Major Moment

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Interview with Andrey & Sasha of Major Moment

Interview conducted on May 1, 2020

by Dan Locke

Spearheaded by two Russian-born vocalists, Boston-based band Major Moment has come from distant parts of the world to form a true modern rock band.

Band Members
Andrey Borzykin – vocals, synth
Sasha Razumova – vocals, keys
Eddie Thurmon – lead guitar
Daniel Interrante – rhythm guitar

What is your upbringing?

Audrey: I grew up in a family of doctors in Chelyabinsk, Russia, with my grandfather being the only exception from the dynasty: he had to drop out of high school (that he later came back and finished) to fight in WWII, and then worked in the factory building tractors. People always told me I looked more like him than my parents, haha, and I guess we had more similarities than just the appearance. After I finished the school, I had all the intentions to make my parents proud by continuing my education in a medical college, but failed my entry exams miserably. I then attended law school for 4 years before dropping out and moving to America to get a fresh start, and eventually to pursue a career in music.
Sasha: I grew up in Moscow, Russia, my parents were only 23 years old when they had me, which is a gift, since we have such a strong bond. They were into sports, so at the age of 6 I went to my first tennis class. My mom, on the other hand, wanted me to do ballet… She wanted it so bad that despite my aversion to it, I had to come for a try-out. After the class was over, the teacher came up to my parents and said “She’s like a piece of wood. That’s not happening.” I was thrilled! Haha. So, tennis took over my life. I became a professional tennis player, and had a pretty successful career, reaching the highest ranking of 576 in the world. It was such a great school of life! I’ve learned how to be strong (not only physically but, most importantly, mentally), patient, persistent, it taught me discipline and that hard work always pays off.

How did you discover music?

A: 100% because of my parents. They both graduated from music schools, and although they have different tastes, there has always been a lot of music in our house. My dad was heavily into rock music, particularly, British and American, so I guess I had my music tastes shaped up by listening to the bands he liked.
S: Oh, I’ve always been a huge music fan! My mom believed that listening to a lot of classical and other types of music while pregnant will develop her child’s taste for music and art, while also making them more mentally stable. I don’t know about others but I think it worked for me, lol. Besides, I was born on the Radio Day (May 7th – as celebrated in Russia), which explains why I love music so much and would sing along to almost every song in any language! (mostly English). Remembering lyrics was a breeze. The only thing I regret not pursuing is when my mom wanted to take me to the music school… That knowledge would be very helpful right now! Haha.

How did you start to write music?

A: My first ever attempt was when I was like 12-13. My dad actually helped me out to arrange it on our old Casio synth, which was more like a kid’s toy, not a real synth, but enough to create an idea. The song was called “Snow”, it was in Russian, and I’ve since toyed with the idea of revisiting it to bring it back to life, as a challenge if nothing else. We’ll see what happens.
Later on, when I moved to the States at the age of 21, there were a couple more productive years, but it wasn’t until I was 30 that I decided to approach it seriously, and yeah, no stopping now, haha.
S: Maybe we had enough of revisiting your old ideas, Andrey? Let’s just write something new from scratch again. It worked out great the first time we tried to write a song together. This is the one we will release very soon and I’m soo excited for the world to hear it!! It’s called “The Flood” and it’s definitely something you don’t expect from Major Moment, but you’re going to love it! Promise!

How did you get your band’s name?

A: I stole it.
S: Silly… Andrey and his bandmates at that time were bouncing ideas off of each other and someone came up with this option. I wasn’t even in the band at that time, but regardless, I was very involved in “behind the scenes” day to day operations. So, when Andrey shared some options with me and I heard “Major Moment”, it clicked! Google search resulted in no bands with this name, which we were shocked by, and the decision was made. It resonates with our mission big-time, hopefully making people think of their lives, what are their major moments, if they had enough of those or not… you know.

How do two Russian singers end up in Boston to front a band?

A: Oh, well… I often find myself asking that same question, haha.
S: Because we think in Russia it would be 100 times harder to get noticed and do what we do right now. But yeah, it’s all Andrey’s fault, he moved to the US and I followed. Lol. And we’re pretty happy with this decision.
A: Sasha makes it sound like it was a coldly calculated decision, but it wasn’t. I always admired Western culture, and always wanted to write songs in English. But what she says is also true, like, name 3 world-famous bands that originated from Russia… I’ll help you. Gorky Park, T.a.t.U., Pussy Riot (is that even considered a band?). Now, try to name just ONE more, lol. I know I can’t.

You released your debut EP “one small step” and you won best Rock album of the year at the 2019 IMEA Awards. How did it feel to win it the first time out? Do you see a Grammy in your future?

A: We’ve been blessed to have had our works nominated 20+ times in various songwriting/music awards last year alone, and we even won 5. We’re definitely planning to submit to the Recording Academy in the near future. Last year, I Prevail got nominated for Grammys in two categories, and while I know they worked hard to be where they are today, I don’t think we’re THAT far behind. We’ll see what happens, I have some ideas.
S: This is definitely one of the goals on my list! I think our new songs would have a good chance of getting at least a nomination if we will be able to put them in front of the nominating committee.

How did you get the single “May Leave Sears” into the Lennon Songwriting Contest? And you won the Lennon Award! Who were you against?

A: We’ve submitted our songs to a lot of contests last year, kind of wanting to get some feedback & critique, but were pleasantly surprised to see almost every single submission resulted in a nomination. This is definitely one of my most cherished achievements to date! Now we just have to win “Song of the Year” this year, with a $20 000 cash prize. And do we have a song that’s worth it? Damn right, we do!
S: Absolutely! This contest is very intense! Fans had to vote every single day for like a month or so to ensure the victory of their favorite artists, so we are incredibly grateful to our fans, friends, and family who showed their support! It’s inspiring!

You dedicated “one small stEP” to Chester Bennington. Do you feel that the music industry has a problem with suicides?

A: Well, sure, it’s a known fact. Just the “Club 27” phenomenon itself is enough to be concerned. Musicians and artists deal with rejection on a daily basis, no matter how small or big, there are always haters, and the industry is super-competitive. When people constantly reject what artists consider their whole purpose of living, it presents a problem. Besides, I believe artistic minds are wired a bit abnormally, it’s a blessing and a curse.
S: I feel like mental illness and depression, which often leads to suicide, became a problem of the whole modern world. The music industry just occupies the top of the charts… due to what Andrey said and other personal factors. A lot of artists were going through a very rough childhood, drugs, alcohol abuse, violence… So, they look for an outlet, and music happens to be the best therapy.

Tell me about “The Sequel”?

A: When we were working on “one small stEP”, we were trying to find our sound, our identity. We had about 20 home demos that we needed to narrow down to 4-5 songs that would together sound like one cohesive piece of work. Kevin [Billingslea, Producer] helped us out tremendously, and we were very happy with the selection. Meanwhile, I kept writing new songs, finishing some ideas I had from a while back, that I felt super-strongly about, so while we were in the studio recording our debut EP, I already had 5-6 new songs that were waiting for their moment to come to life. So, the decision was made to go back to the studio as soon as possible. “one small stEP” was released in September, and I think we were back in the studio literally the following month.
S: Exactly, and just in 4 months we already released our first single off of “The Sequel” that’s called “Living Your Life Like This”. And oh boy, in the first month it already had close to 100,000 streams on Spotify (currently sitting at over 220K)! We were thrilled! This song resonates with many people around the world, we were blown away by the messages people were sending us, reflecting on their lifestyle, the political situation in their country, religion, that it helped some to rethink their life choices and finally quit the job they hate so much! Haha. Initially, we planned to release each song individually as a single, which we did with three songs out of 4. But later as we won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, one of the prizes was a package of 300 CDs to print. So, we thought it would be a good move. FUN FACT: As we changed the decision to release songs as an EP, we had to very quickly come up with the name for it, as we were signing off the press-release. So, we just went with the folder name that contained all masters on my computer, lol.

How was NAMM?

A: Ugggh, super-exciting and equally as stressful, haha. Aside from the expo itself that’s overwhelming and impossible to explore in one day, we had the performance that didn’t quite go as planned (surprise, surprise). Not too badmouth anyone, but we had some serious technical difficulties on stage: while we were tuning, literally seconds before the start time, I noticed that my pedalboard suddenly shut off. So, upon checking every single variable, it still couldn’t be brought back to life. I had to now perform with just the clean channel directly into an amp. Oh, the horror! To add an insult to an injury, Paul Reed Smith himself was in the house, as I was playing one of his custom PRS guitars with no distortion or effects… So yeah. I’m sure he was less than impressed, haha. Anyway, upon talking to other bands the next day, we found out that almost all of them had some sort of electrical problems that caused shortages. Not the experience we wish we had, but oh well…
S: Haha, well, great experience! Now we carry extra-everything to our shows, lol! But even though it was stressful, I really enjoyed the trip. We met a lot of artists we know, we made new connections, we performed to a good crowd, it was cool!

How do you stay healthy while touring?

A: It’s simple. We don’t tour! Haha.
S: Hahaha. Just yet! Thank God we didn’t plan a tour before this whole pandemic went off… But we’re ready to start planning our next moves as soon as the situation gets better. Staying healthy while touring shouldn’t be any different from staying healthy in your everyday life – exercise, drink lots of water and eat only as necessary, haha.
A: I can already see Sasha will discover some new things for herself on our first tour, lol…

What is your favorite track on the album?

A: I don’t have one, they all mean something special to me.

S: Yeah, it’s a tough question… It’s like asking which kid do you like more? Lol. But I’m gonna go ahead and say “Talking to Myself” still gives me chills when I listen to it, it strikes me in a way that none of the other songs do. But! There comes a strong competitor, you’ll soon find out what I mean. 😏

How do you feel about streaming?

A: It’s convenient and it’s here to stay. I used to buy iPods (classic, with a wheel, remember them?) and upgrade hard drives so they hold more songs, cause I enjoyed having a full library of bands and their whole anthologies on it. Now, it’s quite simple, isn’t it? Do I wish streaming paid more? Of course, I do, just like everyone else, but I don’t think these are realistic expectations right now.
S: As a listener, I love it! As an artist, uh, not so much, haha, but it is what it is for now. It would be very nice if streaming platforms at least worked with artists on the back end, and were given some more in-depth statistics and info about their listeners, but it’s also kept a secret for now. So, listeners, if you like the artist, give them a like or a follow, and reach out to them on their socials, so we can stay in touch!

Digital vs. vinyl?

A: Has to be both for me. Digital has a convenience of fast food; vinyl is a Michelin-star restaurant experience. We do both.
S: Yes.

Any plans to tour?

A: I would love to, as long as there is enough demand to justify the expenses. I think we might get there next year. I hope so.
S: I think we have a good chance! And everyone who follows us knows that we’re working hard on meeting them in their cities/countries!

What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you??

A: Most songs that are stuck in my head tend to be from the past, haha. Can’t think of ONE particular song, unfortunately.
S: Ouch! Tough question… I also agree with Andrey, I tend to listen to the old songs more than new ones… How far “in the past” do we wanna go? Haha. Ok, the first thing comes to mind is “Walking in Circles” by Dead By Sunrise. Very dark song, and maybe that’s why I love it so much. Timeless song. Unfortunately. Also, beautiful harmonies, melodies, instrumentals… phenomenal.

Your last gig before the virus hit was on Access Framingham. Would you have done a different set if you have known that you would not be able to play as a band for a while?

A: I don’t think so. We played the set we wanted to play, if we weren’t limited to 30 mins, I’d probably add 2 more songs, but that’s about it. Now that we have this set-on tape, we’re working on a brand-new show for later this year, including new songs. Very excited to bring the energy up!
S: I mean, no one knew back then what this virus is all about! I definitely didn’t think that it would affect our lifestyle this way… So, we are very grateful we’ve done it on time!

How do you feel that the Covid-19 virus will affect people and will there be a rise in suicides?

A: I’d like to think that it won’t impact these statistics negatively, but it will all depend on how we get through the next months and years. The government needs to understand the consequences and will have to step up if they want to make an attempt to make things go back to even close to where they used to be.
S: As scientists learn more about the virus, we will have more answers in the future. It doesn’t really matter what we think will happen, haha. But hopefully, people will stay positive, and be smart enough to follow the rules and be responsible for what they say and how they act.

How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?

A: It already did, and it still might in the future. We’re already witnessing an overwhelming amount of live streams (the majority of them being of pretty poor quality, so I’m expecting musicians to either step up their game or no one will want to watch them soon), no live shows in the next months to come. Will people be willing to gather again for the big festival without thinking of possible consequences? We shall see. We have a couple fests planned for later this year, so we’re hoping for the best.

What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?

A: We’re not in self-quarantine. We got bills to pay, songs to release and promote, so we simply can’t afford to sit home and lose income, even though a little bit of rest wouldn’t hurt, to be honest with you. We’re considered essentials, delivering food to people, so we can help them stay home safe while also not canceling any of our planned releases.
S: Besides all of that, we’re lucky to be answering your questions, telling our story to the world, sharing our ideas and plans. Thank you for that!

Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Are you planning to do something like that?

A: Like I mentioned above, the vast majority of those live streams are just not appealing to watch (an exception being Post Malone’s recent Nirvana tribute), at least not to me. They’re cool now because they’re new and you don’t normally get to see musicians giving concerts from the comfort of their homes, but I think this will be a short-lived trend unless we see a bump in quality. We’re thinking about the ways we can rearrange our songs to fit in an acoustic or semi-acoustic setting, so we can do it without losing the identity of our sound. The market is currently over-saturated with those live streams, so I wouldn’t want to do it unless we can do it well enough to stand out.
S: Additionally, some of our band members are away from Boston, which makes it even harder to pull off a quality live stream. But stay tuned, we’re working on it!

How are your families doing back in Russia during the virus?

A: They’re holding up, thank you for asking! It’s pretty much the same situation as here, with stay home orders and all. I’m a little stressed out because my dad still works in the ICU, so we’re talking almost daily.
S: Same. Luckily, my parents are in Moscow and it seems like it’s not that aggressive as it is here in Boston. But maybe it’s their perspective since they’re mostly staying and working from home. 🙂

There was an article in the New York Times this week talking about concerts may not start again until fall of 2021. Do you think it could happen?

A: I hope not, but realistically speaking, based on what’s currently happening, it’s very possible.
S: What? No way! I’m not ready for such a long rehabilitation period… I really hope we’ll be able to play our fests and show this year!

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

A: Doing what I love, still. Hopefully, on top of the charts.
S: Damn right! Living a dream, baby!

Anything you would like to say in closing?

A: Thank you for having us! Thank you to anyone who made it this far reading this interview, feel free to drop us a line on Instagram or Facebook, we want to know who our supporters are! Stay safe, stay healthy, and listen to some good music!