Infected Brain

Present yourself to the readers

Hi, we are Tim and Yani from the band Chugun, Tim is on guitar, Yani on bass and we both do the vocals. Our third member is our drummer Nir.

What’s the story for ROGUE PLANET ?

Rogue Planet, simply put, is the story of an outsider, someone who knows he will never belong, but nontheless, wants to have his little moment when he is the center of attention. The whole album is based around the concept of 'as above so below', so using the term 'rogue planet', a planet that is not a part of a galaxy, felt like a fitting metaphore for that.

Who composes ?...How does it work in the band ?

Tim composes the basic version of the song, and then we develop it together - Yani writes the lyrics and Nir comes up with orignal drum parts so each member adds his own touch.

Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?

All lyrics are written by Yani and they are a mash up of her personal world view and her fascination with space. After the first album, which was about blunt rage and hatered, this album's lyrics are more about introspection, about patterns - both in space and in society.

Why the name CHUGUN ?

It's actually a funny story - it was when the band was just forming, we had a different line up, and our first bassist (back then Yani was only on vocals) came up with the name while we were out for a drink. Its means 'cast-iron' in russian, and it felt like it described our music at the time - a blunt force that hits you in the face.

What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?

Tim grew up on old school thrash and death and still loves bands like Suffocation, Death, Decapitated, although now there is also a touch of more modern metal like Gojira and The Ocean.
Nir likes groovy stuff like Dagoba, Gojira and Slipknot, and even some electronic music.
Yani can listen to anything starting with Enya, through 90's pop, Die Antwoord, electronic stuff and ending with Enslaved and The Ocean.

What's your best live memory ? And why ?

We can't speak on Nir's behalf, but for both of us (Yani and Tim) it's from a small European tour that we took part in. There was one show in a bar in Liege in Belgium and our entire crowd was the guys from the other bands and 3 punks who came in randomly and began going batshit crazy. It turned into a raging mosh pit, ending with Yani falling on one of the monitors while growling, and was insanely funny.
There was also a cute couple we met in Germany who liked us so much they followed us to Holland to see another one of our shows!

In studio, what was the atmosphere for your new album ?...etc.…

Since it was our second album we knew what to expect, so we came to the studio prepared, after doing pre-production on our own. We had a great producer who knew how to bring out the best out of us without trying to alter our concept and we are very proud of the result.

How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?

The name Rogue Planet just felt right, it's not trying to be tough, it's just something that is different, independant yet still powerful and menacing. The art just had to follow the whole space theme of the album, and we loved the idea of a giant planet that just looms over earth.

How was the shooting of the clip ROGUE PLANET ? and why this choice ?

We wanted our first video to be for the title song of the album, and we wanted the video to be different, without using the usual metal cliche's, so we decided we'll make it look like it's taking place on another planet. It was shot in the dessert, near the small crater in the south of Israel, which is a gorgeous location, but it was tough - we had to carry a lot of equipment up hills, and there was a time limit as it was getting dark early and there was no lighting around, so there was the fear of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere at night, but it turned out better than we thought.

With Management and booking, how do you work ? And with whom ?

We were signed with a lable when our first album came out but at the moment we manage ourselves.

What are your projects ?

We each have projects outside the band - Nir, our drummer, records albums for other bands as a session drummer, and we (Tim and Yani) have a side rock project called SeaWitch (so far we released one single, you can listen to it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PHGJhnlbpM
and of course there are lots of ongoing projects with the band so there is always something to look forward to :)

What do you expect from the future ?

We plan to release another video soon and there are already new songs we are slowly working on in the background, and when the whole coronavirus pandemic is over we're looking forward to more performing and touring.

What's your motto ?

We never really considered this, but if we had to choose it would probably be something like: be the glorious shinning unicorn that you are and don't wait for anyone!

Website to remember

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/chugun_metal/?hl=en
FaceBook:
https://www.facebook.com/ChugunMetal
BandCamp:
https://chugunmetal.bandcamp.com/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3eq0RzDZJUS4Hu5WgG_kg
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3YwVSyHTQuDhQ6awVluenS

What would you like to say to the readers ?

We are truely thankful to each and every fan out there so if you like our stuff - thank you and rock on!