Pussy Riot is a collective “of musicians that take their rage seriously. They will never stop using their art to drive political and societal change in Russia, where such ambitions can brand you an enemy of the state.
Although Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia is giving new life to the opposition, thousands of protesters were arrested on Saturday following anti-authoritarian demonstrations. Among them was Pussy Riot’s own Masha Alekhina, currently under house arrest and facing two years in prison for encouraging fans to protest.
Videos by VICE
“RAGE” was released Monday, earlier than planned, amidst an intensely important moment in Russia following the arrests. Nadya Tolokonnikova spoke to Noisey about the song, the music video, and the process of making art out of necessity in crucial times.
**Noisey: What do the current moment’s protests and arrests mean for Russia, and what is important for the international community to observe about Alexei Navalny’s story?
**We’re experiencing a major wave of political repressions. I’ve never seen so many political arrests happening all around Russia, and I’ve never seen this level of violence by police. Today, you can see blood. You can see a police officer punching a 55-year-old woman in the stomach, and no criminal case against him, while charges are easily brought against people for standing in the squares of their cities protesting.
Alexei Navalny is an opposition leader, and he is a charismatic politician who galvanizes people to care. He was poisoned with a nerve agent; he didn’t know if he was going to live. Even still, as soon as he recovered, he came back to Russia. He didn’t want to be a political refugee. This is an act of extreme courage. On January 17, he was arrested and our biggest nightmare became real, but his experience has provoked people’s rage.
**Your bandmate Masha Alekhina is currently facing jail time for participating in protests. What charges is Masha facing?
**Masha is accused of asking people to take to the street; she faces criminal charges and two years in jail for encouraging people to go to protests on social networks. Masha is one of the voices that the government is attempting to neutralize. They want people to run around like chickens without heads, and to cut off their ability to organize.
The lyrics in “RAGE” paint a picture of you as a heretic and a witch on a broomstick. You say “you tell us that the war is holy**.” What were you thinking when you took this metaphor on and approached writing the song from this perspective?
**I started writing the song a while ago, with everything revolving around the concept of HERETIC. I ended up re-recording the song on another beat with Chris Greatti (who co-produced the track alongside Crazy Demxns), and changing the name to “БЕСИT,” (which translates to “it enrages me” or “it makes me furious”).
I wrote the song about the feeling of heresy and the feeling of being an enemy of the state in your own country. I wanted to claim the strong emotions it causes, but also explore the strong camaraderie that comes from the experience of oppression and the deep friendships you make with those who share your pain. It’s pain, but it’s beauty.
**The “RAGE” video was shot with the help of hundreds of activists, devoted to both LGBTQ+ rights and anti-authoritarian political protests. What was the experience of filming this video in Saint Petersburg like, with the police raiding the shoot?
**At the “RAGE” video shoot, I felt like two worlds collided: the worlds of LGBTQ+ activists and political activists. Around 200 people participated. When the studio was raided by police, electricity and heating in the building were cut off (in February, in Russia). Police told us all to leave the building.
Most of the video was filmed after the electricity was cut off; we were using flashlights. We realized we were getting shut down, but we still had our cameras and we were all still there.
The police’s reaction only shows why we are enraged.
**What was it like to have that chaos and confusion at the shoot? How long did you actually have to film?
**We had about forty minutes to film everything. We were working with urgency, and everyone on the shoot gave their creative input, from the makeup artist to the stylist—the entire crew. It seemed everyone was connected to the shoot as a manifestation of their political position, and a chance to make like-minded people feel this energy and to make our communities stronger.
Why were you arrested for attempting to shoot the video?
The next day, 13 of us got together to continue shooting. We wanted to shoot something else connected to the video, since we had so little time at the shoot. We didn’t plan to protest on the street, we just wanted to shoot some video, but police raided again and the entire crew was arrested in a matter of seconds.
We were accused of “gay propaganda,” and we all ended up in a cell in a Russian police station. We were all inside this jail cell, with the clothes and the makeup, and a director, a designer, a stylist—a full crew in one jail cell.
Why was it so important to release “RAGE” now?
I realized we need to release this song early. We were going to release in May, and obey the music industry standards to build and plan a release, but I said “fuck it.” On Friday, I decided we were going to release the song and video today. Although, I suppose nobody works on the weekend, besides activists.
Watch the “RAGE” music video here:
