Doomed Confessionary: Artemis (Scarecrow)
Scarecrow is a four-piece heavy rock band hailing from Perm, Russia. The band consists of Artemis on vocals, Max on guitar, Elijah on bass and Vadim on drums.
Scarecrow are releasing their new full-length album »Scarecrow III« on November 13th, 2024 via Scarecrow Records and Ritual Sound following »Golem« EP, out on October 31st, 2024. All of Scarecrow’s music is composed and produced by Artemis.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Scarecrow is a classic heavy rock band. We’re from Perm, which is a pretty gloomy place. Most of the year it’s cold and night reigns here, so it obviously influenced our music too. A lot of people say that we play doom, but I think our music is much broader than that.
We often hear that we are categorized as heavy metal, hard rock, doom rock, progressive rock, and so on, but we never set out to play in any particular genre. We try to explore and utilize different musical styles from folk to funk, classical to jazz, metal to archaic music. For us, music is a journey and we try to make that journey as rich as possible.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
I don’t know. I really don’t. On the one hand, we face thousands of challenges all the time. To be a rock band in a place that is disconnected from the rock world and rock culture is quite difficult. On the other hand, our history shows that with the right desire and stubbornness, everything is possible.
What can you be most proud of so far?
I think by the fact that we haven’t given up on what we’re doing. A lot of bands are breaking up. Musicians leave independent projects in the hope of making more money playing more popular music or covers, but we have stayed true to our principles and continue our own unhurried journey without looking at the fashion trends of the world around us.
What was your biggest regret?
“Only forward, don’t look back,
And never regret – What’s gone is gone.
Fly into the heart of the raging storm,
Do not forget –
The darkest hour is just before the dawn!”
Scarecrow – »The Hymn« (from »Scarecrow III«)
So, we have no regrets. It’s just pointless. Do what seems right – and come what might.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
It’s hard to say. Probably the best is always the next concert. In general – we play gigs quite rarely nowadays. We played a lot of gigs when we first got the band together, but after the first album was released, the covid started and the borders were closed, before we could get away from it all, the war started and it got even worse. Hopefully when it’s all over we’ll be able to perform more often. For now we are mainly focused on recording.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
The biggest surprise for us was that our music is listened to and bought by people in more than 30 countries around the world. Every week we get messages from all corners of the earth from our fans. It’s unbelievable. I mean, when we released the first album we had no idea that this was possible. We were an unknown band literally from the middle of nowhere. Everyone around us was telling us to quit our pointless endeavor because nobody wanted our music. And now six releases later we’re still here and moving on.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Personally, I don’t listen to a lot of heavy music. Heavy rock classics like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, etc. never leave my playlist, but besides that there is a lot of different music from other genres. A lot of folk, ethnic music, classical music, jazz, especially swing and bop, classic prog like Camal, Still Mill, Gryphon, Rush and so on. I could go on for a long time.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
I don’t remember anyone ever giving me advice about music. Many people, I know, think that if you have achieved something, you must have had a wise mentor, a kind of Gandalf, who helped you with advice and shared experience, but in real life it is not so. Most often you have to learn everything yourself, learn from your mistakes, walk literally by feel and fall very often and painfully. But that’s how you learn.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Dark magic. And cats.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Perm?
I don’t know much about the current music scene. I don’t follow it at all. But it feels like countless cover bands have taken over everything now. There’s very little original music because it’s much less well paid. There is no incentive for musicians to do something new and original and it’s very sad.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
As I’ve already said, the chance of seeing us live this year or even next year is slim. Unless you come to Perm (which is unlikely). So let’s keep our fingers crossed and keep an eye on the news.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Our plans are to just keep making good music for as long as we can. The world is changing very quickly, the last few years have shown us all that everything can fall apart literally at any moment. So it’s a thankless task to make plans.
How can people best support your band?
For all independent bands, including us, fan support is very important. Share the music, buy records, come to concerts. Believe me, it really means a lot to us.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Of course! First of all, we want to thank all our listeners and fans in all corners of the earth. Thank you, you are the best!
Also, we invite you to listen to our third full-length album »Scarecrow III«, which will be released on November 13th, 2024 and our third themed EP »Golem«, which is already available on our Bandcamp for free.
It’s quite a big project. We did a long and dangerous journey in 5 regions across the globe, with lots of adventures and discoveries, gathered a collection of rare and forgotten instruments, invited a whole ensemble of ethnic percussionists called Orza (google it! They just amazing!), created a few music videos, video diaries and 16-minute movie with original sound track. Together with a true master of his craft – Samuel Turbitt from Ritual Sound (Darlington, UK), we spent many days mixing this ocean of sounds and I think we succeeded.
This project literally took several years of our lives and we are very proud of the result. So, join us on this journey!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well