Grazhdanskaya Oborona
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Grazhdanskaya Oborona | |
---|---|
Also known as | GrOb, GO |
Origin | Russian SFSR , USSR |
Genres | |
Years active | 1984–1985 1986–1990 1993–2008 2019–2020[3] |
Labels | GrOb Records
XOP Moon Records Misteriya Zvuka Wyrgorod |
Members | Natalia Chumakova Alexander Chesnakov Pavel Peretolchin |
Past members | Yegor Letov Yanka Dyagileva Konstantin "Kuzya UO" Ryabinov Oleg Sudakov Alexander Andryushkin, etc |
Website | http://www.gr-oborona.ru/ |
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона,
History
Formation and early years
In 1982 the 18-year-old poet and musician
1987–1990
In 1987 Letov was invited to perform at the Novosibirsk rock festival. "We weren't even going to play", Letov said, "but Zvuki Mu didn’t come and Murzin suggested that we play instead.".[5] After all, he played a set with his friends Oleg and Evgeny Lischenko (from the local band Pik Klakson) under the deliberately provocative name Адольф Гитлер (Adolf Hitler), which would be released on CD in 2016.[6] When Letov returned home, he found out the authorities were going to put him to a mental ward again. He immediately left the city with his then-partner, the fellow Siberian songwriter Yanka Dyagileva, and spent the entire year in hiding, hitch-hiking across the country until the prosecution was stopped in December 1987 with the help of Letov's relatives.
In winter 1988 Letov returned home and recorded three more albums (also released under the name of Grazhdanskaya Oborona) in his home "studio", known as "GrOb Records". In the same year the reunited band started touring across the USSR.
In 1989 Grazhdanskaya Oborona released four noise rock/industrial-influenced albums (Война, Армагеддон-Попс, Здорово и вечно and Русское поле экспериментов), often considered their best. Letov's lyrics became darker and more elaborate, inspired by Existentialist philosophy and literature (the Soviet proto-Existentialist writer Andrei Platonov in particular). Some songs (e.g. "Насекомые" (Insects) from Армагеддон-Попс, "Заговор" (Spell) from Здорово и вечно) also show his interest in Siberian folklore and pre-Christian beliefs. In the same year Letov, Kuzya and Oleg "Manager" Sudakov started a conceptual, Sots Art-like side project Коммунизм (Communism), where they combined kitschy Soviet art and Stalinist poetry with noise experimentation. GrOb also collaborated with Yanka Dyagileva, who recorded with them two albums (Ангедония и Домой!, both released in 1989).
In 1990, Grazhdanskaya Oborona broke up after playing their final concert in Tallinn: Letov stated he was afraid they would turn into a "commercial pseudo-counterculture project" and decided to put the band on hiatus. After that he started the psychedelic rock project Egor i Opizdenevshie with Kuzya and Igor Zhevtun. They recorded and released two albums, Прыг-Скок (Pryg-Skok, Hop-Hop) and Сто лет одиночества (Sto Let Odinochestva, One Hundred Years of Solitude) (an outtakes compilation, Психоделия Tomorrow, was released in 2001). In 1990, Letov ranked Русское поле экспериментов and Прыг-Скок as his best works.[7]
1993–1997
In 1993, Grazhdanskaya Oborona reformed and began playing live again, but no new material was released until 1997. In 1996, their entire discography was remastered and given an official cassette issue for the first time on the fledgling XOP label, which was a sublabel of Moroz Records used to release Letov-related material. In 1995, the anthemic, shoegaze-y Solntsevorot (Russian: Солнцеворот, lit. 'Solstice') was recorded, followed by Nevynosimaya lyogkost bytiya (Russian: Невыносимая легкость бытия, lit. 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being') in 1996. Both albums were released in 1997.
As the most prominent figure in Siberian rock, Letov was often a source of contradiction. In the early 1990s, he became one of the founders of the
In 1999, after their first
2000–2008
In 2002, Letov produced Zvezdopad (Russian: Звездопад, lit. 'Starfall'), an album of covers of Soviet-era songs. In the 2000s, many Russian groups recorded and performed tributes to GrOb, and in 2005, the group toured the United States. In 2004–05, the group released the critically acclaimed pair of albums Dolgaya Schastlivaya Zhizn' (Russian: Долгая Счастливая Жизнь, lit. 'Long and Happy Life') (2004) and Reanimatsiya (Russian: Реанимация, lit. 'Resuscitation') (2005).
On 8 February 2004, at a GrOb concert at the Ural Palace of Culture in
Letov's last album, Zachem Snyatsya Sny? (Russian: Зачем снятся сны?, lit. 'What Are Dreams Dreamt For?') was released in 2007. In an interview in January 2008, Letov said that this album might be his last. This album was recorded as usual in the "GrOb studio", but is not typical of the band's earlier output. It is much brighter – Letov described it as "shining". There are fewer songs with themes of tragedy, rage and turmoil on this album than in previous ones; there are no coarse words in it, and Letov's voice sounds natural and calm.
Letov died on 19 February 2008 in his sleep at his home in Omsk from heart and respiratory failure. He was 43 years old.
2019–2020
In 2019, the group reformed and announced a tour to celebrate its 35th anniversary, with Letov replaced by various collaborators, such as Igor Zhevtun (who substituted for Letov on some songs on Instruktsiya po vyzhivaniyu due to Letov having lost his voice), Oleg Sudakov (who managed Kommunizm) and Ryabinov.
The final concert of the tour took place on 23 February 2020 at the Glastonberry club in Moscow. This also proved to be Ryabinov's final public appearance – he died of a stroke several weeks later on 16 March, aged 55.
Musical style
While their earlier work (1984–1988) can be described as minimalist lo-fi
Letov was a big fan of 60's
Lineup
2019–2020 lineup
- Igor "Jeff" Zhevtun – vocals, guitar (1988–1989, 1989–1990, 1993–2000, 2004–2005, 2019–2020)
- Konstantin "Kuzya UO" Ryabinov– bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals, backing vocals, noise effects (1984–1985, 1988, 1989–1990, 1993–1999, 2019–2020)
- Alexander "Phantom of the Opera" Andryushkin – percussion (1994, 1997–2005, 2019–2020)
- Alexander Chesnakov – guitar, keyboards (2000–2008, 2019–2020)
- Sergey Letov – saxophone (2000–2004, 2019–2020)
Past members
- Yegor Letov – vocals, guitar, percussion, noise effects (1984–2008)
- Natalia Chumakova – bass, keyboards (1997–2008)
- Pavel Peretolchin – percussion (2005–2008)
- Andrey "Boss" Babenko – guitar (1984–85)
- Andrey "Curt" Vasyin – vocals (1985)
- Valery "Val" Rozhkov – flute (1986)
- Oleg "Baby" Lischenko – guitar, vocals (1987)
- Evgeny "Eugene" Lischenko – bass, vocals (1987)
- Igor "Jeff" Zhevtun – guitar (1988–1989, 1989–1990, 1993–2000, 2004–2005)
- Arkady Klimkin – percussion (1988–90)
- Oleg "Manager" Sudakov – vocals, backing vocals (1988; also one of the founding members of Kommunizm)
- Yanka Dyagileva – backing vocals (1988, 1989, 1990)
- Dmitry Selivanov – guitar (1988)
- Evgeny "John Double" Deev – bass (1988)
- Igor Starovatov – bass (1988)
- Sergey Zelensky – bass (1989)
- Alexander "Ivanych" Rozhkov – flute (1993)
- Arkady Kuznetsov – bass (1994)
- Evgeny "Makhno" Pyanov – bass, guitar (1995–1999)
- Anna Volkova – bass, keyboards, electric fiddle, backing vocals (1995–1997)
- Evgeny "Jackson" Kokorin – guitar (1997)
Discography
Date of Release | Title | Translation |
1985 | Поганая молодёжь (Poganaya molodyozh') | The Foul Youth |
1987 | Оптимизм (Optimizm) | Optimism |
1987 | Мышеловка (Myshelovka) | Mousetrap |
1987 | Хорошо!! (Khorosho!!) | Good!! |
1987 | Тоталитаризм (Totalitarizm) | Totalitarianism |
1987 | Некрофилия (Nekrofiliya) | Necrophilia |
1987 | Красный альбом (Krasnyy al'bom) | Red Album |
1988 | Всё идёт по плану (Vsyo idyot po planu) | Everything Is Going According To Plan |
1988 | Так закалялась сталь (Tak zakalyalas' stal) | That's How The Steel Was Tempered |
1988 | Боевой стимул (Boyevoy stimul) | Battle Stimulus |
1989 | Тошнота (Toshnota) | Nausea |
1989 | Песни радости и счастья (Pesni radosti i schast'ya) | Songs of Joy and Happiness |
1989 | Здорово и вечно (Zdorovo i vechno) | Famously And Eternally |
1989 | Армагеддон-Попс (Armageddon-pops) | Armageddon-pops |
1989 | Война (Voyna) | War |
1989 | Русское поле экспериментов (Russkoe pole eksperimentov) | Russian Field of Experiments |
1990 | Инструкция по выживанию (Instruktsiya po vyzhivaniyu) | Instructions For Survival |
1995 | Солнцеворот (Solntsevorot) | Solstice |
1996 | Невыносимая лёгкость бытия (Nevynosimaya lyogkost' bytiya) | The Unbearable Lightness of Being |
2001 | Звездопад (Zvezdopad) | Starfall |
2004 | Долгая счастливая жизнь (Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn') | A Long Happy Life |
2005 | Реанимация (Reanimatsiya) | Resuscitation |
2007 | Зачем снятся сны? (Zachem snyatsya sny?) | What are dreams dreamt for? |
Film
- I Don't Believe in Anarchy, Documentary, RUS/CH 2015, Dir.: Anna Tsyrlina, Natalya Chumakova
References
- ^ a b c "Off-line interview with Yegor Letov". Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Yegor Letov's Interview in Irkutsk. About music and politics
- ^ ""Гражданская оборона" едет в тур без Егора Летова". intermedia.ru. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ UO (УО) is an abbreviation for the obsolete term "mentally retarded" (Russian: умственно отсталый). In the April 2005 web interview Letov said this nickname came from a children's book and was "deliberately idiotic".
- ^ a b c Егор Летов: Конец наступает тогда, когда уничтожается живая энергия творчества. Периферийная нервная система fanzine, #2, Barnaul
- ^ "Адольф Гитлер / Гражданская Оборона – "Лечебница" / "Выступление на I Новосибирском Рок-Фестивале" – Интернет-магазин "Выргород"". Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Прыг-Скок, 1990 / Дискография – Гражданская Оборона – официальный сайт группы". Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ Сорокин, Кирилл Егор Летов. Средства "Обороны". Rolling Stone Russia, July 2007
- ^ "Официальное заявление Е. Летова и ГО по поводу событий в Екатеринбурге / – Гражданская Оборона – официальный сайт группы". Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "The allure of Nazi imagery in Russia". Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "Жизнь Как Чудо, интервью с Егором Летовым 2004 / – Гражданская Оборона – официальный сайт группы". Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
External links
- Official website
- Grazhdanskaya Oborona discography at Discogs
- Grazhdanskaya Oborona
- Myspace page for the band, includes a detailed history written in English accompanied by a discography, photographs and samples of their music.
- Excerpts from the 1990 interview with Периферийная нервная система fanzine, published in Maximumrocknrollin 1991 (in English)
- Film-Website for I Don't Believe in Anarchy
- Grazhdanskaya Oborona lyrics