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Skip: Hi! Introduce yourselves, to begin with. Albert Einstein: Hello. My name is Albert Einstein, and I play the guitars in L.I.G.O Stephen Hawking: Hi! This is Stephen Hawking. My job is to scream in a really loud and nasty manner. Actually, I just can't do anything else. And what I‘m able to do is not what most people call “ability”. However, I help Edwin a little bit with the lyrics and brush up some eventual inconsistencies. After all, looks like I'm just having a good time here. Jocelyn Bell: Hi to you all. I'm Jocelyn Bell. It appears to me this should be enough for a more or less educated person to figure out what I'm doing in L.I.G.O.… For those who failed their exams: my mission is to explore low frequencies. In short, I produce sounds using the four base strings… Edwin Hubble: Edwin Hubble. Clean voices and all the texts – that's what I'm in charge of. I also take part in developing the band concept, as much as I can. By the way, the band owes its name (“L.I.G.O.”) to me as well… Regarding Ms. Bell, by the way: she's got nothing to do with the inventor of telephone, it's just the same last name... Jocelyn Bell: Bloody poser! The band owes its name to him… F***ing hero… Well, however, I've got nothing to say against the facts: the name is his baby. We didn't have a name for a long while, nor did we have any better options. L.I.G.O. is a really good name, by the way… Skip: Well, looks like I'm talking to a dead scientists' society … Not a bad thing! :) OK, now tell us how the band was formed… Jocelyn Bell: Well… There are questions that make no sense at all just because they don't make any sense. And this is one of these … How people meet, how they introduce themselves, fall in love, get angry at each other? Just think about it.… I understand what you mean. You know, these «metal guys» write in their interviews: «I met my friend and bass guitarist such-and-such at the METAL CORROSION's show, and the show was really cool, and we thought we also wanted to play this cool shit. So we bought the guitars, drums, a lot of booze and these… just give me the name… amplifiers, that's what they're called, here we go. So we drank the booze and f***ing smashed up the guitars, but that was cool, man! First we wanted to call the band HUGE ERECT DILDO, but then thought the name was too long, and not all our numerous fans would manage to pronounce this name, not to mention remembering it. That's why we simply called ourselves F***ING DICK, but that's not too bad after all, is it? »… I. e., if you want a listing of all these facts, you're not going to get it. ‘Cause it's totally off the point, and no one cares a *** about it. Well, globally and cosmically speaking, we don't care about it either. Not to mention those who's gonna read this Skip: Woops, sorry. It's just a habit of mine, I like these questions. :) Stephen Hawking: Wow! Jocelyn is in the bad mood! Well, no wonder. It's a chronic disease! Going back to the question, I can say that we've known each other for several years. Some used to do something together, and some just observed (like I did). And I truly can't give you a coherent answer as to how we all happened to gather together. One day we just realized we were doing all this. It was so natural, so easy and so smooth I just can't recall anything at all. Edwin Hubble: Well, I believe it just boiled down to that. … Each of us has a more or less clear understanding of what extreme music can (or should) look like. And we're all concerned by what it looks like NOW … So it was just a matter of getting together and combining our efforts. That's how the L.I.G.O. band was formed. By the way, at first no one realized it would bring about a whole lot of concepts with its own mythology etc. We just wanted to make another good metal band. There's nothing wrong about it, am I correct? Skip: Yeah. Albert Einstein: Please note: it was Edwin who wanted it to be another metal band. Others, it seems, simply play what they want, otherwise they wouldn't simply participate in this project. Edwin Hubble: By the way, the real Jocelyn Bell was born in 1943 and is not going to die, as far as I know, – so it's at least a bit early to call her a dead scientist.… Stephen Hawking is also still alive … Though he's suspected of being abused by his ex-nurse (now wife) … Skip: Well, I screwed it up, it seems!.. OK, let's go on. Was it difficult for all of you to get together for the rehearsals? Albert Einstein: Eeeee… who said we're rehearsing? Jocelyn Bell: OK, the situation is as follows. As some of us are involved in other projects, and have a lot of other things to take care of, we don't have the so-called rehearsals very often. Basically, there's no particular need to … That's why we've opted for the standard European method, you know, when musicians live in various towns or even countries and exchange records to use them as a basis for further work… Sometimes we get together to finalize some details, discuss something, but generally everyone works on one's own… Albert generates most of the musical ideas. He makes the demo for Edwin to write the texts. While doing this, Edwin consults with Albert from time to time to make sure he's got the idea. Stephen also helps Edwin a little bit, he's a cheerful cynic, and each time Edwin's plan is to kill five characters Stephen would exclaim: «Why show them any mercy? Five is no number! Snuff the whole lot of them!» I don't get into all these details a lot… My job is playing in unison with Albert's guitar, and compose some parts right in the studio … Albert Einstein: Eeeehh… If I were a monster like Jocelyn, I would have composed half of my parts in the studio as well! As a rule, this bitch only needs one take to record her parts! Sad but true: I still can't compare with Jocelyn regarding performance skills … Jocelyn Bell: Wow, the cat knows whose lips she licks! Couldn't help licking up, right?… Stop this bullshit… Edwin Hubble: I realize perfectly well there is no gain without pain in this world… Still it always seems to me I would have no problems keeping up with Albert. Especially since I feel and sense his musical message on the subconscious level, as a rule. Texts then should become an integral part of the music, and writing these could be viewed as a natural process. Alas, generating the ideas usually takes up all the time I have, and even more than that. Albert's different. So he should rather stop this bullshit, I agree … Skip: I see. I thought you get together to rehearse; at least it would make things easier, wouldn't it? Or maybe your case is different? Albert Einstein: What do you mean by saying “easier”? Maybe I'm being pathetic, but duly skilled musicians do not need regular rehearsals, as long as they can practice with the recorded material. Moreover, we don't give any concerts. Hence there is absolutely no point in drilling together; the important thing is to make sure everyone knows his (her) parts and is able to record these in the studio with confidence. We meet as often as we think is necessary. Again, what's important is not how much time we spend together; it's the quality of the final product that makes the difference. I don't mean to say there's nothing to improve, no; however, we still don't see any sense in trying something different. Skip: And where's your drummer, by the way? Jocelyn Bell: Heeeeeehh, have you ever talked to one? Skip: You bet! :) Jocelyn Bell: That's a nightmare! These dinosaurs can't put two words together to make themselves understood!… So, forget about Oppenheimer! I'm totally against giving him the right to speak. Well, seems to be OK with that, too. Actually he doesn't care a snare J … Well, you know, he would start talking about the cymbals, and the snare drum tension, shuffles, about his family etc. Does anybody care?… Skip: Maybe. May very well be, hugh… Albert Einstein: OK, let's make it clear: it's everyone's decision. Skip: Ok. Try to explain to an unprepared listener what you're playing, hugh…. Jocelyn Bell: What's the point in all this blah-blah… What we're playing is music, music … Stephen Hawking: As far as all these standards and trends are concerned, what we're playing is progressive-death-metal. This would be the most precise definition. Although our vocals sound more like black metal screams, and the music itself has something to do with black metal, structurally our songs belong to the genre I've mentioned before. And, after all, there's no point in being that serious. We're ironic and self-ironic. We're just having a good time, just joking. I wonder if someone's still missing it... Edwin Hubble: Quintessence of the most extreme manifestations of heavy music since day one. Simply metal, if I'm allowed to put it this way. Skip: Hmmm, the readers, it seems, won't get much sense of it… I would have written about prog-death in the introduction, too. Stephen Hawking: We're not in a position to say anything. It's your job, the journalists' one. We make the music and thus deprive ourselves of any freshness of perception. It's a fact of life to us. Albert Einstein: Ehhh… There are many bands that deliberately confine themselves to playing, say, heavy metal. We're different. We just play MUSIC and never label it as prog-death or porno-grind, whatever. Had it been the other way – we would have made sure everyone knows in detail what kind of music we play, and those in doubt would have gotten a lot of ass-kicking (from Jocelyn, at least). Skip: (laughing) …OK, let's go on. Recently you have released your debute mini-album 'Singularity', a perfect work, but... What are your impressions? All your hopes justified? ;) Stephen Hawking: This mini album was released as a 3” CD-R in 50 copies not for sale, it was a purely promo edition to be sent to labels and zines. Most of the copies were sent out by our mailing manager Singularity , thank her very much, by the way. Some disks have not been sent yet, we're sending these out one by one, and we also gave a couple of copies to our sound producer Dirty Scoundrel aka boss of MUSICMIND PRODUCTION record label (for mail order distribution). Going back to our own impressions… On the one hand, it's our debut, and we're happy we made it. Jocelyn Bell: Yet a lot of things could have been much better… Since day one something went wrong with the drums, the snare was screwed up, hence the drums in the final mix got somehow dissolved… The guitars were screwed up at first, too. Tried to play with the new equipment and eventually ***ed it up… In brief, the guitars had to be fully re-recorded when everything else was already in place… Edwin kept delaying the texts till last moment … So, it was a long and nervous work, the recording quality left much to be desired, so it took Dirty Scoundrel three more months to make sound at least decent … Well, to a certain extent it's his fault, too. By all means... He's not that experienced in sound engineering. However, he's the only one who understands what we want. He's got enthusiasm that compensates for the lack of experience. So we're not pointing fingers at him. Everybody's equally responsible for both the good and bad sides of that record, I believe… And the expectations were basically justified. We were noticed, we appear in the media and receive CD release offers. So everything's all right … Edwin Hubble: A sound, adequate, compos mentis artist will never be fully content with the results of his work. The fact that the debut tracks were re-recorded for the full-length album speaks for itself, doesn't it… There's nothing in “Singularity” that we feel ashamed of. And our best album will be the one we make just before leaving this world. There's no guarantee we'll know it‘s gonna be our best album, though... Skip: Well, it's a bit too early to speak about leaving this world, I believe. By the way, is LIGO going to be a long-time project? Are you planning to release dozens of full-length albums etc?.. OK, it's just a joke. A stupid one… Albert Einstein: Man supposes and God disposes, you know… How can we plan anything, especially on a global scale like that? We just feel like playing, that's why we play. And we'll keep playing until we feel it's time to stop. The only thing I can say is that we'd like to record a new mini album this summer. I'm currently in the process of composing the main song. Looks like it will be a suite of the Singularity size. We're also planning to record one or two covers. The mini album will be a conceptual one and, unlike Singularity, will not be re-recorded. After that we're gonna gave a vacation to focus on other projects for a while. Skip: What about ‘Singularity' reviews? Can you recall any? Jocelyn Bell: There weren't so many of these … Man, did we get shocked by some of them at first! For instance, we contacted the Ukrainian label BLOODHEAD PRODUCTIONS for an MC release, and they said the quality of our material was too low! Have you ever heard any of their releases? Skip: Hmmm, don't think so… Jocelyn Bell: Only the GRENOUER / THRON split MC had a better sound quality, all the rest is absolute and total shit! Man, I won't bother to pretend I'm a modest girl: we sound better than any other band from that label, except those mentioned above, and we've got smart texts and not just bullshit… Same with the music … We've got a similar answer from BLACKSMITH… OK, just listen to their MORBIDITY, NOSFERATOS, ECLIPSE and other stuff… Crap from the Soviet Union times … At that time we felt like sending it all to hell, as we all hoped since day one we would be well off. And three days later we received a letter from MORE HATE, you know, guys, you've got great music. Once you've got an album, we'll discuss releasing a CD… It doesn't mean there's a guarantee they will release our album: maybe No One Safe won't fit Alex' policy. Or maybe he won't like something. Or maybe we won't… OK, one way or another, MORE HATE is by all means a priority Russian label for us … So it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this letter saved the band's life. Albert was so upset it was a heartbreaking sight to look at … Skip: …Something wrong's going on with the labels. Our underground releases of similar quality can all be counted on the fingers of one hand, and they're still playing these games! Well, they'll have yet to fight for your full-length album, trust me. :) Stephen Hawking: Not sure. I must confess that the record labels personnel are not nearly as adequate for their job as they should be. And not because someone doesn't want to release L.I.G.O. Just have a look at what these labels release. If you've got any taste at all, most of their releases will simply make you sick. Skip: So what was the point in sending the mini album to these labels? Stephen Hawking: Well, sort of childish optimism, if you want. We thought, you know, the labels have nothing to release. That's why they've got to release at least something. In other words, they've got to release what they've got. Take BLOODHEAD with their sound quality requirements that L.I.G.O. failed to meet and other crap like that. Last Saturday, Dirty Scoundrel showed me their latest releases. Well, they made me cry a little bit. On the other hand, it's good we've been rejected. These guys don't have any taste, any idea of what quality is – that's OK. We'll work with those who have. And don't forget, by the way: it's really difficult to figure out if the label is competent or not, - if the personnel is competent or not, I'd rather say, - without knowing them. Skip: As far as I know, you're sitting in the studio working on your first full-length album. When can we expect it? Stephen Hawking: Basically, the sitting is over. Everything is recorded, except for the vocals on a couple of tracks. For a number of reasons, we record them little by little, one in a week or so… Early summer seems to be a good deadline. Don't know yet. Will see how mixing goes... Skip: (cunningly) Will you send me one for review? Jocelyn Bell: You bet, my friend! Of course we will, and you'll be one of the first to receive it: we do enjoy this interview, no bullshit … Skip: Perfect! Yeah, looks like it's a really enjoyable conversation. Most interviews look like dull and boring questionnaires, and it's not one of these... Stephen Hawking: Is that a compliment J ? Then thank you! Skip: OK, now tell us in more detail about the forthcoming release. Edwin Hubble: As mentioned above, the full-length will include both songs from the mini album, plus five more tracks (four brand-new L.I.G.O. songs plus one cover – quite an unusual one). In general, album's concept will remain unchanged in general, however, the old songs won't be given any special role, whatsoever. Their order of appearance will change, too… Basically, I would characterize the new album as a really diversified one – if the term “diversity” does apply at all to the musical extreme apogee we're seeking to achieve. Actually, there will be enough drive and melody – though it's up to the listeners to appreciate all that. Hope they're experienced enough… Jocelyn Bell: Again this Edwin is showing off … Skip: Don't think so, why?... And the cover song title is still a secret? Albert Einstein: Well, there's no secret at all. Three Of A Perfect Pair, KING CRIMSON. You didn't expect kind of «Iron Maiden» stuff from us, did you? Skip: You never know, especially with guys like you... However, Crimson is something I wouldn't expect, indeed. Why did you choose them? Albert Einstein: «Choice» is not the best definition in this case. This was virtually a necessity for us to make this specific song. Don't know, it was the most natural thing, for me at least. Jocelyn Bell: Yeah, the song is gorgeous… It was Albert's idea, and we all agreed with his proposal, that's how it happened, basically. For Robert and Albert, Three Of A Perfect Pair was the most difficult track on the entire album, and for Stephen and me it was the easiest thing on Earth … While there was nothing left for old Edwin to do on this track at all … Edwin Hubble: Tue, I never claimed I would participate in this record, basically. There were no plans to use clean vocals on that track, and the text itself has been engraved in gold on the history's tablets for ages… However, I consider covering this specific song as something absolutely natural – all L.I.G.O. members without exception share the cross of faithful devotion to the King Crimson heritage. Skip: What about the demo? Will it remain "only 4 promotion"? Jocelyn Bell: What an appealingly fresh question! You will be surprised: don't know yet… Look, we would think of releasing it then change our mind then reconsider it again… You know, nothing would be easier than releasing it on Dirty Scoundrel's MUSICMIND label, he was OK with that, and we were too. But we wanted kind of test ourselves. Well, we wanted an independent opinion, while DS is still h*** of a buddy, he's OK with whatever we do … We thought, say, BLOODHEAD would be so happy to release such a cool album they'd shit themselves with happiness. Far from that!… We didn't feel like releasing this album at all for quite a while after that… Anyway, all those songs were re-recorded for No One Safe. And no we realize No One Safe is totally different from Singularity, it sounds stronger and harder. But the mini album has its charm, too, at least that's how we think. So maybe there will be an MC release by MUSICMIND, especially as DS is coming up with a bunch of new releases right now... So if we don't break up, and don't change our mind, maybe we will release the MC by summer… MUSICMIND will, to be more specific… Anyway, even if everything goes smoothly with Alex, he will release the CD at best by the end of this year, if not next year. So people wouldn't get anything but the mini album for now – which is not that bad after all … Stephen Hawking: Well, actually, releasing the MC on MUSICMIND would not be a bad deal for L.I.G.O. Half of DS's cassettes go to European MC labels in exchange for their releases, so it's good enough promotion-wise. Skip: Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to mention… Btw, going off the topic now – what do you think of Dirty Scoundrel's project ‘Far From Mind'? Edwin Hubble: I've got mixed feelings towards this project – there's something I do like about it, and something I definitely don't. Take these monotonous pieces, for instance. Nor can I say I fully grasp and accept all this noisy stuff… As far as the early tracks are concerned, I would say I'm a Noisy Blood fan, however, my favorite albums are Mentalligence and Remind Me Later, i. e. the most recent material. However DS himself, as far as I know, is particularly proud of Timely Death that seems to be an autobiographical album… Let me say it one more time: it seems to me previous FFM releases lacked kind of a balance, i. e. I never fully understood what their concept was. The most recent works seem to be more integral and full of internal harmony. Maybe it's all because of the computerized recording technology eventually replacing the analogue portable record station. However, it's my personal viewpoint only – DS has a different opinion, I bet… Skip: I see. Unfortunately I only listened to ‘Timely Death', so I cannot be a judge here, otherwise we could discuss it a little bit. Albert? Albert Einstein: I've only heard the last two works, Mentalligence and Remind Me Later. The first one is close to what I'm doing, I can physically sense the kinship between his music and mine. Maybe it's because Mentalligence is nearly a pure-breed metal product. The music is different and yet there's a lot in common. The last work – you just need to listen to it. I mean, I don't feel like talking about it. But it's very good music, I believe. Skip: Yeah, the music is praiseworthy. Albert Einstein: You can't say that unless you've heard these works J . Anyway, FAR FROM MIND is more like an absurd project. I'm under the impression DS is doing everything he can to make sure he never has devoted fans. His music is a mockery of common sense and fundamental relationships between the Creator, Middleman and Consumer. Jocelyn Bell: Dude, any music of quality has a groove in it! DS told me of this local rap band that came to the studio to have a record session after Singularity was finally mastered. So they were absolutely shocked by the vocals – it was something they were absolutely unused to, plus again there was some sort of kinship, the recitatives, you know – they've even made a copy of this disc for themselves!… So, what's this all about… I don't care about FAR FROM MIND, however I do respect it … Skip: recitatives on ‘Singularity'? Where?! :) Stephen Hawking: Almost everywhere! Do you want the exact timing? Well, a recitative must not necessarily be accompanied by stupid loops (like it's happening in rap), L.I.G.O.' vocal technique is not purely a recitative, because of all these crooked rhythms, I do admit that, yet it's something close to it, by all means. And it's DEFINITELY not singing, do you agree? Edwin Hubble: I would rather listen to these sounds that hear Mariah Carey's sing … Skip: Btw, how can you describe the process of composing the music? Jocelyn Bell: Ooooh, it's mostly Albert's stuff. You know, THE BEATLES always indicated the authorship as Lennon / McCartney, while indeed it would be either one or another. However, you would always find them both shown together in the credit lines, even on Abbey Road, when they refused to talk with each other and even never met in the studio! By the way, despite all that Abbey Road is still one of my favorite albums… So it's the same shit with L.I.G.O.: authorship is shown as split between the four, while the music has always been Albert's baby, and no-one else's, all the rest are just a support team… So you'd rather ask him, but he doesn't feel like answering, strange enough … He's basically a quiet and modest person, and not a sociable one - like me, for instance J … Skip: Yeah, I've noticed that… (silence) Your texts are full of scientific terms, which is quite fresh. So here comes another question – I wonder if any band member is involved in scientific research. Maybe even works as a nuclear physicist, why not? :) Stephen Hawking: The smartest guy, as you've already noticed maybe, is Edwin. He's the only one with the higher education. And his occupation, though not a scientific one, is pretty closes to science. And the rest all work in different spheres … Edwin Hubble: No, I'm not a nuclear physicist. Nor are the others. By the way, the song Thief largely focuses eucaryotic cells division process why don't you ask then if someone in our band is a geneticist… We're just trying to keep our eyes open and be aware of what's going on. So after all our songs are all about life. One doesn't need to be a scientist to write about that. And thank you, by the way, for appreciating the freshness of our ideas! Skip: Heh, the pleasure is all mine! :) Jocelyn Bell: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehoooooo! I've been laughing over his last text for a week or so! If it were not for all the rest of his texts, he would appear to be a gynecologist J ! Yeah, Edwin keeps his eyes open, you bet! Edwin Hubble: Rather a psychoanalyst than a gynecologist … The focus is somewhat different… Jocelyn Bell: Is there a big difference indeed? I would never think there's any… Skip: Heh, can I read it? Jocelyn Bell: In due time. Not until the final mix is ready… Skip: (sadly) That's a pity… OK, it's only a joke – we can wait, he-he. By the way, what's the meaning of your texts? Edwin Hubble: Didn't I touch upon this subject before?… Say, there's a phenomenon that concerns me. First I figure out why it does concern me. Then look for factual material to approach this phenomenon from many sides – so that I've got enough substantiation when writing the text. Try not to forget about history – to make sure there're no breaks in historical continuity. The final product, as a rule, is quite indigestible and even gives me the creeps as I read it myself. Don't know why the texts end up being so gloomy. Apparently it's all because I don't want to give in to dismay and depression and feel an urge to oppose them. But to defeat the enemy you first need to know his face, correct? That sort of answers your question. Didn't think I would manage to put that into words. So, what we're doing is a life-asserting and positive music – in a somewhat unusual way, though. Broadening the borders of life-assertion and positive, in other words… Jocelyn Bell: Can't help admiring this paragon of verbiage! Look at this positive guy! Look around! Any reason to be optimistic? I joined L.I.G.O. only because I feel there's something unkind about this music… I admit it was you who wrote the texts, not me, but let me interpret them the way I see fit. And I won't call them f***ing positive, no way… Nor will many others who's gonna read them … Old Skip, don't you think so? Skip: Fifty-fifty. Jocelyn Bell: Simply because you haven't seen the No One Safe and Death FM lyrics. It's L.I.G.O. cornerstone, both music and lyrics. Stephen Hawking: Edwin mentioned the text for the main theme on the new mini album will be about George Bush and will include his original sayings. It will be a killer, I bet! Albert Einstein: (laughing out loud) Edwin's last text addresses such a … eeeeh… philosophical category as … vagina dentata. In the light of this fact all the above-said appears to be somewhat … comic, I would say. However, he really digs though a lot of books and really investigates the problem, if I'm allowed to say so. If only he could work faster and speak less – he would be absolutely invaluable. Edwin Hubble: Regarding using the so-called “bushisms” in the text – that's true, that's what I'd like to do. However, I don't feel like looking far away into the future – writing lyrics for L.I.G.O. has never been easy, even if I already know what to write about. The key thing is all the texts are written to the specific music. I would even call it «inserted» into music, into every single beat, every bar, i. e. I'm bound to scrupulously follow the rhythm as much as possible when writing the lyrics. All the attempts to stick to the harmony are nipped in the bud by out rhythm section i. e. by Jocelyn who's always silently backed up by Robert. Hence, say, vocal parts never allow spreading one syllable over a couple of beats (which would make text writer's life much easier) – every vowel can only be so long as the rhythm allows. Maybe that's what Stephen meant when talking about rap … So I will not be able to start writing the Bushisms-based text until the music is ready. Going back to life-assertion: the act of unveiling the phobias and problems encountered by the human society is a positive thing, isn't it? It has nothing to do with mockery or making fun of anyone. I'm just stating the facts – not the nicest ones, I admit. However, one still needs to face them – so isn't it better to call a spade a spade? Deep in my heart I do believe things will change for the better after all… Skip: Then you need to put on a threatening look and stand next to Edwin with something heavy in your hands to keep him concentrated ;) A question to Edwin – you're in charge of clean vocals and lyrics, however, vocals are mainly Stephen's responsibility. So why don't you find more work for yourself to make sure there's more of you in the mix? :)) Jocelyn Bell: Screaming and shouting one's throat out – that's what it takes! Edwin Hubble: Let's put it this way: I'm doing what I can do best of all in L.I.G.O. I've already tried using snarls in the studio (it was another project), no wonder this track was eventually re-recorded by another vocalist. Nobody was ever satisfied with my singing, be it myself or sound engineer or musicians … So I'm a realist now. Professionalism is essential: say, I've been studying English for more than twenty years by now, and still there's a huge amount of work to do, - though I can't help smiling when reading the early lyrics of mine J Anyway, I only do what I can do in a more or less professional manner. However, I still dream of learning to sing and play the drums. But it's still a dream... So I'll only fight for the microphone in the distant future, if ever J Skip: Hm, you don't disclose your real names or your main projects, you also don't show up in public (as LIGO)? Why so? Isn't it a PR move, hehhhh? Jocelyn Bell: What kind of f***g PR are you talking about? It's just fun, it's cool… Well, the key point is that we want the listener to be unbiased with regard to the music and lyrics… Right now it doesn't look like we'll ever become rock stars, so why would we need PR? Well, that's the way we want it to be now - so let it be. Those who want to rack their brains, please do it. We don't care… Albert Einstein: Stop thinking about this bullshit! Who cares about names and former bands, etc.… Only the present moment is important, that's the only thing that matters! There's no past, no future, there's nothing but today! Just listen to the music, if you like it, otherwise don't listen to it at all. All the rest is crap, fuss, rubbish, ashes, rot… Skip: Well, in general you're right. Ooops, I nearly forgot to ask you why are all these scientists' names? Jocelyn Bell: Don't remember who first came up with this idea … Wasn't it our precious verbiager? OK, history is silent on that. If someone still remembers about it, he's definitely posing as a modest person… Anyway, the texts are semi-scientific, and the musicians don't want to disclose their names, so why not take scientists' names? Isn't it logical? I believe it is. Some say there's no such thing as women's logic, though… And if you need the reasons why we've taken these specific names, just read the leaflet. Edwin's not giving you direct answers, still there's a clue … Well, don't you think there must be sort of a puzzle here? So keep racking your brains if you want to… Skip: Yeah, kind of looks like a puzzle. However, everything's clear with Oppenheimer, you should have invented something trickier (smile) Jocelyn Bell: Why? With all the rest it's clear as well … Skip: What about playing live? Do you have any plans for the future? Albert Einstein: Can't give you a straight answer. Rather no than yes. Some of us did play for the crowds of people L.I.G.O. would never gather up even in a year of weekly concerts… And some just don't care. Jocelyn Bell: Yeah, and we're too old to run around with guitars atilt and relax with the groupies after the show J … I. e. we don't want to run, nor do we want these … hmmm… pleasant consequences. Not interested anymore… And don't forget about sound: L.I.G.O. just won't sound good enough on most systems … Edwin Hubble: Doesn't one need to be a guy to relax with the groupies after the show? It never occurred to me you might have an alternative sexual orientation, Jocelyn... After all the years I've known you… Well, you never know… Anyway, I do hope you have a happy private life … Jocelyn Bell (very politely): Shut up you bastard. F***ing commentator… I just paraphrased what Frank Zappa said, as simple as that. You'd better start educating yourself, there's a lot of para-musical literature in the world besides the DARK CITY magazine … Skip: Yeah, Jocelyn is not easy to deal with… How do you get along with her guys? Didn't mean to offend you, Jocelyn … Edwin Hubble: Is there any way out? Just need to be patient. However, it does take a lot of nerves to deal with her. It's like sitting on a powder-barrel all the time … Albert Einstein: Eeeeehhh… And who said we're getting along with her? Skip: Well, I mean, you need to communicate. In the studio, for instance. OK… What about video? Any plans? Albert Einstein: Not now. Skip: I see. Now imagine metal music fifty years from now. What will it look like? And will it be metal at all? Jocelyn Bell: I don't care if it will be metal or not … I don't care about metal music, about metal scene, about any trend whatsoever… Look here, getting together and making music as L.I.G.O. we're not making metal stuff, not fighting for any ideas, we don't care a f*** about metal brotherhood and other vomit like that! Just remember what Strelnikov said: «Smile, guys, everyone hates it!»… Above all, what we're doing is just music the way we understand it. It's absolutely natural and organic for us. We never knew our music would eventually be progressive death-metal. It could well end up being trip-hop, motor-saw noise or just pop music. We feel good when making this music, doesn't that speak for itself? The one who speaks through our mouths simply uses these words and notes, that's all. And we just get the groove … Albert Einstein: Let me put it this way. Say, I like Elvis Presley's early records (1954 – 1958), the ones produced by Sam Philips. I do enjoy listening to that music. Not too often, though... However, it doesn't mean I would like a modern band that plays R'N'R. I'd probably hate this band. Are you following me? I see absolutely no reason why metal music should survive another 50 years after having totally discredited itself. Music With A Capital M will keep evolving, but I don't want any WAGs. One thing is clear, though: I do want to live long enough to hear it. But metal is not worth waiting 50 years, no way. Thank you. Edwin Hubble: It used to agonize so many times… Take IRON MAIDEN: they were referred to as NWBHM. Was there an old one then? Don't forget it was back in the early eighties… You can think I'm a naive person, however I'll still try to answer seriously. I believe metal is a synonym of heavy, extreme, sophisticated music – so let's stick to this definition. I assume extreme music will always find a way to evolve – be it 50 years from now, or 150. Maybe listening to the music will be replaced by brain stimulation using electric pulses of various frequency and power transmitted via implanted electrodes … Skip: (smiling) Jocelyn Bell: There's only one idiot in our band who believes in Metal, Eternal and Bright etc. That's Edwin, as you might have guessed … Edwin Hubble: Well, “bright” is not the best word. And metal… Well, Jocelyn's got it right. I still wish Ulver started playing Viking metal again... Jocelyn Bell: Iiiiiiiiiiiiieh!!! F***, look at this moron! Albert Einstein: Yeah, Edwin, I must support our hot-tempered colleague: “farting into a puddle”, that's how I call it, excuse my French… Stephen Hawking: Apparently, some people are basically incapable of understanding the concept of evolution. I would never have thought Edwin's one of them. Edwin Hubble: Well, one wrong word – and that's it… No need for excuses, they won't help anyway J I just wanted to say it's regretful that Ulver gave up playing metal so early (from my humble point of view). Of course their metamorphoses were beneficial to music in general, still I do regret... Well, I believe music evolves together with the society. Segregation of metal into a separate musical trend can be viewed as yet another proof of this theory of mine: historically speaking, ancient and medieval people were never known to have a creative urge for experimental music that would expand the perception boundaries and set new, alternative standards of artistic and aesthetic taste while balancing between the acceptable and unacceptable, between a constructive search for new forms of expression and a purely parasitic abuse of epatage and eclectics. There was no social demand for that, so to say. No wonder music was fully content with evolutionary development for centuries. In addition to that, the so-called Cultural Revolution could not but stimulate exploration of undercover potential of the extreme element in music. Whatever happens to metal music 50 years from now, it will be significantly dependent upon the vector of social development … Skip: Well said. Ever thought of becoming a journalist? (laughing) Edwin Hubble: I used to be one – however, it never became my main occupation. Long time ago, when being a student, I launched a musical page in a regional newspaper (I did not live in Krasnodar at that time). I also wrote about the students' life … Basically, I gave up doing all that after moving to Krasnodar. Don't know why it happened. Probably couldn't get any satisfaction anymore … Expressing one's thoughts and ideas in an interview while answering questions and being forced to contribute a given number of lines, whatever it takes, are two different things. So let's leave journalism to those who are really devoted to it, and not to the amateurs like me … And one more thing: one of the main objectives of a journalist (a musical journalist, in particular) is verbalization of one's emotional responses (to whatever was heard or seen etc.) OK, I may have a broad vocabulary, I even may be linguistically skilled enough to express my feelings, however, subconsciously I would still fell I would be doing something … hmmm improper, if I can put it like that. The world of emotional experience will always be by far richer and broader than any verbalization, even the best one … Skip: Well, I personally believe we'll still keep enjoying metal music for a long time. Though it will be more sophisticated and supercharged, IMHO. By the way, I believe the only underground trend that's not in the deadlock now is industrial. What do you think? Edwin Hubble: It seems you simply can't help labeling everything … Skip: No, why? Labeling something as “industrial” is a bit problematic, isn't it? Jocelyn Bell: Why? It's just a label, neither better nor worse than the others … Edwin Hubble: L.I.G.O., say, DOES NOT play industrial. Are you following me, or do I need to continue?… Skip: Do please... Edwin Hubble: a) L.I.G.O. is an underground band and b) stylistically, we're not in a deadlock (at least we hope so). However, it doesn't mean we ‘re supposed to be labeled as an «industrial» band. Stephen Hawking: It's your personal opinion. I'm sure there's an industrial element in our music as well. Isn't there? Skip: Don't think so. Unless we're talking about these electronic opening and closing pieces… Is there anything else? And who wrote these pieces, by the way? Albert Einstein: We must confess it was Dirty Scoundrel's idea to put these opening and closing sketches, he also designed them himself. I just made a few tracks with guitar noises and screams so that DS could work with these. It's more FAR FROM MIND than L.I.G.O. As far as industrial is concerned, I see no reason why there always should be a lot of electronics in it. Multiple repetitions of rhythmical patterns and riffs are no less typical of industrial, if we get to the very root of it. So there are some industrial elements in our music. At least that's what WE think, with the exception of Edwin, of course. Jocelyn Bell: That's true… By the way, look at this rude fellow: (mocking) «Are you following me, or do I need to continue?» (to Edwin) What if I say: «Continue!»? Man, why don't we go outside and continue? Watch your mouth, otherwise… Skip, old friend, please excuse him, it's only stupidity, he didn't mean to offend you… Skip: I'm not offended at all, why? Everything's OK… Albert Einstein: By the way, speaking about industrial as a “non-deadlocked” underground music style… Don't know what to say, basically. If the term “industrial” applies to any experimental music, including pure noise… Maybe that's true, it's not a deadlock. Skip: Well, anything can be called “industrial” now, including these para-metal bands with all kinds of electronic features. Many groups choose to evolve by incorporating industrial elements into their music; one can see this tendency very clearly. This explains how I came up with my forecast. Albert Einstein: Everything will change. Life's getting faster and faster. In 1970, Black Sabbath's self-named album was a VERY heavy music. It was only 34 years ago. Just think about it. Music evolves in geometrical progression, and you're trying to imagine what will happen in 50 years. It's ridiculous. Skip: What about metal music in CIS and particularly in Krasnodar? Are there any bands that you like? Albert Einstein: There is no metal in Krasnodar. We're not talking about bands like ARIA or second-rate bands, right? I'm not saying our quality is that high, at least there's nothing to be ashamed of. And one more thing, I'm talking about the bands that have «sellable products». I. e., record of adequate quality. As far as CIS is concerned, I personally like THERM EYE FLAME, ENS COGITANS and … Well, that's all, if we're speaking about metal music. Russian bands have an extremely low level of professionalism. And the ones with a high level demonstrate an absolutely atrophied sense of taste. The exceptions are few. I would rather listen to «There will be no Winter» by FEDOROV-VOLKOV-KURASHOV, and not to GROM - BUTTERFLY TEMPLE – SATARIAL - ÍÀÕÅÌÀ or any other crap like that. To cut it short, metal music is of no interest to me … Jocelyn Bell: Nothing to add here… The boss said it right: it's all bullshit. All the allegedly “Russian” metal was made in Europe or in the USA… Edwin Hubble: I wonder why Albert didn't mention MIND ECLIPSE… I also do respect TODESKAMPF, although I do not always understand Bogomir's message, especially as far as the record quality is concerned… There was a brilliant band in Krasnodar, SPIRITUS AEDES, unfortunately it's history now. I can still recall most of their songs, which is not a typical thing for me. It's different, say, with BORKNAGAR, although I do like this band. Skip: Heh, by the way, in our next issue, besides this interview, there'll be interviews with Mind Eclipse and TEF, we'll also review two Todeskampf releases. I. e. there'll be information about good Russian bands, from your viewpoint. So welcome to our site :) Jocelyn Bell: OK, and our kinds, should there be any, will visit your site, too J … Skip: Perfect! Let the young generation grow (as our hair grows) reading the Black Minds zine! (laughing) Albert Einstein: Nobody in L.I.G.O. can boast of having a very good scalp, not even Jocelyn J . Most of the musicians have lost most of their hair, because of their age. L.I.G.O. members are about 29 years old, that's average. Skip: And what about CIS labels and zines? Can you think of any that are really high quality? Jocelyn Bell: Sh**t, what a boredom! OK, let's get down to this. Take, say, majors. I like IROND. I'm not talking about the Russian bands they release, though I have STILLIFE albums on my shelf; however, all the rest (say, like MAVRIN) is total crap. So what I like is their licensed releases of good western music. As a rule, it's para-gothic stuff. I've got more IROND CDs than others; therefore it's a good label… CD-MAXIMUM. Their releases of Russian bands are absolute crap. Can't imagine where they got all these pearls from. It's not any better with their innumerable licensed releases (three times as many as IROND's). All the same, there's nothing to choose from. It's all crap, with few exceptions. Take their releases licensed by PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS, for example. I've got some of these CDs, but that's nothing as compared to how many IROND releases I've got… I've got no CDs from FONO, I mean, very few of them. They're reluctant to sign Russian bands, and I don't remember if they ever released anything good at all … ART MUSIC GROUP – I've got only a couple of their CDs. Again, what they release is mostly crap, except that they don't release too much of it, unlike CD-MAXIMUM. I don't think they're ever released a Russian band. Although they did release absolute masterpieces, take VIRGIN BLACK, for instance, it's GREAT MUSIC! This CD alone justifies their existence! SOYUZ. They've good albums, however, I don't think it's a good label for a metal band. It's better to be a top band on a small label than the last band on a big one. And SOYUZ has always been too big and too pop-oriented for a metal band to become a top one, or at least a priority one … Let's take underground now. The most serious label is MORE HATE, no bullshit. Many years in the business, stable work, ramified distribution network... They work much slower than the majors, though, but that's life. All the rest that we know are basically not worth any attention. There are several regional labels – in St. Petersburg, for instance. They release their products for the local market mostly. Some labels die shortly after releasing one or two albums. And some are long-livers, still having two or three albums in their catalogue. There are MC labels. Take MUSICMIND for instance. Small ones. Some work good. Some – as good as they can. Some could work better but won't. But that's it. I mean, we've got nothing against them, we're OK to release a cassette on MUSICMIND, but we want much more, that's what I want to say. As far as the zines are concerned … Don't know what to say. As a rule, it's either bad-written, or narrow-minded, trendy... Fighting for the Idea, that's what they're doing... For the triumph of metal in the entire universe, shit… Don Quixotes … Skip: And what about the rest of you guys? Dissonant chorus: Kind of sort of agree… Skip: Good. What genres do you prefer in music? And is there anyone that could influence your style? Albert Einstein: In music, we prefer Music. All the rest doesn't matter. Edwin Hubble: Well, can't think of any influence. Although Stephen sounds more and more like Abbath from Immortal… And I like a very broad variety of musical genres, from ancient Byzantian chants and up to MAYHEM. Don't like XVIII century music and J Lo, though… Jocelyn Bell: He forgot to add he also likes Russian girl bands like STRELKI, BLESTYASCHIE etc. The most decent thing in this hit parade is LINDA. No kidding, he was at their concerts, I know for sure… Anyway, I must confess he does visit a lot of really good concerts, in Moscow and even abroad. … Skip: (surprised) Edwin, is that true? I mean, STRELKI etc.? Edwin Hubble: Please note that I went to the BLESTYASCHIE's concert in 1997; they used to play fairly decent club stuff at that time (I still consider their hit «There, Only There» to be one). And going back to the STRELKI... Well, I kind of believed in them. Maybe because they used to collaborate with Margarita Pushkina at first. OK, no more excuses. Everyone's got a skeleton in the closet... Skip: Hm. So you like club music? Goa trance, techno… Edwin Hubble: You've got a point here! At least half of it J Techno is something I never liked. So whenever I went to a techno party to have a good time, I would eventually end up regretting that the money was wasted in vain... While trance music is my old flame, and goa used to be my favorite style… Right now I'd rather listen to «morning» tracks. Goa is too dry and lifeless for me now … By the way, no matter how hard I tried to share my devotion to trance with other band members, it was all in vain … Skip: Traditional question – what's your relation to Satanism and Paganism? They're becoming a trend now… Albert Einstein: Why are we supposed to be related to these? Religion is a purely personal issue. We're against any profanation, whatsoever. That's what I want to say. Edwin Hubble: I personally don't have any relation to these. I don't understand how come convictions may become a trend. I mean, beliefs do become trends (if not brands) quite often. Skip: Well, I mean, it's essential for meatheads nowadays to be pagan, or to be a Satanist. Nothing good comes out of it of course. Satanism is not exactly a religion; it's more like ideology, by the way. FYI. Jocelyn Bell: It's something we don't want to talk about. We even don't discuss it among ourselves. It's too intimate, like bedroom stuff, you know… Edwin Hubble: That's it… We may diametrically opposite views, hence talking about that would be nothing but a waste of time... Skip: OK, I'm not going to talk about that… Krasnodar Krai is known to be plagued with immigrants from Caucasus giving Russians a really tough time. I'm talking about the fruit market black-asses (I mean, some Caucasians are clever and educated enough). What do you think about these beasts? Albert Einstein: How do you know that we are not these “fruit market black-asses”, as you say? How can one be such a chauvinist?! Skip: (interrupting) How do I know you're not one of these? Well, I just meant the same ones as our Russian assholes. I am 100% sure they would never play metal … Edwin Hubble: Assholes are assholes, no matter what their nationality is… Jocelyn Bell: Couldn't say better! Skip: I do detest black assholes even more than others. We used to have enough idiots of our own, and now – here we are, sh*t!.. One more thing: blacks are more extreme in what they're doing. Albert Einstein: I'm not saying I'm not a very nice guy with no prejudices, including the racial and nationalistic ones. But I'm at least ashamed of these, and never show them off even when I can't help bursting out with stuff like that… It's still a question who's better and who's worse: the marketplace beasts or the ones that always find fault with abstract Jews, Niggers, Armenians or whosoever … If you don't want to buy your fruit from an Adygh guy – buy from a Russian, where's the problem? Aren't there enough markets? OK, let's stop this crap … Edwin Hubble: Labeling whole nations, as if everyone's the same – isn't that bestiality? And what do you mean by saying, «some are clever»? Is it condescension? Forced admission? Sounds like you're talking about guinea pigs… I can't say Caucasus makes me feel happy; however, your wording is absolutely unacceptable and insulting to me. Skip: Well, I mean the “fruit market” men are the craziest ones (at least in my town). I wouldn't think about nationalism but for a couple of encounters I've had (not the most pleasant ones) with brutalized blacks. And I also talked to people from elsewhere about what a nuisance they are. No wonder I started thinking about this problem. By the way, our editor-in-chief (Cannibal) lives close to Krasnodar (in Goryachiy Kluch), ad he's getting really nuts about it. He's daydreaming about escaping from there, say, like fleeing to the North where I live … Jocelyn Bell: We don't want to comment that. We've got our own opinion, and we're not going to convince anyone that we're right. However, the wording itself is detestable… Come to Krasnodar, go to the market or to the railway station, look at these monstrous militia men and Cossacks, the ones that wouldn't let go of you once they've decided there's something “suspicious” about you… Makes one wonder which beasts are the worst ones… Skip: Yeah, I've heard about that. But the militia guys… OK, done with that! Let's change the subject, for this is not your favorite one… Unfortunately, labels like “true” and “poser” are very popular among metalheads. What do you think about it? Jocelyn Bell: Looks like you're gonna finish us off with questions like that… Skip: Why finish off? Do you mean you're sick and tired of these questions because that's what you're asked in other bands? Jocelyn Bell: Who said we play metal in other projects?... Skip: Nobody, just guessing. Jocelyn Bell: … We're against ANY labels, boundaries and trends whatsoever. All these things that restrain Creativity in its essential form … Edwin Hubble: I agree… Skip: OK, clear. Now a couple of not really serious questions.... Who's the best guitar player in the world? :) Albert Einstein: The one who plays good music. Generally speaking, all this stuff like who is better and who is faster sounds more like sports terminology, so why don't you talk to the sportsmen, they could tell you a lot about it... Some don't see a difference between music and sport, and I do hate these men... Edwin Hubble: The one who's smart enough not to play too many solos… Jocelyn Bell: You know, all these provincial musicians never put things straight!… I do remember, when being just a beginner I had to pay for every single piece of advice from a “guru”… That's how I started learning to play myself. As good as I could… I never became a virtuoso, I don't care about it, still there's something I really can do… Some people come to me and ask to teach them how to play, but I never teach them, that's what I can't do. Neither for money, nor free of charge. However, I'm always happy to give a couple of simple yet very important pieces of advice, the way I see it, that would help them master the instrument, at least the very basics of it. Absolutely free of charge, no problem… There's no secret at all. I don't want to be the coolest bass guitarist in the region, the greatest megaprofessional etc… I would prefer to see a lot of good musicians around me instead of being the only one that knows something special that would make me “cool” while others would be playing crap … Back to the subject: all this stuff like better-worse, faster-louder is total rubbish. Nothing to do with music… Skip: Well, I didn't ask WHAT MAKES the best guitar player in the world, I wanted specific NAMES, heh… Jocelyn Bell: Then you didn't meet our expectations… Read one once again what Albert just said… Skip: Hmmm, OK… Going back to our editor-in-chief. As I've already told you he lives not far from you and comes to Krasnodar pretty often. Now tell me if he's doing a good job promoting our zine? Do Krasnodar metalheads know about Black Minds? :) (If Cannibal's doing a bad job, he's gonna get a really tough time! ;) Albert Einstein: Krasnodar “metalheads” watch MTV. Nobody needs any underground. The people are too well-to-do here. All the musicians want to be rock stars. The audience is no different. However, I've seen BLACK MINDS fliers in Dirty Scoundrel's rock store. Skip: Hmmm, leaves much to be desired… And what about your main projects, are they popular in Krasnodar and nearby? Jocelyn Bell: Some are… Both «in» and «nearby» and sometimes even «away from» - not too far away, though. The very concept of success is vague and needs a more specific definition… We believe they are … Skip: Perfect. Do you guys have spare time? And how do you spend it? Albert Einstein: I don't have any spare time at all… Jocelyn Bell: I do like reading. I read every night before going to bed, and I do enjoy train rides… Just keep reading till they turn the light off. Paradise… Skip: (laughing) Edwin Hubble : I really suffer from not having enough spare time . And now that I'm with L.I.G.O. I've got even less time than before. I believe what I like most of all is listening to music. I wish I had enough time for that… Jocelyn Bell: Look at this busy one… I wish I were as busy as you … Lack of ability to organize yourself and the surrounding processes is not a synonym of being busy, Edwin, how many times do I need to tell you that? Skip: Another piece of finger-pointing. Jocelyn, you should have put it milder. Otherwise you may well end up quarreling with each other … Jocelyn Bell: Over the past 6 years of knowing each other (correct me if I'm wrong) we never really quarreled, so why shall we?… Edwin Hubble: Skip, thank you for moral support J Well, seriously speaking, I really may have problems with Jocelyn's wording (even if she finds it absolutely acceptable). The message itself is usually what's called «mother truth», the “straight-from-the-shoulder” one. Besides, breaking up would rather be a loss for me, not a gain. I admit, there would be no need to tolerate all these rude words (even if I deserved them). At the same time, I would no longer be able to participate in making really interesting music. Which seems to be much more important to me … Skip: OK now, time for wrapping up. Thank you for an excellent conversation, I wish you to successfully release your debut album, will be looking forwards towards hearing it! Now maybe you'd like to say something? Stephen Hawking: Well, looks like I'm the most positively minded person here. OK, that's what I'll say. Frankly speaking, that's our first interview ever. Praise God, not the last one… Skip: Oooh, exclusive stuff! Stephen Hawking: …So we'd like to say a big thank you to BLACK MINDS for being so kind to take this interview. We also would like to wish you success in your work . And as far as readers and listeners are concerned… We wish them good music and good emotions and thoughts after listening to this music. Edwin Hubble: Thank you for being interested in our music and for the opportunity to acquaint BLACK MINDS readers with our band. We hope this acquaintance will be mutually interesting and beneficial. Chorus: Thank youuuu! Skip : Heh ! :) |
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Our readers are already familiar with the L.I.G.O. band form Krasnodar (remember the excessive interview published last year on our webpage?) Since then, the guys have managed to record their debut album (see the review on our web site) and release it on More Hate productions. Basically, we decided to make this interview to support the release; besides, we really wanted to know if the band was making any progress on their new material … Skip: Hi! Haven't seen you for a long time. How's life? Albert: Thanks, fine :). Edwin : Everything's OK! Skip: Good! No changes in the lineup, I hope? Albert: No, the lineup's the same. However, there may be some keyboards on the new album, but that's something I'll probably do myself. Or have our sound producer do it. Skip: I. e. Dirty Scoundrel? Albert: Yep. Skip: OK. What about adding some oddly sounding musical instruments? Say, trombone (like Sear Bliss)… Albert: No, we're not planning to use real trombone. However, keyboards usually imitate live instruments, so that's not purely synthetic, you see? Who knows, maybe keyboards will sound like a trombone. Frankly speaking, it's too early to talk about it. Keyboards arrangements are not in place yet, and you never know what you'll end up with before you actually start doing it. Edwin: And once you've started doing keyboards, you never know where to stop… :) Skip: What about your More Hate release? Are you happy with the contract? Albert: What can we say... Looks like it's the best contract we could get as of now. We're happy with the fact of being signed, that's what I'm trying to say, all the rest is not that important. Besides, what's important is not the contract itself, it's how the parties fulfill their obligations thereunder. We've been fulfilling our obligations so far. And so does the label. More Hate fulfilled our wishlist nearly in full as regards the artwork, which was not listed anywhere in the contract, and we are thankful to them for this. Who knows what will happen in the future … Again, it's not the release of a CD that only matters to us; what we're also concerned about is how the label will perform to promote the release. I mean, we're entering the most important phase now that the CD is out. So you'd better ask us in half a year from now :). Skip: Done deal! And did you get any offers from other labels? Albert: No serious ones, so to say. Skip: Did you ever attempt to insistently negotiate with the Western majors? Albert: Frankly speaking, we realize it's still too early. Let's see what happens to our second album, we really would like to make a lot of things differently and better. There're too many deficiencies in the debut album we're now aware of. Once we prove we can make really powerful and high-quality stuff, then we'll probably insistently negotiate about releasing it. So it's way too early to talk about it… Edwin: Let's call a spade a spade: as of now, there's nothing to negotiate about. More Hate has the exclusive right to release and distribute our debut album, the second album is not ready yet (even not in promo version). What's left is the ‘Singularity' mini album… Well, we still hope we can release it sooner or later; we're even making some steps towards releasing it, but… As long as we're aware of all the production deficiencies of the full-length album, we have also no illusions as to what to expect from the mini album. In other words, we all fully realize that we only can attract serious labels by offering them really high quality stuff. It's both the quality of music and sound. That's actually what we're currently working on. Actually, we're still receiving responses from highly respected Western labels (including majors) regarding our first album. Nobody has offered us a contract yet, so basically there's nothing to regret about. However, receiving an email from a cult label is always a shock (for me, at least). I could be a hundred times realist, however, these emails take my breath away each time I read such emails: what if…? Skip: And now please amplify a little bit on the new stuff: how is it going? :) Albert: Basically, not bad :) I mean, the music has been written long ago, and the texts are almost completed. Next thing we'll have to do is making final arrangements and getting ready for the record session. And we've been rehearsing for about one week as of now. Actually, we planned to start recording back in October, but it turned out that we overestimated our capacities. The music is still too complicated for us to play; each of us will have to have to make every effort to grow up at least a little bit. Edwin has already made this step, by the way: ‘Handle Your Business' lyrics are way better than those of the debut album. ‘No One Safe' was done – both written and recorded – very easily, without a strain. We were ready to play what was needed. Apparently, the same does not apply to the second album. OK, we'll get ready for it. Actually, we won't start recording until February or March, and the reason is very simple: we are old people and have a lot of things to take care of, namely, families, work etc. However, once we get started we won't stop till we get finished :) We really want to try a lot of new features. We want the new album to sound differently, big time. Will see what comes out of it. Edwin: Thanks for the appreciation of my humble contribution … Actually, I felt like being urged to make this step ever since joining the band, whatever the text. Except the “Singularity” lyrics; the main problem with this one was to find a way to fill out the 12 minutes of music with more or less coherent text. While “Thief” turned out to be a real problem… Since then, the music became more complicated and I tried to improve my text-writing skills, however, it's all essentially the same: overcoming, overcoming and again overcoming. What am I supposed to overcome? Whatever: uneasy measures, team work specifics, and even myself. My own inertness. Each time Albert would write a new song, I can't help thinking of it as a perfect instrumental piece :-). So every now and then I have to convince myself that I both can and have to write L.I.G.O. lyrics :-). Indeed, I'm trying to exercise new methods and techniques as much as possible. On our previous album, the text strictly followed the rhythm (one drumbeat = one syllable). On the one hand, it was beneficial for the music (resulting in a significant sound density increase; one can't underestimate the importance of this: just think of all the compromises we had to make while working in the studio... However, such texts never fail to firmly embrace both the text writer and the vocalist which usually ends with mercilessly taking them in a vice. The thing is that the text writer is no longer capable of varying the number of syllables in a line, and the vocalist pronounces more text than he physically can. Besides, the aforementioned density of sound also leads to a disappointing unification of all the lines. Just imagine the guitars, bass, drums and vocals all playing the same stuff (excuse my dilettantism). In other words, we'll try to add more fresh air to the new album, as long as we can make it at all… Skip: Well, sounds promising enough, heh. Strange as it may seem, but I'm sure you all can make it. What kind of stuff will it be? And what's Edwin going to talk about this time? Albert: In terms of music, there'll be more prog-rock influences. Besides, unlike ‘No One Safe' with its single guitar line, the new album will feature two independent guitar lines almost on all tracks; it will both add more melody to the music and complicate it at the same time. However, looks like it will still be death-metal. However, that's the way we planned it. Who knows what will eventually come out of it... As far as the texts are concerned, Edwin's got his feet firmly on the ground, èáî ‘Handle Your Business' ïîñâÿùåí èñêëþ÷èòåëüíî ïðîáëåìàì ñîöèóìà , no science fiction or cyber punk, less cosmos, less romance etc. On the other hand, Edwin has done a big job and conducted a really in-depth study, hence text-to-music ratio will be as high as ever, don't worry. However, we don't feel like going too much into detail. Anyway, the main song will be dedicated to George Bush Jr. Edwin: Besides the main suite, there'll be one more song dedicated to Bush. Ooops, looks like I'm going into details… Well, I would rather keep away from declarative statements. Yes, the new album will be fully conceptual (unlike the previous one), the only exception being one more cover track (again, a very interesting one). It turned out that all the band members are currently focused on social issues, both musically and textually. However, it does not mean that we'll keeping standing on the ground as firmly as today in the future! Creative people sooner or later feel uneasy if placed within any boundaries, even the deliberately self-imposed ones. We are way far from completing the second album, however I'm already thinking of what to write about for our next work (God bless …) Well, I still can't help staring both into the cosmic depths and deep inside myself. However, this specific aspect of my creativity has never been favored by other L.I.G.O. members (at least judging by the other projects where we used to work together; the L.I.G.O. band, as you can well imagine, has never been sentimental…) Skip: Could you please say a few words about the cover song? Albert: Too early to talk about it. What if something doesn't work? Well, it should, but who knows? … I'll tell you one thing, though: it's a modern non-metal band. Edwin: It's even not a rock group … Skip: Do you already know what you'll sound like on the new album? Will you continue experimenting with noisy sound, or maybe you will try to sound clearly this time? You know, ‘No One Safe', despite all its beauty, could be even better but for the greasiness and pseudo-density of sound. It's not black metal, is it?! Albert: We are very much attracted by black metal aesthetics. I don't know what to tell you right now. We'll experiment a lot. We don't want to make the sound clear; we'll probably try to make it more distinct. A little bit clearer maybe, we're not sure yet. Distinctness is essential. We want to sound angry, we want to sound the way we make our music, with all this cursing, screaming, shouting, scandals in the studio etc. That's exactly how we work, it's always a stress, and that's how we want to sound. You'll never make it with clear sound. Edwin: Well, I'm fed up with all these scandals, both inside and outside the studio… I'm a normal man, and I wish there were no scandals at all. On the other hand, strained atmosphere is something to deal with. That's L.I.G.O .'s form of existence. It can be good or bad, but that's not essential. What's essential is that we're eventually making good music; maybe that's how we're making our world a little bit better. I mean, all this screaming and shouting, it's all worthwhile?… Now going back to the black metal aesthetics, sound density and clarity … I personally don't listen to death metal at all . The only exceptions are techno-death, some SMDM bands along with former black metal bands now bordering on death metal genre ... As such, I rather prefer black to death, so I'm happy each time L.I.G.O. pays homage to black metal :-). However, there are indeed a lot of death metal components in our palette, and it's exactly the death metal I like the most (see above). So there's no wonder we all enjoy playing a combination of black and death metal ingredients. L.I.G.O. may rather fall under death metal definition; however, it's black that helps us sound fresh and angry. Death metal eventually evolved into something elevated and refined, take this ‘Sound of Perseverance', for instance … While black has not fully given up its old-school garage heritage yet (‘A Grand Declaration of War' is an exception that just proves this rule). But that does not mean that the music adequacy is inversely proportional to the clarity of sound: King Crimson , these academicians of music, do sound a lot fresher and brighter than most rock bands. And again, those who sorely lack any constructive musical ideas will never benefit from any garage, whatsoever… Skip: Your attitude towards live concerts, videos etc has not changed since our last conversation? Albert: No, it has not. Edwin: If L.I.G.O. decided to make a video, it would rather be an abstract movie where none of us would appear. Why use our personalities to express L.I.G.O.'s message while there are so many interesting and meaningful things in the world :-). In other words, it would probably be something like Godfrey Reggio's ‘Quatsi' trylogy… However, making this video would cost a lot of money. Had we had that much money, we would rather upgrade our studio instead. So looks like we won't shoot a video for a long time … Skip: That's a pity… By the way, did any of you manage to make it to the MHM? Albert: No, had other things to do. We're not very much interested in it anymore. However, Edwin periodically goes / flies somewhere, but that's something different. Usually it's Western stars playing in Moscow . Or way further than Moscow … Skip : È ÷åãî òû, Ýäâèí, èíòåðåñíîãî ïîâèäàë çà ïîñëåäíåå âðåìÿ? Any updates, please? :) Edwin: Well, «recently» sounds too generic. Last summer I was lucky to see The Gathering and Kraftwerk in Moscow . Going back to the Russian scene… Hmmm… When being a student, I was too snobbish and ignored a local rock session. I thought I wouldn't miss anything. Well, it was a deadly mistake. Somebody made a name there, somebody passed away shortly afterwards … It was nothing but a local gig, however, yet it was also a lesson learned. I mean, I would be happy to keep an eye on what's happening on the Russian rock scene, but right now there're basically no bands to keep an eye on. No metal bands, at least. Therm.Eye.Flame is not a real live band, Mind Eclipse disappointed me with their last album. Maybe seeing Rossomahaar live would be an interesting thing … However, I would rather go to a Stilllife concert. Skip: You don't say so, Mind Eclipse released a very good album… Hmmm, OK, let's call it a day. Wishing you success in making, recording and releasing your second album. Looking forward to seeing you soon on our web pages. Some closing words… Albert: Heh … What can I say … Well, thank you for your time. I believe we'll have to say a lot more after the album is finished. And we'll get our lady online once again :-)… Skip: And there'll be a lot of dirty language again :-) And say a big hello to other band members:) See you! Albert: We will, for sure :-). However, this won't happen in the nearest future: I for one will be playing about 5-6 gigs in different towns during the next 2 weeks, so I won't have time to. OK, see you! Edwin: All the best! |
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