By Keith Walsh
After reaching out to Canada’s Artoffact Records, I had the opportunity to ask some question of Russia’s post punk band Ploho. Ploho are rising stars in Russia and the West, recently signing with Artoffact and being featured on Apple Music. Their sound has echoes of new wave and post punk, featuring Victor Uzhakov on guitar and vocals, Andre Smorgonsky on bass, and Igor Starshinov on keyboards. After using Google Translate to interpret some of the Russian lyrics (the experience was adequate), I found that their themes are both universal in some sense, with elements of romanticism, as well with other features that are distinctly Russian.
I get up close and personal with the band’s three members, covering literary influences, musical inspirations, and Cold War politics. Their song Прости (I’m Sorry”) portrays the the romantic side of the band.
Punkrockbeat: There is a literary style in the lyrics, perhaps traces of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy?
Victor Uzhakov.: The traces of Dostoevsky are in every Russian. In the way the Russian man thinks, in the way his mind and soul work. ‘I am a trembling creature or whether I have the right…’- I don’t know a person who hasn’t put himself in Raskolnikov’s shoes at least once. But if we’re talking about the influence of Dostoevsky on the lyrics of the Ploho band, no, I don’t think so.
Punkrockbeat: Out of all the vocation choices in Russia, what led you guys to pursue careers in music?
Victor Uzhakov: I believe if you’re meant to do music, it won’t be easy for you not to do it. I felt in high school that there was nothing else I wanted to do. All my life was built around wanting to make music, to make a band, to find people for play a songs. But of course it wasn’t so easy. You must to sacrifice a lot to achieve your goal.
Andrei Smorgonsky: Love of music and a little bit of luck. I’ve been with music and the stage since I was a kid. First it was theater and then guitar. Then came the fascination with Western and Russian punk and playing in different bands.
Igor Starshinov: I didn’t have to choose, as long as I can remember I’ve always been involved in music. I was born in the ’90s, when it was promising to be a gangster and everything associated with that. Music was the only way I could immerse myself in myself and abstract myself from the outside world.
Punkrockbeat: “The dumb soldiers of Blind Perestroika” (from “Good People”) Was this policy in the 80s misguided? How?
Victor Uzhakov.: Dying of old age it’s not suicide. Accepting the fact that the Soviet Union already is dead – it’s not reform. The Soviet system was collapsing. It was like a dam that no one had repaired for a long time, and the dam has collapsed from the force of great water. I hope you understand what this Russian guy is trying to say.. haha 🙂
Igor Starshinov: In my opinion, any political change in the country is partly wrong. Change is always for the better. But it’s one thing to change, and another thing to get what in return. It’s very easy to bring everything down, but then how do you build something that suits everyone?
Andrei Smorgonsky: These were misguided and overdue reforms.
Punkrockbeat: Your lyrics are bleak, but is this just theater? What drives the dissatisfaction?
Victor Uzhakov: Russian post-punk is not theater, let me tell you. It’s a documentary about life around a lyrical hero. And the lyrical hero it’s me, it’s Igor, Andrei, or any person next door. Not all of our songs are gloomy. We have many kind songs. But to hear it, you must to listen all of our albums and find this songs! So, get started!
Igor Starshinov: I don’t think it’s theater. The texts reflect our reality, the circumstances that surround us, our moods and emotional background. So it’s probably not the lyrics that are gloomy, but the reality that surrounds us is so gloomy. Probably!
Punkrockbeat: Overall I would say there is a romantic theme to your lyrics. “Stay with me, let’s be afraid together.” Are you romantics at heart?
Victor Uzhakov: Of course, our songs consist of romance more than half of it! Sometimes it’s hard to see that under the gloomy sound, but it is, believe me.
Andrei Smorgonsky: I would say that we are sensible experienced romantics.
Igor Starshinov: I think so. Not only us, everyone in Russia is a romantic at heart. A lot of things are not satisfied, a lot of things are just not there. And it is the inner romantic that helps to supplement reality and make life more fun.
Punkrockbeat: How does Western rock and roll influence your sound? How did Ploho come to hear Western music, and when? What were your reactions?
Victor Uzhakov: I used to watch MTV all the time when I was a kid. In Russia it was a cocktail of Western and Russian music videos. I listened to absolutely everything shown there. From Limp Bizkit and The Offspring and Korn to Five and Britney Spears. Later on I started discovering bands from the 70s like The Clash, The Damned, Suicide, The Stooges and etc. Later I heard New Order, Happy Mondays, The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and I loved that sound.
Andrei Smorgonsky: I started listening to punk and hardcore when I was 16. It was mostly American and British bands, plus a few Russian ones. Later on my interests started to expand and after a few years I was introduced to postpunk. In postpunk I was very impressed by the character of the sound, until then I didn’t know that music could be like that. The cold and otherworldly sound was a big discovery for me. Later on I also discovered Soviet bands of that time, which I was just as fascinated by.
Igor Starshinov: We’ve been listening to Western music since we were kids, and it had a special influence on everyone. But if we talk about “Ploho” specifically, it seems to me that the sound was influenced by post-Soviet bands and post-Soviet music.
Ploho On Facebook
Ploho On Spotify
Ploho On Bandcamp
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