Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Krupskaya Interview
by Eric Beasley
When thinking of Stoke-on-Trent, UK, a grindcore band with a
Russian name is the last thing that will come to mind. But trust me, they are
there. I was able to catch up with them via e-mail over the last week and after
a three year hiatus, Krupskaya are looking to pick up where they left off:
Playing fast, writing interesting songs, touring, and Ed laughing at Alex...
First off, could you introduce the band
and it's members? How did you guys form?
Tim - Ok well the current line up for
2013 is Alex - vocals, Tim - guitar, Matt - bass & Ed - drums. Ed is our original drummer and founding
member who quit the band late '08 to work on a shark conservation project in
South Africa and for various reasons is now returning to the UK. Matt has been playing guitar in After The
Last Sky for 15 years, they just split the band up so we got him in on bass
straight away, (he did actually play half a gig with us a few years ago!) he
was also playing bass in a band called Fuck Hate Propaganda with Alex some
years ago. Also Skulda from Sheeva Yoga
and about 9 other bands out in the Czech Rebublic, who was with us on bass for
'09 is still kind of in the band and might do some more touring with us
someday.
As for how we formed, I moved back to
the Stoke area early '05 with 2 other musicians as all we were doing in London
was working and it is expensive to rehearse there, that project folded after
about a month of being up here - nothing was really happening for me at all, I
knew Matt from college in '96 after I left school, After The Last Sky had a
track on the Terrorizer magazine CD. I recognised Matt on the picture so I
looked him up for old times sake. He was doing ATLS and also FHP with Alex
- we met up and jammed with a few other
local guys, one song led to another. We made a power violence band called Kzzch
for a bit and that folded. Alex knew Ed from playing locally and we all just
wanted to play and were a bit tired of flakey musicians, so we got together and
took it from there.
How excited are you guys to be back at
it?
Alex - Looking forward to it, we'll see
when we start practicing, I can't wait for a taunting off Ed, not exactly back
at it yet, i've only seen Tim 3 times in the last 3 years haha.
Matt - Real exited that Krupskaya is
getting back together, and looking forward to playing fast.
Tim - I'm exited to be making some
noise again and be playing my guitar loud, will be nice to jam with these guys
again and the line up this time round is overall, the strongest ever.
Was it beneficial to take a break?
Alex - Not really no, it was for a
little bit but 3 years is a bit excessive, closer to splitting up then taking a
break.
Tim - I agree really, we needed a
little break, financially we were all
broke after a lot of touring in '09 and owed each other money, things were all
over the place. Six months probably
would have been sufficient to rest. We
had a lot of problems, our rehersal space & Alex's studio was wiped out by
a flood while we were away, and due to that and shit going on in peoples lifes
the band just ground to halt by default we never really chose a hiatus or fell
out and split up, just it was impossible to really make anything else happen at
that point.
How has the process of reforming been
for each member?
Alex - Arduos, hard to say, nothing has
really happened, we have all kept in touch with each other as we always did.
Tim - Painful, I have been working in
London for most of the time apart - I did try to get Krupskaya material learnt
and rehearsed with some good players I knew from down there but nothing came of
it, a waste of energy really, we had a few things booked but we had to cancel
which was a real bummer, it became clear to me that if I didn't base myself in
the Stoke area again with Alex around, the band would finish for good - we both
knew if we were still into it something would happen, so it has been a long
road.
December 15th is the day you have
announced Krupskaya are coming back. What's in store for us?
Alex - Death! Some touring, lots of
recording, more song based craziness - I don't know we haven't played a note
yet, we have quite a lot of splits lined up, probably a new album, maybe some
lyrics, maybe not! Musical direction
wise probably a combination of all the releases we have out so far.
Matt - Me hopefully being able to learn
the songs, some world class bass playing.
Tim - Some strong Krupskaya material I
hope, playing some new places and re-visiting some of the cool towns &
cities we made it to before. Ed landing
on a fucking plane in the UK on the 15th as planned!
The band seemed to have moved toward a
more techy approach in later releases. What brought that out in your music?
Alex - Using the technology that was
available to us, writing in the studio as opposed to writing as band, writing
the songs on the drums to make them sound interesting however finding them hard
to learn together and play, it ended up being a lot more straight because we
started using a metronome as opposed to the earlier stuff.
Tim - Just the development of us as a band
and doing a lot of gigs made us more able, we learnt to communicate with each
other in a productive, fun way well fun for us not fun for Ed haha - Alex is a
good engineer with his own studio set up so it meant we had time to work on the
stuff, although as he was involved with each recording in a blow by blow kind
of way I think by the end of each one he had had enough! The metronome really helped pull it together
on the last 12" less punk more metal approach perhaps.
Matt - I was involved in putting out
the early stuff, I was really suprised how quickly things moved on for them and
developed but I loved all of it for different reasons.
It seems like you guys touch on some
pretty dark topics lyrically. What do you think causes people to view the world
this way?
Alex - I dunno why people see the world
that way, for us it was never really about seeing anything in a dark way it was
looking at more obscure historical events.
It was more about being aware of the way our supposed civilised society
treats human beings and for that same society to stop it ever happening
again. It was also a bit about
culpabilty and being responsible for your actions, that was what Clouds Over
Pripyat was about - human beings created nuclear power and as whole race we
should be responsible for the product we create, and if what we create is a
nuclear disaster poisining children for the next 50 years the the human race
should take responsibilty not just the Ukrainian government. We covered a very wide subject matter, the
three tracks on the Teriak Records compilation were more about breaking
programming, the split with Trendy Bastard was more about war or the self
imposed boundaries between nations. We
are all human at the end of it.
Symbisois Through Decay was about environmental issues - sort of. What happens when big industry moves out of
an area - partly. The split with Kill A
Celebrity was loosely based on the Gulags in Russia, it' all very difficult to
explain - mostly going back to what human beings will actually do to each
other. The split with Sandokan was much more on the covert & overt chemical
weapon testing theme.. It's getting to be 4 years ago since any of this stuff
was written so it's hard to remember it all!
Matt - Some people will see the world
like that because of the way it is presented by the media, others who look into
it deeper past that presentation - will see the world at large probably even
darker and more fucked up as they discover corruption, contol etc - it is to
some degree a choice.
Alex - Maybe people see the world that
way because it is, dark and fucked up.
Tim - I couldn't comment too much on
peoples own perception I guess that depends on your past and present life
experience, and geographical location on the planet. As for the bands topics Alex led the way so
his words are the most precise on that, we never dramatised anything with
emotive lyrics or attempted to put ourselves in the shoes of anyone, I'm proud
of the subjects we have covered, it is up to the listener - enjoy the music for
what it is or isn't, or if you are intrigued by the subject matter, type the
song titles into a search engine and perhaps you will find something that
interests you and lead to further thought.
In some ways I think it is also an alternative to punk politics, acab,
witches and wizards, demons, the night, serial killers, hate, murder and some
of the usual topics. Not that there is
anything wrong with any of that stuff, there is just plenty of it.
Do you think music can bring these
issues to the forefront so they can be addressed?
Alex - Music is not a forum to bring
these issues to the front is it? Not if
you want to seriously talk about
something or try and instigate change, it's a difficult one. I think as a band or a musician your songs
are at most a medium for introducing subjects - not a medium for seriously
discussing subjects If people get
involved in stuff because they found out the basic information from a band then
thats cool, but I dont think any band is about serious political activism, if
you want to get into that it's not really going to be through music. You can be introduced to it - as far
as i'm concerned I dont stand on stage sermonizing, I present what we say. We are all responsible enough of our own
lives to take things further if we choose to.
Having said that, through music we have seen and met some inspirational
people, seen some amzaing places and experienced things beyond certainly what I
would have ever considered achievable.
Tim - I agree more or less, serious
political or social activists, who achieve results, resist attempts to be
silenced and dedicate their life to a cause at a local or international level
are rarely active musicians, I cannot see how you would have time to do
both. I grew up feeling inspired mostly
by the bands that had something to say other than songs about girls and
partying, or the common subjects I mentioned earlier, I was interested by
social comment and still am. There is
something to be said for artisic license and a good musician, band or
songwriter may be able to use their talents in a respectful way to throw light
on something they care strongly about, and in turn raise awareness to a larger
audience, but you need to have a larger audience in the first place to do that
and would be risking commercial suicide by touching on anything too
contraversial or provocative, so few bother, and I am sceptical of those that
do, Bono for example. Other than that I
would refer to the point Alex makes.
Matt - It's kind of down to the
individual as to whether they are going to be receptive to what a band is
saying, if a person is interested in what a band has to say it could open a
door to more exploration on the subject.
What bands influenced you to play?
Alex - The reason I ever wanted to be
in a band was because of my VHS copies of
'Another State Of Mind' (social distortion & youth brigade touring)
and 'Decline Of Western Civilisation', before that when I was just into metal
being in a band was something that seemed unattainable but when I heard Minor
Threat, Void, Articles Of Faith, Agnostic Front etc - all those hardcore bands, it became
achievable by yourself. Krupskaya was
the four of us without any agenda at all, four guys into totally different
stuff, what came out came out.
Matt - No specific bands influenced me
to play, I just wanted to be able write my own songs really, a little bit later
on the whole DIY thing inspired me to take it into doing gigs and tours and
doing records and stuff. When i was
13,14 i just wanted to do songs like Carcass, My Dying Bride, Obituary and all
the other bands I was into. I didn't
know there was death metal or black metal or grindcore or whatever, it was all
just metal!
Tim - Iron Maiden changed my ears
totally, probably for the worse haha when I heard that at 11 or 12 years old
and thats why I started playing the guitar.
I was a diehard metalhead as a kid, really into Pantera, Sepultura, Fear
Factory, Slayer, Anthrax, Carcass, Entombed, Napalm Death, I liked the black
metal that bands that were around then, that was pretty exciting for me. I was into some more obscure stuff - Fudge
Tunnel really opened up an alternative world for me and I loved the guitar
playing on that. As for Krupskaya at
that time I was really into death metal and the more metal end of grindcore and
hardcore - Alex as I got to know him, suprised me by saying most of that stuff
was 'too slow' - I thought that what I was into was the pinnacle of speed and
brutality, he played me some fucking awesome records all night a few times
while I sat in his living room chair smoking joints to myself taking it all
in. After that I just wanted to do
something fast by those standards. We
never once name checked bands we wanted to sound like with each other or drew
up a plan, we just wanted to play and started throwing things together.
What have you guys been listening to
lately?
Alex - Gamma Ray, Helloween, Running
Wild, Human Error, Paradox, Death, Proletar, Die Kruzen, Nile, Ackercoke,
Active Minds, Sheeva Yoga, Sete Star Sept, Despise You, Hiatus. Loads of Russian stuff - Turbolax, Bagna,
Iknow, E123, Third World Planet.
Matt - Column of Heaven (Endless
Blockade guys new thing), Swans, Corrupted, Hellnation, Leonard Cohen (first
album) Fubar, Crass, Despise you.
Tim - A general mix of metal, thrash,
death metal & grindcore from across the board, loads of black metal lately,
some hip hop and techno stuff - some artists like Bryan Ferry, Nick Lowe and
Adam Ant plus loads of pop & rock stuff from the 70's and 80's, some prog -
could go on forever, too much!
Top 5 albums of all time for each
member. GO!
Alex
1. Naked City - Grand Guignol
2. Lajko Felix - Vox Naturalis
3. Catharsis - Passion
4. Gamma Ray - No World Order
5. Articles Of Faith - Any/all albums.
Matt
1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
2. Neurosis - Anything really depends
what day it is.
3. Nasum - Human 2.0
4. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern
Sky
5. Crass - Penis Envy
Tim
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Quicksand - Slip
Nas - Illmatic
Ozric Tentalces - Erpland
What is the DIY scene like in England?
Alex - We used to have a good scene in
Stoke but it's kind of died a death.
Matt - When ATLS played in Leeds the
other week it was based on the european model i.e. we got fed, the gig was
great and packed with people, Manchester the other week was really good but it
was more on the metal end of things, but still DIY, there are pockets of very
enthusiastic and well organised people here, but overall not as strong as on
the continent. There is some cool places
in Leeds, Brighton/London and Nottingham.
It would be nice to see more cities available for DIY gigs and touring
bands, there are lots of cool labels and distros here.
Tim - I'm a bit out of touch really, over
the years we have played some good DIY shows in the places Matt mentioned for
sure, also in Sheffield, Leicester, Newcastle, Scotland was always cool,
Dublin, Liverpool and more I can't remember.
There is a network here that is worth checking out and any bands from
abroad getting in touch with for gigs here.
You've played many places outside
England. Which was your favorite?
Alex - All of them, it's not possible
to answer, it wouldn't be fair to have any favourites or to pick one place over
the other because of all the effort people have put in to support us. Playing Borneo was way beyond anything I
could ever imagine.
Tim - Yeh I could not pick one
favourite, I enjoyed different places for different reasons and value them all
equally really. We have played a gig
where only 4 people turned up but those 4 people travelled 150-200km to see us
play and whose attendance made the gig possible - and then we sat together
after, talked and became friends, that is just as awesome an experience for me
as when the gig is packed with crazy people and it is super high energy with
lots of pits and moshing. Touring S.E.
Asia was pretty mind blowing.
Any funny stories?
Alex - We could write a book on it, the
problem is after the event and the beers gone flat it is not always as funny to
recall - it depends how you tell them, if you try and write them down they are
not funny, so we won't!
Tim - Yeh I won't attempt any comedy -
the usual highs and lows of DIY touring
- border guards and their brilliant humour, numerous stories from our revolving
door bass player saga, Alex hurting himself always gave Ed hours of side
splitting laughter, things that were not so funny at the time but looking
back... you name it really!
What was your favorite band you played
with on tour?
Alex - Od Vratot Nadolu, Wojczech,
Idiots Parade, Vocatio Interna, Mumakil, Keitzer, Flesh Disgorged, Nashgul,
Hydro Acid, Hantamrata, Proletar, Human Error
Tim - Along with the above bands -
Daighila, PLF, Infinite Delay, Wormrot, Blood I Bleed, Lycanthropy, To Die
What's the future look like for
Krupskaya?
Matt - Bleak.
Alex - It looks more or less the same
as the past, but in reverse, 1000's of miles playing to hardly anyone, same
shit, another bass player!
Tim - Yeh same shitty clubs and long
drives, no more 3 year breaks, it's till death this time!
Lastly, anything you would like to say?
Alex - Thanks for the interview.
Matt - Yeh, thanks for the interview.
Tim - Thanks for the interest and
support Eric, was cool getting to know you a little with the communication
around this and talking about noise music.
Cheers!
Fake meat & blast beats - Krupskaya
2013
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