PSILOCYBE LARVAE – The interview with Vit Belobritsky, vocalist

People say – A music soothes the savage beast! These are sacred words! PSILOCYBE LARVAE is, very broadly speaking, MOONSPELL’s Russian avatar. And now we all know what kind of slaughter Russia committed against Ukraine. We talked about this and of course about music…

Hello Vit! Nowadays, the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war cannot be avoided. I saw that you attached the Ukrainian flag to your FB profile picture. It is noble and brave at the same time, because you are a Russian… Can you tell what the war is for the civilian population of Russia? What are the moods? What is the attitude towards Ukrainians?

Hi Pawel! I could not force myself to sit down for this interview for a long time because I was shocked and discouraged by the actions of the Russian government against Ukraine (and I don’t wanna say My government, I didn’t elect this president and parliament). It looks like a bad trip and I’ll wake up soon! I still can’t believe that my country started this war! So many casualties! It’s a bloody massacre and I can’t understand and accept it. The majority of people are against war for sure, but some of them are brainwashed by propaganda and believe that this is a special operation to protect Russian language people from Nazis. But I think now they understand that something is going wrong and wondering: what is all this for? The moods are very depressed because the situation here is getting worse economically and politically. There is no freedom of speech, all independent media are blocked. We are even banned to call it “war” and many people have been thrown in jail for protesting against the war. People are afraid of repressions within the country and starting to leave Russia. I don’t even know if I’ll be safe after this interview!

I hope so too, because I don’t want you to have problems with this interview… In Poland, the majority people support Ukraine. I live about 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. In my city, people organize various forms of help for Ukrainians… Many people help as they can… The government also helps… Hopefully this war will not gain momentum and it will be over soon. May it not turn into the Third World War, which everyone is afraid of. Even as a kid, in the 1980s, I heard different prophecies about the coming World War III, which would destroy everything… It’s a terrible tragedy for each countries… But let’s try to talk about your music…

Yes, all civilian people are against war! I hope this madness will end soon!

PSILOCYBE LARVAE was founded in 1996. Only you are from the old squad. And what about former musicians?

Well, our guitarist Den lives in our hometown Vyborg and still plays in a local rock band, as for our drummer I don’t even know where he is or what he’s doing now, and So as you can see everyone found their own way.

From the first album to the last album, PSILOCYBE LARVAE’s music grows more and more. You started quite as Melodic Black Metal band and then went to Gothic Black Death Doom Metal’s playing. It was always melodic and atmospheric. What influenced to such an evolution?

To be honest I have never analyzed that. I think in our case it’s like a river, it flows where it flows and we follow the stream and the heart’s call. Sure we are constantly improving our musicianship evolving in different directions, and putting the bar up higher and higher. So that challenges us to match the level and move forward. The thing is that there is no point in doing the same albums, it’s not interesting for us because we do it for fun, first of all, not for any profit or fulfillment of contractual obligations. That’s why we are not afraid of any experiments in our music but you’re right the band has always kept its own atmosphere and a good melody is the key for us!

Although I have the impression that the penultimate album “The Labyrinth of Penumbra” was significant…

Yes, it was a highly acclaimed album and I think it is our masterpiece that combines the best examples of various genres that we have ever used musically, and it has some hits, no doubt 🙂

Actually it became the starting point for our new record where we continued to evolve what we’d created in this album.

Exactly! At the end of 2021, you released the album “Where Silence Dwells”. It is excellent for me! I perceive it as strongly inspired by MOONSPELL, PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA or MY DYING BRIDE. I will not believe if you deny it 🙂 …

I’m glad that you like the album! This is undoubtedly the most significant album that we’ve come up with. I’m really proud of it! Definitely all of these bands you mentioned were one of my favorites in a certain period of time, as well as many others that we are also compared to, such as Opeth, Katatonia, Porcupine Tree, old Septic Flesh and even Emperor (in our early years). I have to say that I’ve been always listening to a lot of different music from classic to extreme. Sure, it influenced me subconsciously but I hope we managed as a band to find our own way!

I am impressed with your vocal abilities! You scream, you growl, you sing! At times your voice timbre is similar to Fernando Ribeiro from MOONSPELL. Did you mean to sound like that or did it come out so natural?

Thank you for appreciating my humble abilities so highly! Sure, it comes naturally. The music itself requires such diversity in vocals. I spent a lot of time perfecting vocal parts, recording a bunch of demo until it satisfies me. Then there was a serious and long-term work in the studio. Take after take I tried to get the right sound and emotion. To be honest it was pretty devastating process for my voice. While recording vocals, I damaged my vocal cords, and had to recover my voice for about 3 months, and then finish the recording having picked myself up. But it was well worth it! As for Fernando Ribeiro, I think we just have a similar voice timbre and I’m a bit surprised by the comparison with Monspell. This is a great band but we had no intention to sound like them! 🙂

Of course, your songs are not a thoughtless copying of already known themes, but they are a refined combination of the best ingredients. Who composes the pieces? How does the work on the songs look like?

I bring ideas and riffs, get it pretty much completed, record a demo to hear what the other guys in my band think of it and see if they have any ideas. We take it in and start rehearsing it doing all arrangements and some adjustments. Sometimes it turns out pretty quickly, sometimes it can take years, and sometimes it just gets thrown in the trash. It depends on many factors.

And the lyrics?

I am responsible for all lyrics. Usually, the music itself sets the tone and atmosphere that I try to emphasize and express by lyrics. Sometimes it turns out to tell a whole story in a song, sometimes I put a puzzle from various phrases that I write down for myself from time to time. So, it always happens in different ways and it’s a matter of inspiration, of course.

I am intrigued by the name of the band. Psilocybin, a psychedelic of natural origin… Larva, the initial stadium of even some parasites (but also insects), usually very voracious… Was it about some symbolism? Something that strongly affects the brain, eats it up?

The band name was taken from a line in the Tiamat song “Whatever That Hurts”. To be honest I can’t explain why, we just wanted to pick something unusual, no typical name, emphasizing our creativity. That phrase just conquered my mind when I was skimming over this album’s lyrics and it stuck in my head. Yes, the name is a bit weird one but I think really fits into our music. Later, I found the meaning of the word “larvae” in some mythological book. It sounded like: “larvae” – evil spirits created by a possessed man, they live in his mind and feed on his life energy, phobias, pain. Hence is “psilocybe”. In Roman mythology them called “lemurs” – spirits of suicides and innocently murdered. So as you see it really eats the brain up 🙂

The album “Where Silence Dwells” carries a very strong cargo of emotions. An anger and an aggression dominate, as well as a despair and a sadness. The album fits emotionally into the times of the present war…

Yes, because it reflects all the darkest parts of a human being and talks about the struggle with personal demons. Unfortunately the demons have won in one particular country and are trying to destroy the world.

Has the war interrupted your concerts?

It ruined our plans because we were going to present the album in Europe when the pandemic is over. We know that we have our own audience out there, but unfortunately I understand that it won’t be possible to come and play there neither in the near nor in distant future not only because of isolation and sanctions against our country but also because of discrediting of everything that relates to Russia, be it art, music or sports. Although we are emotionally devastated we decided to keep doing what we’re doing and talking about our position on stage, here in Russia.

There is an old saying that music soothes the savage beast. But as you are from Russia, have you encountered any unpleasant reactions from Metal fans from other countries?

Never. I hope they understand that one man’s madness has nothing to do with normal people. Even my Ukrainian friends and musicians are still contact with me, although I feel how hard it is for them.

And what are your plans for the rest of 2022?

To survive… in all senses!

Thanks for the interview! Will you convey any important message… maybe to your fellow citizens, maybe to the Ukrainians, maybe to humanity in general…

Thank you for chatting, Pavel. I think that music is one of the few that now connects us all and gives hope, hope that at least our children or grandchildren will be able to patch things up between our peoples. I believe that common sense will prevail and this carnage will end soon, and all those responsible will be punished. There is no justification for wars, no human life is worth any political goals. Peace to all of us!

Peace to all of us!