Interview with Musician Dmitry Nechaev

Dmitry Nechaev is a musician based in Moscow, Russia who started his career working as a professional model since he was 11 years old. It all started by participating in photos sessions for the world’s leading fashion magazines, being featured in TV adverts and mastering the runway. In a short period of time, Dmitry gained the status of an international model in Russia and Europe.

Today it’s such a pleasure for me to introduce this 24-year old musician who conquered a vast audience worldwide with his deep, sensual voice and  nourishing lyrics that touch our soul. He inspires you in so many ways, setting you free to a different, new, fresh world, where we are connected by what moves us: the desire to simply live and to be happy, evoking many more feelings which were sleeping deep inside for a long time, making us feel alive again. It is a sharing of how he feels — simply beautiful. For those who have spent a lifetime in a surreal world, and have lost touch with what matters, he brings the chance to dream again because there is so much illumination in his lyrics in contrast to the things that we often forgotten, and that realization brings tears to our eyes.

So enjoy this exclusive interview and please visit his official websites:

Anonymous – Dmitry Nechaev

RO: Tell us about your transition from an international fashion model to today’s singing & songwriting?

DN: My modeling career started years back when I was 11. I’ve mastered the runway and acquired a great deal of acting knowledge, got publishing deals in fashion magazines and advertisements both in Russia and Europe. It sure has given me some real balls and actual experience of public performance ever since my childhood. But I’ve always had that passion for music. Yet I’ve never dreamed to become a musician, but music turned out to be the only art I find complete self-realization in. And in no time it became the primary language to express everything that I find trapped within me, although I take an interest in many kinds of arts.

RO: Were you around music growing up in Russia? Tell me about the music scene back there at that time?

DN: I’ve always been going along with music. Ever since my childhood I was totally surrounded by it. Bands like Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears, A-ha along with all the other tunes of 80s really took a great part in my upbringing. Moreover, I think the fact that I was raised listening mostly to foreign music determines my style at the moment. I’m not really sure where is it coming from but I can’t sing in Russian, literally, and even if I try to I do it with a terrible accent.

RO: Then you mentioned in other interviews that you were influenced by Japanese musician Akira Yamaoka. How did you first discover his music since you were only 15 years old at the time. Was it Akira whose music first inspired you?

DN: Akira Yamaoka for me was someone I would really want to become for other people out there. Not only had he inspired me to take steps towards making music, what is most important he was the one to open up my consciousness allowing me to believe that I can actually create stuff on my own. Also he has an incredible talent to express feelings and emotions in his tunes. He managed to invent his own language in music. And that in itself is extremely remarkable.

RO: Your new was released worldwide in September: what was the inspiration and creative process behind it?

DN: That was quite a journey I have to admit. It was the first time ever I dealt with a German record company to actually produce the single. I’ve also got acquainted with European music market as we previously launched the single in Europe. It hit central radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, WDR2, Radio NRW, Antenne1 etc. That was a really significant experience I gained.

RO: How do you want people to feel when they listen to your music? Are there any messages that you are sharing with the public in your lyrics?

DN: Some say that a mission of a true poet is to give a voice to the social background he is surrounded by. I pretty much feel to sort of collect and reveal social concerns and outbreaks within my lyrics. It’s not something I’m aiming to, mostly it is something that comes out by itself. Commonly speaking I never make up rhymes, they usually come as a consequence.

RO: Which is your favorite song on the single as well as the new debut album Ignis Fatuus and why?

DN: Secret Love is definitely the one. In fact this song is the climax, the turning point of the whole album. It is me standing up against society’s cultural aversion, outbreaks of its gross diseases such as racism and xenophobia. It has been composed under a great pressure of thoughts kicking up in my spirit. The whole diversity of ideas exposed in lyrics is verbalized in the sound allowing one to read between the lines and get to the essential point.

Dmitry Nechaev – press release photo

RO: How would you classify your music?

DN: Expressive, psychologically overfilling… a mixture of electronic and live sound bound together with a strong melody and provocative philosophy expanded in lyrics and style, I guess. It is meant to make people think… I do really believe that commercial-based music industry constructs haven’t yet come up with a classification versatile enough to put that in, or have they? With this classification be marketable enough for the mid-class majority of consumers. We bet this is a bit too complicated – they’ll probably answer.

RO: What has been the hardest part in getting your music out there?

DN: The hardest part was gaining belief that I create something that could be understood and appreciated by the masses. I always thought myself to be unique in my own way, to create tunes that are hard to compare to mainstream or whatsoever. It took me quite some time to perceive my art as something I really want to contribute to the music culture of the future.

RO: Do you think that helps media outlets, such My Space, YouTube and Facebook are good ways to get the word out about your music?

DN: Definitely social networking makes sense, to some extent at least. Absolutely perfect for making first steps towards publicity. Besides that’s the perfect means to keep in touch with your fans and followers. But I thought they were essentially meant to raise public interest towards indie culture as to the only industry concept in which real art can exist. As all these major acts seem to become more and more contrived.

RO: How important to you are the visuals that correspond with your music — and do you do anything special to prepare yourself for a performance?

DN: Visual image is actually one of the most significant aspects that goes in tandem with my music. I really strive to deliver a complex idea within my art and give people a chance to perceive its diversity by all means possible. That was the main reason I founded the art project “Equinox” the main purpose of which is to depict the idea emerged in tunes by means of shapes, colours and stuff. Even the way I look mostly reflects the atmosphere trapped within the music.

RO: How often do you create a new song?

DN: Who knows, really. I get various ideas time after time, always try to sketch them down. But for me writing stuff is sort of falling in a trance I find myself involved with, when the whole universe collapses in a malevolent darkness of one’s endeavors, the moment in time in which you’re unaware of your existence and surrounding. You never know how long it may last. The only thing that matters is to capture the idea you carry in sounds and tunes distinct enough for other people to perceive.

RO: Where would you most like to perform? And who would you most like to open for?

DN: On planet Mars, really! My project manager Max and I recently signed for a NASA space campaign to become citizens of Mars. So performing there would be the best thing we could contribute to the cultural desert of the universe. A splendid metaphor for the crucial reality, ain’t it?

RO: If you could choose another genre of music, what would it be? And which genre of music do you most/least listen to?

DN: Due to the music I pick to listen to – Mine mostly… seriously… Someone said that one creates something he lacks in the whole wide world. Well, that’s obviously true for me. As to other artists, I’ve never really dig into music classification to set my preferences in the style or genre. I listen to the tunes that kick up in my spirit, evoke emotions and fit my mood. Even though I do stick to some of my favourite bands I still prefer my music menu completely versatile.

RO: Do you play any instruments?

DN: I play guitar, mostly acoustic, piano and harmonica. Pity the latter doesn’t fit in my music at all. I do really want to learn to play shamisen someday!

Dmitry Nechaev on stage

RO: What was the first concert you ever went to? An how do you felt after?

DN: I’ve been to many when a child, but that was unconsciousness so to speak. But the first gig to get captured in my memory was my favourite Duran Duran’s one. I was 12 at that time, and was completely fascinated and overdriven by the emotions and feelings I experienced. I’ve also had an opportunity to get acquainted with the guys in person and even talk to them a bit.

RO: What do you think of Lady Gaga?

DN: I don’t think of Lady Gaga much more than of an extremely successful commercial project: an unbelievably splendid collaboration of various artists, designers, image-makers, producers, songwriters etc. I happen to believe she might be the apotheosis of what major labels can bring into the cultural disorder of the present. I wish there was a matching personality behind the glossy cover, same bright and unique as the visual.

RO: Who do you think are the three most influential persons in the music industry today and why?

DN: Sony Music, Universal and Capitol. Pardon my sarcasm, but these guys really seem to create the immediate music culture and are believed to know what ordinary consumers’ taste might determine in the nearest future.

RO: What’s the biggest, most important lesson your parents taught you?

DN: To stay true to what I am and to what I believe in. They’ve been and they are my greatest support ever. They are the ones who created my personality. If not for them I might just look into the world through the eyes of an ordinary man resting his future upon the obsolete stereotypes socially acknowledged as ultimate truth.

RO: Do you have any shows coming up?

DN: Indeed I do. We are currently working on a live Unstaged performance held in November in Moscow, Russia. Where we will not only play released material but also will include some previously unheard tracks from the upcoming second studio album. There will also be a couple of local performances on TV and radio to support that show.

RO: Are there any thoughts or anything else you’d like to say?

DN: Most of the thoughts and ideas are trapped within my music and lyrics. Have a listen. Tsss… Can you feel it? That is me whispering in your ear.

This is my gift to you Dmitry HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

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Comments

  1. Detlev says:

    After checking out some samples of his music on iTunes I got his album, not just for the purpose of having a copy of his tunes, but also in support of a fresh perspective on the musical arts and allowing his creative benevolence to be encouraged …

  2. Myriam says:

    I love this interview! These photos are really awesome, his haircut and makeup are cool too. I agree so much with his answers, especially about Lady Gaga and when he mentioned about the lessons that his parents taught him. I heard the music and his voice is just awesome.
    Cheers!
    Myriam

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