Interview with Maxim Nazarov

We've talked with Moscow-based label AVEC owner Maxim Nazarov about Russian rave culture, the success of Gosha Rubchinskiy, his own reflex-brand Gosha Gazinskaya and underground fashion in Russia.

#1 Interest in Russian modern culture is raising now - Gosha Rubchinskiy, Sputnik 1985, cyrillicc bold is getting popular -  why do you think is it happening?

It's a fad, a flavor of the month, there isn't much substance behind it, like with most trends. Russian culture hasn't been really exploited in the west up until now, so this is just the beginning. It's happening because of the Internet and globalism. In Gosha's case, COMME  des GARÇONS has provided a push legitimizing his name for a worldwide audience. I think overall it's good for Russia because youth trends have been dominated by the West for so long and this kind of exposure will create more local brands and competition in the long run, and maybe ideas and quality will improve. 

#2  Tell us about modern Russian youth. Who are they? What do they like? What do they listen to?

Russian youth is highly disenfranchised due to socio-economic turmoils and rich totalitarian history associated with this territory, they seem to be looking for identity in western cultures and mimicking what's happening over there, at best. You can see it with local music, fashion, the so-called skater culture, modern art, etc. But this paradigm seems to be shifting, young people don't trust the media and the government, so they're beginning to embrace authentic ideas.

#3 Gosha Rubchinsky and INRUSSIA published a book on Russian Rave of the 90s, European audience was shocked - we did not think you have had rave at all. Is rave culture getting bigger now in Russia?

As soon as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s there was a huge influx of western European subcultures into Russia, bootleg music, and fashion, people started traveling more and recreating what they saw back home in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There were several waves of rave and club culture up until now, but there seems to be a continuity problem for these movements, newer generations seem to be inventing the same wheel over and over again.

#4 Tell us about Russian identity, what is it?

It is summed up in "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky, just kidding. I'm not sure, it is a combination of cultural heritage and exposure to different ideas, but I think it has a potential of developing into something exciting and unique, not merely a plagiarized version of attributes popping up in western monoculture.

#5 You have created a fashion brand, based on two Russian brands: Gosha Rubchinsky and Vika Gazinskaya. How did this idea come to your mind? Do the both designers know about your brand Gosha Gazinskaya?

Gosha Gazinskaya started as a meme. I made some rough "designs" in Photoshop and put them on Facebook, then a friend of a friend offered to actually print them. Vika has a long reputation of being psychotically unstable and Gosha has been accused of exploiting the "underage boys from the orphanage" look to sell overpriced t-shirts, so combining both names kind of works magically like Marilyn Manson. I don't think they see us as a threat, it's like having a cover band.

#6 Tell about the AVEC records label itself. What is the story behind it? How did it start and how is it connected to the fashion industry?

AVEC started with a jingle that I did for Moschino's TOY perfume ad. The full version of this track was the first release on AVEC, it featured vocals from Divoli S'vere and Beek from NYC ballroom voguing scene. Later projects have naturally progressed from there. I've done several soundtracks for runway shows of Russian designers and DJ'ed at many fashion events and after parties in the past, many of my friends are from the local fashion industry, so it was a quite natural starting point.

#7 How's your music connected to the internet culture?

Internet culture has been very influential to our recent ideology and getting away from the mere surface of things. We're very much inspired by 4chan, Pepe the Frog, the cult of KEK and the immediate effect of meme magic on real-time events, it seems to be working like a new religion. Sam Hyde is a true hero, he was banned from Twitter and his show Million Dollar Extreme was cancelled on Adult Swim for being too "edgy." It's great to see Pewdiepie, the most popular Youtuber, battling against the Wall Street Journal, and basically seeing the old mainstream media killing itself, while being replaced by non-biased independent content. 

#8 What inspires you?

Dangerous ideas, unique points of view, occult/magick, industrial music, back catalog of Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records, Boyd Rice.

#9 What do you think about Mr. Putin?

I don't really think about people like that. Him and his hierarchy are making money and they use whatever means they can get away with to stay in power. It's business as usual, nothing new, therefore not interesting.

#10 Will Mr. Putin influence somehow on Russian rave history? Does the leading party close Russian raves or you still can do any events you like?

I don't really see any significant development of rave culture here. I have friends who go to occasional raves in the middle of nowhere in the woods and dance to hardcore techno all night long, but it's very marginal type of happenings. It's definitely not easy to organize successful independent events within cities, so you end up with weird oligarch vanity projects and sponsor-based festivals or night parties, which come to an end as soon as the sponsor budget is exhausted, and there are like three and a half sponsors here which are either alcohol, cigarette or globalist sportswear brands. In the 90s promoters were able to get away much more since there was more chaos in the country and authorities were not as centralized. Also the drug culture was slightly different, since cops haven't yet caught up with it at that point. Now it's more of a police state.

Enjoy the video for Nagayka, shot at an art gallery Centr "Krasniy" in Moscow; characters in the videos are wearing masks cut out from street billboards and clothing was styled by Gosha Gazinskaya

images courtesy of Maxim Nazarov, AVEC Records