Selenseas has signed a worldwide deal with Rockshots Records to release their new album “The Outer Limits”Selenseas is a Russian heavy/power metal band formed in 2010. The name of the band comes from a combination of two words: “Selene” (the goddess of the moon) and “seas”. It literally sounds like Lunar Seas or the Seas of Selene.
Interview conducted on June 23, 2020
By Dan Locke
“The Outer Limits” contains elements of folk, progressive, doom, hard rock but is centered around the heavy/power metal genre and will be released worldwide on August 7, 2020, via Rockshots Records
SELENSEAS:
Mikhail Kudrey – vocals
Vladislav Tyushin – bass
Denis Andrianov – guitars
Ivan Lisitsyn – guitars
Liudmila Malaya – drums
Svetlana Tyushina – keyboards
What is your upbringing?
Vladislav Tyushin: I was born in the city of Rzhev, Russia. This is a relatively big industrial city on the shore of Volga.
My parents let me listen to classic hard rock since I was a little kid, that’s how I came to love heavy music.
After graduating from school, I went to an industrial college. After completing my education there, I moved to Moscow to pursue a university degree. I graduated with honors from both the college and the university and got a degree in automotive electrical engineering.
How did you discover music?
Being a fan of heavy music, I joined a local band as a singer somewhere around 2009, while I was a university student.
About a year after that, I started writing music and brought together the first line-up of Selenseas.
How did you start to write music?
I’ve always liked listening to music. Anywhere I went, I took a player with me and enjoyed the music, and it had to happen eventually, sooner or later.
I didn’t go to a music school but I was always surrounded by friends who were musicians.
One day I took an acoustic guitar, a MIDI sequencer, and wrote my first piece (later it would become the foundation for our song “The Mirror”).
I realized that music was actually everywhere, and all I had to do is hear it and write it down. I had various sources of inspiration – people, events, stress, emotions, and impressions from books and movies.
Mikhail- How did you join the band?
Mikhail Kudrey: I actually tried to join the band twice – in 2017 and 2019.
My previous band had broken up somewhere around spring, 2017, and I started looking for a new one. Made a couple of posts on forums hoping something interesting would come up.
Vlad contacted me and invited me to a rehearsal. At that time, as far as I recall, Selenseas were going to part ways with their singer and were looking for a replacement.
The music was great, the guys were nice, and I don’t think I screwed up either. However, in the end, they reconciled with their singer and carried on for the next couple of years.
But when in 2019 they announced that they were looking for a new vocalist again, I took the chance one more time. There was some tough competition, but the guys decided in my favor, which makes me very happy.
How did the band form?
By the end of 2010, I already had 6 complete songs and a lot of drafts. Therefore, I started looking for like-minded friends that would be interested in performing this material together with me.
The majority of the first line-up were my friends from the university. Later we found a singer (a girl), came up with a name for the band and started performing live.
How the band did gets its name?
It took a lot of time to come up with a name. I proposed several options, one of which was “Selenseas”. This is a combination of “Selene”, the name of the Greek goddess of the Moon, and “seas”. It literally means “Lunar seas”, or “Seas of Selene”.
What was your first performance at like?
The first live performance was nerve-wracking for the entire band, especially for me, because I’ve never performed in public before.
It took us about half a year to get fully ready for a performance. Our first gig took place in a small club in Moscow, and the feedback from the audience was very positive. It was an indescribable experience!
How does it feel to get your first worldwide record deal?
This is so cool! We’re extremely happy about the deal with Rockshots Records, and we do appreciate that they saw the potential in us.
This means a lot to us, and it’s the first significant step to our success.
Tell me about your new album “The Outer Limits”?
This is an exciting new world that has stories to spare, and every listener can find one to their liking. We’ve even included a map in the booklet to make the search easier 🙂
Jokes aside, this album shows how versatile Selenseas can be, touching entirely different topics in our music – Scandinavian folklore, pirate stories, philosophy, mysticism, etc.
How did you come up with the title?
This is a very good question, and probably, I’m the only one in the band who knows the answer. Nobody asked but everyone agreed when I proposed it 🙂
I divided all my material by stages, according to my own growth as a composer.
For instance, the instrumental track that concludes the album also concluded the first stage of my creative process. To me, it was the actual “outer limit” at that time. I thought it to be my most complex piece, something revolutionary.
This instrumental track gave name to the entire album and is the quintessence of all its songs. You only have to choose your own story (song) and step across the boundary together with us, to embark on a long journey.
Does anyone in the band watch a lot of sci-fi movies?
I believe we all love some good sci-fi and fantasy in different forms – movies, books, games.
As for me, I’ve been interested in sci-fi movies for my entire childhood. Perhaps that left its mark both on me personally and on our music in general.
How did Lyubov Talimonova go about to write the first single “The Milky Way”?
Our first single “The Milky Was” wasn’t actually written by Lyubov Talimonova. I wrote the music, and our drummer Lyudmila Malaya wrote the lyrics.
Lyubov Talimonova is a writer and the author of a wonderful story called “A road of sand, pearls and tears” which was the source of inspiration for the song, as well as the Fallout game universe.
Unfortunately, Lyubov Talimonova died in 2011, before the song was written.
How was it to re-record and translated your album into English? How long did that take?
Re-recording and re-mixing didn’t actually take too long – about 3-4 weeks total.
But if we’re talking about the whole process (changes in arrangements, work of guest musicians, new artwork, photo shootings, re-recording, mixing, mastering and lots of other things), it took about 6-8 weeks. It was a wonderful time, we managed to find our own sound at last, and we’re very happy with the results.
As for the translation, it was more difficult. We had our first thoughts about re-releasing our debut album in English in 2016. In 2017, the translation of the song “Hope” was ready. But then the process was constantly delayed by line-up changes, local concerts, and our work on the new material for the second album. Only in 2019 we got ready to record the vocals and we’re lucky to find a talented singer 🙂
What is your favorite track on the album?
Hard to say, since I was the author of almost all the music. This is like asking a father, which one of his children he loves the most)
Each track is special to me and each one has its own story behind it.
I really love how the song “Dante” sounds now. Mikhail and Andrey put so much emotion into singing that I get the shivers with every listen.
Why did you start doing “The Outer Limits Album Documentary”?
We wanted to tell the people in more detail about how we created the album, what great changes await both old and new listeners, and how much effort we put into making it happen.
How do you stay healthy while touring?
We don’t tour that much yet but when we do, we try avoiding fast food and prefer healthy nutrition. We always have a first aid kit in case of an emergency.
Sometimes we allow ourselves a bit of alcohol to relax (except for our singer – he practices sports and doesn’t drink at all).
What percentage of your fans are outside of Russia?
According to our statistics, the majority of our fan base actually resides outside of Russia. They’re the reason why we decided to re-release our debut album in English!
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
There are pros and cons. Music streaming brings people all around the world together. People from all over the planet can listen to our music. It’s also a great opportunity for young musicians at the beginning of their careers to promote themselves.
What’s not so good is that while musicians put a lot of effort into their work, they only get a small compensation.
Digital vs. vinyl?
I like both!)
Lots of cars are still equipped with CD players, you can take a couple of CDs with you on a trip and enjoy quality music while shuffling through the pages of the booklets.
Vinyl brings even more pleasure – warm and rich sound, fantastic artwork and design of the discs, and the fantastic experience of listening to the analog equipment!
Speaking of digital platforms, like iTunes and such, it’s extremely convenient. You can keep track of new music and listen to your favorite songs anywhere – they’re always within reach.
I saw on your Facebook page “International Day at Human Space Flight” Why did you put it on your timeline?
We respect this day and are very proud of it. By going into space, the humanity made a tremendous step on its way to the unknown. The space theme is an integral part of Selenseas. Our songs “Hope” and “The Milky Way” were inspired by it to a great extent.
The name of the band is pretty much cosmic too, don’t you think? =)
What are your feelings about the social uprising going on in the United States?
This situation is really disturbing, and we do hope that this social crisis will be resolved as soon as possible.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?
“Wolf to The Moon” by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. This song reminds me of my past, my childhood. My father used to set this song as the alarm to wake me in the mornings when I had to go to school.
How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
The consequences of the quarantine can already be seen. The music is shifting towards the Internet – there are more online gigs, streams, collaborations between musicians from different bands. I believe, in the future, this trend will continue.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
We’ve been working on new material – polishing existing songs, writing new ones, learning new songs to get ready for future recording sessions.
During the quarantine, we got the record deal with Rockshots Records, so get ready for our release in August!
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Yeah, I completed Diablo III one more time, together with my wife. We also played Guitar Hero 🙂
During the quarantine, we were also working on the album documentary on YouTube.
Lots of people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. What are you planning to do?
We’re giving it some thought. Maybe we’ll do such a show in the future. But for now, we have different plans.
Do you think it will be possible to make a living doing concerts this way?
I think it is possible because there are musicians already that make more money by doing online shows than by performing live.
On the one hand, that’s exciting, because people from different corners of the world can see the show and get closer to their favorite musicians.
On the other hand, the listeners can’t get all the energy from the band that they would have got on a live show.
First, it was an article in the New York Times, then Rolling Stones talked about it and finally, Live Nation CEO said that concerts may not start again until the fall of 2021. Do you think this could happen?
Yes, unfortunately. People’s safety should be the top priority. It’s best to take all the safety measures to not get sick with COVID-19 and not get others sick as well.
With Social Distance being the norm. Do you feel that it may be the end of the music fest for the next couple of years?
We hope that music fests won’t end completely, and at least in 2021, it will be possible to organize shows and tours. We want to believe that humanity will overcome the coronavirus by that time.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
We’ve never thought about it and we’ve never seen such shows either. Perhaps it could be an interesting experience for us.
How do you see yourself in the next five years?
Selenseas will release several albums, tour the world and take part in some big festivals. We’ll get more fans and soulmates all over the world. We’ll try to realize all our potential and continue our development in the musical field.
Anything you would like to say in closing?
Thanks a lot for the interview!
Don’t miss our upcoming album, we hope you’ll like it.
Listen to heavy music and support the musicians. Take care, stay safe, and be happy!
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