Q&A with The Meantraitors, Russian Psychobilly Punk Band Playing School Bar, May 6

Deemed as the 'only Psychobilly Outlaws to come out of the Soviet Union’ Russia’s, The Meantraitors return to Beijing two years after their first ever China tour in 2015. Part of the ever expanding network of rockabilly punk around the world, the band has been going strong for over twentyfive years and they’re taking China by storm this time with a fifteen plus date tour of the country. It all kicks off at School Bar this Saturday, May 6 alongside Beijing’s own Rolling Bowling and up-and-comers Underdog. I chatted with frontman Stas Bogorad aka Boggie, as he prepared for his trip from St. Petersburg, about everything from their past trip to Beijing, punk’s relevance in history, and more.

It’s been two years since your last visit to China. And from the looks of it, you guys are going all in this tour with fourteen shows across the country. What made you want to come back? Any memorable stories from the previous trip?

The answer is: We love China! The country is so great, so different to anything we have ever seen before. Last tour, we loved absolutely everything: the clubs, the people, and the atmosphere. We loved having tons of pictures and videos taken at the gigs and in different cities, it was so amazing that we knew before we left that we definitely will be back.

The most memorable thing for us was to meet Rolling Bowling at Beijing airport. It was so cool to get their support and help right from the beginning of our tour. This meant a lot to us and we will never forget it. We also simply loved the performance of all Chineese bands; Rolling Bowling, The Psyders – those acts are great.

A real hardcore memorable story was to meet a German Psychobilly guy, whom I met at our gig in Cologne in 1992 and hadn't seen since! He is working in China for Volkswagen, so he came to Beijing to see us from another Chinese city 1,000km away. It was a blast to meet him, we became close friends, he even visited us in St.Petersburg and in Germany during our European tour a year ago.

What’s the most common misconception about punk in Russia? Can you give us a viewpoint in what being a punk in Russia is like nowadays compared to when you started twenty five years ago?

Hard to explain. My opinion is punk, all in all, has to be 100 percent true. And it doesn't really matter wether that's with regards to Russia or China. There are too many untrue pop-punk bands around, there are just a few true punk diehards. I want to name my favorite punk band: The Exploited. We are old friends and we are their biggest fans. Wattie and Co is the big example of what punk rock is and what punk attitude is. My type of music is not pure punk, it is psychobilly, a mixture of rockabilly and punk. It is extreme punky rock'n'roll. I guess, it was much more honest to be punk in 1980s or 1990s. It was more dangerous, definitely, I used to fight nearly every day just to defend myself from drunk people. I could have died a couple of times, I just was lucky. 

You guys spend a lot of your time on the road, having lived in Germany in the late 1990s and even just recently completing a whirlwind tour of Europe. And I imagine, through your travels, that you have seen the world develop quite a bit. What’s been the most noticeable change you’ve seen across Europe and the rest of the world?

Yes, we are touring a lot, trying to present ourselves everywhere around the world. We are in Europe pretty often, we even live in Europe as St. Petersburg is the most European city in Russia and it is just in an hour's to drive from Estonia or Finland. So, sure, we have a huge European influence.

On to of that, our type of music came from Europe, we are the first East European psychobilly band and we thank European fans for their support. We spent many years in Cologne, a huge part of which was a completely illegal life without visa, without insurance, and without a legal place to stay. We used to drive a car with illegal self-modified plates for a few months. We even joined very known German psychobilly band Mad Sin for their German tour in 1994, nobody but us knew that we and our car were 100 percent illegal ... [laughs].

Yeah, it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock'n'roll! I remember, we used to live in a mate's rehearsal room. He just gave me the key to rehearse, but we had to live over there for several months. It was in the cellar of some school, we had to leave that place pretty early not to get caught, but one day we slept too deep and got caught in a locked room. Somebody wanted to open it with the key, while our key was in the lock on the other side. We didn't make any sound, so they finally left, but we had trouble with the owner guy later on and we had to leave the place. Many stories like that, buddy.

It’s been a while since Heavy Boogie, your last album was released – any plans for a new release in the future?

Sure, we already started to record our next album, we want to release it this year. We have already played seven songs from this album live. We will continue our studio work right after the Chinese tour.

The world is a bit of a mess right now, though one could argue it’s always been and we’re just finally noticing the cracks –is punk more vital than ever now? What would be your advice to anyone starting a punk band anywhere in the world?

Yes, the world is completely sick, people are too deep into politics or religion, both things we do not like. We love rock'n roll and we hate war, we do not believe politicians, all we can do is to ignore them and to continue playing our insane music. Music is definitely a very vital thing for many, nowadays. But it also was decades ago.

We started in 1989 and each new vinyl record or each tape meant as much as a treasure for us. Nowadays' teenagers do not know what it's like to search for some artist's album for a year or two. You can find nearly everything on the internet. But nevertheless, true types of rock like punk, hardcore, and psychobilly are extremely vital for many not to lose the sense of their life. The biggest problem in the world, in my opinion, is alcohol and animal abuse. These two things multiply cruelty and make the whole world so sick and so lost. I am so happy to be a raw vegan for more than three years, and I welcome you to the vegan zone.

I also wish all new punk bands would be far removed from politics, it will make your music better and it will help you to avoid many problems. I also advise: constantly rehearse, push yourself to the limits, and be dedicated to your band. Just in this case you have a chance.

What’s the thing, whether it be a dish, a drink, or a place, you’re most looking forward to back here in China?

We simply miss all we saw at our concerts in China last time, we miss the huge cities, the hi-tech railway stations, and the healthy food. We are hungry for China, see you bloody soon!

Links:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/meantraitors
https://www.facebook.com/stas.bogorad.9

Douban:
https://site.douban.com/Meantraitors/

Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/polygon_records/the-meantraitors-heavy-boogie

Images courtesy of the organizers