Many Ukrainian rock bands are known not only within their own country, but also in neighboring countries: in Russia, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania. Among them there are “untwisted” groups, whose members are recorded in the best studios in Europe. At the same time, there are musicians who can hardly find the money to release the next album. So who are they - Ukrainian rockers?
Scriabin
This group is one of the oldest in Ukraine. The band’s history began back in 1989, and ended with the death of the band’s frontman in 2015. At the moment, the dissolution of the musicians has not been announced, but there are no comments on upcoming creative projects either.
Scriabin is a group that composed songs exclusively in Ukrainian. Kuzma himself “Scriabin” - the vocalist and project leader - and in life, too, spoke exclusively in Ukrainian. But this did not prevent the group from gaining a certain fame in Russia and in neighboring states. For example, in 2011, Scriabin successfully performed with a big concert in St. Petersburg.
The Scriabin creative team can be considered extremely prolific, since 18 albums have been released over 25 years of existence. Absolute hits are the songs “Sleep Yourself,” which became the soundtrack for the film “Barbie's Wedding,” a duet with Irina Bilyk “Movchati”, compositions “Shmat” and “Old Photographs”.
The music style of the project is difficult to unambiguously determine. At the beginning of the activity it was an electronic alternative like Depeche Mode. Then the group went on to perform pop rock.
"Ocean of Elsa"
There are cult groups on the Ukrainian rock scene. Ukrainian rock bands, whose names in Russia and Poland are known only to a certain circle of people, still cannot beat the records of popularity established by the Elzy Ocean project.
The group performs songs and music in the style of indie and pop rock, and sings exclusively in Ukrainian. But this is a unique case when the listeners do not care what the language sounds. “Elzy Ocean” is the only Ukrainian rock project that gives concerts in the Kremlin.
The band members record their albums in the best studios in Germany and London. And it all began very modestly in the city of Lviv in 1994. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, a soloist and project leader, does not have a musical education, and is a physicist by profession. However, the band “Ocean Elzy”, whose songs are loved by millions of people, is impossible to imagine without the soulful vocals of Vakarchuk.
Absolute hits of the project are the songs “Without a fight”, “There, de us dumb”, “Ob_imi”, “All will be kind”.
S.K.A.I.
If you list the young Ukrainian rock groups, then you can not help but mention the project "S.K.A.I.", which plays in the styles of pop rock and alternative rock.
The group broke into Ukrainian radio stations in 2005 with a live music set on the M1 television channel. The lyrics of the "S.K.A.Y." collective appealed to the listeners, so the producer, the general director of the famous label Lavina Music, was immediately found for the project.
In 2005, “S.K.A.Y.” appeared again on television and radio with the song “You Can Drive It On”. At the same time, a music video for this song is being released on the M1 music channel. Then there are such hits as “Tescho treba”, “Best friend”, “Tie got me.”
Over the 14 years of its existence, the group has released 4 albums and 22 video clips.
"Baby Tsahes"
Ukrainian rock bands often gravitate to the genre of indie rock. The Kiev project "Krihtka Tsahes" releases most of its songs in this genre. In 2005, the team gained a lot of fans after watching television clips for the songs “Detail”, “On the First Mystery” and “Angel, Like I”. The sound of the group was truly revolutionary. In addition, the vocalist was a woman, which is rare for Ukrainian alternative groups.
And the story of the band began with the fact that
Alexandra Koltsova recorded home songs of her own composition under the piano, two strings of a guitar and a microphone. Then these songs were spread by her friends, and soon the musicians were found in the project.
For a long time, the project performed in Kiev and Lviv clubs until they signed a contract with Comp music / EMI label. However, after the release of the first album, the band began a conflict with the label, which ended in a trial. The dispute was resolved in favor of “Krikhitki Tsahes”, who “won” copyrights to their own music. After that, unfortunately, no label wanted to deal with the band, so the musicians raised money for the release of their next album.
Despite the fact that the collective has existed since 1999, there are only 2 albums and several singles in its piggy bank. However, the uniqueness of their music is not in doubt.
"Antibodies"
Every year, new Ukrainian rock groups appear on the stage. Brand-new sound is another "newcomer", whose name is "Antibodies".
The team members know each other almost from school. But the group was created only after 5-6 years, when everyone graduated from various universities, and then realized that they wanted to make music. In 2007, the Antitela group took part in the television show Chance, which was produced by Natalia Mogilevskaya and Kuzma Scriabin. After this, for the first time, the track of the band “I Will Not Forget Perch Nich” hits the air of radio stations. In the same year, the group went on their first tour of Ukraine.
In 2008, the group returned to television: this time, the M1 channel began broadcasting their music video, Buduvudu. The song becomes a hit, and the group released its first album "Buduvudu." Subsequently, three more releases saw the light - “Choose”, Special, “Above the Poles”.
The style of the collective gravitates to pop rock, however, there are elements of post-punk, rock and roll. Currently, 18 video clips have been shot for the project.
Green Gray
Popular Ukrainian rock bands, as a rule, began their careers in the 90s. Green Gray is no exception. The project was created back in 1993.
The hit "Green-Gray" "Mazafaka" in 1997 was not known unless the one who did not watch TV at all. Over the 22 years of existence, only 5 albums have been released, but the group makes great strides in terms of touring tours. For example, not every team can boast that they performed on the same stage with Lenny Kravitz, The Prodigy, A-ha and Whitesnake.
And although the guys jokingly characterize their work as “ukr-pop”, they lead a rocker life: many myths hang around this band, also the band members were more than once caught using soft drugs, and the bass player “Green Grey” was even put in 9 years in prison for growing hemp.