TZEFA – Interview with Tzefa

New York's Tzefa is one of the most original metal bands you will ever hear. They combine heavy metal with killer riffs with the classically trained female vocals of Slava, who also plays violin. Tzefa's members and friends have been dedicated supporters of Transcending the Mundane, so when I finally got a chance to see them opening for Moonspell and Lacuna Coil at L'Amours I was shockeed at how good this unknown band was. They are currently finishing recording a four song e.p. that should be out around the same time as this issue. Here is the band to answer some questions.

Explain a brief background of your band.

Oleg: In 1996 Yuri and I met through mutual friends. For a while all we would do is sit around my apartment and jam on two acoustic guitars . I have written some song and Yuri would use just the top four strings of his guitar as a bass. Since Yuri knew how to play bass and drums we decided that if we find a bass player first we would be the drummer, if we would find a drummer he would play bass. We went thought at least five people before we met Alex, also through a mutual friend. He joined as a bassist and now we were a three piece band. All three of us came from completly different musical backgrounds. Slayer and old Metallica heavily influenced Yuri's drum style. Alex was really into funk, and at that time I was listening to Deep Purple almost exclusively. Alex brought in our first lead guitarist, Igor. It is a given that whenever a new guitarist joins a band the style of music shifts. With Igor we moved closer to 80's metal sound like Iron Maiden and old Metallica.

I really do have to thank Igor for making us sound mature. After Igor left the band we got Bryan and our sound become a little more current and raw. For some reason we always had problems keeping lead guitarists. Both, Igor and Bryan left because their real jobs got in the way. In February of 2001, my sister introduced me to Kostik and as far as I know he is still as dedicated to the band as he was when he joined. We met Slava in the spring of 2001. Since Slava never really listened to metal before it took here a while to get used to the noise. She came into the situation with a clean slate. The style she brought to the band was pure classical with no addition influences.

How would you describe your sound?

Kostik: Melodic thrash metal, or whatever. I fail to put a proper label on our sound. I know we play some type of metal, I don't like the idea of associating our sound with anyone. I don't want to put us next to a stereotypical image of any metal style. I like having that freedom of moving in any direction. It removes the compositional barriers and promotes creativity.

Yuri: I would say that in our sound there is a mix of any type of style starting from classical and ending with death metal. Every one of us has our favorites. Alex listens to jazz, funk, and classic rock like the Stones. Slava prefers opera and even pop music. Oleg loves old school metal. He would also stop talking to anyone would dare to say that Beatles is not the greatest band of all time. Lately I am really into death, black, doom, and progressive metal. Finishing up the list, Kostik is into technical, very complicated rock.

Oleg: If you toss all these influences into a rehearsal studio you will get Tzefa.

Why did you add Slava ( female vocals and violin) to your sound? Do you think it's possible to mix metal with classical influences?

Alex: We didn't make a decision to get a female singer who can play violin. It kind of all came together. Slava came to a rehearsal and we said “Holy shit, that's what we were missing!”

Yuri: Incorporation of operatic styles into metal is something relatively new. It's a trend that came from Europe in mid 90's. Both, metal and classical music is very powerful at the core so eventually some one had to put these two styles together. Bands like Therion and Haggard, by the way we sound nothing like them, are perfect examples of a brutal mix of death metal with classical accents. We added the female vocals and violin to expand on our sound and so far I think its working out well.

I noticed your members are from the Ukraine, Latvia, and Russia – how did you all get together here in New York?

Yuri: All of us came here as immigrants in search for a better life and so on and so forth, U.S. is the best fucking place in the world. We all met here in New York through friends and relatives because we love to play music. I did know Slava back from Ukraine. Our parents are friends and we know each other since childhood. I heard her sing and play violin very often. She does not like to brag , but I will do that for her. She has ten years of musical education, which relly helps the rest of us since we are all self taught musicians.

What was the most difficult adjustment when you moved here?

Kostik: I live in Jersey now, but I lived in New York when I just moved into the country. New York is the first place all immigrants go to. Believe it or not, those same qualities of New York that are used to promote life in it, such as diversity, individualism, and fast paced everyday life were very frustrating to me at first.

Slava: The most difficult thing about adjusting, most likely the language barier. That's the first difficulty anyone faces coming to a different country.

What is your opinion of war in general, do you think it is something necessary in certain circumstances ?

Oleg: Going to war is all about gaining power, wealth and therefore, control. We are all aware that there are countries that still live in the15th century state-of-mind and just do not know any other way to communicate with the rest of the world. These societies are still driven by religion. I don't see Bin Laden strapping a bomb to himself and walking into a building. The reason is because he is a wealthy man who controls through religion. Even our own leaders employ the same control through advertising, PR, and the promises of material wealth through capitalism. Capitalism is our religion. Fight fire with fire is a cliche, but it does make allot of sense when troubles hit too close to home.

Kostik: Sometimes you get slapped in the face and you can't just turn the other cheek so they can slap you again. What if your mother is the one who got slapped ? That hand better fall off and disintegrate before I come for it. That's why I am enlisted in the U.S. Marines.

How has your life changed living in New York since the attacks in September ?

Slava: Our lives have definitly changed since September 11th. However, for me personally right now, it is more of a changed mind set than a way of doing things. It is like a clear awareness of what has happend and the possibility of new attacks. Certainly there are pain and disbelief that is still very unsettled in my mind. There is also grief for all those lives that were lost. However, as a New Yorker, I believe that right now the best thing I can do is go on with the usual everyday life as much as it possible.

Kostik: I took it personally. It was pretty rough. I saw people jumping out of the windows. But we all have to move on, right?

Tell me about your recording plans.

Oleg: We are working on an e.p. that should be out late January, early February. It will contain four songs. We made sure that every song on the record is different in sound, arrangement and style, so people can see our full range.