NEWS
EVENTS
Mumiy Troll interview
Indie | Wednesday 26th September 2012 | Osh
When you think of Russia, what pops to mind? Snow, Nine time zones, Kremlin..Vodka? Mumiy Troll is the top of my list, of course along with the beautiful women.
For all of you that are not aware of this band, they formed in Vladivostok back in 1983 by vocalist and songwriter Ilya Lagutenko, have over 10 award-winning albums, and were the first band played on MTV Russia! Not bad ay?
The Guestlist Network were lucky enough to have a quick catch up with Ilya
Hey Ilya, I see your touring a lot at the moment, where can we find you?
Right now exactly like in our new video for 'love contraband' you can find us in space surrounded by lots of beautiful girls. But you may definitely catch us in the UK this November touring along with a great young british band called Echotape . We will be visiting new unexplored lands which are Norwich, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool (capital of rock:), Brighton and a very familiar place - London. We can't wait for it. All ticket info and venues are on our official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mumiytroll), so do check it out.
You have been together for over 20 years, what do you think has been the key to your success? Has there ever been a moment you have wanted to give up?
I have never thought about giving up, because this is my childhood dream that has become a reality - plus I have to support my family somehow )) We all came from Vladivostok- where Transiberiian Railway meets Pacific Ocean. I guess we were destined for never-ending touring.
What are your core values as a band?
We always play our gigs as our very first gig in life and we never rehearse. so we never really started as a proper band yet))
Out of 8 studio albums, which album are you most proud of? and why?
Book Thieves 2004 - it was actually a soundtrack to the movie our friend did. It was one of those thing when you had to follow the Directors vision for sound and songs, but in the end came out completely like our own thing
Ilya from an early age you became engrossed in studying Chinese, what was it that connected with you?
Vladivostok, which is my home town and the name of our new english album, is only a an hour flight away from china - I wanted to get into business and start earning wages - so with china being literally across the border, there is a lot of business opportunities going in and out between the two places, so I just thought that I would become a Chinese business man dealing with fake leather purses or something like that or become some sort of interpreter.
Who is your greatest musical influence?
Anything from 80s..rock music was not welcomed in Soviet Union so I had to tune to japanese AM radio which you could hear over the ocean to listen to weird mix of British New Romantics and Japanese hard rock
You have two sold out November shows at Surya in London, hows does the British crowd compare to the rest of the world?
In a way it is different, but when we play shows in places like, UK, Mexico or China - the crowd is always fired up listening to our songs, it still amazes me how Mumiy Troll managed to build a new fan base in Greenland or China after playing a gig there and the people knew completely nothing about us and who we are, but we managed to win them over)) - we give out that energy that rocks the crowds minds .
Do you have any rituals before playing a show?
The ritual is not to have any rituals really..otherwise what happened if you forgot your routine
Where did you film the new video "Love Contraband"? .....in Space? Who came up with the idea?
You are pretty much spot on)) The concept came up by our good friend Michael Muller who is not only a great friend and photographer,him and his team are long time Ocean Biodiversity specialists and gurus in underwater filming. He never did music videos but we talked him into it..guess our experiment was successful..he now filming Jay-z))
Thanks for your time, is there anything else you would like to share with the Guestlist Network readers?
Always be positive and happy
UK Tour Dates
09.11.12 — Great Britain, London, Surya.
10.11.12 — Great Britain, London, Suryа.
11.11.12 — Great Britain, Bristol, Louisiana.
13.11.12 — Great Britain, Brighton, Haunt.
14.11.12 — Great Britain, Norwich, Waterfront.
15.11.12 — Great Britain, Liverpool, Mello Mello.
16.11.12 — Great Britain, Birmingham, The Rainbow.
Single ‘Hey Tovarish’ released on 3rd September 2012
Official single video - http://youtu.be/NIyia68SLG4
http://www.mumiytroll.com/en
https://twitter.com/#!/mumiytroll_
http://www.facebook.com/mumiytroll
http://www.youtube.com/mumiytroll007
