alexander vasilyev played los angeles a couple of days ago
There are many people in what we may call serious business: they launch ships into space, they master cyberspace, conduct scientific research, search for oil – in general, they accomplish many feats. Then, there is the “unserious” business of music. It’s unserious only at first glance. Alexander Vasiliev, leader of “Splean,” began his unserious business while in school, to be exact, in the 7th grade. It was then he put together his first band, and in the process lost considerably interest in his school studies. For similar reasons he failed to complete studies at the two universities he attempted to attend. While other students sat in libraries cramming for tests, Sasha and his team, for the most part, were rehearsing, recording and distributing cassette tapes of their music. As the results later proved, it was worth the effort.
The core of the future “Splean” band was founded in 1994 with the help of his fellow recording artists. Their first album, “The Dusty True Story,” was cut in “a studio at a movie theater during nights in an atmosphere of top secrecy.” Their efforts were rewarded with 10,000 albums selling in St. Petersburg. Their second album, “Collector of Weapons,” also became popular in Moscow. After releasing the “Black Eye” CD, and the subsequent “Pomegranate Album,” the band became well known throughout the former Soviet Union. The sound on those albums was heavier, sounding today like typical post-grunge. The band was thought to have too much depression and gloominess. The name of the group did not help matters. Vasiliev counters that by saying “everyone may read into the name of our band however they want, but there is no depression in this name. I never translated this word from English. “Splean” is just a St. Petersburg band.”
..Alexander Vasiliev’s attitude is not of protest, not of irony, nor does he close his eyes to the pain of his country. In the best traditions of Russian rock, he intensely lives through it - but after processing it in himself, he returns it to us in a new quality. Another state of mind, not suppressed by its experience but, through the alchemy of deeply personal perception alloyed with his voice, emotion, word, music and pause, the soul becomes charged with the fullness and the bittersweet beauty of the world and the desire to continue on living.
-- http://www.russiannightsfest.com/?p=la2004-04-1623_partic&sp=splin.php
The core of the future “Splean” band was founded in 1994 with the help of his fellow recording artists. Their first album, “The Dusty True Story,” was cut in “a studio at a movie theater during nights in an atmosphere of top secrecy.” Their efforts were rewarded with 10,000 albums selling in St. Petersburg. Their second album, “Collector of Weapons,” also became popular in Moscow. After releasing the “Black Eye” CD, and the subsequent “Pomegranate Album,” the band became well known throughout the former Soviet Union. The sound on those albums was heavier, sounding today like typical post-grunge. The band was thought to have too much depression and gloominess. The name of the group did not help matters. Vasiliev counters that by saying “everyone may read into the name of our band however they want, but there is no depression in this name. I never translated this word from English. “Splean” is just a St. Petersburg band.”
..Alexander Vasiliev’s attitude is not of protest, not of irony, nor does he close his eyes to the pain of his country. In the best traditions of Russian rock, he intensely lives through it - but after processing it in himself, he returns it to us in a new quality. Another state of mind, not suppressed by its experience but, through the alchemy of deeply personal perception alloyed with his voice, emotion, word, music and pause, the soul becomes charged with the fullness and the bittersweet beauty of the world and the desire to continue on living.
-- http://www.russiannightsfest.com/?p=la2004-04-1623_partic&sp=splin.php