interview with Mournful Gust

What´s the name of your band? Mournful Gust.

What made you call the band "Mournful Gust"?With such a title, it takes just one moment to understand, what kind of music the band plays.

How was the band formed? In fact, it all started as a project of one of the ex-guitarists.  

Can you tell about your band? If you feel comfortably in your life, you’ll never start listening to our music. 

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? We had lots of people among constant line-up changes. It would be boring to recall where each person came from. Specify names, and I will reply to you.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? We wanted to gather stadiums, sell albums with thousands of copies and live a wealthy life from selling our releases.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Hard, slow, sad, growling voice.

Where was your first gig? In our hometown, at the very end of 2000.

Where was the latest gig? As well here, in the hometown, several months ago.

Who writes your songs? / Who writes the music who writes lyrics?

As a rule, the music is composed by guitarists. The new album contains a track composed by a bass player, and one more track of mine. Absolutely all lyrics of Mournful Gust are written by me.

Who has the best since of humor in the band? We are into sense of humour in the everyday life. Our music has no relation to it.

What's good/bad with the band? /What genre do you feel you are?

I go not want to speak neither about good, nor about bad stuff. Do not want to make boast of anything, or complain. 

Usually, our music is positioned as gothic doom/death metal, but this is only a general cliche without any specifics. What is performed by Mournful Gust, can be called sorrow metal or modern euro doom.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? This is something that is deep inside.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? If you heard our albums, these are all our own songs. During the whole history we recorded only one cover.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? There are 3 full-length albums in our discography. For the overall impression you need not only to listen to them, but also hold them in your hands.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? We have two professional videoclips – “With Every Suffering” and “Sleeping With My Name”, as well as several amateur videos.

How old are you?/What got you started in music? Is this a dating website survey? I dreamt about releasing and holding in hands my own album.

At what age did you start playing? Without exaggerations, I’ve wanted to play in a band from the very childhood.

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Experienced enough to be called a rock band.

What year was the band started? Autumn 1999.

Best/worst gig you've played? I never liked our gigs.

What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? In any case, somewhere on planet Earth. Exact coordinates are unknown.

Where have you played from then till now? Manly in Ukraine. More rarely — in Belarus and Russia.

Witch band is the best you´ve seen? I wished it were my band…

Is it always the same songs live? Time to time, we change our repertoire. Mainly these are songs from the new album. As for the songs from previous releases, we leave only the most powerful ones.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? Absolutely any gig may potentially lead to perspectives, even the most unsuccessful. We had quite big and notable events, but they brought us nothing but a point in the band’s history.

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? We had never toured.

How big crowds do you usually play for? Usually, there are about 100 people, more or less. It all depends on the scale and status of an event.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? It is hard to plan anything under such circumstances. We have thoughts, wishes and ideas. These are planned to be brought into life.

Where do you usually play? Small or medium halls.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? Nothing special. Just go on stage and try to give listeners what they wanted to get from a Mournful Gust show.

What are your goals with your music? We do not follow any instructions to reach a certain result. It is not related with music. We do what we like and are glad if someone apart from us likes it.

When did you decide to go all in for the music? In the teen age, as I started listening to heavy metal.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Of course, I listen to albums of 1970/80s-X. They have lots of interesting stuff even nowadays. I also listen to modern albums. After all, they’ll become ancient ones in several decades.

What are your sources of inspiration? Lately, inspiration has left me, and I am waiting for its appearance and presence. This can appear from anywhere and all of a sudden.

What's the first step when making a new song? This can be stuck in a head and not leave the mind for a long time. This is how compositions from the internal are born. Nothing should be artificial.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? This is a very big question, which needs separate attention for an answer. Shortly, I buy music on CD and collect everything that interests me. This is how I show support to bands, labels. I do not download mp3 — I am afraid of infecting my PC. But I can listen to music online. I prefer making an honest deal rather than stealing band’s creativity.

What would be your dreams for the band? To broaden our audiences through many concerts in different parts of the world. A dream of any artist is to be heard…

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I am a diverse listener and perceive anything — from blues rock to grindcore.

What do you hold most dear? These are events from my personal life and I’d like to forget about them.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? These fears became a reality — there’s a war in my country.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? I fear that a drunk idiot will climb on stage and disturb the concert.

Have you been part of any other projects? Yes, I participated in recording three albums of Autumn, and have been a part of the black metal band Vae Solis many years ago, recorded with death metal band Tessaract, and took part in projects not related with metal music.

Have you been in any other bands? As said before, I sang in Vae Solis before. If you wish, you may find an album “My Fire Is Eternal"(Satanarsa Recs.)

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? My everyday work has nothing in common with music.

What would you do if there was no music? Hard to say, I’ll try not to think about it. May be, I’d fell into literature.

How important are your fans? This is a part of any music formation, including Mournful Gust. We respect those who listen to our music and visit our shows.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? I am inspired by anything related to acknowledgement of our band. These can be both ordinary letters, portraits, tributes, cover versions and even more serious life circumstances, bordering with something more global.

How often do you rehearse? At the moment, not as often as we’d want to. Ideally, there should be 1 rehearsal per 4 days.

Where do you rehearse? We rent a rehearsal hall.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? “Words Of Farewell” from our third album “For All The Sins” and, may be, ”Rainbow Eyes”, dedicated to Dio.

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Each gig of any band is a separate event. The status of the band and event scale do not matter. But I rarely go to gigs.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? It is definitely an inner inertial power that still nourishes enthusiasm and motivates for inspiration.

Do you have any webpages? We’e got an official website — mournfulgust.com. I am not as serious regarding pages in social networks.

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? I do not think we’e got such a level when our advice can determine anyone. And I will be really surprised to  know that someone reads these words.

Describe your show, visually and musically Honestly speaking, our performances are boring visually, as we are not a show band. Several people with musical instruments on a small stage in a small hall with small number of listeners. This is not impressive and brings into depression. But may be this is the real doom metal?

How do you view the musicindurty of today? I am more than certain that we are far away from it. We do not get any revenue from released albums, are not compensated expenditures from studio recordings and design services. We do not have royalties. Until this changes, we are beyond music business.

What advice would you like to give other bands? Invest the most precious into your band or forget about this stuff once and forever.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Frequent line-up changes, lack of finances, unsufficient promotion. Motivation deficit and personal factors.

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? I can only say it depends from the audience. If this is a listener who knows your songs — comfort and basic conditions do not matter.

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? Unfortunately, I do not know when we have our nearest show and where it will take place. But if you sincerely like our music, there should be no excusatory proofs of your presence. We do not promote our show as something special if it’s important for you to get into the atmosphere.

How would you describe your sound in one sentence This characteristics is founded in the title of our band.

What is your favorite crappy instrument? Stones and sticks.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? When the band is left by another musician, without whom we cannot perform and record new albums.

Whats your Pre-show ritual? We do not practise anything similar. The most effective thing is to be in good nick and have good health before the concert, long preparation and rehearsals, as well as the wish to give out the thing which your listener is waiting for.

Do you have anything to add? Thank you for questions. I hope that someone has read it and will thereby listen to Mournful Gust.

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