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Interviews

Grenouer: The whole band

03/11/09  ||  Trauma

About a month ago a little review was published by Trauma, yours truly, and Grenouer was given word about how awesome it was. The review. And album. That sparked e-mails between myself and Andrey Ind, vocalist for Grenouer. We talked about our feelings, hopes, dreams, fantasies, penises, and I eventually asked if they wanted to do an interview since they so clearly deserve the attention. What I received are a bunch of great answers not just from Andrey, but from the rest of the band. These guys don’t take their music lightly and you shouldn’t take them lightly either. Any shortfall in this interview is all on me, IND (vocals), MOTOR (guitar), SLAVIJ (bass), and GRAVE (DRUMS) treated these questions better than I could have asked. These guys deserve this read. Enjoy my first interview, but hopefully not my last.

First off, how are things going? Anything new to report from the Grenouer camp, or just in general with each of you?

Andrey ‘IND’: Halo, nice to meet you! We are doing fine, trying to compose as many new songs as possible. This is the main GRENOUER goal for today. It took us really long time and a great tug with the recent album to have it recorded, released and promoted so that we just needed to take a breath afterwards. But now it’s high time to wake up and to switch on amps even if the whole world is about to collapse.

Slavij: I am going to marry soon. Send your gifts to the city of Lenin.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Hey, Global Domination and all metalheads! We have been visited by our friend who currently lives in Israel now, he is the leader of The Lust band, if you have never heard of them hurry up hunt after releases of Sleaszy Rider records. So we spent the evening at the bar drinking dark beers.

Let’s continue with some important information: recently it has come to my attention that your government has been encouraging you guys to stop drinking so damn much alcohol. Is that true? Are Russians really drunk all the time, or is it just another one of those famous 5-year plans your government loves? If the Russians I’ve met are any indication, I say the former.

Andrey ‘IND’: Looks like that the government is enjoying populism again instead of doing something good. Alcohol addicts will never stop drinking if they behold anti-alcohol slogans or watch critical programs on TV. Drinking is just an escape from the unbearable reality, there’s no doubt, Russians do drink a lot, even politicians themselves. As I feel it they should have tried to make life better, develop economy and social services, to take care of ordinary people. But I’m nuts, they care only about their moneybags.

Ilya ‘Grave’: I would support any restrictions related to sales and consumption of alcohol in Russia. Russians actually do not drink all the time but many of them abuse alright. Including me and the guys.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Yeah, from outside and from news-blocks this campaign looks as a 5-year framework. But it is beneficial for the state to sell cheap vodka and extra-strong beer that contains spirit instead of hop, this is designed specially to get rid off national agitation and disagreements with Russian social policy. I think it would be much better if vodka cost the same price as in EU countries, and high quality beer would be available, as in Czech Republic, for instance. Such anti-alcohol plan could work out.

Slavij: These government measures do take place, but they are odd and not effective – like all government measures in this country.

Are you guys drinkers? If so, list off your favorite drinks and what brands/types. For example: beers (Baltika), wines, liquors/spirits (vodka), gypsy blood (Ukranian or Georgian), or do you stick to water (vodka), juices, etc.

Andrey ‘IND’: I believe there’s nothing bad in having a drink at a party or celebration event, at least there should be a cause. And it really depends, sometimes beer is in the head (definitely not Russian brands, something common like Tuborg, Heineken or Holstein), sometimes it’s time to drink vodka (this time Russian is the best choice), sometimes whiskey with cola (Jack, Jameson or cheaper), sometimes wine or Campari or tequila… Sometimes I even dare not to drink alcohol, but this is surely not because the government encourages me to get sober.

Slavij: Drinking is like music, it depends upon the mood. The choice of drinks depends upon: 1) Did you drink the day before? 2) Is it morning, day or evening? 3) Is it still raining or not? And surely one can find lots of very important reasons.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Now I prefer dark Kozel beer, red wine from Chili and inexpensive cognac (for cold weather). I am not a pig-meat drunkard but I do not mind 100 grams of cognac or a couple of glasses of wine in the evening.

Ilya ‘Grave’: I also like dark Rozel. But in fact, both ‘Motor’ and me are pig-meat drunkards!

Alexander ‘Motor’: Oh, apparently that’s true!

This girl gave me 10 rubles a while back just for being really sexy and all that. If I came over to Russia with that much, what could I purchase? I know I can’t even pay the highway toll around here with that, they just look at me confused.

Andrey ‘IND’: Fortunately we still have toll-free highways. Roads are bad but they are free of charge, so you will save 10 rubles. Unfortunately you will not manage to buy a lot, let me figure up – two boxes of matches or three plastic bags or five envelopes without stamps or a tiny bun. C’mon, are you sure you have been really sexy? (-you have no idea — Trauma)

Ilya ‘Grave’: You cannot buy anything here for a 10 ruble note. Perhaps, a paper screw of seeds.

Slavij: Once Raskolnikov (C’mon! it is “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevskiy) killed babushka for 20 kopecks (that is 1/5 of one ruble). Yet, I am not fully aware of inflation rate.

Alexander ‘Motor’: 10 rubles are fairly enough for buying clotted Chinese condom!

Ilya ‘Grave’: Ha-ha!

So what do you guys do for a living? Does touring pad your pockets enough for some vacations abroad, or does the Hammer and Sickle take all your “superfluous” earnings?

Andrey ‘IND’: We have different routine jobs so that we could afford anything, including playing music. Touring is always unprofitable yet we see no grievance because of that. Playing music is a big fun, it is breathtaking and worth living. To develop and to achieve anything you have to invest your earnings. It is an exceptional case when a band becomes popular at once, so generally it is fighting and hoping and doing at least anything.

Slavij: I haven’t yet earned my first million.

Ilya ‘Grave’: Work, rehearsal, alcohol. That’s my timetable for the recent 10 years.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Last year we chanced to play abroad and I also traveled abroad myself. I really enjoy being outside Russia, especially on a tour, I feel myself alive then. Now I am more busy, hell knows why, work more and travel less.

Is St. Petersburg a pretty modern, progressive city? Does it kick Moskva’s ass? Moskva seems too big for me, and then there’s the whole communism thing. And the women, I must say that I am impressed by some of them. Of course, I’m highly attracted to foreign women from northwestern Eurasia.

Andrey ‘IND’: St. Petersburg is a so-called North-western capital of Russian culture, a sort of. It is surely famous for XVII-XVIII century architecture and art, and this doesn’t make St. Petersburg progressive and modern now. Of course there are many new building here but I am afraid they are too undistinguished. I think that if St. Petersburg administration cared about the city it will kick ass of Moscow, Paris, Berlin or Warsaw. At the time being its ass looks miserably dirty and uncomfortable. Women? Yes, they are pretty and beautiful but these days they hardly give you a smile. The global economical crisis arm-in-arm with consequences of ugly corruption this is what they get over now.

Ilya ‘Grave’: It’s hard to kick Moskva’s ass, Moscow is too big. But girls are more beautiful in Siberia, absolutely.

Alexander ‘Motor’: If you see a nice girl in St. Petersburg, most probably she comes form another city, and maybe even from Moscow.

Slavij: St. Petersburg is considered to be a city-museum, and it’s hard to call it ultra-modern or ultra-progressive. As least the guys from Germany were in panic when we were going home by metro. They were afraid that the car would fall to pieces. But Moscow is a monster city. Just a giant monster!

Now into my not-so-seamless transition to music related questions: With NATO keeping you guys under a steel curtain, tell us oblivious folk about the metal scene around St. Petersburg and western Russia.

Andrey ‘IND’: Oh, what a confrontment! I need to say that the steel curtain has been strongly modified into a… rubber curtain. It still perfectly divides political systems, the only problem that nowadays it’s hard to categorize if Russia is an enemy or not. Today it is not a big problem to travel to and from Russia but still the world is unaware of what’s going on here if it doesn’t concern oil, gas or South territorial conflicts. If fact nothing really special is going on here. Corruption is tremendous, but freedom of speech is also tremendous, since everyone knows the truth and does not fear to speak out. Abuse of human rights? A gross exaggeration! In most cases people in Russian cities live a normal life. This rubber curtain is convenient for the ruling establishment, for both parties actually, but ordinary people appear to be in isolation.

And you are right metal music is also in isolation. Western labels really rarely release anything from Russia, while the scene is huge here, just imagine how big Russia is. It’s no use mentioning any band names, that won’t tell you much. I only wish A&R managers were less prejudicial and check out the demos they are receiving. I’m nuts again! No one is listening to demos!

Ilya ‘Grave’: Metal music is rapidly developing here. But it’s almost impossible to talk of its high level. Sad but true.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Yes, local scene is obviously big. But it’s no way to see it on international level, due to many reason. I myself listen to the only band from Russia on a permanent basis, that’s good old Gorky Park. And they are quite an exception, something from another planet.

Given your close proximity to Finland, do you guys get a lot of bleed-over from their musical acts?

Andrey ‘IND’: Finish scene in a way influences Russian scene, if you take a research you will manage to find clones of Children Of Bodom, HIM or Nightwish. But like any clones they are unsuccessful. I should not say that such influences appear from Finish music proximity, they appear just because these bands (the originals) are famous worldwide. Finish top-category bands (various kinds of metal – Lordi, COB, The Rasmus, Amorphis, Stratovarius, Apocalyplica, The 69 Eyes, Ensiferum, Hanoi Rocks, Finntroll, Waltari, To/Die/For, Sentenced, Poisonblack, Charon, Norther, etc. are famous alright here as well, but smaller bands like Suburban Tribe, Rust, Grendel, Total Devastation, Maj Karma, Resleep or Stamina remain totally unknown for the Russian audience. I need to say again that Russia is too huge, in different regions it is close to Finland, to Norway, to Estonia, to Poland, to Latvia, Lithuania, to China, to Mongolia, to Korea, to Japan and even to Alaska. Have a look at the map! And these proximities are not really working, because the whole Russia has something like entire established mentality. Three of us come from Perm city (it’s in the European part just before the Urals) and one of us comes from Irkutsk (right, the heart of Siberia). We live in St. Petersburg now and do not feel any difference between people here or anywhere else in Russia be it Moscow, Tyumen or Magadan. That means when you cross the border the difference between Russia and, for instance, Finland, will be strongly marked. St. Petersburg is close to Finland but mentally it is very far away. Personally for me and our band this proximity is a great piece of luck. I try to visit Finland whenever I have time and opportunity, it’s only 3-4 hours by car, and Grenouer attempts to cooperate with representatives of Finish metal scene – bands, gig organizers, traders and – the last but the least – our two recent albums were produced at Finish studios.

Alexander ‘Motor’: I like Finland and their attitude to metal. It’s a nice country with serious quantity of high quality bands and high quality studios. It’s always a pleasure to travel there. Of course I appreciate not all metal bands there. Dismal gothic sometimes really sucks. It’s also stupid of me that I never showed my ass at any Open Air festival there. But Finish bands quite often appear here, yet the audience is growing lazy every day. Smaller bands can surely expect half empty clubs only.

That of course will bring us to you guys. How do you feel you’re viewed in your scene? Are you guys the grandpas, the outcasts, the No. 1, or “those narcissistic assholes”?

Ilya ‘Grave’: He-he, a little of everything. But first of all we are No.1.

Andrey ‘IND’: We are razorbacks! We work hard to be what we are and we are surely not the spoilt children of fortune. Russian scene is developing rapidly and more and more new bands spring out. So, there’s plenty of competition and young fans in general care for young metal genres only. But we are not going to give up.

Metal bands are a dime a dozen and usually not even worth that much. How hard has it been to get a contract with labels and how many have you been on throughout your career? Feel free to talk tremendous shit about labels you are not associated with any longer, it is something they surely deserve.

Andrey ‘IND’: We have been released worldwide by two foreign labels and five ones, that makes seven contracts but none of them provided us with a serious breakthrough. Labels have become too lazy nowadays, they only complain about low sales and free downloads, but what do they really do for bands? A couple of interviews and a dozen of reviews? They are serious only with established bands, so that not to take risks. But at the same time they manage to release incredibly awkward bands, something impossible to listen to. Maybe these bands pay labels for the way up. Otherwise it’s hard to understand why more worthy bands get outdone.

Slavij: These days labels do not offer good contracts and bands that are not famous do not have much chances to record albums in expensive studios and to see their albums released decently. To get a deal has become a complex and complicated task. Let’s see and wait for the breaking point, the existing model is nothing but disappointment.

I very obviously enjoyed your previous record “Lifelong Days”, or else we wouldn’t be doing this interview. You mentioned to me how long it took you guys to get label support for that one. For the readers, though, when exactly did you record the album and do you currently have another being worked on or ready to go as soon as you can get it out?

Andrey ‘IND’: Thank you very much! “Lifelong Days” recording session began in autumn 2006, by spring 2007 the album was mixed and mastered. Then almost a year of searching for a label and sending demos. In summer 2008 “Lifelong Days” finally saw light and we chanced to tour and appear on some big festivals. Now it’s high time to work over something new, new songs are in process but I am afraid that it will take much time again… to walk the same path. Actually we are still sending “Lifelong Days” promo CDs to magazines and ‘zines doing the job that the label should have done.

Ilya ‘Grave’: We have plenty of plans. We compose new songs, get ready for preproduction and for recording demos.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Yes, we are seriously working over new materials. There’s plenty of work because we wish to modify and to update the essence of our music and to materialize new ideas. Since there are many ideas there’s a question of proper result. Many things arise from jamming and some things are incubating in our heads for a long period, and all that requires good performance and presentation. Such works forces us to stop playing gigs for the time being, yet occasionally we break over.

What equipment do you guys use? Do you prefer an elaborate set-up with lots of pedals and wires, or do you prefer keeping your setup bare-bones, or simple? Does your live setup differ much from your studio setup?

Ilya ‘Grave’: I stick to simple drum set.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Ibanez K-7, Peavey XXX, noise gate MXR, rack tuner Korg…

Andrey ‘IND’: For rehearsals and gigs I use Shure microphone (Beta 57 or SM57). Studio requires expensive condenser microphone, like Neumann. When we record demos we also use condenser mic, yet cheaper models. Good pre-amp is also important and I use TL Audio. And I also began to use in-ear monitoring, that’s handy and functional when you want to hear yourself properly on stage.

What made you guys want to stop playing straight up death metal?

Andrey ‘IND’: There was no exact occasion. We began with changes right after we recorded our debut album in 1996 yet gradually, step by step. In 2003 Grenouer recorded the album that was our deliberate farewell to death metal and since that we have nothing to say in that particular vein. But that’s nothing to worry about, we are still full of metal and not able to play any pop stuff.

Ilya ‘Grave’: Just because we were attracted by other music and felt interest towards something different. I personally had enough of orthodox death metal long time ago.

Alexander ‘Motor’: The band was always playing death metal in combinations with “other genres” but at a certain moment these “other genres” began to prevail, so the right decision was to withdraw death metal rod. I think it is a successful outcome.

I’m going to assume that you guys make music that you yourselves would want to listen to, so do you go back and listen to your older songs/albums, or keep some distance from your music because it feels weird?

Andrey ‘IND’: It’s easier with two recent albums they are quite up-to-date. As for older releases, it’s fun that now they receive better reviews than when they were out. Sometimes you wish to listen to your own work and enjoy the tunes but sometimes you demolish self-criticism and think your music totally unacceptable, though I remember we never recorded absolute shit.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Everything is good in the right time. Early albums are okay, but I rarely listen to them.

Ilya ‘Grave’: With great pleasure I listen to “Try” and “Lifelong Days”. Especially to “Lifelong Days” which is a very profound album.

Outside the realm of metal music, what are your favorite genres? Fave bands?

Andrey ‘IND’: It can be a long narration, I love a lot of metal bands, new and old ones, famous and not! I am also totally into Hard and heavy of 80’s – Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Poison, Guns’N’Roses, Cinderella, Van Halen, etc. Classic bands like Black Sabbath, Kiss, Alice Cooper or AC/DC are always very welcome! There’s also some place for quality rock, blues, new age, fusion. Sometimes I am in the mood to listen to Johnny Cash, Tom Waits or Nick Cave, but still, metal is my priority.

Ilya ‘Grave’: Any genre has diamonds, something that I enjoy a lot, yet fave bands also come from heavy line, inter se Sevedust, Meshuggah, Pantera, Textures…

Alexander ‘Motor’: Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Dark New Day, Korn, Motley Crue… Maybe these are my MUST bands. I listen to different rock/metal music and there are so many cool findings!

Let’s take a break from those boring questions, and do a list type question. I will name off bands or artists and you will rate them 1-10. 1 = not worth two shits in a bucket, and 10 = epic tits.

Ilya ‘Grave’: I am not a reviewer, just a modest listener. But let me modify the rating criteria. I shall be giving my listening probably in diapason from 0 to 100 %. 0 means I will not be listening to it at all and will never to care to listen, 100 means I am listening that music quite often. The given list does not include many bands that I prefer that would have different probability.

Alexander ‘Motor’: I think it a good idea, I shall stick to that rate! And I guess we have totally different tastes. (Actually, I chose bands you’d hate on purpose —Trauma)

Andrey ‘IND’: I am not inclined to modify the original rate, yet I don’t mind to comment on the bands you are going to mention.

Tatu

Andrey ‘IND’: 1

It has been on local MTV and everywhere, and it’s even more stupid that Tatu is famous outside Russia

Ilya ‘Grave’: 0%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

Entombed

Andrey ‘IND’: 10

I just love these Swedes, for me they are one of the best bands ever, even if their latest releases fall far short of earlier ones.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 20%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 10%

Grave

Andrey ‘IND’: 5

‘Soulless’ is a timeless song, but that’s not enough.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 10%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

Glukoza

Andrey ‘IND’: 1

Russian pop crap.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 0%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

Serebro

Andrey ‘IND’: 1

Not much different from Glukoza, even the same producer. These chicks showed their tits at Eurovision contest, but in fact this project was specially organized for that. The word Serebro means ‘silver’. And they won silver prize, the producer was right, but music is shitty, you know, the same Britney family.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 0%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

Meshuggah

Andrey ‘IND’: 8

Epic, yet not for every day listening.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 100%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 50%

Kiss

Andrey ‘IND’: 10

Simply the hottest band in the world! Which means the best.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 30%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 80%

Plastid

Andrey ‘IND’: 1

Never heard of them.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 0%

Alexander ‘Motor’: Do you mean Plastic Ono Band?

Soundgarden

Andrey ‘IND’: 9

‘Black Hole Sun’ – won’t you come?

Ilya ‘Grave’: 70%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 100%

Morrah

Andrey ‘IND’: 4

Good guys, old school death metal. Sounds boring?

Ilya ‘Grave’: 10%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

AC/DC

Andrey ‘IND’: 10

Any song, any album, any time!

Ilya ‘Grave’: 30%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 30%

Justin Timberlake

Andrey ‘IND’: 1

Overseas pop crap

Ilya ‘Grave’: 0%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 0%

Metallica

Andrey ‘IND’: 7

Waiting for Bob Rock to come back

Ilya ‘Grave’: 30%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 30%

Korn

Andrey ‘IND’: 7

Something really big and well-promoted.

Ilya ‘Grave’: 60%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 100%

Opeth

Andrey ‘IND’: 6

Well-promoted and technical

Ilya ‘Grave’: 10%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 10%

Textures

Andrey ‘IND’: 9

A very good band, my cup of coffee

Ilya ‘Grave’: 100%

Alexander ‘Motor’: 50%

Some more important stuff: Does Slavij still have that sorta-mohawk? I had one back in July and August but had to cut it for an appropriate I.D. Picture, damn prudish society.

Slavij: I have recently read out that men with moustaches earn more that men with beards and well-shaved guys. So, both you and me belong to a second-class only.

Andrey ‘IND’: You have to look ‘normal’ if you want to be well-paid. Sometimes long hair (or no hair at all) is already a source for prejudice of an employer. It always depends upon what you are doing. It’s impossible to be a prodigious punk when teaching at junior school.

Does it sound at all weird that someone would dislike the United States so much that they want to go back to St. Petersburg? In her defense she is a bit naive, as I was when I was taken from my home I always wanted to go back. Then after going back I realized it was the better decision to have left.

Andrey ‘IND’: Yes, it’s a dirty trick of feeling homesick. This girl is more than naïve. Do not get cheated! Millions of Mexican by any means possible strive to the USA. We don’t dislike USA either! We just have no opportunity to receive permanent stay visas, otherwise we would have already be drinking at the same bar as you.

Alexander ‘Motor’: I remember when I came back to my hometown (Perm) I felt like you did. Still it depends upon what you are doing, your income and the way of life. If you lose much after you move then it’s one thing. If you’ve got nothing to lose, then there’s noting to miss about. I think I will not be willing to come back to St. Petersburg if I were well accommodated in the USA.

Back to the band, is there any place you’d like to tour before you retire from music?

Andrey ‘IND’: Before I feel I can retire I need a bunch of world tours, today we can only dream of that and our achievements are of insignificant character. Wir haben viel zu tun and no time to think of resignation.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Yes, there should be many places! For instance I would love to play in Japan. And USA is not less interesting! And any Eastern countries are interesting for touring when you both play and relax. I believe it would be also cool to give a gig at the International Space Station, after that we can retire of course.

Do you get lots of e-mails from weirdos or assholes (aside from me)? Our site gets some hatemails occasionally, though not as much as we’d like, really. Any fanatics that kinda make you wish you never opened the e-mail? If you ever want a good anti-slogan or a good laugh, bash some Italian bands as they will be sure to provide you with one in the subsequent e-mail(s).

Andrey ‘IND’: Ah, not much hatemails either. Yet some messages are weird enough so that it’s hard to distinguish them from obtrusive spam. Sometimes people really do not know what they want to say. How to comment on messages from Malaysia asking for your last CD if you have already done this twice? What you can say to an enthusiast mailing that our debut demo kicks ass and the rest is absolute shit and that we should disband immediately? Or when you are threatened by black metal mafia kids? There’s no need to say anything, dissolve into laughter and check out something more important.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Italian bands, ha-ha, what’s wrong with them? I think they are fine, we know good guys from Italy! Once we got an e-mail from the depth of the country. It was really long, and had lots of interesting and intriguing ideas. It was hard to consume and interpret his thoughts, either it was a crazy fan sharing his inner world, or just someone playing a trick upon us.

As you have been with me, I take it you are very dedicated to any fans you have. That is a very rare quality with lots of artists and I commend you very much in regards. Do you enjoy taking your time to converse with your fans as much as you can? At least there were no threats of missiles or being sent to Siberia!

Andrey ‘IND’: Many of the fans are nice guys. You see if they like us then they are already remarkable. If they want to talk, we should be doing that. In most cases it’s fun and noncommittal.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Hopefully there no threats both for Siberia and lake Michigan. At least this would be the most senseless act of violence towards nature. I need to say that we keep contacts with fans but in most cases mails arrive from abroad! Maybe Russians are more reserved to correspond.

What’s the weirdest, or most awkward, situation you’ve ever been in?

Andrey ‘IND’: I was at school and all of a sudden shitted my pants. I ran to the toilet and there was no paper. So I had to tear pants and throw them away and spend the rest of the day with no underwear. I can hardly imagine thoughts of anyone who saw these pants in the toilet. Another weird story was when I realized that I should get divorced (years after this toilet accident). I was walking at night after a small party, it was a cold Russian winter and I had a bottle of brandy and a bottle of vodka. The right idea was to mix and then to go anywhere, actually to go to a roofed hockey stadium. It was already early morning and the sportsmen were flexing their muscles before the training. I was sitting at the grandstand, watching them and then a cat seated himself near me and we looked after the puck rush together. I felt that I have to break off relations with that girl, ex-wife, and actually I never was sorry for that. It’s like a short story by John Cheever, still also pretty weird!

Ilya ‘Grave’: The weirdest situation was the moment when I was born. And the most awkward will be the moment of my death and hopefully I do not know when it’s going to happen.

Alexander ‘Motor’: The awkwardly happiest day for me was when my parents gave me a good guitar for a present. It was Jackson Performer manufactured in South Korea. I was too happy that I escaped from school that day to practice on guitar. It’s a sound reason! And the most weird situation was when fire destroyed our rehearsal studio with all our instruments and amps. Total breakdown that affected many of our plans.

Any great stories from the road/touring? Favorite city to have played in so far?

Andrey ‘IND’: I enjoyed Brutal Assault open air festival in Check Republic. We happened to play the same stage with so many outstanding bands like Entombed, Anathema, All Shall Perish, Neurosis, Soilwork, Cradle of Filth, etc. Moreover we had full access pass and could easily converse with musicians, take pictures and even have drinks. I also think warmly of touring in Baltic States, especially of Tallinn in Estonia, a lovely fascinating medieval town. Playing in Berlin, Germany, was also a big fun, great audience and specific clubbing culture.

Ilya ‘Grave’: I remember we were supporting Pro Pain at Red Alert festival at the Black Sea, and we had a good swim in the waves. Neptune employees were sending us great waves.

Alexander ‘Motor’: Yes, that’s cool. During the set we could peep at the beach girls In the evening it was a bit problematic and the light from the rescue derrick did not help much.

Okay, worst band you toured with, and the best?

Andrey ‘IND’: The last tour, when we were supporting Textures in Russia, was really great. The most brotherly band for Grenouer was always Rasta, a modern synth metal act from Belarus. We happened to tour thousands of miles together, unfortunately they split up recently. The worst band was… eh, maybe Glooming Grim from Finland. But that’s because of their confusing music and Mass sacrifice show on stage. Outside stage they are really positive folks, ready to chat, to laugh and to take a glass too much.

Ilya ‘Grave’: Playing with top bands is always a pleasure and great experience. Professionals are open and inquisitive people. Playing with stupid morons is no big fun, because they care only about themselves, spraying their shit around. It’s better to retreat then.

Alexander ‘Motor’: For me playing with Testament was the best show ever. It was amusing because I am a Testament fonder for many years, “Low” and “Demonic” albums are of big value for me!

As for the worst bands, I do not remember because I was not trying to remember anything bad. And I never act as a complete asshole myself, just respect colleagues as long as they respect me.

Do you have any specific Grenouer tracks that are your favorite?

Ilya ‘Grave’: It’s not easy to distinguish. Well, Re-Active, Taken Off The List and With No Concern.

Alexander ‘Motor’: That’s easy – Away From Now, Indecent Loyalty and Re-Active.

Andrey ‘IND’: Employed Beggar, Addicted To You, Patience… That’s from the last album. Earlier albums also have hits – A Memorable Fancy (“Border of Misty Times”), The Time Spool (“Greavehead”) or Sex Optica (“Presence With War”).

Slavij: Perhaps… Wanting to Be Alone from “Try”. It is simple but sincere. When you play and listen to it, the song does not string up nerves.

Our readers probably want to know what Grenouer even means. I know it’s not a word, at least one I’ve never heard of. Any special meaning behind it?

Ilya ‘Grave’: French people say that it sounds like “frog” in their language. Well, they are frog-eaters and we cannot blame them for that.

Andrey ‘IND’: In fact, there’s no actual meaning rather than our band. Grimoire in early 90’s was the starting point a subject to further amendments. Too old story to remember how it ended Grenouer finally.

Do any of you have side projects going on, or is Grenouer a monogamous musical relationship for you all?

Ilya ‘Grave’: These days we are totally monogamous. My previous band was Uncrossed and before that I also played drums in Demixed, Slim, Anti-Active and maybe somewhere else.

Alexander ‘Motor’: The biggest side project was Cod, which performed in vein of Godflesh. I also practiced on bass in Tartharia, recorded guitars for The Lust and once played a riff on bass and made a slide for Mamay band.

Andrey ‘IND’: Besides Grenouer I performed vocals for Cod (one album), for Tartharia (two albums) and appeared as a guest voice on several underground releases. Today there’s no time, no reason and no wish to make it double-trouble.

I’ll go ahead and let you end this in your own words. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to do this and being super cool about everything. You guys deserve more recognition than you get for your music.

Ilya ‘Grave’: Your questions were quite entertaining! I want to wish you and all the readers happiness and fun!

Andrey ‘IND’: Thanks a lot, man! We get what we deserve, it’s just a natural selection. But we a really happy when someone likes our music, because all that we do is only for its sake.

Alexander ‘Motor’: It was a cheer please to answer. When questions touch internal strings and aspects, I have experienced certain moments of life once again! So thank you very much for these moments and for the understanding, looks like our music efforts are not in vain. Rock! I think I have to go and to take a drink of joy!

Slavij: Eh, just, thankee…

Interviews