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Emotional
Robots for the New Cold War


by
Marcus Kagler

photography by Wendy Lynch
“To be honest with you, if you mention Electroclash in this interview I’ll kill you,” deadpans Soviet’s high commander Keith Ruggiero. “That name is something I want to get completely out of Soviet’s way. It’s like bad dandruff in our hair. It needs to not be there.” Ruggiero is talking about New York’s Electroclash label and it’s much over hyped roster of neo-80’s synth-pop acts who have been invading the Big Apples club scene for the past year or so. Since starting out as a small sect of the New York nightlife Electroclash has become a full fledged nationwide juggernaut thanks to massive media attention. According to most of the music journalists today if you are from New York and have even the slightest hint of a synthesizer within your songs you are automatically Electroclash. Due to the fact that Soviet has been lumped in with this movement they are currently in danger of being ignored as just another ‘80’s synth throwback group on the band wagon.

At the moment we talk to him Ruggiero and his band mates are in the middle of a nationwide tour to change all that. “It’s damaging to a band. People totally write you off before they’ve had a chance to hear your album or even see you. We’re sort of reclaiming who we are rather than what the media says we are. The media hype in New York is so insane that everybody is getting misrepresented and it’s just a touchy subject for us. We are trying to stay away from press hype.”

If you’re up on new bands then chances are you have probably heard of Soviet but haven’t necessarily heard their music. This is exactly what Ruggiero is talking about when it comes to the music media. Since forming at Syracuse University four years ago Soviet has undergone a few line up changes but it’s really Ruggiero’s project. As Soviet’s principal songwriter and go-to man Ruggiero is deadly serious about all things concerning his band. Right now he’s set his sights on eliminating the music media and Electroclash from the bands list of obstacles. “People need to get back to listening to music rather than reading and looking at images representing music. I feel that music for us is stronger than the hype and the machine. When I did this album I was being extremely sincere and I don’t want it being misrepresented as a novelty.”

Ruggiero has a good point. It seems like the musical climate in America today consists of hype and hipsters playing a continual game of who’s in the know and who’s not. The music has almost become insignificant. It’s all about whose setting the scene, or rather, who’s setting the next scene. Soviet has no interest in these games. They’ve been fashioning their own brand of “electronic inspirational music” for the past few years and they show no signs of quitting any time soon.

To give the casual reader a short description of where Soviet are coming from here is Ruggiero’s list of influences: “A lot of European electronic music from about 1970 to 1980. Early OMD, Talk Talk, Massage, Kraftwerk of course.” Soviet’s debut album, We Are Eyes, We are Builders is nothing short of a modern day extension to those early electronic pioneers. The album is chuck full of drum machines, multiple levels of synthesized melody, and Ruggiero’s own sensational vocal machinations. Many music aficionados are disregarding Soviet’s sound as a throwback to a by gone era but Ruggiero’s take on this particular brand of electronic music is a little different, “Synthesizers are just the tools that I decided to use for this album. I really enjoy creating with them and I think that I was trying to go forward where a lot of electronic music left off because for the last twenty years electronic music has moved on to superstar DJ’s who don’t really do anything on stage. I wanted to get back to the live performance and really get down to song writing with electronics because it was kind of neglected for a long time.”

Upon seeing Soviet’s live set at Spaceland I can see what Ruggiero is talking about. At first it almost seems implausible but there they are, four people playing nothing but synthesizers with Ruggiero singing into the microphone, feet a shoulders width apart, punching his fist into the air as if 1982 never ended. The crowd is dumbfounded upon the bands taking of the stage but near the end of the second song their heads are starting to bob and a few are even dancing. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of all those ‘80’s synth bands Soviet tend to conjure when they play or maybe it’s the passion with which they perform but by the time they leave many of the people in the audience don’t want them to. Either way you choose to look at it Soviet is touching a nerve.

“ I think emotionally it’s definitely filling a void in music in general right now because it seems there’s a lot of stuff that’s basic and a lot of stuff that’s really down like rap-metal but there’s no feeling of hope in that. I have a sense there’s a real feeling of hope in this music. It’s positive.”

Soviet’s music really is positive. From songs like the poppy “Candy Girl” to the synthetically ambient “China” there’s an innocent, disquiet about We Are Eyes, We Are Builders. It’s as if the members of Soviet are musically inclined children and synthesizers are their new toys. If you ignore the media and just sit down and listen to it you come to realize this album is exciting and really well made. For some unknown reason this genre of music up and disappeared at the dawn of the 1990’s and over a decade later Soviet are picking up the torch. They wear their synthesizers on their sleeves like a badge of honor.

If you stop and think about it Ruggiero and his band mates have real balls to play this sort of music in such a guitar saturated musical atmosphere. The reality of being a synth band while acts like the Hives and the Strokes are receiving radio air play twenty-four hours a day doesn’t make Soviet’s job any easier. “We’re still hearing garage rock from the sixties in every single band that has come out,” notes Ruggiero. “All the rock bands sound like a band straight out of ‘67. It just seems to be more accepted but the minute you pick up a synthesizer it’s a real fight to be taken seriously.”

As much as it doesn’t make sense it’s true. If a band like the Strokes can be taken seriously by rejuvenating the sounds of the Velvet Underground why shouldn’t a band like Soviet be able to resurrect the synth-pop of the 1980’s? Ruggiero sees no reason why they can’t and one by one they are converting audiences around America to their point of view. Soviet is fighting their own cold war and slowly they are winning. Determination is on their side and so is the future. “Right now major labels are unto rock n’roll. They haven’t gotten onto this yet but in my opinion this is the next wave,” adds a ceaselessly solemn Ruggiero. “When it does come we want to be smart and already have built a career. We don’t want to be a one hit wonder and have that one album and then you never hear from us again.”

Don’t worry Keith, just keep pumping out those catchy melodies on the electronic keys and the people will follow. Rock n’roll will never die so if you let them Soviet will rock you like it’s 1985.