Kingpin hails from Odessa, Ukraine and comes through with pretty slick hardcore that is heavy on groove and feel. Their new ep 'What Man Is A Man...' is really, really good, bringing vibe similar to that we all love on any Crown of Thornz or Fire & Ice record. I urge you to check it out for yourself as it is now available for a full stream via band's bandcamp (see below). The band talks a lot about their music, future plans and stuff that motivates them, but since it's hard to pretend that Ukraine is not in some serious shit right now, we also discussed the complicated situation in their country from the perspective on regular people. I hope this interview will shed some light on what this conflict is about.
Kingpin hails from Odessa, Ukraine and comes through with pretty slick hardcore that is heavy on groove and feel. Their new ep 'What Man Is A Man...' is really, really good, bringing vibe similar to that we all love on any Crown of Thornz or Fire & Ice record. I urge you to check it out for yourself as it is now available for a full stream via band's bandcamp (see below). The band talks a lot about their music, future plans and stuff that motivates them, but since it's hard to pretend that Ukraine is not in some serious shit right now, we also discussed the complicated situation in their country from the perspective on regular people. I hope this interview will shed some light on what this conflict is about.
Give us some background on the band. How did Kingpin form?
Actually it happened quite spontaneously. We spoke with out drummer Eugene long time ago, that it would be cool to make a band and play punk, hardcore punk. We discussed the same with our guitar player Dima Doctor. In fact, everything happened very suddenly. We with our drummer Eugene has long discussed what to gather a group and play punk, hardcore punk. This we have discussed with our guitarist Dr. Dima. At one point a couple months as I met Benji we started talking about music. I don`t remember word for word as it was, but I remember he said that once again he would like to play in a band (Prior to that, he played in hardcore group Aspire, which is a famous band in the CIS hardcore scene). And then I told him about our idea with the guys about a band and we just do not have a bass player. And so it began. Then we gathered at the first rehearsal, and it all went sluggish. But one month later we met again and made our very first song This Side Of The Wall. Two months later we recorded our self-titled single, which also contained another of our song My fury. This is how Kingpin came.
What kind of response have you been getting from ‘What Man Is A Man Who...’? Can you explain what is the meaning behind the title? Is there any theme to the lyrics?
We took the name from the movie Kingdom of Heaven. I love this movie and it's very inspiring for me. On our EP “The Path Of The Brave” in the eponymous song you can hear a sample from this movie at the beginning of the song. Which literally sounds like "Or kingdom of conscience or nothing.". This time when we were thinking about the name for our mini EP the phrase "What man is a man who does not make the world better?” just came to our minds again. As to the fact what we personally invest and whether it is reflected in the texts. Under this title, we meant that every human is bound to do something to this crazy world full of all evil and inhumanity getting better. First and foremost, it has to be started yourself. As the old wisdom says - Our greatest enemy is ourselves. If everyone on this planet, tried to be a better person and live by honor it would be probably a better world. This is the main goal of a person in our opinion. To fight all life long with yourself, to fight with ambient injustice and live by honor and help others. All these topics are constantly rising in our songs. Especially about the internal struggle and struggle with the world which created to confuse person and make him a slave to his own desires. Get away his principles, morality, honor, and to convince him that he must live for himself and his own pleasures, turn him into a selfish animal. Which sees happiness only in a moment of weakness and satisfaction of their whims. This situation, I mean all this crap that's going on with people is not in the line with our lifestyle. We have always been and will be against it. We can`t judge and we will not, because every human has right to choose, and each of us have our own sins. But we urge people to fight and become better. Accept the reality of what it is, brutal, full of false illusions and sorrow. We urge to accept this reality and try to change it in a better way, to make a world better by your actions. And also appreciate what you have. Family, girlfriend or wife, children, relatives, friends and so on. Appreciate and love it. As in the lyrics of our song "we are our actions,we are our choises." Do not chase false dreams that we are fed.
How would you describe your sound? Who are the biggest influences on your style?
Well I would say our sound is metalized hardcore. And about influence it goes without saying - Leeway. Since this is a favorite band of most members of our gang. This I think is understandable for the title of our group because we are called by the name of their song “Kingpin”. Well, so all in all it is a various NYHC and just hardcore.
Will these tracks be available on any physical format? Tape? ep? CD?
Of course they will. We just released our EP The Path of the brave on a local label Lighthouse records (https://www.facebook.com/lighthouserecordsodessa). And this time we release our EP again, but over time we will make a Vinyl.
For those who are not familiar with what’s going on in Ukraine, can you explain what was the reason for people to stand at the Maidan and revolt against the government?
We are pleased that there are people who are interested to know what`s going on in our country from people who live here rather then believe what is shown in the news. There were reasons for sure. People rebelled against the corrupt government that robbed our country to the last penny the last 4 years. I will not say that we had good presidents or the government before. It's always been thieves and embezzlers who was only interested in their deep pockets. And three previous presidents in the same way as Yanukovich had the blood on their hands.
At one moment people were really tired of all of that. Tired of lies, corruption, high prices on medicine, lack of pensions, lack of jobs, hellish conditions for small business and so on. All this accumulated gradually. I remember talking to my mom on this topic couple years ago and then assured her that there is a limit, and sooner or later the people will rebel against everything that's going on. And so it happened. The last straw was the fact that Yanukovych didn't want to sign an association with the EU. A lot of people went out to protest, it was a peaceful strike. And maybe these people would dispersed after some time, but in one night Berkut(special police force) beat all the people who were there. Old men, women, teens, and just men. Yanukovych and his government thought that it will get away easily. But that night was a spark that ignited the fire. I think that until February the majority of the people as well as overthrown government didn't realize how serious it was and what it can result. Some people didn`t believe that it could change something, someone was sure that it was a waste of time. The majority of the people who weren`t in the Maidan already dropped their hands for 24 years, and it was simply impossible to ignite their hearts. Of course there were some people who didn`t support Maidan. But they were a minority, about 30 percent of the total population of Ukraine. These people didn`t want to accept the falling of previous government. They didn`t care for all unspoken deaths in tuberculosis clinics due to the lack of medicines (this is the real story about a woman who works there for minimum wage and buys medicine for TB patients, because the government does not allocate the required scrip). Old people dies because they don`t have money for medicine or food, hard workers who worked in factories or had two or three jobs at one time to feed their children, how many people were dying in hospitals because of the state that could not provide treatment and who couldn`t pay for it out of their economic status and so on. And this is just the unspoken death and this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I have listed from memory.
This is why Maidan rebelled. And the people who were there. They rebelled against thieves, murderers and destroyers of their own population.
I try to follow what’s happening in Ukraine right now. It seems so serious and I have no idea where it’s gonna go. Can you tell us what are your thoughts about it?
Oh, it's a very sad topic. The situation is very serious indeed. And it is a huge sorrow for us and for the whole country, because a lot of people die every day. We don`t know where it`s gonna go. We hope that everything will be alright, and this situation will not turn into full-fledged war.
Basically even if political views are vary, no one wants a war,
because everyone knows what kind of horror this is. Nobody wants their sons to be dead in the war. People are scared of a war, but they are ready to protect their own city and their country if it will be needed.
How is the situation in Odessa? What’s the general atmosphere like over there? What regular people think about what’s going on?
Thanks God everything is calm in Odessa now. But we had a tragic event on 2nd of May when 48 people were killed. It is a great tragedy for all of us. It doesn't matter if someone has different political views, any policy is not worth of a human life. But now, everything is calm. All potentially dangerous politicians and senior police officers took off from office and put other people who follow the order in the city. We often hear in the news reports that some armed saboteurs who planned attacks were detained. But in general, everything else is good.
Most of the citizens, about 65 - 70%, oppose the aggression of Russian Federation and want unity of Ukraine, peace in their homes and the city. The remaining 30 - 35% of people watch Russian TV channels and believe in the lies which they hear there and therefore opposes the new government because of mythical fear of harassment Russian population. And a tiny percentage of just crazy people who support the deployment of troops of RF Government in our country. Basically even if political views are vary, no one wants a war, because everyone knows what kind of horror this is. Nobody wants their sons to be dead in the war. People are scared of a war, but they are ready to protect their own city and their country if it will be needed.
Anything you want to say to the readers about Ukraine right now which they might not get from the TV or other media?
Well, we can say that despite todays opposition among the generals, Interior Ministry employees (police) and other state agencies have so many traitors, and those who are only waiting for the enemy to win that would support it. There are many of such people almost in each city as regards the southeast. A lot of betrayal on the part of the generals guiding ATO forces as well as the lack of professionalism that kills a lot of people. Some of Ukrainian army soldiers tell Russian army places where our soldiers located. We have a lot of friends who came from Donbass and told stories when they were sent in the location and enemy`s forces already waited for them for massing and shelling. That is now present betrayal of the military. Of course such traitors are not many, but even because of this small number of spies a lot of people were killed. From Ukrainian children and civilians. The official figures of deads is only approximate numbers. A lot of things aren`t spoken. In fact a lot more people die. These terrible videos which Russian soldiers record and post on public servers are not shows too. There a lot of videos how they jeer over dead bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and mock prisoners. And even there are pictures of how they cut off the head of our soldiers. Of course, Russian television is trying to justify and come up with false stories about such actions from Ukrainian side. But no videos or photos you will not find anywhere, because it's a lie. And the worst thing is that the terrorists themselves post it on the web and on Novorossia publics and they are proud of it.
Also there is a problem that Ukrainian Government does not help fully volounters and the Ukrainian Army. A lot of scams collect money for the ATO which then will not reach the destination. Most of the money collected is lost on the way to these battalions, and so on. All these things are not shown on TV. And not written on the news abroad. This situation is truely terrible.
P.S. Also, I think it`s necessary to say that we do not support combat actions and war on the territory of our country, but in this situation the only way to avoid even greater casualties and prevent the spread of combat actions in other regions.
How the whole situation is affecting hardcore scene?
This situation is really consolidate Ukrainian hardcore scene. Everyone understands how it threatens and what horrors are happening in our country.
But on the hardcore scene of the former countries of the CIS it has a negative effect. All Russian antifascists practically does not differ from their Nazis . They vehemently support terroristic quasi governments as DNR and LNR and some of them go there to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Russian Nazis and boneheds. Everything turned upside down from the bottom up. Russian anti-fascists and hardcore scene believes that in Ukraine there are only Nazis and we all almost hang flags with swastikas. They see these stories on Russian TV. They are not interested in our opinions and proves, they don`t want to hear and understand us. They don`t want to realize that their country is most that is called fascism. Their country came to another to sponsor weapons and sent their agents and militaries to provide mythical "Novorossia" and "Russian Idea" this is what is called fascism. But they do not see it. And unfortunately only time will judge us. Thanks God Russia has a lot of adequate bands who do not support all this crap that's going on in our country. Who don`t take pictures with DNR flags and shout that we are "Khokhly and fascists" And thanks God such ones are the most in the Russian scene. But nonetheless it is very struck by the scene. If earlier it was possible to say that the Russian and Ukrainian scene is almost the same. Now it is two parallel worlds. Unfortunately it will hardly be as it was earlier.
Behold Belarusians mostly 90% completely on the side of Ukraine. I mean Belarusian scene. So it's something like this. In general, of course everything is bad. Very bad
Any other bands from Ukraine kids should check out?
We have a lot of cool bands. Such as Leviathan, Aspire, Set Adrift, Homesick, Redemption, Reminded, Power Play, Clearsight, Maloi, Holdback, Sike, Bluesbreaker, Still, Soulcrat (already disbanded), Wounded, Strike Each Other, Rude Riot and many more. Let me be forgiven if I missed someone.
To be honest it is very sluggish. For many people hardcore became just a music, many of whom were on the scene from the very beginning lost their faith on it and themselves and simply disappeared. Attendance get better since hardcore music became quite trendy among hipsters who became interested in Ukraine scene. It is rarely seen those hardcore kinds who knew all the lyrics and went out after a concert sincerely tired and received a sea of emotions. Rather, it's more like any people who just came on the fashion event. This event is hard to call a party, but it is barely could be called as hardcore concert, despite the fact that there are playing hardcore bands. So not everywhere, but it happens unfortunately.
What is about Odessa, then we have a small scene, it is 150-200 people, of which 80-100 consistently attend concerts. However we don`t have here all that I described above.
Nice to know that there are still some hicks here who feel that in this shitty world something is wrong, and who truly listen and come off at the concerts, rather than come there to show off themselves to others. The same is true about bands. So many do not care about each other. There is no unity on the stage. Sometimes it seems that every band considers himself better than others.
New records are not usually discussed genuinely delighted or enthusiastically. Even if it's really something cool and new to our country. It's more like a policy where everyone smiles each other on the meeting but in fact noone absolutely don`t care about stage, new bands and people. It is my personal impression. Therefore, there is no unity in Ukrainian scene. As for Odessa we are all perfect here. Local bands support each other, we are friends and we work together and solve problems together too.
Bluesbraker, SIKE or Power Play have all played in Poland and seem to get great response from kids in Europe. Do you get much support from outside of Ukraine?
I will not say that we get a lot of support, but we definitely getting it. Unfortunately we didn't have opportunity to go a tour of Europe yet, and this is why it is possible that not many heard about us. But hopefully this will change soon.
What is up next for Kingpin?
Further plans are to record a second album. But this time, a full-fledged CD rather than a mini. We plan to record an album which would include 10 - 12 songs. We are preparing the material and come up with songs. Now its all raw but we promise we will record it.
Last words for readers
Well, let everyone tell themselves. My word is: Take care of yourself, have faith in yourself and in everything good that is in this world. Never stop fighting with yourself and your inner darkness. Your life is a struggle. And rejoice of what you have. Girlfriend or wife (be faithful and worthy to her), relatives and friends whom alive and healthy, your business or hobby, hardcore music and the fact that you're alive and you're all good. Be loyal to your views and choices, and never give up on it. And also live in honor, play sports, read a lot and take care of yourself and as bequeathed to us Raybeez "You gotta keep the faith".
