robin guthrie tour

robin guthrie | official website

All my releases are now available from Bandcamp (physical + digital).

Follow me on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram for news and updates.

• Moscow concerts Moscow concerts Moscow concerts See all Moscow concerts ( Change location ) Today · Next 7 days · Next 30 days
• Most popular artists worldwide
• Trending artists worldwide

• Tourbox for artists

Search for events or artists

• Sign up Log in

• Get the app
• Moscow concerts
• Change location
• Popular Artists
• Live streams
• Deutsch Português
• Popular artists

Robin Guthrie

• On tour: no
• Upcoming 2024 concerts: none

14,618 fans get concert alerts for this artist.

Join Songkick to track Robin Guthrie and get concert alerts when they play near you.

Find your next concert

Join 14,618 fans getting concert alerts for this artist

Similar artists with upcoming concerts

Tours most with, past concerts.

Glee Club - Birmingham

The Assembly

View all past concerts

Posters (7)

Find out more about Robin Guthrie tour dates & tickets 2024-2025

Want to see Robin Guthrie in concert? Find information on all of Robin Guthrie’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

Unfortunately there are no concert dates for Robin Guthrie scheduled in 2024.

Songkick is the first to know of new tour announcements and concert information, so if your favorite artists are not currently on tour, join Songkick to track Robin Guthrie and get concert alerts when they play near you, like 14618 other Robin Guthrie fans.

Last concert:

Concerts played in 2024:

Touring history

Most played:

• SF Bay Area (3)
• Glasgow (2)
• Minehead (2)
• New York (NYC) (2)

Appears most with:

• Brendan Perry (15)
• Mark Gardener (12)
• Yo La Tengo (3)
• Bob Mould (3)
• My Bloody Valentine (3)

Distance travelled:

Similar artists

• Most popular charts
• API information
• Brand guidelines
• Community guidelines
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookies settings
• Cookies policy

Get your tour dates seen everywhere.

• But we really hope you love us.

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Guthrie, Robin

Robin Guthrie Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

Robin guthrie at festival mythos 2018.

• Edit setlist songs
• Edit venue & date
• Edit set times
• Add to festival
• Report setlist

Robin Guthrie at Palác Akropolis, Prague, Czechia

Robin guthrie at glee club, birmingham, england, robin guthrie at the assembly, royal leamington spa, england, robin guthrie at fleece, bristol, england, robin guthrie at exeter phoenix, exeter, england, robin guthrie at sticky mike's frog bar, brighton, england.

• Waiting for Dawn
• Horse Heaven
• Neil's Theme
• Mission Dolores
• Little Big Fish

Robin Guthrie at Cargo, London, England

Robin guthrie at the portland arms, cambridge, england, robin guthrie at arden road social club, halifax, england.

Robin Guthrie

More from this artist.

• Artist Statistics
• Add setlist

Most played songs

• Mission Dolores ( 10 )
• Monument ( 10 )
• Neil's Theme ( 10 )
• Bordertown ( 9 )

More Robin Guthrie statistics

Mark Gardener

View covered by statistics

Artists covered

Tim Buckley

View artists covered statistics

Gigs seen live by

69 people have seen Robin Guthrie live.

angelsighs MilesJ Shambeko search_party ufoartwork Ianfaith kevimetal mwebb1 LightninDave Tether18 Andunemir Tim_Hooper JamesJames BobGeorge dombrifuge reviansmart crowlink Nev85 Gin_Monkey punksattorney karlisz raadiopea tupelopenny motodude monodistortion BlazinNathan agb42 SoundManCA goneworldgone tilted_windmill billforbes DavidC thscharmingman doglaw Mosquito123 Orbaddict losingtoday shakila_m morgodth gregfasolino frankieteardrop media-vortex Sleepless72 craigyaz halcyondaze Jackster seank today_is_ok MariaDelirium Sulky

Showing only 50 most recent

Robin Guthrie on the web

Music links.

• Robin Guthrie Lyrics (de)
• Official Homepage

Tour Update

Marquee memories: sleater-kinney.

• Sleater‐Kinney
• Apr 3, 2024
• Apr 2, 2024
• Apr 1, 2024
• Mar 31, 2024
• Mar 30, 2024
• Mar 29, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Feature requests
• Songtexte.com

• listening party
• existing artist
• See all results

No matching results

Try a different filter or a new search keyword.

Search all Bandcamp artists, tracks, and albums

• artists PRO view site
• edit profile
• subscription subscription
• view collection
• showLinkedBands(!showLinkedBands())" data-test="linked-accounts-header">

Pearldiving

By robin guthrie.

Digital Album Streaming + Download

Buy digital album   €9 eur  or more, send as gift  , compact disc (digipack) album compact disc (cd) + digital album.

Buy Compact Disc   €14 EUR or more  

Share / embed.

Robin Guthrie France

• robinguthrie.com

discography

contact / help

Contact Robin Guthrie

Streaming and Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Robin Guthrie, you may also like:

everything is alive by Slowdive

supported by 71 fans who also own “Pearldiving”

Shoegaze ist die Kunst des Dröhnens, doch „Everything Is Alive“ setzt diese Elemente nur sparsam ein. Statt Hall- und Zerr-Sounds aufzutürmen, schäumt die Musik in feinen Bläschen über. https://tortue.substack.com/i/140348114/slowdive-everything-is-alive-dead-oceans Daniel Welsch

Sun's Signature by Sun's Signature

supported by 58 fans who also own “Pearldiving”

here for the wondrous radiant shimmer that is Liz Fraser trapperkeeper

Book of Romance and Dust by Exit North

supported by 48 fans who also own “Pearldiving”

Because he's cute. malykrzychu

Poet Lies by moondaddy

A gorgeous record of blissed out shoegaze streaked with stardust and a glam rock edge from this San Diego-based artist. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 19, 2023

Mute The Charm by Unwed Sailor

Johnathon Ford goes Britpop on his latest LP. Bandcamp Album of the Day Feb 17, 2023

GLORIA DE OLIVEIRA - Fascination (Compilation Album) by GLORIA DE OLIVEIRA

The German-Brazilian artist's eerie electronic music spans all shades of darkness, from moonlit dreamwave to goth-styled synth-pop. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 1, 2020

Pearlies by Emma Anderson

A tantalising glimpse of what Lush could have been if they hadn't been derailed by the Britpop sound in the mid 90s. The natural progression of Spooky and Scar. mondoricho

Bandcamp Daily    your guide to the world of Bandcamp

A Guide to the Solo Discography of Cocteau Twins’s Robin Guthrie

The Return of Slowdive

First Time’s the Charm for Aster More

On Bandcamp Radio

A BBE Music take over!

• terms of use
• switch to mobile view

Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999

Writing Something Complete: An Interview With Robin Guthrie

As the co-founder of shoegaze legends Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie has a well-deserved place in music history. The swirling guitar effects and intricate compositions on Treasure and Blue Bell Knoll were equally as innovative as the lauded vocal performances of his former bandmate Elizabeth Fraser. It all culminated with a masterpiece in Heaven Or Las Vegas . Seven years later, tensions between Guthrie and Fraser resulted in the disbandment of the band and the beginning of an uncertain new future for Guthrie.

The past 15 years have seen Robin Guthrie shift from innovator to iconoclast. Since the breakup of Cocteau Twins, Guthrie has released five solo albums (the most recent of which, Fortune , came out in 2012), started a record label with former bandmate Simon Raymonde, and has collaborated with the likes of Harold Budd and Ride’s Mark Gardner, with whom he has an album set for release in the coming year. However, Guthrie’s most high-profile collaboration may be with a director: along with Budd, he wrote and recorded the soundtrack to Gregg Araki’s cult hit Mysterious Skin , starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This year finds Guthrie joining Budd and Araki for another film, White Bird In A Blizzard , starring Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, and Gabourey Sidibe. For this film’s soundtrack, Araki asked of something curious from Guthrie: to revisit his past for the film’s music.

We sat down with Guthrie to talk with this unexpected trip back into his musical past, as well as what the future has in store for him.

How do you approach writing music for films as opposed to writing pop songs?

That’s a good question. To be honest, I don’t really write pop songs these days, though the album I’ve done with Mark Gardner has quite a few pop songs on it. When I’m working on my own, I write music to please myself. I don’t have any constraints to what I can do. When you’re part of a movie, though, you have to help to tell a story. So, I speak with the director to get the idea behind the movie, and then he’ll give me some scenes to write music for. There’s a bit of mathematics involved because you have to figure out where a piece of music enters, when it finishes, what tempo it needs to be in. I guess it’s easier with an ambient piece, but if it’s in a tempo, you need to do the math first.

You kind of have to switch off your ego a little bit, too. If you look at the credits to a movie, you’ll see that there are hundreds of people working on it, which is something I’m not used to. Usually, on the back of my records, it says ‘Made By Robin Guthrie.’ So I have to take that hat off and work towards what’s best for the film and how the story is told. It’s very different for me, and I think it’s a lot more interesting. It takes me out of my comfort zone, and I get to work on things that I wouldn’t normally work on. Things like commercials, short films: pieces that require a different sort of planning than an album.

I’d imagine that writing music without worrying about things like gearing a song towards radio would open up some new possibilities.

It’s inspiring, as well. A lot of the instrumental music I’ve made is based on experiences that I’ve had, especially visual experiences.

A lot of your more recent work has been instrumental in nature. Is there something you prefer about writing instrumental music as opposed to music with vocals?

I like to think of my instrumental music as being complete. I’ve had instances in the past where people who reviewed my records said “Oh, it’s really good. If only such-and-such was singing on it,” and that just makes me really cross, because I think it’s a complete work in its own right. A lot of the music I listen to is instrumental these days because I like being able to use my own imagination to create something in my head using the atmosphere and melodies. It’s quite indirect. With so many songs that have lyrics, there’s only one way you can interpret those works. When I write music, I don’t want to be limited like that. And personally, if writing was my skill, I’d rather write a book than a song.

You worked with Harold Budd on this album.

Strangely, I didn’t work with Harold on this one. We worked independently, although we have made a lot of records together in the past, and we have another one coming out soon. Greg Reckie called us in towards the end of the movie, and the budget didn’t allow for me to fly out to California to meet with Harold or for him to come here. So Harold did his parts and I did mine and we put them together.

How does that collaboration work when you’re in different parts of the world?

There’s something fundamental in the way we work. We obviously communicate with each other, but we’re also both sort of minimalist in our approach. He might be more minimalist than I am; he’s got a way of making three notes last an hour. Something about his style, regardless of what we’re playing, his style locks down perfectly, terrifically, effortless with what I do. I don’t compromise when I make records with Harold, and he doesn’t compromise, either. We don’t cramp each other’s style. There’s a lot of liberty. It is more appealing to be making records with him. We’ve made a couple so far, and when we get together, we have a good time, and we do good stuff. Of course, things were a little different this time because we had to work so quickly, but I don’t think that that had a bad effect at all.

You also had to remember that the film is a period piece, as well. For some of the pieces I wrote, I kind of had to go back and put my big ’80s hair on. Greg wanted some of the music to have a feel similar to Victorialand [the Cocteau Twins album], so I thought, “I’ve done that before; I could do it again.” You know, just make a pastiche of my own work from 25 years ago. But, with the film being set in 1988, I had to avoid the temptation to make things sound too modern. I didn’t want any of my pieces to sound out of place in the film.

I noticed that some of the pieces, particularly the second track (“Brock’s Theme”) had that drum machine sound from the early Cocteau Twins records, where the guitars wash over the drum machine and it ends up not sounding like a drum machine anymore.

Yeah. It’s fun to have a movie set in 1988 as an excuse to play with old things and get some of the old equipment out again. It’s fun.

Technology in music, particularly with guitars and drum machines, has advanced so much over the years. How does that affect how you write songs in general?

That’s a pertinent question; I’m actually in the middle of upgrading my studio right now. I’ve been using the same version of my recording software for four years and I just decided to go with the new version. I think it’s good to refresh and use new technology as it comes along. You know, a new person who started out writing music with this technology isn’t going to do things the same way that I would. They may not work things correctly or I might not work things correctly. It’s interesting, for example, when you get computer simulations of guitar pedals — which I use, even though I have all the pedals–I wonder about someone who never lived through the 1970s and 1980s and never heard those original sounds. I wonder how they would approach that, because it would be very different to my approach. I come to that software with a sound in my head, and I end up using, say, a delay effect the way I would use a delay pedal. But if you’ve got a kid who’s never even seen a delay pedal, they could use that effect in a more interesting way, just by chance.

Conversely, I work that way with a lot of new things because I have this experience of how a lot of old things sound. On a track, I can take the same sort of tools used to make hip-hop or electronic music and I’ll incorporate it into my own work by moving things away from the presets and slowing the tempo down. Over time, you start collect more and more sounds and styles that you can use. Ultimately, though, it’s a double-edged sword, because everything I do ends up sounding like me in the end. Not much I can do about that.

What drew you to pick up a guitar in the first place?

I was about 16 or 17, and the whole punk thing was going on in the UK. That was the stuff. It was a way to get away from my boring job in an industrial town; it was all about kids getting away and doing something different. The guitar actually wasn’t my first choice: I wanted to be a drummer at first, but I didn’t have a drum kit. Then I wanted to be a bass player, but I didn’t have a bass. I ended up picking up the guitar, and I wasn’t a great musician, but it was an interesting time in music when a lot of rules were being broken. The positive energy that punk had, it was kind of naive, but it had a positive effect on someone who was young and naive like I was.

When I was 17, there was no fucking stopping me. That’s how you are when you’re 17: you don’t think of the consequences, you just go and do it. With Cocteau Twins, Liz [Fraser] was 17, I was 19, and Will [Heggie] was 19, and we decided that we wanted to make a record with 4AD, so we did. When I think about that now, it’s just ridiculous. It took years for me to realize that that’s not how the music industry works. I still think it’s amazing that I had that sort of self-belief back then.

Tell me about this album that you’re working on with Mark Gardner.

It’s held up at the moment. We finished it, and then I started working on a different project, and Mark had his first child, so we sort of took our eye off the ball. It’ll come out next year. It’s good; it doesn’t like Mark Gardner and it doesn’t sound like me (i.e. it doesn’t sound like Ride or Cocteau Twins), so anyone who’s expecting that will probably go, “What the fuck? This isn’t a shoegaze record.” It’s definitely not a shoegaze record. It’s a surprising record, I think. Mark pulled some things out of me that took me out of my comfort place, and I certainly did that with Mark. We’ve ended up with a record filled with songs and tunes and interesting sounds. It’s a very buoyant record, very exciting. It’s definitely made by two guys who have been around for a while as opposed to two new dudes. It’s a good energy, you can hear the energy of us getting together for the first time. Regardless of what age you are, when you’ve got a new working relationship, there’s an energy that comes through.

Publish with PopMatters

PopMatters Seeks Book Critics and Essayists

Call for Papers: All Things Reconsidered – FILM Winter 2023-24

Call for Papers: All Things Reconsidered – MUSIC Winter 2023-24

Submit an Essay, Review, Interview, or List to PopMatters

PopMatters Seeks Music Writers

Robin Guthrie: “I’m not playing a guitar – I'm playing the sound, I'm playing the pedals, I'm playing the reverb”

With a few stolen pedals and a drum machine, the former Cocteau Twins man helped reinvent guitar music. Now he’s back with a flurry of new releases…

Robin Guthrie’s tonal wizardry has had a revolutionary impact on guitar music, but it’s his ears – not the gear – that have always led his approach to playing.

For over 40 years – from his days as the guitarist, songwriter and sonic architect behind UK indie icons Cocteau Twins to his collaborations with composer Harold Budd and myriad solo albums – Guthrie has consistently chased the sound in his head. 

An early adopter and self-described “nerd”, he fed a youthful love of tinkering with circuits and the anarchic experimentalism of punk into his guitar playing. Among the drum machines, synths and towering reverbs of his customized rigs, he built a new kind of world. 

It’s a legacy that has continued to play out in the cycles of shoegaze and dream-pop bands that have perpetuated since Cocteau Twins’ early-'80s debut. Guthrie’s wider legacy, however, can be found in his forward-thinking approach to incorporating playing alongside programming, computers and self-production. Things that he was doing decades before the rest of us.

We’ve been without new solo material since 2015, but now, at the tail-end of 2021, a fire seems to have been lit under him once more. In just two months, Guthrie has released two EPs ( Mockingbird Love and Riviera ), a new full-length ( Pearldiving ) – all full of cut-glass tones and ocean swells of his home on the French Atlantic coast.

We spoke to Guthrie about his burst of productivity, early tonal experiments and the $150 Squier he used to record his new album.

It’s common for guitarists to produce themselves and use software these days. You had to break a lot of those boundaries. Your journey as a musician and producer feels like it set a bit of a template for that…

Get The Pick Newsletter

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!

”Well, I’m somebody who didn't really know how to make music  but started out at a time when there were interesting new things happening. Even the drum machine was a very unusual thing to be using [with a band] when we started out. 

“We were able to get a Boss DR-55 Dr. Rhythm and we wrote our first album on that. Then when we got to the big recording studio, I got to program it into the 808 that they had in the studio. This was the time of digital reverbs coming as well. 

if you're ever working in audio, the first thing you need to understand is the signal path. As soon as you've got that you’ve sort of nailed it, because then you can operate a mixing desk, you can do a patch bay, you can do a chain of pedals

“So the technology seemed to fall into place just for me [and my sound]. That was how it felt: ‘Oh, this happened just for me!’ Because I was not hearing anybody at that time that was taking those machines and putting them through each other in the way that I did, which was fairly intuitive. I knew how these things worked, but I had no experience of actually doing it hands on.”

So you learned how to use some of that technology before you had access to it? What drove you to do that?

“Well, I'm part-nerd! When I was younger, I was quite fearless about trying things. I realized that if you're ever working in audio, the first thing you need to understand is the signal path. As soon as you've got that you’ve sort of nailed it, because then you can operate a mixing desk, you can do a patch bay, you can do a chain of pedals. And I had all that before I even touched any pedals! So that was that was kind of lucky. 

“So I’m part-nerd and part frustrated musician. I really wanted to be in a band because I thought bands were so cool. I couldn't really do the whole barre chord/strumming thing, but I could build wee pedals. So I built a little fuzz box and I built a white noise generator into my guitar.”

Wow. Your hometown (Grangemouth, Scotland) wasn’t the most affluent place in the '70s. Was it hard to come by gear at that point ?

“Yeah. Wherever I could get any pedals, like echoes or anything, they were generally either used or stolen! There was this guy in Scotland that if you gave him a tenner he would go and steal you something from a shop, you know? [ laughs ] ‘Okay, whatever works…’ because it was quite an impoverished sort of time. The UK in the late '70s, it was not a lot of fun. And it was an impoverished part of the UK as well. 

“So we did what we did. But we had the imagination that we could travel and get away. ‘And – maybe, perhaps one day, if the stars all line up – we might get to make a record!’ That was the big thing. There was never any plan, like, ‘Hey, I see myself in 40 years time, sitting doing interviews…’ We were just fucking teenagers and the dream was to make a record.”

Some of these pedals can be so expensive, and I've got sounds that I make in my computer that I used to do with pedals

You were quite confident about your chances when it came to getting signed and making that first Cocteaus album (1982’s Garlands ) from what I've read… 

“Yeah, but I didn’t start ‘making’ records until the second album, Head Over Heels . That's when it really took off in terms of producing. At first, the people that I came in contact with in London, or at the BBC, would wear white coats with little pencils in the pocket. 

“The implication was: ‘You don't touch that, sonny…’ There was no encouragement whatsoever. It was like a dark art that they wanted to keep to themselves. This is long before music was democratized as it is now. It was a very different sort of process to the way that people come to making music. 

“I feel blessed that, technically speaking, I was born into that period and managed to master analogue recording, big mixing consoles, multi-tracks – all that stuff. I’ve done that and moved on. 

“And I'm so lucky because I think young people have a romantic view that I don’t quite have! It’s like the romantic notion that vinyl is better, or people paying out the ass for vintage equipment – which is actually what I would call ‘old’ equipment. Vintage equals better? I am not there. I am too old for that.”

As someone renowned for their tone, though, where do you stand on the pedal connoisseur movement of recent years?

“I think it's fantastic, but I'm way too pragmatic to buy into that! First of all, some of these pedals can be so expensive, and I've got sounds that I make in my computer that I used to do with pedals. 

“I could not say that I was never like that in my life. At one point, I had like 50 guitars or something and Christ-knows how many pedals I’ve got in the storeroom. I do use them, but I don't worship them at all – I see them more like a millstone around my neck. It’s like, ‘Christ, I’ve still got them… I’ve got to find the fucking batteries…’ 

People say, ‘Why aren’t you using your 1957 Stratocaster?’ It’s because the Squier is better. Because I'm actually playing that guitar. I’m not looking up how much it's worth

“It's just more stuff and that takes me away from the essence of recording the music – to be hung up on the way of doing it, as opposed to [the result]. It’s irrelevant, people! It is really irrelevant. However, I can only say that because I've been through that in my life!”

Do you think people can actually tell when they’re listening? 

“Well, ultimately, we get to the point where when you listen to a piece of music, why do you care? People will say, ‘Oh, listen to that guitar tone. That must have been a 1957…’ It's like, ‘No, it wasn’t!’ I quite often just use this little baby here [ picks up a Squier ’51 ] – $150 worth of Squier whatever-the-fuck-it-is! It’s made in Indonesia.

“Then on the other hand, [people say], ‘Why aren’t you using your 1957 Stratocaster?’ It’s because the Squier is better. Because I'm actually playing that guitar. I’m not looking up how much it's worth; I'm just playing guitar for the sake of playing. 

“I don't want to burst anyone’s bubble. It's lovely having nice things with the history. My Jazzmaster is older than I am. It's a 1959 and that's my most used guitar in my 40 years of history, yet it's a beast to fucking set up properly and have it play and sound as good as something that's more recent. That’s the truth of the matter.”

The legend builds up around things, doesn't it?  It reminds me of the boomer bends debate – where there was a backlash against a player who stated his preference for avoiding the '60s/'70s blues-rock bends in his playing. There’s a weird prevalence for guitarists to think ‘you need that box and that instrument from that year, and you need to play these chords…’

“Yeah. And I like the way that you express that because that really talks to me. All we have is the right here and the right now. I've been avoiding bending my guitar strings for as long as I can remember playing, exactly for the reason that I didn't want to play something that had already been done! When I was getting into music at 13/14, I was lucky enough to have an older brother that was into prog and note-bendy things. So I just wanted to do something different! You've got to rebel sometimes. 

I don't know a lot of the technical stuff, but I know where to put my fingers for optimism or melancholia

“And I'm not pretending I can't play the guitar, or I don't know anything about music. I don't know a lot of the technical stuff, but I know where to put my fingers for optimism or melancholia. I know where the notes are. I do not at all struggle. Do you know Harold Budd that I've made several records with?”

Yes, I was listening to those Budd records recently, actually…

“He passed last year, nearly a year ago. We'd been friends for 25 years and working with him was great, but it was so jaw-droppingly different to how I work on my own. He was 84 when he died, and he used to sit in his garage at home – he called it his studio, but it was an empty garage – and there was a table and a chair, and a notepad of music manuscript paper and a pencil! No headphones, no keyboard, no nothing. He would just go in there and he would sit there and write a string quartet piece. 

“When we started to work together, it was like, 'Hey, Robin, let's let's do this one in F#...' And I'm like, 'Stop there! F-what? Is that a black one? No, Harold! None of those ones!' So I would tune my guitar differently to be able to play along with something that he was proposing. It was this total collision of two different worlds, but we both let each other be.”

You've been a producer almost as long as you've been a songwriter and guitarist. How do those different roles feed into each other? Who’s driving the train?

“It's interesting you say 'Who's driving the train’ because a train doesn't have a steering wheel! It goes in the direction that the track goes in – you don't have much choice. In my instance, not really having the music capacity, or the interest in playing other people's kinds of music, it’s kind of like that. I always have this idea about where I want to go [but it always moves along that track].

“When Harold died. It got me to thinking, ‘Fucking hell, I'm going to be 60 soon and I've got all this music I haven't put out. I should probably get on with it.’ So earlier this year I completely rebuilt my studio. I got rid of my mixing desk, changed a lot of outboard, changed the guitars I was working with, some software. I pretty much changed every single thing in my signal path but it still sounds like me!”

I’ve heard you say this about previous changes to your setup. That it always comes out sounding like you…

“I came to realize this years and years ago. Like if I’m doing a show and talking to a friend, they always say, ‘There's nobody in the hall, can I have a quick go on your guitar?’ ‘Go ahead…’ They always start playing, but it doesn't sound like me.

A lot of people that try to play music with a lot of effects – they really overdo the playing part

“My technique for playing the instrument is very, very gentle and very, very soft. And for me, everybody that tries to – I don't know if I should say sound like me – but a lot of people that try to play music with a lot of effects – they really overdo the playing part. I'm not playing a guitar: I'm playing the sound, I'm playing the pedals, I'm playing the reverb. My touch is based upon what I'm hearing.

“I like to juxtapose, too. I have some old guitar preamps, like a Marshall JMP-1 and a Gallien-Krueger that I've used for years, and I plug into my computer and I can record really loud guitar parts, playing really hard, and then have them very, very quiet in the mix. It's manipulating the feeling and dynamics of what you're doing. Not going down the road that if you play hard, it has to be loud. If you play softer, it has to be quiet.”

You mentioned you built a white noise box into your guitar early on. How did that setup work?

“Well, in the very early days, I used to play my drum machine through a guitar amp combo and have it fairly distorted – though I was told I wasn't allowed to do that in the first studio I went into! I had the white noise box, which I could just switch on, but I had it go through a phase pedal and into the same guitar amp. 

“So it built this sort of wall of sound. So you played the drum machine and it's already like Hawkwind playing in the background or something, this big sort of rocket, and then I would play on top of that, with echoes. That was kind of different for us. We couldn't have told you exactly where we were getting this idea from – and, to this day, I can't really say why we did that.”

You mentioned the preamps – what other guitar gear are you using these days?

“I have a [Frankenstein's] monster guitar that is a Levinson Blade, the Swiss guitar brand, with a Chandler neck on it. I've been using that for years. I've had it since the time of Heaven Or Las Vegas , though initially I just used it live. 

“Then I have this Gretsch baritone [Jet with Bigsby] reissue that I picked up about five or six years ago. And my little secret weapon is my Squier '51. I borrowed one from a friend in the US to do a show. And when I came back, I thought, ‘I’ve got to try and find one’ and I eventually got it from Italy, on Reverb, for like 150 bucks. Then for bass, I’ve been using a Fender Precision Bass Special. It's an active one and that does all my basses now.

“I've got this really interesting reverb that I've been using. In about 2017/2018, I bought a Source Audio Ventris pedal, which I can use for a lot of reverb-y things now. It's like my go-to big, swirly reverb at the moment.”

Guitarists often find themselves stuck in certain boxes, whether it’s technique or gear. You’re known for unique approach to playing and tone, has that ever been the case for you?

“Oh, I've always been imprisoned by effects. You do not want to go down that path! The golden rule is never go to parties if you're me. Sooner or later somebody's going to hand you an acoustic guitar and go, ‘Hey, you're a musician, aren't you? Sing us a song!’ ‘Well, err… ‘[ laughs ]”

• Robin Guthrie's new album, Pearldiving , and two new EPs, Riviera and Mockingbird Love , are out now.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year 

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar , Guitarist , Guitar World , MusicRadar , NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound . In 2020, he launched  CreativeMoney.co.uk , which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.

“When I struggle with live sound, I think, ‘Oh God, I can play so much better when I’m just in a room and I can hear myself…’ But that’s when I dig in and try harder”: Tommy Emmanuel and Molly Tuttle give a tone, technique and touring masterclass

“I was tired of not being able to hear my guitar when I played. I got a Gretsch Country Gentleman, and that changed the game for me”: Vincent Neil Emerson’s star is rising fast – whether he’s playing a Chet Atkins electric or rare George Harrison acoustic

“This is my guitar. I'm absolutely buzzing”: Epiphone is set to release a Yungblud signature SG Junior – and one of its prototypes is already up for grabs

Most Popular

By Joel McIver 31 March 2024

By Brian Fox 31 March 2024

By Andrew Daly 30 March 2024

By Chris Gill 30 March 2024

By Chris Gill 29 March 2024

By Andrew Daly 29 March 2024

By Nick Wells 29 March 2024

By Simon Fellows 28 March 2024

By Joe Bosso 28 March 2024

• Press & News

Interview with Robin Guthrie

• By Pat Mannion and Brant Nelson
• Dewdrops Fanzine

We got a chance to talk with Robin Guthrie (of the Cocteau Twins) before their show on the Claremont College campus last April. Robin has decided to turn over a new leaf and begin dispelling that air of mystery that has surrounded him and the band these last few years, specifically regarding his battle with drug use. A very happy and confident Robin Guthrie sat down in the bleachers behind the nearby college baseball field, ate some of our homemade cheese bread, and told us what really happened…

“I tackled my drug problem head on. I was really sick, you know. Not long for this fuckin’ planet, really. I’ve come back a bit. and that’s basically what’s been making me change. I’m changing as a person, becoming a lot more open-minded to try things. I’m not locked into paranoia and fear. I’m not worrying so much about new drugs and being locked into this fear that doesn’t let me try new things.

“Like drummers for instance, that’s a definite example. I hadn’t worked with a drummer for years because I decided not to years ago. It’s just like I got locked into that idea: ‘We’ll never have one, we don’t need one. dammit!’ I used to just really convince myself that it was better without one. But, it added something to our live show, just the fact that it was different. A lot of things were different without really trying. It’s just, that’s the way it was. But anyway, we met up with the drummer after I got clean and we tried it and it was all right. I never would have even considered it if I was still using drugs. That would have been a lack of control. I like it now. It’s not a true live band as we’re still playing with tracks and stuff like that.

“I haven’t started fucking with the sound yet. I might decide that the Cocteau Twins need a change. Actually, it’s going to change—I can tell you it’s going to change radically. I don’t know how ‘cause I haven’t thought about it yet, but I feel open minded. I don’t know what I want to try. Getting clean after using drugs since I was about 13 or 14 has changed my life. It’s changed my perception. I don’t know what I want in my life. I mean, me and Liz don’t live together any more—since about nine months ago. I didn’t want that. I couldn’t actually get a life together for myself living with Liz, because we’d been together for 12 years. You know what I mean? Everything was like us. There was no Robin, it was like us, our friends, what should we do tonight. So things like me going out with the guys—that didn’t ever happen.

“So there have been a lot of big changes. I’m really like a teenager who’s experiencing a lot of things that people experience in their late teens—emotional development. And I love it! It’s quite exciting. I really don’t know what I want. I don’t know who I’ve been really, but I don’t know how to be anything else. I enjoy making music but I don’t enjoy making music that???, but I’ve come to accept all the trappings that go along with that like having a car and a home. I kind of got stuck in those ideals. And there have been wild changes, I tell you! I signed to an independent label and fucking hell, it turned into a major label! I just thought it would be cool to make our records the way we wanted to, not worrying about the marketing, not worrying about selling, not worrying about taking signals and giving people fucking jigsaws with the records and things like that! Everybody else thinks otherwise, and I’m left the only one thinking it’s a shitty thing to do. But the rest of the band likes it for their own reasons, so I’m happy to go along with them. But I still don’t like it! It goes against a lot of my own personal values. I’m the one who goes “no” all the time, and the two of them tell me I ought to do things. Like this ‘Tonight Show’ thing we’re going to do. What?! Why in fuck are we doing that?! I don’t want to do it. It’s really embarrassing, but everybody really wants to do it. It’s more than just me. I’m not in control in the same way I have been in the past.”

Who came up with the idea to do the Tonight Show?

Probably some promotions person somewhere. Some sort of moron, you know what I mean? The idea in the music business is to fit every square peg into every round hole they can find. To be honest, it was getting to be like that at 4AD as well. As the level of sales and success goes up the pressure to play the game comes up as well. The reason we went in and found a label in the first place was because early on we were repulsed by that side of the music business.

You’ve had a lot of experience over the years producing other bands.

“Not since I’ve been clean. It was something I used to get drugs. There were quite a few things I did I did to feed my drug habit. Most of the bands I’ve worked with have turned out good; and two or three bands that I’ve worked with, that you probably haven’t heard of, stuff never came out of it. And towards the end of my using I did a couple of jobs just for cocaine. Really, I gave no value system. It got me off of the idea of working with other people. I really am ashamed of myself, thinking that they had nothing to offer. I think I could be a good producer. I think I am, at times, a good producer. But there were quite a few when I just fucked things up.

“As soon as you get out of your band and move into production, you’re taken very seriously. I get paid half the rate that a “real” producer would get paid. Today I value myself more and I’m not going to let stuff like that happen to me anymore. I’ve got more self-respect.” Are there any bands you’d like to produce?

“I’m definitely going to produce some people before doing another Cocteau Twins thing. I really want to clear my head from this tour, which has gotten to be tedious. I would always keep that face up, like ‘Yeah, the tour’s going great. I really enjoy it.’ I could never be honest and tell people what was really going on, that I was not really enjoying it. I mean I could now; the show we just did in San Francisco about a week ago was really a fucking unpleasant gig! I suppose it was all right for the fans, especially if it’s the only show they’ve seen. But on a personal level it’s… I don’t know, I just want it to be fuckin’ better.”

Are you getting sick of the songs?

“I like our songs. But, I mean, I’m sick of some of the new ones, as well as some of the old ones. The songs that were chosen were okay, but it would be nice to have a week off, time to learn five or six new songs, and teach them to the band. That would nice. That would be a luxury. We haven’t got the time, so that’s that. Every day off costs us X-thousand dollars, and we’re losing money on this tour! I’m paying for it, ultimately, from my royalties.

“I mean, I don’t work for wages, but I do just as much work as everybody else. And I still go home when the tour’s over and there are bills to pay, rent and taxes. But the truth is I don’t have those 3-4 months’ wages like everybody else with a regular job has.

“If we just did a European tour, we’d save so much money and time and we wouldn’t have to go through so much heartache. But we’d let down a lot of people who want to come and see us in the U.S. Is that fair to them? I think I might be becoming a bit reasonable in my old age, ‘cause I used to think ‘Fuck the fans—this is what I want!’ You know? It’s only fair to the people that if we’ve advertised the show and they’ve bought tickets, that we should do the show. So am I being true to my music? Or what am I being true to? I don’t know. I’m trying to do the right thing. I always tried to do my thing—not the right thing.”

Are you doing any shows in Australia?

“No, we can’t afford it. To do seven shows in Australia we’d lose about $45,000. That’s too much to lose, but we’re losing far more than that in the United States!”

How old is your daughter Lucy, and what’s the silliest thing she’s ever done?

“Lucy’s four. Absolutely fucking gorgeous. [He shows us her picture. He’s right.] You should have seen her after Chicago, she got all her hair cut off. What’s the silliest thing? She came on stage with us at the sound check and just took the mic and sung a whole song with the band playing. Don’t know what song it was, but it was in tune. She was just “la-la-la-ing.”

Is it difficult having kids on the tour?

“I think it’s fantastic. Liz just sent her home. I miss her. I really miss her because it gives me a distraction and it means I’m not constantly worrying about fucking music performances!”

And how is it with Liz?

“It’s fantastic. I like it. On a good day me and Liz are really good friends. On a good day…”

Do you still call Mitsuo the “fat Japanese fuck”?

“No, he’s the ‘fucking Jap’ at the moment. ‘Where’s the fucking Jap?’ Mitsuo’s a gorgeous human being, but I just don’t understand it. He’s the enigma of the band. He speaks less English now than when I first met him, but he understands ten times more! He’s fantastic. That name calling is the sort of thing I used to really say and think it was funny when I was using drugs. I put people down and that made me really good. I just don’t live my life that way any more.”

You’ve obviously lost a lot of weight.

“I’ve lost 56 pounds since November. I’ve been fat all my life. My whole family is obese and it’s cursed me a bit. I have about another 30 to go and I’m finding that really difficult to do. But it makes me happy. Things like that in life can really hold you back. If you’re really hung up about being fat or being bald or something physical that makes someone not accept you as they should as a wonderful human being, with the pressure from society saying you should be thin or have hair. I’ve felt it more since I stopped taking drugs. I mean I wash now! I take care of myself.”

We’ve heard rumors, but where did the name “Cocteau Twins” come from?

“The Simple Minds, just before their first album, had a song called “The Cocteau Twins.” The name sort of stuck. Me and Will Heggie had sort of quit music for a while. Then we bought this drum machine and effects pedals and stuff like that to try something different. The name practically had no meaning to us at that time. I had a rough idea who Jean Cocteau was, but I was young! Apparently the song was written about these two gay guys who were into Jean Cocteau. Actually somewhere, I don’t know if I’ve still got it, but I had a live tape of the song. The tune of the song turned up on their first album and it was called “No Cure.” It had completely different words. This “Guthrie garbage” try no to do too much of that!” [Robin is referring to our answer to a letter in Dewdrops #10 where we referred to this same story as “Guthrie garbage” because we were sure that he’d made it up. Now we know it’s the truth! - ed]

Do you get a lot of fan mail?

“Nah, we don’t. Not like on TV where you see these mail bags full of fan mail. We get a few letters a week. I must be honest. I answered fan mail for years, then I stopped. If I read a letter, I really appreciate the sentiment usually. I don’t understand the person who’s writing it—to start to tell what the motivation is, not trust the fact that they’re just a genuine fan and really like it—cause I’ve never ever sent somebody a fan letter myself! I quite don’t understand that. That’s really quite sad. I’m trying not to turn my back. I miss talking to people who are really into us, people like yourselves.

“I’ve got about 20-odd people on my fan list and I’ve been sending them postcards. I’m just kind of getting back in touch with people. People who are into you. It’s not like reality. It’s like the movie “Spinal Tap.” It really is fuckin’ like that. Come in to our dressing room and I’ll show you the pieces of fuckin’ bread—they’re that size! And the pieces of cheese are that size! I swear to god! Every single thing in that movie—in one way or another—has happened to us.

“The funny thing is that in real life, touring can become a big issue. Something as trivial as that. It used to be when I was drinking, if the wrong kind of beer or champagne or whatever came around you’d freak out and fuckin’ send them out to change it. ‘It’s the wrong year, you fuckin’… ’ Because it would be such an important thing. You’re not connected to the real world at all, in any way, whatsoever. Everything in that movie is true. [Robin quotes from the movie…] ‘Does the fact that you’re only playing to this size of audience—and a few years ago you played to bigger ones—does that mean you’re losing popularity? … No, no, we’re playing to a much more selective market!’ I heard someone say that to me! Actually it’s because our record stiffed! That’s the reality. For the first time ever we’ve got a record that hasn’t sold more than the one before it. That freaks me out. I probably thought I was invincible. I’d taken our success for granted, probably, over the years. And it doesn’t make me feel good. It makes me feel kind of worthless and unwanted, because I get an awful lot of my self-worth from my music. People put my music down, and I take it personally. I think that they’ve put me down as a person. My rational self knows that’s not the case, that I’m an all right person. But it’s very easy if someone goes, ‘Hey you suck, man!’ just to go [shriveled up, dying noise].

“So our record hasn’t sold. I can piece together a lot of contributing factors to it. I think we’ve alienated our fan base on this one, or maybe the record company has. We’ve not serviced the people that do us real well in the first place. I think that’s got a lot to do with it. Getting new fans has been at the expense of losing our old ones. A lot of people weren’t even aware there was a new album out. People that had been following us. Because they move in the circles of independent record stores, coffee shops. They’re not necessarily the people that buy mainstream things and we’re not even getting into mainstream things. We’re fuckin’ nowhere at the moment. We’re not hitting your normal stores and we’re also not hitting that sort of subculture type stuff. Where are we hitting? Nowhere. That’s a major record company. Our record company is in pieces at the moment. We’ve done three records at Capitol and we’ve had three different presidents and three different fuckin’ sets of staff! We’ve just got a new president taking over who doesn’t really know what’s going on, but I met him the other night and I think we could do business with him, He’s willing to listen to any input we’ve got. Let’s face it I do know a bit about what’s fuckin’ made our music successful over the years. By not doing a lot of crass things! People have a bit of respect for that. I really believe that. And not being seen to just sell ourselves in a very cheap way. I think people tune into that and respect that because they wouldn’t do it themselves.”

We actually get a lot of fan mail addressed to you through Capitol.

“I’ll tell you what, you can keep all the ones with poetry! I don’t understand that. I think it’s really nice that someone’s taken all this time out. They love my music so much that they’ve taken a part of their life, put it in an envelope and sent it to me. I don’t know what to do with it! It makes me feel really worthless, like I should be doing something with it, but I just don’t know what to do with it. I don’t do this. I’m thinking about responsibility. It’s probably not really my responsibility. But it does half-make me feel shitty sometimes.”

Have you considered starting an official fan club?

“I’d like to have official everything, but I don’t know how to do it. I haven’t even got anybody to run my studio! We don’t come into contact with people. Because I don’t know anybody that could do the job. I’ve never come into contact with anybody who said ‘Hey I’ll run your fan club for you,’ so we don’t have one. Everything that we’ve got and everything we haven’t got is just purely by chance. We bump into people by chance. We don’t go out looking for things. We’ve never been that organised. I mean I’d love to be that organised. Our management is, god bless them, they look after us, but they’re obsessed with selling. That’s their job: to sustain us with income so we can carry on what we’re doing. I’d like to have someone work for me, but I just don’t come into contact with people. I mean it’s taken us 13 years to get a drummer!”

You actually have two drummers, right?

“A drummer and a percussionist. The percussionist used to play with Cabaret Voltaire. Mel is a close friend and Cabaret Voltaire doesn’t exist any more because Mel’s moved to Australia. The drummer actually toured with us in Europe in another band called Frazier Chorus. When I was clean for about three months I found out he was actually in “the program” for about eight years ‘cause he was a junkie as well. We met at a meeting and we just got talking. He told me all the horror stories of what I’d been like that on tour. It’s just like that. No great master plan. Nothing like that.

“The record company wants a plan from the management saying what were going to be doing in eighteen months time or three years time, and I don’t know what I want. Maybe in three months time I’ll decide I want to crack the rock-n-roll business! I’m sure I’ll find something, eventually. I hope I enjoy it, you know, because it’s really about enjoying yourself. I have such a privileged fuckin’ job. I can get paid—a little bit—to do something I really love doing. In a lot of ways I may have to make a decision to part with that just to keep my sanity, ‘cause I don’t want to turn into a bad product of the music business. Sort of a spent out person realizing what he should have been in the first place and now feels terribly bad about it, cause he didn’t. It’s a difficult thing, though. I’ve got commitments. I’ve got a studio and record contracts. I’ve got a lot of people working for me. If I decided to back out it would directly affect a lot of other people’s livelihood. That and I don’t know how to live my lifestyle any other way. I don’t have any money put away, anything like that. No savings whatsoever. I live pretty much hand-to-mouth. The money I take out of business pays for my life the way that I live it, which is not really extravagant.” ▣

Robin Guthrie

'As the founding member of the seminal Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie with Simon Raymonde and Liz Fraser created some of the most beautiful music of the more...

Follow Robin Guthrie on Ents24 to receive updates on any new tour dates the moment they are announced...

• Be the first to know about new tour dates
• Alerts are free and always will be
• We hate spam and will never share your email address with anyone else
• More than a million fans already rely on Ents24 to follow their favourite artists and venues

Past Events

Here are the most recent UK tour dates we had listed for Robin Guthrie. Were you there?

• Feb 24 2013 The Glee Club Birmingham Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 23 2013 Leamington Spa, The Assembly Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 22 2013 Bristol, The Fleece Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 21 2013 Exeter Phoenix Robin Guthrie
• Feb 20 2013 Brighton, Sticky Mike's Frog Bar Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 19 2013 London, Cargo Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 16 2013 Halifax, Arden Road Social Club Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 15 2013 York, Fibbers Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 14 2013 Manchester, Band On The Wall Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener
• Feb 13 2013 Eric's Liverpool Robin Guthrie, Mark Gardener

Fans who like Robin Guthrie also like

• All Features
• Top 100 Greatest Hip-hop/Rap Singles Of All Time
• 46 Year End Charts of 2004
• 38 Year End Charts of 2003
• 33 Year End Charts of 2002
• The Best Singles & Albums Of 2003
• The Best Singles & Albums Of 2002
• The Best & Worst Charts Of 2003
• The Best & Worst Charts Of 2004
• Disco Fever With The Bee Gees
• Grammy Awards Archive
• US Year End Charts Archive
• The Quiet Beatle
• The British Invasion
• Elvis Joins The Army
• USA Top 40 Singles
• UK Top 40 Singles
• Europe Official Top 100
• Top40-Charts.com World Top 100
• Top40-Charts.com Airplay World Top 100
• World RnB Top 30 Singles
• World Latin Top 30 Singles
• Brazil Top 20 Singles
• France Top 40 Singles
• Italy Top 20 Singles
• German Top 40 Singles
• Spain Top 20 Singles
• Canada Top 20 Singles
• Main News Page
• Alternative
• Charts / Awards
• Metal / Hard Rock
• Digital Life and Gaming
• Top40-Charts.com
• Submit Your News
• Songs Archive
• 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
• A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I
• J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R
• S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | (
• Top 5 Videos
• Main Artists Page
• S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | `
• Follow charts
• submit news

Hot Songs Around The World

• Russia Top 20 Singles
• Movies and TV
• Posting guidelines

Moscow’s best free city tour

I love Moscow – this charming metropolis, its people, its history and its unique cityscape. I would like to share my passion for this city with you. It is my job to show you the most exciting corners of this fascinating metropolis. That’s why, as a travel specialist and your private tour guide Moscow in Russia, I organize a guided free city tour Moscow – so that everyone, regardless of their budget, would be able to enjoy the insider’s view of Moscow.

You get to see what only Moscow residents know and what other tourist guides keep from you. I am a licensed travel specialist in Russia and would like you to enjoy all facets of the capital of the largest country in the world, without demanding any money from you. I’ll show you the city on my free Moscow walking tour for 1.5-hours on foot.

Everything you need to know:

• My tours take place daily by arrangement, I am the only English-speaking licensed tourist guide Moscow, who offers a free city tour.
• My 1.5-hour free tours Moscow do not cost you a cent, I also offer other great paid tours as well.
• I am an experienced local, I make the tours informative, but at the same time relaxed and not off the plane.

Free Tours Moscow – Daily

My free tours Moscow city starts on Slavonic Square (Kitay-Gorod Metro Station), passes the world-famous St. Basil’s Cathedral, which was built by Ivan the Terrible on the south side of Red Square in the 16th century and where the tsars were once crowned. Then it goes across the Red Square at the Lenin Mausoleum, the luxury department store GUM and with a view of the Kremlin towards the historical museum. Of course, you will also learn more about the stories that once happened behind the thick walls of the Kremlin – from the Tsars and Napoleon to Stalin. Then we continue through the idyllic Alexander Garden.

An advance booking is required!

Practical information:

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 1.5 hours Price: Free Language: English

«First acquaintance with Moscow» – a 2.5-hour city tour in the center of Moscow

This Moscow city tour starts on the Theater Square, past Lubyanka Square and the KGB-building, then through Kitay Gorod district and Varvarka Street, past the world-famous St. Basil’s Cathedral. Then it goes across Zarjadje Park, over Red Square at the Lenin Mausoleum, the GUM-department store and towards the Historical Museum. We walk through the Alexander Garden.

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 2.5 hours Price: 17 $ Students and children: 6 $ Language: English

A 3.5-hour car/bus tour of Moscow.

This is the best tour of Moscow city as all the important sights are visited. I am your Moscow city guide who will walk you through the city explaining the charming history of the city. This tour begins with picking you up from the hotel. 3 breaks are offered for photographing.

First, we will visit the most famous riverside streets and bridges in the center of the city with the most beautiful views of the Kremlin and the Moskva River (e.g. the Kremlin embankment and the Great Stone Bridge).

The first photo break is made at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. We then pass by the district with numerous museums, Prechistinka Street and the district with numerous medical areas.

We again stop at the Novodevichy Convent, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the other bank of the Moskva River to click pictures.

Then we visit “Sparrow Hills” where you can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the city of Moscow from the observation deck. Then there are the skyscrapers of Moscow-City, the Kutuzov avenue, the New Arbat, Tverskaya Street, the world-famous Bolshoi Theater, the KGB building and Varvarka Street. Here there are ample spots to click pictures.

We then drive past the Kremlin again and finally reach Red Square. We take a short tour of Red Square and say goodbye in the Alexander Garden.

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 3.5 hours Price for a group: 170-200 $ (depending on the number of travelers) Language: English

Metro tour – daily

Palaces for ordinary people – that was what Stalin promised to the people when the construction of the Moscow Metro began between the World Wars. The communist dictator hadn’t promised too much. No other underground system in the world can boast such spectacular architecture – chandeliers, decorations, stucco, paintings on the walls – each station is individually designed. No wonder that Moscow residents love their metro. I will guide you through the bustle of one of the busiest subways in the world and show you the most beautiful stations Moscow city has.

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 2 hours Price: 21 $ Students and children: 17 $ Language: English Included in the price: Metro tickets / the guided tour

Tour of Communist Moscow – every day

After the Communist October Revolution in 1918, Moscow became the capital of the Soviet Empire and was the center of socialist orbit for more than 70 years. This left its mark on Moscow, even if the USSR disintegrated more than a quarter of a century ago. The city streets are full of remnants of the communist regime and the Cold War. This is a walking tour where I will show you the most exciting places in Soviet Moscow: from the notorious KGB headquarters, also known as Lubyanka to the Karl Marx Monument to small hidden remains from the time of hammer and sickle. You will also learn about Stalin’s Great Terror political campaign and the system of the GULAG and how the USSR, the communist Russian republic, became modern Russia.

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 2 hours Price: 21 $ Students and children: 17 $ Language: English Included in the price: the guided tour

Alternative Moscow Tour – daily

Explore the unseen Moscow with your Moscow private guide and discover a range of sights during this alternative walking tour.  Away from the main tourist spots (in the central district of Kitay-Gorod), just a short walk from Red Square and St. Basil’s Cathedral, you suddenly find yourself in one of the trendiest districts of Moscow. This place not only has trendy cafes and green squares, but here you can see the most beautiful spray works (according to Albrecht Dürer), hangout-places of the youth and hipsters, as well as learn what Moscow looked like in the 19th century. Here you will also learn exciting and even bloody stories about famous gangsters, eccentric business people and legends like the wandering preacher Rasputin, who is known in Russia either as the “holy devil” or the mad monk. To learn a little more about Moscow’s culture, this is the tour for you. On my alternative tour, you will get to know Moscow away from the tourist hotspots. This tour is of 2 hours duration and you will experience the following on the tour:

• St. John’s Hill, a quiet oasis right in the center, where time has stopped as it did in pre-Communist times
• Khokhlovka Art Center, where Russian hipsters and street artists hang out
• Samoskvorechye District where you can see beautiful streets and hear stories from old Moscow

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 2 hours Price: 21 $ Students and children: 17 $ Language: English Included in the price: the guided tour / tram ticket

Kremlin tour – daily (closed on Thursday)

With its 20 towers and high walls, the Kremlin rises imposingly over Red Square. This world-famous fortress with its area of ​​28 hectares is home to over 800 years of Russian history. Described as the eighth wonder of the world, this historic fortress complex is the principal symbol of Russia that sits on the banks of the Moscow River. Today the Kremlin still harbors numerous secrets and has palaces and cathedrals, surrounded by Kremlin Wall. The current wall was constructed between the 15 th  and 16 th  centuries, but the original wall was made of wood around the year 1147. The Kremlin Wall became an important symbol of Moscow’s importance in the Russian Empire. This top tourist destination attracts millions of people every year and there are various sights to see. With my Kremlin tour, you will see the oldest square in the city in the heart of the Kremlin, the once largest cannon in the world and the scene of numerous dramas – from Ivan the Terrible and Napoleon to Stalin. You cannot miss this unique experience.

An advance booking and prepayment for tickets are required.

Time: by arrangement, daily (closed on Thursday) Duration: 2 hours Price on request Students and children: on request Language: English Included in the price: Kremlin tickets / the guided tour

Moscow pub crawl – Friday / Saturday

Experience the real nightlife of Moscow with my Moscow Pub Crawl and enjoy 4 pubs/bars plus 4 welcome shot drinks. Move from one bar to another and get to know travelers from around the world as well as the locals. Play fun adventure games and contests in addition to getting perks in the bars. Between the bars, move from one place to another on foot. The routes are organized as such that you will walk no more than 10 minutes between the bars. Visit the most exciting events, parties, concerts, and dance in the bars. Moscow Pub Crawl is a tour that you will never forget.

This tour runs every Friday and Saturday evening at 8 PM and you need to bring along your passport or an ID card, comfortable shoes, and wear smart casual clothes.

An advance booking and a small prepayment are required!

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 4 hours Price on request Language: English Included in the price: the guided tour, 4 shot drinks

1.5-hour boat trip on the Moskva River.

Taking a boat tour in Moscow on the Moskva River is a very pleasant experience. It allows you to know the city from a totally different perspective and admire the beautiful bridges. In this 1.5-hour river trip, you will sail past many beautiful sites in Moscow, so you can take the best photos to commemorate this day. The ship makes several stops on the way. The trip starts from the Ustinskiy Bridge near Sarjadje Park and ends at the Kiev train station.

On this Boat Trip, you can see sights such as: the former Imperial Education House, Sarjadje Park, the “flowing”, “floating” bridge, the most beautiful view of the Kremlin, the Great Stone Bridge, the legendary House on the Quay, the Christ the Savior Cathedral , the monument to Peter the Great on the ship, the central sports arena Luzhniki, the Sparrow Hills, 240 meters high Lomonosov University, the numerous architecturally spectacular skyscrapers of Moscow-City, the Novodevichy Convent, the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs etc.

Time: by arrangement, daily Duration: 1.5 hours Price on request Language: English

A military tour – riding on tanks in Stupino (Moscow region)

Russian Military is one of the largest military forces in the world formed in 1992. With my Military Tour experience what it likes to be in the Russian military, shooting guns, ride the Tank T-34 and various models of German tanks from the Second World War, as well as armored personnel carriers and vehicles. You will also shoot from the AK-47 and another combat weapon.

The tour will begin with your private tour guide Moscow in a Soviet army van accompanied with some tasty snacks and tea for a tasty start. Upon arriving, you will have to put on the army safety clothing and climb the Russian armored vehicles. The tour will take you on the noisy, smoky tank, driving through mud roads. All participants will get the chance to drive the tank which is coordinated by the Russian military.

Time: by arrangement, daily Price on request Language: English

Alexander Popov

Welcome to Russia! My name is Alexander, I was born in Moscow and I'm a passionate tour guide. I want to share my passion for Russia and my hometown with you. On my website you will find useful information to make your individual trip to Russia as interesting as possible.

Gorky Park and Sparrow Hills: Green Lungs, place to relax and meet

The travel voucher for the russia visa, you will also like, everything you need to know about russia: included..., traveling‌ ‌in‌ ‌russia‌ ‌–‌ ‌how‌ ‌safe‌ ‌it‌ ‌is‌..., choosing the best guide for a free and..., how do i exchange money in moscow, eating out in moscow, the best time to travel to russia, how do i get from moscow airports to..., the best taxi services in moscow, moscow’s top 13 – the main attractions of..., with sim card purchase in russia: use whatsapp,..., leave a comment cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

@2019-2020 - Moscow Voyager. Alexander Popov

We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to use our site you accept our cookie policy. Accept Read More

The Comprehensive Guide to Moscow Nightlife

• Posted on April 14, 2018 July 26, 2018
• by Kings of Russia
• 8 minute read

Moscow’s nightlife scene is thriving, and arguably one of the best the world has to offer – top-notch Russian women, coupled with a never-ending list of venues, Moscow has a little bit of something for everyone’s taste. Moscow nightlife is not for the faint of heart – and if you’re coming, you better be ready to go Friday and Saturday night into the early morning.

This comprehensive guide to Moscow nightlife will run you through the nuts and bolts of all you need to know about Moscow’s nightclubs and give you a solid blueprint to operate with during your time in Moscow.

What you need to know before hitting Moscow nightclubs

Prices in moscow nightlife.

Before you head out and start gaming all the sexy Moscow girls , we have to talk money first. Bring plenty because in Moscow you can never bring a big enough bankroll. Remember, you’re the man so making a fuzz of not paying a drink here or there will not go down well.

Luckily most Moscow clubs don’t do cover fees. Some electro clubs will charge 15-20$, depending on their lineup. There’s the odd club with a minimum spend of 20-30$, which you’ll drop on drinks easily. By and large, you can scope out the venues for free, which is a big plus.

Bottle service is a great deal in Moscow. At top-tier clubs, it starts at 1,000$. That’ll go a long way with premium vodka at 250$, especially if you have three or four guys chipping in. Not to mention that it’s a massive status boost for getting girls, especially at high-end clubs.

Without bottle service, you should estimate a budget of 100-150$ per night. That is if you drink a lot and hit the top clubs with the hottest girls. Scale down for less alcohol and more basic places.

Dress code & Face control

Door policy in Moscow is called “face control” and it’s always the guy behind the two gorillas that gives the green light if you’re in or out.

In Moscow nightlife there’s only one rule when it comes to dress codes:

You can never be underdressed.

People dress A LOT sharper than, say, in the US and that goes for both sexes. For high-end clubs, you definitely want to roll with a sharp blazer and a pocket square, not to mention dress shoes in tip-top condition. Those are the minimum requirements to level the playing field vis a vis with other sharply dressed guys that have a lot more money than you do. Unless you plan to hit explicit electro or underground clubs, which have their own dress code, you are always on the money with that style.

Getting in a Moscow club isn’t as hard as it seems: dress sharp, speak English at the door and look like you’re in the mood to spend all that money that you supposedly have (even if you don’t). That will open almost any door in Moscow’s nightlife for you.

Types of Moscow Nightclubs

In Moscow there are four types of clubs with the accompanying female clientele:

High-end clubs:

These are often crossovers between restaurants and clubs with lots of tables and very little space to dance. Heavy accent on bottle service most of the time but you can work the room from the bar as well. The hottest and most expensive girls in Moscow go there. Bring deep pockets and lots of self-confidence and you have a shot at swooping them.

Regular Mid-level clubs:

They probably resemble more what you’re used to in a nightclub: big dancefloors, stages and more space to roam around. Bottle service will make you stand out more but you can also do well without. You can find all types of girls but most will be in the 6-8 range. Your targets should always be the girls drinking and ideally in pairs. It’s impossible not to swoop if your game is at least half-decent.

Basic clubs/dive bars:

Usually spots with very cheap booze and lax face control. If you’re dressed too sharp and speak no Russian, you might attract the wrong type of attention so be vigilant. If you know the local scene you can swoop 6s and 7s almost at will. Usually students and girls from the suburbs.

Electro/underground clubs:

Home of the hipsters and creatives. Parties there don’t mean meeting girls and getting drunk but doing pills and spacing out to the music. Lots of attractive hipster girls if that is your niche. That is its own scene with a different dress code as well.

What time to go out in Moscow

Moscow nightlife starts late. Don’t show up at bars and preparty spots before 11pm because you’ll feel fairly alone. Peak time is between 1am and 3am. That is also the time of Moscow nightlife’s biggest nuisance: concerts by artists you won’t know and who only distract your girls from drinking and being gamed. From 4am to 6am the regular clubs are emptying out but plenty of people, women included, still hit up one of the many afterparty clubs. Those last till well past 10am.

As far as days go: Fridays and Saturdays are peak days. Thursday is an OK day, all other days are fairly weak and you have to know the right venues.

The Ultimate Moscow Nightclub List

Short disclaimer: I didn’t add basic and electro clubs since you’re coming for the girls, not for the music. This list will give you more options than you’ll be able to handle on a weekend.

Preparty – start here at 11PM

Classic restaurant club with lots of tables and a smallish bar and dancefloor. Come here between 11pm and 12am when the concert is over and they start with the actual party. Even early in the night tons of sexy women here, who lean slightly older (25 and up).

The second floor of the Ugolek restaurant is an extra bar with dim lights and house music tunes. Very small and cozy with a slight hipster vibe but generally draws plenty of attractive women too. A bit slower vibe than Valenok.

Very cool, spread-out venue that has a modern library theme. Not always full with people but when it is, it’s brimming with top-tier women. Slow vibe here and better for grabbing contacts and moving on.

High-end: err on the side of being too early rather than too late because of face control.

Secret Room

Probably the top venue at the moment in Moscow . Very small but wildly popular club, which is crammed with tables but always packed. They do parties on Thursdays and Sundays as well. This club has a hip-hop/high-end theme, meaning most girls are gold diggers, IG models, and tattooed hip hop chicks. Very unfavorable logistics because there is almost no room no move inside the club but the party vibe makes it worth it. Strict face control.

Close to Secret Room and with a much more favorable and spacious three-part layout. This place attracts very hot women but also lots of ball busters and fakes that will leave you blue-balled. Come early because after 4am it starts getting empty fast. Electronic music.

A slightly kitsch restaurant club that plays Russian pop and is full of gold diggers, semi-pros, and men from the Caucasus republics. Thursday is the strongest night but that dynamic might be changing since Secret Room opened its doors. You can swoop here but it will be a struggle.

Mid-level: your sweet spot in terms of ease and attractiveness of girls for an average budget.

Started going downwards in 2018 due to lax face control and this might get even worse with the World Cup. In terms of layout one of the best Moscow nightclubs because it’s very big and bottle service gives you a good edge here. Still attracts lots of cute girls with loose morals but plenty of provincial girls (and guys) as well. Swooping is fairly easy here.

I haven’t been at this place in over a year, ever since it started becoming ground zero for drunken teenagers. Similar clientele to Icon but less chic, younger and drunker. Decent mainstream music that attracts plenty of tourists. Girls are easy here as well.

Sort of a Coyote Ugly (the real one in Moscow sucks) with party music and lots of drunken people licking each others’ faces. Very entertaining with the right amount of alcohol and very easy to pull in there. Don’t think about staying sober in here, you’ll hate it.

Artel Bessonitsa/Shakti Terrace

Electronic music club that is sort of a high-end place with an underground clientele and located between the teenager clubs Icon and Gipsy. Very good music but a bit all over the place with their vibe and their branding. You can swoop almost any type of girl here from high-heeled beauty to coked-up hipsters, provided they’re not too sober.

Afterparty: if by 5AM  you haven’t pulled, it’s time to move here.

Best afterparty spot in terms of trying to get girls. Pretty much no one is sober in there and savage gorilla game goes a long way. Lots of very hot and slutty-looking girls but it can be hard to tell apart who is looking for dick and who is just on drugs but not interested. If by 9-10am you haven’t pulled, it is probably better to surrender.

The hipster alternative for afterparties, where even more drugs are in play. Plenty of attractive girls there but you have to know how to work this type of club. A nicer atmosphere and better music but if you’re desperate to pull, you’ll probably go to Miks.

Weekday jokers: if you’re on the hunt for some sexy Russian girls during the week, here are two tips to make your life easier.

Chesterfield

Ladies night on Wednesdays means this place gets pretty packed with smashed teenagers and 6s and 7s. Don’t pull out the three-piece suit in here because it’s a “simpler” crowd. Definitely your best shot on Wednesdays.

If you haven’t pulled at Chesterfield, you can throw a Hail Mary and hit up Garage’s Black Music Wednesdays. Fills up really late but there are some cute Black Music groupies in here. Very small club. Thursday through Saturday they do afterparties and you have an excellent shot and swooping girls that are probably high.

Shishas Sferum

This is pretty much your only shot on Mondays and Tuesdays because they offer free or almost free drinks for women. A fairly low-class club where you should watch your drinks. As always the case in Moscow, there will be cute girls here on any day of the week but it’s nowhere near as good as on the weekend.

In a nutshell, that is all you need to know about where to meet Moscow girls in nightlife. There are tons of options, and it all depends on what best fits your style, based on the type of girls that you’re looking for.

Related Topics

• moscow girls
• moscow nightlife

The Top 3 Cities in Ukraine for First Timers

• Posted on July 7, 2018 August 4, 2019

You May Also Like

• Uncategorized

The Best Expat Blogs for Moscow

• Posted on May 31, 2020 June 1, 2020

Finding a Russian Bride: How and Where to Meet Her

• Posted on August 9, 2019 August 9, 2019

Meeting Women in Moscow: Dating Perspectives on the World’s Most Beautiful Women

• Posted on August 5, 2019 August 9, 2019

Meeting Russian Women: Top 5 Locations

• Posted on August 3, 2019 June 1, 2020

Moscow vs St. Petersburg – Which One to Visit?

• Posted on July 31, 2019 August 3, 2019

Hot Russian Girls – Where to Find & Date Them

• Posted on March 30, 2019 March 30, 2019

A Guide to Teaching English in Russia

• Posted on August 11, 2018 October 9, 2019

How to Attract Russian Girls

• Posted on July 15, 2018 August 4, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Input your search keywords and press Enter.