written by Marko Jakob | 01.02.2022 |
Pix666: Hello Olga, hey Vitalii. Thanks for your time. How are you doing these days?
Olga: Good enough, thanks.
Vitalii: Everything is fine, thanks. We continue writing new songs, developing in creativity and improving our skills in music.
Pix666: Right at the beginning of the Corona Pandemic, you founded your band Var Var in spring 2020. Please introduce the band to the readers in a few short sentences.
Olga: Initually, our music was inspired by contemporary metalcore bands and my nostalgia of the alternative music of 2000s
Vitalii: Our group is an interesting combination of heavy music and beautiful lyrical female vocals with some elements of extreme vocals.
Pix666: What was the reason for you to become musicians? Were there other projects or bands you were involved in before Var Var was founded?
Olga: Somehow as a teenager I decided that I was able to write songs. So I started doing it. Then I had numerous attempts to set up or join a local band but most of them were failure or not very successful. With Var Var I’ve changed my strategy and founded so-called ‘desktop metal’ project. Now it’s my greatest success.
Vitalii: I have been keen on music since I started to play the guitar (I was 7 y.o.). When I was 15, I started learning how to play electric guitar and 2 years later I was involved in my first band called Insanity, but we didn’t release anything. We only took part in some our local gigs. But I wanted to write and release songs for people, so luckily, I met Olga and she wanted the same.
Pix666: At the end of 2021 your debut album/EP ‚I am a witch‘ was released. How difficult was the way to this album, especially in view of the Covid restrictions?
Olga: It was pretty hard but the Covid restrictions didn’t influence much because in Russia, actually, you can barely notice that the world is currently in pandemic mode. In everyday life you just need sometimes show your QR-code proving that you are vaccinated to visit a restaurant, for example, and sometimes you can be asked to put on a mask. There are some obstacles for bands who are touring but almost no barriers for studio work.
Vitalii: We were mostly challenged by our laziness and lack of time.
Pix666: Where can people listen to or buy your songs?
Olga: Any streaming service, like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music, etc.
Vitalii: I guess you can buy our music in Itunes but we don’t charge anything and you can listen to our songs for free. I think we need a producer who will teach us how to earn money with our music.
Pix666: How exactly do you create your songs and what are the songs about?
Olga: To write lyrics, I need to imagine some story or character, I have different images in my mind, then I pick some words and phrases to describe them. And after I’ve made up a list of such expressions I start rhymimg them.
Vitalii: One of us creates the basic harmony and the main melody of a future song. Then we both try to arrange it and make it sound more interesting.
Pix666: How do you see the future of Var Var – do you plan to perform live and tour soon?
Olga: Yes, someday but now we don’t have any shows ahead.
Vitalii: Of course, we believe in a happy future for our band and hope that we will gain enough audience to have someone to tour somewhere and perform live for.
Pix666: What do you do to raise the popularity of your band?
Olga: Mostly targeted advertisement, and sharing our music in different communities.
Vitalii: And encouriging our subscribers on social media to share.
Pix666: Exactly one year ago you released the cover version of the Evanescence hit ‚Everybody’s Fool‘. How were the fans‘ reactions to this version of yours? Are you planning more cover songs for the future?
Olga: Mostly positive. There were only a few nasty comments from Evanescence’s die-hard fans, I think they just cannot accept any variations of their favourite songs.
Vitalii: For now we don’t have exact ideas for new cover songs but we have discussed that it is possible and even picked some songs to be covered.
Pix666: What about the work on new songs, do you already have plans for the next album?
Olga: Yes. I had a very damaging relationship and would like to describe that emotional experience. We’ve already made 6 new demos.
Vitalii: I’m really looking forward to our new releases. I like our new music ideas even more than any song from ‘I am a witch’. I think I’ll be a level-up for us.
Pix666: What do you do when you’re not dealing with music – do you have any interesting hobbies?
Olga: Work at my day job. I’m kidding. I like my job as a university professor, so I have to read a lot, do researches, prepare for classes and it’s also a very creative type of activity. Actually, music is my interesting hobby for now.
Vitalii: My main hobby is guitar! I really love it! I can get distracted from everything when I play the guitar, I can play the guitar for hours and don’t notice it, I can accidentally come up with a cool solo (that’s how I came up with ‘Bloodlust’)… When I play the guitar I’m in my own world and only the sound of the instrument can reflect what is inside of me at that moment… Sometimes, I come up with my own instrumental songs, but there’re at the stage of ideas.
Pix666: Do you have any other news, that you would like to share with the fans?
Olga: Not really. We’ve taken a new photo shoot recently. Hope, you’ll like it.
Vitalii: Nothing special. My life is all about music.
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – Good luck for the future and stay healthy!!!
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photos © by Elena Kulichkova
