“We can play until the cops come to kick us out”

V. V.: Hello, Mr. Kiossovski, how are you there in Seattle?

V. K.: Hello, Mr. Varbanov, glad to talk to you again. In Seattle it seriously pours it down.

V. V.: Finally Kultur Shock come to Bulgaria. How do you fell about it personally?

V. K.: My legs are shaking, man. How do I feel? – I come to Bulgaria for the first time with my own band to present what the rest of Europe has already seen.

V. V.: It is clear that every one of us when lies in bed at night, moves his toes under the blanket and thinks “Those are my dreams.” Did you dream about returning to Bulgaria and to show off with your band – because we know that interviews are just talk and what is the most important is the live music?

V. K.: Absolutely. What can I say? - All of us in the band are a bit reserved and nobody wants to admit that they actually want to present the band in their own country, but emotionally deep down insider every one of us dreams about doing that – to show the audience in his own country what he achieved. It’s the same with Masahi, our bassist, who is from Japan. I know that he also dreams of it, even though we still haven’t been able to do it. Right now this is very important for me because the band is something I am very proud of and love very much what we are doing and hope that the people in Bulgaria will like it. 

V. V.: Your new album “We Came to Take Your Jobs Away” is the coolest you’ve done so far. Do you perceive it this way?

V. K.: Not only that I perceive it this way, but it was one of the goals. - To close the circle of experiments and fusion among folk, punk and metal and to make it sound seamless – to be unable to tell when one ends and starts the other. Not to have folk songs or metal songs or rock songs, but to have Kultur Shock songs. This is one of the things we wanted and what I like about this album. 

V. V.: OK, so tell me – as you sit in Seattle and travel around with the band – how do you keep in touch with Bulgaria? You told me in an earlier conversation that you get lots of fan mail from Bulgaria. Is that so?

V. K.: MySpace gives us the opportunity to have a two-way communication with friends and fans of our music from around the world, including Bulgaria, and we constantly get messages and comments from Bulgaria. We have the feeling that our arrival is anticipated there.

V. V.: You will be playing with two Bulgarian bands – Wickeda and Balkandji. What do you know about them?

V. K.: Wickeda and we are sticking around the European stages from about two years. - Promoters with wich we work have either seen them or worked with them. Balkandji are our friends in MySpace and I know their music from there. I must tell you, that the music those guys make is of European and world quality.

V. V.: So who, in the end of the day, is the moving force in Kultur Shock?

V. K.: It’s us, the Balkan types. - Gino, Mario and myself, each in various capacities. When it comes to general ideas, it’s Gino- he’s the frontman, the face of the band. When it comes to musical ideas and how to reincarnate them stylistically into music – it’s Mario. When it comes to the composition of the band, management included, it’s me. So the things among the three of us move in mysterious ways. There is no leader who has the right to veto. All of us together decide what to do.

V. V.: On the sleeve of the new album of Kultur Shock “We Came to Take Your Jobs Away” Mario cleans a toilet.

V. K.: He cleans toilets because one of his jobs is a plumber.

V. V.: But the question is - as I look at his eyes on this photo, I think he is stoned out of his head.

V. K.: This is his normal state, ha-ha.В 

V. V.: So how much do 50 grams of weed cost in dollars?

V. K.: Oh, 50 grams. Hang on, how much is that? Fifty grams – this is an ounce and two thirds... About 50 bucks.

V. V.: OK, Val, thanks! Our next conversation will be here, on Bulgarian soil.

V. K.: I'm waiting for it, man. I can hardly wait.

V. V.: Actually, let me ask you the question about how long and what songs will you play?

V. K.: The current set of the band is about 75 minutes. And from that point on, as Gino says sometimes: “We can play until the cops come to kick us out”. So, generally speaking, all songs from the four albums have their place here and there in our setlist. The priority, of course, is the new album “We Came to Take Your Jobs Away” and we play all songs from it. There are a few songs from “Kultura Diktatura” - “Tutti Frutti”, of course – it’s impossible without it. Some songs from “FUCC the INS”. Depending on the stage and where we play and what the audience is like, we play a few songs from our first album, “Live in Amerika”, which have a more traditional sound, but are played in a different manner. Currently our music is more guitar-centered and will have the current sound – a violin and aggressive drums and bass and Gino, of course.

V. V.: Super. It seems that we’ll have a great time.

V. K.: I certainly hope so.