Splean

About the group

The creativity of the rock band Spleen is real deep philosophy, the search for truth and existence outside of time, their mythology, initiation and self-knowledge. There is something to think about not only for each individual separately but for the whole people. The compositions of Alexander Vasiliev are full of metaphor and meaning, but at the same time, they are enriched with the realities of everyday modern life. That is why his work resonates with the people since the situations described in the verses are very close to each of us.

Rock performed by Splean is far from the crazy canons of this culture, rather it can be called intelligent. The collective does not use obscene language in its texts. Throughout the history of creativity, mate was used only in one song "Get out of my head".

According to the famous music portal Last.FM, Spleen is the most popular Russian rock band. They were the first to gain a million views on the same site.

Even those who are not fond of the collective's creativity have probably heard their songs because they often become soundtracks. They can be found in the films Brother 2, Interns, Election Day, War, Huntsman, Irony of Love and others.

Group history

Surprisingly, the Splean members consider the birthday of the group to be the day of the end of work on the first album, and this is exactly May 27, 1994. But the predecessor of Splean is the Mitra team, which was assembled by Alexander Vasiliev back in 1986, as a young 16-year-old boy. So, together with a friend, part-time bass guitarist, Alexander Morozov, the guys recorded their first rock works at home on a Soviet tape recorder "Record".

Later, Oleg Kuvaev joined the guys. Yes, yes, the same creator of the humorous flash series with a fair amount of satire "Masyanya". The full line-up of Mitra was completed by the soloist's favourite girl - Alexandra.

The collective tried with all its might to get into the then-fashionable rock party of Leningrad, but then they failed to impress and excite the attention of one of the founders of “Aquarium” Anatoly Gunitskiy, who had auditions for young rock performers.

In 1988, Alexander Vasiliev goes to the army. It is there that the compositions that will form the backbone of the first album find their birth.

The beginning of the changeable 90s forced Alexander Vasiliev to work on several jobs. He edited a scene at a comedy theatre in St. Petersburg, moonlighted as a watchman and a handyman at a confectionery factory. In parallel with this, he entered the theatre institute, the faculty of economics. Then, together with his bosom friend Alexander Morozov, he gets a job at the famous St. Petersburg theatre "Buff". The guys earned money for the first album in any way, even recorded their voices to advertise the drink.

The team recorded their debut work within the walls of the same theatre and released ten thousand copies of audiotapes. It is from this moment that the real Spleen biography begins. It is worth noting that all copies were scattered on the tape recorders of St. Petersburg rock amateurs. Some of the songs from this album even got into the rotation of local radio stations.

Even greater success and the first step to universal fame led to the launch of the video "Be my shadow" on the main and most popular TV channel ORT.

Collaborations

At the dawn of the new millennium in 2001, Spleen, Bi-2 and the team from Chelyabinsk Tomas set off on a joint Fellini tour. The rock bands toured 22 cities with a concert program. The guys even released an album with a recording of one of the concerts. Later, the work will be re-released in 2014 in the format of vinyl records.

Among the popular Spleen songs, there is also a cover version of the song "Ashes", the original of which was performed by Aquarium.

During an epidemic and self-isolation in 2020, Alexander Vasiliev and his team are releasing a politically charged song "Pass this to Harry Potter if you suddenly meet him." Such a bold decision did not go unnoticed. Musician and poet Sergei Galanin and legendary Andrei Makarevich composed their poetic answers.

It was assumed that the compositions "Letter" and "The breathless lightness of being" are poems set to music by Joseph Brodsky. But in fact, the authorship of these lines belongs entirely to Alexander Vasiliev.

Composition

The permanent leading star of Splean is its vocalist and author of most of the songs, Alexander Vasiliev.

You can also call the old-timer and keyboard player Nikolai Rostovsky. He was at the origin of the group and played together for 4 years. He returned to the team in 2001 and remains a member to this day.

Guitarist Vadim Sergeev mastered different types of string instruments. From 2001 to 2002 he was fond of solo guitar, then he played bass for 5 years. In 2007 he returned to solo again.

In 2005, drummer Alexei Meshcheryakov joined Splean's team. And in 2007 bass player Dmitry Kunin.

This composition of the group creates and performs to this day.

Discography

The debut work, the release of which marked the beginning of the existence of Splean, is "Dusty True". All published copies were sold out and for the presentation of the next album "The Lantern under the Eye, " the collective was already gathering full houses.

In 1997, the release of "Pomegranate Album" was released, which included Spleen's hits "Sugar-Free Orbits" and "No Way Out". Before the onset of the new millennium, Spleen will still have time to release "Altavista". This work is recorded in the indie rock style.

In 2001, the team will present the "25th frame". It was then that the world heard the main song of the year “My Heart”. A year later, the album "Acoustics" was released, followed by the studio work "New People".

In 2004, “Reverse Chronicle of Events” appears, and three years later Spleen presents his “Split Personality” to the world. In 2009, the team receives the "Signal from Space", and three years later pleases the audience with "Optical Illusion".

In 2014 two parts of "Resonance" were released. Subsequent albums "The Key to the Cipher", "The Counter Lane", "Vira and Myna" are released at intervals of 2 years in 2016, 2018 and 2020, respectively.