Uphill Work

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Russian band UPHILL WORK started out as an experimental duo in the winter of 2002, consisting of Konstantin Benyumov and Lev Gankine. They issued an instrumental album the same year, Cock-a-Doodle-Do, of which few traces remains these days.

I got in touch with the band and Lev Gankine answered my questions.
#################################################################################

When, where and by whom
was your band born ? Did any of you, past and present members, play
in any other bands before joining up in your band ? 

Prior to forming
	Uphill Work, me and our guitarist Konstantin Benyumov played in a
	pretty typical teenage ‘alternative’ band called Rush Hour. We
	were not writing any music in it, though, so when that band came to
	an end, we thought of carrying on on our own and trying to play some
	more challenging music. Thus, Uphill Work Mk 1 was born as a duo in
	2002 focusing mostly on the instrumental music with lots of guitar /
	keyboard interplay. However, we quickly got tired of this formula –
	to be totally frank, I don’t think we had enough chops back then
	to execute it well (we were just 18 years old at the time, with no
	formal musical training). So after self-releasing one album on CDRs
	in a blockbuster edition of 50 copies (“Cock-A-Doodle-Do”, now
	unavailable and not even featured in most of our online
	discographies), we started searching for a bassist and a drummer and
	eventually found Evgeny Semiletov and Konstantin Provorov
	respectively. 

Why did you choose that
name and which bands were you influenced by?

The name Uphill Work
	was suggested by myself early on, first just on a basis of it being
	a pretty memorable catch phrase. Later we realized that it’s
	actually a pretty apt title for a band like ours, because we hardly
	have any chance of becoming really popular over here with this kind
	of music, so recording albums and playing concerts tends to be
	literally uphill work! We’re kinda like that Sisyphus guy who
	pushed a stone towards the top of the mountain only to have it drop
	back to the foot every time (our drummer Konstantin Provorov dabbles
	in graphic design, so he used this Sisyphus reference while making
	our logo). As far as the influences are concerned, we four have a
	vastly different musical background – there’s hardly one band
	out there that appeals to all of us, which probably explains why our
	music defies easy categorization. Myself, I am of course a prog rock
	fan and collector, having amassed a pretty huge collection of
	obscure 1970s prog vinyls. My favorite bands include Procol Harum,
	Gentle Giant, Supersister, Caravan, Curved Air, Cardiacs and many
	others – perhaps one can trace back some of these influences in
	our sound as well. 

How is it to run a band in
Russia these days ? 

I can only
	speak for Moscow here, which is highly different from the rest of
	Russia. It is a very big, colorful, rich
	city, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it’s
	relatively easy to book a gig here or even to record an album,
	provided you have enough money to buy yourself a few hours in the
	studio. And bad because there are all kinds of bands here, so the
	competition is very tough. In fact it’s tougher yet in our
	particular case because we do not belong to any existing scene over
	here – too complex and weird for the indie crowd, too pop for
	proggers etc. That’s why it’s not very easy for us to maintain a
	band, although strangely enough we’ve been doing exactly that for
	quite a lot of years already. 

Your debut album
Counterclockwise was released in 2008. Please tell us more about this
album. 

That was our first
	proper CD and I’m still quite happy with it even if I think we
	have since noticeably progressed. The songs that one hears on
	“Counterclockwise” were composed in 2003-2007, some of them,
	like “Shine in Your Hands”, even date back to our Mk 1 days. But
	of course they are remodelled for a full rock band line-up, and I
	think the rhythm section generally does a great job there. Basically
	what we went for on that album is a melodic rock sound with a prog
	undercurrent – which is why there are a couple of straightahead
	mid-tempo tunes (such as “Keep the Yellow Intact” or “H.I.T.S.”)
	as well as some more complex workouts (such as “Fiasco” or “Ride
	Like Love”, still the ultimate closing track on most of our live
	concerts). I would say our philosophy hasn’t changed since then,
	but the tunes got better and more focused. 

Your second and most
recent album Dribs / Drabs was released in 2010. Please tell us more
about this album. 

This is our most
	fully-realized album to date, I think, although for a number of
	reasons it still does have some obvious flaws. First off, we decided
	to record everything live this time, with a real grand piano instead
	of the synthesizers – I have long gravitated towards the expansive
	concert piano sound so it’s quite obvious that we have finally
	made our record reflect that. On the other hand, live-in-the-studio
	recording was a new experience for all of us, so a few of the songs
	on “Dribs / Drabs” sound a bit garagey – particularly the
	opening track “War Paint” and the closing “Incomprehensible”.
	But that’s a minor quibble, and in the end I even came to the
	conclusion that the somewhat muddy, hollow sound on what positions
	itself as a progressive rock album can be quite refreshing – after
	all, too much current prog suffers from a very glossy, digital
	production, that works to the detriment of the music. As for the
	songs per se, they mostly got shorter and more focused, without any
	unnecessary instrumental detours – and the lyrics do tend to tell
	a certain story this time around, instead of just spitting out
	random English words and expressions. I would say that
	paradoxically, “Dribs / Drabs” is less of a prog album compared
	to “Counterclockwise” – whichever direct influences might have
	been in our music before, they’re all gone now. But at the same
	time, it’s definitely more progressive in the literal sense of
	this word. 

What have you been up to
since the release of this album ?

We have played a few
	shows, climaxing with a long set on the open-air festival “Empty
	Hills” (sort of a Russian equivalent to Woodstock, set on the
	countryside and attracting all kinds of crowds – about 60000
	visitors this year, judging from the official reports, although of
	course only a short percentage of this enormous population attended
	our show). But as a matter of fact we’re not playing live very
	often and not rehearsing as much as we’d love to, because each
	member of Uphill Work has a day job, and on top of that, I’ve got
	wife and kids so a huge part of my free time is dedicated to family
	matters. So overall we’re keeping a rather low profile, hoping to
	start recording a third CD when time (and money!) allows. It’s
	gonna have an epic track in it, which is currently under
	construction, so it seems we’re about to step back into the prog
	realm for a short while! 

For those of us unknown
with your music; how would you describe you music and which bands
would you compare yourself with ? 

Well, it’s
	definitely rock music, often quite intense and energetic, with
	strong melodic content and a clear progressive rock tinge. As far as
	the comparisons go, we write on our Myspace that there’s no one
	out there quite like us, and it’s not just a pose – I’m indeed
	at a loss to answer this particular question. There are a few prog
	bands mentioned earlier in this interview, that could probably be
	applied here, and I think I have also seen Uphill Work compared by
	various reviewers to the likes of Supertramp, Legendary Pink Dots
	and Arthur Brown, which would mean that we indeed have a pretty much
	unclassifiable sound, given that it’s of course impossible to be
	similar to all those artists at once. 

What is your current
status and plans for this year and beyond ? 

As I said, we hope to
	start working on our third album soon. We currently have three short
	songs ready, and there’s that aforementioned epic track too, so ¾
	of the CD seems to be already written. Besides that, of course we’re
	trying to schedule a few live dates for 2011, including a possible
	gig in Kiev, Ukraine, on a bill with the excellent nu-jazz band DOK
	whom we invited on one of our concerts in Moscow a few months ago.
	This may well be our first live appearance outside Russia, so stay
	tuned! 

To wrap up this interview,
is there anything you want to add to this interview ?

Thanks for
	reading  

Thank you to Lev Gankine for this interview

Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here

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toroddfuglesteg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Retired Joined: March 04 2008 Location: Retirement Home Status: Offline Points: 3658	Topic: Uphill Work Posted: June 15 2011 at 12:57
	Russian band UPHILL WORK started out as an experimental duo in the winter of 2002, consisting of Konstantin Benyumov and Lev Gankine. They issued an instrumental album the same year, Cock-a-Doodle-Do, of which few traces remains these days. I got in touch with the band and Lev Gankine answered my questions. ################################################################################# When, where and by whom was your band born ? Did any of you, past and present members, play in any other bands before joining up in your band ? Prior to forming Uphill Work, me and our guitarist Konstantin Benyumov played in a pretty typical teenage ‘alternative’ band called Rush Hour. We were not writing any music in it, though, so when that band came to an end, we thought of carrying on on our own and trying to play some more challenging music. Thus, Uphill Work Mk 1 was born as a duo in 2002 focusing mostly on the instrumental music with lots of guitar / keyboard interplay. However, we quickly got tired of this formula – to be totally frank, I don’t think we had enough chops back then to execute it well (we were just 18 years old at the time, with no formal musical training). So after self-releasing one album on CDRs in a blockbuster edition of 50 copies (“Cock-A-Doodle-Do”, now unavailable and not even featured in most of our online discographies), we started searching for a bassist and a drummer and eventually found Evgeny Semiletov and Konstantin Provorov respectively. Why did you choose that name and which bands were you influenced by? The name Uphill Work was suggested by myself early on, first just on a basis of it being a pretty memorable catch phrase. Later we realized that it’s actually a pretty apt title for a band like ours, because we hardly have any chance of becoming really popular over here with this kind of music, so recording albums and playing concerts tends to be literally uphill work! We’re kinda like that Sisyphus guy who pushed a stone towards the top of the mountain only to have it drop back to the foot every time (our drummer Konstantin Provorov dabbles in graphic design, so he used this Sisyphus reference while making our logo). As far as the influences are concerned, we four have a vastly different musical background – there’s hardly one band out there that appeals to all of us, which probably explains why our music defies easy categorization. Myself, I am of course a prog rock fan and collector, having amassed a pretty huge collection of obscure 1970s prog vinyls. My favorite bands include Procol Harum, Gentle Giant, Supersister, Caravan, Curved Air, Cardiacs and many others – perhaps one can trace back some of these influences in our sound as well. How is it to run a band in Russia these days ? I can only speak for Moscow here, which is highly different from the rest of Russia. It is a very big, colorful, rich city, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it’s relatively easy to book a gig here or even to record an album, provided you have enough money to buy yourself a few hours in the studio. And bad because there are all kinds of bands here, so the competition is very tough. In fact it’s tougher yet in our particular case because we do not belong to any existing scene over here – too complex and weird for the indie crowd, too pop for proggers etc. That’s why it’s not very easy for us to maintain a band, although strangely enough we’ve been doing exactly that for quite a lot of years already. Your debut album Counterclockwise was released in 2008. Please tell us more about this album. That was our first proper CD and I’m still quite happy with it even if I think we have since noticeably progressed. The songs that one hears on “Counterclockwise” were composed in 2003-2007, some of them, like “Shine in Your Hands”, even date back to our Mk 1 days. But of course they are remodelled for a full rock band line-up, and I think the rhythm section generally does a great job there. Basically what we went for on that album is a melodic rock sound with a prog undercurrent – which is why there are a couple of straightahead mid-tempo tunes (such as “Keep the Yellow Intact” or “H.I.T.S.”) as well as some more complex workouts (such as “Fiasco” or “Ride Like Love”, still the ultimate closing track on most of our live concerts). I would say our philosophy hasn’t changed since then, but the tunes got better and more focused. Your second and most recent album Dribs / Drabs was released in 2010. Please tell us more about this album. This is our most fully-realized album to date, I think, although for a number of reasons it still does have some obvious flaws. First off, we decided to record everything live this time, with a real grand piano instead of the synthesizers – I have long gravitated towards the expansive concert piano sound so it’s quite obvious that we have finally made our record reflect that. On the other hand, live-in-the-studio recording was a new experience for all of us, so a few of the songs on “Dribs / Drabs” sound a bit garagey – particularly the opening track “War Paint” and the closing “Incomprehensible”. But that’s a minor quibble, and in the end I even came to the conclusion that the somewhat muddy, hollow sound on what positions itself as a progressive rock album can be quite refreshing – after all, too much current prog suffers from a very glossy, digital production, that works to the detriment of the music. As for the songs per se, they mostly got shorter and more focused, without any unnecessary instrumental detours – and the lyrics do tend to tell a certain story this time around, instead of just spitting out random English words and expressions. I would say that paradoxically, “Dribs / Drabs” is less of a prog album compared to “Counterclockwise” – whichever direct influences might have been in our music before, they’re all gone now. But at the same time, it’s definitely more progressive in the literal sense of this word. What have you been up to since the release of this album ? We have played a few shows, climaxing with a long set on the open-air festival “Empty Hills” (sort of a Russian equivalent to Woodstock, set on the countryside and attracting all kinds of crowds – about 60000 visitors this year, judging from the official reports, although of course only a short percentage of this enormous population attended our show). But as a matter of fact we’re not playing live very often and not rehearsing as much as we’d love to, because each member of Uphill Work has a day job, and on top of that, I’ve got wife and kids so a huge part of my free time is dedicated to family matters. So overall we’re keeping a rather low profile, hoping to start recording a third CD when time (and money!) allows. It’s gonna have an epic track in it, which is currently under construction, so it seems we’re about to step back into the prog realm for a short while! For those of us unknown with your music; how would you describe you music and which bands would you compare yourself with ? Well, it’s definitely rock music, often quite intense and energetic, with strong melodic content and a clear progressive rock tinge. As far as the comparisons go, we write on our Myspace that there’s no one out there quite like us, and it’s not just a pose – I’m indeed at a loss to answer this particular question. There are a few prog bands mentioned earlier in this interview, that could probably be applied here, and I think I have also seen Uphill Work compared by various reviewers to the likes of Supertramp, Legendary Pink Dots and Arthur Brown, which would mean that we indeed have a pretty much unclassifiable sound, given that it’s of course impossible to be similar to all those artists at once. What is your current status and plans for this year and beyond ? As I said, we hope to start working on our third album soon. We currently have three short songs ready, and there’s that aforementioned epic track too, so ¾ of the CD seems to be already written. Besides that, of course we’re trying to schedule a few live dates for 2011, including a possible gig in Kiev, Ukraine, on a bill with the excellent nu-jazz band DOK whom we invited on one of our concerts in Moscow a few months ago. This may well be our first live appearance outside Russia, so stay tuned! To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ? Thanks for reading Thank you to Lev Gankine for this interview Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here

Finnforest Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 03 2007 Location: The Heartland Status: Offline Points: 16914	Posted: July 30 2011 at 12:22
	Great band, I loved it as did Assaf. Good interview choice!

RealNGine Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: October 04 2014 Status: Offline Points: 1	Posted: October 31 2015 at 05:22
	Last gig

Nogbad_The_Bad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum & Site Admin Group RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team Joined: March 16 2007 Location: Boston Status: Offline Points: 20965	Posted: October 31 2015 at 08:11
	Met Lev at RIO this year having known each other for a while on PE, lovely guy and Uphill Work is good stuff.
	Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/