Superboy

The band Reamonn played in “B1”

The Reamonn group is a miniature European Union, a reflection of a united Europe: four Germans and an Irish vocalist. They play sternly lyrical melodic rock, which some would call a copy of U2 or Simple Minds. However, the group’s Russian fans, of whom there are quite a few, don’t care about all these cultural references. They idolize Ray Garvey's beautiful voice and the band's wonderful melodicism.

Reamonn suddenly became famous with the release of the album Tuesday in 2000, which featured the killer hit single Supergirl. That’s when they first came to Russia, but now they are frequent guests in our country. They were once called “one-hit wonders” (i.e. Supergirl), but now no one will remember this: the group has four successful albums in its discography. Wish's latest album went gold in several European countries.

The other day, another Reamonn concert took place in Moscow. Ray GARVEY and drummer GOMESH spoke about the vicissitudes of success, the Russian public and the political responsibility of rock musicians in an interview with Alexander BELYAEV.

--You performed at Live Earth. What prompted you besides the desire to appear to a large number of people?

Ray: - At first we didn’t even know what kind of event it was or what it was dedicated to. But then we watched a film about global warming, and we were very impressed. Very. No, I understand that Americans are the best propagandists in the world, they know how to “explain everything” to everyone, and attract everyone to their side. But this film made me personally think seriously about environmental problems. For example, I realized that I need to start with myself. You know, I grew up in Ireland, in a big family. We were eight children from poor parents. Mom and Dad kept shouting at us: “Turn off the lights! Save electricity! Humanity, it seems to me, should have been behaving like a poor Irish family for a long time now - because the reserves of the earth are not endless.

- Well, how about we start with ourselves?

Ray: - I'll try... No, seriously, our European life is some kind of excessive abundance, stupid. A couple of days ago, my wife and I went to the store to buy something for lunch. Well, they brought it, cooked it, had lunch... So then I threw out two huge bales of garbage. Where is this from? What kind of garbage is this - solid packaging, some kind of cardboard, polyethylene... Europe produces garbage and scraps while the rest of the world is starving. Politicians and economists say you can't just send food to poor countries because it will disrupt market prices. Maybe so. But, damn it, we are talking about people's lives... That's it, this is the end of my political statement! (Laughs.)

How was the festival itself?

Ray: It was great. True, it rained almost all the time. About fifty thousand people watched and listened to our performance. It's a complete blast!

Gomes: Yes, and millions more people watched the festival on TV. This is the biggest rock event to date.

— You visit Russia relatively often for a well-known Western group. What are your impressions of our country?

Ray: - Well, even when we were created ten years ago, we dreamed of winning over the Russian public. Well, we worked in this direction, and something worked out.

Moscow is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Wonderful audience, emotional, free people. And not only young people and not only in Moscow. We saw this in Kaliningrad too. In East Germany, after the fall of the Wall, something similar happened, people there also changed.

- You, Ray, have witnessed the vicissitudes of the modern history of Germany...

Ray: - Well, I didn't witness the fall of the Wall, but I witnessed the changes. It's always nice to see people become freer.

— How do such different nationalities as the Germans and the Irish coexist in one group?

Ray: I have no idea. They get along! We play music and create together. With joint creativity, national characteristics become insignificant. In general, we are already like brothers. Although when I came to “get hired” for the group ten years ago, I didn’t know the guys at all. We weren't friends. But they worked a little - and that’s it, they became close... In general, the Irish and the Germans go well together - because the Germans brew excellent beer, and the Irish know how to drink it perfectly.

Gomes: - Don't flatter, Irish beer is good too!

- They say it cannot be transported?

Ray: - It doesn't work. To taste our real beer, you will have to come to Dublin.

— You recently recorded with the Cuban group Buena Vista, which is very popular in our area...

Ray: - Yes, they decided to record a cover of our song Tonight in their own style. They came, we talked. We communicated on our fingers - they barely speak English, and we speak Spanish. But we had such a wonderful conversation, laughing all the time. God, what virtuosos they are! They play so well together, they feel each other so well... They don’t even count, as is customary, “one, two, three - start”, they just pick up and start at the same time and then race for hours without making mistakes.

— You, Ray, recorded with the dance group Jam & Spoon. How did your colleagues react to this?

Gomes: Let him sing. I don't mind.

Ray: -- One of the nice things about success is that you can collaborate with anyone without being locked in on yourself.

— Would you like to collaborate with a Russian group?

Ray: - Unfortunately, I hardly know your rock music. But I am sure that such an interesting country is full of talented people. In short, if there are any good Russian rock musicians, we are ready to compose and record something with them. If we like each other!