03/11/2008: "t.A.T.u.’s interview with Daily Nexus"

Source: Dailynexus.com

Daily Nexus: Tonight was your first solo, headlining show in the United States. How did it go?
Yulia Volkova: Before the concert, we were just so nervous. We were just jumping around!
Lena Katina: When we get on the stage, we feel this energy, and we want to give back that energy…

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Thursday night, Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. performed its first ever U.S. solo show in the Hub for 800 students. Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, the two women of t.A.T.u., sat down with the Daily Nexus for an interview following their concert.

Daily Nexus: Tonight was your first solo, headlining show in the United States. How did it go?
Yulia Volkova: Before the concert, we were just so nervous. We were just jumping around!
Lena Katina: When we get on the stage, we feel this energy, and we want to give back that energy.

What can we expect from t.A.T.u. in the future?
Lena: Our movie [“Finding t.A.T.u.”] is coming up and we’re planning to do a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Our album, we recorded the Russian version, and it’s coming out in April. The English version will be little bit later and we’re working on it right now. We just did a new video and it will come out soon also.

What song – or can you not say yet?
Lena: (She laughs.) It’s a secret.

What’s your favorite song to perform live?
Lena: All of our songs are favorites [to perform], because we’re singing about our feelings, our problems. Every song is part of us. I would say that. There’s no favorites.
Yulia: Sorry for my English, it’s just… I understand, I just don’t speak very well. I understand though!

Do you have a future U.S. tour planned, or is this all you have for now?
Lena: For now, that’s all. But maybe, maybe we’ll have a show…
Yulia: When we come back to Russia, we have lots of shows around Russia… Italy too, Germany too. Maybe June we’ll come back around [to the] Bay Area [to do a show].
Lena: Yes, something around San Francisco. Also to do a new video there. So, that’s the plan for now.

What did you think of the UCSB crowd and the atmosphere here?
Yulia: I today came first time and looked around and said, “Oh my God, people live here? It’s so beautiful!”
Lena: Yes, the territory is amazing.

What’s the inspiration for your lyrics?
Lena: Our souls. Just problems that are bothering us, just what we’re thinking about. We’re singing about what we’re thinking about. And we don’t want to just sing, “Oh you love me, I don’t love you” or “Oh, I love you, you don’t love me” and so forth. All that stuff, it’s not for us. There’s lots of problems that others don’t want to sing about because it’s not really beautiful. … Our coming out album called Waste Management, I think you’ll get the idea when you listen to the whole album.

How would you describe your album? What topics does it cover?
Lena: It’s when people are not managing all that bad stuff. … Sorry, it’s hard to describe. I don’t know how to say it in English. (Katina and Volkova have a brief discussion in Russian.) All the stuff people are doing that are not good, it’s waste and we have to manage it. Nobody’s managing it… Well, some people are trying. So, somebody is trying and somebody’s not trying to manage it. Like “Beliy Plashik,” it’s our new song. Did you see the video? It’s against abortions and against when someone kills another, or when somebody hurts another… it’s against that, and against abortion. [But the album is] not only [about] one topic, it’s [about] all kinds of stuff.

Could you tell me a little about your upcoming movie, “Finding t.A.T.u.”?
Yulia: Our friends wrote the book in Russia, we play ourselves, t.A.T.u.
Lena: Yes, we’re playing ourselves.
Yulia: It’s a story about two girls, two fans [played by Mischa Barton and Shantel VanSanten] who meet at our concert. They come to Russia, see each other, love each other…
Lena: It’s about drugs and about love.
Yulia: Yes, it’s about love. … It’s life.