The Swedish group Lake of Tears has always had the cult, if not nationwide legend status in our country. The sadness and gloom of their first doom-death releases rings out in the soul of a Russian music lover, and when in 2005 Daniel Brennare and his bandmates finally played in Moscow, the queue to the club went almost to the nearest metro station. Since then, the musicians have been here more than once, and our magazine has published interviews with Daniel more than once. But about 10 years ago, after the release of the album «Illwill» (2011), the activity of Lake of Tears gradually faded away.

At first, there were news bits about next album, about Brennare DJVL side project and his experiments in the field of «computer-orchestral» music… But as the years passed, even the most dedicated fans stopped to wait for something new from Lake of Tears. And exactly when any kind of expectations has been vanished, there is a new studio album «Ominous». Even if there is nobody from the previous lineups except Daniel himself, and the music is not quite the same as before… But for the author himself, this is probably the most important album in life. Why it’s so, it’s better to ask Daniel himself.

P.S. This interview was made in February 2021 and published in InRock #1(93)/2021. We weren’t putting it on the site back then, but now there is a right moment — Daniel Brennare celebrates his 50th birthday on January 24, and his band Lake of Tears will turn 30 in 2022. Happy birthday to Daniel, and have a good health!

I think it’s important to do the interview about your album, because it really stands apart from the most of modern at least of heavy metal music releases. It’s unusually deep, honest, and, can I say, natural. Reading your other interviews about how it was done and what was happening, I understood that it was really special album and special situation for you.
Thank you for telling me. It’s it feels great when you say it’s different. I like that.

Yeah, I have read a lot of very diverse response from the fans and not so fans… At least for me, I feel really strong emotional connection with this music. Well, so it was ten years, and I suppose the first music was in some form existing back then. And how it was to live those 10 years with the music and now finally letting it go, letting it out?
Uff! Well, what can I say, 10 years is such a long time of course, I don’t remember everything from the beginning, but it has been a very long process, this record. Of course, I have not been working with it every day, but after a couple of years, let’s say, seven years back or something, I think, I started to really get into it and work with it. And it took a couple of years. But then, it all started to come together, all this story. As you heard about my illness and stuff like that, and for me then after a couple of years it became like a star in the night sky, like a light, it was very stimulating for my mind to do this record, and I could put my thoughts somewhere else than thinking about how rotten everything else was. So for me it was quite amazing actually, but also a very long and difficult process as well. So, it’s a mixture of both. A lot of sadness, but also very much a driving force for me.

Was there some first song, first seed that album grew out from?
I think there were several ideas. Even back when we rehearsed, when I played with Johan and I also played it with some other guys, in like six-seven years ago, we had some seeds for some songs, I know we started there, but actually there is also some songs that I had back there that I removed from the record, because they were… I think they were a little bit more aggressive when we started to work. But some seeds were there, I think, one of the songs, the third song, for example, «Lost in a Moment», there was a riff that we played a long time ago. And there are some others there as well.

And comparing with various old eras of Lake of Tears and previous albums, this one sounds both less diverse and more consistent. The songs more fit with each other, they provide the same atmosphere. For you, was it was it question of finding some specific colors, or removing them out of the equation?
Yes, very much, for me this record is not about musical styles or anything like that. I just used what knowledge I have, I didn’t look into any special genre, it was more about, I will say, totally about the emotion and the inner pictures in my head. So every part of every song here is a certain emotion for me. And then of course, to tie them all together was also some kind of work, but that was also important for me. Actually one of the things I wanted to do was to prove to myself and maybe to others that you don’t have to use an ordinary formula like verse/chorus, verse/chorus for every song. I wanted to prove to myself that I can do a record which is a bit different than that. Because I am a little bit tired of that, I mean, there are, of course, many good songs that are in this form, but I wanted to try something else.

So not using the traditional chorus/verse structures, you needed to find some other structures. So was there any guiding points, an examples, or something that you heard and liked…
Yes, some. I think some parts come from maybe more the orchestral kind of music, and I think quite many parts comes more from like cinematic music. As you can hear in the backgrounds of the movies, I was more thinking about… That’s how I saw it in my head, like maybe long, not verses but long parts, and then build ups, and then into something else. So, yes, there was, I think, the cinematic [approach], maybe it’s a good guiding point to some orchestral stuff. And then also I must say some more, let’s say, weird stuff or, how can I put it… When I was feeling quite depressed, and I think everybody who’s depressed wants to find a way out. For me, I’ve been finding a lot of music that maybe wouldn’t count as ordinary music, more like sounds, natural sounds, and frequencies that are having a healing effect. So you can say a bit in that direction was also a guidance for me.

Is there some specific music or some artists you can mention?
I think it’s more like healing music, and I don’t really know the artists there, because I don’t think it’s so much about artists, at least I haven’t looked up the artist, I’ve mostly been starting to Google somewhere and then you find something, and then you find something else, at least, I think if you just Google «healing music» or stuff like that, you get 1000s of results.

You also play cello on this recording, right?
Yeah, but on the computer, not real cello. I don’t know how to play real cello. All the orchestral parts are done on the computer, but actually that’s a really interesting area, because these last years I just started like two years ago with the orchestral stuff, really. And that has been one of my latest passions in music, it’s an amazing new world for me, just to be able to… I didn’t know anything about it before. I just read what an orchestra is, what kind of instrument there are, how they are seated in the whole. Like here I have six solo strings, two violins, one viola, two cellos and one double bass, and then behind that there are five string sections that are playing, and this kind of thing for me was very stimulating to learn about.

So you have taken any specific lessons to learn about rules of orchestration, of classical music, right?
Yeah, at least I started to learn. There is still very much to learn, but I started and I have some knowledge. There are like so many things like different articulations, I don’t know if you know this stuff, but there’s just so much interesting stuff to learn here.

I’ve heard at least some those orchestral works you put on Soundcloud here. I suppose it’s some sketches, but they sound interesting and maybe it’s some new interesting direction for you!
Yes. These are only the beginnings, sketches, as you can say. I am still working on refining them, but I want to put them out too when they are finished. I don’t think I will put them on SoundCloud, the finished result, but now as I’m working on it, I think I will put some more demos out, because this is while I’m learning. And as I said, I find this really stimulating. And hopefully there will be… I was thinking about doing a whole record with old Lake of Tears songs as the base for it. But it has to be good enough first before I put it out in the record of course.

Probably a mix of some new and old, so everybody will be happy.
Yeah, something new, of course, has to be there also.

You think about it as some sort of computer project or a piece of music performed by some classical ensemble?
I think I have to start from the computer, because I don’t have the connections with the real musicians, but of course I think as things grow, I hopefully get to know where I can find these kind of real or orchestral or real instruments, because that would I think give another dimension to it all, of course.

I hope it’ll happen some day! So, back to the album, I know that you use this space journey as sort of metaphor for an inside journey. But why you picked up this space setting, a story about Spaceman who travels a lot, instead, for example, someone who gets through the Arctic wilderness or so… Why the space is so important?
From the beginning, it wasn’t so much about space. The first thing I had in my head, I did some sketches of these two monsters. They were clear in my head already from the beginning. But I think space for me has always been kind of natural [attraction]. I think cosmos is a very fascinating thing. But in the beginning I was wondering a lot since this is like coming from a very depressive period of me, how can I describe this in music and lyrics in a way that makes sense? So, this whole story is actually like a filter, but it is there to make sense of the real emotions. I don’t know how to put it in another way. Of course, if I could have, I would not have used any kind of filter between the real emotions and the music, but that’s kind of impossible to do, so I had to come up with some story, and I think space [suits it well] for me. It came quite naturally after a while, I think.

Probably because the space demonstrates the maximum loneliness and the maximum of vulnerability.
Yeah. You’re spot on there. Because that’s like the main reason for the first song. And I know many people were really skeptical about the first song when the video came out. But for me that was to take it away from my own living room and to put it somewhere where I could play the story, and it is, as you say, somewhere far away where it really gives you this lonely emotion in some way.

And I was thinking about the first song, «At the Destination», and it also can be viewed as an image of the musician, like you or anybody else who was building up the band and doing something, traveling somewhere and suddenly he realized that he’s at that point where’s nothing around him, there is no band, «there’s nothing here at all»… Is that the feeling?
Yeah, that’s one of the feelings really that’s in the song. There are several feelings but one of them is really that one. I, or let’s say the cosmonaut, but it’s in some way me coming somewhere and there is no communication back to any kind of base. And there is nothing at the destination so you’re spot on there. And I even think sometimes, I’m not a religious guy or something, but you know, when you get into deep troubles in life, at least many people do it, they almost like prayed to God or ask God in their heads like why is this happening to me? Why am I here? So this kind of feelings are there. But of course I’m not religious in any kind of way so it’s not about religion but maybe about these kinds of feelings I wanted to make.

And how would you describe those two entities, The Ominous, are they something from the spiritual world or something inside your head?
Well, as I said before, for me they were clear from the beginning, because Ominous One, the first monster, he’s the illness, for me it’s the Leukemia, the actual, the physical illness. He’s like coming, he’s quite angry, but when I wrote the song I tried to write it from his perspective. So it is in the song he’s almost… it’s almost a little bit like a love song. It’s almost a little bit of happy [feeling] in it. But for me he’s like the angry physical guy. And then I think one of the things more, I wouldn’t say problematic, but one of the things I was thinking about the most was Ominous Two, the mental guy, who gets into your head, he’s a little bit crazy, he is going inside your head and as you feel weaker and weaker he gets stronger and stronger. But that is also from his perspective, that song. That’s the symbol for me. The physical and the mental part.

From the point of view of the religious persons we can say that they are demons or spirits, but from the non-religious point of view what can we say about them?
For me, they have nothing to do with religion. They are just kind of simple… The physical one is illness. When I think of him I think of when my doctor first told me about my own illness. And the other one, he’s been with me for 10 years during the depression. So for me it’s nothing really religious in them.

And what was helping you to overcome those Ominous persons, I mean, besides the music?
Well, I must say the music has been the main part. Of course I have my kids and one really important thing for me was my dog Ivan, who is in some pictures.

On the t-shirt, yeah?
Yeah, he’s amazing, he has done so much for me, just by being there, it’s a fantastic thing. But otherwise, I think it’s the music, really. When I felt that most down, I really wanted to… I don’t know if struggling or fighting is the right word, but I didn’t want to give up, even if life felt really… I didn’t have any will to live actually for a long time. But as soon as I got these two persons, I wanted to use all this darkness that I felt and make it, try to turn it around to something positive. So for me, these two are almost like living figures in some way, in my head. That has been my main thing, I think, for my own well being, to make this record. I wanted to come to a point when I turned my life around at least to make it more positive, and I think I did it for myself actually.

I saw those pictures, I don’t have the CD yet, only the promo link, but I see the pictures and on the «Cosmic Sailor» track there is whole different world whish is colorful! So, how you describe it, what happened with him? Is it the end of the world, is he waking up in a different world?
This is quite abstract, this part. I think that the second half of the whole record is more abstract, for me at least. And this song, this is why it took such a long time! Because I had to come to this place in my head. I had to come somewhere, to be able to finish it, and I didn’t really know how to finish it, but I think I came to a place, the place of realization. You know, at one point in your life, if you go through things you have to realize that this is how it is now, and I must do the best from this. And I think during all these years when I wrote the music it’s somehow came to this point where I actually could wake up one day and put a little smile to my face and thinking about maybe… Oh, it can be anything but thinking, maybe of some persons that were my friend in the old days but when I needed them, they were not there. But one day I realized I cannot change them, I can only change myself. I realized that some people have become better friends now, and some people are no longer my friends. But that’s a realization, and I think for me realization was really important, because it made me feel better.

And probably in place of old friends there are some new friends.
Yeah, new friends and new emotions, and the orchestral stuff, there are so many things, and I don’t know really how to describe it, but if I could have said it in a more like poetic way, I think there was a big hole inside of me that that was made, and a big hole is very sad to go around but at the same time, a big hole means there is a lot of space for new big things. So I wanted to fill this big hole with big new things, and this is what it was for me.

On the Facebook, you wrote interesting thing, almost like you say now, that it’s the music from the emptiness. Such interesting description of the creativity. Usually we think about some muses or sprits, and you refer to the emptiness…
Emptiness is strange. It’s almost like the scientist says like the Universe is built from the Big Bang, it’s sometimes I think of it in that way. No, I really don’t know, but it is really much for from emptiness and from nothing, and sometimes I’m fascinated about it because I wonder how can something be from nothing. But of course there are always some things in the head so it’s, I mean, I play guitars for 20 years or so, there comes something almost automatically from the fingers when you pick up the guitars. But the theme comes from, at least for me, total darkness, and emptiness, and nothing. That say for an example, one thing I learned after many years when I read about other people who were depressed and when I tried to find something good. And just one thing that comes to my mind is that when you are depressed you no longer hear birds singing outside. And I didn’t think about it at first, until I read it, but then when I read it I realized I haven’t heard birds for many years! So that’s like the kind of emptiness and silence that I think this comes from. Because when you get depressed you somehow shut out to so many things, all the energy that you have is just there, so you can’t get out of bed or something… Actually when I think of it, I think it’s quite fascinating to make something from nothing, it’s kind of weird.

(Telling Daniel about Olivier Messiaen who wrote music from the birds singing, and his End of the World Quartet I heard on a concert a while before the interview.)

There is very interesting link between «End of This World» and «Cosmic Sailor». In some interview you said that you’ve planned this ending a little bit different. Like there was planned some lyrics for «End of This World».
Yeah.

It certainly sounds great as is, with that crescendo part, very strong and powerful. Was it an instrumental version some other song or something very different?
No, it wasn’t, actually from the beginning it was a different song. But there are pieces in this song that were the same with that first song. I don’t know if you can hear it, some of the riffs are the same in that song as it is in «Cosmic Sailor» but there are some parts that are played on guitar in the «End of This World», and then it comes on the bass in the «Cosmic Sailor» song, just the same thing to link them together. And these parts I had in the first song as well, but I wanted to do this instrumental again, it was a long time ago since I did something instrumental.

And it’s really outstanding.
Thank you!

And I love the bonus. I just don’t understand why it’s a bonustrack. Because it’s very fitting, it’s kind of the epilogue of the story. Probably it was too much color?
No, I don’t really think it’s too much color. I wouldn’t have no problem with putting it into the story, but it in my head it was never a part of the story really, that’s why it’s a bonus track. But if it would have been, I would have no problem putting it in, I have never had any problem with trying different things. Actually I like that. But that song, when I did it, was too good to not release. So that’s why it’s there. And everybody else who heard it also told me: oh, this song, you have to have it on the record!

It shows different side, more of a singer/songwriter side of you, right?
Yeah, I think so.

Is there any people from this area that you are influenced you?
No, I wouldn’t really say so. But of course there are like some singer/songwriters, what’s his name, oh, I can’t even remember his name! Johnny Cash, something like this. Maybe somewhere in my subconsciousness, but not directly. I think it was the violin melody, and the rhythm that just came to me one day when I was sitting here doing music.

There is one line in the lyrics, «All things must pass», and it was a name of George Harrison album, was it intentionally?
No, actually not, but I saw that afterwards. I didn’t really know that, I am not like a big George Harrison fan, but I have seen that when I’ve done some googling on it. No, that’s actually a phrase from my own «Forever Autumn», from the song «So Fell Autumn Rain», so I wanted to reuse that phrase, it actually comes from my head.

In the past you did a lot of such play on words with some famous songs like «House of Setting Sun» or «Children of the Grey» or «Black Brick Road», so I thought it was also some kind of hint…
Yeah, it could have been of course. I wouldn’t be ashamed if it were if it was so. I think works of great artists should be used in new ways. I think that’s a gift that they gave us.

A couple of silly questions. What is the 5573 in first song, why those digits?
I think at first I didn’t actually wanted to say it, but I already said it, so I can say it now. When I was at the hospital, it was on my wristband that you had around my arm. The band I had around my arm so these figures I saw all the time. So they are etched in my head.

Ah, I understand now. Next… Why you called you dog a Russian name?
Actually, from the first time I saw him, this dachshund with this hair, he looked like a Russian general to me, with mustaches and beard, so the name Ivan came directly. It was General Ivan.

I thought about maybe some Russian friends, because you got a lot of them, I know.
Yeah, I have some Russian friends, but it was just that came to my head. This is Ivan, I knew it.

You have used the work of Vladimir Chebakov aka the Smerdulyak, at least in Russia he’s very prolific designer, he did a lot of album covers from some friendly bands to some very popular ones. And now he got this interesting connection with Lake of Tears… How that happened? Did you search for him or he for you?
No, I have some Russian friends, as you said, and one of them, Andrei, Andre Holenko, he’s been helping me with the other guy, named Boris Rodionov, with a Lake of Tears fanpage, and some 15 years back they were also helping out when we had some shows in Russia. So we had quite a long relationship where we have discussed things, and I discussed this with Andrew quite some years back and he came with a suggestion that I should try to send this stuff to Vladimir, and see what would come out of it. Because he had done also some t-shirts print, he helped me with that. I think also he did the covers for those two Lake of Tears tribute albums. And Andrei had worked with him on some other things. So he suggested that we try it. And I must say the first thing I got back, I just sent him some sketches, with these two Ominous figures, and some pictures I found of birds, and I told him some words, and we use Google Translate, and he came back and I think it was almost perfect at the first attempt.

Spot on!
Yeah, I think so. I don’t think anything significant has changed. Some little coloring, maybe something about the logo, but not really the motive, it was there from the beginning, it was spot on, yes.

Was there any thoughts about working with Christian Wahlin again.
Yeah, at first it was. Before I even knew about Mr Сhebakov, I was thinking about Wahlin actually. And I’m really happy that it turned out this way, because I think this was… I always like Wahlin’s work, at least older work, but this was really nice for me, it was something new.

Yeah, I agree. I like both, I think style is so strongly associated with your «classics», so maybe it might disorient some people who will expect this kind music.
Right. That’s why I thought about him initially and we actually had some small discussions there in the beginning, but now I’m really happy that he didn’t do it, because I think it is, as you said, it may be connected more with the older stuff. So for me, this was really a good thing to some new stuff.

What about the musicians. As far as understand there is no members of any previous lineups, but there is a drummer called Christain Silver, and some Lars Rhapp, and thanks to MetalArchives, there is Vesa Kenttakumpu!
Kenttakumpu, right!

And how they all came in, why you invited them?
Vesa is actually the guy who has been there almost during the whole period. He’s been my friend since we were like 10 or 12 years old. He has played music even longer than I have, mostly in a death metal band called Evocation, here from my hometown. So he’s been with me the whole time, ever rehearse some of the songs many years back, when I started to make them. So he was really a natural choice to play the bass, because I didn’t want to do it myself. I think it’s good to have some kind of other guy playing also to give something extra. So he was a really natural choice. And Christian, I’ve actually tried some drummers when we rehearse the songs, I think, three different drummers. But Christian was the right choice in the end, because I know him also for a long time, he produced and recorded the «Black Brick Road» record and the «Moons and Mushrooms» record. So I’ve known him also, he’s a fantastic guy and a really great drummer. Of course, now he’s maybe getting older and a little bit more rusty, but he’s still an amazing drummer. But I had to tell him that you don’t play anything advanced, I want it very simple here. And so he was also very natural choice. And then when we came to the studio I asked Christian if he knew someone who could play the upright bass. And they actually knew, it was his wife’s brother, I think, Lars Rhapp. He said: yeah, I know a guy, he has upright bass and he can play, he’s been playing for many years. So we called him and got him to the studio, and I was really happy, because I didn’t know if we would find anyone, then I would have to do it on the computer instead, and I think this was really a much better solution.

Right, it’s really fitting, it’s creating this kind of tomwaitsish kind of atmosphere… And do you consider them, Christian and Vesa, as a new lineup or just the guys who help you?
They are just the guys to help me. Actually that’s one of my realizations also during this long period. At first it was really difficult for me to go on by myself, because I felt I was somehow dependent on the other guys in the band. But when I thought about it, it was really strange, because I have written every song from the beginning, and they didn’t write anything. So now actually I must say, it’s not because I’m egoistic or something, it just that I’ve come to a realization that I can do a lot of stuff by myself. And I can perhaps use people when I needed more. I cannot say for sure, of course, but I think that’s my future in the music industry.

Last one to go from the band was the drummer, Johan [Oudhuis]… how you pronounce his surname?
Юхан Удхюис.

Thank you, now I know! So the question is, are you in touch, how is he doing?
We, we talked a little bit, and I still talk with the people, with Michael [Larsson, ex-bassist], for example, he lives very close to me so we talk quite often. You have the will have to ask Johan about his how he’s doing, he’s not been doing too good, actually, but I think he’s quite okay now, he’s going on with his life also.

And, by the way, it’s interesting, your hometown is Boras, are you still there?
There.

What kind of life you live there, is there a daytime job or at home..?
Oh that’s actually a very personal thing.

Sorry. I’m not insisting, really…
No, no, I can say that, of course. I’ve been in such a bad shape, really in a deep depression, today I have been trying to these last years to go to study in a University again, by distance, studying music, actually. So, that one is really interesting thing. One of the things that was really breaking me was my working. I was working very much, like 60 to 70 hours per week there for a while, and I think this was one of the things that really broke me down and I lost all my energy. So I’ve been trying to find something new. And just to get a little money, it’s not much but a little, I went back to school to studying stuff these last years. But otherwise from that, the older I get, the more I stay in my own house, I don’t go out so much if I don’t need to, actually I’ve been quite tired of many people. I find it really nice to be at home, be creative and read stuff and do stuff like that.

Your previous work was computer-related, right?
Yeah, I have been doing anything, I think, in the IT business, I started as a web programmer, I’ve been a project manager and program manager and in the end it was everything! So that’s why it’s so many hours and so stressful.

You mentioned the kids. Can you tell a bit about them?
Elvira is my daughter and Amadeus is my son.

Amadeus! Really cool.
Actually he’s Arthur Amadeus. It’s Arthur from Schopenhauer and Amadeus from Mozart. They are 18 and 20 now.

Quite big already…
Yes, they are big now. So that’s why I also called dog my smallest kid again.

And what kind of life they choose, anything music-related or not?
No, nothing music. I never wanted to push them into doing stuff that I am doing. I think I’ve always been thinking that people should find their own ways in life. Of course I’ve asked them many times, and I think my son has a really talent for writing stuff, but he’s not really interested in music.

Not sure if it was already mentioned, it’s obvious that you have some Slavic roots. But nobody asked you about this. So, can you tell us a little bit is it Serbian or Croatian or something else?
It’s Croatian. My parents come from Croatia. They moved to Sweden in the 60s. And I think, actually, not many people are asking, it but you can see it clearly from a surname — Srebrenaric. Maybe one thing that it has meant for me is some kind of rootlessness. I think it takes perhaps a generation or two generations to somehow settle down somewhere, of course, I was born in Sweden, I always been here, but I still have the Srebrenaric name, so you can see it on the name that it’s not like a Swedish name. And I think that for me has meant some kind of rootlessness. And I think that also you can hear in my songs actually.

Very interesting! The question that I also wanted to ask, because, you know, the Sweden got very rich folk music tradition, with those great folk songs, and some kind of blend into metal music too. And the Balkan nations, the former Yugoslavia also got very rich musical tradition with some internationally popular artists. So do you feel an influence from both or little from any?
I don’t think there’s any influence from the Balkan music, actually. At least, not that I know of, because I never really listened to that stuff. But I think, of course, there is some influence from Swedish folk music, at least some parts of it. I still think that many of the bands, especially in the modern metal genre, have influences from the folk music, but I think, at least for me, they are using the too happy influences. You know the Tan-tara-tan-tara-tan-tara-tan! Stuff like that. And that’s really not my influences. But there is some kind of the tragedy in this folk music, I think it’s the same with Russian folk music as well. I think all these northern countries have something in common there. I’m quite sure that some parts of that has found its way into my music writing.

Yeah, it can be heard really! The sad part of a folk song…
I think it’s called folk songs for a reason. They have been for a long time, they are dealing with the nature, or maybe… There are northern lands with much darkness and there is cold and stuff like this. Of course, there must be something that comes into you, if you’re living in this part of the world.

Do you listen to the bands that melt folk and rock, like Garmarna?
No, not really. I’m actually not too fond of these bands, at least I don’t know many, so I can’t really say for sure, there probably are a lot of bands that are really good, but those that I’ve heard has really not made it for me so far.

I have asked more or less most of the main questions, and there is some kind of trivia stuff, if you don’t mind…
OK!

On your page on the Facebook, you have put yourself as a fictional character, why?
Oh, you mean my page? Oh, I don’t know. I think it got something to do with when I started the page one day, you have to make the selection in some cases. And Brennare is my artist name, so for me it was some kind of fictional character, that’s quite easy.

Do you have your mushroom hat somewhere?
Yeah I have! I think I have three or four, one black and two or three red ones in some different shapes of red. And even I have one of the official ones that were made in in Russia!

When Russian promoters called some of your Russian tours as the «PI*DATU Tour», did you know what does it mean?
I didn’t know exactly, but I know the Croatian word «pi*da», I know what that means. He explained it to us, it was more like a swear words. So, I mean, we didn’t really know so much, and we didn’t really care, actually, so…

Yeah. I mean, it means both of «very cool» and some obscene word. So, people used to scream it as the concert!
Yeah, I know.

The first Russian concert was like 15 years ago. And it was sold out. Maybe twice! I was in the audience. And I remember standing in the venue for an hour or something, but everybody was able to squeeze in and enjoy the show, and what was your impression about such a hot welcome?
Oh, it was amazing! I don’t think anybody of us will forget it. I think we played St. Petersburg first. And that was also amazing. And then we come to Moscow and we heard that it was sold out, and I remember when we came in with the bus we saw a lot of people outside. And then we also saw some policemen beating up some people so that was not so nice, that felt a little bit strange. And some bloody people there. But to see all these people and then to come into play it was like, I don’t know how to put it… It almost felt like your feet was going up 10 centimeters from the ground just to see this amazing welcome! Really amazing. I will never forget it.

Do you miss this sort of life?
Yeah, sometimes. Especially these kind of shows, They are not happening every day. We did some very special shows. And this, first Moscow show was maybe the top one. I can’t say for sure, because of course they are different, but one of the top ones for sure. And, yeah, part of me is missing these feelings, because it is such a wonderful feeling. Just to go to somewhere else in the world. And people who don’t… Many people didn’t even know English but they still can sing the songs, and stuff like that, it’s totally amazing. But at the same time, playing live for me is getting more and more difficult the older I get. But maybe someday again. I mean there are some really good things in there, and I think everybody who has been in this situation will never forget it.

I think it’s probably a perfect point to finish interview. I enjoyed speaking with you very much. There is a connection, we share a same birthday date, 24th Jan.
Yeah, that’s a special connection. I think I’ve been thinking a lot of what it means to be born in January in the cold. On a cold winter day, on a cold winter night. This is your first entrance into this world. So everything that we do from there, it’s always connected to this day, and this coldness and darkness…

Vladimir Milovidov aka Impaler
Thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for organizing this interview.
In memory of Bauke de Groot (AFM Records label manager for Lake of Tears, ex-bassist of Hate Squad and Sargant Fury) who died 16.08.2021 from cancer.

Russian version of this interview — http://inrock.ru/interviews/lake_of_lears_2021