One of the veterans of the domestic punk scene, who play their furious music to this day, is the Purgen band. Over the years, they experimented with pitch and styles, but remained true to the hardcore punk channel. “Purgen” - a group whose photo can shock a layman: defiant clothes, multi-colored Iroquois and riveted leather jackets - all this has become the hallmark of the team.
"Lenin-samotyk"
At the sunset of the Soviet Union in our country, few people knew about such a thing as punk rock. At underground sales points, one could find the first recordings of American and English groups. So, in 1989, Ruslan Gvozdev and Gennady Filimonov, inspired by the work of American punks Dead Kennedys and The Exploited, decided to play their music. Initially, their group received the very provocative name “Lenin-Samotyk”. Rusya Purgen and Gene Chikatilo recorded their first album at home, called Brezhnev Alive. As instruments, they used guitars and drums stolen from the local house of pioneers.
Birth of the name and first concerts
At that time, Ruslan studied at a technical school and learned the methods of artistic stone processing. In the auditorium, he and Gena and a new drummer nicknamed Battery recorded the second album, The Great Stink. At this time, the American delegation was to come to the school. The participants decided to shock the foreign audience and even changed their name to censor the leadership of the institution. They chose Purgen, as it was the name of Ruslan. The performance did not take place, at the last moment the director canceled the concert, as he was shocked by the appearance of the musicians. They wore riveted braids and ripped jeans, and frightening Iroquois were shaved on their heads. Despite the failure, the group recorded the third album. He received the name "Good where we are not."
The guys were expelled from the school, gave several concerts, the group soon broke up, but the punks were able to get to know other representatives of this subculture. Rus for a long time could not find musicians. The group fully reunited only in 1995.
"Purgen": the first albums
In 1995, Rusya Purgen met with two loose punks who came to the capital from Kaliningrad. Their names were Panama and the Dwarf. They stood for the bass and drums respectively. Soon Chikatilo returned to the team. Later, the senior Gnome joined the guys, he performed at the hymns, they kept him in the group only because he was a relative of the bass player. A few months later, the team leader could not stand it and kicked him out for excessive drunkenness right before the release of the new album. In his place they took a guitarist named Roberts. The album “Radiation activity from a garbage can” was recorded with him.
The composition of the Purgen group has changed several times, so already a year later the team left Chikatilo. He decided to tie with music and his lifestyle, starting a family life. In this regard, the founder of the team picked up the guitar, a character named Yehansen was invited by the bass player, who, however, did not stay long. Soon his place was taken by Cologne. It was with this composition that for two years the Purgen group recorded one of their most successful albums, The Philosophy of Urban Timelessness.
After 2 years, instead of the Dwarf, the cult character of the domestic punk party Bai sat behind the drums. In addition to Purgen, he was known for his work at Distemper. With Bai, the Purgen group recorded the album Toxidermists of Urban Madness.
Side project of Ruslan Purgen
The Purgen group, although it remained a priority for its founder, was not the only one. In the late 1990s, Ruslan became interested in cyberpunk and began work on the Toxigen project. He experimented with electronic sound. As a result, an album was recorded and several performances were given. Toxigen became a notable phenomenon, and experiments with electronics influenced the creativity of the main team: the music accelerated, more and more resembling fast hardcore.
"Purgen" at the peak of popularity
The rise in popularity occurred in the early 2000s. The band is releasing another Destroy for creation album. After his presentation, the musicians get to know the Diagens team playing hard d-beat. After that, a new guitarist named Diagen was invited to the group. The composition of the team changed again in 2004, when Bai, Moss and Martin left the team, and instead Ruslan invited young punks Plato and Krok.
In this composition, they recorded a "Protest of the details of the mechanism." This album includes reissued old hits and one new track. The collection gained great popularity, and its presentation gathered thousands of punks on the stages of large clubs in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
A little later, "Purgen" tries himself in a new hypostasis. They are filming a large collection of clips, which were released in DVD format in 2006 under the title "11 Years of Mute Scream." The collection gained great popularity among fans, it included cuts from live performances of the team and clips for the most popular hits.
Reincarnation of "Purgen"
The music and style of the group changed in 2005. The new album "Reincarnation" was not so supported by old fans. Ruslan Gvozdev began to pay more attention to the philosophy of texts. In songs, he began to raise the difficult issues of human existence, religion and progress. The 2007 album entitled “Transformation of Ideals” turned out to be even more philosophical. Not all fans positively accepted these changes, many punks of the old formation turned away from the group.
Despite this, the punk band Purgen has gained new fans. In 2008, the musicians went on a big tour, during which they visited many cities of Siberia, Russia and Europe. They recorded a new collection of clips, which they released on DVD entitled “30,000 years of punk hardcore,” and even presented it on the O2 TV alternative music channel. Since that time, the group has become desirable at many major festivals, and their songs can be heard in the rotation of Our Radio.
Purgen Group today
In 2010, the studio album "God of Slaves" was released. An innovation was the use of folk instruments in the arrangements of some compositions. After that, the rock group "Purgen" takes a short vacation. They no longer write new albums, but are actively touring. Since 2013, the team has been shining more and more often at major European festivals, where it is perfectly perceived by foreign audiences. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the group, one of its founders Gene Chikatilo performed on stage.
In 2015 in Moscow, the Purgen group celebrated its 25th anniversary on the stage of the large Tochka club. The concert was attended by Bai and Alexey Chikhanin. The audience received the updated sound of the group perfectly, which once again proved the status of the participants as dinosaurs of domestic punk rock. Purgen Group, discography which has 10 albums, is rightfully considered one of the most productive and long-playing teams of the domestic informal scene.