Интервю с Василий Козлов от SatanaKozel/ Interview with Vasiliy Kozlov from SatanaKozel

The name of the band is SatanaKozel, which sounds more black metalish and you’re making more folk metal. Tell me, why did you choose this name for your band?

Vasiliy: There’s been so many versions of how our name came to be, that honestly I don’t feel like coming up with something new. I favor etymology, sometimes it’s fun to find out where are the roots of a certain word. In this case let’s just say that the name came from outer space – a ray of fire, it shot down through the atmosphere, fell down to the ground somewhere near Petrozavodsk and then invaded the brain of one of our friends.

How did you deicide to play such kind of metal, where did you get the influences to?
Vasiliy: Music by Finntroll, Ensiferum and Moonsorrow was an influence, to us it was something new and exciting yet we could relate. The nature and the energy of such music make your spine tingle. City life is also a factor. You always idolize what you don’t have, strive for it and search for what cannot be found. We knew right from the start that we wanted to play folk metal.
How do you see the russian scene? Are there many fans of folk/pagan metal. Because as far as I know there are many people, listening to industrial metal for example?
Vasiliy: We don’t follow our native metal scene too much. There are numerous bands that are sort of shady, it seems that it’s become trendy to praise the gods. Although, that’s all right, too. Musically, it’s hard to distinguish anybody, except for maybe Arkona and Leshak too, of course – a fresh find. The thing is, the numbers of fans are low, these concerts don’t attract too many people and the following has a left and a right wing as well. There were 150 people to see 5 bands at the last show in St. Petersburg, it’s up to you to decide whether that’s a lot or not.

I saw some photos of you in the internet, where you are dressed with old folk clothes in the woods. Are these photos made in your home town?
Vasiliy: The photos were taken near our hometown, however there are places in Karelia that reflect our music way better. For example, the waves of the White Sea in the East, which is where I come from, or the breathtaking mountains up North. We took the easy route on the first album. The spot is close to town, on the shores of Lake Onega. For the photo shoot on the second album we went all out and traveled to an abandoned village that was 250 km away.

On your first album, there are Satan ( kozel), drinking with a man. Is this some kind of contract between them, you know, Satan sharing his ideas…

Vasiliy: On the cover of the first album is a satanic kozlotroll which is a character that we made up. This can have different interpretations. The scene depicts the inner world of one man: a hard-working blacksmith who is tempted – in this case to drink, by a sarcastic antisocial horned entity. How typical. You either stay human or give in to the horned one, it really is a personal choice.

Is the band the only thing, you’re doing, or everyone has his own job, besides SatanaKozel?

Vasiliy: We don’t make money off our music. It is a way to escape and do what we love, but we still need to hold jobs to make ends meet. In our country there is no financial support of any sort for guys like us, we have to work hard and try our best and rely only on ourselves. I think that everyone has their place in this world. Our place is, of course, in music and in nature. But the way things are, we all have to work in the city to make a living, damn it!

Have you been invited to big pagan/folk festivals?

Vasiliy: There was an invite to play at a folk-fest in Poland, except we never heard back from the guy who was in charge. Other than that, there aren’t too many offers since we aren’t signed on to a label. We are on our own without a producer or a director. Nickolai will manage to hook us up with a show every now and then, but that’s about it. We are a concealed, underground band which I do like because there is a feeling of mystery about it.

Which are the bands you like?

Vasiliy: It’ouldn’t make sense to name a whole list, there are tons and tons of bands and artists. I ‘d like to recognize so-called vocal instrumentalist groups of the 1970-s from the USSR such as Pesnyary, Tsvety, The Singing Guitars and Yalla. These guys are all excellent and their followers are just cheap knockoffs. Yuri Antonov, the maestro of our pop culture also deserves an honorable mention.

Some people are saying, that you’re „the russian Finntroll“. Do you like this kind of description?

Vasiliy: I don’t see how a comparison to someone else can be attractive, especially being labeled as the Russian Finntroll, although those guys have absolutely been a huge influence and our way of thanking them for that was to write two stylized songs for our first album. I think most people would say that we are unique rather than repetitive. Names and labels don’t bother me too much, there is a traditional saying that goes like this: call me a baking pan, just don’t put me in the oven.

Are you working on new songs?

Vasiliy: Of course, we are in process as always. There are new songs that are grand and powerful, and there will be some surprises. Life happens and sadly, there is not always enough time left to devote to music.

What are doing in the moment?

Vasiliy: Right this moment I am answering questions. Stopped to take a break for a while after playing the last show in St. Petersburg, we’ve got to plan for the winter: catch some fish and harvest some berries and mushrooms. It would be fantastic to do a bit of traveling in the homeland.

Who is writing the lyrics? The music? Do you think, that someday  you’ll start singing in English?

Vasiliy: We call our music folk – it originates in the community and belongs to the people.

Thank you for this interview and wish you all the best.

Vasiliy: It’s always encouraging to find that our music helps people in these fucked-up times. As always I encourage men to stay men, protect the women and fight injustice and the women to appreciate your men. We all have just one goal and that is to preserve the nature, if not – we will all die out. Don’t watch TV where all they tell you is a bunch of lies. All the best.