Ukrainian punk trio Death Pill to reunite for European tour after ‘waking nightmare’ of war separation
A Ukrainian punk trio separated by Russia’s war are due to reunite as a band for the first time in more than a year to play a European tour.
After releasing their debut album earlier in 2023, while living thousands of miles apart, Death Pill have announced the Over My Dead Body shows in Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK in May and June.
The band – Mariana Navrotskaya, Anastasiia Khomenko and Nataliia Seryakova – were separated after Russia‘s war on Ukraine began in February 2022; Nataliia moved temporarily to Australia for work, Mariana stayed in Kyiv, and Anastasiia made the difficult decision to take her young son to safety in Spain, leaving her husband behind.
Putin ‘assassination attempt’ as Kremlin residence ‘attacked’ – follow live
Now, Nataliia and Anastasiia are set to return home for the Kyiv show, which kicks off the tour on 20 May.
“For me, not playing is almost like not living and I’m very excited about the opportunity to get together, go on tour, see new places, and meet new people,” Anastasiia told Sky News. “It should be a very exciting journey.”
While she is also excited about the shows, Mariana said she cannot feel true happiness about the band’s return after everything that has happened to their country.
“[My feelings] are very mixed,” she said. “I know it is impossible to feel the current situation as fully as we feel it, but try to imagine this: we are going on our first tour, to follow our long-awaited and cherished dream, we are playing for the first time in Europe and in the UK – actually, it’s my first time going abroad. It was a dream of mine.
“But I absolutely do not feel ‘happiness’ inside. I am excited but I feel anxiety and devastation, I feel an internal struggle; the dream of my life comes true right in the midst of a horrible bloody f****** war.
“All my endless ambitions, all my emotions and feelings, all my joys and all my pain – Death Pill. This is the most honest and sincere thing I have. Nataliia and Anastasiia, they are literally sisters to me; sisters by blood, sisters by spirit. We’ll all be together for a month, and right now it sounds as sweet to me as it can be.”
‘Exciting doom’
Nataliia said she has only started addressing her feelings properly in the past few days after months of not allowing herself to be anything but strong.
“I didn’t allow myself to be sad, or sick, or poor, or weak during my whole life and even more so in the last year, because in my opinion it prohibits moving forward,” she said. “I have just started to think more about my honest feelings a few days ago and I can’t describe it properly. It is new for me.
“I was very focused on preparations for the tour over the last four months – bookings, advertising, merchandise, home rehearsals, flights etc – and just now, when the date of my flight home is in 10 days, I realise that most of all I want to see my parents alive, to see the girls from the band and to try to catch the feeling that I am at home.
“But I realise it is only for one month and after that we all will be separated again. [It’s a] strange new feeling – exciting doom. Our nation has been handling it for the last few years, I hope I can handle it too.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Analysis: Russia’s next move
Read more:
‘I don’t choose to live in a horror film’
‘Doctors are carrying out heart surgery by flashlight’
How hardcore metal band is galvanising support for Ukraine
Death Pill’s self-titled debut album won praise from critics – described as “a record of staggering musicianship fuelled by an untamed fury” by The Line Of Best Fit and “a face-toasting listen” by the Guardian, while Metal Hammer called it “one of the best crossover albums of the modern era”.
The put the album out against all the odds on 24 February this year, marking the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
While Anastasiia was able to practise with Mariana during a visit to Ukraine to see family, their in-person rehearsal two days before the Kyiv show will be the first time all three women get to see each other, and play music together, since they were separated.
“I am rehearsing with my computer,” Nataliia said. “Sad but true – Guitar Pro replaced my girls for this year. I miss them.”
“In Barcelona, I go to a studio where I play solo,” Anastasiia said. “I have our records to play to, a metronome. Of course, it’s not as cool and productive as when you play with a band. But you have time to hone your game more.”
“Each of us regularly rehearses a concert programme solo, under a metronome and MIDI (digital) drums from Guitar Pro,” Mariana added. “Of course, a solo rehearsal will never replace a rehearsal with a group, but in our case it is impossible.
“We put [so much] effort to make this tour happen against the backdrop of this waking nightmare – and I will take full advantage of this tour.”
Death Pill play The Crown Bar in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 20 May, with shows in Bradford, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton and London in June
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
More entertainment news:
Paris Hilton’s home destroyed in fires
RuPaul pays tribute to The Vivienne
Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway