Maximum Yield Cannabis USA April/May 2018 | Page 60

enjoy
dissolves the idea of separation and creates a communal
celebration or a quite tangible unity, which feels very
healing for everyone present. The farther you can project
that into the crowd, the more successful the show gets.
Personally, I live for that, that’s the biggest payoff of all
the payoffs. Making a living is fantastic, however, the
hardest currency is that.
The wine, rum, whiskey, and stage drinking,
are they props?
No, it’s not a big deal; it’s normal. I haven’t had a day
without a drink for the last thirty years. Sometimes when
people come to the show, they see me wandering around
and it’s like I’m in my living room. I know a lot of people
use alcohol to kind of catapult them, but for me it’s more a
way to cool off and just kind of trim the rambunctiousness
down; it takes the hyperactivity down.
“
THE FARTHER YOU
CAN PROJECT THAT INTO
THE CROWD, THE MORE
SUCCESSFUL THE SHOW GETS.
PERSONALLY, I LIVE FOR THAT;
THAT’S THE BIGGEST PAYOFF
OF ALL THE PAYOFFS.
"
What is your relationship to cannabis
and psychedelics? Where in the world do you relax and make
home bases?
I was, in the past, quite interested in (cannabis and
psychedelics) and almost excelled in that category
(laughs), but I think that as generally wonderful as
that is, maybe because of all the time I get to spend in
a mind-altered performance, I don’t feel a particular
need (anymore). I just remember that I know that I can
access alternative states of mind that I like to be in quite
easily through music. Early in life, I would run home
from school and play with my little drum kit and be
getting endorphins, then realizing I was in a completely
different plane than those around me. I would play my
heart out. Drums were my original instrument, some
occasional weed and alcohol seemed to help a little bit,
but the core of it is at the performance. Marrakesh in Morocco or Istanbul I find very friendly
and exciting and comfortable. But my solid home
bases that I feel really at home is New York City, Rio
De Janeiro, and Kiev, where I’m from. I don’t know
how to explain it, but I’ll be walking down the streets
in Rio De Janeiro and I’ll be looking for footprints in
the pavement. I know I wasn’t there when the streets
were created, but you know how kids immortalize
themselves in pavement? I always have a feeling that
one of those sets of prints are mine. That’s my affinity
with that city, something completely magical.
What is at the core of your enthusiasm on stage?
There is a certain need to undo the isolation. Cancel
out the sensation that you are this one ray of the sun
out there wandering on your ow n and bring it back to
the sun and being one of the rays of the sun. I think you
can see from the way our concerts are that it kind of
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grow. heal. learn. enjoy.
Did you travel as a gypsy when younger?
No, I was living a standard Soviet lifestyle until
Chernobyl blew up. That was the first real travel,
going thousands of miles away. After that immigration
and so on and so forth, then I was living in a colorless
landscape where everything was black and white
and I had to bring the color. Everything with gray
streets, gray buildings… I lived 100 miles away from
Chernobyl and was 14 when it exploded, 17 when I
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