'Dance like there is no tomorrow'

Boghdan Sulanov, the fast-talking vocalist of a heavy metal rock band called YAD, traverses a crammed backstage area. He edges past a guitarist who has just finished a high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled set, leaving him drenched in sweat, and reaches a small table piled with audio equipment, tea and biscuits. From underneath the table, he fishes out a rucksack with the clothes he will soon wear onstage.

The concert hall, an intimate venue in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, is covered in music posters and on a night in early February, it is packed with several hundred rock enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the next performance. The atmosphere is electric, and Sulanov is excited.


“Young people didn’t appreciate music in the same way before the war,” says the 33-year-old, referring to Russia’s full-scale invasion of his native Ukraine on February 24, 2022.


“Our band always sing about our problems, and right now, it is that we want to survive,” says Sulanov, as he takes in the frenetic backstage atmosphere.