Splean (Russian: Сплин) is a popular Russian rock band. They were formed and released their first album in 1994. Since then, they have remained one of the most popular rock bands in Russia and the former Soviet Union. The band's name is derived from "spleen" (in the sense of "depression"), and the "ea" spelling in English is a pun on the spelling of the Beatles.
It was borrowed from a short poem by Sasha Cherny, which the band set to music. The band was formed when lead singer Alexander Vasilyev, while working in a theatrical institute, was introduced to keyboardist Nikolay Rostovsky. The two formed a band, and risking Vasilyev's job, began recording their first album "Pylnaya Byl" in one of the institute's studios at night. After the release of Splean's second album, the band moved to Moscow.
Their growing popularity was proved by Boris Grebenshchikov's support. Splean had a string of hit songs including "Sugar Free Orbit ", "New People", "Backwards Time", and "We Were Just Sitting and Smoking". Despite rumours that the group is on the verge of breaking up, Splean continues performing throughout Russia and the world. The band frequently experiments and evolves, so that the current version of Splean is quite different from its original version.
In 2004, the band garnered international attention for the inclusion of their song "Be My Shadow" ("Будь моей тенью") in the movie based on Sergey Lukyanenko's bestselling novel Night Watch. Splean was a headliner of the 2005 Krylya Rock festival. In that same year, the group started recording another album, which was released in February 2007 as Split Personality ("Раздвоение личности"). The single Tell Her topped song and video charts on the radio and MTV, and the video for this song was awarded the MTV Russian Music Award for Best Video.
Members: Alexander Vasilyev - lead vocals, guitar, Vadim Sergeyev - guitar, Dmitriy Kunin - bass-guitar, Nikolay Rostovsky - keyboards, Alexey Mesherekov - drums
Discography
