Who does not live well in the Crimea. Stories of bands that left the peninsula

Five years ago, on March 16, 2014, as a result of the notorious referendum, Russia came and occupied the peninsula. Some of its residents did not agree with this position and left. Among them were musicians who played a variety of music, sometimes, even despite the sun and the southern climate of the place, not so light and fun.

Oleksandr Nechai found several bands that left their places of origin and asked them all just three questions:

— When did you leave the peninsula?
— Are you planning to return?
— Does the band continue its activities and, if so, how often do you go live or work in the studio?

Further are answering, what the band from the Crimea gave us. The answers are different. We do not want to fit the article under paragraphs and highlight the standard volume for each, let everyone speak for themselves. They have every right to do so.

Кожаный Олень (Leather Deer)

Perhaps the most famous and funny band from the city of Simferopol. The band appeared in 1998, during the school years of the guitarist and trumpeter of the band. They play fun and cheerful porn-ska-punk and used to collect large halls of several countries. It is unlikely that among the connoisseurs of Ukrainian modern culture there is a person who has never heard of these charcoal and hilarious dolts.

­— When did you leave the peninsula?

— The main part of the band — in 2016. For various reasons. In the Crimea, there was one guitarist, the rest drove away.

— Are you planning to return?

— Individual desire of everyone, I haven't heard about such impulses from any of those who left. So, we're coming from time to time, when there's an opportunity, as we all have relatives and some friends left there.

— Does the band continue its activities?

— Especially not. We parted far, gathering is hard, until we see the possibility of how to do it. And there are no big aspiration, everybody lives their own lives, there are many things to do, except our wonderful songs.

Cat Inside 

Art punk / noise rock band from Sevastopol (Ukraine). The years of its activity occurred in 2008-2011. They played festival sets and solo concerts in Sevastopol, Simferopol, Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkov. In 2010, they released their debut EP (split with The George Kay Experience from New Zealand) and founded the indie label Prick Records. In 2014, they gathered again to record 10 tracks at the SeratonIn studio in Sevastopol. The songs were brought to mind for three years — from 2015 to 2018, as a result, on January 25, 2019 the last album of the band was released.

— When did you leave the peninsula?

— We all left in 2015.

— Are you planning to return?

— We're not planning to come back.

— Does the band continue its activities?

— The activity continued remotely from the 2015 to the 2019, while recording instruments to "Rewind" and reducing the release. But this is a "posthumous" album, and now that it is released, we won't do anything with Cat Inside, the band officially broke up in 2011. But we will make music in the future, and together as well..

Shadazz

The band appeared in 2012 in Sevastopol. They play alternative rock, trip-hop and shoegaze. Videoclips from the debut album was made by Victor Priduvalov — one of the most famous directors in Ukraine.

— When did you leave the peninsula?

— We've moved to Kyiv in 2017.

— Are you planning to return?

— We're not planning to come back.

— Does the band continue its activities?

— We've signed a contract with the label ІnshaMusika, after the moving to Kyiv and released our debut album 'Angry & Sad'. We rarely perform now, as we are working on the second album. Although some concerts are planned in the spring in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland.

Uprise, Holdback 

The answers were sent by the drummer of both bands. He had his own studio in Simferopol, which he brought from the peninsula. The musician is laconic, but his experiences are understandable in his brevity. Uprise, like Holdback no longer exists. The first of the two bands had a considerable influence on the formation of the hardcore scene in Ukraine. Very honored among connoisseurs of the genre, as well as fans of DIY and sXe — movements.

— When did you leave the peninsula?

— Only part of the Holdback band has left — three out of five people. The first two left in the spring of 2014, the third at the end of the winter of 2015. The remaining guys live in Simferopol, as before. Personally, I left the Crimea at the very beginning of April 2014.

— Are you planning to return?

— I don't think so, because we communicated with each other on these topics. The situation in Kyiv/Odessa is more comfortable for everyone. I do not plan to return though I have the best feelings for my homeland.

— Does the band continue its activities?

— None of the bands that existed at the time at the moment are active now. The only thing in the summer of 2016 was the 3-song split with the band Bvrnt Cross. The studio was disassembled a bit later, the whole device was transported to Odessa, the story ended.

Куклы Клауса (Klaus Dolls)

The band appeared in 1995 in the Crimea. But since the middle of the 00' lives in Kyiv. Playing art punk, at least people say so, and they think so. The band recorded a punk musical and in itself is quite funny. Куклы Клауса (Klaus dolls) also left a deep imprint on the formation of modern pop culture and occasionally emerge as the history of native intellectual punk. Questions answered by bass player of the band Bob.

— When did you leave the peninsula?

— We left the peninsula in parts, in the 97th, the 98th and the 2000th and this was not because of the politics:)

— Are you planning to return?

— We're not planning to return. In any case, in the near future. There were plans for retirement and funerals, but crappy neighbors intervened;)

— Does the band continue its activities?

— Since 2006, the band re-assembled in Kyiv, recorded four albums and one musical. Sometimes we write, sometimes we play concerts. Yes, the Crimea strongly mixed plans and violated the normal course of things... with everyone... Something like that:)

Terra Impressionum

The band appeared in 2005 in Novofedorovka on the Black Sea. Plays vanguard metal. The band is inspired by such directions as jazz, art-rock and blues. The musicians recorded two albums for now. But perhaps the third release of the band will be released. All participants live in different cities. Questions were answered by bassist Alexander Malinovsky.

— When did you leave the peninsula?

— Not all members of the band have left the Crimea for permanent residence. However, the relocation of those who left was not related to the events of 2014, because occurred a few years earlier. So, in August 2011, I've moved to Kyiv first, because of a shift in work, and then in 2012 (if I’m not mistaken), our keyboard player has also moved to Kyiv because of work.

— Are you planning to return?

— IMHO, you should not renounce anything in life. But even when I lived in Kyiv for 6 years, I was not going to return to Crimea. The level of infrastructure and capabilities of Kyiv differed quite strongly from Simferopol, or Sevastopol. Since the end of 2017, I generally live in the United States. As far as I know, our keyboard player was also not going to return to the Crimea.

— Does the band continue its activities?

— At the beginning of 2011, the drummer left our band, and the three of us remained. We didn’t talk about concert activity anymore, but we continued rehearsals with sampled drums and planned to write a third album. However, at the end of 2011 I've moved to Kyiv because of work, and, a little later, our keyboard player also moved there. Only our guitarist/vocalist remained in Crimea. We had 2 pairs of weekend rehearsals per month. For one pair of "Saturday-Sunday" a guitarist from Simferopol came to us in Kyiv by train, and two weeks later, for the same pair of "Saturday-Sunday", we went with a keyboard player from Kyiv to Simferopol by train. In other words, with difficulties, but the process somehow went on, continued. Until 2014...

When the railway communication with the Crimea ceased to exist, and the migration of people in one direction or another began to resemble the illegal crossing of the border with the United States by Mexicans, it was finally tied up with live rehearsals. In 2015, we were still trying to start recording the album remotely, but we didn’t even finish recording of the first song (even though it is 10 minutes long) due to different life (family, work) circumstances. In 2016, we finally realized everything, and decided not to torture each other, officially suspending our activities.

But... At the very end of 2018, the guys and I started writing off again about posting our two albums on digital online platforms. In the course of these discussions, we decided to try the remote recording of the album again. There are no specifics and guarantees, but there are already thoughts, at least for now, but there is a discussion, and, perhaps, we will be able to start remote creation this year, despite the fact that one of us is in Crimea, the second is in Kyiv and the third in the USA.

It is impossible not to recall another well-known Simferopol melodic-hardcore band Memorials. The singer Yevgeny Svishchev told us in details about the fate of the participants and the perspectives of the group in the January interview. 

Resume

It's been 5 years since the exodus of some musicians from the peninsula. In some kind of parallel universe, their fate probably was better and someone already, at least like, played on Sziget or even easier — made a similar event there. Moreover, the climate and the situation contributed sometime... in our reality sometime. And if there was a lot of punk and fun music in the Crimea earlier, which was created and sounded on the mass of venues, there is not many people in the mood to create now. It turned out strange with band Кожаный Олень in general, but quite understandable. Temporary "masters" of the peninsula squeezed part of its fruit to the mainland. Who knows whether the seeds have remained there after such events.