EMQ's

EMQ’s With ARCTIC DREAMS

EMQ’s With ARCTIC DREAMS

Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with International Symphonic Industrial Black/Death Metal band, Arctic Dreams. Huge thanks to all the band for taking part. 


What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?

ALEX_Y:  Our project is called Arctic Dreams. What we play, we call Arctic Metal. In fact it’s a hell of a mix of heavy metal, electronic gothic and classical music. You can already write a book about our history! The band has been around for 15 years and we’ve been through a lot and one of the hardest things was moving from one country to another.

SYDIUS: I play guitar and we’ve developed this project together with Alex for so long I can’t believe it grew into this. 

GENA: My name’s Gena, I play bass and I’ve recently joined a band.  

NENAD: I play guitar and I am still pretty new, joined the band last year.

ROMAN: I’m Roman Dubrovin. I play drums. I just joined.


How did you come up with your band name?

ALEX_Y: I had it in a dream I called Arctic

SYDIUS:  We heard it in our arctic dreams 


What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?

ALEX_Y: Rostov-on-Don born, then Saint-Petersburg, then Helsinki and for current time Belgrade based.

SYDIUS: Saint-Petersburg born, Berlin based 

GENA: Born in St. Petersburg, now living in Zrenjanin, Serbia.  

NENAD: Originally I am from Dubai, UAE, relocated to Belgrade, Serbia in the early 2000’s. In Dubai there wasn’t much of a Metal scene let alone an Alternative scene in the 90’s, but it did garner attention in the late 2000’s and blew up in the 2010’s. In Serbia it exists with small numbers of course, but albeit with a few organisers there is a disorganised free-for-all sentiment within the scene.

ROMAN: I’m from Omsk, Siberia, Russia. There is only one Rock band from this city that is widely known in post-USSR countries. Everybody there knows at least two of their songs. Now, it is a pretty small and self-contained scene. It is not surprising considering that you need to cross 600 km to reach the nearest big city=)! 


What is your latest release? 

ALEX_Y: The single ‘Frozen little beings’ which came out on 15th November 2024 


Who have been your greatest influences?

ALEX_Y: Metallica, Megadeth, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Hocico 

SYDIUS: Frank Zappa, Mozart, Bach, Pink Floyd, John Zorn, Mike Patton 

GENA: John Peter Petrucci  

NENAD: Pink Floyd, Bach, Steve Vai, John Williams, Chuck Schuldiner

ROMAN: Blind Guardian, Eluveitie, Drygva, Nightwish, Dream Theater 

What first got you into music?

ALEX_Y: The Heavy Metal I heard.

SYDIUS:  Singing tunes of imaginary albums 

GENA: Old school Rock  

NENAD: I can’t remember much, but probably a byproduct of me experimenting with different instruments that I had no idea how to play, and making sounds and organising them into a melody or rhythm, humming a melody.

ROMAN: I like to knock 


If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?

ALEX_Y: Metallica and Rammstein

SYDIUS: Let’s bring Paul McCartney metal 

GENA: Dream theater   

NENAD: Peter Tagtgren

ROMAN: Blind Guardian 


If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?

ALEX_Y: Wacken & Hellfest because these is a most serious open airs in the world 

SYDIUS: I’m so not into festivals, which is the coolest one? 

GENA: Wacken   

NENAD: Bloodstock, Hellfest. Rockstadt for starters, I only need to pass through one border haha.

ROMAN: Wacken 


What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?

ALEX_Y: I don’t recall that

SYDIUS: Usually I wish for weird things for people to present to us so we’re cool 


If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?

ALEX_Y: Never surrender!

SYDIUS: No message – less spam 

GENA: Have fun and listen to different music 

NENAD: Thank you for your support!

ROMAN: Have fun 

 
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?

ALEX_Y: Chuck Shuldiner

SYDIUS: Beethoven 

GENA: Don’t bother the dead. It usually doesn’t lead to anything good   

NENAD: Dimebag man. Gone too soon.

ROMAN: Egor Letov 


What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?

ALEX_Y: I am pleased with the result I have achieved. The thing I hate most is combining music with any other job.

GENA: The creative process. Watching an idea turn into a full song is a wonderful experience  

NENAD: I love the creating aspect, finding the sound and working the song out until the final result. Playing live is probably my favorite, same goes with organizing live production. The thing I hate most is the factory-like workload to keep up with the advertising, because in this day and age everything and everyone is labelled as a content creator. 

ROMAN: I like performances and diving into gp-tabs. I don’t like administrative staff.


If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

ALEX_Y: I realize it’s impossible, but I’d go back to a time when there were no streaming platforms. So that people would buy physical media.

SYDIUS: Remove all bad music and leave good music available? 

GENA: I’m afraid that any change will lead to the next and so on. And maybe the result will be even worse than it is now.  

NENAD: Get paid more for our content services.

ROMAN: Increase interest payments to musicians on online platforms 


Name one of your all-time favourite albums?

ALEX_Y: Master of Puppets

SYDIUS: Mass h-moll – Bach

GENA: Malmsteen “Rising Force” 

NENAD: Beyond Twilight – “The Devil’s Hall of Fame”

ROMAN: Trivium – “Vengeance falls” 


What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?

ALEX_Y: All physical media are better than streaming

SYDIUS: Really don’t know 

GENA: Don’t know  

NENAD: Downloads for checking out the artist and on the go, same goes for cassettes. CDs and vinyl for home experience. It all depends on which medium you experience music, all are different.

ROMAN: Yo-ho-ho! 


What’s the best gig that you have played to date?

ALEX_Y: It was my very first concert. We didn’t know how to play, but we gathered a lot of people and everyone was happy.  

SYDIUS: If I name them – they mean nothing – random club gigs which just ended very successfully in terms of pleasure from performing, freedom of musical thinking, comfort of the sound etc, which might not be even noticeable for public 

GENA: “Windows Open” festival in St. Petersburg. There was a big stage, big crowd… Great memories   

NENAD: Pretty recently with Asphalt Chant in 2022. Very good turnout, the vibes were great, overall pleased with the gig.

ROMAN: I remember the concert in Nizhniy Tagil. There were 20 people or something like that but they gave us the energy of a stadium! I thought that they would destroy the building! I have never experienced such energy from the audience so I strongly recommend everybody to visit Nizhniy Tagil. 


If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?

ALEX_Y: In addition to music, I’m also a software developer

SYDIUS: Science maybe 

GENA: Sommelier  

NENAD: Airline pilot most probably.

ROMAN: I’m a programmer 

Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?

ALEX_Y: Cliff Burton, Chuck Shuldiner, Peter Steele, Alexi Laiho, Lemmi Killmister

SYDIUS: Are you asking this in front of 5 people which I may offend by naming others?!

GENA: The ones who bring the booze 

NENAD: The 5 closest people in my life. 


What’s next for the band?

ALEX_Y: Creating our cultural heritage

SYDIUS: Blood, sweat and tears 

GENA: Work, work, work  

NENAD: Turn the dream into a reality.

ROMAN: Fac quod debes et quod futurum est 


What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?

We have a number of resources on which we regularly update: 

https://arcticdreamsofficial.com

https://www.instagram.com/arcticdreamsofficial

https://www.facebook.com/arcticdreamsband

https://arcticdreams.bandcamp.com

https://www.youtube.com/@arcticdreams231

https://soundcloud.com/arctic-dreams

https://vk.com/arcticdreams

https://www.tiktok.com/@arcticdreamsofficial

https://twitter.com/ArCTiC_D_Metal

https://audiomack.com/arctic-dreams

https://music.apple.com/rs/artist/arctic-dreams/1608650502

https://play.anghami.com/artist/13540366

https://www.pandora.com/artist/arctic-dreams/ARk2gVbbppzZ7vw

https://www.deezer.com/ru/artist/159780292

https://music.amazon.com/artists/B09RTZSXCF/arctic-dreams

https://www.reverbnation.com/arcticdreams


Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll, or a Tea Cake?

 ALEX_Y: Depends on the part of the UK. A Bun and a Cob – most common in the southern parts of UK, a Batch – Coventry & Liverpool,  a Barm – Manchester area

NENAD: I apologise to the entire Commonwealth, but Tea Cake sounds the most logical.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

ALEX_Y: Never surrender!

SYDIUS: Thank you for having us 

NENAD: Thank you for the time.

Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.