When we last spoke to Sonic Death, the St Petersburg-based 'horrible motherfuckers' had just finished a national tour for their Hate Machine album. After also releasing a record of live recordings taken from the final show of that tour, Twilight and the Baptist are back with two new tracks of relentless outsider rock.The A-side of the single "GOTIKA"- Slovak for goth- is taken from their forthcoming LP, a cyber-punk rock opera about space and drugs."Our rock opera tells the story of a journey to space made possible by taking LSD," Baptist, aka Arsenij Morokov, explains. "GOTIKA, is about a guy who frequents a cemetery, wears black, and gives crows as gifts to his girlfriend. In a word, goth."Full of the same blasting Sabbath-like riffs that stood out on Hate Machine, "GOTIKA" sees the duo further experiment with elements of psych, proto-metal, and 70s sci-fi to arrive at something new, something they call "space goth".Continuing these explosive proto-rock experiments onto the B-side, the pair salute Quebecois stoner doom heroes Les Indiens with a cover of "Tomahawk Chopper". "Les Indiens are not very popular, especially in Russia, so we hope that our version of this infernal hymn will sparkle the interest in their music," Baptist said of the cover. "Who doesn't want an extra masterpiece about a ghost bike in their pitiful lives?"Listen to the tracks below and read a short interview with Baptist.Noisey: "GOTIKA" sounds like it could be from a Phillip K Dick novel. Where did the idea to make a drugged-out cyber goth rock opera come from?
Arsenij Morokov: Haha, exactly! I'm trying very hard to make the LP reminisce the 70s sci-fi. And you know what, I couldn't find a single rock opera written about drugs and space! How could that be? To me it's such a pleasing combination, so retro-futuristic! As for the idea, it was after one of our shows when I had a thought that it would be cool to play with the effects on my pedals between the songs to build some space-y transitions. With that in mind I somehow ended up writing a song that clearly sounded like the one for a rock opera to me — and I just kept writing songs that would segue into each other. This single may seem incomplete to someone for this very reason, it's just a part of the whole. A single from rock opera is a strange enough idea by itself and, I have to admit, that's why we're doing this.
Musically it's a cross between Hawkwind, Thee Oh Sees and Neil Merryweather. Space proto-punk, if you wish. And visually think… glitter-bum!Do you think Les Indiens will like your cover of "Tomahawk Chopper"?
I seriously hope so! We were totally blown away by this song. It's like a concentrated mixture of Acid King and Electric Wizard executed with such a talent, and it's so accessible and just 3.5 minutes long! They're doom metal Nirvana. Not to mention that Canada's zodiac sign, in according to astrogeography, is Aquarius. Just like mine, haha.
It was summer and the guys offered us a session just because they had free time and we're friends. It was our third time at Oxygen. You know, playing with Sam Twilight, you have to record in studio to capture his John Bonham-y drumming. But mixing and additional recordings all happen at my home. Russian sound engineers still don't think with audio waves, feeding you with bullshit about "real sound" and "the way it should be" and so on. It's just too damn expensive to hire these philosophers of sound! We tried to do that for Hate Machine, spent almost $1500. It wasn't worth it, that's all. Since then it's Homecult production only. Nikita Krikunov, the ex-bassist, drops by from time to time to help me with mastering. He actually mastered all our records before Home Punk and he's got his own style we call "garage deep-fry". The guy really knows how to make a record crust.
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Arsenij Morokov: Haha, exactly! I'm trying very hard to make the LP reminisce the 70s sci-fi. And you know what, I couldn't find a single rock opera written about drugs and space! How could that be? To me it's such a pleasing combination, so retro-futuristic! As for the idea, it was after one of our shows when I had a thought that it would be cool to play with the effects on my pedals between the songs to build some space-y transitions. With that in mind I somehow ended up writing a song that clearly sounded like the one for a rock opera to me — and I just kept writing songs that would segue into each other. This single may seem incomplete to someone for this very reason, it's just a part of the whole. A single from rock opera is a strange enough idea by itself and, I have to admit, that's why we're doing this.
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What are some of the defining qualities of Space Goth?
Musically it's a cross between Hawkwind, Thee Oh Sees and Neil Merryweather. Space proto-punk, if you wish. And visually think… glitter-bum!Do you think Les Indiens will like your cover of "Tomahawk Chopper"?
I seriously hope so! We were totally blown away by this song. It's like a concentrated mixture of Acid King and Electric Wizard executed with such a talent, and it's so accessible and just 3.5 minutes long! They're doom metal Nirvana. Not to mention that Canada's zodiac sign, in according to astrogeography, is Aquarius. Just like mine, haha.
You've always recorded your own music and previously shown disdain for Russian sound engineers. How did you end up recording free-of-charge at Oxygen Studio?
It was summer and the guys offered us a session just because they had free time and we're friends. It was our third time at Oxygen. You know, playing with Sam Twilight, you have to record in studio to capture his John Bonham-y drumming. But mixing and additional recordings all happen at my home. Russian sound engineers still don't think with audio waves, feeding you with bullshit about "real sound" and "the way it should be" and so on. It's just too damn expensive to hire these philosophers of sound! We tried to do that for Hate Machine, spent almost $1500. It wasn't worth it, that's all. Since then it's Homecult production only. Nikita Krikunov, the ex-bassist, drops by from time to time to help me with mastering. He actually mastered all our records before Home Punk and he's got his own style we call "garage deep-fry". The guy really knows how to make a record crust.