Photo by: Luis N. S. @nonserviam.ph

Psychonaut 4 isn’t really tied to one genre anymore.Was this shift intentional?

It was not intentional. When we write music, we don’t try to fit into one genre or another. We just write music, and whatever comes out ends up on the record. There’s no such thing as a ‘bad riff’ in our band. Whoever comes up with a riff or melody – if it feels right, it stays.

We never write something specifically to fit a genre. We write music and let people decide what genre it is. I don’t even consider our band a black metal band anymore. It’s just music that comes into our heads.

Moreover, we’re currently working on two separate EPs, and they sound different from everything we’ve done before. But we don’t care about that, because that’s simply how we feel the music at the moment.

I don’t really understand genres, because I don’t only listen to metal. I listen to pop – Backstreet Boys, A-ha – but also Dead Can Dance and Cannibal Corpse at the same time. All of that goes into whatever comes into my head.

What inspired the upcoming EPs?

Everyday life. All our records resemble the state we were in during the recording process. Dipsomania was about heavy drinking. Neurasthenia was heavy drinking, tragedies and everything surrounding that period. Then came the moment when we realised everything had gone to shit, for lack of a better word.

And then we had the last album, …Of Mourning, which was dedicated to the loss of friends and family members. Whatever is happening in our lives naturally ends up in the music

Coming back to your last album – do you feel Georgian culture or atmosphere influences the band differently now compared to the older material?

The parts that resemble our background of Georgian music were not put there deliberately. It was the first time we tried it.

I remember the story. When my son was born, Graf – our vocalist, who is in jail right now, came to the hospital to congratulate me. We were sitting downstairs, having a beer and talking, and he was like, ‘I have this weird idea, and I don’t know if you’re gonna like it or not, but let me show you.’

We were making the demo of ‘Tbilisian Tragedy’ at the time. So he showed me what he had in his head, and I was like, ‘That is great.’ We finished the whole chorus that night by the hospital.

Then we were trying to find the proper female voice for it, and finally I found someone who was perfect for the job. I had collaborated with her before in my other band. The person is Tatia Khukhunaishvili, who sings the chorus on ‘Tbilisian Tragedy.’

And then, approximately three years later, on the last album, we invited another Georgian folk singer (Lela Nakeuri) to do the chorus on ‘Fiqrebi Mtsukhrisa.’

And it was amazing, because the song goes black metal, black metal, black metal… and then suddenly there’s this deep Georgian female voice singing something very beautiful.

Will there be a continuation, or something completely different?

It’ll sound different. More aggressive and, at the same time, more melodic. We have two upcoming EPs, that are going to be like if you cut one album in half. We’re doing two cover songs and four originals. Three songs on each. And I think it’s going to be a more conceptual album.

Your newer material feels much more influenced by rock and traditional heavy metal. Did you feel the need to expand the band’s sound?

The tracks that we’re working on right now are more aggressive, but at the same time very melodic. And we’ve never been afraid of reviews or opinions of other people. We do this for ourselves, and if people like it – that’s a bonus. If not, it’s just how we feel at the moment.

I don’t want to stick to anything, because that’s putting yourself into frames. If you try to stick to, like, ‘well, let’s do this,’ then you don’t have the freedom of writing whatever you want to write.

And what are your biggest challenges now compared to when you first started?

The biggest challenge is that touring is getting harder, because we’re getting older. That’s the only challenge. We still love doing this.

Which song from the setlist is the hardest for you to perform?

Probably the hardest one is ‘Vai Me’, because it is a very difficult one to sing. There’s a lot of singing and cleans going on there, so it can get challenging to keep your voice at the level that the song needs, because, you know, we drink a lot.

So you drink before the show?

Always, yeah. Back in the day, we used to drink a lot. We would go on stage shitfaced, and it was not really responsible from our side. But now we try to tone it down a little bit. But we still do.

What bands, albums or songs inspire the upcoming material? 

You can compare the upcoming EPs to Shining and Whitesnake. Pretty good gap in there, right?

Why Shining and Whitesnake?

I don’t know, it just happened that way. I came up with the riff, and I was like, ‘This is a very good riff.’ And then when I recorded it, I thought, ‘This reminds me of something.’

Not in a musical way – it doesn’t resemble other riffs – but it had a certain feeling to it. I was like, ‘What is this?’ And then I realised this is probably closer to Shining than anything else.

So I developed the song, and then came the solo part. And when I came up with the solo, I thought, ‘This reminds me of Whitesnake now.’ Kind of ‘80s heavy metal.

What drives the band now?

Everyday problems, all the tragedies, all the addictions, all the incarcerations, and all the shit that we’ve been through.

Our drummer’s in jail, our vocalist’s in jail. But we try to translate that into music. That’s the main driving force behind the band.

The most memorable touring moment?

That one’s hard. Probably the time we had a fist fight with skinheads in Poland. It was in 2017, I guess. It was just skinheads being skinheads. After the concert they were looking for trouble, and they got one.

One interesting fact about you?

I’m a lawyer.

What bands inspire Psychonaut 4 now?

I listen to a lot of pop music right now. Teddy Swims, for example.

Most influential album for you now?

‘…And Justice for All’ by Metallica.Always.

One interesting fact about each member of the band?

We all have day jobs. Well, I don’t work right now, but our drummer, Rati, is a garbage man. Our bass player, Alex, measures buildings and land. I guess we have pretty interesting professions outside the band. The main singer doesn’t do anything right now. And Graf is in jail.

Touring or recording?

Recording. That’s my home. I feel at home in the studio. The studio is our bass player Alex’s basement. Every single note we’ve recorded was recorded there.