The13th AÑO: 4 | NÚMERO 42
UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA
THE DAYOFFS THERE IS NO OTHER BAND LIKE THIS IN THE WORLD
THERE IS NO OTHER BAND LIKE THIS IN THE WORLD [ Interview with Vladimir Komarov from Dayoffs by Diego Centuriรณn ]
Bands continue to appear in the musical world, which seems to be expanding like the Universe itself. What is certain is that the quality is always increasing, and new projects start to take on the qualities of more established bands. This is the case for two producers – Vladimir Komarov and Atsuo Matsumoto – who, while working in a Manhattan studio on other artists’ projects, decided to form their own duo. The result is The Dayoffs. On November 10, they released their eponymous debut album via Emerald & Doreen Recordings. We chat with Vladimir about this and other things. Hello and thank you for allowing us to do this interview. To begin with, when and how did your project come about? What inspired your band’s name? Hi Diego! I believe our project got started naturally from our musical compatibility with each other. I mean not only musical taste but also recording and mixing technic and the way we play our instruments. The name... I don't know - I think it was my idea and I'm very bad at names... but I know 2 things for sure: 1) there is no other band with the same name in the universe, 2) the way it is spelling it looks good - this is more than enough)))
I understand that you’re originally from Russia, where you were involved with 2 of the country’s leading underground bands, and that you’ve previously remixed tracks for Ian Brown, Ash, Dean Garcia’s SPC ECO, Craig Walker, Electric Mainline, The Nova Saints, and Aerofall. Can you tell us about this? Each remix has its own unique story. I'm not a remix factory, but sometimes friends-musicians or labels ask me to do it, or sometimes the initiative comes from my side. Some of them were released, and some weren't for various reasons. But each of them (despite of the names) was very important for me. Right now I have two songs on my remix table - one is for Naik Borzov (a Russian rock superstar) and another one is for Dean Garcia's SPC ECO. Both of them are very interesting and personal for me. How long did it take you to write the songs on the album? We were preparing ourselves for this records for TOO long - we were talking about "should we start it or not" (because both of us understood that we can not afford to make it "not perfect"). We are perfectionists. So - there was a lot of doubt (especially from my side I guess) at the beginning. But once we started songs came very easy and quick.
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While working inside a Studio, how much time did you dedicate to the production of the album itself? While the songs came very fast, the production took a really long time. Years... We were looking for the ideal balance of everything: vocals and instrumentals, guitars and electronics, live drums and drum machines (or even "no drums" at all). Song order was and is very important too. But, to be honest - this is what we like to do, plus we had no pressure from anyone. Nobody knew us and we had all the time in the world before we finish the album.
I ask for a Track by Track. 15 This track was written and recorded at the very end - we had to make almost the full album to realize how we wanted to start it. Love Love Love I was dreaming to write a song like this for many years. Speedy, poppy and shoegazey. Bottled Rainwater You can hear a strong Sonic Youth influence here - we both mad about them. NYC itself also is a huge influence! I Can't Believe I'm Dead This is a very strange song with a guest vocalist (and my friend) Sergey Kiselyov. I asked him to sing because I had no lyrics and no ideas what this song could be about. Sergey already helped us with lyrics on a few songs - so my plan was to (as we Russians says "to kill two rabbits with one bullet") ask him to write lyrics for one more song and to show our thanks by inviting as a guest vocalist. I had no idea about the final result - but it came out really cool, to my mind!!! Nobody Knows Her I'm very proud of this one - I never done anything even close to this before. I know it is very pop - but I hope it doesn’t sound vulgar. There is a very tiny line between glory and vulgar pop - I still believe we didn't cross that line. Two Actors In A Cage Another great pop song to me. Made of a million pieces as a difficult puzzle. A Million Days The writing of this song started from improvisation on a Jenco Celeste that we found in one studio. I've heard this unique keyboard instrument on the records of my favorite Thelonious Monk, but I never played the Celeste before that day - so its sound caught me instantly and I recorded some ideas on my phone's dictaphone. Next To Nothing A great example how good the drummer of this album (Sergey Ledovsky) can be. I recorded its demo in the summer of 2011, and 5 years later, we brought it to life when we realized that we need more fast tracks))) Illusion This one came alone completely from studio improvisations - there were no pre-recorded ideas. One of the touching one on this album for me. State Of Madness Another baby of improvisation. It was our first completed song. Maybe that's why we put it in the end of the record)) Eleven Pure improvisation again and ideal outro instrumental for me.
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Can you share any anecdotes or stories about the recording of this album or making of your videos? I can say that the 'Next To Nothing' video is based on very funny lo-fi 8-mm footage we found from a man from my hometown (Novosibirsk). It is kids downhill skiing training at the low mountings not far from the Novosibirsk in 1973. Unique video!!
by now.
And were you surprised by anything during this time? I like to read. I red a lot of books during this period - one of the hugest impression was "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maygham, another one was "The Soft Machine" by William S. Burroughs. Maybe you will find the trails of this books in my lyrics. And many more, off course...
Why do you think our readers should listen non-stop to The Dayoffs? And where can they find your music? Because there is no other band like this in the world - it sounds modern, but doesn't look and sounds like other "modern" bands. And this music is not borring))) You can download our album from iTunes or Amazon. It's everywhere. And you know what - a lot of people already told me: this album has a perfect length - 30 minutes is exactly the time takes me from home to the work in the morning and back in the evening. You have to try!
Do you plan to present this album live as a duo or fuller band? We would like to play live - this is all I can say
With 2018 about to happen, what are your plans for this year – as individuals and for your duo? We have already started to generate demos for a new album - I understand that we better release it as soon as possible. But I have no idea when we can have the final mix of the Album 2.
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