"Splean" (Splean) is a legendary rock band, under whose songs the second generation has grown up already. The deep lyrics of their compositions penetrate the heart, touch the soul, and the virtuoso musical accompaniment creates an extraordinary atmosphere. Their songs have a depressive character, they are sometimes difficult to perceive. But this is what attracts a huge interest of listeners. The genre of their creativity is difficult to determine. In the compositions of "Splin" can be traced alternative and psychedelic rock, indie and folk motifs, post-grunge and even Brit-pop.
Creation of the band
May 27, 1994 is considered the starting point from which the history of the band began. But the formation of the team of musicians started much earlier.
Alexander Vasiliev, Nikolay Rostovsky and Alexander Morozov met while they were still students. Each of them was drawn to music from early years, but could not achieve anything on their own. In 1986 they joined forces and became the backbone of the future group "Splin". After long deliberations over the concept of the project, they took Oleg Kuvaev and the girl Alexandra, who would soon become the wife of the frontman. In such a composition they laid the beginning of the collective "Mitra". At that time they had neither rehearsal space nor equipment. Instruments, a microphone and an old tape recorder were all that the novice musicians were armed with.
A year later they tried to join the Leningrad Rock Club, but failed to pass the audition. They continued to work on their repertoire, but in 1988 Alexander Vasiliev - the lead singer and leader of the group - was taken into the army. "Mitra" broke up without reaching the heights.
During the next 5 years, everyone was engaged in personal life. But they did not interrupt their communication. When in 1993 Vasilyev and Morozov began working in the theater "Buff", the desire to create a group flared up with renewed vigor. Especially now they had access to a local recording studio. Secretly from the management, at night they created their debut album "Dusty Byl". At that time the name "Splin" (taken from Sasha Cherny's poem "As moth-eaten as I am by spleen... sprinkle me with mothballs") was born. On May 24, 1994 they finished their work. This day is called the birthday of the band.
Creative path
The debut was very successful: ten thousand copies in St. Petersburg were sold out instantly. Critics spoke positively about their work, the songs "Victim of Melted Ice" and "Fairy Tale" got into radio rotation, "Splin" gained fans.
In the same year they gave their first concert in a rock club. Then two more members joined them: Nikolay Lysov (drummer) and Stas Berezovsky (guitarist). They began to be invited to festivals and thematic events. Surprisingly, all these years Vasiliev worked on the radio, but never used his official position to include his songs on the airwaves.
In 1995 they worked on the creation of the second album, released their debut music video. An important event was their participation in the Generation festival. Although they were not winners, the number of fans of their creativity doubled. They managed to conquer the public and attract attention to themselves.
A year later, "Splin" released a second record "Gun Collector" and sang at the festival "Fill the sky with kindness". Performing in front of an audience of 35,000 next to the best rock bands in Russia added to their confidence in their abilities.
After two years of active work the musicians started to cooperate with Alexander Ponomarev. He became their manager and took a course to popularize the work of the collective. Soon it was decided to go on tour to major cities of the country. The musicians went on tour, combining performances and work on another record. It was called "Pomegranate Album". It was then that the public first heard such hits as "Orbit without sugar" and "There is no way out", which are called the calling card of the collective.
In 1998 "Splin" had a momentous event - they were invited to "warm up" to the legendary band The Rolling Stones. The acquaintance and praise from Keith Richards, who was closely following the performance of a Russian rock band unknown to him, inspired the musicians.
At the turn of the new millennium there were changes in the lineup: Sergey Navetny replaced Nikolai Lysov, and then Nikolai Rostovsky left the band temporarily. But the team was replenished with flutist Ian Nikolenko. With the renewed band they went on a foreign tour to the USA, and then released the album "Altavista".
They went on another tour of Russian cities together with the band "Bi-2". The concert program of Fellini Tour was a grand success. Crowded stadiums and choral singing of hits were remembered for a long time.
The period from 2003 to 2006 was not too successful. Critics called the new works in the discography "weak", the interest to the band faded a bit. But such a long break in musical biography did the performers good. Having changed the line-up, they went to the USA and gave 4 grandiose concerts. This awakened interest in them. Having returned from America, "Splin" actively begins to perform in Belarus, Germany and Russia.
Further creativity of the group took a different character. They began to release records less frequently (once every two years), but each composition was weighted and thought out. They worked on vocals, improved musical skills, experimented with arrangements. In 2016, they opened their own recording studio, which could not help but affect the quality of the albums.
Today, "Splin" continues to give concerts, tour and write new songs. For 26 years of creative activity, they have repeatedly proved their uniqueness on the rock platform. Although fans have never doubted it. Read about the further development of the collective in the catalog of artists on the website kontramarka.de.
Discography:
1994 - "Dusty Bull"
1996 - "Gun Collector"
1997 - "Lantern Under My Eye".
1998 - "Pomegranate Album"
1999 - "Altavista"
2001 - "25 Frame"
2003 - "New People"
2004 - "Reverse Chronicle of Events"
2007 - "Split Personality"
2009 - "Signal from Space"
2012 - "Deception of Vision"
2014 - "Resonance. Part 1"
2014 - "Resonance. Part 2."
2016 - "The Key to the Cipher"
2018 - "Encounter Lane"
2019 - "The Secret."
