Ляпис Трубецкой

Lyapis Trubetskoy (Russian: Ляпис Трубецкой, Belarusian: Ляпіс Трубяцкі) was a Belarusian rock band. After its 25th anniversary the group dissolved itself. History: Early years: The band was formed in Minsk in 1990. By the end of the 1990s it received serious popularity in Belarus and abroad.

In its early years the band became popular with its pop-culture parodies, producing hits like "Au", "Ti kinula" ("You Dumped Me"), "Zelenoglazoye taksi" ("Green-eyed Taxi"), "V plat'ye belom" ("In A White Dress") and "Yabloni" ("Apple-trees"). Second wave of popularity in the 2000s: "One day to my horror I realized that our group has become similar to the objects of our parodies and mockery. We were starting to merge with all those pop-star crowd, but I'm not one of them and never wanted to be, " - Sergey Mikhalok, the band's leader says. He admits that it wasn't so easy to give up the show business game and become independent once again.

According to him, "it was very difficult to get our true essence back on top. And the thing wasn't about any contracts. We had to overcome public opinion and, most importantly, set our own minds free. At first, my internal discomfort from the gap between the authentic Lyapis Trubetskoy and its public image was relieved by hard drinking and other stuff, but when my weight peaked at 110 kilograms and my mind was about to collapse, I gave up everything, lost 25 kilograms and started to play the music I like.

" In 2004 Lyapis Trubetskoy recorded the album Zoloty'ye yaytsy ("Golden Balls"). It was created under heavy reggae and ska influence. "While working on Zoloty'ye yaytsy we didn't understand what to do with our independence. As a result there were some reflex attempts to score a radio hit with "Rain'ka" or "Pochtal'iony'" ("Ten O'Clock Postman"), - Sergey Mikhalok says. - But this wasn't the biggest problem.

The whole album was overproduced, we tried to mix too many styles, musical instruments and sounds in it. So, we paid too much attention to the form instead of the essence. We were in need of a real professional who could tell us what was good and what was too much. " Capital is the second independent album by Lyapis Trubetskoy after that.

That is why searching for a sound producer was one of the main tasks while working on Capital. At some point the band wanted to record their album in London, in the hometown the legendary British ska-band Madness (one of Mikhalok's favourites). When almost everything was ready for that, a chance interfered. At a concert in Kiev Lyapis Trubetskoy met a famous Ukrainian sound producer Vitaliy Telezin.

He worked with Okean Elzy, Brat'ia Grim and other famous Ukrainian and Russian artists. But it wasn't the thing that attracted Mikhalok and his friends. "We are from the same generation with him, we had common world outlook, we liked the same music. And it was the music we wanted to record on our new album.

I don't want to offend anyone, but, roughly speaking, for our band he is the first studio guy who didn't need explanations about what is California wave or how Green Day and The Offspring make their sound, " - Mikhalok says. And this combination has worked perfectly well. Now it's already clear that the new album will mean to the band and its fans no less than "Ty kinula" ("You Gave Me Up") in 1998 and will give a rise to the new popularity wave for Lyapis Trubetskoy. Still, according to Sergey Mikhalok, the ideology of both the new album and the present group is different from what used to be in the years between these two landmarks.

He says: "When I started my career I used to write songs that changed me and the world around me, but later I began to create stuff, that didn't have influence either on me or the world around. At best those songs could be a soundtrack for some wedding or birthday. And what is horrible at some point I even used to be proud of that. But now I have come back to what everything started from - to a mix of biting satire and powerful chords.

" Video clips have played an important role in the album presentation. The first clip for the song "Hare" ("Enough"), a cheerful wedding trash-video, was filmed by a famous actor and new wave director Vladimir Epifantsev. The second clip, animation video "Capital" (starring Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other politicians), which has become a real Internet sensation, was made by Aliaksei Tserakhau, co-author of "Au" (1998) and "Rozochka" (1999) videos. The next Lyapis Trubetskoy album - Manifest - was released in September 2008.

The band put their brand new album "Manifest" on direct digital download. Lyapis Trubetskoy were the first famous post-Soviet musicians, which decided to put their new record online and for free. Two music videos came along with the album - the first one was "Zhlob" - trash-punk video, while the second one - "Manifest" - became the first "live-in-concert" band's music video. The CD Manifest was released on 30 September 2008.

In November 2008 "Ogon'ki" ("The Lights") music video was released. Not long before its release, the video won "The Best Animation" award at ViMUS, Portugal. In January 2009 Manifest became "the best album of the year 2008" according to the West Records top-list and The Lenta music review. Lyapis Trubetskoy was one of the bands that performed (in December 2013) for Euromaidan-protesters in Kiev, Ukraine.

Dissolution: Frontman Siarhei Mikhalok anounced mid-March 2014 that the group would ceased to exist the next 1 September. The groups farewell concert was given in the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine on 26 August. Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko was present at this concert. Awards: Rock-Koronatsiya, Belarus 1996: Best Lyrics, Best Album - Ranetoe Serdce (Broken Heart), Best Band, 2003: Best Music Video - Yunost' (Youth), 2008: Best Song - Capital, Best Music Video - Capital, 2009: Best Song - Zorachki, Best Album - Manifest, Best Band, Belarusian Hit-Parade: 1999: Best Video Montage - "Rozochka (Rose)", Best Video Operator - "Yabloni (Apple Trees)", Best Music Video - "Rozochka (Rose)", Multimatograph, Russia: 2007: Best Music Video - "Capital", MTV RMA, Belarus: 2007: Best Album - "Capital", ViMus, Portugal: 2007: Special Jury Prize - "Capital", 2008: Best Animation - "Ogon'ki (Lights)", RAMP, Russia: 2007: Best Music Video - "Capital", MTV Portugal: 2008: Best International Video - "Capital", Chartova Dyuzhina, Russia: 2008: Best Music Video - "Capital", 2009: Best Music Video - "Ogon'ki (Lights)", Stepnoy Volk, Russia: 2008: Best Music Video - "Capital", 2009: Best Music Video - "Ogon'ki (Lights)", ZD Awards, Russia: 2009: Band of the Year, Rock Project of the Year, Весёлые картинки