The Dazzle of Russian Rock’n’Roll

What is Rock’n’Roll? For some people it is just outdated music, which used to be popular with hippies centuries ago and is completely uncool now. For others it is a particular “genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s” and stuff like that; but for some people rock’n’roll is not only music, but a style of life, a philosophy, even a religion in a way. And I must confess, I’m one of these people. “Well, that’s great, happy for ya, but what is so special ‘bout it?” I expect some of you to reply. The thing is that to be a lover of rock’n’roll in this country is a bit of a problem. Why? If we look back on the situation in this country some 50 years ago we will see young people trying to get the records of their favourite bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and so on and so forth, secretly from their parents, teachers, bosses and militiamen. The music that American and English youth just took for granted was banned in Soviet Russia and our fathers couldn’t even dream of visiting a gig of, say, The Kinks or Jefferson Airplane. Consequently popular music did not develop in Russia as it did in the West, and as a result in the mid 80s, when Russia was finally beginning to break free of socialistic censure, there had already existed a huge gap between great progress in the musical industry in Europe and America and the primitive and poor musical technologies and unimaginative genres in this country.
I must admit that the gap is still there. However, what we have now is not so sad as it used to be. My feeling is that Russia is now gradually returning to the world’s stage and becoming equal to other European countries. This reflects on the cultural life of the Russians. Just remember the bliss of Russian music lovers in 2003 when Paul McCartney played his first gig in Red Square, which I’m sure was not the last! But not only did the concert industry change, but music production as well. There have appeared very original bands which are ready to say a new word in Russian rock music. They are like crystal springs, trying to make their way through the dirty water of pop music we are fed up with. Almost Famous, The Twisted Sticks, the Top of the Pops, The Fops, and Scotland Yard – those are the names of young and promising bands, seen as the hope of Russian rock’n’roll music. But I have to be careful here – the musicians are very young and green (most of them are my peers), and inexperienced in many things, too, such as sound recording and all that. They borrow a lot from American and English rock’n’roll and indie music, but I believe that this only does them good and I do hope you will agree that it is much better than naught. In doing this, they learn a great deal, and I’m sure that one day they will become entirely independent and at the same time inherit the best traditions of the masters of rock’n’roll just as Kings of Leon, the Strokes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Datsuns did.
Above the Russian groups mentioned I would place the band called Scarlet Dazzle, the most controversial, stylish and groovy Moscow band of today. Some two years ago I happened to visit their gig in a Moscow venue. Then they were just beginners. Still, even then I realized that they were absolutely special and completely different from the Russian bands I’d already heard. When the lads got onstage they looked as if they had been transported there from the late sixties by a time machine: long hair, bell-bottomed corduroys, velvet jackets and shirts with psychedelic patterns. They were superb and I thought then that Scarlet Dazzle would look perfectly natural and harmonious on the cover of Rolling Stone or the NME. But when I was gazing at them I couldn’t believe that their music would be as cool as their image. But it actually was. I’m not saying of course that they played perfectly, and some things in their techniques left much to be desired. But the music itself was so fresh and sincere, and at the same time they sounded as a stylish retro band that skillfully borrowed a bit from Pink Floyd, The Doors and Led Zeppelin. They played a wonderful rendition of Jimi Hendrix’ “Purple Haze” and I fell in love with the band.
Since then I’ve been a frequent visitor to their gigs. I have watched them growing and becoming more mature and experienced. They wrote new songs that were becoming more and more independent. They started performing in some out-of-the-way venues and basements, but gradually moved to more respected venues such as Vermel and Actovi Zal where they found fans and bands of like mind. Today quite a lot of people long to listen to Scarlet Dazzle playing live. No wonder! The atmosphere of their gigs is enchanting, their peculiar art-rock sound makes you forget everything and you dive deep into their psychedelic world like Alice dove into the rabbit hole full of miracles. Unfortunately the lads haven’t released any official record yet, but I’m looking forward to it. That is why I decided to interview the lead-singer and the lead-guitarist of the band, Alexey, and to find out about their plans for the future, musical preferences and impressions of the three years of real rock’n’roll life.
– Tell me about the band. Who was the ideologist? And how did it all start?
– When I suggested to Tair, our bassist, that he might want to join my first rock’n’roll group, the Keep Silence Band, in September 2004, to see if he could add some groovy bass riffs to our tunes, he jumped at the offer. His arrival into the group coincided with and assisted my natural devotion to psychedelic music. But the band were unwilling to expand their repertoire to include the psychedelic stuff that we’d come up with, and shortly afterwards, in February 2005, Tair and I broke away to form our own group, which was later called Scarlet Dazzle. By the end of February Tair’s chums Ramil and Ivan had been recruited into the band to play the drums and guitar/organ respectively, and this line-up has remained unchanged ever since.
Meanwhile we had taken to setting up at Tair’s place for the afternoon while his relatives were at work, to drink bear, smoke and write songs. The ideologist, and indeed the leader, was, and has always been, Tair, I think. He has always driven us to just keep going, keep going, you know. And he always sets up gigs.
– What do you lads do besides playing rock’n’roll?
– What do we do besides playing rock’n’roll? Well, we just live and learn, and work, and study. Scarlet Dazzle is a significant part of my life now, and I want to keep it that way. And I think the lads feel the same. And besides, there’s still a lot to do about our music and style and everything. Musically, we’re only just starting.
- What are your plans for the future? Are you gonna release a record?
– John Lennon once said: ‘You can be big-headed and say, “Yeah, we’re gonna last ten years.” But as soon as you’ve said that you think, “We’re lucky if we last three months.”’ Personally speaking, we make no plans for the future. You never know what’s gonna happen next. And we’re about to start recording our first album here in Moscow, and that’s for sure!
– You look so groovy and it seems that rock’n’roll is the essential part of your life. Does the life of each of you resemble that of a Rock God?
– We can walk down the street without being recognized, and it’s all right, you know. When you are a god, even a Rock God, you feel trapped by your fame and status. And that’s no good. No, we’re no gods.

Everything is not that bad anyway. What we need now is young talented musicians, eager to play rock’n’roll music we had been lacking for so long, not rock gods. We long to find fresh ideas, drive and style in Russian music today, and Scarlet Dazzle surely has the three rock’n’roll ingredients in their songs. So, keep on going, dudes.

For more info visit: www.scarletdazzle.narod.ru and http://scarletdazzle.livejournal.com/.

Photos by Yakov Plutser-Sarno and
Alexander Nazarov

Appendix
Some words you may need to mix with rock musicians.
A band – a group
A gig – a performance by a musician or a band playing modern popular music
A rehearsal – a particular occasion when the band prepare for the gig
Sound check – the process of checking that all the equipment needed for the gig is working properly
Touring – a planned journey made by the musicians to play gigs in several places
To get onstage/offstage
A bootleg – a recording made and sold illegally
A groupie – someone, especially female, who follows the band to their concerts, hoping to meet the musicians
A chick (vulg.) – a pretty young woman
Booze – alcohol/ to booze – to drink alcohol, especially a lot of it
Dope – a drug that is not legal, especially marijuana
Blow – the illegal drug cocaine
Groovy – an adjective meaning classy, fashionable, modern, and fun, was widely used in the 1960s
Gorgeous – extremely beautiful or attractive
Awesome (AmE) – very good
Pissed – drunk
Wasted – very drunk or effected by drugs
Stoned – very exited or extremely relaxed because you have taken an illegal drug