1. Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to sip on while they listen to your new music?
Since The Hardkiss is a fusion of powerful, driving music and deep vocal parts, it should feel like a mix of flavors. If it were an alcoholic drink, it would be a margarita – salty and sour. And if it were something healthy, we’d recommend sea buckthorn tea.
2. Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
Right now, we are finishing work on our fifth full-length album, which will be released in 2026. It will be more alternative than what we’ve created before. About 80% of the album will consist of English-language tracks, but we will also continue to release songs in Ukrainian. Two of the tracks are already available online – Crush and Tenderness. Both have music videos, and we strongly recommend watching them one after the other, because we’ve connected their visual stories, which we will continue to develop in future works.
Our goal now is to create our own Hardkiss universe, a special cosmos to which we invite all our listeners and viewers. Once you watch the videos, you’ll understand exactly what we mean.
3. Name 5 things we all should know about you as a band?!
First, we are a band from Ukraine.
Second, all the creative work behind our songs and videos belongs to us. Val Bebko and I create both the music and the video concepts together. Val is the director of almost all of our music videos. So you could say that we do all of our art completely in-house.
Third, next year the band will celebrate its 15th anniversary, and we are going on our Anniversary European Tour. The dates are already available on our website, and we are really looking forward to meeting everyone.
Fourth. At home, we’ve already received every possible national award and prize, and now we want to make our mark on the international music scene.
Fives. Over these 15 years, I’ve also managed to take part in Dancing with the Stars, serve as a judge on The Voice and X-Factor, and even host Eurovision in Liverpool.
4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music
All this time we’ve been working closely with Ukrainian designers, constantly reinventing our looks. Welcome to our Instagram page to see how we integrate fashion into our art. We really love designers such as GUDU, Valery Kovalska, and Nadya Dzyak…I could go on endlessly naming Ukrainian designers, but among global names, I’d say Gareth Pugh is probably the one that resonates most with our style.
5. We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true? (For example Dinos living inside Earth or E.T. living in a home in California)
I like the theory that, long ago, giants lived on Earth — they were the ones who built Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, and they were incredibly wise, much wiser than we are. I find something romantic in that idea.
6. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
I would also love to bring back the time when music was truly cherished, and when we knew less about musicians as personalities and admired their art more. Because today, sometimes you wish you could erase from memory the things you know about certain artists as people, and just keep their musical legacy. And of course, it would be wonderful to sell vinyl records as successfully as people did 50 years ago.
Instagram: the_hardkiss
