On The Wane: An Interview with Eugene Voitov

Photo: Ruslan Onishchenko



                Ukraine’s On The Wane are holding a sonic mirror up to the times. Conflict, brutality, hypocrisy, lies, remember when this was something music wrapped its bruised voice around? On The Wane's guitarist Eugene Voitov certainly does. "Music is on the wane in our days, it isn’t the thing that can unite people around the world anymore," Voitov says. There is a raw and vital rage that crystallizes in the live wire sounds of Schism, the bands latest album. Much is done in the moment of the jam, piecing sounds together like a puzzle. A similar ethos to Throbbing Gristle's early experimentation of live, collaborative sonic soul searching. On The Wane, unlike their namesake, are most certainly not disappearing. A far cry from defeat, it's the loudest voice piecing the night in search for truth and a way out of the deadlock of a bankrupt culture. Beauty is ugliness walking the high wire between two worlds, the one that wants to forget and the one that wants to remember. On The Wane chooses the latter. The apocalypse may be in the rear view mirror, and like the saying goes, much closer than it appears. But while the world is still here, music that shreds its way into truth will always burn brightest. The point is to walk out of the shadows cast by such a light. To make music matter again, and, just maybe even the world.


AHC:  Can you tell us how On The Wane came to life, how you all first met and how the band pieces fell into place?

Eugene: We met each other in March of 2014. We were still looking for a drummer at the time, like many other bands. At last, we found her and that day we decided that that day must be our birthday.

AHC:  What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you back then that just floored you the moment you heard them?  What are the works (albums) you could not possibly live without?

Eugene: We wanted to play something like Sonic Youth stuff in their heyday. Or shoegaze music. We are very loud and noisy. Many young, new bands love those noisy bands from the 80s. We were no exception. Now we play more electronic cold music.

AHC:  What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak?

Eugene: Almost all of our songs are born in the jam. We don't have  any recipe for a good song. We just play some tunes that stick in our heads and then we try to make a song with the parts of a puzzle.

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AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?

Eugene: There are two types of these memories: memories about another’s music and memories about our own music.

Best musical memories about another’s music are gigs of some my favorite bands, like PJ Harvey, Savages, The Cure, Pixies. And now we are waiting for a gig of Massive Attack in Kyiv. We love them.

And best memories about our own music are some gigs too (live in Minsk in 2016 for example) and recording of our last album Schism.




AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' currently (culturally, politically, otherwise) influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?

Eugene: We have some political lyrics about wars because it’s an important theme for our country. And we have some lyrics about homophobic problems, about religion, other social problems. But now we rather want to write songs about our personal experiences.

AHC: How do you see the current contemporary musical landscape? Are there any mainstream or quasi-mainstream acts that you see carrying some subversive, raucous potential, or are most of it bland and repetitive from your perspective? Is the underground scene the only antidote?

Eugene: We think that music is on the wane in our days. We play music because we like this process, but music isn’t the thing that can unite people around the world anymore, unfortunately. We like some modern mainstream bands, like St. Vincent, or Radiohead, but music doesn’t master people’s minds like it did in the 70s or 80s.

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AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world, or who are maybe just wanting to throw up their hands and walk away completely? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Or what kinds of things have others told you that have helped push you past moments of self-doubt/creative blocks?

Eugene: I’d say “just practice”. You don’t need people, many instruments or much money to play your music. And we don’t really know how to cheer anyone up when they are having troubles with their band or creative process, because we are too pessimistic, but we are still doing our music, just because we love it. This is the single most important reason.


AHC: Anything coming up for On The Wane in the near future or 2018?

​Eugene: We changed our second guitarist and drummer a month ago. Now we have new members in the band and some new plans. We want to record our new mainly electronic EP. And we hope to play live gigs in Europe.


Keep up with On The Wane
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