Good day! How are you guys doing these days?
Would be much better without the war and the russians that do it, thanks. Because, one moment you may be working music-related stuff, then a russian missile destined for a country-wide hospital full of cancer kids flies over your house and gets shot down over your house, falls on another house a mile away, and in an hour you don’t do music, you spend a nice evening helping to sort through the wreckage, and also wondering which is worse – the hospital full of cancer kids, or the neighboring house. Then, the UN reacts to that, by hosting an inhouse party where "chicken à la Kyiv” is the main dish. Completely true story, 8 July 2024.
First of all, please introduce ARCHSIN and band members to our readers.
Alexander "Alex" Nemish, guitar performer idea generator
Andrew "Rut" Yakovenko, bass peformer, chief mathematician
Igor "CacoDemon" Grabin, drums performer, major execution force
Dmitry "Caesar" Kravchenko, keyboard player, master of disappearances
I would like to know about the formation of the band. How did you guys meet and all? Also, is there any special story behind the band title?
Alex and Rut were colleagues, that's where their insanity became mutual, and their bro-mance conceived a concept "Let's do a full music journey. Since we're thinking metal, there has to be something dark. Why not Kubler-Ross?". Demon and Caesar joined after having disbanded their previous band for being too formulaic. There's another bromance story in this, as there was a girl between Rut and Demon, but it turned out that making music is much better than doing a soap opera.
The band title was generated by the biggest 33% of our fan-club - the guitarist's wife. Given the pitch "math inspired metal band name with something a bit off", she answered almost immediately.
Can you please tell us about the band’s concept?
We believe in music that tells a story even if it has no lyrics. Also, even though we often deviate from simple forms or time signatures, we don't consider complexity a virtue and put music and its flow first.
Is there any special reason for choosing your music conception?
We erroneously assumed we were going to compose death metal when we started, so we though it would be neat to compose it about death itself.
How do you guys manage to create music at all? What challenges do you face while writing and recording an album?
FUCK! FUCKING FUCK! THE MOTHER OF ALL FUCKS! Demon speaking here. Being completely in awe of founding members' musical talent, I wanna fucking chase them with an old rusty axe of hate. Or broken scissors. Chainsaw will also do. Perfectionist talented musicians are a fucking nightmare to work with. Painting the sky by hand with your favorite hue of blue is much easier than making a talented musician output anything more defined than a beautiful idea. Nuff said...
They bleed ideas from every orifice and just leave them be. So, the act of conceiving the music is simple, it just flows en masse from the talented guys. But, completing stuff is another beast. It takes dedication, persistence, blackmail and deceit. I also officially refuse to exclude bodily harm from the list.
On Death and Dying was released on November 8th. How was the experience working in the studio? Were there any funny or even sad happenings during the studio work?
Slow, Deep, Hard and Painful. Based on studio pacing, this should've been a TRVE funeral doom record. Ten fucking years of perfectionist hell iterations. And, it's still not perfect, one of the songs was not distilled enough and has stratified. But, war changes things and enforces plans. Either we release what we have, or there may be noone left to push the release.
Can you shed some light on your past as musicians?
Alex and Rut have tons of classical training, but no past with the metal scene. Ceasar is a classically trained pianist, and has previously been in a metal band with Demon. Demon is completely untrained, but with rich history with a local underground scene.
Tell us about your favorite bands from whom you gain inspiration. Do you have any favorite artists/bands that have emerged from the metal/rock scene?
We can be talking through another whole interview, dedicated only to the bands that influenced us. But, just to name a few - Esbjorn Svensson Trio, Opeth, Abba, Machine Head. Can't get Kandia off my mind.
How is the music scene going in Ukraine?
Definitely not a good scene for long-term plans and wide touring. War changes things. Russians target large civilian gatherings, so, a lot of music tends to go underground, literally. Your venue plans go as far as the venue’s certified bomb shelter.
Are you working on any music videos, whether it be a video clip or a lyric video?
You nailed it - we're working on a lyric video. Although what we play is instrumental, we tend to describe it as songs with vocal lines having all imperfections removed. That doesn't contradict the idea of having a lyric video 😉
Rapid-fire section. Just for fun. So just chill and type the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear:
Rut
Religion - We're touched by his noodly appendage. R'amen.
Death - metal
USA - Escalation fright
Drugs - Psychedelics aren't drugs
Archsin - I hate musicians
Demon
Religion - come join my totalitarian cult, The Order of Witnesses for Immaculate Conception
Death - it's a pity I was too young to witness Chuck alive
USA – is an indecisive mess
Drugs – don’t like me
Archsin - a stuck turd cometh into the world
Thanks a lot for your time! It's really nice to know more about you. Would you like to say anything to your fans and our readers?
We’ll do music as long we’re breathing. That may not be too long, that’s why we’ve releasing this album a couple of iterations too early.
Brace, because we’re living some years ahead of the civilized world, and the future isn’t pretty. Old idealistic world, with no borders, happy people and cheap travel is over. We’ve been too happy for too long, now there’s russia, and UN doesn’t do shit. Red Cross is only good for denying birth control to rape victims. Amnesty International does victim shaming. International Court is nothing more than a fancy name. The world is generally back to 19th century, but with stronger weapons.
Live with it ;-). Cheers!