KILLA KELA: On the three count all right.
MOSCOW DEATH BRIGADE: One, two, three.
KK: What’s good people this is Killa Kela, you know how we're doing is the Killa Kela Podcast live and direct central London, as central as you need to be, you know we don't wrap around here ah, it’s that street culture time, big shout out to Graffiti Kings and when when I say this was a perfect match for this podcast it, it couldn't have been more on the money. I've been checking out these guys for a while and I do hope that after this you check them out too hailing from Moscow, Moscow death Brigade inside the house, how you doing boys?
MDB: yeah man it seems like a perfect match again thanks a lot big pleasure to be here.
KK: yeah man, what, what's Moscow saying at the moment, what Russia like at the moment because I ain’t been there for ages man.
MDB: Yeah man right now everything is in quarantined in Moscow the coronavirus going crazy people, getting sick unfortunately and also right now we have like crazy crazy rains everything's being flooded the last like all day today all day all night yesterday so, it's like a combination of like biblical rain and the pandemic so.
KK: Oh my god, that's hell
MDB: Yeah you you think that it's play quarantine, you should stay home so it's easy to like get in touch, but as you can see we had like a lot of like logistical stuff, you have to do this and that I'll be also trying to you know work on music and promote it at the same time so you end up having less time well stuck in the quarantine because you also can't really go anywhere have to get like a digital pass so it's you know.
KK: You gotta get a digital pass?
MDB: Yeah, if you want to leave your home and especially you want to drive somewhere you have to like to apply online for a digital pass with all your like info explaining where you're going. Welcome to the Matrix. The future is now. And yeah man, like if you're I think if you don't like register your car license plates when you go out and some camera takes photo of it you get a fine. I'm not sure it works I didn't get a fine, but I think some people got fined quite a lot. Yeah, a lot of people are getting crazy fines.
KK: Dude, I mean this is like whole another level of like security. We don't have that in the UK, and certainly it's not happening in America that, why do you think you know the Russian government had gone that far to prevent people go
MDB: They are afraid of the pandemic; they're saying that everything's under control and people don't that many people sick but there are people sick. We know people who are seriously sick and people who have hard time getting medical care because for
unrelated stuff because there's no space in the hospitals. I don't know how it is now, but it was like that like in April it was an issue I think now they increase the capacities for hospitals and stuff and we've getting better but it's like this thing is like for real.
KK: For real and like you say it's, it's an interesting time for creative people like you'd think you'd have more time to do two things but these these them these changes in our lifestyle they have like knock-on effects that stop that almost don't give you much time and you're creative you know portals are blocked and you don't always get that the best
out of the time you have right.
MDB: Sometimes yeah, sometimes you just have a lot of shit just happening at the same time you know wrong place wrong time but so yeah, it's it's like that you know it's like it's hard to get stuff done. You can you can't even go to the studio to record some stuff because you've got because you've got quarantine, everything going on or some people are sick and they don't… like, your sound engineer is sick he doesn't want to go to the studio because he's worried you get everyone infected.
KK: It’s all of that right, it's all of that I mean self-sufficiency in 2020s is very real, isn't it you gotta be like you got to be in control of everything so that next time these things don't happen right.
MDB: Yeah, yeah also we are just trying to like stay responsible and we are not that afraid of the virus we hope that we are kinda still young and its they say it's more dangerous for like older people but anyway they trying to be responsible and not like spread the virus around or stuff like that we're trying to stay home and follow the like
this idea of like fighting the virus staying at your home, oh yeah. we just we just we just stayed at home and we don't go to the studio, we don't film anything, we mostly do it from our homes. Yeah, it's it feels pretty crazy, especially compared to like the usual, our usual lifestyle will be like most of the times we either in the studio or on to like traveling on tour. Play shows every night and right now we just got stuck about homes and yeah.
"We wanted to create a soundtrack for our lifestyle."
KK: it's it's a whole new landscape man and I think as time goes on it will will slowly adjust to it because it won't be the first time, it comes around it will be back yeah, you know what I mean. But let's get into some music let's get in some culture shit because as I say my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw you guys performing live on videos like on Instagram, I was just like what the fuck is this right, next thing I see you painting trains next thing I see Graff everywhere, I see you in town in London paint and you know down at the Hall of Fame spot, Waterloo like this is fucking sick where did it all begin guys where did this where did where did Moscow death Brigade begin.
MDB: well it's a good question I think it's like for me began right like time I ever heard music which made me want to make music by myself like maybe when I was like 10 or 12 years old and I heard for the first time bands like Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden and I’II think one of the first tracks that really put me into this state of it was Paranoid by black sabbath on a date and yeah and it was it was just this crazy feeling and I was like wow, is it like I wanna do the same thing and then just to keep trolling, keep rolling
and rolling and towering some new music and some new like sound like graffiti or skateboarding and you know. Like in Russia especially in and we were growing up there were much much stuff going on like a few bands of visiting Russia and the whole situation was pretty crazy, it was like poverty and lots of crime and like financial chaos stuff like that you know we were like trying to absorb any bits of information we get about like this worldwide culture of music, graffiti, any art stuff like that so I think that while we're doing this we get this idea to try to take everything we love and get it in one act like get it together and like chew it and spit it out like the whole product which would
represent what we love and what we really want to do, like stuff like that, like we wanted to create a soundtrack for our lifestyle that we wanted to, you know music that we wanted to hear ourselves while we were doing all those things that we love, like graffiti.
KK: That is like the sickest notion there's a few acts that that I think hit that, hit that marker you guys though you if you fill a space in someone's record collection that's how I feel and it's actually it's actually the Moscow ,the Russian bit doesn't even come into it that's that that's the exciting thing for me, it's like you think well it does I guess in a way because you you get transported into a world do you know what I’m saying.
MDB: yeah, totally.
KK: yeah that's the shit that I dig, I love that stuff you know what I mean what's that an intention we always like, did you realize that you know because when I think of what I think of like Russia you know I mean I've been there a bunch of times and it's bleak it's a bleak place but it's actually it's rich with crazy culture clash that I think could very well be exported and for like punk music alone it's the right climate for you guys to get fucking aggressive you know what I mean.
MDB: That's true and we also wanted to like get on the international level this was like when I was a kid I heard that I saw I had like a bootleg VHS of Iron Maiden music videos and there was a song, wasted years where they sing about touring life and they have like a montage of like chilling in the backstage like writing in the in the van or in the bus and like flying everywhere and like a kid growing up in the projects in Moscow in like 1994 like you see just concrete blocks around you there's like nothing going on and then you see this video and you realize like damn this is what I want to do. I want to make music and I want to travel the world and I want people from not just from Russia from all over the world to listen to me and like hear what I have to say. So that kind of that feeling stayed with me. I think it's like all of us had that moment in life and so when we started and we played in a bunch of bands like punk bands and like hardcore bands and when we started Moscow Death Brigade we wanted to make a band that would be understood by people worldwide and we'll have like an international appeal while still maintaining that we are from Moscow and we are from West, don't forget that the rule unlike the the way that we had to grow up here like in the 90s and all the stuff that happened like in 2000 in the middle of 2000 when we started the band so.
KK: how did you get out of that how did you get out of those projects like what I get the band development but but you know this it's few and far between right, it's not you don't always get those opportunities being from those places how did you how did you tackle that mentally in your head?
MDB: well it's do you mean like physically how do we have a chance to like leave the projects and go out with a band and like travel the world?
KK: yeah, I would say so yeah.
MDB: it's a combination. it's a I think it's a combination of like working with our music and like stuff that we achieve those musicians but also as people we try to, you know try to get out and we grew up in Russia at the time but you know like in early 2000s, we had a chance to travel the world, we had like different programs in for Russian, like youth I when you're like 18, 19 like work and travel I don't remember the names where you could go to like United States so United Kingdom or in Europe and you work like for that on three months like different kind of like a blue-collar jobs and like a lot of like immigrant jobs but you also get to like travel and see the world so we tried to do that and like go to shows meet people like establish some, not establish connections but actually like try to like go on see the music bands that we love try to get like into the punk rock scene in America, in England, like I've, I see, I remember seeing I was a team and I saw in New York I was 18 and I saw in new York, I was super lucky, I don’t remember, it was like two days one after another or is like on Thursday and then the next Thursday it was like one show was Misfits was Marky Ramone’s band, The Adicts and U.K. subs.
KK: Jesus Christ, that’s fire and
MDB: and the next one was Cypress Hill, psycho realm. House of Pain reunion and the first show of the Coka Nostra like first public show of like Coka Nostra.
KK: that's like your DNA right there, buddy.
MDB: pretty much man, and that that that blew my mind I knew what I was trying to get into and I was, I realize just how lucky I was because, I was a bet and in that place at the time and I had that opportunity to you know like to travel and you know to make some money so I could like do those things so, so that's that like I think that attitude in general allows people to like get out from where they are and gives them a more broad understanding of the world where you can go, which you can do. Yeah, man you know and Vlad actually has a lot of really cool stories how he travelled in his day and what kind of bands you saw like like what I said is like nothing.
KK: Bring it on. Vlad let’s here this man. what happened tell me about your trajectory
MDB VLAD: I mean like when I was like teenage like kids and we had this
program in Russia that he mentioned. It's like different programs to like working travel sounds something like that where you can go back for cheap as a student to kinda like learn the language but in fact it's a program which allow people to go to Europe and
like work you know like do some cleaning jobs or stuff like that so a lot of people from Ex-Soviet Union from Eastern Block they use it like some of them were like much older than typical student and they just used it to get out of the country and like try to stay in Europe or just work there and make some money because money which you could make for example working in UK or in Germany working as I don't know as a waiter or dinner or dishwasher it was for Russia or like for Ex-Soviet Union for a Korean, Russia, Belarus it was crazy money absolutely crazy, money so I was saving my money doing like a year to go to London for this program but I what what I was going to do is just to see bands I had like exact plan and I went to London for a month when I was like 18 years old and I just get there with my backpack and a skateboard and I was just going to see the band's I even saw six pieces of the Union when they played with Dropkick Murphys at this huge stereo I don't remember the Name.
KK: what?
MDB: and I also saw like I saw GRI, suicidal tendencies, Green Day face to face and like lots lots of bands before they went on MTV.
KK: Yeah, yeah.
MDB VLAD: for me it was crazy because in Russia we like we had nothing like this bands never toured Russia during those days so it was it was like a dream came true and I was leaving some really crazy, crazy places, like I I think that I changed like three or four houses in London suburbs in different places, living there you know it's like like
five people even 10 people even in one room sleeping on the floor but you just pay some some like small amount of money which like I keep like me could afford you just go there on the to sleep to like eat something and I and I mostly ate like sliced cheese and beans from Lidl but I was like skateboarding in London and going to the show every day.
KK: yeah it sounds like one of those hostle environments that you stayed in or something back in the day they were probably a little bit more grimy.
MDB VLAD: uh-huh yeah pretty crazy it was like houses with no heating sometimes, no water it was mostly like inhabited by immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and other other countries, ex-soviet union, those people they mostly came to work like to make me money trying to survive and I was like like you know like black sheep among them because they came there with my skateboard and I was like very going to shows and they had no idea what I was going to like what are you doing?
KK: So sick, I love it.
MDB VLAD: it was hard to explain.
MDB: Cultural.
MDB VLAD: yeah, but I mean yeah, because because most of these people they were trying to survive and to like get money for them for their families back homes so it was it was interesting and also you like it was it was a huge experience and since that moment we were trying to like travel the world like this but you have some small money we have some opportunity we just leave our homes and go go somewhere just get like more experience get like more knowledge you see the world and I think it's I think it's really important you know because we had this like thirst or for new stuff like music art new places new people I think if you have something like this you just need to, it just pulls your soul. You need to go. just try to you know survive it it's more like some
bread and water but just just be in the center of life and I think that's important it also contribute contributed a lot development of our band, of our lifestyle.
KK: I couldn't agree more like it's so important as artists, for us as artists it's like we live close to the edge do you know I mean.
MDB: yeah
KK: but you have to experience that edge not only to appreciate where you're going but that shit will can often happen again so as long as you can work within those stresses and those confines you you you're you know impenetrable like they can't touch you you know.
MDB: yeah, absolutely.
KK: it's a good, it's a good place to be tell me lit so wait where did the graffiti come into it like where did graff suddenly because again not that that for me ticks so many boxes as an attitude and I do feel like punk music hold the same values as rap music does and what graffiti stands for do you know what I mean.
MDB: yeah, yeah of course of course.
KK: when did it begin there?
MDB: well it's it's hard to say when exactly began but I need to I need to mention one, one I think important thing also I promote from a history when we were growing up in Moscow in the 90s there was this like big street war in Russia between metal kids and hip-hop kids so like we were metal kids we started as people like as kids listen to heavy metal and so everybody who listened to like hip-hop was our nature of enemy.
KK: Really?
MDB: of course, it was really stupid. Back in the day it was like harsh reality for like every kid growing up in Russia if you are like long-haired metalhead you had a lot of troubles with rap kids and vice versa.
KK: What?
MDB: You could get attacked for like a Metallica t-shirt by or you could get attacked for
onyx t-shirt there were like huge fights between kids like metal kids and hip-hop kids, we're talking like mid-nineties.
KK: yeah, yeah, totally.
MDB: they were like like each other on the street or like a back of shows or like ambushing people going to the show, it was like really really crazy was like wasn’t only
only like bare hands you could be stamped could you like they were like with lead pipe or a chain like bicycle chain stuff like that it was it was pretty crazy, and I think I kept like
a couple of scars from those moments there's like all the fights but like later I even, I would remember that some some of my friends like metal, metal friends they they read at some magazine that Slayer did like this hip-hop collaboration for judgement night and they even like oh shit, we have to stop listen to Slayer like they betrayed the culture, that’s how stupid it was because but it was like normal you know but everybody was normal so at some point I started listening to punk rock like I think that thanks to like punk rock hardcore and I think I think that thanks to this music we somehow eventually discovered hip-hop music I think bands like Beastie Boys biohazard Rage Against the Machine may just like open this door for us.
KK: when I did that Public Enemy tune I was never a big like Aerosmith Run DMC fan but when when that when that thrash hit with Public Enemy that changed my life bro yeah you know made it alright you know I mean like you could like both things.
MDB: Of course, it was like an an important moment for a lot of people in like hip-hop and metal when they realized that it was but but in the mid 90s we we didn't like we were still just in the metal camp. yeah so so later like skateboarding started to skate and I think thanks to like some skateboarding magazines which were also really hard to find in Russia during those days so like if you, if you know a guy who like knows the guy who have a copy of like Thrasher or Big Brother or any other skate back you just asked him to like borrow it for like for a couple of days and you like read read it all and also most people didn’t know English well so they were just like looking at the photos and stuff like that and I think that things to skate mags, I discovered graffiti and get interested in it and.
KK: sick and it is also we take that shit for granted over here but the obstacles that you guys had to overcome in the late nineties that just must have been crazy from a cultural perspective.
MDB: yeah, it makes like people like us who lives with the same situation but to appreciate it more maybe because yeah you get to walk like a long, long road you know to just lay your hands on some piece of piece of art like you know like sound like music
album or magazine or so internet also was really weak at least in Russia at this moment so I remember that it took like took a night to download like an mp3, mp3 song also we were trying to find something on the internet and we started to like to try to write graffiti on our own and again, you just get the information from your friends or people you know or they just told you something or show you some photos and stuff like that, so yeah we like somehow make sure you started to write graffiti and at that moment a lot of our
metal metal friends they didn't understand like what you were doing and they were skateboarding and doing writing graffiti was for rap kids, so what they're doing like betraying metal and the we we're trying to tell them the guys like actually in the real world like a lot of people love both and they love a lot of elements of different cultures. They like there are bands to play like like mixing together metal and hip hop so you know maybe you, maybe you try to open your minds to it the little kids and like some people and but some people did but some were very stubborn and we didn't want to you know get some new culture and stuff like that but we didn't care about it because we were like completely captured but the virus c like world of like streets street life and street culture which we're hoping before us at the moment and we were trying to develop like any, any bits of the information and like what we what we could learn about it so we looked by trying to scape my graffiti like to take everywhere and it was like really, really good times and speaking about graffiti. I we have always been we never been of like fans of new some complicated pieces we need to always be in fans of like quick throw up style, like a train bombing or like doing some illegal stuff like by people l from New York or from France like stuff like this like quick, quick bombing and style that looks good and you can do this like really, really quick in sound like dangerous place you're not supposed like for writing graffiti so yeah like anything that brings the adrenaline.
KK: of course, it's gonna be a good thing right.
MDB: of course, of course it’s all about that.
KK: Was there a is there a big scene in Graff in your area in Moscow and Russia.
MDB: yeah, yeah it was even bigger, I think like some years ago them because of like the political crisis that really expensive but yeah, we already have some like Russian made graffiti cans, right now which is cheaper but yeah this is pretty.
KK: it's really big at the moment.
MDB: yeah, yeah it is really big.
KK: yes that's sick I , spoke to my friend Cent he from Poland, Warsaw KFC crew and I was I was trying to I was trying to explain like the mindset of a graff writer in you know in those parts of the you know the Eastern Bloc worlds so because a different mindset when going out and you know painting because you know it's fucking freezing
MDB: in a lot of our music videos we're doing graffiti we're we're wearing my big ass North Face parka coats because pretty cold here at most most of the most of the year it's really cold and you're standing between trains so there's a good crazy draft so.
KK: yeah, I mean it's like things that and also like following your tracks because you've got snow is snow right so like these footprints left.
MDB: yeah, exactly.
KK: is there, like you know I don't I get way too many tactics obviously because like you know you guys you guys do your thing over there and it's a whole different landscape compared to the rest of the world but I would imagine that there's a lot of heavy preparation that goes into or is it that actually let me rephrase that is it is it as are the penalties of doing graff so high over there that you've got to be super ready.
MDB: well in Russia in Russia it's not that hard as in some European countries, I mean it's it's it's somewhere in the middle because if you a few people got really got like jail time for graffiti, there are people who got in jail painting on trains mostly but it's not it's not much much of them and you must we get like fines or and but the other moment that you can be like this map really really hard by trade guards or cops cops they can care about like anything in Russia they can do whatever they want and get away with it so I think like the difference between like crazy Russian cops and crazy American cops that us we have guns and they like shoot, they will shoot you dead right away. They can shoot you on the spot.
KK: What they fuck.
MDB: In US not in Russia, Russia they can't shoot you but they can beat you or you know like take you to the police station like beat you like really really really hard for anything or like you know put some rocks in your pocket and pretend that it's yours so it's load of stuff like this you know .
KK: Jesus Christ.
MDB: In Russia you get like crazy, you get crazy jail time it's just impossible, I mean like I'm I stray - I like anybody advance and stuff like that but I just don't anyway I don't understand this and I think it's really wrong because you know if you do in Russia people like having drugs you can get like harder penalties then sometimes for murder and stuff like that. You can get years in jail in prison for weed so yeah yeah, for a small amount. it's so yeah like the law in Russia, it's not that dangerous for a graffiti writer, but the people are dangerous. because you know like train guards, cops they're crazy and also like people people in general are crazy because like I know some guys who got just attacked by random people on the street for writing graffiti, there was one guy who was stabbed him to make really hard and almost died just by some random random guy who liked the fact that he was like painting on the wall.
KK: No way.
MDB: yeah but but I mean I think crazy people here you can meet them.
KK: yeah, I mean some people do you know they want to they want a bravery award you don't know mean and it's like dude don't get involved like.
MDB: yeah, exactly.
KK: actually, while we're on the subject of graffiti and drugs right you're branding of the whole project is so on point and I have to wheel up right now that crocodile is that that's totally to do with Krokodil right?
MDB: No, nothing, it’s a different story man.
KK: Dude, but you know.
MDB: Different crocodile.
KK: But, you know bro, but you know you know like Krokodil was like a really big deal for the international world like when we heard that Russia like getting you know this this epidemic of croc a deal. Yeah, I mean I don't think obviously you guys didn't realize it but that that logo in itself is it is antagonistic it's like it's angry and it it works in my marketing you know I mean
MDB: it's the point to be antagonistic but we are not referencing the drug like that that's like that's kind of drug we don't support.
KK: no, no of course not of course but you can see how much I've paid attention right
MDB: right yeah, we heard it before so and like we understand why people like try to like parallel of those things but that Krokodil is he doesn't do that kind of shit.
KK: Well its good we cleared it up. Good we cleared it up. so what's the what's the power of the branding to you because I think having the graffiti can and having the music it's it's it's so it feel and also Moscow death brigade like it it feels like it's so well thought through you know mean, it feels like a lifestyle thing.
MDB: yeah absolutely so oh no your question is about crocodile or.
KK: Oh no, the question is about branding and and how much of it how much of it was a focus for you guys you know because of the lifestyle that you wanted to put the branding.
MDB: we tried like we worked on that and we wanted to we wanted basically every time we come up with something we wanted to be something that we would like to see like if we saw a band with that such a name we just saw a band with such a it was such branding we'd think oh that's cool so we keep working on things the same goes with music we keep working on it until it sounds and looks the way that we think that's dope and that's when we say alright this is really cool, so you know we try to work hard on the on different like on the branding and the on we work hard on the name and they we tried to make it like resonate with our lifestyle and so yeah and with the crocodile again we were inspired by some great bands that you know that have mascots like Iron Maiden's Eddie and and we wanted to create some something that's close to that so and every one of our shows we have a crocodile show up on stage with a bolt cutter and he's interacting with it audience and he's like doing graffiti in the music videos for us it was super important because for us like a music band needs to have a mascot.
KK: dude you've got that you know what if you were to write that on paper people would think it's a little bit uhhh but when you relate it to you like you say Eddie of you know if I made in you really the influence is there but I just feel like you've really thought through the overall package and it feels so fluid it doesn't feel like there's any pressure behind it you've really killed it honestly you've killed it.
MDB: ah thank you.
KK: and your live show looks absolutely fucking crazy like and I can only relate it to the New Cross South London show like when I when I see that it feels like you've got a massive like following you know like I'm trying to think of a compare Black Label Society for instance you know Zakk Wylde's ban he's got that same attitude that same aesthetic you know what I'm saying don't follow that's your audience man they're like they're like warriors.
MDB: yeah we are super blessed with people that like the stuff that we create and it's such a pleasure to come to a show when you go on stage and you see those people and it, it it hits exactly what we wanted to achieve with Moscow Death brigade you go on stage and you see these people from punk rock see and you've got like Skynyrd's and you guys got guys with Mohawks and you got the hip-hop kids and you've got like metalheads in lighting like Slayer t-shirts and you just have like people you know like dressed and like like cool street wear and it's you realize that you've like combined people from different subcultures who might not end up at the same show usually they might end the same, like Big Music Festival because it invites like 50 bands but when you see them on one show and they're all moshing together and then like chanting choruses together with you, you realize the damn by this worked like there's so many people who appreciate what we do and they also want to be there so we're super lucky that people that listen to our band go to our shows and they're very very cool and and they're very you know they like what they like and they let the world know that.
KK: yeah, yeah they are that's and that's definitely within the genres of like rap music and metal and punk it's like they're not afraid to tell everybody what they like.
MDB: Yeah absolutely.
KK: I am on the t-shirt and it's cool that like when you say death brigade it's the same like again Black Label Society or NWA or these that they're almost like they're their brands of of a movement it doesn't feel like there is one individual person you know they mean it's a collective and I think that's what makes people wanna be a part of a shit do you know what I mean.
MDB: yeah, man I think that works too and also our masks can come into play we kind of you know it's it's about the image you know me like that have bands before us who came with masks, maybe not ski masks exactly like that but there's like starting with kiss those guys had all the makeup and stuff like that's a part of your stage image when it's like you know today this song like so many people go on any social media it's like everyone's, everyone's like faces on there but we have these masks you become part with a band and you become big part of this legion with the band.
KK: you become ageless as well you become genderless you become you don't I mean you just become these entities a bit like Daft Punk I suppose.
MDB: yeah, you become representation you become representation of the band of the idea which is behind the band and you will become one with the music and the style that you represent, so it's not just that you know this team and this team repping from the stage this like a whole battle unit like this masked heat and the crocodile and always like show like performance stuff which is going on the people see and hear it as like as a whole so for us. It's yeah for us, it was one of the main goals of the band is just to create this legion that people received as as like a whole performance as act in general and we reached like which which I consists of different elements so that's why we also choose this mast they like represent our roots like in graffiti in like some Street or social activism stuff when people don't need to show their faces around.
KK: that's why it works so well bro, that's what that that that's why and I get so you know I got super excited that you guys wanted to come on and chat with me and and I know this this your fans will probably feel the same with like the opportunity to talk to you how many shows do you reckon you guys do like how many how many gigs how many tours do you do like worldwide because like you guys seem super busy.
MDB: I can't tell you how many shows were rescheduled because of the pandemic, there was so many shows in spring and summer that were there was supposed to be cancelled, we worked with a really cool booking agency destiny to booking, sup guys? and they we work hard with them to move all those cancelled shows to later in 2020 or to 2021 but yeah man we had we were supposed to start we released the album on April 10th bad accent anthems and we were supposed to go on tour April 9th and then we were supposed to tour until mid-september we were supposed it was the first time you'll be in the in the United States and we were supposed to do like 10 shows in the in the United Kingdom and we're going all over Europe we were supposed to play with some huge festival and because of pandemic that stuff gets that stuff gets postponed.
KK: yeah I bet that fucking hurts as well.
MDB: I think everyone in the music industry right now is hurting like people and many other industries because of the pandemic and the economic situations but the you know the bands and everyone working like on the on the back hand in the back office like that booking agency the promoters clubs all of that everyone's hurting because you know yeah, band need to tour and and the whole music industry revolves around touring today so like everyone's hurting but in general like back to your question I just wanted to insert it there,
KK: Of course, of course.
MDB: t like play we
play about I think we play about 40 shows a year or so and I think more yeah maybe 50 yeah, we do like in the beginning of the year and then we do like fall and all over the summer we play festivals.
KK: and so, it's like an album seasonal album.
MDB: kind of schedule, even we don't have an album out, we still go we do go like every year we definitely do at least one large like tour like 20 shows I'm sorry we do like to share two tours that are like 20 30 shows each and then lot of stuff in the middle.
KK: do you do you do a lot one of dates in Russia do is a lot of your activity in Russia or is it international?
MDB: Russia like most of the stuff you're talking about is international, in Russia it's it's a bit it's a bit iffy because we've been we used to do a lot of shows in Russia but we've been we ended up on some will enforcement blacklists and there was like even in the Russian parliament they were talking about our band and we basically had some issues where it's kind of difficult to like set up a show even recently we're supposed to like work with some like big promoters bringing large bands from like from the West and we were supposed to like play open up for them and it all got weird when they were like yeah we have like calls from where they say they get shouldn't play all the whole shows not happening.
KK: that is insane that's crazy wow.
MDB: man, so crazy because our Russian shows were awesome and we used to we used to actually set up our a lot of our shows ourselves we had our own crew setting up the shows and because we provided our own security for the shows making sure that the cops don't raid the show making sure that like white power like extremists don't attack people coming to our shows this is all like there was the whole like organization going around setting up our shows and and those shows were crazy and we also we didn't just play clubs we also have like shows and commuter carts like almost like not a subway but like on the train where everyone just like gets in the fucking cart and goes crazy it's in our music video it's us on YouTube at the moment on the train that's like that's like how made showing on the train.
KK: that's so sick I love it you know who did that back in the day as well suicidal tendencies they got they got a case against them that they weren't allowed to because of the inciting of certain violence and the things that they were talking about they yeah they got they weren't allowed to play California do you remember that?
MDB: Yeah, yeah of course, bad brain couldn’t play in Washington DC and forever.
KK: You gotta be doing something right boys.
MDB: We did, back in the day we did some really crazy shows in Russia like some of the show there were like a few show, which ended up with huge riots when like the
audience gets really crazy and like started to like destroy everything and even attack cops and like cops couldn't do anything and I think that a couple of times like the towns when we were playing they were kind of like captured by our audience and the cops couldn't do anything so if you just get like at some point it just gets over over some you
know it gets too extreme over the boiling point, it reaches a boiling point, when the authorities are like alright enough is enough.
KK: Stop that.
MDB: Pick fights with like some like white, power idiots who are trying to attend the shows was that like chased away from the shows by like my audience and our friends they were like clashes with cops and there were a lot of a lot of travels at some point we like looking at each other like okay, it’s not gonna end well. Let’s see what happens but at least like most of our shows were organized by us and as G said we got our own security so like us and our friends were patrolling the area in cars and stuff like that to make sure that people get like one piece to the show and back the subway station because again at some points in Russia like a big rise of like this right wing right wing gangs and they were attacking everybody like Punks, hip hop kids, because they hated them as you know like people who stay for like equality and the gays discrimination was stuff like that and those people were trying the like protect the shop the shows that people burned the shows so we had to take some measures to protect to protect people going to the shows so it was people like very crazy at those times but as far as you know nobody from our audience ever get hurt but any because somehow we like people who worked with us and like just helped us we managed the right to keep it under control and like protect people from from it.
KK: so scary for you had like different elements coming at ya.
MDB: Yeah, yeah there was some really hard times in Russia back in the day because like you know people they got killed by like markist, by right-wing extremists.
KK: Fuck,
MDB: It was like war in the street in Russia especially like and I think early early two-thousands like 2011 or something like that there was a little crazy stuff and like there were a lot of like right-wing gangs right extreme right wings organizations like people who got like good training and that's sponsored by right wing politicians and sometimes even like counted up by by the authorities.
KK: What?
MDB: of course they they hated hip-hop kids they hated punks they hated like in our whole culture.
KK: yes, anything westernized anything they kind of felt native to there way of living they didn't like.
MDB: absolutely then it changed so right now it is frankly it was much much better than it used to be back in the day so yeah so we we played a lot of shows during those times and it was crazy.
KK: I bet it was.
MDB: you just you just go to play a show and you can do you have no idea if you ever gonna come back in one piece after that because it's gonna be like some control or like a police raid or because I remember some shows, organized shows and cops just came to the us and say I'm not gonna let you play here you know to allow you we gonna confiscate all your gear and not gonna let you play so we just call like our friends like another other part of like and say guys try to find something maybe some bar or like they say okay we have this abandon building ok good so push crowd of people just move to this building we go there and like wait there and we just need to play before the cops find out what's going on and go there and like stop the shows there and arrest and try to arrest us.
KK: wow. Was there every a time where you thought yourself this is all too much I don't think we should do this anymore.
MDB: we actually started in the in that like at that moment that's where we started the band we had like a lot of things to say and be like you know we are against all those like like crazy like extremist gangs like ultra right-wing assholes who were for like trying to hurt people and these police brutality we have like things to say and that's like how the that was the time when the band started so that was also one of the kind of like ingredients so we were ready when we were like doing those shows like we knew what we were doing and what you didn't like come out of you know out of nowhere we realized how it was all so that's kind of how the whole concept of why we don't like play with a full set up or like all the instruments like drummer and guitarist like we played we have MCs and we have our DJ get a ghetto blasted giraffe sup man,
KK: Hold tight, hold tight crew.
MDB: unfortunately because of yeah because of the quarantine he's internet is way too shitty right now and so DJ and dudes with microphones because in the early days when we started feel like we already were playing like punk bands and as you know with bands you have to like drag all the guitars and drums all the equipment and then when we started at first it was just Vlad and I two of us and it's you know two dudes with microphones and a laptop with some beats on it and then you go and play and show and I play show and if there is a police raid you just grab your shit and get the fuck out.
KK: Of course, of course.
MDB: pardon my language.
KK: it's cool.
MDB: know it's like it's like an approach to underground rave that's like an illegal rave when you're ready to you know ready to like fight or like you know escape from police that when you have to so and again going back to like the music stuff we when we were discussing this we realized that hey you know when are you putting together beats we can mix all the genres that we like we can put punk rock in there we can put heavy metal in there you do like electronic stuff you can do more classic like hip hop beats and then you rap over it and you know and again when it with hip hop you have verses like at least 16 bars in each verse there are some things you can say so you know for us it's like all that formula came together we like that that's what we want to do and that's like that's how it's gonna be .
KK: dude I mean music with a message it's the most important ingredient I dunno that's what I get kick out of and also like that the fact that you're opening the door into a world that is very rarely vocalized with English and vocalized in a way that does merge genres because of where you come from do you know I'm saying,
MDB: mm-hmm we try to do it like we we have songs in Russian but we also made sure that we had like concentration on like English songs as well as because that has a broader appeal but you know we still spit about stuff that we like that we live and that we grew up with and they're the stuff that we went through so there's still like Moscow in the death Brigade, in English.
KK: it's fucking great I love it, I love it and I hope you know I hope above all you know my audience and the scene over here gets a snapshot with this conversation you know I'm saying and because I know your fans will gravitate to it they're gonna love it and I I just know that energy will putt or pass on to people that are of graffiti scene or of a hip hop scene in the UK you know what I'm saying.
MDB: yeah, yeah and we love playing the UK it's always a good time and we played like tours in the UK we played festivals we played boomtown fair the big one.
KK: Fire.
MDB: yeah yeah yeah that one is that one was really cool, so we love we love it in UK we love the food man it's on tour it's English breakfast every day.
KK: Really every time I come to every time I come to Russia right and I've said this I think I've said this before on podcast but like your vodka is like milk. It comes to easy.
MDB: You can get shitty ones I don't recommend that but if it's good vodka it like goes in well and like all the stuff that you chase it with is good I like I'm like Vlad I'm not straight edge so I can you know indulge in some vodka from time to time so yeah .
KK: Oh, so you guys don’t drink or nothing.
MDB: sorry?
KK: You don't drink or nothing?
MDB: No that's only Vlad Vlad doesn't do any stuff like I can, I can drink alcohol.
KK: good for you Vlad. A man I admire. so, you just waiting, essentially, you're just waiting for the barriers to be opened and you're able to tour again right.
MDB: kind of you also realize that you know we sort of have a same thing as like when you're making music or whatever, you have this duty to like you know have a positive message and like inspire people. So we try to you know like engage people online we record like recorded a new song like in our living room something like recorded with in their homes mixed it put it out on the internet and some BandCamp, put your mask on and talks about quarantine, and stuff that you should be important you know and take care of like stuff and we actually the entire thing has been a benefit so all the money will go to an organization in Russia that helps like lonely elderly people who like going through hard times during the pandemic so like and we do stuff like that we're like doing online streams with like shows we did we were supposed to play in May we're supposed to play in Las Vegas we're supposed to play punk rock bowling which is a really big punk rock festival and and of course it got like rescheduled to next year but they invited us to be part of the like of their livestream so we recorded some stuff from home and tried to like you know make it make it cool we try to come up with new things you know to up the level of the way that you stream music live even when you have very little stuff to do it and you are like in your living room and like with all the constraints so we try to work on stuff like all the time to you know passing time before the tours as you said before the barriers drop and we can start touring again but there's still stuff you can do as an artist.
KK: bro I feel like I'm so late to the party with you guys is fucking mad I'm like Vegas you're gonna do the United States you do UK it's like this is it's like awesome for me because like I'm going into the archives now and it's so fucking sick
MDB: how did you I come across the new cross video that you that you saw us the first time.
KK: I think it was I saw the flyer I saw the flyer after the fact, so I know I missed
you and then I I think I hit a hash tag and then I saw all your life stuff and everything popping off and yeah you know I was hooked I'll just I found the whole thing totally like insightful it was like I knew there was like a new genre new thing you know and I mean and I love that shit.
MDB: Thank you man, I mean you're a perfect person for whom this music is made you know it's like so when you tell us those things it's you know it's it warms our hearts so KK: it's the way it should be done right .
MDB: yeah absolutely we think so yeah man and you know and you are now you're no stranger to like the touring life and they're all the toils that you have to go through as a musician a lot people think oh musicians you know they like just touring, having fun all the time.
KK: yeah, and you know what it never ages you know I mean it's still fun.
MDB: Exactly yeah.
KK: you just become old and bitter as you as time goes on you you start questioning why you like it so much and then just admit that it is you.
MDB: yeah man but if that's the lifestyle that you choose and you have to work hard to you know to be in it and.
KK: yeah that's right that's right and not a lot of people will stand the test of time of being allowed being allowed to do that right.
MDB: yeah, so that’s a challenge, you have to constantly yeah.
KK: yeah that's a human challenge isn't it.
MDB: yeah.
KK: listen boys I know you I know the time difference is pretty late over there I really fucking appreciate you guys coming on and check-in us out and saying hello bro.
MDB: That was a pleasure, thank you so much.
KK: I wish the fucking best for you guys I'm gonna be watching all the way and there you definitely got some new fans for sure man.
MDB: see you we'll see you in London next time we are coming for show.
KK: Bro I’m ready, I'm ready to go.
MDB: oh yeah.
KK: it's a pleasure man hey listen when when we go live on this, I'll let you know we'll make it really pop for yas, I'm I'm super excited about it.
MDB: Thank you, you know we also like pushing hard through our channels so whichever way we can help.
KK: that's the fire right there ladies and gentlemen. Vlad and G Moscow death brigade inside the place thanks so much boys as pleasure.
MDB: thank you very much they get stay healthy stay safe
.KK: that's the one, Killa Kela podcast kicking back with some of avengeance right here going international Moscow Russia share spread the love tell a friend to tell a friend on all good platforms Killa Kela podcast take care of yourselves peace.
FOR MORE STREET CULTURE PODCASTS CHECK OUT THE KILLA KELA YOUTUBE CHANNEL KELAVISION
DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW THE SOCIALS FOR ALL YOUR STREET CULTURE NEWS, INSPIRATION FROM THE UNDERGROUND AND MORE.