* Tell us a bit about the band...
when you formed
musical output (demos, singles, albums)
The band Confront Stage was formed in January 2013, in Ukraine. Prior to the creation of the Confront Stage, I had the first punk project called The Ahineya. It existed from 2005 to 2013. In 2012, there was the last concert of The Ahineya band took place in one of the punk festivals in the Khmelnitsky region in Ukraine. After that, I noticed that my song and music began to sound meaner and tougher. At that moment I got the idea to create a new project with a new sound and a new approach. The first line-up featured former members of the band The Ahineya. Some songs from the first punk project were included in the setlist of the band Confront Stage. In the summer of 2013 two of our songs " Stop alcohol!" and "The Revolution song" are included on a Brazilian punk compilation, titled "Chaoz Day 3", which was released on a double CD. The compilation was released on Casa Punk Records from the well-known Brazilian band - Luta Armada.
In January 2014, we started working in the Studio on a new EP album. Initially, it was planned to make a full-length album, but due to the impending events at the time, it turned out to make a short album. And in early June, has already released the EP "Slave work". Then came the terrible fucking political events. The war began in the Donbass. Barricades in the streets, soldiers with weapons, burning houses and alarms befell my city and my country. And in June 2014, I moved to Russia to avoid war and even more so not to participate in this fucking political game.
In February 2016, I moved to live in the Northern capital of Russia, in the city of St. Petersburg. With this moment and continues history of Confront Stage, but already as in as a Russian hardcore-punk band. I put together a new line-up and we started playing new songs. After lengthy rehearsals, in December 2017, the band Confront Stage performed for the first time at the punk festival "Angry Punks Night" with the participation of other well-known Russian punk bands. In may 2018 we played on the same stage with great hardcore bands, and in March of the same year we participated in the anti-war festival in support of the action against war and propaganda of militarism.
In July 2018, we sat down to work in the Studio "Azbuka Zvuka" on the recording of a new full-length album "Not Human", which was subsequently released on August 7, 2019. Songs from this album began to gain popularity, actively broadcast on foreign punk radio stations in Poland, Australia, USA, Russia, Germany, as well as included in the punk compilation of different countries, one of our song was included in the compilation "Noise Annoys #1" from the British label Chaos Control.
At the moment we will be preparing for a big concert with the presentation of the new album, as well as start working on a new program with a new line-up.
* Where does the name "Confront Stage" come from?
The name for my band come somehow itself.
I was just looking for words that would clearly reflect the essence of the mood of the song, worldview, life position, but of course, that this name was somehow original and make this title in English.
I think the title turned out great and unforgettable, lol)
* What is the punk scene like in Saint-Petersburg?
In St. Petersburg, as in the capital of Russia punk rock is very developed. There are many excellent bands in the genre of hardcore punk and hardcore. Once I was also a member of a St. Petersburg punk-hardcore band "Burning Flag", as a lead guitarist and performed on the same stage with the Brazilian band ARD.
In fact, many punk concerts are held here, including concerts of foreign famous bands such as The Exploited, Total Chaos, Mob 47, GBH, The Casualties, SSEX and other.
As for the punk movement in St. Petersburg, it has different layers. There are those who adhere to some clear anti-fascist positions, and there are those who do not consider themselves to any ideas. Lately, I've been watching the movement break up into small groups. On concerts local bands in the last time, comes a small number of people. I think that because of the abundance of information in the musical space, people begin to get lost and they lose interest in something new. I know that in the Western punk scene everything is very different and people are very supportive of local bands. Russian punk bands are also perceived there with pleasure. Punk concerts are very often held in St. Petersburg. Foreign bands are always welcome here. Yeah, I don't know if there's much I can add to that discussion.
Things like that, guys
* What do you see are the main issues in Russia at the present time?
The main problems in Russia are a low standard of living and low wages, tax increases and terrible corruption, police lawlessness and banditry of the authorities, propaganda of militarism, imposing the Orthodox Church, which serves the state.
Among the ordinary population of the people and it is the largest part of the territory of our country, live below the poverty line. The working class works just for a penny, and it is difficult for young guys to even find a job. People do not have enough wages to pay utility bills, pay debts to banks and even buy normal food. I'm talking about ordinary, working class citizens.
Fucking TV screens regularly carry nonsense about the fact that the country is developing and improving, but everything is very different. For the powerful it is possible and enrichment and development, for the common class of people - it is poverty.
There is also propaganda that our enemy is the West and the United States, which is worse than ours. In particular, there is criticism in the direction of the neighboring country-Ukraine. But only the zombified part of the population can and believes this shit, but the other part of the population really knows who is actually the enemy of the people. In fact, there is no democracy in the country and there was none at all. The same totalitarianism, only in a different form, and the principles are the same. Idiotic laws on prohibition of this or that action, an order and human rights come out daily. I think that the country is going to complete degradation and destruction. And this is the fault of the current government, as well as people who believe them. Police lawlessness and propaganda of militarism also plays an important role in the country.
There are a lot of people who Wake up and do mass protests, single pickets and stuff. The fucking police arrest innocent people who disagree with the Putin regime in a brazen and brutal way. In fact, there are a lot of political prisoners in the country, but only some people only know about, because it is necessary to involve the public as much as possible. Everyone should know their names. We can talk about this a lot, but the main problems remain: corruption, banditry, high prices, small salaries and lawlessness. Within the country it is very clearly felt.
* Your new album has been released recently - how has that been received? Is it going well?
Yes, on August 7 we released a new album called "Not Human", which was recorded at the Studio "Azbuka Zvuka".
Songs from this album have successfully spread on foreign radio broadcasts and compilations. Also, the album "Not Human" can be purchased digitally on well-known Internet resources such as: Itunes, Spotify, YouTube Music, Google Play, Bandcamp and others. The album "Not Human" turned out to be quite conceptual and combines the theme of the problem not only as an individual, but also as a social society. Each song is a story about the negative actions of a person in our world, about the loss of human appearance in front of himself and the whole planet. The songs touch upon the basic problems of humanity and the essence of modern man. The songs have themes about the environment, militarism, brutality towards animals, the attitude of politicians to the people, about the relation of man to money and power.
I think, that listeners on the sly probing our album, our songs and every in it finds for themselves favourite song.
The main songs from the album "Not Human", I noticed, were the song "Brainwash for war" and "Not Human".
For the song "Brainwash for war" I made the official video from the cut video. I think it turned out great, and I was able to convey the meaning of anti-war song.
At this stage we are developing cooperation with distro and labels that would be interested in publishing our album in their city and in their country. We want to spread our music to the audience from all over the world as much as possible, to convey the feelings of Russian hardcore punk as much as possible. I believe that any creativity should be heard and appreciated.
Now two labels from Poland and Chile have agreed to release our album in their country. We are still waiting for a response from other labels. We are always glad to friendship and cooperation, and also go on acceptable terms. The main task is the listener and friendship of Peoples. By the way, after the release of our full-length album, we released a joint album with the Chilean metal-punk band Bactery, which includes songs from the new albums of the two bands. Now we are preparing a joint anti-war song with them, which will be played in different languages: Spanish, Russian and English. I think it will be very interesting and very experimental. There will be more news about this on our official pages on the Internet.
* How extensive have you toured Russia?
So far, the band Confront Stage has not toured Russia, and just played in the city of St. Petersburg. But, everything is still ahead and we have plans, of course, to make a tour not only in Russia, but also in other countries. All we need is some time, patience, documents and of course some fucking money. There is a time for everything.
* Have you had a chance to play outside of Russia?
No, we haven't played outside Russia yet, but it's still ahead of us.
To do this, we need to make a visa and a number of other documents. I think that all this will come true. We wish it very much. And we will welcome offers from other countries to perform on their stage. Each organizer can contact us on the official mail or write in a personal message on Facebook.
* You use YouTube as a way to promote your music - how has that worked for you?
I do not know. I just upload to YouTube our videos of concerts, rehearsals, songs, radio broadcasts. How does it work for us? I can't say for sure. Everyone can subscribe to our channel and get acquainted with our material. Any promotion of our creativity we do on their own and do not give for it any payment. Everything is done on their own and DIY. It's simple. We are always glad to our listeners and subscribers of our channel.
* Excluding Facebook, do you use any other form of social media at all?
Yes, of course, we use other social media for the creativity of our band.
Our pages are available in social networks: "Vkontakte", "Odnoklassniki", "Instagram" and others.
* What can we expect from Confront Stage in the future?
To be honest, I cannot say something about the future in advance, because everything in this life is chaotic and it is very difficult to predict something in advance. Of course, we plan to do a lot: record the next album, concerts, create a merch and much more. Everything will be seen in the future.
* Is there anyone out there that you'd like to take the time out to thank?
Yes, we want to thank Chaos Control label, including Trevor Brown and Paul Garbutt for the opportunity to participate on vinyl in the coolest compilation "Noise Annoys #1". We want to thank everyone who supports us, thank all our listeners.
We want to thank Lisa Gomez from the American radio station "Whatever68", the American radio station "Punk Rock Demonstration", the Australian radio station "Radio Filler 91.1 Fm", thank Adam and the Polish radio station "Radio Underground", thank you to all our new and old friends and colleagues, thank you to our Chilean guys from the band Bactery and all the labels who agreed to support us. We want to send a Huge Hello to all the people of the planet Earth, all the anarchists, anti-fascists, punks and our relatives.
* Thanks for taking the time out from your busy schedule.
And thank you for agreeing to take an interview and have the opportunity to share about us and our work with the people.