Wait for Godot

The recording was made in April-May 2001 in the new premises of the DDT studio, but on the remnants of the old equipment, in difficult working conditions, the sound engineers were Igor Sorokin, Alexander Brovko, Vyacheslav Evdokimov. November 28, 2001 “Wait for Godot” was published on cassettes by Manchester Files , then it was released as a CD under the AnTrop label, mastering by Dmitry Ataulin.

Kurylyov understood that the sound quality would be low, but did not postpone the recording until better times, since the dirty sound was quite suitable for the non-profit ideology of the album.

The work turned out to be somewhat cumbersome and prolonged - Vadim included in it all the songs recorded at that time, because he was not sure that he could “attach” them somewhere else in the near future ^[2] . Another step to the listener occurred when the radio station Our Radio took, without Kurylyov’s consent, into the rotation the song “Harakiri”, which rose to the fifth line in “The Chart Dozen ”. This track also appeared on the collection “Our in the city. Volume 1 ", published on CD and MC by the label" Real Records " ^[3] .

For the most part, this album reflects Kurylyov’s enthusiasm for the garage style and certain literature. The songs are far from what could be heard in the "Pin for the butterfly." Sounds are harsh and aggressive, less melodic. The lyrical hero of the author-performer, having passed through life’s trials, has matured, turned into a “steppe wolf”. Most often, the psychedelic mood prevailed with the help of guitars and figurative poetic lines (“White Song”). Some compositions are dedicated to St. Petersburg (“Fates and Walls”) ^[4] . Sometimes heavy psychological feelings arise - too masterful and deep pessimism. And it’s nice to suddenly find songs there that evoke bright and warm feelings. This, for example, “The Last Adam”, written under the impression of Milorad Pavic . A lot of faces are intertwined in all these works, it is simply impossible to enumerate, and as usually happens in such cases - listening is not recommended for a long time ^[5] .

Two main images in the album are transmitted by such colors: the first is the city, the second is the person in the city. This is a feeling of loneliness of a person in a megalopolis . There are songs that were composed during walks in the old part of St. Petersburg. A favorite route is from Uprising Square on Nevsky to the Fontanka and the Summer Garden , through it to Robespierre Embankment to the Palace Bridge . Then turn to Palace Square and Nevsky. Vadim's dream is to get housing with a view of the Neva. He calls the album Wait Godot literary rock: such a term inside "DDT".

“They accuse me that“ Fates and walls ”are similar to Grebenshchikov . Although such a genre - Bobdilan, ballad - not BG invented. Another thing is the song - city, St. Petersburg. Well, what to do, I also love Dylan and Petersburg. “Asphalt wind” turned out to be a little pathetic, I think so, after a while. “The Fugitive” is the earliest song, written immediately after the recording of the “Pin for the Butterfly” album. Stylistically, she drops out of a new record, such a guitar pop of clean water - I did not want to finish the album sadly. I was pleased with the number “Old Dreams”, at the last moment it was recorded. In my opinion, he was not enough - there I just read poetry. Rock and roll “End, Sveta!”, Punked with gloomy humor. “Harakiri” is a song about me, that for the sake of rock music, a person is ready to give everything - both strength and health, to actually make himself hara-kiri.

All my songs are personal to the same extent. “Loneliness of the Century” - the line is dedicated, rather, to Marquez . This is the first book that truly shocked me. Some more became epoch-making for me - “ Kafka Castle ”. In the preliminary draft recordings of the “White Song” was the violin of Nikita Zaitsev . A long psychedelic loss. Dialogue of my guitar and its violin. But, unfortunately, due to technical quality parameters, I was afraid to put the song in the album in this form. ”

Vadim described his work as follows: “The album began to be recorded in 1999. A sick moment in the history of mankind. I became interested in avant-garde , absurdism , futurism . I drew a lot. And in “Wait for Godot” he tried to convey his feelings and thoughts. Human condition at the turn of the millennium. It turned out that the sensations are quite heavy. But this was originally conceived. Nikita Zaitsev participated in the development of the program, but they started recording without it. The plans were broken. I did not replace anything with his violin. Maybe that’s why some of the songs seem unfinished. Left a place for imagination. Let the listeners imagine what it sounds ^[6] . Of course, these are gloomy songs, but such a style. Strict romanticism , black and white, on rock and roll. You won’t be singing under the viscous fuzzy riff : “Music will fill us with love,” nonsense. The only major and indisputable minus is that the album was released two years later than it should. If this happened at any other moment, and not at the turn of the century, the difference of 2-3 years would not be painful. It turned out an album of the beginning of the century. This is the main discord - I wanted to meet a new century in a different way ^[7] . First of all, I will not forgive this for myself. But it really was hard because everything dragged on for a very long time. I managed to hate the album ten times during the recording, and this could not but affect the final result. I don't play punk rock. How I would not like it. Two or three pop punk songs is not enough. No, about the end of the world too sensitive topic, a bad joke. Poetry is a dangerous thing, as you write, it will be so. Brovko ruffled my nerves. And I am him. It is impossible without a producer ^[8] . When I worked on “Wait for Godot,” Lou Reed was my music idol. I think it affected the fact that the album is literary. “Waiting for Godot” is a process without a beginning or an end. Wait - a perfect verb. But if you think about it, it sounds more absurd than “Waiting”, because it is almost impossible to wait. Hermann Hesse's “ Steppe Wolf ” is also one of my favorite books, and seems to be rock and roll. The song itself was decided in a traditional rock blues , but deliberately sloppy played, in punk style, I call it the garage blues. Everything is crooked and at the same time nervous, painful, but very lively ” ^[9] .

The author added about the album: “It is dedicated not only to bridges and walls, but also to the inner world of a person living in the city. In everyday life, we rarely think about the metaphysical connection of our souls with this place on earth called St. Petersburg. The city offers us the spiritual fulfillment of life instead of material. There is no money, it is bad with housing, but you live as if in a museum. A poor climate takes health, but you feel part of the story here. Most of these songs, with a few exceptions, were written in St. Petersburg. For example, I wrote the text of The Last Adam in Yekaterinburg during a tour. Frequent departures only help to understand and love this city. I really fell in love with him when I happened to live for several years in Moscow.

I wanted to create a literary and psychedelic cycle of rock songs. Hard to call music. It is not so important where stylistically to be attributed to Russian rock or an alternative . Ideally, I wanted to combine concepts. In fact, this is an author’s song , using elements from different eras: from hard rock of the late 1960s to post-grunge of the late 1990s. Conditionally, I called it all “ post-rock ”. Many songs are inspired by your favorite books, but do not directly link them. So “Steppe Wolf” is not the hero of Hesse, but rather I myself, walking in Petersburg on a dark autumn evening home from the studio. In “Wait for Godot” there is very little of Beckett’s play, except perhaps the sensation of the absurdity of life. This is a story without concrete prototypes, I just wanted to write a song-story, a little sad and touching, almost everyday, the action of which would take place only for several hours. The main characters are two that they want from life, they also do not understand. In the final, Godot never comes, the curtain, the performance is over - the wait continues. I literally read many songs between the lines at Pavich, transferring them, so to speak, to St. Petersburg muddy soil. It turned out gloomy, but just what you need.

All this was conceived as a “live” concert project, which without a band would have been simply impossible. We wanted to record everything live, but it turned out to be technically impossible. Therefore, it turned out the studio version, well-played, but more "dead". Pasha Borisov always supported me in difficult times, Kolya Pershin, who hates punk rock, but courageously did everything they wanted from him, Igor Dotsenko, who saved the situation when she seemed hopeless, Sasha Brovko, who found time to sit with me in the studio at night, as a sound engineer, Igor Sorokin, with whom we eventually brought it all together and made it. It was, of course, more interesting with Nikita, but he did not need to rehearse, he played immediately and was so exceptional and original that it was simply impossible to replace him. Therefore, we play three together. We have a fairly mobile group, small. We sometimes perform in clubs ” ^[5] .

In early 2002, for two hours, on the ground floor of the new DDT studio on 4th Sovetskaya Street in St. Petersburg, a low-budget video for the song “Harakiri” was filmed. A film with captured and developed material lay in boxes for less than three years. The director and cameraman Oleg Flyangolts masterfully made a video for very short branded pieces left over from the filming of the "She" DDT video. The musicians of the Kurylyov band, Nikolai Pershin and Pavel Borisov, got into the frame. At that time, the active concert activity of DDT did not allow holding concerts of the “parallel” project. It so happened that this was the last time a similar composition came together. In August 2004, it was possible to distill the starting materials from film to digital media. This made it possible to carry out the installation, which Oleg Flyangolts and Maxim Zorin completed together, despite the fact that they live in different cities. Color correction - also M. Zorin ^[10] .

The design used the photograph taken by Oleg Flyangolts at the concert of the Kurylyov band ^[11] .

Music and lyrics - Vadim Kurylyov.

1. Asphalt wind
2. Harakiri
3. Painted the sky
4. The Last Adam
5. Bad dream
6. Fate and Walls
7. War for Love
8. Old dreams
9. Steppe wolf
10. End of the world!
11. White song
12. Cooled world
13. Wait for Godot
14. Fugitive

2019 CD Edition Bonus

1. Epilogue ( demo recording at DDT studio, 1999)

• Vadim Kurylyov - vocals, backing vocals, guitar, bass (1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14), keys (4, 6, 11, 13, 14)
• Pavel Borisov - bass (3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14)
• Nikolay Pershin - drums (3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14)
• Igor Dotsenko - drums (1, 2, 5, 8, 11)
• Nikita Zaitsev - violin (Epilogue)

Comments by Vadim Kurylyov.

• “The End, Sveta!” - This song is dedicated to a specific Light, but I do not conduct a dialogue with it on my behalf, but on behalf of another person - also a specific one. I do not select words just like that, and here, rather, not an allegory, but a play on words. But don’t ask me who this song is about - it’s absolutely not important. I don’t always want to disclose the specific reasons for the appearance of the images, because this limits the perception of the song by the listener. The song was written in 1999 , when the solar eclipse on August 11 coincided with the Cross of the Planets. Astrology considers the "Cross of the Planets" a sign of war and terrible change ^[12] .

• “Wait for Godot” is “hidden” in such a way that you can hear it only after listening to or scrolling through the previous song, and in place of track 13 there is silence. Because Godot himself does not appear in Beckett’s play, I decided that it would be nice to place just a piece of silence. Thus, I also wanted to emphasize that it is not worth listening separately ^[13] . There were no specific prototypes. I just wanted to write a story song in the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg or Nick Cave . Perhaps for the plot, he used a similar story from his own life, of course, without such a sad ending ^[14] .

• The riff from “Asphalt Wind” was taken from the track “Fight” on the album “ Bolivia ” ^[15] .

• In 2011, the Electric Partisans group recorded Harakiri in a different arrangement.

• Kurylyov performed songs from this album infrequently. This is due to the fact that the author “even once heard a girl singing the song“ Harakiri ”while playing a guitar. Once she is sung in transitions, then this is pop music ” ^[16] .

• In 2019, the album was reissued in the author's design: a minimalistic cover in the form of a black rectangle plus an additional track - an excerpt from the recording of the “White Song” with the participation of Nikita Zaitsev ^[17] .

• Official site of Vadim Kurylyov
• Wait for Godot on Discogs.com
• “Wait for Godot” on the Yandex.Music service
• Official site of the Electric Partisans group