Silent Planet vocalist Garrett Russell has spoken with Metal Hammer about his band’s recent pair of shows in Ukraine. The Californian alternative metalcore band are one of the few international artists to have staged a performance in that country since Russia launched their invasion back in 2022.
Russell initially shared his thoughts last month on social media, stating in part, “this journey has grown our hearts and deepened our thoughts.” Silent Planet, who have been politically active with their music and social media, played Kyiv on June 20th, and followed suit with another set in Lviv on June 21st.
The group had previously utilized their 2025 Holodomor-inspired track “Wick” to benefit Ukrainian children affected by the ongoing Russian war. In this new chat, Russell spoke of the risks and the difficulties touring in a country at war poses. Among them were not being able to rent a van from outside the country due to insurance issues, and the various trips to bomb shelters amid drone attack alerts.
Russell went on to say that the band endured three air raid sirens during their time in the country, offering:
“The first day, when we were in Kyiv, we got all the gear in and they started plugging everything in, and I hadn’t eaten all day. I went to this grocery store and, as I’m walking out, Oleksandra – our tour manager, an amazing person – was like, ‘There you are! All the band’s in the bomb shelter!’ There was an air alert: a couple of Russian drones were flying over Kyiv.
I checked my phone and there were 50 texts, like, ‘Where the fuck are you?!’ But you look around and no one seems concerned, and there’s supposedly an explosive drone somewhere over town. The danger is very real, but there’s also kind of a casual approach that people take to it.”
He later continued:
“The second night we were at our hotel in Kyiv, we got woken up by one, so we went down to the bomb shelter. Then we went back to bed, and apparently there was another bomb warning that same night but I just slept through it. My bandmates went back down, so they basically didn’t sleep the night after the first show.”
When asked how he felt about being perhaps the first American band to perform in the country since the invasion, he responded:
“It makes me sad. What breaks my heart is bands have been playing Moscow for the last few years, and getting paid really well to do it, and it seems fucked-up that the country getting invaded by Moscow is not getting shows because of Moscow.”
While many international artists have abstained from touring Russia since the aforementioned invasion, divisive metalcore band As I Lay Dying are one of the few to play multiple shows in the country in recent years. Russell went on to praise the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the enthusiasm the the fans displayed at the shows. When asked if he would encourage other artists to follow suit and play a concert in the country, Russell replied:
“Yeah. I really do believe, in the scheme of things, it’s safe. Touring is inherently dangerous: we went through a van flip [in November 2022] and my back’s not been the same since. I think a tour across the United States between November and February is probably more dangerous than going to Ukraine.”
