MEDIA: Interview

SURNUAED ZINE

Postmortem is one of the oldest and probably the best known Estonian metal bands. This year they celebrated their 10th year of activity and warmed up the legendary Norwegian black-metal band Mayhem in Tallinn. So I took the time to write down a few questions with the goal of getting some general information about the famous Postmortem. The questions were answered by the band's singing guitarist Sergei.

Postmortem is probably one of the oldest Estonian metal bands that is still together. If I'm not mistaken, you celebrated your tenth year in business this year? What has kept you in the cage for so long? You are right. This year, on March 24 (the day when POSTMORTEM's first rehearsal took place in 1991), we celebrated the band's tenth birthday. But I have to admit that we have not been operating continuously and consistently during these ten years. From time to time there have been breaks in our activities, the longest of which lasted for a year and a half.

Was Postmortem your first band? Yes, for everyone who was part of the first line-up of POSTMORTEM, it was the first band. I had tried to make a band before that, but not very seriously.

You must be aware of other bands called Postmortem. One exists or existed in Germany. Have you had any trouble because of it? When we took the name, the German POSTMORTEM didn't even exist! We first heard about them in 1996, but by then we already had a lot of fans and didn't think too seriously about it. Then a compilation was published in Belarus with stories from both POSTMORTEMs, our and the German one. We have communicated with them, but they do not monopolize the name. As a joke, they signed our guest book "real Postmortem". I know POSTMORTEM is a hot name in the metal world. Using the internet, I found one POSTMORTEM active in the US and one from Finland, but they are not serious bands. Well, in general- so what?! We are from Estonia, we are POSTMORTEM and that is what we will remain!

What is the current line-up and who writes the music? Denis Shelepov - drums,
Aleksandr Kobzar - solo guitar,
Ilya Radjuhhin - bass,
Sergey Shelepov - guitar, vocals
Roman Osnovin, lead guitarist of NOSFERATOS and NAGUALE, sometimes helps us, as our lead guitarist lives in Narva and cannot always play with us. But Roman knows our music very well and can play with us without any problems. Most of the music is written by me (Sergei), Aleksandr also writes a little. Denis rarely does anything; usually he's just honing his drum moves. At the very beginning, he also did the guitar parts and wrote the lyrics for us, but now 90% of the lyrics and 70% of the music are mine.

Do any of you have active side projects? Denis has played guitar (!) in TANKAS and SUGAR FREES (these are grunge-punk projects; recently TANKA recorded music for "Frederik" beer commercial). Roman, as already mentioned, plays in NOSFERATOS and NAGUALES (death metal projects), Ilja plays solo guitar in the band KAPRIIZNE MARY (post-punk), Aleksandr is a sound engineer in the band AVENUE (rock, post-punk). I don't have any side projects now, but I used to play bass in RATTLER (death metal) and TALLINNA (thrash-speed metal project of ex-vocalist Mark, who has now moved to New York). Together with Denis, we also participated in the 1995 NIRVANA JAM project; him as a singer and bass player, me as a guitarist and also a singer. I once helped SUGAR FREE drums out of trouble when their drummer couldn't perform at a concert.

Are you're still working with "More Hate Prod."? Yes!!!

Are you satisfied with their work? We are, but we still want them to do a better job! They make CDs and distribute them worldwide, but that's about it. They do not organize any tours or concerts. It is a fairly young company, which is quite successful, but we need more. We hope that one day they will become a big name in the metal business!!!

Do you ever plan to make a video? We have such plans, and had them in the past. A rascal once bothered us. He took our money, made some kind of video and then decided that it was it and started hiding from us. He works at ETV. His name is Oleg Gromov.

In my opinion, Postmortem is better known and more successful outside of Estonia, however you are actually an Estonian band. Do you agree? Exactly. We've released a lot of stuff under different labels around the world (check our website under the keyword "releases"). In Estonia, we only have one release, a song from the compilation album "Eesti Metal Ensiklopöödia" by Guano records, many thanks to them! Outside of Estonia, we have played at several big festivals, but in Estonia only at, for example, ROCK SUMMER. In addition, we have had several club performances in various countries near the Estonia border.

When and where was your last concert outside of Estonia? In December 2000, in Riga, Latvia, in the student club of the Academy of Music.

What do you think of Mayhem? Do you like them? I like them, especially the drummer! Hellhammer is powerful!

What other bands do you like anyway? There are many: Deicide, Napalm Death, Metallica, Death, Slipknot, Korn, Pestilence, W.A.S.P., Nirvana, The Cure, J.M.K.E., Nightwish, Manowar and many, many more.

What do you think about what's happening in the metal world right now? The situation is better than a two or three years ago. Right now we can even see proper metal shows from Russian MTV and Viva 2. There was no such thing before. For them, extreme music seems to be something like MARYLIN MANSON and LIMP BIZKIT. But where is SLAYER, DEICIDE, NAPALM DEATH, and other really extreme stuff like that?! It's a bit weird for me.

Do you believe that death metal can ever become as popular as it was in the early 90s? Yes, I know it will! But it will be some other kind of death, more powerful and maybe with electronic elements (like FEAR FACTORY), more melodic, mixed with new wave music. But anyway, I like old school death metal from 1990-1996.

What was the last concert you attended as an audience member? Metallica concert. They are a special favorite for me and other POSTMORTEM members! So of course it was AWESOME!!! I'm speechless. I stood right in front of the stage for two hours and sang along with them. We also saw MANOWAR. And we can be found at almost any local band gig.

If you could be a god, what kind of god would you like to be? Peace, justice, love, happiness... That should be enough!

Can you tell us more about what else you do besides making a band? We love our chicks, we work and do everything else that ordinary Estonian men still do.

A final word: All the best to you all!!!