In a new interview with Revolver, the singer of Slaughter To Prevail, Alex Terrible, spoke to the band’s new political song, “1984,” and what it has been like for the band living in Russia. To be clear, Alex has moved over to the United States, but while in his home country, he and the band endured several difficulties.
Alex shares that while he partially moved over to the States because of the metal scene here, he also moved away because of the war taking place in Ukraine. Speaking to if his move to America was because of the war, Alex shared the following:
“Yeah. Actually, I was thinking about to move to the U.S three years ago, or something like that, because it is always a great opportunity for bands like us, because the heavy-metal scene in Russia is not that big [compared to] the U.S. Everyone was talking to me, they said, ‘Why you didn’t move yet?’ … But I [still] like my country because my family is still there, my friends. I grew up in Russia. I know everything about my country. It’s much easier to me. But then, the war gets started and I lose everything, like business connections. I can’t do anything because of sanctions. I made the really quick decision to move to America, and move my business to America, as well.”
Later on, the interviewer asks the Slaughter To Prevail singer if he was ever in any physical danger while in Russia. This is what he had to say:
“It’s kind of risky to … If you say you are against the war, if you do something like you’re protesting, and all this shit, you can probably go to jail, or you can probably get a ticket for 30,000 rubles [approximately $500USD] or 50,000 rubles [$800 USD]. Not too much, but it’s still fucking crazy. You’re against the war, and the government just says to you, ‘You have the problem. Shut the fuck up. Shut your mouth.’
“Especially if you play music and you are against the war, they’re probably going to try to close your shows, shut down the fucking … Whatever you do with the art. Yeah. We got a little problem before because our government thinks that we are Satanists.”
He is then asked to elaborate, and Alex says:
“They just cancel our shows because of violence, propaganda of violence, Satanism and all this shit. It’s kind of dangerous for me and for the rest of the band, because you can go to the jail for nothing in Russia, because they just fucking fake papers about you. The government in Russia is pretty strong right now, and they just want to control everything. If they don’t like you, they can put you in the jail very easily.”
We hope Alex and the rest of Slaughter To Prevail can find some peace during these difficult times. We send our love to the people of Ukraine as well, and hope that this war ends soon.
Watch: Slaughter To Prevail Call For An End To Ukraine-Russian War In New Song ‘1984’