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://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
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.