Ilya Lagutenko: starting life from a clean slate is easy, because “first is love”

The 2015 videography of the year opens "From a clean slate" on the Pacific coast. The video was filmed on mobile phones by a group of friends during a picnic. Photo: MT press service

The Mumiy Troll group is over 30 years old - last year the musicians celebrated this date with a trip around the world, as a result of which they were born 13 th album Pirate Copies and the film that the group is preparing to participate in the Cannes Film Festival. ForumDaily found the main and ever-traveling Mumiy Troll Ilya Lagutenko in Los Angeles, from where he recently will go to America tour. The musician shared his own movie planes, talked about how Chinese has changed his life, why the group will not have the 14 album, and where the Mumiy Troll music cafes will appear in the US.

At the end of last year they said that you had moved to Vladivostok, and now we are talking in Los Angeles. What is the reason for your next move, and what do you do in the USA - work or relax?

Three years ago we decided to hold a festival in Vladivostok and, of course, we have to devote a lot of time to this issue, so we swapped Moscow for the Far East. Now the primary tasks are a film, a tour, an album, that’s why Los Angeles appeared, here you need to be in the thick of events that give you more contacts and opportunities. In any case, this is the Pacific Ocean, on both sides of which there is something to do.

Where in the City of Angels is your favorite beach and where do you think you need to listen to good music?

Both sides of the ocean are known for their dramatic views and musical traditions. Personally, I can not boast of exemplary knowledge of all the beaches, but I can definitely say that in Vladivostok, for example, surfing can be no worse than in the same Malibu.

You talked about your music festival, the idea of ​​which came from America, and that the progenitor was South By Southwest (SXSW festival). Did you borrow an idea or cooperate with them?

Yes, format of our festival V-ROX ("Rock of Vladivostok") works in the so-called showcase format. This means that we give aspiring artists the opportunity to express themselves, look at others, and make acquaintances. Well, work for a new audience. The SXSW festival, which has been held in Texas for many years, is naturally a starting point for many; it is an international talent fair. But it is clear that each country, each region has its own specific nuances and details - cultural, traditional, territorial, which always need to be taken into account. Therefore, when we had the idea of ​​doing such a festival in Russia, we had to take into account the size of the city to make the event visible, as well as the reach of foreign markets. Vladivostok is a logical choice. This is exactly the place where we not only took into account such specifics and some very personal nostalgia of mine, but were also able to give musicians, including from Russia and Asia, the opportunity to effectively present themselves to the public and open up new horizons.

Rather, we will not have a 14 album, but 15 will immediately appear. Photo: MT press service

How is efficiency measured in such events, what specific groups were seen at the festival of the now famous?

We are already in our fourth year. During this time, among the V-ROX participants there were several hundred groups from not the most rock and roll countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Great Britain, Vietnam, and Russia. Many of those who announced themselves at the festival (Second Hand Roses from China, Ego-Wrappin' and Love Psychedelico from Japan, No Brain and YB from Korea) gather tens of thousands of spectators at their concerts. But Russian viewers saw them for the first time. It's nice that we are learning to appreciate artists on their own merits, and not thanks to massive media attacks. There was an interpenetration of different cultures, and I am proud of it. American and European performers and producers have long been looking towards the East, but as we know, “the East is a delicate matter,” and I, as a professional orientalist, understand this and how difficult it can be to establish such a dialogue.

Even a global business needs to be built on understandable things - songs, films, cartoons, so that there is anything else to talk about.

This interaction of cultural projectsin, which has been taking place in Vladivostok for the third year now, is the platform that gives people from different cultural backgrounds the opportunity to get to know each other, exchange ideas, and try to understand each other.

In any Chinatown, it's easier for me to order food. Photo: MT press service

In childhood and at the institute you learned Chinese, how did it help in life?

When, as a child, I began to learn the language simply by chance (it was the school closest to my home), I did not understand how many new things would open up to me with this knowledge. At that time, China was also a closed country—there was no talk of any contacts. But then - and this once again shows how unpredictable our lives are - everything changed. I think that a certain sound of my songs in Russian is connected with the Chinese language. Language is not only a method of communication, it is also certain cultural attitudes. Although, of course, it’s easier for me to order food in any Chinatown.

In America, in a Chinese restaurant and the owners themselves are sometimes surprised by my choice, non-standard, even for sophisticated Chinese.

Language, as part of a culture, necessarily simplifies communication and provides an additional opportunity to be understood, especially in those countries and with those people who attach importance to each spoken word.

Album “Pirate Copies” - 13th. Do you believe in mysticism, given your favor towards the East?

This is not about us. In Chinese numerology, the number 13 is treated quite normally, but 14 is a completely different matter. 14 is consonant with the word “death.” You won’t even find a floor with that number in China. Moreover, 13 is considered a more than favorable number, so we will most likely not have a 14th album, but a 15th one will appear immediately.

In 80, you worked in a consulting firm. How does this knowledge help now in business, which, among other things, your musical projects have become?

Any knowledge always helps. Moreover, when I was 13-15 for years and I was just starting to get involved in music, I could not imagine that someone else needed this, that I would make some kind of career, that it would lead me to to communicate with their favorite musicians on an equal footing, to meet with those whose records were for me, as fallen from another planet.

Who, for example?

Brian Ferry, Guns N 'Roses, Duran Duran, KISS ...

All this still sounds quite strange to me - I have never tried to build a musical career.

I do not even have a professional music education, although, perhaps, it would not hurt. But again, life is unpredictable, and yes: I studied Chinese, and his knowledge led me to participate in various ambitious projects, which, in turn, give me the opportunity to live and work in different countries. And it means a lot to me.

It has become fashionable to use a popular music brand for commercial purposes. Here you are produce clothes together with the company "Your" and open the Mumiy Troll music bars. How commercially successful are such attempts and is it planned to open your establishments not in Russia?

KISS group, we never surpass here. They are just a mega-shot of the development of their brand. I am interested in various forms of cooperation, where you can creatively apply yourself, connect the unconnected, enjoying communication with talented people. This is not always possible in real life, but such collaborations, in my opinion, allow us to live several lives and grasp several professions at once. Regarding bars: we are considering the idea of ​​opening the Mumiy Troll Music Bar (in Russia they are in Moscow and Vladivostok) in other cities of the world, in New York, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Seoul. This is not a question of tomorrow, since everything requires human resources and personal participation, but such plans exist.

The tough touring life is the lot of the very young, and one’s own health now comes to the fore Photo: MT press service

“Mumiy Troll” is called the most touring group in Russia. What iron rules have been worked out over the decades, what is possible and what is not possible during a tour?

It’s true: it’s more and more difficult to survive the tour every year, the difference in time, climate, frequent flights, sometimes even a lack of understanding in which city you wake up. All this led to the realization that the tough touring life is for the very young and that one’s own health now comes to the fore.

Therefore, no matter how strange it may sound in rock and roll, in the life of a touring band a healthy lifestyle comes first.

Last year you came back from the Around the World, the result of which was “Pirated Copies” and another film. When is the premiere, where is it planned and what is the movie about?

It turned out to be easier to shoot the film than to edit it and find the necessary format that would be understandable not only to the group members and their relatives, but also to audiences in wide release. Such a cool essay came out on the topic: “how we spent last summer” - a musical tragicomedy about a group that wanted to share their songs with the whole world. The film will be presented to a wider public very soon; we are now concluding agreements with production companies and agreeing on distribution. The working title is “SOS to the Sailor”.
The closest starting point is the Cannes Film Festival. We are waiting for confirmation from them within a month, and if everything goes well, we will present it there.

What surprised you while traveling, and what surprises you at all?

Optimistic people who have a positive attitude to our entire uneasy, and sometimes even very difficult life. When I meet them, every time I am surprised that they still exist.

“In the life of a touring band, a healthy lifestyle comes first.” Photo: MT press service

You are called a collector. What exactly do you collect, where is good kept, given the constant travels and life in several cities?

I'm not a collector at all; I ended up collecting stamps as a child. This is not mine - with my speed of movement around the world, there is no way to carry all this with me. I take things quite lightly, and the life of a touring performer in the broad sense takes the most important things to another level. There are things worth appreciating and taking with you. And these are not things at all.

Emotions and memorable meetings. All this can be kept in the head.

What is your favorite museum?

Fondation Maeght. Everything in it is close to me, from geolocation and landscape design to the collection; The Mayo Foundation, whose building itself is considered a work of architectural art. In the interior design was attended by many famous artists. Revealed themselves in related areas. Chagall made a wall mosaic panel. Worked on the building and Marriage, and Miro.

You won’t hear political statements or assessments from you, either in music or in interviews. Is this a position to stand on the sidelines? Or should a musician not be involved in public life?

I do not think that someone should or should not be involved in something depending on their profession. Each person has his own vision and opinion, and it seems to me that the importance of the value of this very opinion from a person of a particular profession or position is greatly exaggerated.

The root of this not particularly joyful situation, both in Russia and in the world, where we all walk on a knife’s edge, is lack of communication.

Heads of state are, in fact, the same types as you and me. The problem is that not everyone understands this. Returning to the beginning of our conversation: if people understood how important it is to speak so that you are heard, many problems could be avoided.

The 2015 video of the year opens with a clean sheet on the Pacific coast. The video was filmed on mobile phones by a group of friends during a picnic.

Who is Mumiy Troll's listener now, considering the age of the group? How younger are the listeners who go to concerts?

There are two categories: these are people who came to us in the 90s, they grow up, but remain with us. And the youth who join decades later, they find in our new songs something in tune with their musical searches. I myself would like to believe that our music can really be appreciated at the level of decades. At different times, people are touched by different things, so our albums, which were called “ephemera,” do not lose their relevance and even carry certain prophecies in the lyrics and musical directions. Therefore, I am happy that our concerts are a place that unites not only people of different ages, interests and backgrounds, but also different countries and cultures.

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