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Anton Kubikov: I'm like a mirror, a radio receiver and a transmitter all at once.
Интервью · 30.07.2003
By Cyberia
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What does electronic music mean to you? For some it's clubbing mayhem, for some an aesthetic pleasure, for some a background to relax to, and for some a set of bits and bytes. But even electronic music isn't written by computers, and it isn't robots standing behind the turntables - it's written and mixed by people just like the rest of us. And we decided to get closer to them, to sit down with them over a cup of coffee or a shot in the kitchen and have a heart-to-heart.
And as our first victim we chose Anton Kubikov - on the one hand a popular DJ you often see behind the turntables at fashionable parties, and on the other hand a man who can rightfully be called a legend of Russian electronic music.
Who is he - an eccentric genius who has devoted himself entirely to music, or just a trendy DJ who has fun and goes wild, revelling in his own success?
Real name:
Anton Kubikov
Place of birth: the town of Zelenograd
Date of birth: 4 June 1975
Musical style: Techno, Deep, House
Clubs he has played: Hermitage, Relax, Treasure Island, Metro, Moby Dick, Ptuch, Utopia, X-Dance, Luch, A-Club, Mix, Gorod
Place of birth: the town of Zelenograd
Date of birth: 4 June 1975
Musical style: Techno, Deep, House
Clubs he has played: Hermitage, Relax, Treasure Island, Metro, Moby Dick, Ptuch, Utopia, X-Dance, Luch, A-Club, Mix, Gorod
44100:
Is Anton Kubikov a DJ, a musician, or just a person who does whatever he happens to feel like at that moment?
Кубиков:
That's a very strange question... I'm just lucky that I get to do what I love. Really it's more of a way of life, because sometimes I think to myself: "damn, I can't actually do anything else...". All I can do is spin records and make music, but I still can't figure out whether you can call that a "serious" occupation.
44100:
And are you dependent on the people who listen to your music?
Кубиков:
Yes, I am. I want to depend on them. I like it. It's a natural contact. It's like a game - I make a track and, eyes blazing, I run off to a club, say, put it on and watch whether people dance or not. No reaction - I run home and rework it. Or one of my friends, another DJ, comes over, I play a loop of a still-unfinished track and ask his opinion. And since for them it's a potential hit, a potential record they could buy or play in clubs, my friends' opinion matters a great deal to me.
44100:
And how do you spend your leisure time? Do you relax with friends?
Кубиков:
Somehow, since childhood, I was never taught to relax. I was always told I'd rest later. And that's probably why I still haven't learned how to relax - you couldn't even drag me off to a resort. The only real rest for my soul is with my friends. Friends are everything to me, I'm ready to give them absolutely everything. Though they catch it from me sometimes, because I'm an irritable person. But the people who've known me a long time simply pay it no mind. Sometimes even strangers catch it, and so I get the feeling that people form a not-very-good impression of me as a person, even though I wouldn't want people to think badly of me.
44100:
And do you have a lot of friends?
Кубиков:
Well, the very closest of the close, probably two. Two people I consider real friends, because you can't have many real friends.
44100:
Schoolmates?
Кубиков:
No, no, things are pretty thin with schoolmates, because I haven't seen them in a very long time. It's usually tough for everyone with schoolmates; of all the people I know, few have been lucky enough to still keep in touch with their childhood friends. All of mine are right here in this cesspit... And I know they'll never let me down - I relax with them and I work with them too.
44100:
And when you're working - you're not resting?
Кубиков:
That's exactly the strange part - sometimes when you're working you're actually resting, enjoying yourself, sometimes when you're writing music. I have neither workdays nor days off. I got confused long ago about when I'm working and when I'm not. When I'm resting, some mystical conscience kicks in and says: "Right, so why are you fooling around all the time?". I get the feeling that if you looked at me from the outside - the guy's just messing about with some nonsense. But I'm not fooling around; even when I'm moving around the city I'm still thinking about music, about how to make something. That is, I'm constantly in a state of searching.
But on the other hand, I think rest means the absence of any thought process, so it's all kind of two-sided...
But on the other hand, I think rest means the absence of any thought process, so it's all kind of two-sided...
44100:
Is the work for yourself?
Кубиков:
First and foremost, I do this to satisfy myself, then to please my friends, then to earn money, and it's all interconnected. I love my work. Different DJs can play the exact same records, but one gets a reaction from the crowd and the other doesn't. Because there's no love for the work, he plays on autopilot. There are plenty of DJs like that. In our slang we call it 'no sex'. The crowd reacts very sharply to it. There has to be a core inside you, some little motor; a person has to radiate something, not just stand there with a blank face mixing records. Of course, sometimes a completely absent gaze means something too, because the DJ creates the crowd's mood, and the crowd creates the DJ's mood. It's a constant exchange, impossible without it. How can I smile if no one in the room is smiling - I'd feel like a complete idiot. I'm like a mirror, a radio receiver and a transmitter all at once. All the mood passes through me. My mood is that very music; the crowd's mood passes through me and is then embodied in the music. A kind of cycle.
44100:
How would you characterise your audience? Who are they?
Кубиков:
My favourite audience is people aged 25-35 who already have a store of knowledge, some life experience. At first a person can't yet tell what he likes and what he doesn't; he accumulates his knowledge and only then starts sorting everything into its place. Well, I like people who have already sorted everything into place. That is, already formed personalities who are fairly developed musically. And I like it when you start talking to someone and realise that music matters to him in general, and that the music I write matters to him. Because there are a lot of people for whom music is, by and large, just background, but you have to think about them too, and in the end they react as well, and to hits all the more so. Because usually the music in clubs is applied music - there's very little creativity in it, it's music applied to the club. If there were no clubs, there'd be no such music. Making plain dance music isn't hard, and there's a ton of it, but I'd like something more...
44100:
Do your records get played in clubs often?
Кубиков:
Not much. But there's a lot more music written than that. Only around 20 records with 3-4 tracks each have come out, plus there's an album. So reckon about 70 tracks written and only around 10 get played.
44100:
And how many of your records are in your colleagues' DJ bags?
Кубиков:
One or two, for sure.
44100:
And do you buy new records often yourself?
Кубиков:
I buy very few records, I hardly buy any at all now, and that's why I don't play much in clubs - you can't play old music, people get bored of it.
44100:
Do you have a lot of them?
Кубиков:
Yes (smiles), and all of them scratched - I'm careless.
44100:
And do you have favourites?
Кубиков:
Favourite records? The absolute all-time favourites? There are 3 records for all time: St. Germain - Alabama Blues, Gay Dee - Plastic Dreams and Moby - Go. For me they'll never die.
44100:
Do you use them often in your sets?
Кубиков:
Once every six months.
44100:
Why so rarely?
Кубиков:
Well, so they don't get tiresome. Firstly, they're very old, and I only play them at the very, the most important moments.
44100:
And when it comes to the equipment you play on, are you a fussy DJ? Some, for instance, change the needles before they start playing...
Кубиков:
As for DJing, there are certain rules that the crowd's enjoyment depends on. If you've got bad turntables, a bad mixer, bad sound - people will say the DJ was bad anyway. If the turntables and the mixer are bad, the DJ will constantly be thinking not about the quality of the mix, not about what to play and in what order, how to blend it, but about keeping everything from falling apart, keeping anything from crackling. Because DJs, like all creative people, are very sensitive, and it's very easy to knock a DJ off his groove.
44100:
Are you familiar with the state of creative crisis? Was there a time when inspiration deserted you, and how did you deal with it?
Кубиков:
Yes, that happens from time to time. You write and write, and then you empty out - and that's it, like a TV switching off. I take it philosophically: it's not flowing right now, but later it'll suddenly hit me. Sometimes, for instance, other music inspires and stimulates you to write different music. The tracks are so strongly charged emotionally that everything just spins around them. When you put them on, the sun immediately shines brighter, your mood lifts, you want to do something.
44100:
Would you say that music is your calling?
Кубиков:
Yes. Everything connected with music. I've no inclination for anything else. I've found myself, I know what I'll always be doing. I can't live without music.
44100:
And as a child didn't you want to become something else, a cosmonaut, say, or a steamroller driver?
Кубиков:
Yes! As a child I really wanted to be a pilot, then I wanted to be an actor, then a director, I even got into GITR (the State Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting) on the directing faculty, but I didn't turn out to be a director. When I was studying at GITR, I faced a choice - either I'd carry on studying or I'd be a DJ. Doing both at once was impossible.
44100:
Is working as a DJ profitable?
Кубиков:
Depends on the DJ. Enough to get by in the city of Moscow.
44100:
Is there some division of DJs by pay? Lower-paid, higher-paid - what does it depend on?
Кубиков:
Yes, of course. Most often it depends on how commercial the music the DJ plays is. Although all music is commercial, because it's sold. There's music that sells in the millions - that's popular music, there's the mainstream and there's the underground, but even within the underground there's more popular music and less. Take Paul Oakenfold, for instance - he plays commercial music and earns a lot, but then there's, say, Jeff Mills, who plays non-commercial music but earns just as much.
44100:
And does the pay depend on which club the DJ plays in?
Кубиков:
It does, but not always. Take the club Mix, for instance - it's decent, it's very fashionable, and yet the DJs get paid very little. Simply because Mix is considered so fashionable that playing there is an honour in itself.
44100:
Is it an honour to play at Mix?
Кубиков:
Well, sure - it's an 'honour' on the even days, and on the odd days I go fishing. I used to go there like it was a celebration, because originally the club was for our own crowd. So we played for our own people, and that's why the fees were so friendly. And then it went commercial, but the fees stayed the same. That's basically disrespect...
44100:
Which clubs do you most enjoy playing in now?
Кубиков:
I don't know. There's nowhere to play besides Mix anyway... Though I also like the little boat.
44100:
You worked and recorded in Germany for a long time. Tell us how that came about.
Кубиков:
I met the well-known Moscow artist Kirill Preobrazhensky. And about six months later he suggested I go to Germany with him to help him with the musical accompaniment for an exhibition. When I went for the first time, I understood nothing at all, I didn't even understand the language. There I helped him, provided the sound for the text sequence, did the musical design. And on the very first day I gave my CD to a man, Andy Schmidek, who later started his own label, Salo. I released on it more than once, and not just me - Lazy Fish and Meshkov too. Basically it was thanks to him that I started working in Germany.
44100:
And how long were you there?
Кубиков:
The longest stretch I was there for was a month. I can't say whether it's worse or better there, I don't know. I wrote music, I played. I lived in a squat. For those who don't know, that's when people rent a big flat where everyone has their own room. There's one kitchen, one bathroom, one toilet and one guest room. So I lived in the guest room. People were constantly changing, though some stayed. Germans are very hospitable people. A couple of times I'd arrive and people were seeing me for the very first time.
Once I arrived in Cologne. My friend Inutero wrote a letter to Germany, to the musician Monolake he knew, and asked him to help me, to which he replied that he was in Berlin, but there was a person in Cologne who might be able to help. It amazes me that he even answered that letter at all. And sure enough, in Cologne this person met me, found a girl I ended up staying with, and later I stayed with her several more times. You know, I was in shock. I don't know how such a thing is even possible. I'm simply in love with that city.
Once I arrived in Cologne. My friend Inutero wrote a letter to Germany, to the musician Monolake he knew, and asked him to help me, to which he replied that he was in Berlin, but there was a person in Cologne who might be able to help. It amazes me that he even answered that letter at all. And sure enough, in Cologne this person met me, found a girl I ended up staying with, and later I stayed with her several more times. You know, I was in shock. I don't know how such a thing is even possible. I'm simply in love with that city.
44100:
What can you say about the Love Parade in Germany? Are there similar festivals in Russia?
Кубиков:
I played the Love Parade twice - in 1999 and 2000. Loved it!!! The most fun was the first time, when I sat on the roof of the float for about eight hours and wouldn't come down. But really it's indescribable; we have no comparable events here in Russia.
44100:
What can you say about European ravers? How do they differ from Russian ones? And in general, does the crowd differ across Russian cities, and where do you like it more?
Кубиков:
Very different! They're completely different people, different faces, different eyes! I don't even know how to explain it.
I've been to a great many cities in Russia. Take, for example, the thing that happened to me with Chelyabinsk the last time I went. I was in a really good mood, I had a festive feeling, and when I arrived - it was so awful there... The people were awful too, I got nothing back, no reaction at all. And I didn't know what to do with them, and they didn't know what to do with me. When they paid me, I had the feeling I hadn't earned it. They hadn't invited a DJ everyone there knew and was waiting for, knew what he'd play - they'd just invited a name...
I've been to a great many cities in Russia. Take, for example, the thing that happened to me with Chelyabinsk the last time I went. I was in a really good mood, I had a festive feeling, and when I arrived - it was so awful there... The people were awful too, I got nothing back, no reaction at all. And I didn't know what to do with them, and they didn't know what to do with me. When they paid me, I had the feeling I hadn't earned it. They hadn't invited a DJ everyone there knew and was waiting for, knew what he'd play - they'd just invited a name...
44100:
Your name is pretty well promoted by the mass media. Do journalists give you a lot of attention?
Кубиков:
No.
44100:
And various online publications?
Кубиков:
No, very rarely. If anyone does pay attention, it's only foreign online publications and specialised foreign magazines.
44100:
And do you use the Internet yourself?
Кубиков:
Yes, but less and less lately, I just don't know what to do there. I only check my email.
44100:
Do you have a website, and how do you feel about that?
Кубиков:
I used to have my old site, and now we've made a new one, just for SCSI9. It's the site Max (the other member of the project) and I made, with all the releases, live sets, our autobiographies. I think it's very convenient when a person can find out information about you and listen to your music from anywhere on the planet. By the way, most of the music and mixes get downloaded from abroad.
44100:
And do you visit any sites yourself?
Кубиков:
No. None at all.
44100:
How do you feel about the site 44100?
Кубиков:
Terrible site!!! (laughs). I don't understand its complicated structure. Why do you have to register to get anything done? It's a drag that you have to register 10 times over, and since I'm on dial-up, it all goes very slowly.
44100:
Do you have a mobile phone, and do you lose it often?
Кубиков:
You know, when you have one, you really need it, but when you don't... I lose one about once a year, though no - this year I've already lost three, or rather one broke and two I lost.
44100:
What clothing style do you prefer? Do you preen in front of the mirror?
Кубиков:
Jeans and a T-shirt. I had an all-time favourite jacket given to me by a truly wonderful person. He lives in Odessa. He gave me an old leather bomber jacket that he'd probably inherited from his great-grandfather. Otherwise, I'm no fashion-plate. And there's nothing to dress up for anyway! Because dressing up means spending a lot of money on clothes, and I'd rather buy myself a synthesizer.
44100:
What do you usually eat? How do you feel about healthy food?
Кубиков:
In the mornings I only drink coffee, the fridge is usually empty. Though no - last time there was a jar of courgette caviar in it... My favourite dish changes with the season.
44100:
A healthy lifestyle?...
Кубиков:
I don't know what that is.
44100:
You don't do any sport?
Кубиков:
I drink vodka.
44100:
And you didn't do any as a child?
Кубиков:
I did sport all through my childhood! It's strange I became a DJ - I should have become an athlete (laughs). I did track and field, basketball, football, volleyball. I even did karate and Greco-Roman wrestling. I did Greco-Roman wrestling for exactly one day in the first grade. In the very first session, while I was sitting on the vaulting horse, some older kid came up to me, and when everyone was told to line up, he yanked me by the arm and with the words "Let's go line up!!!" - dislocated my arm!!! I never went back.
44100:
Happy childhood memories?
Кубиков:
Up to the age of 11 the memories are endlessly happy, and then the trash began! I moved from Zelenograd to another school in Moscow, and it was full of nothing but hooligans.
44100:
Did you fight as a child, get up to mischief?
Кубиков:
Yes, constantly. Everyone beat me up as a kid, but I knew how to tuck and brace myself. And in kindergarten they'd lock me in a dark room full of folding cots for misbehaving. I remember being punished for calling the cleaning lady a bastard.
44100:
And what place does the fair sex occupy in your life? Do you have female fans?
Кубиков:
Girls occupy an enormous place in my life. As for fans, not really, but there are secret admirers, I think.
44100:
Are you satisfied with your life? What else would you like to do?
Кубиков:
No... The plan isn't fulfilled yet...
44100:
How do you picture family life?
Кубиков:
I don't picture it yet - well, it isn't there. It's the kind of thing that hits you and then you're done for...
At that point he shed a stingy manly tear and took a big gulp of beer, gazing off somewhere into the distance - already past me... I realised the conversation was over and he wanted to be alone =)