| Zemlyane | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Leningrad, Soviet Union |
| Genres | Pop rock, synth rock, New Wave |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Labels | Melodiya |
| Associated acts | Alisa |
| Website | zemlyane.su, www.zemlyane.com |
| Members | |
| Sergey Skachkov Aleksey Balabanov Igor Romanov Viktor Kudryavtsev Boris Dolgikh Pavel Borisov Yuriy Starchenko Nikolay Kudryavtsev Veronika Stepanova |
|
| Past members | |
| Eugene Yarzhin Sergey Zagrebelny Leonid Strunkin Evgeny Myasnikov Alexei Volkov |
|
Zemlyane, (Russian: Земляне which is Russian for Earthlings) is a Soviet, and later Russian rock band which enjoyed great popularity in the early 1980s. The band was formed in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1979 and remains active to this day.
A key artist in "VIA" (vocal-instrumental ensemble) wave of Soviet music, it was one of the first officially state-recognized bands to feature elements of rock music in USSR. Zemlyane used to mix hard rock music with synthpop, and Zemlyane's frontman Sergey Skachkov plays keytar. Most of their lyrics deal with risk, courage, and masculinity. They sang about cosmonauts, stunts, pilots, and sailors.
Zemlyane was formed in 1968 by students of Leningrad Radiopolytechnical College. Followers of bands such as Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, they played mainly cover versions of these bands' music until 1974 when they started creating compositions of their own.
In 1978 Zemlyane stopped performing on stage for several months for reasons of reorganization and rest.
Their former administrator Andrey Bolshev and April rock band drummer Vladimir Kiselev decided to take advantage of this situation. They put together totally different musicians passing them off as real Zemlyane. Protests from original Zemlyane rock band were abruptly ignored. (The accession of the Soviet Union to the Universal Copyright Convention, which became effective on May 27 was formal and no one dared to sue for copyright violation or infringement.)
So in 1979 two groups of musicians were on stage bearing the same name 'Zemlyane': Zemlyane led by Myasnikov (keyborads) and Zemlyane promoted by Kiselev and Bolshev.
In 1980 original Zemlyane together with Kronverk and Aquarium rock bands represented Leningrad Rock Club at Tbilisi Spring Rhythms 80 music festival.
The original lineup was Sergey Skachkov (keytar, vocals), Igor Romanov (guitar, vocals), Boris Aksenov (bass guitar) and Vladimir Kiselev (drums), usually accompanied by session members as well. Kiselev was also Zemlyane's sound producer and manager ('artistic director', in terms of the time). In early 1980 the band released several hits such as 'Trava u doma', 'Kaskadery', 'Vzletnaya polosa', among others. 'Trava u doma' featured in soundtrack of popular cartoon series Nu, pogodi!.
In 1987, Zemlyane performed at Olimpiyski Sport Complex accompanied by Uriah Heep.
The band went on hiatus by the beginning of the next decade, but was revived by Sergey Skachkov in 1994 with relatively new lineup. Another former Zemlyane member, Igor Romanov, now plays in Alisa. A copyright dispute between Skachkov and Kiselev arose when Kiselev (as producer) created a band of young musicians, unrelated to old Zemlyane, which used Zemlyane's name and performed its old hits. The dispute was eventually solved in 2009 in favor of Skachkov.