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VFSix (Moscow, Russia)

Posted by tipkin

"It all started with desire to express our current state and feeling of music"

I bet that if I hadn't told you, you would never guess that VFSix is a Russian band. And it's not even because their songs are performed in English. The quality of sound and the unique style - that what draws attention to the band, and the attention is drawn, and rightfully so. Victor, one of the VFSix founders, answered a few of my questions.

tipkin - As usual, let's start with a short bio: how, where and when did it all start?

Victor - The history of our band has a long prehistory, which proves that there is a right time for everything. For the founding of VFSix it came 10 years ago. Fannie appeared at my apartment-recording studio in September 1999, and our personal acquaintance, which due to various reasons wasn't happening for several years, laid the foundation for VFSix. Among the discs in my collection I found the one that I for some reason haven't listened to, Fannie's demo CD, which I really liked. We met not in Krasnoyarsk, where we used to live, but in Moscow, the atmosphere of which became a part of our music. Right around that time I got the six string bass, upon the overtones of which the sound of VFSix is being build. The circumstances laid out that way that both of us ceased to work in other music projects, we were free and had a desire to write music we ourselves would exclusively like, without any restrictions in format, trends, not setting any goals and not thinking about commerce. It all started with our desire to express our current state and feeling of music.

t. - How did the decision to sing in English come about? Who is responsible for the lyrics?  What is the reaction of Russian-(and English-)speaking audience?

V. - There wasn't an actual decision regarding the language of the songs, we didn't think about it. It's just that English lyrics are being born in Fannie's head to the music of VFSix. She is the author of all the lyrics of the first album vfsecret, except for "Heart Full Of Stone." On the albums VF's World and Paradise other vocalists write lyrics for themselves. I.e. generally, whoever sings a song is the author of its lyrics. The main audience of the band is English-speaking, which is a double pleasure, since they notice the deep content of VFSix's lyrics. The most common reaction of Russian-speaking listeners is the amazement that this is a Russian band. There's been more of Russian-speaking audience lately, probably due to increasing popularity of trip-hop in Russia.