Just a few hours before their concert, part of Abaddon magazine crew had the pleasure to talk with a popular Siberian atmospheric black metal duo called Grima. Since their identities are covered with their popular wooden masks and their wish was to stay mysterious we had to write down this interesting interview. I had a chance to see their faces but no one else. Why they didn’t want to be filmed and what is the purpose of Grima they will discover during this talk. Enjoy!
You are on your promotion tour for the new album called “Nightside”. Are you satisfied with the tour so far?
The tour is packed. We almost don’t have any days off but it’s not our first time for this kind of schedule so we are more or less adapted to this kind of schedule. We enjoy people coming to our concerts, for better sales which allows us to bring more merch and expand our tour.
You were formed in 2014, that’s a long time for a band. Are you satisfied with your career and how your name is growing from year to year?
We are quite satisfied where we are right now, especially that we are a metal band from Siberia, we had to put more effort into our work but we love that. People in Russia don’t believe that we can make a living from music. That’s our particular achievement. We are making music for half of our life and we are happy with it.
Since we are at your beginning, what does Grima mean? Why did you choose that name?
Grima is a made up god created by the twins. That impersonates the Siberian forest. When it had been in making our idea was to create something that can impersonate the forest and spirit of Siberia.
Speaking about that. Since you have previous projects like Ultar people know how you look. So why do you insist on wearing masks on stage?
Our idea of the masks is not to hide the faces. The idea was to submerch the listener into our music in a better possible way.
As I see you are identical twins so as a medical student I must ask. Who does what in Grima? Who is responsible for the creative side and who for other stuff?
Our participation in songs is divided equally. Some particular things are made by one person but then another brother is finishing the song. But every song is the result of collective creativity. Grima is essentially a project made as a union of two people. Gleb is looking at it from a singer’s point of view and Maxim is more dedicated as a guitar player. Sometimes one or another brother comes with some different point of views but essential is our union as Grima.
Your new album “Nightside” is a debut album for Napalm Records. Does the change of label affect the band?
Signing for the label didn’t affect this album in any way because its recording happened before signing the contract. And we will never allow something to affect creativity in the bend specially because the band has established a particular type of a process that works for Grima and no one will change it. We are happy with the fact that Napalm doesn’t try to interfere in the creative side which stays untouched.
While we are talking about creativity. How do you manage to be in several projects? Is your artistic approach for Grima different than Ultar?
Grima is a project of only two people while Ultar is done by several musicians. More people participate in the process and that’s the main difference.
Some songs are shorter than on previous albums. Is there a particular reason for that?
There is no particular reason why it happened.there are more songs now then there used to be so it happened to be shorter.
Here comes my favorite question about the subject you are singing about: Siberian forest. Since I am coming from the part of Serbia which is called Serbian Siberia I know why I find it beautiful but why do you?
We were always into arts since childhood. We went to arts school and always admired the landscapes of our hometown. The idea was not just to portret our hometown landscapes only but to transform it into musical form.
I am impressed by every band singing in its native language, especially Russian since my favorite band Arkona also sings in Russian. I know there may be the problem that people, your fans won’t understand you. Are you maybe afraid that will affect your popularity?
It does affect the popularity in a positive way; it makes the band sound so unique. Many bands in Russia who prefer to sing in foreign languages will never be equally sound as native speakers especially in singing and writing while you speak and sing in your native language can bring up the identity of the band and attract listeners and make it more authentic. Phonetically speaking, applying such a complex language as Russian to extreme singing makes it sound more unique than in English.
What instruments did you use on your latest album? Bayan as I heard, something else?
Byan as you said, also synthesizer, bass guitar, drums is usually set and also acoustic guitar.
Which are your main musical influences? I assume as, you once said, you would like to share a stage with Abbath and Cradle of filth, any others?
Those are bands we used to listen to when we were kids. King Diamond, Cradle of Filth, Summoning, Immortal are our heros.
What are your plans for the future?
We sold everything to be bigger and expand the tour geography. We would like to see the world and to show Grimas music to the world.That’s our future.
Thank you gentlemen for your time. Welcome to Serbia. I wish you a pleasant stay here and a lovely evening. Good luck on your concert and see you tonight!
Photo credit: Ivan Veselinović
