For the last 35 years, Aria has consistently been Russia's biggest heavy metal band, inspiring hundreds, if not thousands of young rock and metal musicians with their albums and spirited live performances. With the recent digital releases of 'Baptism By Fire' and 'Armageddon', which were re-recorded with their current line-up, Aria's full discography is available internationally on all major streaming platforms. An excellent opportunity to introduce Aria to hard rock and heavy metal fans all over the world.

In order to provide the international audience some insight into the band's history, present and future, bassist and main songwriter Vitaly Dubinin talked to Dutch music journalist and longtime Aria fan Kevin Pasman. During the 17-minute in-depth video interview, Dubinin touches upon subjects like Aria's recent international concerts, how the band's activities were impacted by the end of the Soviet Union and the current coronavirus pandemic, as well as the recent re-recordings.

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"We played in Europe for the first time in 1988", Dubinin says. "There was no internet back then and no opportunity for Europeans to buy our records. It was obvious that we were totally unknown there. But music is an international language, so eventually, foreign rock fans started accepting us. Also, the internet made everything much easier. In the past ten years, foreign fans have become much more familiar with our music. Some of them even try to sing along, even though they cannot speak Russian!"

About sounding as inspired now as when he joined the band in the mid-eighties, Dubinin says the following: "We have never considered music to be our job or our business. We have always considered it our lifestyle. We can't just quit. Even if we decided to quit, I think we soon will find ourselves calling each other to say: we've made a mistake, let's get together and play music again!"

Aria was founded in Moscow in 1985 by guitarist Vladimir Holstinin and quickly became one of the biggest rock bands in their home country. Their classic 1987 album 'Hero of Asphalt' sold 1.5 million copies in the Soviet Union alone, while multiple Aria members would form influential bands of their own after leaving the band, such as Master, Kipelov and Arteria. Today, Aria consists of Holstinin, the rhythm section of Dubinin and Maxim Udalov ' both of whom debuted on 'Hero of Asphalt' ' former Master guitarist Sergey Popov and, since 2011, singer Mikhail Zhitnyakov.

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