«Questions and Answers: Ilya Lagutenko» — Evil Monito Magazine

Q&A: Ilya Lagutenko (of Mumiy Troll)

Ilya Lagutenko is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the Russian band Mumiy Troll, which has been around since 1983, a time of censorship and imprisonment for musicians and performers. They became popular in their hometown of Vladivostok until they broke up after Lagutenko had to do compulsory service for the Russian army. In 1997, the band rejoined to popular acclaim, establishing a discography of British/Russian hard rock and a reputation for lively, eccentric performances. Recently, Lagutenko suffered a case of appendicitis after a performance in front of a crowd of 10,000 at the Ice House in St. Petersburg, Russia. As he recovers in London, he took the time to speak with us about his travels, Chinese cinema, perestroika-era creativity, global music scenes and being a polyglot.

EM: Describe your average daily routine while on recovery.

Watching my baby daughter change every day. She is six months old and just started to express interest in listening to music, which is fun. When she starts to cry, I`ll sit her on my lap and we push keys on piano together and she is really surprised where sounds come from. It keeps her quiet and her eyes are so big from astonishment. I guess it`s original fascination with yet unknown sounds. I would love to experience something like that at this age.

EM: You divide your time between Moscow, London and Riga. What about these particular cities draw you to them?

I spent few years in London in the ▒90s. In fact, I was recruited to work for some international investment project ▒cause I spoke Russian, English and Mandarin and had an economy degree from my university. My London City Boy career wasn`t meant to happen—both Russian and British partners went bankrupt—so I was free to do whatever I wanted to do. And when I was in London, the whole Britpop and Cool Britannia things were happening those days. So instead of being involved in crude oil or diamonds import/export, I was influenced a lot by the British indie scene, and I imported some of it back to Mother Russia. The majority of our albums were recorded in London.

Moscow is a place to be in Russia if you are in a kind of business which expands beyond your hometown, which includes music. If you`re a touring band, you cannot operate from your hometown of Vladivostok. Every time you have to fly around you gotta take a plane from Moscow. I remember we did five festival dates in three days between Kamchatka and Sochi, and those are 10–11 hour flights and you have to change in Moscow all the time. Russia is incredibly huge country. I love Baltic states for their northern quietness and closeness both to Russia and Europe. However, in the last two years we`ve spent a lot of time in California. Our latest albums were recorded there, and we toured quite a lot. In fact, it seems like I`m intentionally looking to be at farthest places at same time (maybe I like planes). It gives me 10 hours of really good time for thinking of ideas and flying the dreams in my head.

EM: How has it been touring with your son Igor? Young and traveling the world, he must have had an incredible time.

He is studying at the university in Berdfordshire, England now, but in his school years, every holiday he would join the band to work as a tech. Being British, he does not have to join Red Army as his father did, but I guess being on tour taught him some basic discipline and responsibilities. And of course, fun times. All the guys in the band are characters, though we might not get that wild in life as [we do] on stage. But His Majesty Russian Far East “Specific Sense of Humor■ (which we probably inherited from the sailors and fishermen of Vladivostok) not only entertained us all the time, but probably still glues us after all these years.

EM: How did you get interested in learning Mandarin Chinese? What books would you recommend by Chinese authors?

I grew up in Vladivostok. The Chinese called the city Haishenwei—the Bay of Sea Cucumber. It`s a three-hour drive from China. The nearest school to the place where I used to live was by accident the only surviving Chinese school in whole of Soviet Union (Stalin moved all Chinese and Korean nationals from Vladivostok to Kazakhstan in the ▒30s—they said he was afraid they would join the Japanese in case of war ). So I started to learn Chinese from age of seven. Even Chinese-Soviet relationships in ▒70s almost did not exist. But by the time I entered the university, both Russian and Chinese perestroika reforms started, and it opened whole new world of possibilities and travel for me.

If you have enough time and passion, try the classic River Margins or Three Kingdoms. They are unbelievable ancient sagas. If you need quick introduction to understand what`s going on there, get a modern Wild Swans by Jung Chang or rent a Tsui Hark DVD—always fun to watch.

EM: Do you consider yourself a global citizen? How do you define your relationship with Russia?

I love that term Global Citizen—it has a real value to it. In fact, world political issues, different countries` stereotypes and misconceptions, regulations on security and tons of other bullshit will never make it happen. Funnily enough, even in Russia I really define myself as “Dalnevostochnik,■ from the Far East—usually a harsh place to live for migrants, sailors, navy, miners and too far from Moscow, but close enough to adventures. In other words, you know that you belong to Russia but you go to different places to learn, to see and to show the “real you.■ Maybe not the stereotypical Russian, but the one which is real—the one others would love and admire. Actually, that`s why we love our touring outside Russia. I know people never would think the best rock ▒n` roll would come from Russia, but from my knowledge of the international rock world, I`m pretty, pretty (doing Larry David impersonation) sure that Mumiy Troll is one of the best and honest bands on the planet, and we came from Vladivostok, Russia, and we would like you to know that at least.

EM: Any thoughts or comments on the current youth of Russia? Born after the fall of the Soviet Union, how do they differ from previous generations? How does that factor into the success of your band?

I remember when my younger sister was a teenager, she came and asked me “Who is ILYICH?■ You ask any kid who went to school before Soviet Union collapsed and they would tell you, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin—the biggest friend of Soviet kids and main communist. I still laugh when I remember what we were brainwashed about. However, when you talk to kids now, and their life experience came from stupid TV shows and celeb gossip mags, I sometimes think all that not-very-exciting communist ideology really made some people create interesting things. I still think Russian rock in ▒80s was maybe more amateur, but more exciting. It was very artsy. Those bands hardly would compete with ▒80s arena-sound mastodons, but they would really fit in today`s lo-fi scene. Everything is about the right time in the right place, isn`t it?

I guess with our rather Western-oriented music tastes, we became Russian phenomenon for a reason that young Russians needed something to associate with their generation, and not with their older brothers or dads. They wanted to see that things can be made in different way in new Russia, not the way “old red■ school tells you or KGB warns you about.

However, we cheated a bit. Even though I sang in Russian, I did all our production with British/American guys. It`s not a novelty anymore, but I guess 10 years ago it was quite a clash of different creative forces which made Russian rock music sound “firmenno■ (the slang word for “Of high quality,■ which in Soviet years usually referred to Western things like jeans or hi-fi systems, as we did not have our own in Russia) that young Russians really value, and is why Mumiy Troll records became so successful. They just set an example that things can be made, not only dreamed about. I guess it was whole timing in ▒90s Russia—people fed up by change and instability needed different things to prove that changes are finally for good. Unfortunately, obsession with money and power became more significant examples of new life than good records, movies or paintings.

EM: You have a big following among Scandinavian fans. How have you enjoyed performing and responding to your fans in Sweden and Norway?

We represented Russia at Eurovison song contest in 2001. It`s pretty tacky contest, heavily criticized over the last few years for “commercialization■ and even “not very fair competition and judgment■ schemes. We were lucky to perform in Denmark, where we kind of stood out from your usual type of contestants with our song. So bearing in mind this particular show is promoted heavily on TV, we gained fans who were happy to see something worth not only to laugh at but actually to listen to.

Since then we toured there, and our video “Lucky Bride■ was even included as a projection in the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg.

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Mumiy Troll will perform at the Roxy in Los Angeles on May 13.

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