Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Silent Planet frontman Garrett Russell opened up about performing in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. According to him, “a tour across the United States between November and February is probably more dangerous than going to Ukraine.”

Russell said the following:

“The first day, when we were in Kyiv, we got all the gear in and they started plugging everything in, and I hadn’t eaten all day. I went to this grocery store and, as I’m walking out, Oleksandra – our tour manager, an amazing person – was like, ‘There you are! All the band’s in the bomb shelter!’ There was an air alert: a couple of Russian drones were flying over Kyiv.

I checked my phone and there were 50 texts, like, ‘Where the fuck are you?!’ But you look around and no one seems concerned, and there’s supposedly an explosive drone somewhere over town. The danger is very real, but there’s also kind of a casual approach that people take to it.”

He continued:

“The second night we were at our hotel in Kyiv, we got woken up by one, so we went down to the bomb shelter. Then we went back to bed, and apparently there was another bomb warning that same night but I just slept through it. My bandmates went back down, so they basically didn’t sleep the night after the first show.”

He went on to say the following when asked if there was a time when he was legitimately scared:

“The day before we went into Ukraine, Ukraine landed a huge blow to Russian oil infrastructure [drones attacked a Moscow oil refinery on June 18]. All of us received messages saying that Moscow is going to retaliate. Oleksandra explained to us the reality: from the outside looking in, you see ‘Ukraine does something, Moscow retaliates’, but it’s a war. If one side could land a bigger blow than the other, they would.”

He also added the following when asked how it feels to be one of the first American bands to return to Ukraine following the invasion:

“It makes me sad. What breaks my heart is bands have been playing Moscow for the last few years, and getting paid really well to do it, and it seems fucked-up that the country getting invaded by Moscow is not getting shows because of Moscow.”

He also encouraged other artists to go to Ukraine:

“Yeah. I really do believe, in the scheme of things, it’s safe. Touring is inherently dangerous: we went through a van flip [in November 2022] and my back’s not been the same since. I think a tour across the United States between November and February is probably more dangerous than going to Ukraine.”