Jinjer are finally bringing their long-awaited headlining show back to Europe, breaking a six-year gap with an expansive Duél tour set to storm the continent in early 2026. Speaking ahead of the run, drummer Vladislav Ulasevich opens up about the pressures and excitement of stepping into full headliner mode, the creative risks behind their multifaceted new album, and why the band’s next material might be their heaviest yet.
Welcome to Jinjer
So Vlad, first, I want to welcome you here and I want to thank you for accepting the interview. How are you and how is this video treating you?
I’m good. I’m good. Preparing for the tour, and being busy with everything [laughs].
The upcoming tour of Duél
So let me just start—you mentioned touring. I want to start with the big news. For the first time in six years, Jinjer is doing an extensive tour throughout Europe in 2026 with Textures and Unprocessed. How does it feel about it?
Yeah, I’m excited about this because I can’t even remember when we last did a headline tour in Europe. In the States, we do it regularly, every time. But in Europe, somehow, we always ended up doing only support tours. So it’s time to make our own headline tour—and we will do it.
The expectations in support of Duél
I’m really happy for you guys because you totally deserve it. However, it’s also a big responsibility right now because you’re headlining—and for sure, there are expectations. How will you manage that? Bigger set list, bigger production, bigger tour—it’s a lot to handle.
As I told you, in the States we’ve played a lot of headline tours, so it’s not new for us [laughs]. And we are headliners at some festivals in Europe, too. So we can play really long sets, it’s not a problem. With big production, we’ve also worked a lot. It’s just that people in Europe haven’t seen this side of Jinjer yet, so now they’ll have the opportunity. I’m very happy that we can finally do this, and hopefully everything will be okay in every country and city.
The headline tour
Absolutely. So let’s take a step back. This big tour will be in support of Duél , which was released back in February this year. So far, it’s exceeded all expectations—I see only positive feedback. How does that feel? It’s been months since the release now.
Yeah, I understand. We were busy all this time between the album release and now—lots of shows and tours. This is the only time we could fit in our European headline tour. It’s not right after the release like most bands do, but I think it’s still okay. Maybe people will know the lyrics already—they’ve had time to learn and sing along, so maybe it’ll be even better.
“Maybe people will know the lyrics already”
Why not? The fans have had more time to do their homework. I think Jinjer will have everyone singing along—it’ll be nice. I really love the album, by the way, congratulations on that.
Thank you.
Vlad from Jinjer: “It’s not easy to constantly create something new”
You’re welcome. I found it really multifaceted—there are a lot of extremes. The title Duél really plays with that duality, which I love. How challenging was it to keep pushing your musical palette? If I take Wallflowers, it feels like another piece of the puzzle.
Yeah, it’s different. I really like that every new album of ours sounds different from the previous one. The problem for a lot of musicians and composers is they start copying themselves. I understand that—it happens to me, too. It’s not easy to constantly create something new, but I think so far it still works. It’s not easy, though. Sometimes when I compose songs or riffs, I realize it’s self-copying, and then I just throw it away.
Taking courage
That takes courage—to say, “I don’t want to repeat myself,” because it’d be easier to reuse the same formula. It’s interesting when artists make that choice.
Yeah. If I ever can’t produce anything new, then maybe Eugene, Roman, or Tati will—but it can happen that we run out of ideas. Still, I feel Jinjer can produce new music. We already have a couple of new demos—they’re different from Duél. So, yeah, it still works.
“We already have a couple of new demos”
Now that you mention these new songs, what can you share about them?
I can tell you that these songs will be even heavier than the ones on Duél. I think it’s the heaviest material we’ve ever done. We dropped our guitar tuning down one tone—to drop G. It sounds more powerful and heavier.
I’m really curious about it, and glad you mentioned it. I’m looking forward to hearing them.
Thank you.
The challenge of Duél
You know, I also wanted to ask about challenges. What was the most difficult part of producing Duél?
I think the most difficult part wasn’t musical—it was making the music videos. The music itself was fine, everyone was on the same wavelength. But the videos—nobody really loves doing them. It’s a lot of work: finding a director, operator, location, costumes… and we don’t live in the same city, so we have to fly to one place to film.
It’s complicated, and we usually organize everything ourselves, which makes it even harder. Recording music is easier—we’re musicians, professionals, and everything goes smoothly in the studio. But videos—that’s pain.
Recalling Duél
One last thing about Duél —when did you start collecting ideas for the album? Considering how much Jinjer tours, logistics must be tough.
Yeah, but it works. I don’t like to produce everything at once. I start working even before the previous album is released. For example, Someone’s Daughter is the oldest song from Dual—its first demo came right after Wallflowers. We work all the time. If we’re not touring, we’re writing. That’s why it’s easier not to copy ourselves—because I write in different moods. I’ll write two songs now, then after touring for two months, I’ll be in a different mindset and the next songs will sound different. I like splitting up the writing time that way.
Closing words and see you everybody on…
Understandable. I like your system—you keep yourself active.
Yeah.
I think we’ve covered everything, Vlad. I just want to remind our readers that Jinjer will play in the Netherlands on January 24th in Tilburg. Thank you for your time and for answering all these questions.
Thank you very much. Yes, that’ll be our second show of the tour—January 24th in Tilburg.