«Russia`s Mumiy Troll brings „socially dangerous“ rock to the U.S.—but not by submarine» — Onion A.V. Club Twin Cities (USA, Minneapolis)

Russia`s Mumiy Troll brings «socially dangerous» rock to the U.S.—but not by submarine

Founded in Russia`s port city of Vladivostok in 1983 by frontman Ilya Lagutenko, the self-described “rockapops■ group Mumiy Troll has translated remarkably well from one historical context to a drastically different one. But perhaps even more extraordinary is the band`s proven ability to redefine “Russian music■ for a wide-ranging global audience, most recently with the new self-released, five-song Paradise Ahead EP (which features the band`s first track sung in English). That`s no easy feat (thanks, bands like t.A.T.u.). The A.V. Club recently got in touch with Lagutenko to discuss the band`s upcoming U.S. tour (which includes a show at First Avenue on Friday Night) but wound up talking about grandmas, submarines, and the Kama Sutra.

The A.V. Club: Do you prefer English or Russian for this interview?

Ilya Lagutenko: We should also consider Chinese. [Lagutenko is fluent in Mandarin.] And I`ve done interviews in Japanese, though I don`t know a word of it.

AVC: Improvisation—a fine segue for talking about your live shows.

IL: [Laughs.] Those are always good experiments for myself and for the audience. Live music isn`t about singing a song exactly as it`s recorded on an album. It`s more about noises and sounds working together with music, with energy. It`s not about, you know, reading a book on Kama Sutra positions, then going to bed with your lover to experience “Page 1: Do this and that.■ That`s not real life. In real life, if you feel it, you dive into it. It`s the same thing with music.

AVC: Nevertheless, if your album is a Kama Sutra book, it`s certainly well-edited—there`s a certain poetry and narrative to your lyrics. They`re premeditated. Russian critics, in particular, note this.

IL: I never thought of it that way, but hell yes! I do feel I`m a kind of poet. But why and where the lyrics come from, I still don`t know. Someone up in heaven or in the depths of the ocean is giving me all those words. [Laughs.] I`m not a storyteller, as in “A person goes from A to Z and this and that happens to him.■ I`m more about emotions and—how to put it?—hallucinations without drugs.

AVC: Even in your recordings from 1985, one can still recognize the band that exists today.

IL: It`s funny—we still play tracks I wrote as a 14-year-old. I`m not shy about them. I`m happy those songs have passed the time test. That gives me a certain amount of confidence in what I`m doing. And those early songs were written in the Soviet Union, under totally different rules and ideologies. Back then, I never actually felt myself “the rebel who has to go to the barricades.■ I don`t think I had that teenage ambition to explain the world and how it`s structured. I realized, then, that I don`t know these things, and I thought it better to write about what exists only in my mind, to share my personal world. As a matter of fact, millions of people decided to join that world. [Laughs.]

AVC: No wonder Soviet politicians called you “one of the most socially dangerous bands in the world.■

IL: We never claimed to be “socially dangerous,■ but even our name—Mumiy Troll—scared them. What a big joke. In those times, people wouldn`t dig too deep before saying, “He sounds crazy.■ Unexplainable things were, in fact, more rebellious than straightforward propaganda. In that context, we were more rebellious than anyone else around! [Laughs.]

AVC: You`ve maintained your inexplicability over the years —you`re a pleasure to Google search. One weird rumor after another. Is it true you travel Russia`s coast by submarine?

IL: Oh yeah! Of course! We`re from Vladivostok, after all. If we could, we`d add wheels to the submarine and travel the interstate highways of America in it, too. But, for the time being, we have to keep it in a secret location near the water. [Laughs.]

AVC: And what of this nickname given to you: “The Dostoyevsky of Modern Pop■?

IL: Throughout our career, we`ve had many, many tags given to us by the media. But “Dostoyevsky of Modern Pop■—that`s really good when talking with my grandmother. She might hesitate, and ask “What exactly are you doing for a living?■ I answer, “Oh, you know, I`m kind of…Dostoyevsky.■

by Katya Tylevich