Interview with Ukraine's GOTHICA magazine

an english version of the interview which will be printed in the 15th issue of Ukrainian magazine Gothica:

Hello. How are you? Why are you keeping silence for so long – more than 4 years without LP or even EP…?

I can say that the time which has passed since the last album is not something I deliberately chose. The new album has taken much longer than I had originally hoped or anticipated and this is because of several things. After the completion of Burning Heaven I began work on two releases for my other project Cakebuilder and this delayed the start of a new Distorted Memory album for quite some time. After that I purchased a new home and did quite a bit of renovations on it, especially in the room which became my studio so there was a large period of time when I did not have a functioning studio to work in. This along with regular life obligations, issues with data loss, playing shows, and travelling has made the process a very long one. It did not help that I have been very picky when writing this album and have been going for a very specific sound and production quality which has meant a much slower more meticulous writing process.

As far as I know, you are going to release your new CD this year. Tell some words about your new work. What interesting we will be able to hear on it?

The new album will have some big differences from the first, but still be familiar in sound to fans. The biggest change is a very large influence of ethnic music. Most tracks on the new album make heavy use of percussion, instrumentation, and vocal sampling from different world music sources. A lot of the music has a very middle eastern element intertwined with the aggressive club sounds. Another big change is in the lyrical content. The new album will not focus so heavily on attacking christian ideology and will have a more varied content. This album is more focused on environmental changes on our planet and humans destruction and disrespect for the earth. There are still some religious themes however, but more regarding non christian faiths such as islam and a more general Atheist message.

What is your main work? Isn’t it too hard for you to combine it with Distorted Memory?

I make my living as a carpenter. I do renovation work full time which can often make balancing a musical project difficult as it can be a very physically demanding job as well as a mentally straining one. Many days after work I just don't have the energy to devote to music. I have to try and be disciplined and make time to work on music projects.

How do you look in your normal life? What civil people think about your hairstyle, tattoos etc?

Well I am very tall, slim, have a shaved head, tattoos, and stretched ear piercings. I guess my appearance could be considered extreme by some. In Canada Tattoos and piercings a pretty common, especially among young people so I rarely have any problems.

You’ve said you have Ukrainian roots. Is it truth? Please tell me some details about this fact.

Yes it is true, although my family has been in Canada for several generations. My family came to Canada in the late 19^th century as some of the first Ukrainian settlers to start a new life. My family came as farmers and some members are still farming to this day.

Do you monitor Ukrainian political and economic situation? What do you think about our problems? What Ukrainian political forces are most attractive to you?

I don't follow Ukrainian politics very closely, only what I come across in the media. Living in Canada it is more important to keep up to date with American politics and economy since it can directly affect us. As for the Ukraine I tend to be more interested in the culture than the politics. Where I live there is a very large Ukrainian population and heritage so it is easy to keep in touch with old traditions, food, and music from the Ukraine . This is something I hold in high regard and am proud to be associated with.

Have you ever been at Ukraine? Do you have any plans to visit Ukraine as a musician and as a tourist?

Unfortunately no. I have always wanted to travel there and would absolutely love to perform there. Aside from large German festivals performing in Ukraine would be one of my highest goals with Distorted Memory. I would be more than happy to work with any promoters wanting to bring me in for shows there. I would be willing to do it for less expenses than other countries.

Why did you decide to write extreme electro music that Distorted Memory plays?

I started writing this type of music simply because it was what I listened to when I became interested in making music. At the time it was bands like Hocico and Suicide Commando that really inspired me to make my own music. To this day those are two of my favourite bands in the scene although I am not as excited by the new directions there music has gone as I was with their work a decade ago. The aggression of the music was also something that attracted me at a young age.

What skills and abilities must possess a good DJ that plays your music and dark electro/industrial in general?

I think to be a good DJ in this scene you have to do things a little differently than in more mainstream DJ settings. I think is extremely important to have a good balance of new music to introduce people to as well as playing important artists and tracks from the past. I also think it is important to not compromise your music by mixing it too much with mainstream dark music simply to appeal to a wider audience. Too many Djs, especially in North America, will play mainstream heavy rock music and promote the events as Industrial when there is very little industrial music played at all. I also think it is very important to keep playlists fresh, there is nothing I hate more in a club than when you hear the same songs every week.

What can you say about Canadian dark electro/industrial scene? What interesting local bands / projects can you recommend? How often big gigs and small parties are organized?

The scene in Canada is very different than in Europe. One thing that you need to keep in mind about Canada is that it is a very large country with a very small population density. This makes it difficult for scenes to thrive since you can not get people to events from different cities unless they are very large. Where I live for example, Winnipeg, it would require a plane trip or a a 20-30 hour car trip to another large city for an event. In my city the scene is quite small and very divided between people interested in music and people only interested in the style of goth with no real knowledge or interest in music. This makes it difficult to have successful events as there is so much difference in opinion among the scene. Luckily Canada has one of the worlds best Industrial events, Kinetik Festival in Montreal. This festival is world class lasting several days with massive amounts of amazing acts from around the world. I've had the pleasure of playing this festival twice (once when it was still called COMA) and it has been a high point in my musical career.

Your last greetings to our readers

Thank you for your time. It brings me great pleasure knowing that my music has reached people in Ukraine. I hope to thank my Ukrainian fans in person one day. Cheers!