ORIGINAL HIPSTER

Vika Yermolyeva is surprisingly soft-spoken. Talking from Reykjavik, Iceland, via Skype, she seems more demure than what one would expect from musician who can hammer out a Motörhead song with intimidating ferocity. Her metal covers on piano have gotten hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, and she now makes a living from her sheet music transcriptions, which she sells online for donations.

Originally from Ukraine, Yermolyeva began taking piano lessons when she was four years old. She attended music school in Kiev, studied in Germany and Italy, and completed two post-graduate studies, one of which was at the highly regarded Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands.

And, on Saturday, she’s performing her first heavy metal concert, accompanied by drummer Brian Viglione. “I think he’s quite a different person from me,” she says, “because he’s very fun and outspoken. I’m more calm.”

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Calm, yes. Until she utterly annihilates “Master of Puppets” on the piano.

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Original Hipster: I’d like to hear your side of the story of how you and Brian met.

Vika Yermolyeva: It was evening. I was home, and then I got an email on Facebook from a guy that was just excited about my work. And he wanted to talk to me or something. I just remember that it said Brian from The Dresden Dolls, and I was like, “What??” (laughs) So, I checked to know for sure that it was actually him, and then I Googled to know for sure that it was actually his name, and I was like, “Oh my God!” And I wrote him back immediately. And then he wrote back, and then I went for a walk because I was too excited.

OH: Do you think it will be challenging for you to adjust to playing with a drummer?

VY: I think I’ll be able to do that, and I think it’s, in a way, easier because he keeps the rhythm. As long as I can hear it very well, it’s easier than if I were trying to keep it myself, inside.

OH: How long have you been interested in heavy metal?

VY: Many years. I even liked to dress a little bit heavy metal. I always wanted some cool jacket with heavy metal stuff on it. It started just with dancing and dressing up. And then I thought I wanted to play bass guitar, and of course I can play piano much better than I can play bass guitar. So, finally, I decided, ok, let’s try to play some on a piano. And I started with Metallica.

OH: What was the first metal song or album that really grabbed you?

VY: I think it was, again, Metallica. Many years ago. I’m not sure about the albums. Usually I just pick out songs that I like. I don’t have particular albums that I love entirely.

OH: What was the first metal concert that you went to?

VY: Chimaira, I think. And also Opeth. But I didn’t go to many concerts. Sometimes it’s too loud for me.

OH: When did you first start playing metal songs on the piano?

VY: When Metallica’s single showed up—“The Day That Never Comes” [in 2008]. At the beginning, I skipped the entire hard part of “The Day That Never Comes” and just finished, so it was sort of like a nice ballad, basically. (laughs) But after that I decided not to skip and just actually play everything. It was tricky.

OH: How do you transcribe the songs?

VY: I just write down what I hear from the record, and then I start playing, and the arrangements just kind of happen. I play, and I change some things until I’m happy. So, it doesn’t take that much time, but I was always very good with writing down music that I hear. Also, in school we had lessons where somebody would play a song, and we had to write it down, and I was usually the best one. But I didn’t have any lessons on arrangement; it just happens—I think because I played so much classical music, which is really greatly arranged compositions for pianists. So it’s just easier for me.

OH: Say I played a Metallica song for you that you hadn’t worked on before. How long do you think it would take before you were happy with what you’d written down?

VY: A few hours. Usually Metallica is very straightforward. I mean, you just play what you hear and just add some octaves and make sure it’s in rhythm…Metallica, it’s very clear, usually.

OH: What would you find to be difficult to transcribe and arrange?

VY: Pink Floyd, maybe Radiohead. This kind of music. Something that’s difficult to catch its mood because…I can’t use any effects. It makes a lot of space. You create a lot of space like Pink Floyd does, and then it’s a simple sound, but with piano it’s very hard. I need to fill in the space with notes and still keep the atmosphere. That’s very difficult.

OH: Do you find that your covers are bringing metal to a new audience, maybe to people who prefer classical music?

VY: Yes…I also think maybe some metalheads will start to appreciate piano more because of my covers. I think they have sometimes the idea that piano is not interesting, not cool…When you sing, it’s easy to show your emotions, or, like with guitar, maybe it’s a little bit easier. To actually pull your emotions on the piano and make people feel something, that’s very difficult. Guitar really reacts to touch so much, and you can change the sound while you’re already pressing it, while you’re playing it, so it’s close to how you sing. But with piano, you press it once: it’s starting to die. You have to really connect all the sounds to make it sing and speak. This is a hard job.

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Read Part 1: Interview with Brian Viglione here. Watch rehearsal footage of Viggie & Vika here. And keep your eyes and ears open for the live recording of their show!