- I'll start the conversation not even with the album, but with the last video, in which you, disguised as an old man, lie down on the intensive care table. Wasn't it scary? Aren't you superstitious about that?
- You know, we thought about it. Indeed, there are such beliefs among the actors. But in the video, it's not really me, but “I'm in old age” I lay down on the table. It doesn't count. (Laughs.)
- Musicians sometimes give odds to actors in terms of superstition. Does your band have any routine rituals that you perform before recording or going on stage?
- When I want something for which you are very worried, I turn to the higher powers and ask them. Like all people. But to see where a ray of the sun has fallen or whether a dove has sat down on the window - there are no such signs. I believe that you can prepare for everything, even for the most unexpected things. I am for work, not waiting for how everything will turn out by itself.
- I am now looking at the track list of the new Capture album, which can already be pre-ordered in iTunes, and I understand that this disc is a mystery. So far one track has been signed there - Container. Is it because the album is still maturing?
- He's screwing up - we add vocals to some tracks. Naturally, we already know what the album will consist of. We just want it to be a pleasant surprise for those who go to our concerts. There are songs that everyone has been waiting for from us for a long time. And what - I will not tell! (Laughs.)
- Remembering how energetically you perform at concerts, I was surprised that the last songs you released - Undercover and Container - are slow and lyrical. Are you in a lyrical mood?
- There are a lot of lyrics on Capture and this is definitely the mood. Undercover generally stands apart - it is a lullaby written for the birth of a son. Container sounds much more energetic at concerts. For me, there is a difference between a studio reading of a song and a concert one. At concerts, all our songs sound differently. We are one of those lucky artists who can afford to broadcast their current mood. Thank God, we do not have an image of a group of only funny or only sad songs. We have shown a wide range of moods in our music, and people are very understanding about that.
© Press Service Therr Maitz
- Is the song Capture on the album?
- There is no such song. Capture has many meanings, but the main thing for us is technological. This is a capture of the moment, a snapshot. These compositions capture the moment in which they were made. The process of their formation was almost instantaneous. That's why the album is called that. Container stands a little bit apart, it is the most electronic song on the record. All others are recorded with live drums. At first, I vowed to myself not to make songs with them to make the recording process easier. But in the end, the very first demos that we just sat down to write got into the album. Capture is a very fast and lively recording, which I really like. We haven't done that before.
- English Wikipedia reports that Therr Maitz mixes trip-hop, acid jazz, breakbeat, funk, disco, house and pop. That is, almost all styles of music.
- "Wikipedia" is generally a cool thing! (Laughs.) I could never limit myself to any stylistic framework and never wanted to. I get bored of working in one genre. In Capture it is not as noticeable as in our previous albums. With the record Unicorn, for example, we have been reporting to the listeners for a number of years, so there is assorted. Capture is a more complete product - it is made at the same time and using the same tools.
© Press Service Therr Maitz
- How would you describe the new sound of Therr Maitz?
“It's uncharacteristically acoustic for us. Even Container, despite the techno kick, is based on a jazz groove.
- Is the album completely in English?
- Yes sir. There are no French songs.
- And there are no Russians. After your cover-version of the hit of the group "A-Mega" I assumed that this is a warm-up before something big.
- No, this is not a warm-up. This is a completely separate song. I live in the environment in which I live: there are films around that attract me, and these films have a Russian-speaking audience. "Fly" is a good song, but it is not the work of Therr Maitz, it is a film production product. I love making music for films, but I'm still looking for a movie in Russia that will be interesting from a musical point of view.
- The question "Will you sing in Russian" is probably painful for you? You hear it too often.
- It is painful, because for us it does not dare. Someone might say: rewrite your songs in Russian and you will have stadiums. And it seems to me that something will turn out absolutely tasteless. We need to come up with some new formula. When the formula is born, then songs in Russian will appear. But I don't think it will be Therr Maitz. We'll have to come up with a new brand.
- Therr Maitz had global plans to conquer the overseas market starting in Britain. You played a gig at London's Under The Bridge. How are things going in this direction?
- After the London concert, we agreed on a number of performances. We have already played at European festivals, albeit on small stages so far. It is a slow process that runs into money. Even behind the most honest internet video viral stories, there is an initial push that can't be done for free. There are successes. We are developing. We are well aware that the music we play has a ceiling in Russia. We definitely need to expand our boundaries.
© Press Service Therr Maitz
- Ilya Lagutenko, who made a lot of efforts to develop the European and American markets and translated the songs of Mumiy Troll into English and Chinese, recently said that he doubted that the Russian band should sing in English at all.
- Each time is a very special case. You cannot draw any conclusions based on the experience of one or two artists. When Plazma sang in English, it was one thing. When Tatu is completely different. When Ilya Lagutenko or Therr Maitz sings in English, these are completely different things. We do this because we need to do it. It is necessary to push the boundaries. It is wrong to stigmatize Russian music that it is internal. So now, only our classics will receive the Grammy?
- And what should be Russian music to attract international interest?
- Music should be complete, in itself. Even though I sing in English and my education is rooted in English-speaking music, I don't try to make music “like theirs”. We do it our own way and hope that it will find its listener. It seems to me that the formula should work: do not do like everyone else, do the opposite. It is a mistake to make a song in the format of "Russian Radio" to get on "Russian Radio". It's boring.
© Andrey Efremov
- What is your prediction: in what year will a "non-classical" Russian musician receive a Grammy?
- It seems to me that a couple of years more - and you can start predicting. There is one very important barrier that is difficult to overcome - the school barrier. We are still just learning. Their industry is too advanced to get into it on the fly: he bought a computer and a good compressor and began to fight the entire American recording industry.
- Let's talk about the situation in the Russian industry. You are one of the few musicians whom the country learned about from a vocal TV show and who managed to develop this moment of fame. In other countries, especially in Asia, this is the only way stars are stamped. Why doesn't this mechanism work for us?
- I don't want to criticize the contestants now, but very often talented people who can achieve a lot come to these shows, not understanding why they are going there. They go there for the sake of television, for the moment so that the number of subscribers on Instagram begins to grow. When this growth of subscribers begins, you have to offer people something - some kind of product, yourself. You have to be ready for it. I talked with many guys from these shows. They came to me for advice with the question: "Here I go to the final of the competition, and what should I do?" And it was necessary to do something earlier! I got to Golos with an already existing group and an established concert program. The first event, to which we were invited thanks to the Voice, was formed 15 minutes after the broadcast. And immediately the work began. Nobody hummed into the phone: “We have only three songs,in the meantime, we are looking for a drummer. " First, the musician must have full preparation, and only then go to the TV show.
- There is a strong opinion that more progressive pop music is being made in Ukraine than in Russia. Therefore, in particular, we listen to it willingly. Do you agree with this?
- I do not listen to either Russian pop music or Ukrainian, but in general it looks like that. Their pop music is better - in approach and quality. It's more pleasant to listen to it. It seems to me that Ukrainians are more relaxed in the selection of material. They approach music more freely, speak more boldly about different things - in pop music this is often the most valuable thing. There is a strong stiffness in Russian music. How they overcame it - I don't know.
- What kind of music are you listening to now? What's in your player besides Therr Maitz?
- Therr Maitz is not there - I can't listen to my releases after the release. I listen to a lot of things. There are a lot of performers, and I often do not remember the names. I listen to new artists on Hype Machine, varied playlists on Apple Music, and my favorite albums of all time on Tidal. This is a service with high-quality digital sound, where almost original masters are laid out. In the last 10-15 years, we have been deprived of sound, because everything that squeezes into mpg does not sound as it should. It's great to hear your favorite recordings in studio quality.>