Interview GOD SYNDROME

GOD SYNDROME est un groupe russe venant de Sibérie, de la ville de Samara, dans l'extrême sud de la région. Proposant un death mélodique avec des aspects très extrêmes, en échangeant avec le groupe, on a trouvé que ce serait cool une interview pour faire la lumière sur ce groupe. Barrière de langue oblige, celle-ci est en anglais. Pavel s'y est consacré et nous livre des informations intéressantes. Merci à lui du temps prit et de la rapidité de réponse.
Si vous êtes moyen (ou pire) en anglais, faites péter un dico, faire venir un pote traducteur ou essayer un traducteur. Ou tout autre moyen probable ou improbable.

1. Hello ! How are you ? Present us your band, God Syndrome, in a short story.

Hi! My name’s Pavel. I am vocalist, and together we are God Syndrome band from Russia. We play death metal on the verge of melodic death. We started in 2011.

2. How does God Syndrome is born ? Who was the first of thinking to make God Syndrome alive ?

Until 2011 we had been playing in different bands, even in some common projects and we’ve been friends for a long time. The band was born at the moment when two guitar players – Sergey and Vitaly decided to cooperate. Afterwards, Alexander Krut joined the band as a drummer, and Dmitry took the bass player’s place. Vitaly left the band in 2017 and from that moment we continue to play as a quartet.

3. Why did you do that choice of your name ? What is the symbolized behind the name of your band ?

At first, the band was called “Hatesway”, and the band’s lineup changed multiple times, but after all the current band members got together, we all decided to choose another name. Maybe it was a track title actually, but we liked it and we decided to choose it as our new name. We were just reflecting on this, and for us God Syndrome is a definition of the deepest egoism, dishonesty, and a total Machiavellian lust for power. Just take it as a diagnosis or a stigma of caste of the “chosen ones”.

4. Usually as we know that the Russian’s bands have a particular musical gender that for you in Russia is absolutely normal.You ,at the opposite have choose a mix between Sweedish Death , Polish brutal death . Is that a way for you to dismaguish from Russian’s metal bands ?

Well, I think, if we would be trying to reach for something “original”, “distinguishing” or something like that, at the end of the day our music would have sucked. So many bands are telling nowadays that they are so original and ingenious, but to be honest, the usually play shitty music. Only the few truly find something that no one had heard before, but it’s always a result of a natural creative process. We just wanted to play some melodeath and we had no task to “distinguish” ourselves from other bands on the Russian scene. But we knew what we should do to reach this –do everything well and You’ll get noticed anyway.

5. What are the themes that you approach in the tracks?Is that a link with the symbolized of God Syndrome?Is that a way to express yourself with the way that you live in Russia ?(censorship…) ?

Of course, the lyrics are connected with the band’s name, as long as it is our basic concept. But that does not mean, that we are restrained by this idea. We try to touch many different themes, and it is facilitated by fact, that there is more than one lyricist in the band – Sergei and Dmitry also offer their lyrics. One may write more or less lyrics, but it doesn’t really matter. Religion, philosophy, psychology, mythology, politics and social life – all of this brings us an inexhaustible source for creation. And these are the things that are understood by any reflective person on Earth.

6. How does your music has developped since your beginnings in 2011? Have you decided to be more brutal since your beginnings ?

If You can find our very first demo tracks, You’ll hear absolutely Swedish melodeath tone. But death metal can be so different, and we love all the best that the genre’s development gave us, so after the band was formed and the first experiments in search of our own style were made we had approached the debut album recording with a clear understanding that we won’t stick to only one death metal school. We always present our music as a symbiosis of the Swedish, Polish and American death metal, and it is (in our opinion) most precise definition of the music we play. We were influenced by so many bands, and our listeners prove it by their feedback. We observe the opinions of our listeners and we notice that people sharing their impression usually name the bands with which our music brings associations. And the list of such bands is constantly growing that gives us confidence that we are on the right way. What would You say to a guy who says that he has heard a band from Russia that sounds like Behemoth, Vader, Arch Enemy, Hypocrisy, Kataklysm, Hate, Decapitated, Dimmu Borgir, and vocalist reminds of Deicide, Septic Flesh, Graveworm and even Obituary? You would say: “No way, man, go get some cold shower, ahahaha”. Friends, let’s not forget that these genre borders are such a thin lines, and if a band uses a classical thrash metal riff, You can already associate it with a dozen of thrash metal acts.:) By the way, write us on Facebook, what does God Syndrome remind to You? It would be interesting to know.

7. You live in Samara at the South of Siberia . Is it easy for the band ? Does it exists many bands in Samara ? Is that very different from bands coming from Moscow ?

Well, You now get a 2 out of 5 (it’s a lowest mark in Russian educational system) for geography Samara is an industrial city, 9^th by population out of 1113 cities in Russia, and it is situated in central Russia. Not so far from Moscow – only 13 hours by car. And Siberia is far away from us, as well as Southern Russia, where people from Samara travel to have a seaside vacation (2 days driving by car). There aren’t many metal bands in Samara. Guys from the IRV band are active and we had shared the stage with them several times. A lot of stoner, punk and groove bands, but en masse there’s no huge scene and everything is pretty messed up. And it usually doesn’t depend of a region. There are lots of bands in Moscow, but very few of them are good. On the other hand You can surprisingly find an awesome band somewhere in Siberia.

8. If there’s tell us about them?Is it esay for a Russian band to be knew outside the Russia ? Have you ever turned in Europe ? I mean France ? Spain ? Italy ? UK ? Geographicaly for God Syndrome is that easy to be in contact with the nearest countries ?

We can get exposure with the help of the internet. That’s why we try to promote our Facebook and Instagram. We hadn’t toured in Europe before but we hope that next year we’ll make it. We plan to find a booking agency in Europe to see what they can offer. We are ready to go, but there’s only a financial issue. Most promoters just offer to buy a slot in a tour with a famous headliner, but we do not earn our living by music and it’s not that easy for us to pay 6-8 thousand euros only to pay for the slot. We’ll keep searching for promoters, that would consider our band worth inviting and help us with organizing tour, and we’ll show how extreme metal is made in Russia.

9. How does your friends and family have reacted with God Syndrome’s music ? Does they hate you or at the opposite they are your biggest fans ?

Many of our friends support us – they visit our concerts and buy merchandise and cds. I wish I could say that our families support us too, but unfortunately I can’t. Actually, they just put up with the fact that we play in a band and we don’t want to give it up.

10. Is that easy to reconcile God Syndrome with your jobs (I mean that in Europe we allways thinks that living in Russia is strict because of the dictatorship )? What are you doing in life ?

I work on a cardboard factory. Sergey is a sound engineer, he makes advertisement clips, audio performances, creates sounds for video games. Dmitry is an inhouse lawyer, Alexander is a building materials salesman. Once my colleagues found out that I was going with my band to play gigs in nearby countries – Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. They invited me in the office and told me that I will be fired and they will report to Putin personally. Ahahaha, just a joke  Actually, my boss unexpectedly gave me some money as a help. Nobody even understands, what is “death metal”, but usually colleagues show interest and even visit our concerts. Dictatorship in Russia? Didn’t heard about this.

11. Does God Syndrome is a way to express yourself? How do you perceive your country ?

God Syndrome is our labor of love. That’s something that every man should have. We have families and day jobs, but day job is only a way to earn living and take care of the family. Maybe every musician dream of earning their living by music. We all have different views on Russia and life on Russia. I personally love Russia, because it’s my motherland. But many people here can just spit into my face and show their hatred. Those who say that Russia is the greatest place on earth are wrong. Those who say that Russia is miserable and has nothing good for life – are wrong too. We all are adult and every man should understand that everything has it’s pros and contras. Recently I had a conversation with a fourteen year old lad from Iran. He told me that he loves Arch Enemy and heavy metal, but metal is prohibited in Iran. People there aren’t allowed to play metal, to listen to metal, to wear bands t’shirts… Does he obliged to hate his country for this? But he doesn’t. And tell me, where in the world the people who hate their own country gain respect?

12. What are your influences and your personnal tastes ? Does it influenced you in your music ?

I’ve already mentioned the influences before. It’s mostly death metal and other extreme metal. We also love old-school stuff like classic hard rock and heavy metal. Dmitry loves Motorhead, Sergey besides Slayer, Kreator and Vader also likes Serge Tankian and former SOAD guitar player’s band Scars on Broadway. Krut loves old Sepultura, Slayer, old-school death metal, street punk. Right now I’m listening to some kind of a chill-out stuff))) I also love something atmospheric like ambient, new age, dungeon synth and black metal.

13. We are French. Could you tell us a band that you recommend to discover ?

A few days ago a band from Siberia (from the city of Krasnoyarsk) came to Samara. They are really killer band. They had a day-off after the gig, so we invited them to our studio. We had a great time, talking about music and drinking some beer. You should definitely check them out and give them a listen. Their name is Ultar.

14. Thanks a lot to you God Syndrome !!! The last words are for you !! Say everything you wants !

Thank You for the interest to Russian bands! Thank You for supporting God Syndrome. Invite us for a gig and we’ll burn the European stages down with our death metal!