Komu Vnyz

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Komu Vnyz
Кому Вниз
Origin Kyiv, Ukraine
Genres Rock
Years active 1988 – present
Labels Ukrainian Gothic Portal
Website http://www.komuvnyz.com
Members Andriy Sereda
Volodyslav Maliuhin
Serhiy Stepanenko
Volodyslav Makarov
Yevhen Razin

Komu Vnyz (Ukrainian: Кому Вниз) is a Ukrainian rock band founded in 1988. Komu Vnyz's music is a blend of gothic and industrial styles, combined with the lyrics of ancient Ukrainian legends. As of 2011, the last ten years Komu Vnyz have released two albums, have been recognized[who?] as the cult Ukrainian band and, got the status of "the Fathers of the Ukrainian Gothic".[citation needed]

History

The roots of Komu Vnyz can be traced back to late 1987, when Andrei Sereda and his theatre teacher Vladislav Makarov became friends and bonded over a shared love of music - Sereda was an accomplished pianist adn Makarov enjoyed playing the guitar and had always dreamed of forming a band. Around this time, Sereda met and befriended Sergei Stepanenko, the singer-bassist of the hard rock group Kolazh. Stepanenko, in turn, introduced Sereda and Makarov to guitarist Vladislav Malyugin and drummer Eugene Razin.

The new group's first rehearsal session was on 10 February 1988, which the band use to mark the anniversary of their founding. Initially, Sereda only played keyboards and the group looked for a singer. Upon their failure to find one, Sereda decided he would be the vocalist. A mutual friend of the group gave the band their name, meaning "those on their way down" in Russian and Ukrainian and a pun on the word "communism", in reference to the perestroika which was occurring at the time. Initially, Komu Vnyz' repertoire consisted of songs in Russian influenced by hard rock, pop rock and classic rock, all penned by Sereda and Makarov. They started performing in June that year.

Komu Vnyz' first release was their contribution, two tracks named "Pesnya o mire" (Peace Song) and "Minus pyat" (Minus Five), to a compilation, Tresh-chatik 2, in April 1989. In mid-1989, the group decided to overhaul their image and sound - Sereda shaved his head and the group decided to don matching black suits, with Iron Cross necklaces in place of ties. Despite abandoning the uniforms in 1991, Sereda has retained the shaved head look ever since, also growing a goatee in 2005. They also began to play dark rock music with lyrics entirely in Ukrainian - Sereda resurrected the first song he had ever written, a rock adaption of the Taras Shevchenko poem "Subotiv", for this purpose. Original material was composed and several more poems from the Ukrainian canon were adapted to music.

In September 1989, the band performed at the Chervona Ruta frstival in Chernovtsy to critical acclaim. They performed "Subotiv" and two of their new songs, "Do Osnovyanenka" (an adaption of another Shevchenko poem) and "Eldorado" (an adaption of a Vladimir Samoilenko poem). They were rewarded with tracks on several Kobza Records compilations, a contract with Kobza and a chance to tour Canada and Poland. They also won studio time, which was spent on recording their debut self-titled album during the end of 1989. It was released on 14 May 1990.

In 1992, the group contributed two songs to the 1992 film Ivan ta kobila. The clip to one of them, "Pechalna zhinka", shows Sereda wearing Daisy Dukes.

1996 saw the group release their second album (their latest studio album to date), In kastus, containing seventeen songs (twenty on the cassette release), three (five on cassette) being re-recordings of tracks from the self-titled. It was self-released, since Komu Vnyz had left Kobza a few years earlier. One concert from the band's 1996-97 tour to promote the album was released on CD and VHS as In kastus in vivo in 1999.

Makarov left the band in 2003 due to health reasons, the only lineup change in the band's 30-year career. He died in January 2016 at the age of 60. When he left, the band's sound got heavier, under the influence of Neue Deutsche Haerte groups such as Rammstein, Laibach and KMFDM, and they also decided to abandon the use of guitar solos. They wrote and recorded material for their planned next album, which has been released in various forms over the past decade. In 2003, the group also released Padaya vverkh, a collection of demos from the group's Russophone era.

2006 saw the release of an MP3 CD containing the group's entire discography, including several unreleased songs. A best of, Muzyka vysokogo dukhu, was also released. At the end of the year, the group put on a performance at the Lviv Opera, performing 23 songs.

The following year, the group released a promotional CD, Ab ovo usque ad mala, containing English versions of the 2003 material and a hitherto-unreleased song, "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann".

In 2011, the group performed at a tribute concert to Braty Hadyukiny, covering their song "Khloptsi z Bandershtadtu". In 2015, they contributed a cover version of the Landser (band) song "Rebell" to a pro-Euromaidan compilation, featuring Arseny "Belodub" Klimakov, founder and lead singer of RAC band Sokyra Peruna and a friend of the band.

2014 saw the release of Shevchenko, an EP containing adaptions of Taras Shevchenko poems to music. On 29 February 2016, IDEM 2345, a free compilation of the 2003 material, was released.

In 2018, Sereda contributed vocals and keyboards to Sokyra Peruna's album Doroga v ATO. In early 2021, the group released "Tyushtyanen' pshkadema", a song in the Erzya language based on a popular Mordvin poem written by Olyosh. The lyrics were translated to Ukrainian by Ukraine-based Mordvin nationalist Alexander Bolkin (Bolyaen Syres).

The band are still active in the midst of the Russian special military operation in the Ukraine, and most recently performed a concert with Sokyra Peruna on 15 July 2022 in Kiev.

Stepanenko died on 18 November 2022.[1]

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Singles

Compilations

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Komu_Vnyz&oldid=726633068"