A song that made you want to make music?
Alex_Y: In my case it was Metallica’s Black Album
Sydius: Heartbeat
Glam_Dickens: KISS ‘Rock And Roll All Nite
Best rider you’ve had?
Alex_Y: Well it wasn’t with Arctic Dreams, it was with my previous band. We arrived in the city we were provided with transfers for the whole stay, a whole house, food and drinks for the whole stay. And that was not only for the show itself, but also for the next day when we were just sightseeing.”
Sydius: Easy Rider ©
Glam_Dickens: I don’t remember riders. Organizers just hosted us well… but not always.
Craziest moment you’ve had in the band?
Alex_Y: Oh, as I remember, so throws in a shiver. About 15 years ago, we all the group lived in one flat in all the laws of rock’n’roll, ha-ha. There happened all sorts of things.
Sydius: That it still exists. That it releases the first album after 10 years.
Glam_Dickens: “There are a lot of and a lot of them ahead.”
Deepest lyric one of your songs features?
Alex_Y: “It’s going to be The Way To Infinity. It’s really hard for me to put in a nutshell what the lyric is about. This track is about how physical existence doesn’t really matter.
Easiest song you wrote?
Alex_Y: The Arctic Dreams. I wrote it in one day on one of my birthdays. It just came out of the same breath.
Sydius: Bigle and Hooke’s Law. These are my solo pieces I’ve written for my music college exams.
Favourite song in your set?
Alex_Y: You love all your children no matter how many you have, don’t you? I love all of our tracks.
Guest you’d most like to feature on your record?
Alex_Y: Ozzy Osbourne
Sydius: Chris Dave
Glam_Dickens: Anybody. But it’s like the fifth leg for a dog – it doesn’t need it, but if it brings something extra, so why not.
Hardest thing about being in a band?
Alex_Y: The fact that you have to invest a lot at the beginning of your career, and the results show up after a long time.
Sydius: Waiting. For the plane. For the soundcheck. For mixing the track. For the rehearsal… Eternal waiting
Glam_Dickens: To keep on going
Interesting fact about one of your members?
Alex_Y: Sydius used to be a dancer.
Sydius: Our drunk ex-drummer hit his car to the wall. Just like glam-rock celebrities. Except it wasn’t a luxury sport car. And the speed was about 20km/h – but he still couldn’t handle it.
Glam_Dickens: I have the longest tongue.
Jokes you have in the band?
Alex_Y: Hey, Syd. What’s up, bro?
– Hey, man. I’m good, thanks. How you doing?
– Yeah, I’m good, too. That realtor called glam dickens again yesterday, he’s trying to sell him this villa in the Hollywood Hills. You realize what that means, don’t you? He’s gonna be driving drunk at night again!
– Yeah, looks like the guy’s on a slippery slope. I hope he comes to his senses. By the way, I got a call from a design agency last week. They can’t decide on the color of the marble staircase balusters at the main entrance. My wife and I looked, well, it does not match the color of the frame of that painting by Sandro Botticelli. Remember, it hangs there on the second flight…..
– Well, here you are again turned to the profane! We finished the renovation of the main dining room in our castle last month. There were so many design problems there too! This long side corridor, which leads to the jacuzzi, this five-meter gold chandelier, fireplace, which probably takes up half a wall! It was a nightmare! And you know who helped us out in the end? Papa Hat. That’s who’s the expert in this thing! His people literally for a couple of weeks all thought up and drew the design! Without a hitch! Call him, he’ll give you their number, I have it written down somewhere on a piece of paper, but I, as always, lost it somewhere in my many bedrooms.
– Oh, that’s good advice! Thanks a lot, bro. I’ll do that!”
Sydius: “Just look at us. Jokes are excessive.
Key to writing a song?
Alex_Y: Inspiration
Sydius: Sit down and work
Glam_Dickens: I guess there is nothing new about it. I start playing riffs or just practicing, if it is something cool then I try to develop it.
Longest distance you’ve travelled to play a show?
Alex_Y: 1800кm
Sydius: We’ve travelled thousands of kms but still haven’t played that show.
Glam_Dickens: Me personally, about 2,5 – 3thousand km.
Most inspiring musician you’ve experienced?
Alex_Y: Sydius
Sydius: Sometimes getting aware of imperfections everybody have inspires you by giving a hope.
Glam_Dickens: Since being a bassist… Gene Simmons, Cliff Burton, Alex Webster, John Myung. But not only bassists inspire me.
New band you’d recommend?
Alex_Y: “I haven’t listened to any new bands lately.”
Sydius: Jupiter Ensemble, Royal & the Serpent, DimashKudaibergen.
Glam_Dickens: I can not keep in mind their names, I prefer old bands.
Opening for this band would be ideal?
Alex_Y: Metallica
Sydius: Therion
Glam_Dickens: May be or may be not, time will tell.
Place you’d most like to tour?
Alex_Y: USA
Sydius: Up the Mekong following Apocalypse Now route
Glam_Dickens: Over the whole planet.
Quote you’d like to pass on to our readers?
Alex_Y: Stay metal! Be true! Never surrender!
Sydius: A compact 2-dimensional surface without boundaries is topologically homeomorphic to a 2-sphere if every loop can be continuously tightened to a point.
Glam_Dickens: I have not worked my own yet. Let be “Go drinking!”.
Reason for the title of your recent/forthcoming release?
Alex_Y: Well, that’s the title of our sixth track on the album.
Sydius: Fantasy
See us live at?
Alex_Y: Yeah, sure, as soon as you can.
Sydius: Yes, please.
The old days of music were better than the current, do you agree?
Alex_Y: Depends on which old days.
Sydius: Yes, those classical homophonists ruined everything, polyphony was better.
Glam_Dickens: Not quite. They are different may be.
Unusual merchandise?
Alex_Y: A vacuum cleaner with the band’s logo on it.
Sydius: Nuclear submarines.
Variations you’d like to do on any of your songs?
Alex_Y: We wanted to make arrangements for a symphony orchestra.
Sydius: Somebody please hold me from constantly improving old songs with variations!
What do your fans mean to you?
Alex_Y: They mean everything to us.
Sydius: As a person – with love and respect. But I’m completely anti-democratic in art. The less you consider interests of the audience – the purer it gets. Though mass culture is not about art… This contradiction is my problem, I know.
Glam_Dickens: Kind of inspiration to keep on going and smile on my face to see them happy.
X-rays or any treatments needed for band related injuries?
Sydius: Hope not. What I think is necessary to popularize: awareness of voice fragility and inevitability of being flexible with logistics, cancellations, postponing, using vocal soundtracks…
Alex_Y: I agree with Sydius on everything.
You’re late for a show, whose fault is it?
Alex_Y: Well, that could go either way. There can be delays at the state border, there can be canceled flights. It’s not possible to be late because of the group itself.
Sydius: Gravity.
Glam_Dickens: It could be anybody’s but the most responsible is the artist, who’s late, anyway.
Zoo animal that next describes the personality of your band?
Alex_Y: Snow wolf.
Sydius: Let it be a white rhino – to somehow save them from extinction.