Public Talk. The Russian History of Hardcore

DESCRIPTION

The founders of Sadwave.com Maksim Dinkevich, Alexander Maltsev and Vadim Gurov speak about the early years of American hardcore punk and D.I.Y culture and discuss the history of youth subcultures in Russia with invited musicians and journalists.

Punk culture began about forty years ago, and seeped into the USSR as early as in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, due to the lack of information from behind the Iron Curtain, a complex movement mutated into something different as it spread through the Soviet territory. Some people were attracted by the nihilist aspect of punk; others fell for the style of American rebels with guitars—yet others were inspired by the punk ideal of free and uncensored art and created their own unique culture unlike any other.

Musicians and journalists who have contributed to the development of punk culture in Russia will discuss its history and understanding in the Soviet and post-Soviet years. Fyodor Lavrov, who played in Begemot, Otdel Samoiskorenenia and Narodnoye opolchenie will speak of Saint Petersburg punk bands of the 1980s, the front man of Tarakani! Dmitry Spirin and journalist and promoter Ilya Zinin will discuss the punk 1990s in Moscow, while Sadwave editors will share their memories of the DIY underground culture in the 2000s and 2010s.

PARTICIPANTS

Maksim Dinkevich is the chief editor of the webzine Sadwave.com. Since 2005, he has been a contributor to various zines, and later a zine publisher. He founded Sadwave.com with a group of friends in 2012.

Vadim Gurov is an editor at Sadwave.com. He was born in Moscow in 1987 and has been organizing concerts and tours for independent punk bands at Play It Loud Booking. He founded Sadwave.com with a group of friends in 2012.

Alexander Maltsev is an editor at Sadwave.com. He has been writing for various zines and publishing his own zine Interpretation since 2005. He founded Sadwave.com with a group of friends in 2012.

Fyodor Lavrov is a musician, sound engineer and founder of several bands. He started his first band Otdel Samoiskorenenia in 1983, but in 1984 it was banned by the KGB. Along with his own, he recorded several other bands including Narodnoye opolchenie, Avtomaticheskiye udovletvoriteli and Brigadny podryad in his home studio from 1982 to 1986. In 1996, he founded the indie punk band Begemot, and in 2006 started a solo guitar and electronic project Feddy. After a reunion in 2014, Otdel Samoiskorenenia broke up again in the end of 2016, and Lavrov went on to relaunch Begemot with new members. He writes music for cinema and television.

Kirill Tolkachev (born 1975, Moscow) is a musician and journalist who was at the origin of the Moscow hardcore scene. Member of the bands “Skygrain” and “Argument 5.45”. In the late 1990s, he co-published the fanzines Punk/Hardcore Magazine and Old Skool Kids.

Ilya Zinin is a Moscow-based promoter, journalist and musician, co-author of the book Songs to the Void about the underground music scene of the 1990s. He was a music critic at Rovesnik and a contributor to a number of other periodicals including Rolling Stone, Colta.Ru, Rossiyskaya gazeta and Russky reporter. He has also worked as a head of PR at Apelsin and Ikra clubs and an art director at China-Town-Café, where he was twice awarded Artemy Trotsky’s Stepnoy Volk Prize for the best venue. As an indie promoter, he has organized several hundred concerts, including for the bands N.O.M, Televizor, Posledniye Tanki v Parizhe and Petlya Pristrastiya among many others. His book Songs to the Void, written in collaboration with Alexander Gorbachev and Maksim Dinkevich was published by Corpus in 2014.