Hello Christine! This is Sergey from Inexist! I was a vocalist in a symphonic-black metal band since autumn 2000, but I felt that I needed to form my own band in a melodic death style. It was a start for INEXIST, which was found in summer 2001 when I met young guitarist Alexey “Pepper” Korovkin. He was only 15 years old and his guitar technique was excellent! The third man who joined the band was my brother Anton “Tepesh” Khomenko. This was the beginning of the band and I chose the name- INEXIST, which can be translated as Inner Existence. Then we found a guitarist Anton “Pickachu” Sakharov and bass player Eugeny “Papa” Lobazov . With this line up we gave a few live shows and recorded a demo “Evidence” in a period from spring 2002 till summer 2003. We’ve got a lot of serious problems with Papa and Pickachu, so we decided to change them. New musicians were Jackson Artemjev(guitar) and Alexandr Ruchkin(bass). In January 2004 we started to record our first debut album called “Am I senseless?” which was released in October 2004 by Stygian Crypt prod. Nowadays we are preparing new material for a new album, and if all goes as planned, we’ll start recording sessions somewhere in spring. 
Our actual line up:
Sergey Bredis (vocals)
Alexey “Pepper” Korovkin (guitar)
Anton “Tepesh” Khomenko (drums)
Jackson Artemjev (guitar)
Alexander Ruchkin(bass)

Well, “Am I Senseless?” is an energetic, wild, sensitive and positive album at the time! That album includes all the best years of the In Flames development with a kind of original melodic structure as it’s presented in a song “Tapiola”. So, if you are a fan of melodic death metal in its new wave, you must like this album! 

I don’t know any musicians, who were satisfied by the result of their album, especially after a few years from its release date! So, the main thing we wanted to change was the volume of drums which is not the same in several songs on the album. Also in the songs could be added some arrangements, like electronic parts, sound effects or samples to make the songs more interesting and modern! 

I don’t care about it! We play this kind of music because we love this music! We wouldn’t play “power” because I couldn’t sing clear (ha-ha!) and it’s not interesting style for us, we wouldn’t play black or brutal death because it’s atmospheric, ideological, serious, noisy and too fast styles. So, melodic death is more modern and open for experiments. This is my opinion.

Yes, I agree. Here are some other names: The Defaced, Mnemic, Meshuggah, Dimension Zero, Dark Tranquillity, Anathema, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Helloween  Gamma Ray and their projects, Edguy, Amorphis, Satriani, Vai,  Children of Bodom , Warmen, Pink Floyd.

Most of the songs on “Am I Senseless?” are not previously released. They are: Nonsense, Fashion death, Tapiola, Inexist acoustic medley pt.2, Whom does it care, Pain, Inner Comfort and Nervous. Everything else is taken from our demo –album “Evidence”.

7. DID YOU RE-RECORD THE OLD TRACKS? DID YOU IMPROVE THE SOUND AND THE PRODUCTION OR NOT?

Yes, we re-recorded the old songs with a new sound and arrangements. We’ve changed some lead melodies, most of the solos, vocal parts and song structures. It was interesting to make the changes in old songs and re-record them.

Some of the lyrics are very personal for me. I’m talking about my inner world and emotions in songs “Inner Comfort”, “Nervous”, “Whom Does It Care” and “Nonsense”. Lyrics in “Exit”, “Instincts and Desires”, “Fashion Death” and “www.animal-status.com” touch global earth themes and my (maybe) misanthropic attitude of this. Most of this kind of lyrics was written in the “Evidence” period when I was more aggressive towards the external world. “Real Fear” is based on a Russian classic poet, Pushkin (I don’t remember its name) where he describes wild Russian robbers. “Pain” is the song where I’m describing different kinds of pain, abnormal feelings and thoughts. And “Tapiola” is based on the Finnish national book “Kalevala”. I love northern wild nature and “Tapiola” is about this. Nowadays I’m also trying to write lyrics on positive themes. 

We regularly play live shows in Russia. In the future we are planning to play in foreign countries. So, if somebody is interested in it, he could contact with me.([email protected]) Our shows are always energetic, especially when we have got contact with people. We express our energy on stage and the crowd gives us feedback. Also we are trying to make each show original. It could be special songs, or any cool performance on stage, or funny Christmas clothes, even competitions for people. All these make great mood for us and for our fans in the concert and after. Positive energy rulezzz!!! 

Both your versions are right. But this title is very personal and important for me because two years ago I had a hard period in my life. In that time I wrote a lot of lyrics for the “Am I senseless?” album and in the end I wrote a text-conclusion for a song called “Am I senseless?”. This song is not written, but we are planning to write it as a ballad for the next album. The title could be a conclusion for all the lyrics in our debut album.

Main conception of cover comes to me in dreams. When I woke up, I wrote what I saw in my dream to my new friend via e-mail. His name is Grimmy Bro and he is responsible for the cover. He is a great designer and professional in his work. On the cover you could see a lot of emotions that outshine our life in the contemporary world. It shows faceless people with “sins and blood” in their eyes on the negative photo, it is a cruel reality that affects humans. They are blind and they are senseless. I think that this cover is very aggressive and honest and it outshines morality. Also, it is a cool and modern cover! This is my point of view. Maybe you could see here something else…

Good question! If it were an emotion it would be “optimistic scream of life”. If it were a painting, it would show September northern nature with a lake or river and deep beautiful forests under hot rays of sun and a cold breath that gives you spirit of Freedom and independence!!! 

Forrest Gump when he was sitting the whole day on a bus stop telling the story of his life! Maybe to live all his life…

Well, I am a singer and I recorded vocals for Mind Eclipse’s latest album. They are my friends and I just offered them to help in vocal recordings as a session member. It was a great experience for me to sing in other style, more brutal and low. I played live concerts with Mind Eclipse whole 2004. Now their ex-vocalist came back in the band and I won’t become their singer in the near future. 

We are fun guys, we always joke and drink (especially after parties)! We carry positive emotions in all possible ways!!! And in music too! We are always searching all good things in this world to “make this world a better place to live in”! 

 I’d like to advice your readers to be open minded in music and be true to themselves! Visit our web site at: inexist.musica.mustdie.ru. Thank you, Christine for this interview and your interest to our band! Good luck and Stay metal!