Death Pill is a hardcore punk/riot grrrl band from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Like the whole world, we feel very concerned and enraged about what's going on there. We feel helpless, but through our words, we can help raise awereness on the atrocities that our Ukrainian brother and sisters are now facing everyday.
We've reached out to drummer, Anastasiya Khomenko, to find out what their live as become as of right now, the story of her band, and of course, what can we do to show our support.
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Before we start, we just want you to know how much we sympathize with what you are going through, and we can only imagine how tough these times must be for you. How are you feeling right now and where are you exactly at the moment, did you decide to leave or stay there?
Thank you for answering - I'm doing fine (as “fine” as you can feel when your country is beeing attacked). We are sleeping in a bathroom so we can feel safer in case there is bombing, our friends are either fleed or become part of territorial defense units, we are constantly checking to know if our friends are ok and scrolling our phones to see if there is any news or notifications about air strikes. We are staying together with my husband, little son, two cats and my friend in Kyiv. We are close enough to the fightning – our location is in an important transportation hub. We are almost at the entrance to the city, it’s 30 km from Irpen and 58 km from Gostomel, where fierce and devastating battles were fought. Mariana (guitar, vocal) with here family hiding near the Kaniv (it’s about 140 km from Kyiv) and Natasha (bass) stays in Kyiv.
In Kyiv at the moment there is no quiet place where the sounds of gunshot and explosions could not be heard.
Looking at your Instagram page, we can see that a little over a month ago, your band was playing a show with 3 other bands. What was the feeling back then, did you have any insight about an imminent invasion?
Last concert with Death Pill was about month ago in Kharkiv (which is currently under heavy air strikes).
The tension of possible war was already high. But we were jocking and trying to distract ourselfes not willing to believe that the full scale russian attack against Ukraine is possible.
Tell us about the situation right now, what's the overall sentiments of the population and to what extent activities are suspended for the people who decided to remain there?
Martial law has been imposed throughout Ukraine. Only critical infrastructure companies operate. Kyiv is in a state of defense - the streets are patrolled by soldiers, there are checkpoints in some places, a curfew has been imposed. The general mood of the people is quite positive, despite the cynical and horrible actions of Russia. We feel more unified then ever, supporting each other as much as we can and together we will defeat the enemy.
The tension of possible war was already high. But we were jocking and trying to distract ourselfes not willing to believe that the full scale russian attack against Ukraine is possible.
Tell us about the situation right now, what's the overall sentiments of the population and to what extent activities are suspended for the people who decided to remain there?
Martial law has been imposed throughout Ukraine. Only critical infrastructure companies operate. Kyiv is in a state of defense - the streets are patrolled by soldiers, there are checkpoints in some places, a curfew has been imposed. The general mood of the people is quite positive, despite the cynical and horrible actions of Russia. We feel more unified then ever, supporting each other as much as we can and together we will defeat the enemy.
Describe how the punk/hardcore scene was in Ukraine before the invasion happened. We've red it mostly began around early 2000s and that events were very limited for a while. .
The last 15 years have been flourished for our scene - many good bands have appeared, Ukrainian music has spread a little abroad, finding its fans. The level of musicians, their compositional abilities, approach to business has grown. Local labels and festivals were created, our community grew overseas and strengthened domestic
How are the punk scene and marginalized people perceived by the outside public in Ukraine?
I can not give a clear answer to this question, because I have not been following the reactions of society to our community for a long time.
What's the situation with neo-nazis over there and how are antifascists and anarchists community working together?
Our scene is closed to nazis, racists and homophobes. I dont want to talk about any specific organizations as they are fairly closed communities. There have recently been problems with Nazi attacks on some iconic bars in Podil, but these were one-off actions (most likely paid for by the police)
Tell us about Death Pill. When did you formed and what motivated you to put the band together?
Mariana (guitar / vocals) wrote to me when I was looking for girls to shoot (I am a director, I was shooting commercials for the beauty salon at the time). She was a little afraid to write to me, cause at that time I already had a child, I looked very grown up and serious ahaha
We shot a video, talked, she offered to come to the rehearsal and try to play. I really missed drums, I had no one to play with and I really liked the music she wrote. So, without thinking. I agreed. Together we went through a lot of shit, our band changed many times, but the two of us were always the backbone.
At the very beginning, our motivation was to create a women's band, which with great music could beat the ass men so that, listening to us, no one could say: not bad. as for girls. We wanted to break all this sexist bullshit. Over time, that changed, and we realized that we were no longer playing to prove something to anyone, but simply because we couldn't live without it. In general, it has always been with us.
What's it like to be an all women band over there what's the scene like in terms of diversity and inclusivity?
When we started there were close to none women's bands at all (or they were no longer active). Now there are more of them and it makes us very happy) Being a women's band in Ukraine means getting a lot of attention. I love it when we go out to talk after our performances, and the dudes tell us that we were played so hard that it blows their heads off.
Our community is very positive about girls in the scene, supports, protects and cares for us. We all communicate quite closely, I would say that we are one big family
What bands influenced you the most and what are some bands we should check out?
We all listen to very different music, but we are united by a love of old-school dirty, aggressive hardcore. We also love and support Ukrainian heavy music. I advise you to listen next band: Warningfog, Mauser, the Troubled, Homesick, Kentawr, Pusca, Terrorscum, Sectorial.
How does it feel to know that your country is on every media in the world right now and that people are sending you their support from all over the globe.
It is very important to feel support from all over the world and see real help from civilized countries. We are very grateful for all the army donations, news reposts and coverage of these terrible events. Ukraine is facing the second strongest army in the world (at least what russins tell the world) and without the support of the world it would be difficult for us to cope. Also, I want everyone to understand that this is not just our problem. Putin is a egomaniac, he´s a psycopath and very dangerous. His imperial ambitions will not stop with Ukraine, he must be stopped, because he is a threat to the entire civilized world.
What's the best way to help you?
The best help is, as I said above, not to remain silent, to boycott Russian goods, to hold rallies near Russian embassies, to show them that the world will not forgive such defiant behavior, the world will not be afraid to remain silent while the Russian occupiers kill our children. The world will unite and fight together. Also all the info about how to help could be found here Real ways you can help Ukraine as a foreigner (super.site)
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about your awesome band and sharing about what you are going through right now. To finish this interview we will leave you the final word if there's anything else you would like to say.
Thank you for writing and do not be silent at this difficult time for us. I would like to wish everyone who reads these lines now to never know what it's like when your country is destroyed by bombs, not to know what it's like to go to bed in the bathroom and be afraid that you may never wake up. I am confident in our victory, because we are on our land, protecting our home and not letting anyone just take it away.
There will be songs dedicated to the heroes who laid their lives defending us, to every brave man who went through this terrible war, to russin battleships which can fuck right off, to courage of our people who with their bere arms were stopping tanks, cause they believed, that no one can come here with weapons in their hands.
Our music will become heavier, filled with anger and hatred. We will never be able to forget and forgive them all the evil they have done to us. We will not forgive cowardly silence of those who couldn´t protest the war, we will not forgive that they´ve burned our “Dream” (the largest plane made in Ukraine), we will not forgive every kid that was killed by their rockets and guns, every cinema, museum and home destroyed, tears and fear we live with now.
We really hope russian people will liberate themselfs from tyrany, however we don´t see them really trying. But for now they are only succeeded in making our nation stronger, more unified then ever, and ready to face whatever comes.
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