Sitting in the corner of a quaint, unassuming coffee shop in Beverly Hills is one of the most influential figures in modern Russian pop culture. Ilya Lagutenko is not a household name in the United States, but the lighthearted Vladivostok native is a pioneer of modern rock ’n’ roll and a cultural revolutionary in his home country. Lagutenko founded the band Mumiy Troll, which defined the “rockapops” style of music that combines pop and hard rock with his unique, outré performance style. Mumiy Troll’s “Vladivostok 2000” music video was the first to be played on MTV Russia (1998) and also one of the first to be banned by the Communist Party—which Lagutenko only laughs about because the ban put him in good company alongside the Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath. Listen to Mumiy Troll’s new song “Flow Away” right here.
Lagutenko’s rise to fame is attributed to his success in music, but its the coy rockstar’s off-stage activities that are receiving global attention. Lagutenko led the charge for the first annual Vladivostok Rocks (V-ROX) Music Festival in Summer 2013 in Vladivostok, the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Nicknamed East By Far East, the groundbreaking festival highlighted emerging artists from Russia and Asia, and was the first step in putting Vladivostok on the map as the “Austin of the Far East”. But Lagutenko’s foray into music festivals isn’t the only thing this renaissance Russian has in the works. In the midst of planning a festival and virtually changing the culture of an entire city – not to mention Lugatenko’s abiding impact on Russian music and fashion – Mumiy Troll released its first English album (Vladivostok) in 2012, and for several months in 2013, took to the Russian seas for a somewhat unorthodox promotional tour—and filmed it.
Lagutenko enlisted American producer/director Danny Drysdale (known for The Killers’ “Human” and “The World We Live In”) to film and produce a rockumentary which chronicles the band’s latest tour across their native Russia. The film, which is currently in post-production, will be released some time in late 2014.
I sat down with Lagutenko (who would dispel any rumors that Russians are all stone-faced and overly consumed in politics) at a quaint Beverly Hills coffee shop to talk about his many endeavors in music and film, as well as his upcoming concert in Sochi, where Mumiy Troll will close one of the Olympic Games’ largest concerts (Red Rocks) on February 21st in the Sochi Olympic Village.
CraveOnline: How did you get linked up with Danny Drysdale (Producer/Director)?
Ilya Lagutenko: We met by accident, actually. We were in one of those music showcases a couple of years ago. I always like to meet creative people. Initially my attitude towards music videos was, here’s the director, he’s got an idea—let’s create. At that time I was not really interested in doing music videos because we didn’t have any plans for marketing [them], but I got this idea for…let’s call it a documentary. At that time we had a deal with a Russian sailing ship, which goes around the world [where] basically, we can do whatever we want to do. My idea was that it would be a good thing to tour this way, because every port you can get together with the local bands and just try to explore the world. But at the same time, it may be a good idea to document it – not like a kitschy band movie – but a rock documentary. We tried to get some Russian guys to film it but it all ended [up as a] sort of a reality show, and I didn’t like that. It’s not like “musicians trapped on a ship”, ya know?
Was this a military ship or more of a commercial vessel?
It’s a one hundred year old three-masted barque. They said it was one of the oldest ships still surviving these days—like the good old days.
Now, why did you want to tour on a ship?
I did sailing when I was a kid and I was always obsessed with the ocean and sailing. It all kind of came together because back in Russia a few years ago, we did a so-called theme tour—like a Russian Navy Tour. Basically, I’m just obsessed with concepts for touring. I’m bored with going to the same places and the same markets every time. You can’t make all the money in the world, let’s put it this way. It’s not all about making it, it’s more about meeting people, exploring places. You can’t have enough holidays in your life to visit that many places. That’s why I always thought it was great to be a musician and be in a band. You are actually able to travel and also share what you are doing with other people. Music is a universal language.
I did my Navy service for two years. If it was [during] my two years of service and someone would come up, say one of my favorite singers to play even an acoustic, I would probably recoup another year [laughs]. It’s a great kind of impression and obviously, we’re living in a bit different age. When I used to do my military service it was the Cold War and right now it’s more like, it’s a bit different—let’s put it that way. I did it in the late ‘80s. The mentality has kind of changed.
How much artistic freedom do bands have in Russia?
Artistic freedom in my terms, which I have in my head and my life, I have no limits now. It was much worse, yes, in Soviet times. Let’s be straight. But, when we are talking about political actions including like, some art elements, that’s a totally different thing.
Like what happened with Pussy Riot?
Yes, like Pussy Riot. But the main thing about Pussy Riot… When it had, I don’t know, a million hits on this video, whatever they did, I went online because I didn’t know about them. I just said, a punk band? Nice name. What about music? My first questions was, what about music? I don’t care what they did in church. I went online. It was dozen, one-two (counts on fingers), views of their song. On their YouTube account. One. Two (scratches head). I was like, they’ve got the attention of all people on the globe right now and its twelve people who actually came to listen to the song. It was just the music. I actually Tweeted it, so the next week it was at 800 views [laughs]—we’re getting better now.
But while people were dealing with what’s wrong, what’s bad I was thinking, why don’t you do some kind of LiveAid show? Not in Russia. Like London. Let all those people who supported them, like Madonna, Sting, Red Hot Chili Peppers, play it for free. They play for free, broadcast it to the entire world, let the proceeds go to whatever—educational program on political tolerance. Something like that. A few million dollars, probably. It might help for people like me, people who aren’t really politically conscience to understand what they’re talking about. I guess its the same with what’s happening with the so-called anti-gay propaganda.
Yes, there are some silly people. There might be some gay people who don’t want to be open about it, who invented those laws—I don’t know. That’s my first guess. But you have to look at it from the other end. Twenty years ago in the same country, in Russia, my teacher in my middle school was always asking, “Why are you smiling Ilya? Why are you smiling? Is there something funny about what I am saying here?” No, I just like to keep everyone happy and in a good mood. I’m not trying to be evil to you, I’m just smiling. It was like a serious issue. She even complained to my parents, “He’s smiling. He’s smiling in my class.” I was like, I’m not laughing at you, I’m just smiling, enjoying the weather, whatever you’re talking about. This was twenty years ago. You know it takes time. It takes life experience even to learn who is who and how people live in this world. If you’re not happy with something, just go there.
How important is social media for bands in Russia—and for your band?
I guess, it is major for the general change in music. Public television or whatever we call it – federal television- doesn’t make any sense, to be honest, these days. There was a kind of culmination of music in the MTV era, like we call it, when they launched it in ’98— If I’m not mistaken. So yes, for ten years it was where young people got music videos, and it was basically the main source for information and the main tool to promote acts. And I know this because our video was obviously the first video MTV Russia ever showed in Russia. And when they shut it down, our video, well…[laughs].
But the last five, six, seven years, the television really lost its…it’s not about discovery anymore. Lets put it this way. And people know that. I mean, they’re there for TV shows. So the young people who are normality the driving force for music, they can find whatever they want on social media. But in the end, its’ really hard to get that global exposure based on social media, because I guess historically, Russians didn’t have a habit to pay for anything on the Internet—let’s put it this way [laughs].
