Ind: Please start with the latest updates!
Yury: Yep, we're making a new album — a sort of death-thrash rock'n'roll mixture, a brute-n-roll of sorts. I also promote friendly bands from Zelenograd — NOSFERATOS, ex-UGLY BAND. Our guitar player got into studio work, building his own studio, which I also have to promote.
Ind: I take it your story is far from steady — one day you're touring restlessly, the next day you go silent.
Yury: Life flows accordingly! In fact, we got signed to MUSICKNESS russia and expect to be promoted properly. All thanks to Eugene Price.
Ind: For many fans you're a band with no principles, easily changing your music. How would you also comment on your T-shirt being ripped by NOKTURNAL MORTUM members because you turned out to be "black metal traitors"?
Yury: Oh, that must have been some damn good advertising! Any scandal is hidden advertising! Well, if they like ripping shirts, I don't mind — we can arrange a small business supplying them with our T-shirts! Let the kids rejoice. The CIS is full of bums eager to talk and stir up shit.
Ind: What kind of music do you prefer most of all right now? ENTOMBED, I'm sure!
Yury: We're NAPALM DEATH, SLAYER, and METALLICA fans. Yeah, I've been loving NAPALM DEATH since 1988 — I'm deep into their philosophy. Well... I also care a lot for MORTICIAN, THE HAUNTED, CATHEDRAL, DELAMORTE, SIX FEET UNDER, DYING FETUS!!! ATOMIC FIREBALLS, PRESLEY, ARMSTRONG, FITZGERALD, UTESOV, and the number one black metal band — IMMORTAL.
Ind: Did the hot rod ideas work out for you?
Yury: Gods! Devils! I wish I were rich enough to buy a Buick! My father used to have an old "Pobeda" vehicle — a russian hot rod!!! I'm overflowing with ideas, but we're not in the States, and our winters are too cold. I wish I could create a hot rod thrashobilly band (just imagine!). For that I'd need an upright bass player!
Ind: Tell us a few words about Zelenograd and the metal music scene in that moscow-area city.
Yury: I call it Grindograd. The air is delicate and fresh here, blended with good metal traditions. Well, outstanding bands come from here!
Ind: HAVAHOHUT Studios — a new and promising one. How did the studio get started?
Yury: It all started in the early '90s when we were living in Karaganda. At that time we had no equipment at all, but our demos weren't that bad! Navaho's dream is coming true now. My dream was to become a designer, and it's almost come true as well. The key idea is to develop it properly.
Ind: Is it true that you don't tolerate any democracy within your band?
Yury: Every enterprise should have a boss. Our country has no boss, and we're facing the results! If I were running the country, I'd rule in an orderly fashion! No morons — well, I'm not the one in charge.
Ind: Listening to SUBJECT TO DAMAGE, I could hardly recognize World In Eyes, the Depeche Mode cover.
Yury: Yeah, we worked on it a lot. I love covering pop stuff and dream of doing Hit The Road Jack and even BAD BOYS BLUE songs!
Ind: SUBJECT TO DAMAGE looks like a promo CD with no lyrics.
Yury: The official CD is expected pretty soon, with a booklet and four bonus tracks, and will cost 10-15 euros.
Ind: I can't help asking about your lyrics. You use both English and russian. The verses don't rhyme... And sometimes you don't shy away from dirty language.
Yury: Our themes deal with human beings as selfish animals, sketches of the world around us, sudden thoughts, improvisation, irony, and sarcasm. My English is vivid and emotional — I'm not Shakespeare, of course. As a schoolboy I studied German. Afterwards I practiced my English by reading books, magazines, and talking to foreigners.
Ind: Are you having line-up problems? Where is your bass player?
Yury: He left the band for SHADOW HOST, but we've got the previous bass player back.
Ind: Are your best years behind you?
Yury: Nope! I wish my life would never end. I'm dealing with everyday life problems, but that's OK.
Ind: Which local bands do you appreciate?
Yury: T.H.R.O.N. and our side project called MANGLER! Our local bands are quite good... yet they lack a lot of things.
Ind: Tell us about your internet projects.
Yury: That's my personal thing. I run the HAVAHOHUT site, T.H.R.O.N. and MANGLER sites, a russian website about Charlie Chaplin, and some more.
Ind: In 2000 you recorded an EP. Tell us about it and explain why you recorded just 4 tracks.
Yury: We had 7 new tracks, picked 4, and had them recorded. The EP is called "Maybe": In The Jaws of Death, Jedem Der Seine, Maybe, March On. It's a test recording before the full-length — extreme death-n-roll material to kick the bucket! The full-length album will include 12 brute-n-roll songs. "Maybe" might be released as a split or a mini. Some songs have already been reworked — the Havaho bros made them better.
Ind: Don't you think the CIS scene is filled with petty intrigues?
Yury: Absolutely! The only good thing is that the metal underground keeps moving. I also don't consider T.H.R.O.N. an underground band anymore. I love music and hate sticking labels on things. Some folks are addicted to sticking labels!
Ind: Any outlook on the environment?
Yury: Well, let me think. The essence is in devouring your rivals or being devoured yourself. SUBJECT TO DAMAGE deals with such matters. A man is created to destroy and be destroyed.
Ind: The T.H.R.O.N. guitar players look quite exotic, as if they were DEATH ANGEL band members!
Yury: Ha-ha! Nurken's doppelganger is playing in VITAL REMAINS! Yeah, we've got the Navaho Bros, a.k.a. the Great Sui! I personally like North American Indians — great culture, great warriors!
Ind: Favourite food and beverages?
Yury: Ohhh! I crave chicken, shrimps, Pils beer, roast meat, red wine, salads!!!
Ind: Do you incorporate subsidiary elements into grind?
Yury: Well, we're not really into grind anymore. It's more of a death-n-roll or post-grind thing, like the latest PUNGENT STENCH, NAPALM DEATH, CATHEDRAL (another fantastic band, one of my inspirations). We're more into rock'n'roll now — the picking-up-girls philosophy. Just living. Life and death intertwined. A human being is an animal on this planet, yet ready to crack a joke here and there...