Rabia Sorda
People Know How To Party In Russia

13.02.2012

Last year was pretty busy for Mexico’s Erk Aicrag  - both of his bands (Hocico, Rabia Sorda) performed at many summer festivals, then followed a Russian tour with Hocico, the release of a live DVD, and a show in Moscow at the famous Synthetic Snow Festival. The beginning of the 2012 looks promising for Erc, too – a no less full festival schedule, the release of a new single and a new album by Rabia Sorda. Before Rabia Sorda’s first performance of the year as a co-headliner of DarkFlower Live Night in Leipzig, I got to know from Erk at first hand who the DVD was recorded Russia, what bands from Russia and Belarus he considers promising, what he thinks about the Russian spirit and traditions, and of course, a few considerations about the upcoming album.

Erk, I’m so happy to see you here, at the DarkFlower Live Night! First of all, I’d like to thank you for your work, it’s both excellent and brilliant! I’ve got so many questions for you, and so I’m so glad to have this chance to meet and ask them face to face. I think all possible questions about your music have already been asked two or three million times…

No, no, maybe not!

OK. You come to Russia quite often, almost every year. For sure, it’s linked to offers from promoters, but do you have a special relationship with our country?

I love Russia, I love Russian culture. I have a big connection with Russia. I first became acquainted with Russian culture long ago through Russian music and movies. I love Tarkovsky’s movies, he is one of my favorite film directors of all time. I like the music he uses and I know a guy who made music for a couple of his films. That was the first thing I noticed, when I was a kid, when I was like 10-years old and I saw his movie on TV. For me there was something romantic about the music and the whole atmosphere of it.

And what about people in Russia?

Well that came later when we had a chance to play in Russia for the first time. It was a great experience. The people were going wild … the Russians are pretty open. People want to party, and people know how to party in Russia! This is why we appreciated it. And that’s why we decided to record the new live album in Russia. I think it was the best live record in terms of chemistry that we’ve ever released.

It was recorded in Yekaterinburg…

Yes, it was in Yekaterinburg. The first time we played there we had all the resources we needed to make it right. We enjoyed this experience and we were very glad to have the chance to make it with vodka flavor. It was really great!

You have been interviewed several times by Russian journalists. Which really interesting or unusual questions have you been asked? And what were these questions?

I understand what you mean… I can’t remember specific questions, but the thing that I like is that they’re always quite personal ones. About my family, how I feel, how Mexico is... they always wanted to know something personal about me. I like that. I can share a part of my private life to a certain point and I like that! Sometimes I get to be truly honest, like in speaking with you right now, sometimes I forget that I’m doing an interview. I keep talking and it becomes kind of like a conversation between friends. I like that about Russia, the connections with culture and people. I have good friends there in Moscow. And, little by little, I feel more welcome in Russia.

Every time you’re on the stage above the people, what do you usually look at? Do you see our faces or only a crowd?

At first the people are just a crowd - when I’m just concentrated on the show and on the sound and the music. But then I become part of the whole experience. And it’s at this moment, when the crowd becomes individual people. There’s a specific person which grabs your attention for some reason. You have some sort of personal connection with them. It doesn’t happen every time, but when it happens, it’s cool. Like you know, when you can make personal connections even for just a few seconds, when you get this private contact, it’s really cool!

How do you choose this person to connect with at the concert?

Again, there’s no real plan to it. It just happens, you know? I mean, you can’t plan it. The people are just there looking at you, and suddenly you connect! I don’t know, it just happens.

Last year a few concerts of German artists were cancelled in Russia. Can you give any suggestions as to why? Just to be frank, from your own experience, is the Russian music market uninteresting and too small?

In Russia? Well I have a picture, I think, of what’s going on in Russia after all these years. There are wonderful promoters, who always take their jobs seriously and take really good care of the bands. I like that they respect the people in the bands. As to bands, there are many Russian bands doing interesting things, people doing their own music. But what I see is that in most of the cases, most of the bands are trying to imitate the German sound, the European sound that is most found at the German festivals of hard electronic music. They try just to imitate this sound, instead of creating their own thing. I was with a guy I know, my friend, who lives in Moscow. I said, “Russia has been such an important country in terms of culture and movies, why not music?” I mean on the underground level. Of course you have some great composers, like Chaikovsky, but why not on the underground level? I don't understand that. I am sure there are many things musicians want to say, things young people are trying to say. I don’t know why it doesn't come up to the surface. It all remains really deep underground. I met a very interesting band, which opened up for us at the “Synthetic Snow Festival”, and from my point of view they created a real Russian sound. I can’t remember their name… You know it… they are from Russia… or Belarus…

Mechanical Apfelsine or Cold in May?

Yeah, it was one of the first two bands. They had a very fresh sound, something like pop sound. Very well done, and I liked it. It was fresh, something different. They were not trying to be angry just for being angry, you know?

How would you describe your fans?

Wow! Like… (imitating a shot to the head) I have two bands, you know, and sometimes the fans of each differ from the other. Sometimes they both like what I do because they get to know my work from both bands and say, "OK, I like him as an artist". But I want to think my fans really share my vision of the world and have a critical opinion about what is going on. That's what I want to think - that they have their own opinion about life and about the world they're living in.

You once said in an interview that you sing about love and making love...

Really? Shit! Did I say that? Maybe it was after a liter of vodka... Well, I mean, making love is great. Sex is great! I have a lot of sex and I hope my fans are having a lot of sex too!!! That would make me happy for them...

Are there any plans for an interesting cooperation in the future? For example, a duet or just any collaboration? With which of your counterparts would you like to attempt this?

At the moment, I am working on a new album of Rabia Sorda. It's pretty much done... well, around 80%. I think a new single will be released in March or April, and the album will come right after that. But as for the future, I would say I am looking for the right people to cooperate with. I’m sure that I'm gonna have a couple of guests, such as, of course, the guys in my band like Jeans (drums) and Grigory Feil (keyboards). They both will, at some point, cooperate with me. And I have some other ideas in mind, but I would prefer not to talk about them right now. Let's just say I want to have a couple of guests on my next album, but so far there are no concrete plans.

Is it a secret?

No, it’s not really a secret. I just want to make sure it will work first, then I can talk about it.

You sometimes work as a DJ, and you are often invited to famous German dark clubs, e.g. DarkFlower, to play a DJ-set. Is this mainly just for fun or job or what?

What’s fun about DJ-ing? Let me be honest. DJ-ing, playing other people’s music, is pretty hard for me. It’s certainly harder for me than going on stage. I mean, I am playing music that is not mine, and I'm trying to convince people to dance to it, and this can be difficult. Really, part of me is totally insecure. And so I stand there wondering like, “Shit, what the hell am I going to play next?” But I enjoy the time with fans. I get the chance to speak with some of them, you know, have that personal contact. I really like that. I don’t do it frequently, but I want to do it, like, once or twice a year. And that's OK.

When you play other people’s music, do you play your favorite music, or the kind of music that is expected from you?

That's the funny thing. Of course, people expect me to play hard electro or industrial. Which I do… I do play some of this. But my musical tastes are wider now. The older I get, the more music I like. I am becoming more open to all musical styles. I don't like everything, of course not. But I try to keep myself open to new music styles coming from everywhere around the world. I really enjoy stuff like Peter Gabriel, and I always try to keep my ears open. But I got to keep the people moving, when working as a DJ. Sometimes it works, sometimes not... but it’s just fun.

I am sure you manage it every time.

Every time? Ha... no, a couple of times, I would have to say not.

Music is, above all, a business. Do you have a business plan, and if so, what does it include?

Music is a business? Do I have a business plan? Oh no, I don’t think I am much of a businessman. Sure, I have plans for the future. I’m planning to live off my music. I don’t know if that will work, but so far, it keeps me alive and happy. And financially, it is OK too. So, I don’t think I need a business plan... maybe in the future.

Do you have another job apart from than music?

No. I don’t have a regular job, a day job. I love music, I’m lucky enough to earn money with it. And as long as I can do this, I don't want to get a day job.

In your opinion, what factors are required to gain success? 

Firstly, you'll need to define exactly what success means. Because it can be quite different to you than to me. I feel very successful right now in my private life and my musical career. I feel very lucky to live the life I’m living right now. But as for components of success, there is no formula. All I can say is that the main thing is to believe in what you do. There's nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals, as long as you believe in yourself. I mean, I believe in what I do and I think that people connect with that.

You produce clips, which will never be shown on MTV. They will instead be watched by a very specific audience. How do you assess that? And what is the goal behind it?

Well, I see all forms of expression and art as a whole. Music is part of that. It's what I love to do, and I do it well. But, it is only one form of art. And videos and movies are an additional form. And honestly, there is no reason to do it just to be shown on TV. You just do it to do it. I don’t care if I lose money, it’s just fun doing them. It makes me happy. I’m not doing them to achieve success or to attract attention.

What do you think about illegal downloads? On the one hand it is stealing, but on the other hand it’s perfect advertising. It’s no secret, that many people first illegally download an album and then go to the store and buy it. What’s your opinion?

Yeah, I know, I know that. I mean, I come from Mexico, and I must be honest…

And I come from Russia…

Yeah, you know what I am talking about. We are probably on the top of the list of pirate countries. Definitely, Mexicans and Russians, no doubt. Well, I can say that when I started listening to music, I didn’t have any money to buy vinyl or CDs. What I did was I went to the market and bought tapes. I bought tapes of Skinny Puppy, and they were copies, illegal copies. I used to buy them, it was back in the eighties, maybe 1988. I was a student and had no money. It was from this form of buying that I got my way into music. Then later on, when I got a job and I could afford it, I bought all the music I could. So I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. You know, if you can get to know a band from an mp3, you can then go and buy the record later.

Rabia Sorda on the Internet: http://www.rabiasorda.com/

Special thanks to Out Of Line Records for arranging this interview

Yulia “Darkpartygirl” Davydova
January 28, 2012
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