Fawkes: To start with, a small provocation. Why does your song "Return of the King" remind me so strongly of a certain well-known song by a very well-known band? I'm thinking of "Mirror, Mirror" by BLIND GUARDIAN.
Pavel Okunev: You know, I've come across the opinion that "Return of the King" is similar to "Mirror, Mirror," but I really don't see any similarity there at all (laughs). Neither harmonically nor melodically. Probably it's just the shared theme — that kind of melodic medieval vibe. That's all. Well, or the spirit of it, since BLIND GUARDIAN sing about the same things after all. And besides — if it is similar, that's great!!! It would be an honor for us to be compared to BLIND GUARDIAN!!! (laughs) I'm joking, of course...
F.: OK. Your album "About Wanderings Eternal and About the Earth" came out almost simultaneously with the third part of "The Lord of the Rings." Didn't some rich man with thick wallets come and say: "Guys, let us use your song in the advertising campaign, and everything will be great"?
P.O.: No, nobody came. Maybe because we didn't seek it out — it seems to me that if we had wanted it, the answer would certainly have been positive. Actually, "About Wanderings..." was supposed to come out a year earlier — there were problems with mastering, sound production, various financial complications — so it's pure coincidence that the album with the song "Return of the King" appeared right before the film's release. Although if everything had worked out the way you described, it would have been great. After all, what's wrong with a man with a thick wallet telling me: "Let's use your song"? He's done nothing wrong — he wouldn't own me in the process. My song would simply be heard by more people...
F.: That would be cool — you turn on the TV, and there's an ARDA song...
P.O.: Yeah, we're actually working in that direction. We're learning to make friends with TV, so to speak. We've just finished recording a theme song for a racing team. I don't remember exactly what it's called — I think "Art-Line Engineering." It's the Formula russia or Formula Lada championship... Basically, we're writing a theme song and all the music for them, and it will all be on TV — when there are races, ARDA's music will constantly be playing, and in the promos the theme song will be blasting.
F.: So you've decided to go after QUEEN's laurels?
P.O.: Yes. Actually, a man with a thick wallet came to us and said: "We sponsor racers! We really like the QUEEN song 'We Are The Champions'" — by the way, they said it directly — "and we want a theme song just like that!" (laughs) We said: "All right!!!"
F.: I know you were planning to get on MTV with the song "There Is Nobody." Did it work out?
P.O.: Well, you know, we didn't really expect to get on MTV. There were people who wanted to help, but it's still in progress. Moreover, I'm not even sure it will be "There Is Nobody" anymore, although from a certain point of view, that would be the right choice. But for now, I don't know. We also thought about Nashe Radio, but there too everything is still at the "yes-no" stage, because you can't just walk in with a tape or a disc and say: "Listen to us! We're so great!" You'd go straight in the trash. All this is handled at the top, and we're waiting to hear what they say "up there"... Basically, not that much time has passed. If a year had gone by since the album's release, we'd have to admit that nothing worked out. But for now, you could say we're working on it...
F.: Got it. On the album, you have a song called "Fly Away" in English. I read in one interview that you first write all the lyrics in English and then translate them into russian. Is that true?
P.O.: That must have been a mistake on the interviewer's part. Sometimes the initial sketch is composed in English — when someone plays something at rehearsal, I find it much easier to sing something in English than in russian off the top of my head. If we said that we first write all the lyrics in English and then translate them into russian, it would sound strange at the very least — after all, we live in russia. So all the final lyrics are conceived and written in russian from beginning to end. And this process, believe me, takes more than two minutes...
F.: And have you considered recording an album in two versions: in russian and in English?
P.O.: We thought about it from the very beginning. It's just that it costs a lot of money — roughly twice as much as when we simply record an album. Recording the vocals and vocal arrangements alone took up half the time we spent in the studio. If all the lyrics had to be redone in another language, we wouldn't have stayed within budget. Although we still get offers to translate "There Is Nobody" into English, we'd rather not — it's much more interesting to record new songs than to translate what already exists...
F.: So, since we're talking about new material, how are things moving along?
P.O.: Right now we're preparing a promo with demo versions of new songs that we'll send out to labels. Whichever label agrees to work with us, we'll take it from there...
F.: So you're no longer working with CD-Maximum?
P.O.: CD-Maximum has the priority right to listen to our promo. If they offer us conditions we can't agree with, we have every right to leave. There's even a clause like that in the contract: "Priority right of the label"...
F.: CD-Maximum is now signing a lot of new bands. Have you ever felt that ARDA was being deprived of attention?
P.O.: No. I actually start getting a little nervous from the increased attention from their side sometimes, though it's also flattering...
F.: By the way, did your album come out only as a digipak, or was part of the run released in a regular jewel case?
P.O.: Only as a digipak. And all subsequent pressings were also digipaks, because I think the one-dollar price difference isn't worth ruining the album's design. The musical concept and the art concept are closely connected in our work, so we wouldn't want to turn "About Wanderings..." into a regular plastic box. We might lose some people who can't bring themselves to spend the extra money, but it's unlikely...
F.: I see. You've said that the main reason for leaving EPIDEMIA was the inability to realize certain ideas. What ideas?
P.O.: Well, in EPIDEMIA there were ideas of one person, and here these are my ideas. It's not that important that we play the same style. EPIDEMIA is a one-man band — Yura Melisov's band. I simply didn't fit into that setup, because in such a situation things work like this: there's an album, and if you're the leader and you've composed all the songs, you want all of them released on a disc. And when other musicians bring in something, that's where it gets negotiable. In our situation, I make all the decisions. I'm that independent — I want to realize my own ideas. I'm on my own...
F.: Nevertheless, at concerts you perform some EPIDEMIA songs...
P.O.: No, we don't have any EPIDEMIA songs in our set. However, we're on great terms with the band, and if someone from EPIDEMIA (usually Yura Melisov) joins us on stage, then we play his songs. But never otherwise.
F.: Some musicians from the provinces speak rather unfavorably about the moscow scene. They claim that moscow musicians earn thousands of dollars at their day jobs, can't break free, can't promote themselves, etc. Can you tell us what the real situation is?
P.O.: Oh, that sounds suspicious somehow... Well, all right. First of all, for example, what's the point of going on tour at your own expense? What do we have a gradually developing music business for? What are labels and promotion agencies for? Exactly for that — they should be the ones doing it. That said, you can use your own money for some local advertising — like plastering stickers with your band name all over moscow. Whatever you might think, it works. So maybe there's a grain of truth to it. But as for those who don't want to try... I can't speak for everyone.
F.: Describe the moscow scene in three words...
P.O.: Well, we have a huge number of bands that matter only to themselves and a handful of friends who come to their shows. Some call them pioneers, or whatever. The interesting thing is, among them there are actually quite good bands with good musicians, but due to various circumstances — usually personal ones — nobody cares about them. Then there's a small number of mid-level bands that fill clubs more or less well and sell decently. And then there are one or two megastars. That's it. And it's just as impossible to break from the bottom level into the middle as it is to break from the middle to the top.
F.: Starting from the moment you first got into music and up to today, how have your sources of inspiration changed — if they have changed at all?
P.O.: Basically, nothing has changed. I still draw inspiration from what surrounds me: books, personal experiences, which in one form or another get transformed into music...
F.: By the way, there was a rumor that everyone in ARDA had gotten into nu-metal and started playing stuff like KORN, SLIPKNOT...
P.O.: Total nonsense! We listen to EVERYTHING!!! I don't even understand what power metal is, to be honest. It's true that our music resembles it a bit (a bit! — F.), but in our band, literally NOBODY listens to power metal! The style itself isn't interesting to us. Yes, I listen to the foundational bands that "created" power: HELLOWEEN, BLIND GUARDIAN, GAMMA RAY — the ones I grew up on! — but all the current stuff... I put on a CD, listen to two tracks, and it becomes uninteresting, boring, and I want to fall asleep.
F.: On your album there's an electronic composition, "In Emptiness." Can we expect more of such influences in the future?
P.O.: Yes. We won't overdo it, but we really enjoy tinkering with electronics. Without it, our music would be much more boring. You could say that on the russian scene, besides us, there are practically no bands that play the same kind of fast, melodic metal with electronic elements.
F.: We're all human: sometimes we're angry, sometimes it's the opposite. In what mood would you not sit down to write a song for ARDA?
P.O.: I wouldn't sit down to write a song for ARDA if I had no mood at all. I know a huge number of people who write music just for the sake of writing. They literally tell themselves: "I'm going to sit down and write a song..." I can't do that.
F.: Will the next album also have Tolkien-inspired material?
P.O.: So far we don't have any lyrics connected with Tolkien in any way. There are some fantasy-themed verses, but they relate more to other writers' works. There will even be one text from "The Black Book of Arda"...
F.: At one point, you were very into Tolkien, right?
P.O.: Yes, but that was about four years ago. As for the Tolkienist movement, I always viewed it negatively and never considered myself a Tolkienist. While reading Tolkien's books, I could never identify with someone running around in Neskuchny Sad brandishing a wooden sword.
F.: If you had a chance to appear in "The Lord of the Rings," what role would you rather play: Gandalf or an orc?
P.O.: I would play Legolas — so the girls would like me...
ARDA's "About Wanderings Eternal and About the Earth" review you can read here.