URATSAKIDOGI

URATSAKIDOGI

The legends of pazor-metal [pazor - a word derived from the combination of English 'razor' and Russian 'pozor' - shame] from Moscow.


'Uratsakidogi is a state of comprehension of different circumstances in life, projected onto what other people call 'music'' – Egor Gogenator - the leader of the band responds laconically to a question about the band's name.

But dear Sir, what does the word actually mean?

Bazin: Egor, admit it, it is just your pornographic pseudonym...

E: (Raising his eyebrows) Be quiet, thou base fool! In reality, it comes from a Hentai animated series which feature a lot of sex, blood and gore. In 1997 we got together for the first time (we still played grind-core back then) and immediately rejected the standard names, such as Cadaveric Interactive Sexism or Tuapism, in favour of this particular phrase. In fact, I was in a real hurry when noting down this expression, so the final version was a slightly twisted form of the original.

For what purpose do you perform music?

E: Our basist used to provide the following response to these sort of questions: 'To f*ck everybody in the ass!'. But in our case, we do it because we enjoy it.

B: When we play our music, we don't feel like it's our job. It's just something we love doing.

E: It's an indispensible part of life, like eating or sleeping. I read some controversial speculation with regards to the number of albums you have recorded…

E: There is nothing controversial about it, we already have five. Only the last two were officially released though.

How do you feel about the current g-rock scene? Have a bash at some of them...

E: I am deeply distressed by the young rock bands that try to play like someone else. It feels as though they have no ideas of their own. In one word, copycats. Although I guess that it had always been this way. One or two bright new bands pop up with some fresh ideas and an original sound, win the love of thousands of people and, inevitably, spawn a whole host of identical-sounding bands. Some are better, some are worse, but each one sounds like someone else. It seems to be a rather worrying tendency, than an unfortunate exception. It would be daft to single someone out in this case. You don’t even have enough pages for my “black list” (ha-ha!) Anyway, those who know the subject will get what I’m saying.

Can you give your evaluation of your last album, “Koroleffskiy”?

E: It wasn’t at all bad for it’s time (2001), but at the moment we need something more challenging. We will start recording the tunes for our next album in the near future, everything is already in position for that.

B: Since I took no part in the making of that album, my judgement will be made from an outside perspective. To me the general concept seems interesting, but it’s execution lacks quality. As a drummer I maintain that the drums used in “Koroleffkiy” are more suited for bands that play less emotional music.

E: Yes, I agree, it would be more appropriate in bands that have a cold, hard musical style, something industrial for instance. By the way, the drum set we used in this record was identical to the one used by the dinosaurs of British industrial, Godflesh.

B: Stop showing off, Egor!

E: I can, a little bit. People like it if you show off a little bit (giggles).
 

How can we make our alternative artists come out from the underground and started playing for the “general public”?

E: I don’t think we need to.

B: No, we do. And there is a way: we have to booby-trap the stage for performers like Leontiev, Pugacheva, Gazmanov… [glamorous Russian popstars and divas, ed.] Especially Gazmanov. To be serious, though, we have to understand that musical taste and cultural perception needs to be honed and cultivated over many generations. And if we take into consideration the fact that Russia only became a sensible country within the last 15 years, then it is obvious that all we can do is look forward to the better times.

E: And continue doing what we do. I’d like to think that we as a band bring a kind of educational aspect in to the masses, in terms of music, creativity and art in general (ha-ha!). So the Iron Monkey song will endow you with a better taste in music, my friends! (giggling)

Why do we have only 2 musical TV channels, while in England there are numerous ones just for the “rock”?

B: Because here nobody cares. There is no demand for it.

E: In my opinion, since over half the population is hovering just above the survival threshold, people have more important things on their minds.

Then how can “underground” even exist in a state whose sole purpose is to survive?

B: If you look at Moscow or Petersburg, they have about the same quality of life as any average European city. If you look beyond them, it’s absolute death.

E: Well, not exactly absolute. Everywhere there are people who refuse to swallow all the bullshit that the puppets of show business are feeding them, and instead search for alternative routes of musical development. But in terms of access to music and necessary information, they certainly got it hard over there.

E: And now ask me what made the biggest impression on me today?

What made the biggest impression on you today?

(With a surprised expression) The strongest impression? (laughs) Well, today as I was exiting a local supermarket, I saw a mother telling off her kid: “You don’t even know what you want! You already have seven guns!” But he just carried on wailing and crying his eyes out. What is he crying for? It reminds me of some alternative bands – always in tears for no apparent reason and dreaming of being depressed to death. Which is incidentally the most idiotic kind of death. I hate it when people feel sorry for themselves. It’s a jungle out there, if you show any weakness, they’ll eat you alive straight away. So let’s be like poisonous hedgehogs: prickly but fun! It’s better to poke fun at the ugly side of life than to sulk and complain about all the shit and injustice in the world.

Text and picture by Uratsakidogi

Translated by Rotten Beat, 2009