REIDO INTERVIEW : Doomy, heavy and extreme (with Alexander Kachar) [january 2007]
http://www.metal-only.com


It's not everyday that you stumble across bands from Belarus and it was therefor with great interest that I begun listening to the funeral doom band Reido's debut album “F:\all”. In addition to the somewhat unusual origin of the band, the music turned out to be quite different from the traditional funeral doom metal. Reido uses this music style to build up an impressive post apocalyptic soundscape, which really did capture my interest and an interview with the band was something I really looked forward to. The victim turned out to be the bands vocalist and guitarist Alexander Kachar.

Hi Alexander! Some time ago you released your debut album "F:\all", so how have the reactions been on the album from the fans and the media? Are personally pleased with the album?

Alexander – Hi! The reactions have been really good. Of course we have got some negative opinions too, but most of the reviews are positive and that’s very pleasant. We personally pleased with the fact that our long and hard work is being appreciated. The album is not flawless, and I can’t say we are totally pleased with the result but perhaps it’s not bad.

It took you over two years to record the album, which is unusually long. Why did the recordings take so long and does the material still sound fresh to you? Please tell me a bit about the recording sessions.

Alexander – We recorded this album by ourselves. We had bad equipment, no experience and many problems with sound, with our line up etc. “F:\all” was recorded in a real underground. We spent much time sitting in my room with our instruments and trying to do something, but we were not satisfied with the results. It was difficult to finish this album. No, it doesn’t sound fresh to us now. Some of these songs were composed in 2002-2003. We have got some experience, our tastes, style and vision of music have changed, and our old stuff sounds rather obsolete now. I think it’s quite normal, it’s our development.

I really like your quite different approach to funeral doom, where most of the dark melancholia has been replaced by a cold post apocalyptic atmosphere. Where do you find the inspiration for this sound and do you listen to a lot of industrial music yourself?

Alexander – We listen to many different music including hardcore, metalcore, mathcore, some nu metal, industrial, and we tried to take some elements from that music and use them. Funeral doom is the shape that we used, but our stuff also contains the elements of other music styles.

The album also included a video for the song "Zero Level Activity", which I really enjoyed. But why did you decide to make a video in the first place and why did you choose this particular song? Who came up with the idea for the videos theme?

Alexander – We did not make that video =). Our label offered to make it, and we thought that was a good idea. The video was made in Russia by the guys from H-Phoria studio, without our participation. We just told them what theme we would like to use, and all the rest they made themselves. I think the result is rather good, and those guys have understood us, they’ve caught the atmosphere. And the reason of choosing of “Zero Level Activity” is very simple – this track is the shortest one =). And I think it’s one of the best tracks on the album, it doesn’t even sound too obsolete for us!

The album was released by the Russian label Solitude Productions, which seems like a good choice for you when considering the bands sound. How did you get in contact with them and are you pleased with the cooperation? For how many albums is the deal?

Alexander – After “F:\all” was recorded we began to search for a label to release it. I posted some topics on metal forums in the Internet, and one of them was on www.doom-metal.ru. The administrator of this portal is the chief of Solitude Prod. He suggested sending a promo-CD, and I did it. Soon they said they would like to release our album, and we signed a contract with them. The deal is for one album, but I think we will continue our cooperation because we are pleased with it.

You have also recently released a single entitled "Detect Memory", but it seems like it's only available as a mp3 that can be downloaded from your webpage. Are there any plans to make a proper release of it?

Alexander – “Detect Memory” was recorded in autumn 2006 as a single track, and we decided to make it available for downloading. We thought it wouldn’t be released on CD as a single, but the label is ready to do it, so maybe. We will add some other bonus tracks there, perhaps some electronic remixes. The reaction on “Detect Memory” is rather poor, perhaps because it’s available only in mp3. So maybe there is a reason to make it available on CD’s.

I noticed that your original line up consisted out of two more members, Andrey Yepikhin and Sergey Shevchuk, but they left the band some time after the foundation of the band. What was the reason behind their departure?

Alexander – Andrey moved to another town, some changes in his life happened, and it has become impossible to play with him. Sergey left our band because he wanted to play another kind of music. We had different points of view on what we played.

You have also lately had some major changes in your line up, when Nickolay Pankov and Pavel Nadolski and then Kiryl Kustanovich joined the band. How did you get in contact with them and has it always been a goal for you to have a "full-size" band or did it just turn out this way?

Alexander – We always wanted to be a “full-size” band, though it’s also possible to be a two men project if it’s necessary. Kiryl helped us a little with “F:\all” when the album was almost recorded. He is a drummer originally, but he became to work with electronics, and now he is a real DJ. He worked on “Detect Memory” together with us. At last he became a member of our band. Kiryl studies in Glasgow, Scotland, so we can’t see him often, he visits Minsk several times a year, but he works on our music in Glasgow, and we use the Internet to send stuff to each other. With Nickolay we played together in other band before he joined Reido. And with Pavel we got acquainted in June 2006. We visited Tool gig in Poland together.

What kind of impact do you think this increase in the line up has had on the bands sound and does this mean that you are going to perform live in the future?

Alexander – I think this increase in the line up will make an electronic part of our music more unusual, bright and various because a special member of the band deals with it now. Of course there will be also other changes in our music, and some of them can be already heard. I mean “Detect Memory”. I didn’t know it would be so difficult to become a real band, to be able to play alive, but it’s really difficult. We try.

Belarus is a quite unusual country when it comes to metal, but I've noticed that at least quite many new black metal bands have turned up during the last few years. Do you at all follow the metal scene in Belarus and what do you think of it? How difficult is it to play metal and get recognition over there?

Alexander – I think Belarusian metal scene is slowly developing. The current condition of it doesn’t make me very happy, but there are some promising bands and musicians, and I hope they will be lucky at what they do. I can’t say that it’s difficult to play metal here, though most of our musicians don’t have enough money to record their stuff with high quality. But the main problem is that our scene doesn’t have its own face, it imitates some famous projects from abroad with very little own ideas. Of course that’s normal to be under some influences but not to be replicas. We don’t follow the metal scene in Belarus, we just play what we want to play and listen to what we like without any dependence on where are the musicians from. Just a few Belarusian projects seem to be interesting to me. That’s sad but true.

What does your own musical background look like? Do you or any other member of the band have any other bands or side projects?

Alexander – Yes, Nickolay and I play the guitars in other band. My participation in making music there is minimal, I was invited to play the guitar. That band is forming their style, and it’s early to talk about its future. Anton also plays bass in another band. We joined other bands to have some practice and to play more, because Reido was a studio project consisting of two members then.

What are your plans for the future regarding Reido? When can we expect some new material to be released?

Alexander – The main plan is to make new material and to record the next album. I think it won’t be similar to “F:\all”. It will be more amelodic, with different experiments with sound and rhythm. It will be doomy, heavy and extreme. We would like to record an album this year, and we’ll try to do it. If we are ready to play live we will play, but I can’t say anything certain. Studio work is still more important for us.

And finally, a classic question. Why did the chicken cross the road?

Alexander – Radioactivity, chemical substances and dirt around us poisoned our minds so strongly that we become to see hallucinogenic chickens crossing the roads. But don’t envy that chicken, crossing the next road he may not stay alive.

Thank you Alexander for taking the time to answer the interview. The final words are yours.

Alexander – Thanks for your attention to our music and band! We will try to be worth of it. Good luck!



Interview by Janne