Had the pleasure of catching up with the incredible Belarusian post-punk band from Minsk, Molchat Doma.
Questions answered by primary songwriter, Roman Komogortsev.
Photos provided by Molchat Doma / Korshun Yauheni.
Synth History: How did you guys meet?
Raman: We [Raman and Yahor] met in college when we were studying together. We were in parallel groups, but our entire cohort communicated with each other. We became friends, hung out a lot, and shared the same views on music. We started the band, and later Pasha joined us. After changing bassists one after another, Pasha came along, and the chain was completed. Now we're together.
Synth History: What inspired the name of Molchat Doma?
Raman: Actually, it's just a beautiful, in our opinion, combination of words that perfectly describes the music we make. The name was invented a long time ago in Minsk, where, you know, the landscape is far from the most cheerful, with lots of tall, gray, concrete buildings, and yes, that contributed to the name.
Synth History: Can you tell me about the music you were listening to growing up?
Raman: There was quite a lot of music at my home during my childhood, at least. It was mainly music from the 80s and 90s. It included a mix of some classic bands like Depeche Mode and A-ha. Later, when I became a bit more mature, I opened up to music channels like MTV, plus some local music channels, where I was already drawing inspiration.
Synth History: What are some of your favorite albums of all time?
Raman: There are so many such albums. I don't even know, it's the hardest question that always stumps me. Probably, at the moment, Songs of Faith and Devotion by Depeche Mode is one of the main albums that I can highlight, which I can listen to endlessly and each time I will discover something new for myself.
Pavel: Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of the Moon.
Yahor: Talk Talk - It’s My Life.
Synth History: Can you recall one of your favorite memories from performing live?
Raman: There are quite a lot of such memories. I always enjoy watching the fans who came to the concert, especially those standing in the front row, experiencing emotions. A few times, I've noticed people starting to cry from happiness or some kind of excitement. It proves that what we do is not in vain. People experience deep emotions, and that's very, very, very important.
Synth History: What are some of your favorite pieces of gear?
Raman: I can talk about this endlessly. I love collecting synthesizers, guitars, compressors, equalizers, and other sound engineering equipment. For example, one of my latest acquisitions, which I am very proud of and really like, is the E-mu Systems Emax II. It's a vintage sampler that was used in thousands of recordings by my favorite artists, of course, Depeche Mode. The reason I bought it is that Alan Wilder, a former member of Depeche Mode, did a lot of production and even played live performances with this sampler. By modern standards, it's quite slow and lacks many modern features, but it sounds just amazing. I'm incredibly thrilled with it.
Synth History: Do you have a favorite drum machine?
Raman: It's a tricky question, but I'll say that at the moment, because every time you use a different drum machine, you fall in love with it since they are all great. But for myself, I want to highlight the Alesis HR-16, E-mu Drumulator, and probably the Roland TR-909.
Synth History: Can you tell me about the inspirations behind "Belaya Polosa"?
Raman: The song is inspired, in fact, by deep changes in life, about how people around you are constantly changing at a crazy speed. People who were with you before are now in the past. Well, to be fair, not all of them, and that's very good. It's about a shift in perspective on life, on the world in general, about how we have grown older, and some things that were important before are now absolutely unimportant. Now there are completely different concerns and goals. That's what the song is inspired by.
Synth History: Can you tell me about the artwork for the album?
Raman: We wanted to stay in the same theme as our previous covers, specifically in the Brutalist style of architecture. So, I found a building. I began to delve deeper into Brutalist architecture and came across this building, which is depicted on our cover. It is a non-existent building by an Italian architect. We contacted the family of this architect to get permission to use the building on our cover. We decided to design it in such a fiery color scheme because we felt that this color best describes the emotions of the album.
Synth History: If you could give one piece of advice to another band just starting out, what would it be?
Raman: As practice shows, none of these pieces of advice ever work because each artist has their unique path. The only guidance is not to be afraid to create, to be inspired by different music, different types of art, and to be honest.
Pre-order Belaya Polosa via Sacred Bones here.
Synth History Exclusive.
Interview conducted by Danz.
Photos provided by Molchat Doma / Korshun Yauheni.
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