The Kukryniksy group is a well-known Russian rock band, whose permanent leader and founder is Aleksey Yurievich Gorshenev, aka Yagoda - he invented this nickname himself, which means: “I am Gorshenev.” He is the younger brother of Mikhail Gorshenev, the leader of the King and the Jester collective.
Where did the name "Kukryniksy" come from?
The pseudonym of a trio of Soviet cartoonists was used as the name of the group. They included: Kupriyanov Mikhail, Krylov Porfiry and Nikolai Sokolov. Actually, according to the first syllables of the names of two members of the trio and the name of the third, a common pseudonym was created. This group of artists is known for its topical, caustic, satirical and patriotic caricatures.
The members of the rock group argue that the name appeared by chance, just arose as a nickname for a satirical attitude to what is happening and to life in general. In the history of the team, written by the leader and founder of Kukryniksy Alexei Gorshenev, it is said that he himself came up with the name and that he would not have risked it now. The name appeared as temporary, but took root and assigned to the group. And the group itself took a worthy place on the domestic rock scene. By the way, during the recording of the second album, Alexey insisted on changing the name to the “Natura” option, but the band members dissuaded him. And now it would be difficult to imagine this group with a different name.
Kukryniksy group: style, direction
The musical style of the group eventually transformed, but always fit into the framework of rock music. At the beginning of its existence, the band played in the style of punk rock, which can be clearly heard on their first albums. Later, the rock group "Kukryniksy" somewhat departed from this style. In subsequent music albums, the influence of post-punk is still visible.
First appearance on stage
The first concert of the Kukryniksy group took place on May 28, 1997 at the cult club Polygon, which is already closed. Actually, from this significant date the official countdown of the existence of the musical group is carried out. Already at this very first real concert, the group became interested in representatives of the recording company Manchester Files. About a year passes, and the musical group has its first album, which, according to the old tradition, established by foreign rockers, was named after the group. The album contained only 12 songs. Two of them immediately gained popularity - this is “Soldier sorrow” and “This is not a problem”, which to this day are the musical “calling cards” of the group. Participated in the recording of the album: Alexey Gorshenev, lead singer of the Kukryniksy group; Alexander “Renegade” Leontyev (later left the team and joined the King and the Jester group, where he remained until January 1, 2014. Now his group is called the Northern Fleet); Dmitry Gusev and Maxim Voitov (moved to the "Cartoons" group).
Participation in "Movie Tests"
The year 2000 was marked for the group by participating in "Screen Tests" - a tribute to the "Cinema" group. Two songs of Viktor Tsoi were performed and recorded: “Summer is coming to an end” and “Sorrow”. Initially, when the project was planned as “Screen Tests 45”, that is, only songs from the album “45”, “Kukryniksy” (the composition of the group at that time was the same) planned to take the song “Loafer”. But when the choice expanded, other songs were chosen. Alexey notes that he himself is a “movie fan” and knows all the songs well, but these are more suitable for their group in style and mood.
"Invasion"
The most important event in the history of the group is the first appearance of the group at the legendary rock festival "Invasion" in 2001 in Ramenskoye. For a young group, just beginning to climb the musical peaks, this was a major breakthrough. Since 2001, the group participates in the festival regularly, except for concerts in 2009 and 2010.
Popularity
Quickly and confidently, the Kukryniksy group is gaining the audience, and more and more fans are appearing who are waiting for new albums. In 2002, the world saw the second Kukryniksy album, entitled “The Painted Soul,” which fans were looking forward to. The basis of the album is guitar music, which is an exceptional feature of this disc. “Guitar rock” “Kukryniksy” rapidly gaining momentum. The second album was recorded in a slightly different composition than the first. Maxim Voitov and Renegade (Alexander Leontyev) appear in the album exclusively in bonus tracks, which are taken from previously recorded material. The composition of the group is replenished by Dmitry Oganyan, Viktor Bastrakov, who will soon leave the group, as well as Ilya Levakov (the group will also leave in the future).
The clip “Colorized Soul” was shot on the title song of the album. This clip becomes the second in the history of Kukryniksy. The first was created for the song "This is not a problem." Both videos are gaining success with the fans of the group.
Third album
In 2003, the band recorded their third album. In the same year, musicians plan to release it. In 2003, the team sets an official New Year's greetings from the entire Kukryniksy group (the group’s website contains it). On it, soloist Alexei says that the team hopes to release the album "Clash" in the new year. But his record is delayed. And the record goes on sale only in the spring of 2004. In this album, the group gets a fundamentally new sound that the band members have been looking for for so long. The instrumental track “Time” appears. This is completely new to the group, previously there was no such experience on albums or on stage.
It is after recording this material that the group becomes a real musical family, the composition of the collective does not change until 2008. Members of the group: Alexey Gorshenev (vocals, lyricist, rhythm guitar), Dmitry Gusev (guitar, music), Dmitry Oganyan (bass, backing vocals), Roman Nikolaev (drummer), Stanislav Mayorov (sound, programming).
Plate presentation
After the official release of the album in St. Petersburg on May 15, 2004, the “Old House” club hosts its presentation. This concert was recorded on the club’s numerous video cameras, and after an appropriate editing in the fall of 2004, the DVD “Collision Live” appears. This disc contains a recording of the concert-presentation of the album, 3 clips of Kukryniksov, plus a clip of Pops from the Rock Group project, in which the musicians participated.
A clip has been shot for the song “Know” from the new album. He starred in the Leningrad region. This clip is not gaining widespread popularity on domestic television, much to the disappointment of the Kukryniksy group.
New album
Further, the musicians are actively working on material for the next album, “Favorite of the Sun”. This album was released on November 25, 2004. The album contains 11 tracks, including instrumental composition and a song based on Yesenin’s poems. The album is being recorded at the DDT studio.
In fact, at the studio, the Kukryniksy group records only vocals and bass, and everything else is recorded at home. For them, this is becoming a kind of tradition.
At the end of November, full of events, in 2004, the group took part in the recording of the New Year's project “Blue Light-2”, where she performed the song “Wedding” of Muslim Magomayev along with pop singer Alena Apina.
Could be in the movies ...
In 2005, the famous director Fedor Bondarchuk invited Alexei Gorshenev to write a soundtrack for his new work. Alex accepts the offer, and in a short time the song "9 companies" appears. It was planned that it will be used for the credits of the film, but, unfortunately, it was not included in the film. But the song actively occupies positions on Our Radio and gets its listeners. Yes, and Bondarchuk does not remain in debt and provides the group with materials of "9 companies" to create a new video for the song "Star". The clip is gaining widespread popularity on music channels and even ranks first in SMS voting on MTV.
"Shaman"
April 2006 was marked by the advent of yet another album - “The Shaman”. The album contains 12 musical compositions, including the song “Phoenix”, which was written by Dmitry Ohanyan, and he also performed in the album.
In 2010, the group responded to an offer to participate in the Salt music project. Within the framework of the project, the group writes the song “Black Raven”, which is included in the track list of the new disc of the group “Riders of the Light”.
In September 2010, the band released a new project together with the American singer Stephanie Starr, which is called K Republic. An album was released as part of the project, which is translated from English as “Everything I Left Behind”. March 30, 2012 appears the album Myself.
The songs of the Kukryniksy group are close and understandable not only to lovers of rock music, so the band can be safely called one of the most outstanding on the Russian stage.