Monta Čubare: “Last year, I was preparing my new album. I had already written more songs than I needed. At the same time, Jānis — the producer of my songs — would occasionally show me his latest ideas, as usual. I couldn't resist the urge to add something to them. We talked about how natural it would be to create something together. The idea kept growing until we decided to form a band and create the planned album as a joint project.”
Jānis: “Also, we had long needed a proper name for our live performances since we were mostly introduced as Monta and Jānis Čubars. That felt a bit too familiar to us.”
Monta: “Yes, the stage is more about our love for music. That’s how we arrived at our joint project – VIENI.”
The musicians have already been performing under the new name at city festivals and various other events, playing guitar and percussion, and sometimes singing as a duet.
Monta: “Primarily I’m the vocalist and Jānis is the guitarist, but both in concerts and original music, Jānis’s voice joins mine. If someone has been given a voice, they should use it! That’s how I see it. So in our debut, both our voices are featured.”
Jānis: “And actually, if you Google me — ‘Jānis Čubars’ — it says I’m a singer. Maybe that’s a sign that I should start singing.”
The group VIENI presents their debut single “Laiks tālāk doties”, with music, lyrics, and production by group member Jānis Čubars.
Jānis: “The title itself carries the main idea. We’ve all been in situations where we feel something is off. In that moment, we need to recognize that the situation isn’t permanent. Once we realize and admit that, we let the winds of change move us forward and escape that ‘seemingly’ helpless state. That’s when it becomes — time to move on.”
Jānis: “Producing the song wasn’t exactly easy this time. In my career as a producer, I’ve arranged many songs by different authors. But writing and producing my own song was a unique challenge — suddenly there were so many ideas and directions to take, it was overwhelming. Still, all’s well that ends well, and the chaos of ideas turned into a beautiful piece. Thanks to Monta for agreeing to join me on this adventure.”
The lyric video was created by VIENI member Monta, with special thanks to photographer Zane Hartmane for capturing the footage during the photoshoot.
Watch the lyric video on YouTube!
Monta: “I had this vision even before the song was finished — that the video would show behind-the-scenes moments, who we are as people. Since I’m just as passionate about video as I am about music, I decided to explore this area too. The use of black and white tones is not random — they are the colors we feel best in and perform in. We like playing with seemingly incompatible elements — the synthesis of two worlds, the yin and yang principle. I brought that into the video too — vertical/horizontal, retro/modern, simple/artistic, synchronized/asynchronous, and so on. I found it fascinating. That’s one of our main rules in creativity — if it doesn’t excite us, there’s no point in doing it.”
