In the beginning of this year I got asked by Sebastian from Behead the Broken Queen to make an interview with the band Nu-Nation from Russia, before the show of BBQ, Nu-Nation and Ease Of Disgust. Nearly without really thinking about it I said yes. Meeting these guys in Berlin was quite fun, even if everybody understands me but only Alex and Denis were able to answer in English. But that's okay, these guys are very kind and their show at this evenings was awesome. So let's start with the interview.
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| May I introduce you: Nu Nation (Alexei (d), Alex (g,v), Arthur (v), Denis (g), Dmitri (b)) (Source: Facebook) |
First of all, how would you describe your music?
Denis: It is a mix of different styles witch we like. When we started, we played some kind of groove and new metal like Soulfly, Selputura, Korn. After a few years the style has changed.
After all these years it is a little more core I guess. How would you describe your music to your families and friends?
Alexander: My parents are going to our shows, they are wearing our merchandise and they like the music we play. My father is a big fan of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and other oldschool hard rock. So I don't need to describe my music. When other people ask me about what kind of music we're playing I tell them that we're playing some sort of rock'n'roll or something like that.
Are the reactions in your country different from other countries in the world, when you tell them that you play hard rock or a different kind of metal? How are the reactions of the people?
Alex: Not really aggressive. But we don't have any problems with our hair or our tattoos. Some people think like: 'I don't like this guy, he has big tattoos and strange hair. But we don't have any problems in St. Petersburg or Moscow with our hair and tattoos. On the other hand we could have some problems with the people of the countryside.
Of course Russia is a huge country. Nu-Nation what does that name mean for you? Is there different, deeper kind of meaning behind it?
Alex: Well, I don't know. When we first got together we thought a lot about how to name the band. We had some options but our previous drummer called me one day and asked me what I think about the name 'Nu-Nation'. At that moment I thought that the name was cool. The rest of the guys liked it, too.
Do you have any day jobs or can you live from making music?
Alex: Yes of course. You can't make enough money in Russia with playing music. We have one vacation per year and we spend this vacation touring Europe.
Dmitry: I am sitting in an administration.
Alex: I'm a kind of technical specialist in the IT. Alexei has the best job.
Alexei: I am a dick dealer. (everyone's laughing) I'm working in a sex shop.
Like Corey Taylor some years ago. And you?
Denis: I am a manager in an IKEA store.
Arthur: I don't have a job.
How do you see the music scene in Russia at the moment? Is it really upcoming or is it more mellow because nobody knows what will happen when one will write a political text?
Alex: It is a difficult question because we have a lot of good bands in russia. But the people don't realize how to develop. Most of these musicians think that they will record an album and some rich guy will give it a listen, pay for it and than they will go on tour in Europe and have fun. They don't realize that we put our money every day, every week, every month in our music. But these musicians aren't willing to pay for making music.
Do you think it was different, maybe twenty years ago?
Alex: About twenty years ago there were a lot of bands, they call them alternative music. These bands like Amatory. They were really popular in Russia and they lived by playing music in front of 2000 people in each city. But right now even Amatory can only get 300 people to a show. So, I don't know why, but metal music is not very popular in Russia.
Do you have any idea why?
Alex: Because I think that Russians are stupid sometimes. I think that people are only listening to music which is taught them to listen to by the mass media. We don't have any big tv shows...
Denis: … we don't have any big festivals.
Alex: We don't have really big festivals like Wacken. On these festivals in Russia, some bands play music that we used to call govener rock. It is a kind of shit rock. Only in Russia, Belarus and maybe in Ukraine you will have this kind of music. These three countries are very different from European countries and I don't think that people from Germany would like to listen to this shit.
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