Introduce yourself…
Hey, we’re Kids of the Streets from Voskresensk/Russia. It’s 88 km from Moscow and nowadays we are:
Max [BigSkinMax] (it’s me) – on the drums and vocals
Alex – guitars
Max – guitars, back vocals
Steve – bass, back vocals
Only me and Alex are playing in the band since the very beginning.
How did the band start?
Well, all of us had played somewhere else before Kids of the Streets appeared. I remember that one day I was really drunk and started to run (we were drinking in the forest) and sing “Antidote – I don’t care” At that time I was a drummer in a hardcore band and I never thought that I can ever sing. But the guys told me – hey, man, let’s start our own Oi! band? We never wanted to make covers and started with our own material though we were not great musicians, you know. We wanted to play three chords, but let it be our three chords! So, I took someone’s guitar and at the first repetition we already made “We Want the Truth”. It was not Oi! as it is, but we liked it. We’ve never heard such music in Russia and decided that the group is staying forever. But then the drummer left us and on “Under Attack” I became the drummer again.
How did you come up with the name?
That’s the funny question, isn’t it? I mean it’s not really original name for a band playing skinhead&punk music. After our first repetition we decided to drink some beer in the center of our town. It was April, the 12th - Day of Astronautics. We were crazy about what we did that day, but we still couldn’t give the band a name. It was happening like this -
1 bottle – “rebel… punk… skinhead…”, 2nd bottle – “…”, 3-rd one “kids…rebel kids?”…
And the 4th bottle was the main. Kids of the Streets. We thought that the band with such name exists, of course, but it was so good, that we called to one of our old punks, asking him if he knows a band called “Kids of the Streets”. He said – no. And we told him – well, man, now you know it!
Who would you say are your influences?
All of us listen to oldschool punk rock, ska, reggae, blues, soul, etc. But of course there are bands that had great influence on our music. Business, Dropkick Murphys, Perkele, Cock Sparrer, Discipline – I think those bands were the main cause for us to start playing street punk. Everything they sing about was really close to what we thought about this world – and we said “Why can’t I? Yes, I fuckin’ can!” And of course the situation in the country makes us sick and punk rock became the only way to speak loud & proud.
What is the punk scene like in Russia?
It’s different I mean, punk rock scene in Russia appeared in 90-es (if I can call this Punk Rock). The Soviet Union failed and people started to know something more about European Scene – there were tapes and vinyl. I can’t remember that time, but I saw what a monster appeared because of the disinformation about skinheads, punk rock and anything else. People called it Punk Rock, but it never was punk rock. And the whole generation of so-called “shit-punx” appeared. They were everywhere – the only thing they knew about punk was that punk is dirt and you must be dirty. No one played music – people didn’t have future, the country was dying and looked like a fucking zombie. Of course there were some great guys here – and they collected vinyl and tapes and knew more then others. So, they created the first hardcore bands in Russia – Distemper (they are now playing ska-punk) and Unsubs. These are the Dads... So, the real skinheads started to appear here in 2000s. As the new bands and labels. The scene appeared and was forming. It never was just a punk rock scene – everyone was playing for everyone. Nowadays we already have a division and it’s normal when the scene is growing. But punk rock, reggae and ska are always the one thing in Russia. And sometimes – even the same people.
For now we have a lot of really good bands - Bystreet, Battletoads, the Lappers, Mister X, Old Style Values, Zapoy, Klowns, Keine Engel, M-XIV, Rude Reggae Surprise, Brigadir etc. Some of them are skinheads; some of them are punks, SHARP, RASH and anyone else. The only one you can never find here – is a racist. We try not to fight but sometimes SHARP and RASH guys kick each other’s asses... that’s normal, I think. I think that Russian scene can be a good opening for those who want to find some new and fresh good-old punk rock...
The next question is police. The new law about extremism is a fucking decease… You can be called an extremist just for your bad words about your government. It seems to me that our president wants to get back to the roots – to the USSR…fucking Gestapo… So, many our guys are treated like criminals – some of them are in jail some of them are already dead… police and Nazis – are the same shit here. Many policemen are Nazis – especially the whole department of struggle against extremism (the so-called “E-center”).
But the more problems you have – the more strong you become, yeah?..
Describe the song writing process...
Well, I just take my guitar and sing... And then we are trying to find music in it. Then we sit at home and learn the music we created. All the lyrics and most of the music are written by me. We don’t have much time to play together, cuz there’s just one repetition point in the town and our bass player is from Ryazan. He spends 2 hours in the train to get to the repetition...
Your first release was 'Oi! for the Rebels', tell us about the album...
“Oi! for the Rebels” is much more a demo then the album. We just played the music in live and then put vocals on it. We made it in a half year after the band started… It was the first records we made. We wanted to listen to what we do but then decided to release it. It was the first release (500 copies) made by “Mangy Little Mut Rec.” (the first antiracist skinhead label from Moscow) and we’re realy proud of it.
How do feel 'Under Attack' differs?
Two new guys came into the band; I started to play drums… It’s different in everything (And the label changed too – it was “Street Influence Rec. at that time). We started to look at our music in the other way. We also met a guy – Sergey Belenkov – who became our sound producer (in the good meaning of this word). He is a real genius, I say) He gave us advices, showed us how to play and then helped with the records. We started to play better and groovy and liked what we do. New lyrics is more serious, we could afford new instruments and wanted to play “European street punk from Russia”, you know. We thought like that – we will die and the record is forever. It was a real work and we’ve been enjoying it – D.I.Y. but close to professional In Russia it’s really hard to make good records if you are not at the major label. It costs too much... But all of us are working at the factories and warehouses, so we gave all the money to release this album... and never got the money back – cuz in Russia it’s unreal. Well, fuck the money: the album’s good, isn’t it?..
What else have you released?
We also released a short EP “Still Stand” in 2009. There (and only there) you can find the new version of the song “Oi! for the Rebels”. This year we’re gonna let out a 7” EP “Get off!” (2011) in EU (Bruised Knuckles Rec. [Finland], Street Influence Rec. [Russia]). For now the vinyl is in Germany and is ready to be released.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Well, if you mean Russian bands then they are those bands I called upper and of course the popular Russian hardcore band - What We Feel... We also played with Hausvabot (Germany) and were going to play with Tower Blocks (Germany) but the boneheads threw a Molotov cocktail at the doors of the club and the show was cancelled.
Have you toured?
Yeah, only once – a year ago, here in Russia. It was a great tour (not too big, but unforgettable). We visited the Ural Mountains, St. Petersburg and other cities. It’s hard to make a tour living in Russia. Money, money, money… Usually we just go and make one show in the city and then go back home. But this year in November we are going to play several gigs in Europe. (Minsk, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Hamburg, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Moscow). The dates aren’t ready yet, but we are working on it...
Do you prefer small clubs or large venues?
It depends on the public. The good gig – is a gig when everyone is happy and sweaty. So, we like little pubs, full of our best friends, so as large clubs with lots of nice people down the scene. If it’s enough of beer – everything’s cool...
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Probably it’s Bystreet and What We Feel from Moscow, Klowns from Kirov, Keine Engel from Perm and Mister X from Grodno (Belarus). All of them are great bands with mad energy.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
It’s hard to say, cuz we don’t have our own place in Moscow. Every time it’s the new place, because police work hard not to let us to make a show, so we have to make “closed” gigs. But people know about that shows and come to smash everything around us... Several clubs were closed after our shows, and some places just don’t want to get into troubles with police and local government. Fights with Nazis, police, even right-wing bikers had place on our gigs – and sometimes they are really brutal. Though the last show was in Moscow club ‘You2” and people from all over the country came there to see Mister X, Kids of the Streets. Lappers and Zapoy. It was a great gig and we hope that we will make such a show again.
What do you see is the future of Kids of the Streets?
Well, the future of Kids of the Streets is dark and unknown... And seriously, I’ve already told about our next EP and the Euro-tour this year. I think that we’ll release our next studio album in spring 2012. And to that time, I hope, we’ll be ready for a video-clip. In Russia it’s not the popular idea, but who cares about popular ideas? I think that each band must have a video and we won’t be an exception. To tell the truth, we just wanna play music and be fucking happy, New albums, new shows, traveling, new people, “shaking thousand hands” – that’s what we need like a band. As citizens we have our own opinion on everything and try to fight the stupidity and cruelty of the system. A man – is just a man, but the crew is unstoppable. We just want to be skinheads, punx and tough guys, so fuck what police, people in the streets and Putin think about that.
How can people contact the band?
Oh, it’s quite simple) I became an internet worm recently – just to keep people updated about the band.
http://vkontakte.ru/club6717444
http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Kids+Of+The+Streets
http://www.myspace.com/bigskinmax
kidsofthestreets@mail.ru
0 comments:
Post a Comment