BlazerJacket were releasing a single on the 25th of February and never thought they would be releasing “Get Out” featuring Dirty Bird 13, while their home country, Ukraine, was facing invasion from Russian forces. The irony now is that a song which was about leaving abusive relationships is now a call to remove the invaders and free their home. We were lucky enough to be put in contact with Denis and Hybri Mod, who answered our questions. Those questions where it doesn’t say who answered, are a combined answer that they both agreed on in unison. If you haven’t checked out their thumping industrial track, this is our suggestion that you should.

Welcome to Onyx, where the streets have no names…..um because we removed them all.

You are based in Ukraine, so how are things for you both currently?

Denis: I am in Kyiv, trying to lead a normal life, only with the addition of two options – “try to survive” and “fight”. Of course, life has changed a lot … Daily rocket and artillery shelling of cities, constant air raids, daily evidence of attacks by Russian soldiers, murders of children, rape of women… It makes me very nervous and I struggle every day. And in all these conditions, you need to find additional sources of income, because things in online commerce, in which I work, are not going very well at the moment for obvious reasons. But I am in Kyiv, trying to lead a normal life… which will never be the same again

Hybri Mod: I am in the west of Ukraine right now. There are almost no explosions here, it’s relatively calm, definitely compared to what is happening in southern and eastern parts of the country.

Can you tell us the premise behind the two brothers the band portrays?

In 2020, we released an album that tells the listener a story of two brothers from a distant galaxy who protect the Earth from the most dangerous creature in the world. You can find out more by reading the album description on the Bandcamp and listening to the tracks in the correct order. We tried to convey the atmosphere not only through music and arrangements, but also through dialogues between the tracks. Also, since the release of this album, we have strictly adhered to our images on stage.

You recently released the single Get Out which is about domestic violence. What inspired you to write this track? Also you released this single as your country was at the beginning of being invaded by Russia. Do you find the timing ironic and has the song taken on a new meaning for you?

Denis: These two questions are directly related, so I will answer two of them at once.

Personally, I have put a similar meaning into this song before. Before writing this song, I had a very big fight and stopped all communication with a former friend. The reason was the bullying of the Ukrainian nation and pro-Russian sentiments. For me, this is a particularly sore subject since I was forced to leave my hometown due to the occupation by pro-Russian terrorists and Russian special forces in 2014. Therefore, the phrase “Get out” is addressed to all abusers, whether they are “friends” or Russian occupiers.

Hybri Mod: At the time of the process of creating a track, I treated it simply as nostalgia for the 00s of the industrial/dark scene, the bands to which I often listened in those years.

If first, I put one meaning into “Get Out” lyrics, then on the day of the release, I revised the message of the music and dedicated it to against Russian aggression represented by Putin.

Can you tell us about your association with Dirty Bird 13 and how they became involved?

Denis: Yes. I am Dirty Bird 13 🙂

I started the project with my classmate as a duo in 2009, but after 2013 I did it alone, gave it very little time, and a couple of years ago I played my last gig with Dirty Bird 13. So technically I’m “dirty bird 13” at the moment.

Yes, it’s strange to release a collaborative track with myself but let me explain.

I started writing the track itself back in 2012 in Horlivka (Territory in the east of Ukraine, which since 2014 has been under the occupation of Russia). After a long time, sorting through information from old media, I found the draft of this track and decided to finish it together with Hybri Mod. We managed to create something completely new for the BlazerJacket.

Since the track is a bit different from our usual sound, we thought it would be fair to credit “Dirty Bird 13” as a co-writer.

Hybri Mod: I was just a fan of Dirty Bird 13 before I met Denis. It’s always been a great interest for me to participate in the creation of a collaborative music. And although it happened within the whole BlazerJacket band, I’m very glad that my old dream came true officially.

You are heavily connected to Comic Con Ukraine, so can you tell us about this?

We have been residents of the Comic Con music scene since the very first festival in 2019. We maintain good relations with the organizers and other residents of this festival and are always happy to entertain visitors with our shows and performances.

Is this a part of your creative outlet?

Since our lyrical characters in BlazerJacket are mystical aliens from a science fiction novel, we think we are directly related to the “Comic Con” culture.

If you could be any comic or anime character right now, who would you be and what would you do with your superpowers?

Denis: I want to be an “iron man” to end this war as soon as possible.

Hybri Mod: I don’t know exactly who I would like to be, but definitely with an unkillable skill 🙂 It would be possible to single-handedly change the system in which we all live and build something new, where life and human rights are above the interests of global corporations.

I realise it is hard to talk about the future currently but what are you looking forward to in the long term?

We were planning to speed up the release of our tracks and videos. But now we do not know what will happen after another air raid. Let’s see what happens, but we are not going to give up our music.

Music | BlazerJacket (bandcamp.com)

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