A Life in Six Songs

Vladyslav Tsarenko - From Ukraine to Prague: Music as Cultural Currency

• A Life in Six Songs Podcast • Season 2 • Episode 20

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On this episode, we sit down with Vladyslav Tsarenko, CEO at All4band Design, an artwork and design studio for rock and metal bands, and guitarist with multiple musical projects, originally from Ukraine now living in Prague, Czech Republic. We talk about how music was his shared language and cultural currency that helped him navigate numerous moves from Kharkiv, Ukraine to Yevpatoria in Crimea and then another move to Prague, Czech Republic. Not only his interest in music, but his ability to play guitar served as his entry point to making new connections and forming tight relationships. During our conversation , we discuss Linkin Park, Metallica, Bullet for My Valentine, Architects, Snow Patrol, and Vlad’s instrumental project, Sad Saint.  

Check out All4Band Design: Website, Instagram, and Facebook 

Vlad’s Instrumental Project, Sad Saint on YouTube 

Vlad’s post-rock project, Diary of My Misanthropy on YouTube


Follow your hosts David, Raza, and Carolina every other week as they embark on an epic adventure to find the songs that are stuck to us like audible tattoos that tell the story of who we are and where we’ve been, to help us figure out where we’re going. It’s a life story told through 6 songs.


WHO WE ARE

DAVID: Creator & Host @ALifeinSixSongs

Facilitator & Educator | Music-Based Healing | Musician | Curiosity with Loving Kindness


CAROLINA: Co-Host @ALifeinSixSongs

Storyteller | Professional Facilitator


RAZA: Co-Host @ALifeinSixSongs

Lawyer | Producer | Solo Project: Solamente | @razaismyname


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Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit or educational use tips the balance in favor of fair use. The original work played in this video has been significantly transformed for the purpose of commentary, criticism, and education.

Speaker 1:

did you consciously go back to music you were already listening to and kind of re-look at those lyrics, like Raza said, like the meaning in some of the older Metallica songs and things like that? Was that something you did consciously? Did it happen, or was it more focused on the new music?

Speaker 2:

you were finding. I think that I revisited most of the music that I listened to earlier, but, to be honest, I was disappointed with many of the songs I liked.

Speaker 1:

So maybe like, let me not ruin it, Let me just keep those songs as good songs and not yeah. That's funny, that's funny, that's good stuff.

Speaker 3:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of A Life in Six Songs. I am your host, david Reese, and I'm joined by my co-hosts Carolina and Raza.

Speaker 4:

Hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 1:

Hello, for anybody new out there and this is your first episode that you're checking out what we do on this show is we go on a little trip with our guests to find those songs that get stuck to us, like these audible tattoos that tell the story of who we are and where we've been to help us figure out where we're going. It's a life story told through six songs. We come to these conversations with love, kindness and curiosity to counter the prevalence of hate, anger and judgment in the world. Our guiding view, with a nod to Ted Lasso, is be curious, not judgmental. We hope that by listening to these songs and stories you can bring more love, kindness and curiosity into your own life. With that, let's go have a listen together.

Speaker 1:

Our guest today is Vladislav Sarenko. Vlad is a CEO at All4Band Design, an artwork and design studio for rock and metal bands. He's also an independent musician, playing guitar in numerous bands throughout his past. Currently, he mostly makes instrumental music under the names Sad Saint and Diary of my Misanthropy. Ukrainian by birth, vlad has spent most of his life in Prague, czech Republic, where he currently lives with his wife and son. Vlad. Welcome to A Life in Six Songs.

Speaker 2:

Hey guys, Thank you for having me on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. We're excited to chat with you and get into your songs. To you know, just to kick us off before we get into your actual songs, we like to do just a little warm-up question. So if you could just, you know, briefly tell us about what role music plays in your life. How do you see music fitting into your life?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, music has a huge role in my life, from my career to my hobbies. I basically, yeah, I live music.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely yeah, and that's why we got you on the show. You know, yeah, it is. It is related to your job and your life. So, yeah, well, let's get into it with your, with your first song. So you know, those key moments in life are those, those times we first get exposed to a band's art, a band's music or an artist's music. So, for this first song, what's a memorable time when you were first exposed to a band's music? What was the song played? Who played it for you? How'd you come across it?

Speaker 2:

So the song I wanted to mention is In the End, by Linkin Park.

Speaker 1:

Nice, nice, let's take a quick listen and then we'll chat on the other side.

Speaker 6:

I kept everything inside and, even though I tried it, all fell apart.

Speaker 3:

What it meant to be will eventually be a memory of a time I tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter.

Speaker 1:

I had to fall to lose it all, but in the end it doesn't even matter. All right, so what's the story behind the song? Set it up for us.

Speaker 2:

So I actually discovered this song in a very peculiar way when I was, I think, 12 years old, me and my friends, we were playing a video game. It was actually not even a full game, it was just some kind of demo of the game that was named Crimsonland. It just had one level and three songs as the soundtrack, and two of them were songs by Erasmus, In the Shadows and For the Day of my Life, and the third one was In the End by Linkin Park, and basically just three songs. So we were playing this game like thousands of times and we were listening to these three songs over and over and it just got me hooked. And actually it was not just the first song by Linkin Park or the first alternative song that I heard. It was the first song that I remember liking, because the music I was listening to before that I didn't really like it.

Speaker 2:

I was listening to mostly rap music. I was listening to it because I had a cousin who was three years older than me and he was into all this, you know gangsta culture. He was listening to rap and I was looking up to him, so I was listening to rap too. You know to look tough to be among cool guys. So, yeah, I was listening to rap. I can't even remember one song I was listening to, so there wasn't really something I liked. So in the end, my Linkin Park was the very first song that I really really liked, and once I was hooked to it, I went on the internet. I just started to look into the band. I found Meteor and Hebrew Theory.

Speaker 2:

I think it was just when they were released, so I found some pirated versions of the albums and I started to listen to them a lot. Yeah, I was listening to Linkin Park all the time because I didn't have any exposure to other music at the time. So, it was the first band I really liked, and I started to find more bands like this, and this is how I basically got into heavier music. I started to listen to metal and I decided that I wanted to learn guitar, playing guitar and this is how my journey started.

Speaker 1:

Nice, and so you said this was about 12 years old. Where were you living at the time?

Speaker 2:

I was living in Kharkiv. Kharkiv is a big city in the eastern part of Ukraine it's actually the closest one to Russia right now and I moved there with my mom and with my stepdad when I was seven. Before that, I lived in a very small village, so we moved to Kharkiv. Life in Kharkiv was quite tough at the time because it was late 90s, the beginning of 2000s, and it was tough in Ukraine because people were poor and most of our parents, they spent all their time trying to make money, and most of us kids, we were just left to ourselves. So we just, you know, we spent time playing in the streets or coming to our friends' apartments to the guys who had computers or consoles, you know, stuff that we can entertain ourselves with. So we spent a lot of time playing video games. This is one of the reasons how I discovered this song and you know it wasn't very safe in the streets at the time so this is the reason why we wanted you know, to look tough, to be tough.

Speaker 2:

This is why I was into this gangster culture just to pretend I'm tough because, to be honest, I wasn't and I was quite scared when I was working in the streets yeah, yeah it's wait.

Speaker 4:

I let Carolina say that oh no, I was just saying. Of course you're not tough. You were a kid, you were little and young and it can be hard if your parents aren't around because they have to work, because you have to survive. But this is sometimes where, like magic happens. You know, at your friend's houses doing exploring, playing stuff, pirating music, you know it's super fun at the time. But that's that can be where like some magic happens.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, yeah, yeah, and some magic happens. So yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, this is how we got our independence as kids, because we were by ourselves, we were exploring all the time. So we were exploring new music, new games, new stuff. Because now you have a lot of stuff, you know, grabbing your attention music, video games, books, youtube, everything Before, before internet became so big you had to actually look for stuff, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

Right and you had to have patience, like the internet wasn't automatic, it was slow, it didn't always work. It you know, you had to commit to finding that thing you wanted to find exactly. Yeah, rosa, what were you gonna say? I?

Speaker 5:

was just gonna say yeah, um it. To me it's really interesting how, how you know how sort of hip-hop culture and street culture was was resonating with you guys as kids. You know it's, you know the idea of of appearing hard and appearing, you know, tough and and street smart and and and and things like that, um and uh, yeah and. But I was going to kind of bring it back to lincoln park because in a way, from a musical perspective right, I mean, I know sort of heavier music is much more your thing now, but Linkin Park seems like the perfect bridge between hip-hop you know, toward.

Speaker 5:

You know more guitar heavy and drum heavy. You know sort of rock and metal and other styles of metal. So from that side it really makes sense.

Speaker 2:

I think Linkin Park gets mentioned in your show quite a lot because, it's always the entry point into metal music for many people yeah, I was.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say that that lincoln park has definitely been on the show before and we've had a few artists, I think, come up more than once. But yeah, I think you're. You're exactly right there, vlad, in the sense of you know, lincoln park was, was a song or was a group for a lot of people. Right, it exposed them to something new in in both directions. Right, yeah, it could have been people finding heavier music or people from heavier music getting into maybe hip-hop or something else, because it was this you know that time of the early 2000s, the new metal, you know this bridge between it where all these genres were kind of coming together and do things, and so you have these couple artists that were like these gateways for people to come in and then go find newer, newer things.

Speaker 2:

So because I don't think I would have got into metal music if I started with something heavier, because lincoln park was like the perfect music to start listening to heavier music.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, they had a little bit of everything right, I mean.

Speaker 5:

And then this song was one of I mean one of the greatest choruses in all time. But you know Chester's voice and it's got like sort of like the freestyle rap section as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a great song all around. This is still one of my favorite songs ever and I even made a post-rock cover of it.

Speaker 1:

It still should be somewhere on youtube all right, yeah, nice nice post, some links we got some things to search for For sure. Awesome, great first song, great first story, getting us into your journey into heavier music and things like that. You talked a little bit of how it's not that this song helped you through the tough time, but it was part of a tough time. Music can definitely be that for us, of a thing that helps us through um a difficult time or is there with us while we're going through it for that. So for your next song, you know what is a song that helped you through um a difficult time and what was the situation.

Speaker 2:

Uh, this is Metallica.

Speaker 3:

Nothing else matters. This is Metallica. Nothing Else Matters, Nothing else matters. Trust I seek and I find in you.

Speaker 1:

Great song. What was the difficult situation? Tell us the story behind it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this one brought a lot of memories. So, yeah, the situation was that when I was 15 years old, I was still living in Kharkiv. I started to have problems in school because my friend and I we like the same girl and, yeah, he was the one who did the first move, but it didn't work out. So I did my move and we actually started dating with that girl and my friend. He didn't take it well, so he started to turn my friends against me and they made their best to make my life miserable in school. And you know how it goes when you're 18, yeah, uh. So, yeah, I was having a very hard time in school and at that time my parents they um, actually they were not around because they bought a piece of land in Crimea Crimea was still part of Ukraine at the time and they wanted to build a house there and move there someday. So most of the time I was either alone or with my aunt. So you know they were not around to see what's going on in my life Right right.

Speaker 2:

And at some point, these problems, they started to affect my grades in the school. So this was when my parents noticed that something went wrong and they told me that they want me to move with them to Crimea. And since I already broke up with my girlfriend by this time, so I didn't fight it, I just told them that, okay, yeah, let's move. So we moved to Crimea, to a smaller city. It's called Evpatoria. It was about 100,000 people, quite big, not very small, but much smaller than Kharkiv.

Speaker 1:

Right right.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know anyone. So my parents made me to go to a mathematics school and it was very hard there because I was good in school. I was the best student in school in Kharkiv, but I was just in a normal school and the one in F Patoria. It was mostly focused on mathematics and physics and they had like 20 hours of mathematics every week. So I was behind. Yeah, I was behind, and I didn't know anybody. I didn't have any friends. So it was like a very tough moment for me. But there was a situation that changed things for me. One day, when I came to school, I noticed that there were acoustic guitars in the back of the class and some of the guys from my class. They brought guitars with them and it turned out that they play music during the breaks, just some street rock music, like we call it. Just, you know, simple music that you can play with four shirts nothing complicated.

Speaker 2:

So they started to play and I came to them and by that time I actually I played acoustic guitar quite well, because in Kharkiv I was going to music school, I had three years of music education and I actually played Spanish classic music, but as a part of my exam I played Metallica, nothing Else Matters. Actually, it wasn't even the song that I listened to. At the time I didn't know about it, but my teacher, she, was into Metallica Nice.

Speaker 3:

She was an older music.

Speaker 2:

Funny enough, she was an older woman who enjoyed Metallica. So, yeah, he asked me to learn this song and I really really enjoyed it because, you know, it's amazing to play it. It's very complex, it has a lot of going on there, so it's really interesting to play and so I played it in my exam and I knew this song very well. So in this class, when I met these guys, I told them that I play guitar too and I asked to borrow their guitars just to play something. And I played Nothing Else Matters and the guys were like they were really surprised because it's compared to the street rock music that they played it was like very, very top-notch stuff.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and after this we became good friends. They asked me to play music with them. We made a school rock band, started to play music on different events in our school and after a few months I helped them learn this song with me Nothing Else Matters and we played it together on one of the school events. It was a really nice moment.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. I love the story because sometimes we have that song that helps us through a difficult time, cause it was like the song we were listening to or something like that. Like here, this song nothing else matters by Metallica is like it. It is, it is the vehicle that's helping you through it. Like it is the thing, that brought you together with other people, started to make friends and and helped you make this shift from this tough experience in your old school and then connect with people in your new school, and that's so beautiful.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly, we are still very good friends with those guys. We had a lot of great moments together. That's amazing.

Speaker 4:

And we had a lot of great moments together. That's amazing. Applause to your music teacher for teaching you something just different and like opening up a whole world for you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I'm so grateful to her. Yeah, I would like to see her again, but since I haven't been to Harkin for a really, really long time, yeah, I didn't have a chance.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, so obviously, you know we're talking about Ukraine and we're talking about Kharkiv and some of these cities that are very, very relevant even right now, especially right now. Yeah, I don't know if you're okay to maybe give us a little bit of a like taking a step back perspective and telling us about maybe your friends or your family and some of these people that are in your story from your teenage years. You know how are things, how is everyone, if you look at it from today's perspective.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my family actually still lives in Kharkiv. My parents they moved to Crimea but after it was occupied by Russia they moved back to Kharkiv and they still live there and now it's actually a very hard time for them because it's shelling, airstrikes, it's going on every day. But luckily my parents they live in the southern part of Kharkiv so it's a little bit colder there. Yeah, I hope my mom, she actually can leave Ukraine. My parents they have property in Prague and they can go there and live there, but my father he cannot because he's not allowed. My mother is allowed, so sometimes she and my sister they go to Prague to spend some time there, but then they start to miss my father and they go back to Kharkiv.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because you know the war has been going going on for three years and people they just they have to live their lives somehow. So first year a lot of people they just went as refugees to other countries, including my mom and my sister and my grandmother as well. But after a while they just couldn't bear living in a different country being refugees, so they all went back to Ukraine.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and actually an interesting thing is that I have a lot of friends from Crimea and you know, a lot of people think that people in Crimea actually supported what was going on in Crimea, but this is not true and, my friends, they are good proof of that, because almost all of them moved from Crimea either to Ukraine or to different countries because they didn't want to stay in the occupied Crimea, and a lot of new people came to Crimea and this is how all this myth about how people supported this was created because people who didn't support it, they just moved to ukraine right, right, yeah, they just left and people who supported they.

Speaker 2:

They left. I mean they were living in crimea.

Speaker 1:

So people saw that this is all the people who supported it right, right, they, you know whoever it is talk to talk to some people and they say, yeah, we support it, but those aren't the people who supported it. Right right they. You know whoever it is talk to talks to some people and they say, yeah, we support it, but those aren't the people that yeah, were there originally there, those people? Are gone. So you, you, you have, you know, a selective sample of people, right?

Speaker 5:

yeah, exactly in in the in the last song, and then you know you mentioned that you were around 12 or 13 years old. If you look at or if you hear about other stories of younger teens kids now you know age 12, 13, things like that who were obviously much younger when this invasion began and when the war began three years ago Can you give us a sense of, or do you know of, of you know how, how the kids are doing, how how their day-to-day live lives are? Um, do they have access to, you know, just a period of peace and quiet where they could maybe play a video game or two, or or? I mean, I'd love to hear what you know, what the adults, especially the male adults, are required to be part of the military and serve. There's certain rules that I'll let folks figure out what they are, but could you give us a sense of what daily lives for kids are like these days?

Speaker 2:

To be honest, I think that most kids, like most parents who have kids, they move to different countries Because in Ukraine there is no possibility of education right now, because most schools, at least in eastern part of Ukraine, they are completely destroyed and, for example, the schools that I was going to completely destroyed like nothing left.

Speaker 2:

So everyone who has kids, they try to move to a different country to make at least some kind of normal life for their kids.

Speaker 2:

And, for example, I have a couple of cousins who are in teen age right now and now some of them live in Germany, some of them live in Czech Republic. They started to go to local schools but at the same time in Ukraine we have like long distance education, so most kids study at the same time simultaneously in local schools and in Ukraine because they don't know if they're going back or not. For example, my cousin, the one who lives in Germany right now, she actually finishes school in a year and she's thinking about going back to Ukraine to go to university. But I, to be honest, I I can't imagine how, how it's going to work, because you know the war is still going on and most of universities are closed, but she's afraid to live in a different country because her parents just cannot afford for her to stay long term. So she wants to stay, but she's not sure if she can afford it. It's a lot of uncertainty, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Right, and that's how it is. War just disrupts so many things and, like you, shared you know you Everyone tries to find a way to continue life and, like you said, if you have kids, you're going to do what you can to get them what they need. Right and if they can't go to school.

Speaker 1:

you're going to try and go somewhere to find them school, but it's like you said, it's not ideal. It's not what you would want, right? You want to be going to school in your hometown, where you were. It's not what you would want, right? You want to be going to school in your hometown, where you were. And so, yeah, thank you for telling that story, because it just shows how we're, you know, in the middle of it, right, as people are still away and trying to figure out what's next, right, do I?

Speaker 1:

go back for university. Do I move back? Do we try? And yeah, it's yeah. So thank you for. Thank you for just making the story real for us and not just, you know, a news headline.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Anything else.

Speaker 4:

Carolina Rasa. No, I'm just processing all

Speaker 3:

of that? Yeah, no.

Speaker 5:

I'm just processing all of that. Obviously, yeah, we hear headlines here, you know, but the people that are actually affected directly, that's been their life for, you know, a few years now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 5:

And yeah, no, it's. I mean, the one word that comes to mind is it sucks. Yeah, it's, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4:

And I'm thinking of you and your moves and how music has helped you, and I think my hope is that for young people there's music that's helping them through this time also yeah, yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure it is yeah, yeah, absolutely all right.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's move on to your next song, and so, um, you know, music can be there, um, and help us through a difficult time. It can also be there when we're making transitions, right, I think both of these songs already have kind of, you know, talked about that of a transition. But for this next song specifically, you know what is the song that you associate with a weighty transition in your life.

Speaker 2:

So the song is Bullet for my Valentine, Suffocating on the words of sorrow.

Speaker 1:

Nice, let's take a listen. What can I do to make you see your jealousy? I'm suffocating, I'm tired. Words of sorrow, words of sorrow. What was the transition and how does this song fit into it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so, as you probably noticed, I moved a lot in my life. So when I finished my school and I was 17 years old, I moved to Prague, and it wasn't actually my decision. To be honest, my parents made me move to Prague because they wanted a better future for me. Yeah, they didn't really believe I will grow to my full potential in Ukraine. So they told me to move to Prague. And I didn't want, because I had a girlfriend at the time and I had a lot of friends, I had a band, I had a lot of stuff going on in my life. So, yeah, I was excited. I was excited to live in Ukraine.

Speaker 2:

But, yeah, there wasn't a reason to fight with my parents because, you know, when you're 17, you are not really in control of your life yet. So I moved to Prague and, luckily, I didn't have to do all the paperwork because my parents they had a visa at the time and I got a visa that was just attached to their visa, so I didn't have to do anything. They just gave me a keys to their apartment because I think a year before I moved to Prague, they moved to Prague. They got a mortgage, bought a place, because they wanted to move to Prague someday, but I moved there first.

Speaker 1:

Do you think it was? Maybe partly they had the idea of sending you there. So they're like we'll start this now so that Vlad has a place to stay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah. So they gave me a key, bought me tickets and told me to come to Prague and to, you know, to go to university and start start my life in Prague. And I went there without knowing the language, without knowing anyone there, so they just came there. I had an address of the apartment. I came there without knowing the language, without knowing anyone there, so I just came there. I had an address of the apartment. I came there, I was like completely on my own and it was again very tough, even tougher than to move to Crimea, because in Crimea I didn't have to learn the language at least. Right, right In Prague, I was in a completely strange land. It was really a cultural shock because life in Prague was very different from what I used to. And so I started to go to university there and I didn't understand anything, I didn't have any friends. I just I, just, you know. I just came to my lessons, sit there, pretend I understand something, then went back home and played video games most of the time.

Speaker 2:

So, it was like a typical college Sounds like a typical college. Yeah, that's what we all did, yeah, but you know it didn't really work well for me. I was a little depressed, yeah, so I didn't go out much, so I didn't have any friends. I didn't know where to make friends because I couldn't speak Czech at the time yet.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, it's normally like, because you would normally like people go off to college and you might not know people there, right, you may have, like, gone to a school where, like, your friends went to a different school or something like that that you knew from you know high school or whatever but here you had this extra layer of not speaking the language and not knowing the culture as much.

Speaker 1:

So it's like the things that might've been going on where other university students are meeting people. You weren't probably, you know, rushing out to go there, Cause it was I don't even know what it is, or how to communicate.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, the language barrier is yeah, so real quick.

Speaker 5:

So, if so, if you don't speak czech or you know so, the locals speak czech. You're coming from ukraine. Yeah, is it english? That's the bridge language, or is it? There wasn't? There's no bridge?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah, this is the problem. So I was supposed to learn czech as soon as possible. Oh wow, but it took time. So you know, my first year was really tough for me, because, even if you know something, you cannot really speak, you cannot open to people.

Speaker 4:

Right yeah, how are you managing assignments and classes and projects?

Speaker 2:

I didn't really my first year, yeah, my first year. I didn't finish it, so the next year I had to start again, but at the time I was a little bit better in Czech. So after the second year it got a little easier for me, Okay, but the first year my only choice was to find other immigrants from Ukraine and to make some friends with them. So this is actually the beginning of the story. I just found an ad on the Internet from this guy, Yarek. He was looking for people to play music with. He was also a guitarist and I just responded and wanted to try to play with him. So I asked him like which song I have to learn, which song we are going to play, and he asked me if I knew a bullet for my Valentine. I honestly had no idea who they were. So, okay, he told me, like this is the song we are going to play, so learn it. And I listened to it and I really liked the riff there. It sounds amazing.

Speaker 2:

So I learned the song and I came to Jarek. He was living with his parents because he moved together with his parents at the time and he had a room in the attic that was just for himself and he had like a ton of guitar equipment there, so we would just take a six pack of beers, come to the attic and just took out our guitars and start playing. Just take a six-pack of beers, come to the attic, just took out our guitars and start playing and wow, yeah, this was amazing. We had a very similar taste with Jarek and he showed me a lot of very cool music and he was actually much better than me in playing guitar, so I learned a lot from him.

Speaker 2:

And this song Suffocating on the Words of Sorrow it was the first song that we played and it was the start of our friendship and the start of our band, because after a while we started to make our own music, found a few more guys, made a band and you know, we had like a proper band, my first proper band with geeks, recordings and everything nice nice, very cool.

Speaker 1:

I love that because it's it's, you know, we we have this story of you moving to prague and and not language, right, so not being able to connect. But then you know, you found a fellow Ukrainian who you could obviously speak to, but you also had this other shared language around music, right. And so again, it was music bringing you together in this really like awesome way, which is, I think, one of the things, like you know, why we all love music so much and why we have this show is to hear these stories, because it can do this, right it. You know what's the bridge language? Well, here's the bridge language right Music.

Speaker 5:

That's awesome. Yeah, I was thinking when you sort of your sort of introduction to the story was what was? You had mentioned that that you know your dad had a conversation with you to tell you that you know, son vlad, we have an apartment for you in in the czech republic, and I was thinking back to you know what if my dad had had offered me an apartment in prague and and my story would have been completely different, though I went the romantic route, which is, you know, like all cinematic and amazing food.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because it sounds amazing. Yeah, In theory it sounds amazing In theory.

Speaker 5:

Right In theory, yeah, yeah, why am I? Just because I'm fasting and I'm just starving, right, but yeah, no, but yeah, no. Music as music, this theme of music as language and music as I think Carolina mentioned once the word social currency it's what we use to relate to other people and especially when we're figuring out life and and and and dealing with life, you know, changes, we always kind of rely on our musical language to, you know, to survive really.

Speaker 4:

Right, and it looks like it's been that for you in a couple of these stories, right, it was nothing else matters, was that social currency. For you to find new friends, like this is what I bring. And people were like OK, let's be friends. Okay, let's be friends. And now here, right, finding someone, something to just help you adjust to a new country, new language, new school, new, you know new surroundings. So that's pretty cool. Love the story.

Speaker 2:

It was a big transition, you know, from this geeky guy who mostly play video games and don't want to go out, to a guy who played geeks, you know had a lot of friends had a lot of hobbies and stuff like that. So like, for me it was a really big transition yeah yeah right, I.

Speaker 4:

I also think it's important to note, um, that it takes some bravery to reach out to an ad on the internet of a stranger to meet and play music together at a young age, right, 17,? 18 is still really young. Yeah, I just I think I want to give you a praise for for being brave at a young age. You know you could have just stayed playing video games, but you were like no, I want, I want, I want more yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's that. That's that sort of what we were saying before, talking about what people do when they're amidst war and and and destruction, and you sort of you do what you can and you find a way. This of you do what you can and you find a way. This is another story of that. In that individual sense of you, you find a way, um, but not everyone does, and so, yeah, what carolina's saying, like that's that's awesome, good for you. Yeah, I was also just kind of curious about it not to bring it back to this, as we're talking about music but did university go better, like once you got into the band and stuff? Was that like? Did that give you a, a sense of, like a home that then made the challenge of university and and the new language get get better, or how did that go?

Speaker 2:

the thing is it was getting better anyway. So because I was learning, I was going to the university, it was it was going better okay yeah but. But the thing is that this takes a long time. So this helped me to spend this time in a good way developing my skills, developing my social skills, finding new friends and just enjoying my life, Because without this, I'm sure, like I would learn, I would have learned Czech anyway.

Speaker 2:

But I would be a depressed kid without hobbies, without you know, didn't enjoy my life, so this helped me a lot For sure.

Speaker 1:

Right, Because you can struggle in one area right, being in a place learning a new language. But if you're struggling in all areas, like I don't have friends.

Speaker 6:

I don't have hobbies, I don't have like that becomes really challenging.

Speaker 1:

And so, hey, if this over here is good, I've got some friends, I've got these hobbies, I'm doing this thing that I enjoy and love. It makes the challenge of the other thing over here, whether it's a new language, a new country, a new job, a new school, whatever, easier to make it through Not as miserable. Yeah, yeah, bearable.

Speaker 4:

Bearable, bearable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, basically Basically.

Speaker 5:

All right.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for that.

Speaker 5:

Go ahead, reza, yeah, just one quick point, um, and we might. We might get to this, you know, in in the next couple of songs, as we're talking more about your, your life story. But is art a factor so far as well? Or because it sounds like you're a good student, you know, you've, you've got, you know math and physics, and then you had kind of a trajectory that your parents were were thinking about you. You loved music and you found that you were able to play music and you know, you, you, if you're playing metallica and and you know bullet, you, you're, you're okay, you're doing okay. Um, so is art a part of your life at this point as well, or or is that something that comes later on?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's something that comes later on. Yeah, it was a little bit later, when I had my second band, because the reason why I basically got into art is that I had a band and I basically needed artwork for my band. I had a band and I basically needed artwork for my band and I started to look into how this is made and what options do we have. And this is how we met with Pavel, who is co-founder of our studio, and we were his clients and this is how we met. This is how I got into art. Like I was so excited about the process, how you know how he took our idea and brought it into life. So this is this is when I started to look into art as a career at least you as a part of my career, because basically, what I do in the studio I like I'm the bridge between music, art and business.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, art is just a part of my hobbies. I don't consider myself an artist, at least a graphic artist, or a designer, because it wouldn't be fair. Yeah, I'm more. I'm a musician and a business guy, but I'm not an artist. But this is when this started as a hobby for me nice love it I appreciate that, yeah, very cool I'll have

Speaker 1:

some follow-up questions, but later yeah all right, let's move on to your your next song. And so, um, you know, we sort of talked here how how songs can help us through transitions and and things like that. But music can also open up new perspectives for us, expose us to new things, give us new ways of thinking. So what is a song that opened you up to an entirely new perspective?

Speaker 2:

This is Architects. These Colors Don't Run in the life of the free.

Speaker 3:

You know nothing jumps the free for free in paradise. I've been so sick of my dead race.

Speaker 5:

Life is a fight living in the. It was the best part, yeah where it was coming up to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I'm telling you so hard it's so hard to pull out just a little clip to listen to, because you want to get different things, and so you know I wanted to get some of the lyrics in there, but I also wanted the breakdown coming. So that's the clip we got.

Speaker 1:

I encourage everyone watching and listening over these clips oh, a lot of times, yeah I'll go to caroline and I'll be like, hey, this part or this part or this part, yeah, I spend a good amount of time. So for everyone watching and listening, we encourage you. We have a playlist. This is a good time to drop that. Go to Apple Music, spotify. There'll be links in the show notes. We have a running playlist going for all the songs we do on our show so you can hear the whole thing here.

Speaker 2:

All right here, all right, um. All right, vlad. What's the uh, what's the new perspective? What did this, what did this do for you? So, before this song, I didn't really care about the lyrics so because I didn't, didn't know english very well, so I didn't care.

Speaker 2:

to be honest, I, as a musician, I was more into melodies and riffs and stuff like that. So so, yeah, it was just music for me and vocals were just another instrument in this arrangement. But after this song, I started to pay attention to lyrics much closer, because when I first found this song, it came with music video which basically was a mix of footage from different events you know from, from, from cartoons, from everything like just a mix of footage with a lot of anti-capitalistic themes, anti-corruption and stuff like that. And at that time, since I was growing up, I was more into politics, into what's going on in the world. It just resonated with me. So I started to look into the meaning of the song. I started to look into meaning of the song and after this I just started to listen to music that has more meaning, not just music and reefs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah yeah, yeah, thanks for that, and I think I like how you say it too, of like, not knowing English as well, you were less into the lyrics, but we've seen it a lot on this show of how, like, for a lot of us at times it's a question we tend to ask, like, are you more of a music person or a lyric person? Like what draws you in? And I was someone who was for a long time like, exactly like you said, vlad of, I was drawn in by the music, right, I was a drummer and stuff. So what's the rhythm going on, what's this going on? And, like the lyrics, I love the way you said it too, of that's like the lyrics and the vocals are just another instrument. They give color and melody and things like that. But I'm not really listening to what they're saying, I'm listening to the sound and the feel, and so I love the story of how this is that song.

Speaker 1:

That changed it for you and said oh, there is a lot going on here with these lyrics. I can pay attention to this and find others that are doing it, so thanks for the story.

Speaker 2:

And now I'm a little bit allergic to music, you know, when people just sing about girls and booze and stuff.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right, the second it opens for you. It's hard to go back. Right you can't sell it in a year?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no for sure.

Speaker 5:

Well, you know, looking at your song list, you've picked some of the most you know sort of epic songwriters, like lyricists, I mean, I think Metallica. So James Hetfield, at least to me as a, as a metal lyric writer, some of the most profound lyrics, even even now, you know, and and they've, they've, they've made it a, they made it a point to not sing about. You know, just, you know girls and cars and like stupid stuff, like that.

Speaker 5:

It's or meaning, uh, things that don't really have meaning. It's just like you know, admiration and more superficial.

Speaker 5:

Superficial yeah I mean, you know they started, you know one, nothing else matters. You know, nightmare uh, enter sandman being about nightmares and those types of things, and even the most recent album, 72 Seasons, you know, analyzing one's life, you know, as an adult, and trying to think about and process things that happened in people's childhood. That's what, the 72 Seasons of your life. So, but just all that meaning getting super nerdy. So, but just all that meaning getting super nerdy, but yeah lyrics.

Speaker 1:

Raza found a way to make a Metallica section of the show. Yeah, see this.

Speaker 5:

Right here, here you go. But yeah, no, it's so cool to hear that you know that your take is similar, that you know lyrics are important and they it is more than just an instrument. It's you know it can actually have profound meaning. Yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

Carolina, oh, I couldn't, I couldn't tell or not. I was curious about that kind of point of of Raza bringing up kind of a previous song you know of Metallica that was earlier in your life. You had said once you kind of came across this song and kind of the lyrics and the meaning and the political statements that can be made and you sort of now are after this song or are finding music that has that and you're paying attention to it. Did you, did you consciously go back to music you were already listening to and kind of relook at those lyrics, like Raza said, like the meaning in you know, some of the older Metallica songs and things like that Was that something you, you, you did consciously?

Speaker 1:

Did it happen, or was it more focused on the new music?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I think that I revisited most of the music that I listened to earlier, but, to be honest, I was disappointed with many of the songs I liked yeah so maybe like let me not ruin it, let me just keep those songs as good songs and not.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's funny, that's funny, that's good stuff, all right. So we talked about kind of you know how music and songs can help you through difficult times and with that previous song, how it can open up you. Open you up to a new perspective in that sense. You know you know political um uh, speech and movements and things like that. But you know music can also be intensely personal and be there at sort of perfect moments. And so for this next song, what's a song that was there as part of a just perfect moment in your life?

Speaker 2:

It was Chasing the Cars by Snow Patrol.

Speaker 1:

Nice.

Speaker 3:

Let's take a listen. Forget what we're told Before we get too old. Show me a garden that's bursting into life.

Speaker 1:

So what was the perfect moment and how does this song fit in?

Speaker 2:

So this was the song. We had the first dance with my wife on our wedding too.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah nice it was a funny story how we chose this song because, honestly, I didn't hear it before and I'm not really into snow patrol, I don't even know if any of their other songs. I asked my wife to prepare a list of songs that she thinks would be a good fit for the first dance, and I would just go through them and choose the one I liked the most. And so she prepared a list of songs and she gave me the list and I went through it and when I was listening to this song I just remembered that in Prague, at the old town square, there is this guy, italian guy, giovanni, who just play music at the old town square, and he was playing this song and it sounded amazing. He had a really great voice and I thought that it would be awesome if we would be able to find this guy and to ask him to play at our wedding, and this would be the song we would dance to. So we started to try to find him on the internet.

Speaker 2:

We went on YouTube and just googled a guy playing music on Old Town Square in Prague and it actually wasn't difficult at all. He was on the first page. He was a very popular guy, yeah, so there was another problem to find a way to ask him to play, because we went to Old Town Square a few times and we didn't see him there, so we started to look on Facebook. It took us a while, but we found him, and it turned out that the guy actually moved to Switzerland. He was no longer in Prague, but I still told him that I loved him playing in Prague and that we have a wedding and we would really like him to play at our wedding. And, surprisingly, the guy told us that he would be willing to come to Prague to play at our wedding. And this is what happened. Yeah, he came to Prague for a couple of days just to play on our wedding and to meet his friends. He was amazing, yeah. So he played this song and a bunch of other songs and everyone was everyone were really excited.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's amazing. That's like like the song itself could like if you just said, oh, this was the song. We did our first dance at the wedding, Right, Like that would be an amazing, perfect moment and amazing story. But the fact that there's this extra layer of um you hearing a street performer playing it and then we're like we want to get that person, and then tracking it down and then you're able to make it work, that's that is awesome. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4:

And so you don't just have the memory of like this song, but the whole experience of like finding him and getting him to come. And so it's your wedding and you're about to have your first dance, but you've gone through all this effort to get him. Did it make it like that much more special?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah, of course it was amazing and you know the fact that we found this guy, we had this amazing story to tell to people, like it is an extra layer, like you said yeah, like we hunted for you, we were going square to look for you.

Speaker 1:

We were like yeah so when you by the way, I love the way you pick this song too of your wife kind of picking a couple songs and then you, you know, choosing one, so it's like you know that's a way to to agree on this is our song. And when you heard this song as you were going through the list, you remembered hearing it, of Giovanni playing it. Like I remember that person playing that song, that's how it went. It wasn't after the fact. You were walking and then you heard this person playing it. You remembered hearing it before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, wow it kind of adds that extra layer of like.

Speaker 1:

This is the song.

Speaker 4:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Because you didn't know the song. But you did subconsciously kind of know the song.

Speaker 2:

Because it's a very memorable song.

Speaker 4:

You know, yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what I love about this song. Yeah, for real, for real, that's awesome.

Speaker 4:

That's awesome. Yeah, for real, for real, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, this is one of those songs that gives me like goosebumps. There's just something about it I don't know if it's the piano, or like the lyrics or the like, the cadence of it, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love the voice. Yeah, he just has an amazing voice.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, for sure. Complete like counterpoint to architects what we just heard.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, a definite, definite different side and like I mean, I think, having them together in that way too, of like that previous song, the architect song, is about like big picture things, right, war, capitalism, corruption, like these big things. And then this song is so small and intimate, it's just singing from one person to another, right, like you know, just be here with me, right, and then like there's other lines in it of like you know, I've I've said I love you those three words, and it just never captures it and I want to find another way. And so it's so like just illustrates how music can do such wide varying things of like bring up these big world issues, but also just that intimate, one person to another, that that feeling so and it was amazing because you know weddings, they are very stressful and you usually don't have a moment to you know, to breathe.

Speaker 2:

So this was the moment when, like we took a break and we didn't notice any people around us. We just dance, listen to the music and enjoy it all the moment together. Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 4:

Love it All right yeah enjoy it all a moment together. Yeah, I love it, love it all, right? Yeah, just like the song says, like, like, be with me, like lay with me, and let's forget the world, right, let's forget everything else going on, the stress, the people, the all of it yeah yeah, it's a perfect song yeah all right.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's move it along. We're at your last song, song six. Here we are, um and so, for you know, for this song, music is, is something that can mark a time and a place for us. And so for this song, what is? A song that, when you hear it, you're instantly transported to a specific time or place.

Speaker 2:

This one is actually mine. Yeah, this is a song that I named love eternal, and this is by my lo-fi project. All right.

Speaker 1:

Let's take a listen. We're the story, so where does this song take you?

Speaker 2:

I wrote this song to be released specifically the day my son, leo, was born. I wrote it just two weeks before his birth date because my wife had a planned C-section. We knew exactly when he was going to be born. So two weeks before that I just had all these feelings, you know, overflowing in my head. You know there's excitement, doubts if I'm going to be a good father.

Speaker 2:

You know, I guess everyone has these kind of thoughts and I wanted to put everything in something. You know, I guess everyone has this kind of thoughts and I wanted to put everything in something, you know, to find some kind of media for all these feelings. And this is why I decided to write this track. So I wanted it to be a reminder of the day when Leo was born. So I didn't show the song to my wife before the day it was released, and the first time she listened to it was actually just after he was born, just a couple of hours after that. And now we all have this beautiful reminder of this day and I also gave my wife a necklace with the name of the song as a reminder. So, yeah, it will be a nice reminder for her, for me and for our son.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, that's beautiful. That's beautiful, that's awesome, that is so sweet.

Speaker 4:

Thank you, that is just so sweet. I just love the idea of making timeless things out of our feelings, our emotions, like putting them into something that we get to look back on. So like I say that because as your son gets older, he'll be able to listen to this and you know you'll tell him the story and you know he'll have something that he can keep you know forever. But I did want to ask because you wrote it as you were feeling very overwhelmed and nervous about becoming a first time parent Was the process of writing and recording helpful for you to process those emotions?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Like you can hear in the song, it's like it's difficult to say what kind of mood it has. Like it's a little bit to say what kind of mood it has. Like it's a little bit it's happy but it's sad, it's a little bit melancholic. But you know, you hear hope, you hear a lot of stuff there and once I wrote it I just it helped me to figure out everything I was feeling and, you know, to make sense of it.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think that's an important lesson for our listeners and viewers, as current times might feel scary and secure. You know, the world seems kind of a scary place right now. How much creativity can help us move through those times and process all that we're feeling.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 4:

Some of us will just sit in front of the TV and watch what's happening or sit on our phones, but there's something about creating that allows these things to move through us.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is true.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and I, I, I love what you said about it and kind of like hearing the story behind it of not just like, oh, I wrote it for my son, but I wrote it for him in this way of like the excitement for it it. It is a very simple song and I don't mean that in the way of like it was easy to write or anything like that.

Speaker 1:

But it's just there's. There's not like a ton of stuff going on, but you so do feel all of those different emotions in it and, uh, it just really kind of captures like hearing. You know you hear music and you have your own interpretation of it, but then hearing the person who made it, what they're, you know what's going on for them and what's in it, like I can just I see all of it in there and it just like comes to life in this very beautiful but simple way. So, yeah, thank you for that.

Speaker 2:

The most important for me was to try to convey the feeling of unconditional love, Because unconditional love is something that you can only feel towards your kids. Towards your children because you know people like when your husband and wife something may happen, you won't love each other anymore. Things change, but you cannot stop loving your children.

Speaker 4:

So this feeling was completely, completely new for me and this is why I wanted to try to convey this feeling, because this is was something new for me, and this is why I wanted to try to convey this feeling, because this is was something new for me yeah, yeah right, um, because we all, we tend to think of love as just a joyous feeling, but as a parent, it comes with it's terrifying, it's, it's makes you nervous and you know there's all of these feelings and I feel it, it's, it's almost it's it's makes you nervous, it you know there's all of these feelings and I feel it's, it's almost like you were feeling them already, before he was even here. You were feeling that love of a parent, um, trying to process, because it's not just the joy of like oh, there's my baby, but it's always like I want to make sure you're safe and I want to make sure you're happy and I want to make sure I can give you everything you need and um, so you are feeling those things, like you know, early yeah, exactly

Speaker 5:

it's cool because it's the song is like, almost like a gift to your, to your child, something that that um, that you can listen to later on and and and can go with with um can basically go through life, um, but it's also the beginning of it is, is it?

Speaker 5:

it's your expression of how you were feeling yeah um, and then it'll be a constant reminder to you also. And, by the way, you're in good company, because we're all parents here on this, on this, looking at the screens right now and I think, yeah, in, in, in, in, the really um, in some ways, you know, we've all sort of had those, those feelings and uh, and the idea of unconditional love. I think you said it perfectly well, that's that, that, that, that that's so spot on.

Speaker 2:

It's still. It's still all new to me, to be honest, Like after the first year. I still haven't figured this out.

Speaker 4:

And as soon as you think you do they change, something else comes up. It's true.

Speaker 2:

Small children, small problems. Bigger children, bigger problems.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, Still problems. They just look, just look they just change um, how did your wife react to the song?

Speaker 2:

yeah, she laughed it, she laughed it and, uh, she always told me that she, like, why wouldn't you write a song for me? And it was I don't know. It was just like it was quite difficult for me to write a song dedicated specifically to her. So this was this moment when I finally had all these feelings that I wanted to put into a song. But now she told, now she says, like, this is not a song for me, this is a song for your son. So you cheated here. Yeah, oh, my goodness. Well, now you know, this is some quote for your son. So your teacher is here yeah, oh my goodness.

Speaker 4:

Well, now you know you have work to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there you go. Another song, one more. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1:

That's right, and I'm so glad you shared this song as well, too, because we've had other musicians on the show who have a song that's theirs that they wrote that might have been there. Most of the time, people are reluctant to want to share their own song, and I'm always like, no, I want to. That's something we want to hear, right, because it's it's there, and so I'm just so glad you you chose to share this song and didn't say, well, let me not share my song, let me pick a different one, or something like that, cause I love getting getting our guest music on the show. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5:

It's such a treat to actually hear from the creator, you know, it's really good.

Speaker 4:

Right. Well, that's, that's your six songs, vlad. How well. First of all, thank you so much for sharing them with us and sharing the stories behind your music with us. How does it feel to hear your life reflected in these six songs?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's really interesting because usually when you're busy with all the stuff in your life, it's hard to find time to reflect on all your life, on your journey from, you know, from your childhood through your teen years and to your adult years. It was exciting, you know. I found myself with a lot of new feelings, a lot of nostalgic feelings, a lot of people that I wanted to contact after that to find out how are they. How are they?

Speaker 2:

My friends from the past. Yeah, actually, there is one friend from Yevpatoria who I contacted a few weeks ago just after I finished the questionnaire. So I wrote him a message just asking how he is, and one thing led to another and he will come visit in a few weeks here. Wow.

Speaker 4:

That's amazing, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I love that.

Speaker 4:

That makes me so happy. Yeah, for real.

Speaker 1:

For real. That's a first so far on the show for something like that a reunion of sorts that we know of right that we've heard of, so that's awesome he is the guy I was playing Metallica National Smetters with. Oh nice, nice Reunion show. Maybe, yeah, maybe the guy I was playing metallic and snl smithers with oh oh nice, nice reunion show. Maybe, if he still plays guitar, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, that's good stuff, though.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for that. All right, well, normally right now we'd go over to raza for our lightning round, but I wanted to do something just in between because, um, you answered another question on our questionnaire that not everyone does, and so, for all the listeners and viewers out there, right, we, for our guests, we send them a questionnaire, they go through, they fill it out and then we kind of, you know, choose the songs. That's why you hear different questions in each episode, cause not everyone's going to answer the same questions, or the same ones are going to this, and I always. I have a question at the end that says hey, if there's a song that didn't come up somewhere on the questionnaire but you want to share with us for some reason, please give it here. And you did that, and I just want to give it a moment to just share that, and so I'm going to play a clip of the song and then you can share what you want to share about it. Okay, Okay.

Speaker 1:

So who was the?

Speaker 2:

artist in the song and what made you want to share that song with us? Yeah, so the artist's name is Palindrom. He is an independent artist from Ukraine. He considers himself a rapper, but I see a lot of you know different influences in his music and I really love this song. It's called Last Dance, if I translated correctly.

Speaker 1:

That's the translation I got when I did Google Translate. So, Last Dance, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And what I love about Palindrom is that he speaks about stuff that's very close to all Ukrainians About war, about corruption, about hope, about how people unite together to get through what's going on in Ukraine. He writes really amazing lyrics. He writes really amazing lyrics Like. This is the guy. I love him just for the lyrics, because you know, musically maybe sometimes it's not my thing because I'm going to heavier music, but the lyrics is what got my attention.

Speaker 2:

I just think that what he writes it's amazing, like it's so much metaphors, so much of hidden meaning in every phrase that every time I listen to his song I can find something new for myself. And you know, considering that I found him just a couple of years ago, so all his music I can consider it in the context of the war and of everything that's happening in Ukraine right now, and I think that a lot of people hear things that they want to hear in his songs right now, in this particular moment. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

No, thank you for that and thank you for, like I said, sharing that song with us when you were originally, you know, putting your songs together and that's why I wanted to get it on here, cause you know, just it, it it what you just said about it is is important and, like we said, we hear headlines about things and and we can learn so much from the artists that are telling us about what's going on, and so, uh, I wanted to just get that song on there and hear your view and perspective on it, and so we can share with our listeners of hey, here's an, here's another artist to to check out. So, thank you so much for that.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, well, obviously we'll share links and um. I would encourage folks outside of of Ukraine, our listeners and viewers, to you know, translate those lyrics and hear the messages that creatives and artists are sharing out of Ukraine. I think um today more than ever.

Speaker 1:

All right Lightning round, kick it over more than ever. All right lightning round, kick it over to Raza Raza go with our lightning round.

Speaker 5:

All right, we're going to do this quickly today, guys. So, vlad, just to end things with us. Thank you so much, first of all. But our lightning round is simple. What is your first, your most recent and your favorite concert experience? Take it over.

Speaker 2:

So my first concert was Sonic Syndicate. I think it was 2012 in Prague. It was my first metal gig and I wasn't really into Sonic Syndicate. They were a little bit too alternative for my taste. I was into metalcore. But I really enjoyed the show, like the energy. It was amazing and it was the first time I was. I went into mosh and circle beat and all this stuff you know. So, yeah, it was, it was amazing. Still remember it. The most recent show was Say Art Is Murder in Prague. It's one of my wife's favorite bands my wife into really proper heavy stuff, even heavier than I yeah.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, also, it was an amazing show, the guys. Yeah, the music is amazing and they also had a really nice show with projectors and stuff. I enjoyed it very much. But my favorite show ever was the first show architects did in Prague. At least the first show that I know of was after their album Daybreaker. They were pretty young back then. It was a very small gig for like 200 people or so you cannot compare it with the shows they do now. It was very small, local gig with a few support bands. Actually my friends were a support band with them and it was amazing. It was the first time I heard these scholars don't run live and it was amazing.

Speaker 1:

Nice, nice, love it Awesome.

Speaker 4:

Nice.

Speaker 1:

Love it Awesome, Very cool.

Speaker 4:

Thank you Well as we get ready to to end the show and sign off in in the last minute or so we have left, um, tell us you know this is this is your moment to share with our viewers and listeners anything you have going on or anything you'd like for them to know. I know you run graphics. You know album design. Whatever you want to share, this is your moment.

Speaker 2:

So if there are any metal heads listening to this and you guys have a band who want to make music, like me and Raza, feel free to reach out to us. Just you know, Google All4Band Design. We are a big team of artists. We make all kinds of stuff from logo design to cover art and merch design, like whatever any band needs, so we would be happy to help you. Also, if you like post-rock music, you can check out my band Diary of my Misanthropy out my band Diary of my Misanthropy. And if you just need some chill lo-fi music to play in the background when you work, study or do whatever you like to do, you can look me up Sad Saint on Spotify or YouTube. I also make chill instrumental music you can check out.

Speaker 1:

Awesome.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much and for all the listeners and viewers, we'll have links to all of that in the show notes so you can go right into there. Whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on any of the channels, you can find those, those notes there. Vlad, thank you so much for taking the time with us, for being so thoughtful with your, your songs and your stories, and and just with your, your songs and your stories and and just sharing your, your, your life story with us. Uh, thank you for you know um uh making current events uh come to life in in a real person for us and telling those heartfelt stories as well. Um so, thank you so much for um spending this time with us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

It was a pleasure. Yeah, all right, everybody, you know what to do, like subscribe, follow whatever channel you're on so you don't miss any new episodes. Just like we said here, go find those artists, find those songs that are out there. Connect with stories out there, find out what's going on on the ground in places. Don't just follow the big headlines. Hear stories from people that are there, and we can do that through artists. We will share all those links and with that, this has been a life in six songs. We will see you next time. Thanks for watching.

Speaker 5:

It was just dying issue.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, this stuff is complicated.

Speaker 4:

We also only have two songs left, so not as long do you guys? Know how I know Vlad.

Speaker 5:

By the way, vlad, should I tell them the story?

Speaker 2:

yeah, sure you have time. I think I need a moment to you know my cat and yeah, yeah, let's.

Speaker 1:

uh, I could use a restroom break too, so let's all take two minutes and then. I'm sure.

Speaker 2:

I'm sure people love cats on YouTube. But yeah, I'm sure people love cats on YouTube, but this is enough.

Speaker 4:

Go ahead.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, see you.

Speaker 5:

Look at that face.

Speaker 3:

Oh, my God.

People on this episode

Head Shot

David Reese

Host
Head Shot

Carolina Reese

Co-host
Head Shot

Raza Mahmood

Co-host