QUICKIE OF THE WEEK

QUICKIE OF THE WEEK: A short interview with Ilya Volchansky (Giant Waves | Karluv Tyn)

Pix666: Hello Ilya. The most important question right at the beginning. Are you well and are you healthy?

Ilya: Thanx for asking, well yeah))) Strange times indeed) Funny thing, in the beginning of May we were shooting our video almost in front of our drummer’s house, and there was the police, and they like, hey what are you doing? And we started running))) Gosh, not the best idea)))

Pix 666: You had a fantastic performance with Giant Waves at last year’s Dark Spring Festival in Berlin/Germany. How much do you miss being on stage these days?

Ilya: Oh boy, I do miss it a lot. We are not so studio oriented musicians, we are about to play shows, meet new people and have a good time. So yeah…this isolation sucks.

Pix666: Your project Karlův Týn is still relatively unknown in Germany. When was the band founded and what is the main difference to the music of Giant Waves?

Ilya: Well, the lineup is a bit different. Then, we always loved synth-pop and coldwave and we are grown up on post-punk bands, so we wanted to experiment a bit. And of course we sing in our native Russian language, that’s the main thing I guess. And we call it cold-pop, so Karluv Tyn is something like that) Before Giant Waves (our main band) we had The Imaginary Stigma, and it was a goth-rock style. So the main difference is that KT is more synth oriented and GW are more goth and post punk tunes)

Pix666: So you sing in Russian. I find it quite interesting to sing in your native language. Do you plan to present the songs live abroad, for example in Germany?

Ilya: I think so, we played a song from Karluv Tyn on Dark Spring, and well, here’s the main thing, couple of years ago Giant Waves took part in first national Jagermeister indie awards. We were in top 10, but the journalists said it is the copy of the copy…second-hand band that sings in English) I do love English, I teach kids English, so that’s very natural to me) but we thought then, why not to start a project in Russian though)))

Pix666: Karlův Týn is also the name of a Gothic castle in the Czech Republic. Did you name the project after this castle, or does the band name have another meaning?

Ilya: Yes, that’s true. That was my main inspiration.

Pix666: Recently you have published the video ‚Укусил Сугроб‘. Will there be a streaming concert in the future, and if so, where can the fans watch it?

Ilya: We are not so welcomed in top fests yet, so we decided to bring the light to every house ourselves haha)) The album was released on Young and Cold Records in the heat of lockdown. Every venue is closed and the internet was not that stable back then. So we recorded a live set in the studio. Remember I mentioned the police? It was that day))) And we had an idea like let’s ask our friends to send their videos dancing to this song «Укусил Сугроб». You may find it on our youtube channel, and also the live streaming of our set will be here – https://www.facebook.com/events/2796988523760108/ and here – https://www.facebook.com/giantwavesband/ and also here – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHttVg1iD4qUwNIUtmX4TPw

Pix666: How are your friends and families? How do you stay in touch with them, what kind of technics do you use?

Ilya: Thanx for asking, everybody is fine, we all get in touch via phones, whatsapp and so on)) my grandma by the way is an active user of skype haha)))

Pix666: You are from Russia – what is the general mood in the country?

Ilya: I think it is the same as in the other parts of the world. Everybody is a bit nervous so to say)) We didn’t even expect that almost a year ago some words that I wrote for Karluv Tyn album «We want to know when will it end, when the world will be deenergized, push the pause button please, we need an intermission» would sound so apocalyptic)) so now I guess we are an apocalyptic-pop band)

Pix666: Do you believe that the corona-crisis will change the behaviour of humanity in the future?

Ilya: I think our culture is focused on the consumer society. And to me, such kind of behavior is the key to all current problems.

Pix666: What things, apart from being live on stage, do you miss the most at the moment?

Ilya: I miss walking freely, going to my favorite bars, movies and shows) It’s summer already, and our city Volgograd is spread along the Volga- river. So I love this season here, but we are still limited in our movements unfortunately.

Pix 666: Do you have any other news about your music projects that you would like to share with the fans?

Ilya: Giant Waves is our priority at the moment. We’ve recorded a cover of well known French coldwave band Little Nemo – Love is a lie. It is released in several compilations and mix tapes around the world. Soon we’re going to release a single, and later an album. We’ll try to mix Karluv Tyn sound, old-school EBM and of course goth-rock and post-punk. Despite all the bad news, we are very excited and full of hopes.

Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting insights into your present life – Stay healthy!

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