Band Interview: Arctic Dreams
Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life bring you an interview with sympho-industrial-black-death-metal band, Arctic Dreams. Answers from Alexander Alex_Y Järvinen (vocal/guitars/music/lyric) and Igor Sydius Pokatilov (back-vocal/guitar).
1. How did you get started as a band?
Alex_Y: The history of our group begins in 2009. That year I moved to St. Petersburg and met Igor on one of the music forums on the internet. And then it went on and on.
Sydius: Ads on musical forums actually worked this time!
2. How would you describe your sound?
Alex_Y: Low, dark and dense.
Sydius: A mess of otherworldly muttering creatures, sampled by a maniacal interstellar DJ.
3. What bands/artists would you say have influenced your style of music?
Alex_Y: Oh! There are many, many of them. I think a day is not enough to list them all. I would say that our music is classic metal, with a lot of classical music and electronic gothic influences. We get a lot of feedback from the listeners, and everyone compares us to this or that artist or genre, sometimes diametrically opposed. I can say that we like it.
Sydius: Thousands of names all together. Progress is collective work with breakthroughs done by individuals. So I had periods of different bands. It was classic rock with Led Zeppelin, Queen, Beatles. It was metal: Nevermore, Protest the Hero, Strapping Young Lad, Psyopus, Dillinger Escape Plan, Behold the Arctopus. It was jazz, classic and pop. Well you don’t have time to listen to everything.
4. Has the rise of YouTube & music streaming helped or hindered you as a band?
Alex_Y: It’s a double-edged sword… Rather, it helped because we had the opportunity to make ourselves known around the world. But on the other hand the sales of music on physical media went down, which can’t be good, of course.
Sydius: In childhood I spent hours in CD shops, I bought 5-20 new albums every month. I could deal with that stream of information. But internet brings a tsunami that overflows you. And that’s a music-consumer’s paradise. The question is if you control the matrix or it controls you.
Glam_Dickens: I cannot say for sure at the present stage. But this is a new reality and we need to cope with it, to adapt. It may bring both positive and negative consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Ip5YUoEj0
5. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not making music?
Alex_Y: Oh, many things. One of these things is programming. It gives me strength to take my mind off composing music and immerse myself in code to develop some useful things.
Sydius: Thinking on what to improve when I would continue making music.
Glam_Dickens: To walk around the city, meet friends or just chill at home while watching movies.
6.What are your future plans musically? Tours?
Alex_Y: Lots of plans, new album, concerts, tours.
Sydius: I want to make more records.
Links
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
