Synthetic Snow Festival was taking place on December 10th in Moscow. In prior of the event we chatted with Rich Silverthorn (MESH), Eric Van Wonterghem (MONOLITH) and Monica Jeffries taking part in the Synthetic festival and talked about Russia, the Russian fans and the plans of the groups to come back with concerts.
Questions to Mesh
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: You play in Russia rarely. What has changed since your last visit?
Richard: We played Moscow back in 2013 as part of the “Automation Baby Tour”. Since then we have written and released a new album entitled ‘Looking Skyward’. We have recently done a European tour which was very successful for us so this was an extension of that tour. So we played many of the new songs from that album along with the obvious classics.
RoD: What do you think about the Russian audience?
Richard: We have always loved the Russian audiences. They are so appreciative of bands coming over and playing live. It is usually a great atmosphere and full of enthusiastic people. Every time we have played there we had a great time.
RoD: Are you planning to visit Russia again?
Richard: If we get asked we usually make a special effort to come over. At the moment it was only the Moscow show but who knows... We will see.
RoD: Have you prepared something special for this festival?
Richard: Well like I said it was a version of our current tour show. We have worked really hard on a very visual show and we hoped we can recreate that with the equipment we have available to us on the night.
Questions to Monolith
RoD: Was it your first visit to Moscow?
Eric: I was a few times in Moscow with other bands I am involved in like the noise project SONAR... It must be the 3th time now I came to Russia, my last visit was in 2012 with the band ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL.
RoD: Do you want to visit Russia for a concert too?
Eric: Yes I do and I have the privilege to be the special guest and was invited by the Russian Synth Community. I performed & played an industrial live set with my solo project MONOLITH at "Black Snow" which is the after party from the famous Synthetic Snow Event!
RoD: Can you describe your feelings before playing for the Russian audience?
Eric: Its special to do this, I’m honoured that I could come to perform there with my hard electronic sounding music, however I found out in the EBM Electro-Industrial scene the reaction in Germany festivals or Russia are very similar, there’s good vibe and hard party.
RoD: How did you think that the festival would give to you?
Eric: I knew it would be a long exiting night with many good concerts to look at and listen to great music played by the DJs... besides that I was looking forward to visit and discover some nice places in Moscow city.
Questions to Monica Jeffries
RoD: Have you ever been in Russia before?
Monica: I was looking very much forward to perform in Russia for the very first time.
RoD: What do you know about Russian culture?
Monica: As I have friends from Russia I know that Russian people are very strong: They fight and never give up. Russia has also many talented artists, musicians, writers and scientists.
RoD: Can you describe your feelings you had before playing for the Russian audience?
Monica: I heard many good things about the Synthetic Snow Festival and their organizers and the people from Russia are very sweet and lovely, what made performing in Moscow even more exciting for me. To be honest: As I started to sell my CD's online the very first orders came from Russia.
RoD: Were you preparing for your festival setlist something extra-special?
Monica: Yes: I had prepared a setlist especially for Moscow.
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