Russian psych band Gnoomes have been through A LOT to make their second LP, listen to the whole of ‘Tschak!’ here
Prison and conscription, just two of the things the trio had to overcome to create their second album
Making music is often about overcoming obstacles. For some that might be writer’s block, others it might be the finances.
For Russian trio Gnoomes it was a slightly more complex scenario.
Before the Perm band set out to record their second album ‘Tschak!’ some members of the band were walking down the street when they were picked up by police and jailed (they were drug tested, and weed was discovered in their samples). They were locked up for five days. Afterwards, they had to attend regular testing to attest that they were completely clean.
But it meant the follow-up to the psychedelic band’s debut, was made, well, without any psychedelics. It wasn’t a challenge they were expecting.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the process vocalist Alex Pyankov also narrowly avoided being conscripted into the Russian army.
So in a way, the existence of this stark album, recorded in an old soviet-era TV and radio station building, is a bit of a triumph. On it there are blasts of industrial noise, there are melodies and there are subtle more electronic tinges compared to their first outing ‘Ngan’.
Listen to ‘Tschak!’ below. It’s out on the wonderful Rocket Recordings on 10 March. The album is available to pre-order now on LP/CD and digitally.