Zlye Kukly

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Zlye Kukly is a rather rare progressive folk band for a few reasons. One, they hail from Georgia. Two, they are currently based in Israel, where along with SUSSITA they form a big part of that country's neofolk scene. And finally, the band blends obvious folk sounds and sensibilities with modern prog and rock to yield a sound with few modern parallels, much in the same way folk rock was revived in the mid to late sixties.
That sounded interesting to me so I got in touch. Fred Adra took time off to answer my questions.
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Did
any of you, past and present Zlye Kukly members, play in any other
bands before joining up in Zlye Kukly ? Why did you choose that name
?

Many
of us played in other bands. For example, before creating Zlye Kukly
I had an English-singing prog-band named Peregrin Krol. The passage
from that band to Zlye Kukly was done because of my wish to sing in
my native language. That, you know, is Russian.

Zlye
Kukly is the name of one of the first songs that I wrote in Russian.
It means “evil dolls” or “angry dolls”. I thought that this
is a cool name for the band too. I don’t think so now, but it’s
too late.

It
is my understanding you started up in Russia, but later moved to
Israel. Please tell us from where in Russia, why you moved and to
where in Israel.

Well,
Russian is my native language but I never lived in Russia. I was born
and grew up in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; that was the part of
the very strange state called the Soviet Union. At the age of 18 I
moved to Israel, driven by Zionist ideology: all that romantic stuff
about the people coming back to its homeland after exile, etc. Those
years I could go to almost any country of the so-called free world,
but I was young and over-idealistic, and came to live in Jerusalem –
one of the worst places in the world for making music. Well, at least
it didn’t take 40 years in the desert…

Over
to your albums. Your debut album was Late September from 2000. Please
tell us more about this album.

“Late
September” was my first attempt to record an album. There are some
good pieces on this CD, but the album is awful. It sounds like it was
recorded by a sick pixie. Terrible. Well, maybe not so terrible,
because I learned a lot from that session… Not terrible, just bad.

Your
second album was The Strange Heavenly City from 2002. Please tell us
more about this album.

“The
Strange Heavenly City” is very important to me. I really like this
album. A lot of ideas, a lot of musicians and experiments and
influences… Some pieces sound like classic prog, some like folk or
even gothic. Very dark and light album at the same time. I like to
listen to this record even today, after all these years.

Your
third album was Three Inside from 2003. Please tell us more about
this album.

“Three
Inside” is the split of three Russian-singing Israeli bands:
Komanda No, South Front and Zlye Kukly. Each band recorded four
acoustic songs for this split. Our part sounds like neofolk, and
maybe this is the reason why many listeners call Zlye Kukly a neofolk
band even today.

Your
fourth and the most recent album is At The End of Days from 2006.
Please tell us more about this album.

“At
The End Of Days” is different from all the albums that were
recorded by me earlier, because it’s created by the person who not
only knows exactly what he wants to do but also knows how to do it.
Very visual album, like theater performance, and again: different
styles – mainly prog and neofolk – on the same CD. This may be my
favourite Zlye Kukly album.

Please
also tell us more about Strange Tomorrow from 2007.

“Strange
Tomorrow” is the compilation CD released by Austrian neofolk label
Ahnstern. The CD contains the songs from the albums and two acoustic
singles. That’s why it shows our neofolk side rather than the prog
side. The label also did remastering, and it sounds great.

You
also released a live album called The Art To Lie live in 2001. Please
tell us more about this album.

Just
a live record. Nothing special.

What
have you been up to during the last years after the release of the
2006 album ?

After
recording “At The End Of The Days” I took a break from making
music and concentrated on writing books.

Your
music has been described as Neofolk. A type of music I associate with
Russia, but not with Israel. How was it to move to Israel where this
scene was a bit barren? How would you describe your music?

I
describe my music as a performance. Each song is like a scene on the
stage of a small theater. Therefore we have a variety of styles and
genres. Neofolk is only one of them.

About
Israel I’ve already said: I came here because of the ideology and a
bit of brainwashing, without thinking about other things. I cannot
tell if this was the right or wrong decision, it is very complicated.
But the fact is that in Israel it doesn’t matter if you play
neofolk or prog or metal – in such a small country your audience at
the rare concert is about 30 people. If you have 100 you are a
megastar. 

What
are your plans for this year and beyond?

I
don’t know if I ever will make music again. Meanwhile I listen to
the music. Listen a lot.

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

These are difficult times for music
makers. We can listen to everything without paying for it. And, what
is even more sad, without thinking about paying. I’d like to
tell to all the music listeners: don’t forget to buy the music of
your favorite bands. Remember: you don’t pay for the record that
you buy, you pay for the next one.

Thank you to Fred Adra for this interview

Their PA profile is here and homepage's here