Interview with Space of Variation

Interview transcribed by Hannah Smith

You may have heard us previously talk about Space Of Variations in our writer, Seren’s, piece about their recent album ‘Poisoned art’ Here

We had a great time listening to their fantastic musicianship and were so honoured with the chance to interview them to discuss their lyrics, tour and even their unique experiences of the war, being a band from Ukraine. We had some really interesting conversations about music and art and not taking life for granted.

Without spoiling the contents of this fantastic interview, the conversation about the war in Ukraine was particularly hard hitting - the band want to urge people to remember the events that are currently happening in the country. The British Red Cross have a page which you can see here that explains the various ways you can support people in Ukraine, which I’d urge you to step up and take action with. Make sure you keep up with what’s going on in the country, Check up on anyone you know from Ukraine and know what to do in a state of emergency. Should a further disaster happen, the Distasters emergency committee will likely post an appeal which you can donate to that will support the cause.

Not to get political (Absolutely to get political) here but if you are in the UK, do NOT, I repeat ABSOLUTELY NOT vote for Reform. Reforms policies are about deporting illegal immigrants and dramatically cutting foreign aid - this is an official statement on their website. If you want to see what the Green Party are doing about Ukraine, you can see here and go vote for them as soon as you can. The Green Party has this policy about defending human rights, democracy and justice - you can see they want to get rid of laws that don’t support protesting. Whereas, Reform wants to disapply the UN’s conventions against torture. Whether or not you vote green, it’s extremely vital you NOT vote Reform.

In terms of smaller things you can do, you can support Ukrainian people on an individual basis. Buying art and music by Ukrainians and supporting Ukrainian businesses.

Without further ado, I got the chance to speak to Alex (guitarist) and Flo (Vocalist) from Space Of Variations

Elisha: My name’s Elisha. I work for a publication called World Here. We essentially do reviews about music and writing, and we try and do it from a lens of encouraging people to experience human connections and the world.

Dima Flo, Vocalist for Space of Variation: Cool.

Elisha: It’s nice to meet you guys. How are you?

Flo: I’m still a bit tired, and I believe Alex is too, because we just – yesterday at night – came back from the tour. We finished the tour with a band called Dymtry Paradox. We were touring in Germany, a few dates in other countries, and we just finished this run. So pretty tired for now, but in a few days, everything will probably be okay.

Elisha: I was about to ask you that. How are you feeling about the tour being over now?

Flo: It’s always cool because you’re going home. You’re not spending all your life on the road in random places. But at the same time, it’s a cool experience of, as you said, good human connection. We’re like circus travelling to all these countries and gathering people who resonate somehow with us. We have these honest meetings and energetic exchanges with them, so it’s a pretty awesome experience. It’s always both. Super tired. Exhausted. And happy and fulfilled with the energy of people.

Elisha: Do you have any special stories you want to share from the tour? Like you say, about human connection or nice fans you’ve met?

Flo: I actually have a few, but one I cannot tell, so the most interesting will stay behind the curtain. The regular one, but very inspiring, was how one guy came to the merch table and said that our songs helped him go through some hard periods in his life. And one of the guys who are serving and fighting on the front line came to our show, and he was saying that this music was saving him during the hard times. These things are pretty inspiring. You’re finishing the song and you only can hope it will resonate with someone and help someone, but you don’t know exactly, and then the song leaves. Then the stories coming back to you are pretty inspiring and remind you constantly why you are doing it. As you mentioned, human connection.

Elisha: My personal belief is that’s mostly what music is all about. You’re recent album, Poisoned Art, has just come out last Friday. Are you excited about the release of it?

Flo: It’s getting nice reactions from people. We’ve had a lot of interviews and feedback, and we have this nice big spike in statistics on streaming services. It’s always nice to see people involved and they were waiting for it. It’s a nice moment: one of the checkpoints in life. It’s always cool and a little bit sad at the same time, because you’ve crossed this checkpoint, so what’s next? You’ve released your big work and have to find the next step.

Alex, Guitarist for Space of Variation: It’s always a new chapter. It’s great to finish that chapter, but we are in the process of finishing because we will be touring the album with a headline show, so it’s not completely finished. After this, it will be interesting to ask ourselves what’s next?

Elisha: Your tour that’s coming up, I bet you’re very excited for that. Is that your first headline tour?

Flo: No. Hell no! It’s not our first headline tour. We’ve been doing it for a lot of years. Every album cycle.

Elisha: How are you guys feeling about this next upcoming one? With the release of your new album, you’ve had a lot of good feedback on social media. You’ll probably be getting a lot more fans wanting to come down. Are you excited for it?

Flo: Yeah, we hope it will work. I hope to meet a lot of new people in the upcoming shows, and I’m also very excited to see how some songs will sound live. It’s always a little bit different.

Elisha: That was actually going to be my next question. What song are you most excited to play live from your new album?

Flo: One that we have not played before or in general?

Elisha: One that you’ve not played before.

Flo: Excited or scared?

Elisha: Both. I want to hear both.

Flo: I have a few, but I will keep it a secret. Let’s see how it goes. I will answer like this: all the songs from the new album because it’s something fresh. Let’s see how it will go in real life.

Alex: It depends. We will check in practice how it sounds because sometimes you’re expecting something from one song and suddenly it works a little bit different live. For me, it’s also very interesting to try all of them and pick which have the most live vibe, because some of them are more for records, but some of them really fit the live format. Now we play this song, Halo, which was released, and I really like how it sounds. Unexpectedly, some riffs open up, and you understand the energy flows through this music. Let’s see.

Elisha: I was actually going to say that Halo is one of my favourites because of that iconic, amazing riff. What made you guys come up with that? It’s fantastic.

Alex: It’s maybe my subconsciousness and some old inspiration from bands like Car Bomb. Some djent influence from Meshuggah, and Monochrome riffs. I always like how it’s possible to work with Monochrome’s notes. I don’t know. I was inspired. I was just making some sketches and found this riff. I also like this one.

Elisha: They’re all amazing, but that’s a real standout – that riff from Halo. I also have a question about the album title, Poisoned Art. Is there a secret meaning behind that?

Flo: I’m interested to ask you one thing because all the interviewers were asking about this. Did you hear the album? The whole album?

Elisha: Yeah.

Flo: What do you think Poisoned Art means for you?

Elisha: The first thing that came to mind, for me, was not in the album. I heard Poisoned Art and thought A.I. That was my thought. I was going to say, as well, I know you talk a lot about the good and the bad side of people, so I wondered if– you say art comes from both sides – maybe it’s poisoned with the bad. That was my interpretation.

Flo: I get you. I will answer like this: the album is like a puzzle, you’re putting in the pieces, and in the end, it forms something that sometimes you didn’t expect. Actually, in a lot of cases. I can tell, from my side, that Poisoned Art reflects the vibe of this album because it was written during the hardest period of our personal lives because of the war and other personal things that came out because of the war. We were living through this experience while recording the album. It’s a traumatic experience that cracks somewhere inside you and it’s poisoning all the aspects of your life. Art is the natural extension of us, so it’s Poisoned Art. We thought it would be a cool statement. There was a line in Alex’s part: ‘I don’t care anymore, my art is poisoned’ and I thought, Poisoned Art is the name of the album. Something inside us cracked when the war started and I’m not sure if it can be healed until our last days. That’s my reflection of the title of this album.

Alex: Absolutely, I agree. We decided together about this title. It resonates with this feeling inside of us. For me, it feels like the same.

Flo: And it’s just a cool name.

Alex: Yeah, it sounds cool. Still, it’s art. From any point of view, the songs, the titles, the videos, it’s all art. And it’s poisoned. We always say maybe a small amount of poison could help somebody like medicine. It’s not only about bad things. Poison, from some points of view, can heal you. It depends on the amount.

Elisha: Does it feel a bit like your experience of the art is poisoned?

Flo: In all possible ways. When your hobby becomes your routine, it’s poisoned. This art is already poisoned, or not? Is that pure essence, or not? You can look at this title from a lot of angles and that’s the meaning of art, for me. You can perceive it from different angles, and everyone has their own reception. We actually don’t like to say too much about what the song means, because you’re putting it into a box already. It’s cool to have a space for interpretation.

Elisha: Definitely. Sometimes a song means something to whoever made it, and then it’s completely different to every single listener.

Flo: Yeah, of course. We want to see something in music that reflects in us, but it can be something completely different for the artist who wrote it. In a lot of cases, it’s like this, actually.

Elisha: I had one last question. It’s kind of a silly one, which feels a bit wrong coming from that. I’m going to give you five elements of your songwriting, and I want you to rank them from what you find least important to most important: Emotional vulnerability. Hardcore riffs. Headbanger ability. The concept and story. And how the listener feels when listening to the song.

Flo: It’s impossible. I would pick emotional vulnerability as the most important, that you hear emotion through the music.

Flo: How the listener feels is important because they’re on a journey and you need to control this journey in the right spots, so that’s an important thing.

Alex: We’re also like listeners when we’re making the song, so it’s impossible to disconnect.

Flo: I believe it’s the second. How you feel and how the listener feels. You’re trying to see from outside eyes how it sounds. Then banger, and hardcore riffs is the last one. For me, personally.

Alex: It’s also hard to disconnect these things. When I’m writing some simple headbanging hardcore riff, at the same time, I feel this energy flow and I can imagine this connection to the listener, so it’s hard to disconnect. I believe we almost never put some hardcore riff in because it’s needed technically. We’re just making something that we like, and it works in the whole picture. It must be meaningful.

Flo: So first one, emotional vulnerability. Second one was how we feel and how the listener feels. Third one was banger potential. Then fourth, I believe the last one, hardcore riffs. Did we miss one?

Elisha: The story and concept.

Flo: Ah, f*ck. I will put that in third place. It’s an important thing to see the concept.

Alex: And the message behind the lyrics and vibes. It’s got to be abstract and artistic, but it’s cool when you hear a reflection in the words and the music.

Flo: For us, it’s important – I believe for other bands, too. You need to have some core part of the song. I can be mostly abstract, but in a few words, you need to understand for yourself what this song means. Then that influences the rest of the song and the video. The messages are already there. The meaning and the message are important. Third place, definitely.

Elisha: That’s all the questions I’ve got for you. Do you have anything else you want to add before we finish?

Flo: For all our UK listeners, we love you guys. It’s always a pleasure to play in the UK. We had crazy shows out there and we played in Manchester a few times. We will meet with you one day, sooner than you think.

Elisha: I’m a photographer, so I will be begging for a photo pass to come and see you.

Flo: Secondly, just give it a try and listen to our new album. I believe you will find something interesting for you in this album. Third one, I wanted to say a few words about the war that is still going on right now in Ukraine. I know people cannot be focused all the time on the war – especially if it’s people from Europe or other parts of the world – but it’s good to remind. It’s my nation. Remind people that horrible things are happening right now in our country and our people don’t deserve stuff like this. No one deserves stuff like this. The fact that this is happening is just horrible, so if you can support in any way. If you know someone from Ukraine, just message them ‘how are you’; it will make their day better, because these people are going through hard stuff. The whole world takes this stuff for granted: comfort, warm in your houses, electricity. These are the simple things that Ukrainian people are missing. My mission is to remind people to not take this stuff for granted. Appreciate what you have and help other people because empathy is what makes us human.

Alex: It’s very important to be conscious human beings because this is something we can actually control: our thoughts and ideas. That’s where all horrible things start: in somebody’s head. I want to finish on the good things – check out our album. I hope you will like it. Don’t forget to use nice speakers or headphones because we tried to make nice songs.

Elisha: Thank you so much, guys. Well done for using your platform to spread that message. That’s really important and that’s what we’re here for, as well. We’re all about human connection and it’s important that every human being – as much as there is hope and good music and good lifestyles out there – we need to remember that there’s stuff going on in the world. Thank you, guys, so much.