The Bambir, Music Factory, Yerevan

The Bambir, Music Factory, Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2013

Talking of gigs, some photos of The Bambir playing for two nights at the Music Factory in Yerevan last February. Arguably Armenia’s best loved rock band, I’ve known them since 2001 and wrote something on them for Hetq Online a few years later.

YEREVAN, Armenia – It’s well past midnight when Narek Barseghyan and Arman Kocharyan, lead guitarist and bassist with the Armenian rock band Bambir, return home. For once, they’ve decided to call it an early night, providing me with the opportunity to interview them over a bottle of vodka diluted down with orange juice.

 

Narek says he feels like drinking screwdrivers tonight rather than the more customary vodka drunk straight.

 

At the very least, it means that it will take a lot longer before speech becomes slurred, and the whole point of the interview is lost. An early Bob Dylan recording is playing in the background as we start to speak about the band in an old apartment building now overshadowed by half a dozen high-rises being built on Yerevan’s controversial northern avenue.

 

The two musicians have come a long was since leaving their native Gyumri in 2000. They’ve always been dynamic performers on stage, of course, but in recent years the band has matured musically. Now performing on an almost weekly basis at Yerevan’s Stop Club, Bambir are attracting a sizeable and almost fanatical following in Armenia’s still largely underground rock scene.

 

Four years ago, short haired and clean cut, the band resembled every mother’s stereotype for their sons. Nowadays, hair is longer, and Bambir look and live like a rock band. Across the table, Narek lights a cigarette before pouring us both another cocktail. I’m here to find out more about the band’s history, and to discover what their future holds in store. I can only hope that it all makes sense in the morning.

The Bambir, Music Factory, Yerevan, Armenia © Onnik James Krikorian 2013