JINJER - INTERVIEW

"After all be yourself and do not follow mainstream."

Questions by: Irena Vrtovec
Answers by: Eugene Abduhanov (Bass)

1. For the beginning can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your band and your music?

Hi, my name is Eugene and I play the bass in a band called JINJER. We come from Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union, and what we do is a mixture of groove metal and metalcore with some progressive elements like jazzy vocals, twisted riffs and rhythms, time signatures, unconventional chord progressions and stuff like that.

2. You are at the very early stage of you career what are your plans/whishes for the future?

Yeah, we have just started this really complicated and tiring path. Well, as for current plans, first the band will finish 2013 season at the first Ukrainian Metal Awards in October, JINJER are nominated to be the best Ukrainian metal band of 2013, then we are going to start recording our second album this December, we have already written a bigger part of the material, and hopefully will release it next spring doing a huge tour around Europe after it. Quite trivial things to be honest – videos, festivals and so on. It is much more interesting to talk about my dreams and the band's ambitions. First of all, all of us are dreaming about Wacken Open Air, which is a bit of a problem as we don't have Wacken Contest in Ukraine. Of course as a very single metal band we would like to do a tour around Japan, one of those countries which have always been full of dedicated metal fans. In general the more gigs and shows we have the happier we are. JINJER are definitely more of a live band than a studio band. After all recording a live DVD one day will be just awesome.

3. Do you remember which was the first song on guitar/drums/bass that you learned?

Of course I do. I have never played anything except the bass guitar, and only now I am starting learning to play the piano. But the first two songs I learnt on bass were FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS and ENTER SANDMAN by Metallica. In fact I had to play them two months after I bought my first bass on stage. I wonder if I had managed to play at least a small part of both songs correctly.

4. What is the strangest thing that happened to you on stage?

I cannot say it was strange, though weird and damn painful. Last year we were playing at the biggest ever rock festival in Ukraine – the Best City with Evanescence and Rasmus as headliners. We had to play on the last day, but we decided to come on the first to hang around. You know when you have those ARTIST badges girls want to be with you, you can go backstage and meet big stars, so we thought it would be much of a fun. So was it, but on the first day some kind of a drug addict insulted our vocalist Tatiana, so I had to teach him good manners and as a result my right hand swelled. I could barely play, but anyway walked on stage and did my job. Also this year we played at another fest in Ukraine and suddenly it started pouring with rain, a real shower, somehow organizers didn't stop the show neither did we. I saw Roma playing and standing in a real pool of water and or our drummer Mantulin was playing like in a videoclip with waterdrops bursting out of his cymbals every time he hit them. Now I understand it was damn dangerous as we could get an electro shock or something like that, but that time we were too much ecstatic to stop.

5. Who writes the lyrics and what themes do they talk about?

The lyrics go from Tatiana, that's her territory. Most of the themes vary from love/relations topics to social topics. I cannot say that we sing only about love, or we are a social hardcore band. Tati writes about everything that worries her. There are some kind of motivating songs as My Lost Chance. But on a new upcoming record we will definitely have more rebel stuff. The situation in our country just pushes us to do so.

6. Whats the meaning of your name and how did you get it?

There isn't any. Just a good name to remember and pronounce. And nobody even remembers how it was invented. I believe it came from Dimitriy, as he was the original founder of the band. Later some people started associating JINJER with the sound of a distorted guitar, you know this Ji-Ji-Jin-Jer, thus we use this as a typical answer to the question “what does JINJER mean?”

7. Which artists/CDs got you into metal?

Well, at the age of 10 I first listened to NIRVANA and it got me into Rock music. As for METAL, I believe a year after I first got to know IRON MAIDEN, HELLOWEEN and BLIND GUARDIAN along with the monsters of Russian heavy-metal АРИЯ and MASTER. But what really drove me crazy was DEATH and Chuck Shuldiner. I believe I wanted to play the bass after I listened to the Philosopher by DEATH.

8. Is there any song you like so much that you wish that you have written it?

There are many songs I admire, but none of them I wish to have written. I appreciate bands and composers for writing them because those songs influenced me a lot as a bassist and a musician. I adopted a lot from DEATH and OPETH, CYNIC and ATHEIST for instance. But I would never like to be an author of those songs, so much I respect the bands and the feelings they put in those tunes and lyrics.

9. If you could do one big party with unlimited budget how would it be (looked) and who would you invite?

I am not really a party animal, but if you ask me so, there will be only JINJERs and it will be somewhere in the countryside. No mobiles, internet, only good music and closest friends.

10. If you had to do a cocktail named Jinjer what would you put in it and what effect would it have on people?

Hehe, in fact there is such a cocktail in the KUNDERBUNT club in our home city of Donetsk. It was named after us. Well, it has if I am not mistaken, kahlua, sambuka, absenth and a lemon. It is a short, it tears your head apart. Never try it unless you want to break bad!

11.  If you could play one song with any artist/band dead or alive who would that be and why?

I can't decide between two. First of all it will be Chuck from DEATH and I'd like to play Flesh and the Power It Holds, a song full of sense, a real masterpiece of metal – good composition, awesome solos, interludes and groovy riffs. On the other hand I'd like to share the stage with OPETH (if Martin Mendez agrees of course) and play Windowpane, a magnificent song by metalheads which is not really metal, but it still has that evil scent, if I can say so.

12. Which is your favorite album of 2013?

Sorry, I have been so busy so far this year, that I didn't check much of new stuff. But I can sat that a new album by KILLSWITCH ENGAGE is perfect, and Phil Anselmo did really well with his WALK THROUGH EXITS ONLY. Of course BLACK SABBATH reunion cannot but be mentioned.

13.  Best album artwork of all-time is…?

I like the SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL by AT THE GATES a lot. A terrific album with to my mind best artwork of all times.

12. What do you like the most vinyl’s, cassettes, CDs or mp3s?

I have never had a vinyl stereo, I think I am too young and too old for this at the same time. I grew up in the era of cassettes, at the dusk of it. But I personally prefer CDs, for the best sound quality and for booklets too. As for MP3s, of course they have a lot of advantages, but along with Internet it made music cheaper and diminished its value in my opinion. The music got too much available and it worked for worse.

13. Where do you see Jinjer in the next 5 years?

At Wacken, Rock am Ring, With Full Force, HellFest, LaudPark, Kubana and so on.

14. Some last words for our readers?

Keep supporting metal, keep going every Sunday to music stores, keep going to concerts of both local bands and big stars. Young musicians, please first learn to play and buy good instruments, then make tattoos. Never forget oldschool bands as most of new school grew up listening to Iron Maiden, Slayer, Pantera, Machine Head, Death, Cannibal Corpse, Cynic and so on. After all be yourself and do not follow mainstream.

ID

Country:
Ukraine

Genre:
Groove Metal w/ female vocals

Discography:
2013 - INHALE, DON'T BREATH/The Leaders Records
2013- NO HOARD OF VALUE - Digital Single

Line up:
Tatiana Shmaylyuk - Vocals
Eugene Abduhanov - Bass
Dmitry Oksen - Guitar
Roman Ibramhalilov - Guitar
Eugene Mantulin - Drums

Links:
Website
Facebook
Youtube
Bandcamp