Interview with Arctic Dreams

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

• Alex_Y: “It's a tough question... I've been in heavy music since I was 9 years old, and I can't imagine myself in any other role. I would probably become some kind of IT genius. I'm still developing software, though.”

• Sydius: "You occasionally try things and then something takes your dedication the way that you find yourself sticking into noodling around basic chords for hours. Then it grows. I’d get some science degree. "

• Glam Dickens: "The show itself... the first time I heard KISS. If not I think I could have enough time to earn every dollar in the world."

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

• Alex_Y: “I absorb all other creativity. That's what gives me new ideas in our music.”

• Sydius: "You have plenty beyond just playing the guitar: composition, music theory, ear training and transcribing, everything around sound and equipment, recording and mixing, discovering new music and analyzing classical music with scores, learning and reading on culture and art. That fills several lives."

• Glam Dickens: "I like drinking beer and walking. It's an opportunity to look and think not in a hurry."

How long has your band been around?

• Alex_Y: “We started in 2009. But, unfortunately, there was a downtime of many years.”

• Sydius: "Numbers are different - depends on your speed and frame of reference"

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

• Alex_Y: “We are based out of Russia. I, for example, am from the south of Russia, where the war is going on right now. We don't live in that country anymore and it's unlikely we'll ever go back there. Our work is of course very much influenced by all the evil that has been going on there for many years.”

• Sydius: "Until the necessity to rehearse we can handle everything distantly"

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

• Alex_Y: “The band originally started in St. Petersburg. But now I live in Belgrade, in Serbia. That's where we're based. I am here not so long and this place hasn't influenced me yet, but everything is yet to come)). The material of the first album is very much influenced by all the evil that has been happening in Russia for many years. We tried to show this influence in some of our compositions on the debut album.”

• Sydius: "It was easy to come up with it. Alex told me."

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

• Alex_Y: “Unfortunately, we can't boast any memorable shows ourselves yet.) But this year I had a chance to go to Rammstein gigs in Tallinn and Slipknot in Athens. I was very impressed by the scale and scope of these events and I had some ideas on how to organize our own shows.”

• Sydius: "Once I noticed a bar, climbed it, and hung upside down. Not a perfect guitar posture. Unless you hang it on your balls instead of your shoulders. I didn’t have this tip then."

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

• Alex_Y: “Oh, there are a lot of places like that.) Wembley Stadium, Budokan in Tokio, Marakana Stadium... You can dream a lot))”

• Sydius: "I had a dream to play a gig for a full hall of dogs. But now we have Instagram and Tiktok. Someone has definitely done that "

• Glam Dickens: "I dream to play at Madison Square Garden"

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

• Alex_Y: “Metallica, Slipknot, Megadeth, Blind Guardian”

• Sydius: "Farinelli, Lizst, Behold the Arctopus, Dimash"

• Glam Dickens: "Only me."

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

• Alex_Y: “We would advise them to go about their business no matter what, and not to quit on any account. There will be many blows of fate, but nothing should break them.”

• Sydius: "You already have much advice. You need to go through a lot to start understanding those. So take action. Have as much experience as you can."

• Glam Dickens: "Do everything you want to right now with no remorse, because you'll never have this life again. And if you have not crossed this line yet, become a lawyer"

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

• Alex_Y: “In my case, it would be, "Don't listen to anyone and do what you want, go your own way.” If that's what I would have done in my time, Arctic Dreams would probably have had the 6th album))”

• Sydius: "Buy bitcoin in 2016, sell in 2021 "

• Glam Dickens: "None"

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

• Alex_Y: “I can't single out any one or a few of the best) Songs are like children) You can't say that one of your children is better than another, they are all your favorites).”

• Sydius: "I’m a guitarist, we don’t write songs, we spoil songs with as much shredding as not cut out "

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

• Alex_Y: “I think it's "The Arctic Dreams," "Game Over," "Welcome to City 17," and "The Way to Infinity."”

• Sydius: "Game Over and Join to Space - for crazy fast riffs"

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

• Alex_Y: “I write all the music and lyrics. Absolutely all the parts. Then I explain to the other musicians what to play and how to play it.”

• Sydius: "The best inspiration is absence of distraction"

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

• Alex_Y: “We have a very broad spectrum of themes: the struggle between good and evil, the frailty of human existence, courage and honor, the perfect universal mind... A lot of interesting things.)”

• Sydius: "Your song has changed my life. I quit drugs. "

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

• Alex_Y: “Virtually none. As an experienced leader and psychologist, I destroy them in their infancy.”

• Sydius: I disagree with that"

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

• Alex_Y: “We can't say anything for sure yet. Everything that was planned for 2022 has been successfully completed. At the moment, we are in a new place, building a new base, and will be preparing for events, recording a new album.”

• Sydius: "Breed and settle a colony of booty-dancing seahorses on Mars and raise them with a new ideology of quantum marxism. If not, then spoil more songs with shredding to be cut out."