History of creation and composition
The prototype of the “Splin” team is the student group “Mitra”. In 1986, at the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation, bass guitarist Alexander Morozov and future soloist and permanent leader Alexander Vasiliev created a musical duet. Inspired by the amateur performances of the institute rock band, the teenagers united to create their own group.
Alexander Vasiliev has always been drawn to art - music and poetry. He was born in Leningrad, where he spent most of his childhood years. Although for some time he lived with his family (mother and father) in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, and in Lithuania.
Vasiliev and Morozov created their first musical works at home using a Record tape recorder and a microphone. Later, the Mitra duet was diluted by Oleg Kuvaev, who after some time created the popular animated series Masyanya, and Alexandra, the future wife of Alexander Vasiliev.
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Composition of the group "Spleen"
With this composition, the group tried to become part of the Leningrad rock club. However, based on the results of an audition with Anatoly Gunitsky (founder of the Aquarium group), Mitra was unable to enter the ranks of the Soviet public and concert organization.
In 1988, Vasilyev was called up for military service. The first lyrics of songs appeared there, which a few years later were included in the debut album of the group “Spleen” “Dusty True”.
After the army, Alexander worked at the St. Petersburg Academic Comedy Theater, installing the stage. At the same time (1992), Vasiliev became a student at the theater institute and studied in the economics department. He worked part-time as a watchman and went on shifts at a confectionery factory.
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Soloist of the Splin group Alexander Vasiliev
From 1993 to 1994, Vasiliev and Alexander Morozov worked at the Buff Theater. During this period, he met Nikolai Rostovsky (keyboardist) and the recording of the album “Dusty True” continued. On May 27, 1994, the team celebrated the completion of work on their debut disc. Musicians consider this day the beginning of the existence of the Splin group. Later Nikolai Lysov and Stas Berezovsky joined the team.
The English word Spleen was used as the name, which the musicians misspelled as Splean. The same trick was previously used by members of the Beatles, who replaced beat with beetles. Alexander Pushkin used the word “spleen” to mean “spleen.” In fact, it is translated as “spleen,” but in everyday speech it has acquired a different meaning - a state of causeless melancholy.
Personal life
Vasiliev’s first wife was Alexandra’s girlfriend, whom he met at the aviation institute. In this marriage, the couple had a boy, Leonid. It is curious that the musician dedicated the song “Son” to this event.
The second wife of the rock singer was Olga. Later, a boy Roman and a girl Nina were born into this family. Not everyone knows that Alexander is a very talented artist.
In 2008, the first exhibition of Vasiliev’s paintings was organized in a Moscow gallery. The musician loves to surf the Internet and also play sports.
Music
The circulation of the debut album “Dusty True” by the group “Spleen” was approximately 10 thousand copies. All audio cassettes were sold out in St. Petersburg. The compositions “Victim of Melted Ice” and “Fairy Tale” were broadcast on radio stations in St. Petersburg.
The first concert of the group “Spleen” took place in 1994 at the rock club “Ambush”, and a year later the original version of the second album “Weapon Collector” was released, which in 1996 was recorded on a CD and was radically different from the demo version.
At the same time, Alexander Vasiliev came to Moscow to visit Ostankino with the video “Be My Shadow,” which appeared on the ORT TV channel. With the release of this video, the group's fans increased significantly.
Published by Seattle Theater Group Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Logo of the group "Splin"
A full hall of fans gathered for the presentation of the album “Lantern Under the Eye” in 1997 (at the Lensovet Palace of Culture). The popularity of “Spleen” was gaining momentum, the group performed more often in concerts, attended rock festivals, and songs were played on the radio. In the first compositions, the musicians also used various references to the work of their colleagues. Thus, the song “Ditties” appeared after Vasilyev listened to the track “I Want Tea” by the group “Chizh & Co.”
In 1997, Splin entered into a contract with producer Alexander Ponomarev. A year later, together with the ORT Records label, the group released their fourth collection, “Pomegranate Album.” In 1998, Yanik Nikolenko and Sergei Navetny (drummer) joined the ranks of the group. At this time, the group’s discography was replenished with such hits as “No Exit” and “Orbit Without Sugar.”
The work of Alexander Vasiliev was not limited to one genre. In 1999, the album “Altavista” was released with compositions in the indie rock style. It is interesting that the author created new tracks with the expectation that they would not be included in the rotation of radio stations and television, but the song “Drank and Smoked” was still heard on the air. In 2000, another collection appeared, consisting of already popular songs and two new ones - “Something else” and “You’re dreaming about it.”
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Alexander Vasiliev and Ivan Urgant
A year later, the Splin group released their sixth album, “25 frames.” It consists of 14 tracks, including “My Heart,” one of the most popular songs in 2001. Videos for the hits “Life Line” and “Let’s Stay for the Winter” are being released. At the same time, the tour of “Splin” and “Bi-2” took place under the name Fellini. Concerts took place in more than 20 Russian cities, as well as abroad.
In the period from 2002 to 2003, Vasiliev and the members of “Splin” recorded the concert collection “Acoustics”, and later the seventh album “New People”. “Handball” became a popular hit and was included in its composition. The sound of the song used a recording of the laughter of the group's flutist Yan Nikolenko. While working on the track, the musician accidentally laughed. These sounds were then cut out and placed throughout the composition.
The tenth anniversary of the group was marked by the release of the solo collection of permanent leader Alexander Vasiliev, where he collected hits from the period 1998 and 2003.
"Spleen" - "No Exit"
In 2004, the single “Romance” appeared, and later the eighth album “Reverse Chronicle of Events”. It was the last one with the participation of drummer Sergei Navetny. Instead, the group is joined by Alexey Meshcheryakov.
With a renewed line-up, Splean is preparing to release its ninth album and simultaneously tour North America. Stas Berezovsky refused to perform at one of the Fuzz Prize festivals in 2005. Ex-member of the Oedipus Complex group Vladimir Kolyada and musician Innokenty Agafonov appeared on stage with “Spleen”. This change of scenery fueled the interest of fans, and rumors arose about the imminent breakup of the group.
However, apart from messages on the official website that Berezovsky, Yan Nikolenko and Vladimir Kolyada are leaving the team, no information has appeared. “Spleen” still gave concerts and went on tour. In 2006, Alexander Vasiliev wrote music for Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poem “Lilychka”, and the song “Mayak” appeared. In 2007, bass guitarist Dmitry Kunin joined the ranks of the band.
“Spleen” - Song “Romance” (“And the lamp doesn’t light...”)
The ninth album appeared in 2007 and was called “Split Personality.” For two and a half years after the release of the collection, Alexander Vasiliev worked on the lyrics and music. The group toured Russia and the CIS countries. As a result, the songs created during this period became part of the album “Signal from Space.”
The thematic collection included musical compositions by “Splin” together with a girl’s string quartet, a children’s choir (the song “Head Down”), and percussionist Kirill Ipatov.
In 2012, the disc “Optical Illusion” was released, and before that the single “Daughter of the Samurai” was released, which became one of the hits of the group “Spleen”. The song is dedicated to the Japanese girl Sasaki Sadako, who witnessed the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and survived the explosion.
"Spleen" - "Milk and Honey"
After 2 years, Alexander Vasiliev announced the release of the album “Resonance”, which consisted of two parts. The “Key to the Cipher”, which captivated fans, has been in the works of the group “Spleen” since 2014 and was presented in 2016. It included such compositions as “Temple”, “Pyramids”, “We, the Wise Ones”. Tracks written after “Key to the Cipher” until 2021 were included in the album “Oncoming Lane”.
On the air of “Our Radio”, the musician said that the band members are working on a concert track list, which includes compositions from “The Counter Band”, as well as the “eternal” hits of “Splin”.
The group was welcomed with the new program at the “Invasion” rock festival, which took place in August 2021, after which the musicians went on a tour in support of the album.
Biography of the group Splin, history, albums, music
Alexander Vasiliev, Nikolay Rostovsky, Vadim Sergeev, Alexey Meshcheryakov, Dmitry Kunin
Spleen
- Russian rock band from St. Petersburg. The permanent leader is Alexander Vasiliev. The date of birth of the group is considered to be May 27, 1994.
The name of the group arose thanks to the lines of a poem by the Russian poet of the Silver Age Sasha Cherny, on the basis of which the song “On the Quiet Line” from the group’s first album (“Dusty True”) was created:
Like a moth, I’m eaten by spleen... Sprinkle me with mothballs, Put me in a chest and set me down to the attic, Until spring comes.
In 1986, Alexander Vasiliev, while studying at the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation, met Alexander Morozov (nicknamed Morris), who played the bass guitar. Later, Alexander Vasiliev recalled: “Everything happened spontaneously: one friend invited me to a rehearsal in the group where our current bassist Sasha Morozov played. That's where we met. We didn’t miss a single rock concert, it was all incredibly energizing, and we wanted to do something like that. We were 16-17 years old when we formed our first group.” It was this musical duet (school-institute group), called “Mitra”, that became the prototype of the group “Splin”.
Vasiliev’s first songs were recorded at home, in Morozov’s apartment, who had a Record tape recorder and a microphone. The Mitra team subsequently included several more people, including Oleg Kuvaev (future creator of the animated Flash series Masyanya) and Vasiliev’s future wife, Alexandra. “Mitra” tried to join the Leningrad rock club, but did not pass the audition with Anatoly Gunitsky. In 1988, after studying at LIAP for two years, Vasiliev went to serve in the army, where he served as a clerk in a construction battalion. There he began writing songs, some of which later ended up on the album “Dusty True.” After demobilization, in 1992, with the help of Oleg Kuvaev, he got a job as a stage assembler at the St. Petersburg Academic Comedy Theater, and then entered the Theater Institute, in the economics department. He combined his studies with work as a stage setter, night watchman and work at a confectionery factory. In 1993, he met Morozov, and they got a job at the Buff theater, where they met keyboard player Nikolai Rostovsky. In the spring of 1994 they quit.
Musicians earned money to record their debut album in different ways. In search of income, they starred in advertising: “And it happened like this: in 1994, when there was no money to survive at all, the Soyuz-Kontrakt company invited me to sing a commercial based on Paul McCartney’s “Hope Of Deliverance.” I didn’t succeed, sang Stas, our guitarist. It was an advertisement for Hershey-Cola,” Vasiliev recalled this part-time job. The album “Dusty True” was recorded in the sound studio of the Buff Theater with the help of session musicians.
On May 27, 1994, the future lineup of the group gathered in a restaurant to celebrate the end of the album recording process, where they met guitarist Stas Berezovsky. It was this date that began to be considered the birthday of the Splin group. Subsequently, drummer Nikolai Lysov was included in the group. The album turned out to be popular and sold around St. Petersburg with a circulation of about 10 thousand audio cassettes, and two songs from the album (“Victim of Melted Ice” and “Fairy Tale”) were broadcast on radio stations in St. Petersburg. Subsequently, the album was reissued twice on CD by various labels (1997 - Sound Product, 2002 - “The Mystery of Sound”). The group's first official appearance in public occurred in the same year at the Zasada rock club. In 1995, the group recorded a demo version of the album “Weapon Collector” in St. Petersburg. The first version was very different from the CD released in 1996. In the same year, Alexander Vasiliev comes to Moscow with the video “Be My Shadow” and the Demo recording of “Collector”. A successful visit to Ostankino - and a few days later the video was already playing on ORT. From this video the group gains new listeners.
Alexander Vasiliev
The group devotes 2009 to recording a new studio album and touring Russia and the CIS countries. The first evidence of the work was Vasiliev’s poem “The Stone is Rolling,” which was later transformed by the group into a song.
The first single of the album was the song “No More Rock'n'Roll.” The new album “Signal from Space” was released on September 22, 2009. The album includes new songs composed over the previous two and a half years. Moreover, it was recorded in just 10 days, and it took another 10 days to mix it. The record was recorded at the St. Petersburg studio “Dobrolet”, where the sound engineer was A. Alyakrinsky. Initially, at the suggestion of the Aquarium group, the album was mixed in London at Livingston Studios. However, after starting work, the musicians decided that they were not satisfied with the sound of the mixed songs, and moved the mixing to St. Petersburg.
All songs were recorded by the band's regular staff, however, the album also included a trumpet solo by Spitfire band member Roman Parygin. Also participating in the recording were Markscheider Kunst percussionist Kirill Ipatov, a girl’s string quartet and a children’s choir, who performed their part in the song “Head Down.”
A. Vasiliev spoke about the choice of title for the album:
Everything revolved around the theme of space, this is the main theme of all the songs. There were different names - symbols of weightlessness, they were close, but not quite suitable. But I wanted a title that was close to the title of a children’s book, so that it would be interesting for children, because if children find it interesting, then adults will be drawn to it too.
On May 27, 2010, on the official website of the group, on the day of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Bashlachev, a message appears that the group may take part in recording a tribute to the musician’s songs. In the first months of summer, the song “St. Petersburg Wedding” was recorded in the studio with words by Bashlachev; on July 30, 2010, it was first performed at a concert in the Moscow club “B1 Maximum”.
On February 7, 2011, a homemade video for the new song “Life Flew” appears on the site, which became the first single from the group’s new album. On February 19, its premiere takes place at an acoustic evening in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, and on March 14, it will be broadcast on Radio Maximum.
The band spent the summer of 2011 recording demo versions of songs for the new album, which they began studio recording in the fall of the same year.
On October 2, at a concert in Rostov-on-Don, Alexander Vasiliev read a new poem “We are cutting the budget,” the text of which appeared the next day on the group’s website.
In the last days of the outgoing year, at a concert in Tver, the debut performance of the song “Eccentric” took place, the lyrics of which were also posted on the official website.
On February 28, 2012, in an interview with Nashe Radio, Alexander Vasiliev stated that the approximate release of the new record is scheduled for autumn 2012. The new album will include the songs already covered by the group: “Life Flew,” “Eccentric” and “Petersburg Wedding,” previously prepared for an unreleased tribute to Bashlachev.
The beginning of spring was marked by the premiere of the song “Bucket,” which took place on March 2 at the Moscow club “B2,” as well as the filming of a video for the song “Terrible Secret,” which became the second single from the new album and sent to the radio on March 30. The premiere of the video, filmed by the studio “..others..”, took place on April 6.
At concerts in May, the group already performs all 5 new songs: “Life Flew”, “Petersburg Wedding”, “Eccentric”, “Bucket” and “Terrible Secret”.
Alexander Vasiliev, Nikolay Rostovsky, Vadim Sergeev, Alexey Meshcheryakov, Dmitry Kunin
On May 29, a new poem “Fibonacci Series” appears on the group’s website; 2 days later this work was performed by the group at a concert in Moscow’s Green Theater. At the same performance, another premiere took place - at the end of the evening the group played a new song, “The Magic Word.” At the beginning of June, a homemade video for the music of the “Fibonacci Series” was posted on the group’s website and Youtube channel, but with different lyrics in English called The Splean. At a press conference held on June 29 before the band’s performance at the “The Best City” festival in Dnepropetrovsk, Alexander Vasiliev confirmed that the album would be released in early autumn 2012.
On September 4, “Spleen” presented a cover version of the song “Ashes” by the group “Aquarium”. On September 21, the premiere of the song “Daughter of the Samurai” took place on “Our Radio”. The song was first performed in September 2012 at a concert in Veliky Novgorod. The album was released on October 8, 2012.
In the fall of 2013, it became known that the band was preparing a new album. Soon the song “Frost on the Skin” was announced. It was released on November 29 on the iTunes Store and Google Play, as well as on limited edition CD. Four discs from the total circulation included quarters of the handwritten lyrics of the song. Those who find the text and put it together will be the first to receive the new album, even before the official release. The track “Frost on the Skin” was presented to the public on the day of its release, November 29, in Kyiv, at the StereoPlaza concert club. After some time, a video clip appeared for the song.
On February 14, 2014, during a speech at the “Chart's Dozen” award ceremony, Alexander Vasiliev announced that the new album would be called “Resonance” and would be released on March 1. A little later it became known that the album would be divided into two parts. On March 1, the album became available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play and on the official website. It is also possible to listen to the entire album on the Yandex.Music service and on YouTube.
On September 5, 2014, on the air of “Our Radio”, the first single of the group “Splin” from the new album “Resonance” started in the chart “Chart’s Dozen”. Part 2" - "Orchestra".
On September 24, the album “Resonance. Part 2". On the same day, the album became available on iTunes and Google Play. The official release of the album took place on September 25. After the release of the second part, the group began a new tour, consisting only of songs from these two albums.
On October 1, 2015, on the air of Nashe Radio, Alexander Vasiliev announced that the group was preparing material for a new album and had recorded a single. Alexander did not name the exact release date.
On May 30, 2021, Alexander Vasiliev announced on Radio Liberty that the album was ready, the songs were recorded in the band’s own home studio and were being mastered. The album was released on September 23 and included 15 tracks. The author of all the songs in the album is Alexander Vasiliev himself. In addition to the main members of the Splin group, Grigory Zontov (saxophone) took part in the recording of the album.
Alexander Vasiliev
On March 20, 2021, on the air of the Nashe Radio station, Alexander Vasiliev confirmed that the group is preparing a new album. It will feature songs that were not included in the “Key to the Cipher” album. The first single from the album was the song “Warmth of a Home.” Its premiere took place on December 15, 2021. On March 15, 2021, on the air of “Our Radio” he announced that a new record would be released in May. The second single was the track “Bulgakov March”, presented to the public in the form of an animated video on April 1, 2018.
On May 25, 2021, the album “Oncoming Lane” was released, containing 11 tracks. In the fall of 2021, a tour began in support of the album. His final concerts in Russia will take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg in April 2021.
In the “Behind the Stage” program on “NASH radio”, Alexander Vasiliev said that the group began working on a new record.
Albums:
- Dusty true story, 1994
- Gun Collector, 1996
- Lantern under the eye, 1997
- Pomegranate Album, 1998
- Altavista, 1999
- Frame 25, 2001
- New people, 2003
- Reverse chronicle of events, 2004
- Split personality, 2007
- Signal from space, 2009
- Optical illusion, 2012
- Resonance. Part 1, 2014
- Resonance. Part 2, 2014
- Key to the cipher, 2016
- Oncoming lane, 2018
"Spleen" now
Now the Splin group is not slowing down, but continues to release relevant tracks that are popular among its fans. In December 2021, the mini-album “Taykom” was released. The musicians informed fans about this from their Instagram page. Photos and videos of performances by the creative team are also published here.
The Splean group, in connection with the announcement of a large-scale self-isolation campaign due to the spread of coronavirus in 2020, postponed the April concerts that were supposed to take place in Cyprus and Israel to the fall. Also on the YouTube channel of the creative team, a recording of a new song “Tell this to Harry Potter if you ever meet him” appeared.
At the beginning of April 2021, the band’s musicians held an online concert live on the Okko multimedia service. The performance was presented in an apartment format. Well-known hits and new musical compositions were performed. During the concert, listeners had the opportunity to communicate with the participants of “Splin” through the Okko group on VKontakte.
