The BlueStocking is one of the most interesting psychedelic groups that I have found so far this year. I loved their EP as much as my chat with these guys. Find out my interview below with the Russian psychedelic masters.
● Congrats on your great record guys! Well-done! Tell me how did you guys meet up?
Kat: It was a festival of accidental luck! First, Hellen and Kira played in a different band, but left and created The BlueStocking. I was a fan of the band long before I joined it, which was in 2017. Then I met Egor, and he loved the band so much he wanted to join us. And then, when we were recording our first singles, we met Ilya!
Artwork: Ekaterina Perfilyeva
● Although your music is covered with psychedelic elements, I loved the diversity indeed. How did you manage to add alternative and art-rock arrangements to your main style?
Kira: Can’t say that we deliberately added arrangements, it’s just the way the songs were written in the first place!
Ilya: We grew up on old school music! That’s where it comes from.
Egor: It’s inspiration. After listening to the demo, the elements just flow to you.
Kat: Not even sure what our ‘main style’ is. I think diversity might be the style, actually.
● It’s my favorite psychedelic EP of the year so far, still, why it’s 3 tracks only? Does it relate to your song themes and concept?
Kira: Pretty much, yes! Set Your Eyes and Bones & Lillies are like two sides of the same coin, and the initial idea was to record and release them together. Then Violets seemed to fit very well as layer between them. There are lot of hidden concepts that became very clear after we recorded the songs! Like tonal parallels, layers of meaning. I keep finding new ones!
Ilya: Also it’s wiser and cheaper to release EP’s than albums.
Kira: We already have a clear vision of the second album, and these songs don’t really fit it.
Ilya: Every new single, every new EP is a an event that can attract new listeners. An album is monumental – not just in terms of work and money, but also promotion struggles. Every new release is motivation!
● Psychedelic groups stick to the basic instrumental form, still the saxophone had a great role on your EP. Tell me more about it.
Egor: Thank you so much! The way I write my parts is very intuitive. They crystallise bit by bit after listening, rehearsing, trying out different things.
Kira: Seems to me that the sax is a very psychedelic instrument!
Hellen: For sure!
Egor: Yeah, actually, in Bones & Lillies, I wrote a lot of different melodies, and Kira told me to just come to the recording session and completely improvise.
Ilya: We also watch a lot of National Geographic. Nature sounds were a huge influence on Bones & Lillies.
Kat: Actually, therewas a different saxophone player in the history of the band! However, there was nothing psychedelic about his particular style. So we’re just very lucky to have Egor.
Kira: Egor just has a –
Kat: psychedelic mind.
Kira: – has an advanced, open-minded vision of how the saxophone can sound. He’s not limited by dimensions and stereotypes.
Kat: We played without a saxophone for a long time. Things definitely got more interesting when Egor joined us!
● In your opinion, has the Russian music scene been affected by the trendy electro-pop mainstream or still keeping its shape and identity?
Kira: Definitely affected! Can’t say that it affects us personally, though.
Kat: We’ve always been a pretty niche group.
Kira: Overall the Russian music scene is of course affected by trends.
Kat: It’s very big and fruitful, though.
Ilya: If you look at the most popular Russian alternative playlists, it’s mostly rap and post-punk.
Hellen: There’s definitely a big wave of electronic music right now, and it all sounds very similar. Like what Onuka was doing in the Ukraine 7-10 years ago.
Kira: It’s kind of sad.
Hellen: But it’s getting better.
Ilya: For sure. It was much worse a few years ago,
● Your debut album ‘Algedonic’ was released last year. What was the difference between working on your debut and on ‘Bloom’?
Kat: The difference is huge!
Egor: World apart!
Kat: Making ‘Algedonic’ took exactly 300 years.
Kira: There were a lot of difficulties in the process of creating ‘Algedonic’. First of all, it was our first full-scale album. Second of all, there were some perturbations in our lineup. And because the process stalled so much, we had time to level up our skills, which lead to us re-recording A LOT. Most of it! It was a huge learning experience.
It was much easier with ‘Bloom’, because it’s only 3 songs, and not 8. And we were prepared for the process! We knew what to expect.
Kat: We have already become a tight-knit team, and we knew what we wanted. The difference is colossal!
Hellen: ‘Algedonic’ was my first experience with recording such a big body of work. There was a lot of trial and error. With ‘Bloom’, I felt much more confident. So everything went smoother, faster and lovelier!
● ‘Never Ready’ was the featured music video from the album, but I didn’t find any music videos from ‘Bloom’ yet. Are you aiming to release any?
Kira: Sure!
Egor: Wait for another year! Sorry, that’s a bad joke.
Kat: We definitely have plans.
Egor: Set Your Eyes!
● So is your 2021 EP a warm up for an upcoming album?
Egor: How did you know?!
Kira: Sure!
Kat: Not quite though! It’s an independent link between the first and second album.
Hellen: Exactly, very independent. It stands on its own.
Kira: Actually, yes, I agree.
Ilya: It’s not a warm-up, it’s a transition. Moment of transfer.
Kat: It’s gonna be epic.
● Finally, how are you gonna promote your EP especially that the COVID effect still exists?
Kat: God bless the Internet. We sent a lot of press-release letters to a lot of people. Got 2 responses out of 350 letters.
Ilya: Which is actually a pretty good result!
Kat: One of the answers was yours! We’re very grateful. Also, we’re working on growing our social media presence.
Kira: Thank you so much for sending us this interview! Long live Rock Era!
The BlueStocking on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, VK, Apple Music, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and Spotify.
