Born from a shared passion for blending musical styles, The MC2 Project are redefining the possibilities of instrumental music, in a way. Fusing rock’s raw energy, classical’s precision, and jazz’s spontaneity, the duo—guitarist Anthony A-man and pianist Larisa Gorodinski—create a sound that thrives on experimentation and collaboration.
With their latest single “Rising” and a new album set for release in December, The MC2 Project continue to explore uncharted territory. In this conversation, The MC2 Project open up about their inspirations, techniques, and vision, offering insight into how they turn ideas into compositions.
The MC2 Project blends rock, classical, and jazz influences in its music. How did this fusion of genres come about, and what drives you to combine these elements?
The initial idea was based on the tendencies of some hard rock bands moving towards prog rock with more musical ideas and creating more articulated sound. Basically, this is a blend of energy of rock music, complexity of classical approach, and freedom of jazz.
You co-write all tracks with Larisa. What is your collaborative process like when creating music together, especially given your different backgrounds as a guitarist and pianist?
Musically, for us it is important to have an idea what the music will be about and what are the associated sounds – that drives the entire process. The ideas might come from guitar or from keyboard. There is no primary source, I would say. We have a pretty large library of samples/demos recorded at the time when an idea comes to mind and at some point when an idea start making sense there is work on how to incorporate it into the track we are working on.
Technically we are working in a home studio using quite a bit of computer technology for recording. We record keyboard and guitar parts at the home studio, using drum samples and recording first baseline idea for the bass. Then we are sending the demo to the drummer, Alex Bituckih, we are collaborating for all our projects and after the drum tracks are ready (being recorded in a professional studio) we invie in a bass player. We’ve been lucky to work with some amazing musicians.
For instance, Andy West (Dixie Dregs) honored us in recording a bass line for the Time Flow, from our ‘Chasing Rainbow’ album. On the third album to be released this December, Matt Skellenger from Denver did an outstanding job. Additionally, on the first album we had Teppa Gonzalo playing bass track for ‘Hurry Up.’
Can you tell us more about the concept or theme behind your latest single “Rising,” and how it fits within the broader context of The MC2 Project’s music?
RISING was created within a single recording session. It started from a guitar riff, then keyboards complemented the right level of the ingredients. The idea was about the tension we have right now in the world and only wide recognition of the problem by all people will make our world a better place. This is what was driving this tune.
The MC2 Project relies on guest musicians for bass and drums. How do you approach the process of selecting collaborators for these roles, and how do they influence the sound of the tracks?
Working with better musicians is pushing our limits and we thoroughly enjoy it. The invited musicians add a lot of flavors and sometimes completely change the direction of the tune. For instance, “Time Flow” from our second album initially played as a pretty lite jazz tune. When we received the drums for “Time Flow” it changed the direction 180 degrees. And Andy adds his bass line to complete the final sound of the tune. It means the influence to the sound is quite significant. It is important to note that sound engineering during the mixing/mastering phase of production adds another layer in defining the final sound. The sound engineer working with us, Alex JaJa, is an integral part of the team, he is part of the creative process.
As both a guitarist and a producer, how do you balance your dual roles in the creative and technical aspects of the music?
It is easy. It is definitely important to look at the music during the creation as a whole piece reflecting an idea. That is the cornerstone to me: we need to understand what we are reflecting on. This is not just a set of nice sounding notes or riffs. And that could be painful.
What is your philosophy when it comes to blending different musical styles, and how do you ensure that each element complements the others rather than competing for attention?
We need to make sure the proposed ideas are working for the final goal of the track. We are definitely pushing ourselves to create a new voice in our music
using all the tools we have at the moment. However, tools are secondary, although important.
The MC2 Project was formed in 2021, yet your sound is already distinct. How has your musical journey shaped the direction of this project in such a short time?
Difficult to say, we feel we have something to say and most likely our background, experience, and a vision helps here a lot. We feel that we had this music already in our heads for a long time.
How does your experience in studio work inform your approach to producing The MC2 Project’s tracks? Are there particular techniques or tools you rely on during the production process?
Yes, we use quite a bit of technology in the creation process. We use drums sampler (ssd5), and a set of keyboard sampling software like Padshop2, Komplete Kontakt, and others. And, what is super important we are getting a lot of advice from our sound engineer regarding the sound. All of it helps us make the our vision come to life.
The project has a strong emphasis on instrumental music. What is it about instrumental compositions that you find so appealing or fitting for the kind of music you want to create?
In our opinion, writing instrumental music is more challenging than writing songs, because you have only one tool to explain what you mean – music. In case of songs there is an additional tool – lyrics, and that simplifies making an impact, in some ways. However, we are considering instruments as vocals, and the base of the music are melodies reflected by the musical instruments. The style is defined by the tools we know and those are musical instruments since no one in this project sings.
How do you envision The MC2 Project evolving in the future? Are there any new directions or experiments you’re looking to explore in upcoming music?
We have more ideas regarding our future music as instrumental. However, we are participating in two other projects. One project is a hard rock original songs band that applies our approach to build instrumental music combined with lyrics/vocals.
We hope we will generate more unique tracks, including songs. The songs most likely are a separate project. Although, we are mixing those two projects for live performances.
With “Rising” being featured on the Progotronics 47 compilation, how does it feel to have your music recognized by such a platform, and what do you hope listeners will take away from your track?
Nowadays there is so much new music released every day and it is difficult to navigate through all this flow. We really appreciate this platform helping people with the similar mindset to be properly informed, and doing a great job. As for us, we are definitely honored to be featured on this platform. We appreciate the time people spent checking out what we produce. That is a big deal. Thank you all!
https://www.facebook.com/themc2projectFor more about The MC2 Project visit their website. Follow them on Facebook.
