HEADLINES

Warm hello from cold Moscow

January 20, 2020
Where are you from? Story behind your name? Could you briefly describe the music making process? How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?
Hi from the other side of Atlantic ocean.  Of course Billy Racyd is a pseudonym, and now, several years later, I think it is useless because it changes nothing at all. I think my life is quite ordinary; I have a great family: both parents, a perfect elder sister, some good friends - no tragedy, no drama. One of my best friends tells me that all my dramas take place in my head. For sure this is the main ingredient of song cooking. I am not a professional musician, singer or songwriter, so... As fantastic imagination helped Alice to create her own Wonderland, mine helps me create many different lives and express them through my songs. Sometimes just some lines in a book or someone’s story is enough to create a new song. 

You walk down the street and feel random scent of someone’s perfume that revives forgotten memories. It’s just a second that fills you up or covers you like a storm - that’s how I can describe my inspiration.  I don’t dream of stadiums full of fans. To be honest, such dreams scare me. It’s more comfortable to stay in the shadow and write songs with a cup of tasty coffee at the beach, looking at the ocean - that’s what I am dreaming about. My math teacher inspired me to write my first song. He used to play the guitar and organized art classes. One day I showed him my poems and asked him to include them to his program. He agreed and even composed music for two of them. When I heard him singing my songs, I disappeared in those sounds, became air and I think that was the starting point. I realized I had never been so happy before! In the beginning all my songs were in Russian but after all language preferences changed and I began to write songs in English. Of course, I realize this might sound a little bit strange and maybe I make grammar mistakes but I like the result and as we all know a happy author is the key to success. 

Firstly, it’s me who should be satisfied with the process. While searching for a musical arranger, the main difficulty was that most of them pointed at the fact that I don’t have musical education and as a result have no idea how to make music the right way, that’s why all my ideas and thoughts regarding the way how my own songs must sound were always criticized. So, I spent about 10 years searching for someone who would listen to me and teach me. During that time, I met a lot of different people, a lot of people I lost, gained great experience and continued to believe in fate. I know God loves me: all the previous difficulties taught me to appreciate everything I have now. I really believe that everything is for the best and in the end I met Vladimir Vantsov. He is a great guy and a talented musician, and plays the guitar in a famous Russian rock band. We made my first album “Unread Letter” together. I was obsessed with the idea of making an album for ten years trying to do it with many different arrangers. But always something went wrong so I got used to this fact. When wу finished “Unread letter” I realized that the release of this album matched with the end of a rather strange period of my life - time of searching and waiting. So, Vladimir gave me some very important things: confidence and calm.  Now I make music, not albums. I come to Vladimir’s studio; we drink his secret- ingredient cocoa, laugh, argue, talk about everything and, of course, create magic in “Logic”, my personal magic. I enjoy every minute I spend there; it’s like a small vacation for me. So, for the moment there is no plan to accumulate songs into album. 

What’s more important is that I still have fire inside.  If I take a look at the modern world of music, I realize that I don’t like it. Time of creating legendary songs is gone and every new day brings us new face on the scene. They are born and die so quickly. Besides, nowadays, I think music and all other creative spheres are too  dependent on bureaucracies. Music must be free from politics, subjective judgements and commercial interests. We must remember about it and use it for peace.  Furthermore, I hear really good texts in songs less and less – it’s just rhythms. As for me, personally, words in songs are much more important than music or voice. 

All of us know people who sing their song just with acoustic guitar accompaniment, and they do it so honestly and so sensually that you fall in their songs forever. Well, as for me, Placebo is genius in combination of texts and music. I like them a lot and visit all their concerts in Moscow. Finally, I want to say that my musical way hasn’t been hard or unfair. I am lucky because I’ve met a lot of awesome people who helped me to be at the point I am now. Without them there wouldn’t be Billy Racyd!

Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's January/February 2020 issue 11, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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