they care about me…well, maybe some of them do))

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Ira: Dudes, don’t waste your time on social nets and TV, that’s fu*king sh*t, better up your ass and come to the concerts! We do it all for you guys to come!

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