Interview with Misanthrofeel.

We could not but talk to the modest foe of smoking and just positive-proved man.

1.Hi, Vis. Let us start from the very begining. When did you first get interested in music? And when did you realize that you can compose it as well?

I've been fond of music and have been composing it in my head, if I can say so, since I was a little tot. For the first time I started my experiments with music in the begining of 2000 when a couple of dark ambient and purely electronic tracks appeared, but that was all. In 2009 I launched Garage Band application and tried to compose something just for fun. Originally I assembled tracks from samples, it was like a construction set. Sometimes the results were interesting. But then I gave up this method and started to create my own music. It took me about two hours to compose "Raw War". I asked my friends to listen to it and they said it was not bad at all. So, I decided to go further and recorded a demo which was distributed via Internet. So, that was how everithyng began.

2. What are the roots of you music, what do you think? What is your probable guideline?

Roots of my works are in the love of music in general. That's another world which I visit from time to time. The music that arouses emotions, touches the strings of my soul is my guideline. I'd like to believe that my music arouses the same positive emotions in somebody else.

3. In what kind of music are you interested right now? Bands, styles..

If we are talking about metal music, I've always liked doom metal, to be more exact - doom death metal. But it is impossible to listen to the same kind of music all the time. You have to alternate it with another one. The need to listen to this or that kind of music arouses in me depending on the time of the year. In autumn and spring that's usually doom metal, in winter it's progressive death metal or just death metal, in summer - progressive metal and so on. But I cannot say that I'm obsessed only with metal styles. I like post-rock, jazz,ambient,fusion,trip-hop, folk(ethnic), classical and experimental music as well. Recently I've listened to post-metal quite often and discovered a band (one man band as far as I know) playing that kind of music - Consciousness Removal Project. If we are talking about favourite, time-proved bands these are Opeth, Katatonia, Anathema, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, My Dying Bride, Novembers Doom, The Gathering, Between the Buried and Me, Novembre, Amorphis - the list may be continued. My favourites in classical music are Chopen, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Grieg, Wagner.

4. How did you come to oriental music?

I have always liked oriental music and when I heard it in metal arangement, I started to look for the bands playing it. One of such bands is Orphaned Land. I wanted to compose something like this - that's how "Easterica" appeared.

5. To work alone - is it basically obstinacy, neccessity or inevitability?

That depends for the most part on possibilities. One can say that's a challenge - sometimes I want to prove to myself that I am also worthy of something. In this case working alone justifies the means. But I am ready for the proposals of cooperation. And there had been several, but they were to no success.

6. In what direction are you going further? The order of your releases does not give us clear understanding: orientally scented "Easterica", then aloof and cold "Ultimate Senseless", doomy "Leisurely", ambient series of (XII-XIII-XIV, 6.04, Emptiness Within) and now a new release returning us to "oriented". What's next?

I have no plans as such. Sometimes an idea comes across my mind and I try to put it into life. Right now I have a couple of finished tracks and a couple of drafts. But I'm not going to release anything in the nearest future. I have an idea to release an anthology of pseudo-doom metal tracks created during these two years but that's still only an idea.

7. Is creative work the result of your own will or of the outer one? Let me explain: do you know for sure what the result will be or do you abstract away during the process of composing and the result surprises even youself?

It's pretty hard to answer this question. Everithing depends on circumstances. Sometimes I get down to composing something purposefully, as it was with "Easterica". At that time I wanted to create something oriental. I had composed and recorded it for just a week, but then I decided to improve the sound, and it took me several months. That was how "Easterica Revision" appeared. Sometimes I have an aim to create something in some genre, and sometimes I'm looking for melodies during playing. After that I create the framework of the track and add arrangement, and then the process known as mastering(improving of the sound, sound compression etc.) begins.

8. Can you imagine yourself as a part of a band?

Probably, in future. But I cannot imagine how that will look like. And if I'm going to play in a band that's going to be completely different kind of music.

9. Does it matter for you who your listeners are and whose ears your music gets into? Does the presence of liteners at all matter for you? Or do you compose with the purpose of getting free from accumulated ideas?

I do not try to compose for somebody. It's enough that I just enjoy composing and recording. But if there are those who want to listen to my works, that's pleasant as well. It's double as pleasant when comments are positive. Then one wants to compose further.

10. Your songs are mostly instrumental. Is the absence of vocals a part of the concept or an inevitable loss? Do you have lyrics for finished songs which you would like to put into life should there be an opportunity?

The absence of vocals in my songs is more like an inevitable loss. I do not think that I'm a singer, it's necessary to learn hard for that (the fact that I had attended musical school does not matter). Probably I'll start singing but I haven't thought of that yet. I was going to write lyrics for the "Easterica", but then I changed my mind. That's a long and difficult process. The album had already been released and I had to move further. By the way, you can hear my vocals in "Cookie Monster" from the EP of the same name. There I tried to scream and growl, I think it was funny. Well, that's why the song was titled so.

11. You are the author of lyrics for the two songs that have vocals. Could you tell us what they are about? Why did you choose the English language?

The song "Leisurely" and its lyrics were dedicated to a person who was close to me and who's dead now. And lyrics for "Long Way to Deliverance" is some kind of metaphor which can be applied to every one's life. I think everybody's trying to get rid of something that's gnawing at him, to get rid of the burden of his problems. Something like this.

12. In case you have an opportunity to record your music live will you make the sound heavier, change the arrangement or something else? Or will you try to make the result resemble the original as much as possible?

I think the sound would be heavier, denser. And I would ask the drummer to rewrite drums.

13. What CD would you like to break? What book would you like to tear?

I haven't ever thought of that. I like to create and not to destroy.

14. What inspires you?

Events, people, thoughts.

15. Do you know who the user of darkside.ru nicknamed Uff is?

Yes, I do. But I won't uncover his identity without his consent.

16. How did the idea of recording a split album with Shine, My Boregarden appear? Were there other candidates?

As far as I can remember the third participant was the author of this idea, but he gave it up because he could not meet the deadline. To be honest, this album had been waiting in the wings for more than a year.

17. Have you ever performed, even if it was a garage gig?

No, I have never done this. I cannot imagine how it can be implemented.

18. Do you have songs you are proud of?

I cannot call this pride. I would rather say, there are songs that I like, more or less good ones: Leisurely, Sphinx, Solitude, Dream about Sealand (Part II), Ocean, Raw War, Wreckage, Nightmares, Easterica.

Interview by Oakim a.k.a. Jigsaw_Quandary, EmilRegis a.k.a. EzekyleAbbadon & ElGatoEnjuto a.k.a. ElGatoEnjunto

In Russian - here.