One of the hardest-working punk acts in the city, Berliner Lvft channel the raw urgency of 90s grunge and punk with emotionally charged, high-energy shows. The band is made up of four Russian musicians – guitarist Andrey Gankin and bassist Vitalii Zimin (both on vocals), guitarist Sergey Yakobson and drummer Axel Tamnhed – all of whom left their homeland amid political unrest. We caught up with frontman Andrey Gankin to talk about chaos, clarinets and carving out a scene of their own.
So, how did the band actually come together? What’s the origin story?
It all started in the autumn of 2022, when three of us got together in Berlin. We’d all left Russia because of the political situation, and Sergey and I had already played in the past in a band called Pententacles. Axel and I played together in Yetin. Then when we were hanging out, drinking Berliner Luft, the name of the band just appeared to us.
People are hungry for art, for music and even on the worst day you’ll have at least 50 people at the gig.
And if you had to sum up your sound in just one sentence?
Fugazi on heavy meth meets Sonic Youth on ketamine.
Lyrically, what kind of stuff do you tend to dig into?
All the dark shit you can imagine; anxiety, depression, existential pain, mental instability, substance addiction and repulsion towards the establishment and inhuman rules of capitalist society.
What’s your take on Berlin’s music scene? Does it feel welcoming?
There are many really great bands and artists but they are often divided and limited to their narrow communities. So I would have the courage to say that we see building a scene of our own as one of our goals.
Where do you love playing most in the city?
For now Neue Zukunft and Schokoladen, are our top spaces. But there are many great venues and we’re always happy to play anywhere new.
Have you been working with any other Berlin artists lately? Or anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
For our latest song Trickster we collaborated with our good friends, noise-duo P/O Massacre to add some noise and saxophone layers. To perform this song live we’re now joined by our friend Daniel of Lazy Giants who plays clarinet. We are already planning some unconventional collaborations both with artists based in Berlin and outside of Berlin.
If you had to pick one song to sum up Berlin as a city – what would it be?
“Touch Me I’m Sick” by Mudhoney.
Is there anything that’s surprised you about being a musician here?
To my mind the audience is the main benefit in Berlin. People are hungry for art, for music and even on the worst day you’ll have at least 50 people at the gig. Berlin is one of the main centres of European cultural life, at least considering punk and underground culture.
And finally – what’s coming up for you?
We are releasing new songs this month and planning a three-week tour with Lazy Giants.
