Coming from Russia where a great metal scene is developing this band of extremely original music delivers their first live album. "Live in Polygon" is a great album. We talked to them to know more about the band.
So, how is the promotion of the "Live in Polygon" album going?
The usual way. We try to invade the whole world with it, spreading a lot of promo packs worldwide. Till now we haven't had any negative review on it, so we hope a lot of people will try at least to get acquainted with it. So far about 500 copies sold in Saint-Petersburg, and we are looking for worldwide distributors, some negotiations already began. But anyone interested can contact us directly via e-mail and get a copy right now. Distributors are welcomed as well.
Was the debut album recorded with a drum machine? Why?
In summer 1997, when we had enough material for full length album, we decided to record it the same way as the first demo "Daturas Portal To Transcendentis", i.e. at our rehearsal base - as much live as it possible, plus adding second guitar and keyboards tracks later. But the result did not satisfy me and Ivan at all - not soundwise, but because of Grigoriy's crappy drumming (at the moment he was much more into money making and girls, than drumset playing). It was impossible to find new drummer good enough for us in short time (though even if we had time, it would never be easier at all - in our city, you can count skilfull drummers, devoted to heavy music, by the fingers of one hand. That's why we found new drummer only 4 years later, although we never stopped searching all the time). We decided to use drum machine instead, and that's why three first albums were recorded that way.
How was recording "Doctrine of Dark Forest" as a duo? Was the material composed very different than what you are doing this days?
We recorded «Doctrine of Dark Forest» in the following way:
Ivan was writing piano parts, after that I was making arrangements for guitars and drums, (programming drum machine at the same time, to let Ivan write bass parts), also doing some keyboard parts (not piano kind). Actually, it is our distinctive feature, I think: all the compositions are being written on piano in the beginning, and all other parts are written after - as it was before, and it is now, when Ivan left the band. The only difference is that piano parts are written by our present keyboard player Alexey. Well, after we have written and arranged all the songs for «Doctrine of Dark Forest», we recorded it approximately in a week, using rented PC, but everything, except MIDI drums, was really played, not programmed. Due to limited memory resources we had to record all tracks for one song, after I've been mixing it to 2 tracks, all intermediate tracks were deleted, and we started it anew with the next song. So, we did not just write the album as a duo and recorded it, but we have done all the studio engineers work as well. As for differences for writing material nowadays, as I said before, there are not much of them, maybe, the arrangements are just more thoughtfull and are being done by all the musicians.
How different are the new musicians than the original ones (maybe this question should be for Denis)? What did they bring to the band?
The essential difference of new musicians is their undoubtfull professionalism. This is exactly what they brought to the band, raising it much higher, as especially could be seen at the live acting. Regarding new winnowings... it's difficult for me to discuss, as I am always watching the band from inside, and it seems to me that there are no drastical changes, Azeroth remains Azeroth, easy recognizable. And changed approach to arrangements is natural process of band development.
Which is the relation between Azeroth and Painful Memories?
Ah, it is pretty clear. After Ivan left the band I was looking for new lineup, and at the same time Painful Memories were searching for second guitarist and singer. We have talked a bit, and decided that I'll be playing guitar in Painful Memories, and they all will complete Azeroth lineup. After that PM played 2 times without a singer and splitted, so we all concentrated upon Azeroth activity. Some time later drummer and bass player decided to leave the band, being not capable of playing fast and technical material. They were replaced by musicians from other bands very soon. I.e. nowadays Azeroth lineup includes two musicians of Painful Memories - guitarist Konstantin Drabkin, and keyboard player Alexey Dvoretsky (played viola in PM).
What can you tell me about "Mosquallica"?
Not much to say. We don't like Metallica and participated in this just to let more people to get acquainted with our band. We made the cover of Metallica song in our own Azeroth manner, treating it like Azeroth song, instead of many other bands, just being stupid copiers, so we think that if someone likes our cover version, he would appreciate our own material as well. The only bad point is that the cover turned to be pretty long and moody, opposite to our own songs, but this is not our fault, but Metallica's (though we still regret we didn't shorten this song). As for album in overall, I don't like the tribute as much as I don't like the original, and of all bands participated, I liked a few (2-3) that made really original and interesting covers, but in whole it is really dull album. I won't call the names, since I don't want to spoil relations with anybody.
Has the band found a new label to distribute their music?
Not yet, we are still working upon it. There are some negotiations, as I mentioned before, but we are still accepting proposals.
Are you starting to record new material? Is it very different from the last studio album?
We did not begin record sessions, but we have written most of the material for the next album, already played some amount of songs live, and - rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. The last studio album was recorded by myself, almost alone, so the arrangements were conducted without any limitations, layed by live performances, and we do not play songs from this album because of that (except first and last ones, that we do not like to play anyway). New material, without losing symphonic and polyphonic features of third album, is 100% live oriented and is composed at rehearsals, instead of «Gallery of Dreams», that was written in studio and never played live before recording.
How different is playing drums in Azeroth compared to Ora Pro Nobis?
Well, the Azeroth approach to the music in whole is really different from Ora Pro Nobis. My previous band was more amateur and, at the same time, experimental - I mean, we never thought as much about the final product, just wanted to make things interesting for us only. And it was not good for music and, thus, for listener. So, I'd name the following differences - much faster and technical parts, much more attention to details, much more consistent drum parts (we had a lot of improvising in OPN, and do not have it at all in Azeroth). And I think that in summary it is more professional approach. I'd like to add that between leaving OPN and joining Azeroth I've been attending drum class of one jazz/fusion drummer, and rudimental technique I learned gave me the ability to play what the band needed. I mean, I had to improve my technique drastically to had an opportunity to play in Azeroth, though, of course, I never thought about it, when I started to learn again.
Are there plans of touring when the new album is released?
It is kinda much too early to talk about it, fitrst we have to record this album at very high technical level, after we have to find good contract with some record company to release it worldwide, and just after that start touring the western countries, since in Russia there are not much opportunities for such an activity,
Any final words for people in Argentina?
We hope that our music will reach you, even if you are so far away. Hope to see ya on our gigs at Argentina once! You are welcome!
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AZEROTH - DISCOGRAPHY
Chasma Pelorion - Cassette (1997)
Doctrine of the Dark Forest - CD (1998)
Temple of Shadows - CD (1999)
Live In Polygon - Cassette (2000)
ACTUAL LINEUP
Evgeny Trefilov - drums
Denis Devichensky - guitars, vocals
Konstantin Drabkin- guitars
Alexander Kulikov- bass
Alexey Dvoretsky- keyboards
