To begin with, the name, GraySkiesForever. It instantly resonates with your music. I wonder how your life was growing up, and what your academic background has been.
Honestly, I love this name — because its meaning has changed over the years and attached itself to different stages of my life. The funny thing is, it started with a tattoo. Sean from Texas did it for me.
About ten years ago, I got this huge tattoo on my right arm, and he simply titled it GraySkiesForever. A year later, when I created my Instagram, I used that name. Unexpectedly, that account changed my life. My success started from that project.
The name feels even more symbolic now that I live in Los Angeles, where the skies are usually blue. It connects me to where I came from — Moscow, where I grew up in the 1990s. That time was extremely hard; Russia had the highest homicide rate in the world. There was this constant presence of danger and anxiety, and Grey Skies came from there.
And now, GraySkiesForever feels even heavier. That part of my life was abruptly cut off. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, I’ve spoken out publicly, supported protests, made donations, and now I can’t return. If I go back, I’ll face years of imprisonment. It’s a deep sadness I carry every day. In a way, the name has become a symbol of what I lost — and what I still carry with me.
I don’t have an academic background. I studied law for a couple of years and then worked as a programmer, making web games and interactive tools. That experience turned out to be really important. Now, I build software for music, and this blend of sound and technology has become the foundation of everything I do.
