Sounds of Sputnik - A Spark of Light at the end of this Dark Tunnel (Number 32) by Revista The 13th

The13th AÑO: 3

NÚMERO 32

UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA

DANIEL LAND

[ Interview with Roman Kalitkin from Sounds of Sputnik by Diego CenturiĂłn. ]

A SPARK OF LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS DARK TUNNEL

Some time ago, we wrote about this Moscow-based band, which is led by producer Roman Kalitkin and has collaborated with many artists since the beginning of this project. They are about to release a remix-based EP through German boutique label Emerald & Doreen Recordings. We have contacted Roman in order to talk about this. Hi Roman, thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk to you. Let's start from the beginning - Where did the name Sounds of Sputnik come from? Hello Diego. The name Sounds of Sputnik is reminiscent of another band's name called Sputnik Vostok, which also sounds a bit similar. I was part of Sputnik Vostok in the 90s. Thus, the name Sounds of Sputnik is my tribute to that special time in my life and my first steps in rock-n-roll. Just like now, we were into shoegaze and were not really popular in Russia. By the way, the word 'sputnik' is a Russian word which is now being used internationally. It means 'satellite.' I guess similarly to this word and its meaning, we want the music of Sounds of Sputnik to be known and listened to around the world. It is interesting to note that we are actually

more well-known in other parts of the world than in Russia. How was this project born? Who was involved? Before creating Sounds of Sputnik, I played in several bands in Moscow. After some time, I started to realize that I was swallowed up by a sea of music that I did not really like at all. The music I was not interested in was eating up most of my time. The only spark of light at the end of this dark tunnel turned out to be my creative collaboration with Shauna McLarnon in 2002. As far as I know, the tracks that we recorded back in that time were not released, but I guess they represented the beginning of her duo Ummagma. In 2012, I decided to become a solo traveler as far as music was concerned. I was on a new creative journey of my perception of the kind of music I would actually love to perform myself. I recorded a couple of tracks and uploaded them to the internet. This led to me reconnecting with Shauna McLarnon and Alex Kretov of the Canadian/Ukrainian duo Ummagma, who were living in Ukraine at the time and later moved to Canada. After that numerous tracks travelled back and forth between their studio and mine. I discovered certain advantages of this kind of creative collaboration. The fact that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need rehearsals

was one of them. Who is in your band’s current line-up? Are you playing live much? Having put together the live lineup for Sounds of Sputnik in 2015, I faced several problems that had to do with communication and relationships between the band members. During the two years that followed, several people left because our project did not suit their financial expectations. There was another issue – some other band members participated in multiple projects at the same time and did not commit to Sounds of Sputnik 100% like I wanted. All of this made it difficult to maintain dynamism for Sounds of Sputnik and continue its development. At the moment we have six band members: Roman Kalitkin (guitar), Nastya Berezovskaya (vocals), Dmitry Bobrinev (guitar), Almaz Gaifutdinov (bass guitar), Oleg Mejerovsky (keyboards) and Oleg Luzhetsky (drums). Currently we do not perform live very often as bookers at Russian clubs are mainly looking to generate substantial cash amounts. Rap is a lot more popular in Moscow than shoegaze. Actually, there are very few bands like ours and it is very rare to meet a musician in Russia who is even familiar with the term shoegaze. In May of this year you re-released your debut album ‘New Born’ with the first five songs from your band being original compositions. It seems like a lot has been happening for you, but – from your perspective, what are the greatest developments for Sounds of Sputnik as a result of releasing this album? Well, of course, the fact that we got a lot of press through Shameless Promotion PR was really helpful. Re-releasing the ‘New Born’ album has served as a catalyst for writing new songs using McLarnon's lyrics. We have about 8 songs at the moment and one of them is almost ready – it just requires a bit more work. Actually, the whole band participated in creating the musical arrangements for our new material. I am hoping that this will add a creative edge to our sound. What is your creative process like in regards to composing songs – do you write everything yourself alone? What is your process like now with your live

band? My creative collaboration with Shauna for the ‘New Born’ album was a valuable experience. Her vocal melodies impressed and inspired me more than my own music. Now I write lyrics and vocal melodies myself. However, since I am not a native speaker of English it does not always work that well. The good thing is that I can get help with this from Nastya Berezovskaya, whose English is really good and who writes rather beautiful lyrics herself. How do you see the current music scene with so many new releases coming out every day? What is necessary these days (in your opinion) to keep the public's attention? Yes, it is true. There is a lot of music being released online every day, but this does not mean that it is actually good. I try to protect myself from this music garbage, picking out the best new tracks, which are few and far between. The music scene in Russia is quite exotic. Some think that the only requirement for music production is to learn to play an instrument more or less professionally. So they do just that, start generating material and collecting 'Likes' from people on social media. Will you be releasing any new original songs soon after this remix EP? As I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of new material which needs to be recorded. Creating remixes is a different realm all together. A remix can change the feel of a song, its entire character. This way a completely new creation can result and it has a potential of igniting very different feelings in the listener. Remix authors usually aim to create something which goes beyond the original in many ways. Have the songs from ‘New Born’ changed when you perform them live with your band? In our live performances we don’t try to match our studio recordings 100%. This way the band has an opportunity to create something unique during its live performance. Thus, all the musicians can add something special and show their individuality. I think the most challenging thing during a live performance is to create a special atmosphere, a certain energy that will stay with the people who came to see

us. To do this, in my opinion, is a lot more difficult than to reproduce the sound of the studio recording. What plans do you have for Sounds of Sputnik in the next year? Next year we are hoping to participate in music festivals, both in Russia and in the West. We are also hoping that our music will start becoming more popular with listeners everywhere. We are doing our best to make sure that it truly Rocks!

The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA