Interview with Jinjer

Jinjer’s third album King of Everything is an intelligently aggressive take on modern metal. It has a lot of selling points going in its favour, and successfully combines so many good things about modern heavy music. Plus, it just plain rocks. Good music deserves support, so find out a bit more about the band below, listen to their music and turn the volume up loud…

Introduce us to Jinjer!

Hi, it’s Eugene of JINJER, on bass, there are 4 of us – Tatiana on vocals, Roman on guitars, a new drummer Vlad and me. We come from Ukraine, Donbass, and we make a unique sort of true and intelligent metal.

What are your influences?

There are many, starting from Guano Apes, Slayer, Pantera, Otep, Death, Cynic in the early years to more modern influences like Opeth, Gojira, Lamb of God, Textures, Meshuggah, Karnivool, The Faceless and Periphery, etc. Moreover we listen to a lot of non-metal music, Tati loves Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse. We really like listening to Cypress Hill and House of Pain in our van on the road.

Name five things you’ve listened to recently that you’d recommend

Oh, definitely the new record by Gojira. Then I just checked out Job for a Cowboy’s 2014 LP – awesome stuff. The new Periphery album is great! And damn, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra is fantastic.

Tell us about your latest release, King of Everything?

Well, it is the top of our musician career in all meanings at the moment. The work in which we have put all of ourselves. Finally it is out, and everybody can check it out.

How were the songs written for it?

Hehe, they were written very fast! Last autumn when Napalm offered us a contract we had only one or two songs ready…so we had to accumulate all our creativity and strength to compose the whole album. We had only 4 months actually…but as far as I see we succeeded.

All the songs were written in Lvov, where we used to live until February, we did the pre-production there and then went to Morton Studio in Kiev.

How did the recording process go?

Everything went very very smoothly. It was definitely my most pleasant studio experience. We moved to Kiev to control the process entirely. The recording itself took about two weeks, then we spent one month on mixing and mastering. Max Morton from Morton Studio did incredible work as a sound engineer and sound producer of this album

What’s your favourite song on the album and why?

Definitely it is I Speak Astronomy, Pisces and Captain Clock. Well, I Speak Astronomy is that sort of a song which makes you feel delighted. You know, after we finished recording vocal lines for it, I was about to cry… the absolution of sincerity. It’s a very private song, Tatiana gives away all of herself there, and I myself feel very compassionate, because we are very close with her. And musically this is a masterpiece, we managed to make it a solid piece of art to my mind. Pisces – is very private for me, I am Pisces too, same as Tati, and we worked on lyrics together for this song. Captain Clock is just pure anger which turns into despair at the end… as time runs away. I can add that Sit Stay Roll Over is of course one of the strongest songs on the album, but we just got a bit tired of it, cause it was released almost one year ago as a single. Anyway in this song I expressed in the lyrics all what I feel and think about the things happening in our society and country, here in Ukraine.

Maybe it’s too early to tell, but how do you think your music will change in the future?

Heh, I cannot say anything at the moment. Since we entered the studio I myself didn’t write anything new. Just didn’t have time and inspiration, I was totally involved into promotion and touring. I need to check what Roman has written since that time. Anyway we won’t start working seriously on the next record until late 2017.

Tell us about the album artwork

At the beginning we planned to make a drawing which Tatiana started to prepare herself displaying a throne with a crown hanging on it. It was standing on a hill of million hands stretching up to grab the crown. But we had a little time to accomplish the idea so we decided to ease the case and make a photo session for the throne with a dead rat on it. The photographer and the editor for it was our good fellow and a real professional Artem a-k SlippyInc Pronov from Kiev. King of Everything symbolises everything that rules our lives and makes us dependent on. And the dead mouse shows that all those “kings” exist only in our minds and we can always tell them “Go to hell!”

In these days of digital music, do you think cover art is still an important part of a band’s package?

Of course it is important…but you know what I think about modern art-works? In the majority they are just not connected with the music. They don’t represent any atmosphere, any ideas of a record. They are just aimed to catch the eye, nothing else. It’s sad. I like some old arts, which were truly the reflection of music, like Opeth’s Damnation and Deliverance for example – not very complicated, but extremely atmospheric.

Do you prefer your music digital or physical, (or both)?

Both, it is rather uncomfortable to carry CDs so having a digital version on your phone or MP3-player is a perfect solution. On the other hand – a CD on a shelf or even a vinyl which you put into a cool HI-FI stereo and enjoy a perfect sound, what can be better?

Coming from Ukraine, what’s your take of the international metal scene at the moment?

Nowadays it doesn’t really matter where you come from in my opinion, you can be well-known everywhere thanks to the Internet. I believe we never wanted to be just a Ukrainian metal band, I think we are more of a European band.

What particular challenges do you think you might face when promoting your music?

Promoting…none. There are only challenges touring. We just cannot go where we want. We need to get visas, and in case of the USA and UK it is a real deal – costs a lot, no guarantees, very risky.

What are your views on the current state of the music industry?

It is recovering from the crisis of 2000s. The bands are adjusting, changing their approach. Same thing with labels. I believe everything will be changing for the better

How has it been working with Napalm Records?

Just awesome. Since late 2015 when we signed the contract I have noticed only positive aspects of our collaboration. Super cool crew!

What does the rest of 2016 hold for Jinjer?

Touring non-stop! We want to reach everywhere. Also it will be cool if King of Everything is noticed by some awards or whatsoever.

Any final words?

Thanks for the chance to talk, keep supporting real music, go to live shows and JINJER for all!