«Trolls On Guitar Bridges» — Smashed Chair
Trolls On Guitar Bridges
Russian Rock luminaries Mumiy Troll are the stuff of fables.
Imagine that, Ilia Lagutenko, lead singer of Mumiy Troll took the time to answers a few Qs through the old email. Hailing from Vladivostok, Russia, Mumiy Troll formed towards the tail end of the Soviet Union and the guys in the band were arrested a few times for doing the whole rock n` roll thing. Over the years Ilia, Zvidionny, Pungin and Tsaler (I had to list all of their surnames) have traversed a wide geography in their music – their discography goes from spacey Sgt. Peppers styling to dance/electro to their newer stuff that reminds of The Killers. (Answers required a bit of cleaning up, but the word order was kept in tact to keep that Russian/Rock Star character alive in the interview.)
What`s the main difference between the fans in Scandinavia and the fans say in Los Angelesor New York?
More blondes in Baltic states and Scandinavia, however more expensive boots in NYC. Our tour manager was shocked by the amount of thousand dollars high heel boots at our last gig in NYC. Glad it does not make sense for LA- we`re small dudes really.
Music is illegally downloaded all over the world, does that mean that it becomes cheap or does that make it more precious? Your band put your last album up on your website, so you must feel strongly in that topic.
I`ve never been in Metallica situation to complain about illegal downloads, for decades we never had any legal music sales in our country at all…so only way to survive was to believe in yourself and try to survive by playing live for years and years. We were happy that our music helped some people in Russia to build their multi-billion fortunes! However for last couple of years music scene in Russia became so R-N-B oriented and look what happened…financial bloody crisis! I really think Rock music is going to last forever, but sometimes feel myself as Last of Tyrannosaurus going for Fatal Crusade.
What did you learn when you served in the army?
Never to fail you comrade. Respect every single person despite his rank. 100% DIY is essential if you need something. Need water — go and dig the well. Need a radio to talk — built it yourself. Need a holiday — shoot the enemy — ha ha ha!
Do children in today`s society take the freedom to play music for granted? I know you were arrested when you first started playing music.
It is now soooo strange to remember those times back in Soviet Union — our childish rock band games were considered very “rotten■ ideologically. And we only wanted to make noise on electric guitars and strike poses to impress friends. Now when I see my friends` children playing Rock Hero or whatever that computer game is called I feel a bit envious…they can get all those things I dreamed about with no hassle at all — But the fact that some of them starting to learn to play real guitars trying to copy riffs from my songs definitely makes me proud.
Have you met Bono? Everyone has to meet Bono at least once in their life.
Ha ha! Actually I saw him few years ago from a distance cruisingthrough St. Tropez with MichaelStipe and entourage of something like hundred people, as I met Michael briefly before and for a second was hesitating whether I should shout “Hey Mike! Remember me from Russia, who is that dude wearing sunglasses in the night? Can you introduce him to me…but then realized this (stopping hundred marching boys and girls) might create a bit of traffic on South of France.
What was the last day job you had?
1995. I ran the office for one of the first Internet Providers in London. It went bankrupt when investors thought they were putting money in a wrong business — they decided to switch to trade oil and gas instead. It was too much for me. I realized I had enough working for other people and decided to devote my life to what I really like. Apparently it worked.
By Nathan Solis