I'm glad to introduce Crystal Bridge, to be our first guests on our latest planned series of posts called Too Many Questions. The Russian pop Duo: Arty and Drew created the concept of a Crystal Bridge with the intent to bridge the gap and connect the performer more intimately with the listener. This same concept also can be applied to theirs roles within the band where as Drew writes the lyrics in English and Arty composes the music. They both play significant roles and still have the ability to bring both talents together and blend them thus creating remarkable melodies and complex beats while sending us back into time and reviving the 80's within our hearts.
The point behind our new approach is to think beyond the normal questions that other reporter may have asked already, then we strive beyond that and see how far certain boundaries can be pushed so that we can get a greater understanding of the creators of the music we cherish. It is not only to keep you the reader interested but also encourage interesting dialogue between the questioner and the individual or band being questioned.
A Fan Video
The Interview
Arty: I would move to Miami Florida. And live right along the beach. And spend everyday basking in the warm sun with my toes in the sand. And every evening, I would lay down and relax right under the palm trees while the sun begins to set. Another reason is simple. bikini girls. Drew: i would like to move to Canada and be your friendly neighbour. Every morning when i go to take the morning newspaper from the doorstep. i would shout out :"Hi-dilly-ho, neighborino!" But honestly, i would love to travel anywhere and visit all kinds of places and meet different types of people. I'd love to be lost somewhere and just walk and take photographs. Maybe do some sort of painting or just something crazy. Just live carefree for years until enough time has passed where then i could approach someone and ask them "what year is it now?" As soon as he answers then i would shout out "i did it" and run away, because I'm sure i would be little crazy at that point.
If you could time travel and spend one day with someone, who would it be and why?
Arty: If it were possible to travel back into time, I would like to
take my trip back to 2004 and visit myself back when i was in class during my studies. There was this new girl who join our class, she was a really cute girl. A girl you just don't forget about too easily, she was damn beautiful. I felt in love for a few seconds and I'm sure the rest of the class did also. I made a pass at her but i never said that i loved her...if i could have gone back into time then i would of told her that i loved her then maybe we would have spent more than just only one day. Maybe I wouldn't return to the Future. I'm sure if she reads this, she will know that i talked about her. It's gonna be fun.
Drew: Last spring, I met a girl who changed all my conceptions of the world. She knows absolutely everything, she can talk about everything, I even wonder how can she really exists. If i could time travel, i would spend a travel day with her, like Doctor Who and Emma. This day... ohhh.. this day!
What would you pick and why?A. Skiing with snow bunnies(girls of the slopes)
B. bikini girls and muscle cars, Miami style
C. The Vegas show girls/ girls next door/ playboy bunny type
D. Your dream girl
Arty: I choose the second option (B), but with I'd like to add something to it. I love cars and the whole Miami style, but I'd like to have my dream girl right next to me. Having fun with bikini girls is really cool but when I'll be sixty years old... bikini girls won't love me.
Drew: I pick the dream girl, it's closer to me than anything you offer. Too much flash for me, I like a comfort for two, tenderness, heat ... and my dream and i can ski together.
What's the craziest thing you've ever done ? examples:Sky diving, extreme sports...
Arty: when i was a kid, my friend and i found a little mouldy raft next to river and we decided to cross from one bank to another. I guess, it was really insane because at that time i couldn't swim very well, it took us about 3 hours to get across, mixture of swimming and rowing with sticks the rest of the way. I don't know how we got across alive and somehow the coastguard didn't see us!Drew: It was winter at the time, i was eleven years old and all the roads were covered with snow. I use to have a trick to get from point A to B. I used to hang on to the rear bumper of the local taxis. I did this a lot, it was great fun, but once I unhooked from a taxi while it was traveling at full speed and there was a real chance to get some serious damage like a broken neck... I could have even die because I was almost hit by a SUV... After that I didn't do that anymore and for good reason...living!
Name one place to visit or experience that you'd recommend to do on a vacation in Russia? This could be extravagant to just a recommendation to a great pub with tasty food.
Arty: I guess, i could show you Saint-Petersburg's rivers and canals, we'd wrap in a warm blankets and ride on a boat, and after we would drink some warm coffee in a cozy cafe.
Drew: I'll show you our famous roofs in the center of the town, our rivers, and we could ride on a boat too. yes... we could go in a loft-project called "Etaji", there are many interesting youth exhibitions. The whole city would be open for us! And then we'll go into a little cafe, where food is mad tasty. At night. the bridges above Neva raise and lower and it's fantastic... I can't list it all here!
Do you think there is life somewhere else in the universe? If so what would you offer as a gift of first contact? If not what do you think we will find instead?
Arty: I have 100% confidence that universe has other life forms, we can't be so lonely in the cosmic scope. And about a gift.. i think we should see what they offer to us first. I don't think will with find something now... maybe our people in the next millenniums will be surfing the cosmos with no difficulty. And they will find a lot of new and interesting finds. Th Cosmos are unbelievably beautiful as they are gigantic. It's an always changing painting, painted by unknown insane painter.
Drew: I agree with Arty...not sure if i can add anything it's a pretty complete thought, Although, if they contact with us it means they are more developed than us, so what could we offer them? I don't know.
Together: we don't have role models, but we know some people who do really great stuff and we admire them!
What kind of music do you find yourself listening to the most this month?
Drew: This month I’m listening to big band jazz and 80’s funk. The most played artist is Frank Sinatra I guess. Don’t know why is it so, but... how Earth, Wind & Fire sings «Ba de ya, dancing in September»!
If you could be a superhero, who would you be and why?
Drew: If you asked me like 8 years ago i would of answered «Spider-Man!». But now I just want be invisible sometimes so I wanna be someone like «The Invisible Woman» but without «Wo».
Could we possibly get a book recommendation from Crystal Bridge?
Drew: I recommend «Gel’ Grin. The center of the Earth» by Nikki Kallen (gotta be said like French names). On Russian it sound like «Gel’ Grin. Tsentr Zemli». Hope someone will translate it sometime because it is the sweetest and kindest book I’ve ever read.
If dragons really existed and you could have one as a pet what colour would your dragon be?
Arty: I wanna blue dragon and... a bird, bird, bird, bird is a word, a well a bird, bird, bird, bird is a word!Drew: I’d choose retro turquoise dragon with the ability to destroy all bad things by fire.
What did you have for dinner today?
Arty: Empanadas with a tea.Drew:first, borsch, second, - bear and tea.
Also, I'm sure many of us are wondering is vodka something that you enjoy or do you fancy another alcoholic beverage?
Arty: Vodka is nothing to us; only homeless, alcoholics in a villages or people who has nothing to lose drink it. Though homeless prefer «L’dinka»... I like light cocktails or coffee and don’t like hard liquors!Drew: Russia has a funny reputation! Arty’s right, and they’re ready to kill for a bottle of this drink, an overwhelming amount of Russian people drink beer. I never tasted vodka and never will, I love Long-Island ice teas.
So some people have strange phobias, Are you afraid of anything ?animals?insects, confined spaces?
Arty: i’m afraid of a height, when someone goes to the edge of a roof i always start to panic.
Drew: I’m afraid of the dark. When there is no light on the stairs I try to get through as fast as possible. this may be a little weird but it is so.
How did you two meet, and how did crystal bridge form?
Arty: Crystal Bridge was created in 2011, when I proposed the idea for Drew to dip into electronic music.
Drew: We met at college, I asked him if he was a music writer? He looked at me with some sort of mistrust and said «Yes». Then I proposed that we would write a songs and sing together. After sometime I began to write lyrics in English and Crystal Bridge started up.
When was your first official show as crystal bridge, and how did it go?
Drew:the first time we performed was at fashionable restaurant «Bellini» in Saint-Petersburg, there were a candles on tables and a lot of people, standing and screaming in front of the stage. That was a lot of fun and... the most memorable show, I guess.
What is the first instrument you turn to when you're writing a song?
Arty: My first instrument was an old piano «Red October» (Krasnii Oktiabr’), and I've been making music since childhood.
Drew: My first instrument was a pen, which I wrote my first little poem when i was a kid, then it progressed through time eventually I'm here now, writing lyrics for Crystal Bridge.
Who is is the cautious band mate out of one of the two of you? and who is the no so cautious one?
Arty: I always try to do my best and hate any messy work!
Drew: I’m not so cautious. But I’m trying to fix it!
Do we have any gamers in the group and what kind of video games are you playing?
Drew: We don’t have a lot of time for gaming, but sometimes we play CS:S together. Nicknames are a top secret of course.
Personally, I'm a big sci-fi movie watcher? what kind of films do you like and any recommendations?
Arty: I actually don’t watch movie usually, so I can’t recommend something cool. I like to watch some melodramas.
Drew: Right now I've been watching 4 episode of 7 season Doctor Who. Love that series and love that ginger girl there. And in general, I love ginger hair. So, I recommend you «Doctor Who».
Arty mentioned something about future singles on the horizon, any plans for a full length album?
Arty: We are planning an album in future but now we want to release as much as we can. Album releasing are very hard in general, we need a lot of time and stuff to put on on full length album. And... It seems people like to listen to singles and albums aren't fashionable.
Who would you want to remix your future tracks and why?
Arty: Someone famous! But the most important thing is the beauty of the music.
Drew: Don’t want someone special, I just wanna hear something interesting, and what could be done with our music.
In future, will we see crystal bridge remix someone else's track?
Arty: No, we won’t remix any tracks, because changing someone’s music is not so interesting as making our own music by ourselves.
if you had the foresight to know that you would be in a shipwrecked and stranded on an island for years(knowingly there are no alternate futures.. only ship wrecks), what five items would you need to continue existing.
Arty: If my Chinese missile-petard won’t raise to heaven and no one will see my saving-life request, i’ll stay alive with a some rum, a photo of Pamela Anderson, and my music player with some of my favourite music. Can't forget the most reliable friend - volleyball ball «Wilson»!
Drew: Hmm... I would take a lot of paper, a lot of pencils, some clothes, my little plushy Russian bear-friend and.. hmm... seems that’s all I need. By the way, I could just take two things: a jet pack and a fuel canister to escape of course.
Last questions, I hope to keep contact with you both and i appreciate everything you've done so far. I hope you let me know when you start a north American tour. And Best of luck to you both with Crystal Bridge. What will happen when more professional people like rolling stones start requesting interviews? would you still answer my emails? Haha
Arty: We want to keep contact with you, u’ll be the first to knows about our tour. Very big thanks for you! Of course we will, Midnight Strut blog - forever!
Drew: We’ll just make another mailbox for you personally and... unbreakable YES! Thank you very-very much. That was interesting. Good luck and let’s keep in touch.