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About Us: Biography, Adresses, etc.
History of the Band:
We're new so there isn't much history to talk about...but there's always something!!!
We met and decided to work round about the end of August 2001 - thanks to our incredible friend Arthur Voskanyan (a special thanx to you, man! We still owe you one!)
We had a few songs (6-7) between us, some with texts, some plain and simple melodies. In the beginning there were only three of us - Lyosha, Dima, and Genya. During September people came and went away, trying out (we're still searching for musicians!!!). During September we had a few all-night sessions in Alex's apartment (woke up in the morning, breathing in beer fumes and cig smoke :), a few home recordings, a home camera shoot, and people coming to listen to us...friends mostly. We almost made a concert, having temporarily found a keyboard player...but it didn't work out.
The second wave came in December 2001, when the line-up completely updated, we worked on our first single, done a recording in January, and acquired loads of experience and rather more material, instruments and technics. This history will be constantly updating as new stuff happens, so watch this space!
Alexey Imas:
This is the man who named and shamed the project. The composer, solo (and now rhythm too) guitarist and the main (former) singer of the band, he also spends incredible amounts of time trying to organize the whole thing and get people going. He also owns the apartment where the bulk of the jam sessions takes place.
Born on the May 14th 1983, a Taurus, he developed an interest for music quite early on (pushed and pressed by his mother - a renowned piano player in Ukraine and around the world) - played piano for 4 years, but never finished the music school. He also took up ballroom dancing for 8 years, which gave him a sense of rhythm (although his band members still doubt it ;)). He started up guitar 4 years ago, but came to play the electro only in January 2001 - quite successfully, in fact! For the last two years he lives and studies in England (so he's got only an odd few months during the year to devote to this project). Right now he owns a Squier Stagemaster HSS (Floyd Rose) - black solo beauty and a Vintage Steel Acoustic - black-green. Generally he favours black colour...to an extent that he looks like a black hole when walking down the street!
Evgeniy Sapon:
Our famous Bass Man! Well, not bass man anymore, as he changed to rhythm and maybe solo in spring, since Vova came in on bass. An incredible personality and the most down-to-earth person out of all of us, he weaves his bass (and rhythm)-thumping magic with ease, belying the actual work put into it!
Born on the August 7th 1984, a Leo (and he looks like one too :), his music tastes are rather summer-like - sunny, chill-out, spinning, fast melodies, very optimistic, which certainly reflects in the music he's writing for our project. He's a good singer, though quite shy on the vocals, when it comes to it, but certainly excels when singing in duos. He's studying in KROK - quite a famous Kiev institute in it's own right. As of now, he owns two guitars - a custom-made 4-string bass, red-black, and a Les Paul-style Musima, yellow-cherry sunburst. Incredibly enough, he's also the best out of all of us in playing scales - chromatic, melodic, 3-step - you name it, he knows it! As of now, he uses Igor's Epiphone for playing rhythm, but there may be a change in spring...
Anna Lipkovskaja:
Our new keyboard player and back-vocalist! She's good, she's really good! A very talented girl with an amazing voice, she not only covers up our gaps, holes, and stops, but adds up an exquisite and intricate layer of sound, effectively bringing the compositions to their final look. She's humorous, charismatic, and has one serious advantage over us all - she's been working with a music band before!
She was born on November 21st 1979, a Scorpio (uuh, scary! ;)). She loves classic rock, rock-n-roll, and as a result - bikes! She also enjoys the "after dark" times, rainy weather, cold beer, loves black cats and just about likes people who wear black ;-))))
Her music is influenced by legendary Russian rock groups like Aria, and she's a very good guitar player too! In fact she can play almost any instrument there is in our band - which makes her an absolutely invaluable member of the project! She currently plays on a small Casio keyboard, but she surpasses its sound abilities by far! We're all thankful that she's with us!
Vladimir Kijaniza:
Our new bass man! He's young, bright, and eager to improvise and he loves music. This star of ours was born in January 1985 - a Capricorn. And just as one of those "horny" creatures, he pushes on and on striving for perfection. He's playing Genya's old bass baby right now and squeezes out every possible sound.
He currently studies in the Kiev College of Business. The man loves blues, hard rock, metal, but thoroughly enjoys our own soft-rocky style. He spends his free time playing acoustic guitar or electros, whatever comes into his hands. We're also very grateful to him for providing us with a drum station and a bunch of technics like soundboxes etc., which we're gonna use later on!
Vjacheslav Krasnopolskij:
The pin-up of the project, our new main singer! Our new and promising signing, Slava seems to remember the old saying: "New is a nicely forgotten old". His vocals remind of the living legend Grebenshikov, his looks of "Bravo" leader Eugeniy Haftan, and the way he holds the microfone comes directly from late Frankie Sinatra! All that put together and tied to original versions written and sung by Alexey, though, sounds quite astonishing. That is not to think it's perfect - there's still a good deal to be done and worked on!!! ;-)
He was born in May 1983, a Taurus, in Kiev. He found an interest in music deep in his heart and soul (maybe his parents' heart and soul :-))when he was 6 (playing piano), joined the Zhukovskij Music School n.6(piano class) at 8, and finished it two years ago with distinction. Currently he's a student of KNEU on the same course as our favourite manager - Arthur. He enjoys hard rock and similar kinds of music. We're all happy to have Slava singing for us!
Sergej Ushin:
Our new drummer! Nothing comes easy in this life. He was the last member to join the band and by the time of our first studio recording jammed on only two repetitions. Still, he's absolutely ready to go on and plays drums constantly to be in form for spring.
He was born in 1984 in Kiev. Currently he's studying in PTU n.14, second course of study. His favourite pastimes are guitar and drum playing, he loves hard stuff: hard rock, metal, motorcycles, and drumsticks ;-) He's a bit shy, but this certainly cannot be noticed through the thundering sound of the drums when he bangs on!
Arthur Voskanjan:
The star of the show! Our commercial director and marketing manager and generally a huge helper to the project - from managing volume on the rack to making us tea and entertaining us in breaks during the sessions. Also an invaluable source of beautiful young girls who brighten up the sessions and lighten up our mood!
Born in June 1984, in Armenia, he went through the nightmares of the famous earthquake and the war, and came to Kiev with his parents, where they settled. He is a very old friend of Alexey, and it is due to his invaluable help that the band actually got together in August 2001 in the first place and that it is still holding together, though with a different line-up until now. He took guitar lessons for a year, though it was long ago, but he just quite managed ;-))) to develop a love for live music, and he thoroughly enjoys working with us! He finished the Kiev College of Business, and is currently studying in Narhoz. By his own admission he loves: "Sports cars, large-breasted girls, and Sweet Steel!"! The only thing he doesn't possess or has anything to do with out of those three are the sports cars! ;-))))) He is absolutely hilarious, but can be very serious if needed. He's currently organising our future concerts, trying to find sponsors, and generally pushing the project on! A huge thanks from everybody, man!!!
Igor Shifrin:
Our new and official manager! Actually Igor is not so new. Sweet Steel was initially his idea together with Alexey - Igor is actually a rhythm guitarist and a composer too - but unfortunately he hadn't had time to practice that much, so instead he now took on the managerial role.
Born on the April 28, 1983, also a Taurus, like Alexey, he developed an interest in guitar playing quite late ;) - December 2000 in fact. He certainly succeeded - he was never properly taught by anybody, but just in 3 months managed to get quite proficient with his sexy black Epiphone - a carbon copy of Gibson's Casino II! Together with Alexey (they both studied and continue to study in England) he wrote a few quality songs - then his interests changed. Igor is a professional economist - so he devoted his talents to this part of the project. He has his share in Sweet Steel - he owns the rack (the pre-amp hub), which is absolutely essential for us, and a effects processor.
On his own, apart from Epiphone, his collection features an electro-acoustic Yamaha (fabulous baby) and an steel acoustic Aria and the most current baby: a 12-string thin-bodied electro-acoustic Crafter, which Alexey is renting out from him for recordings of slow, arpeggio-induced songs, like Malysh. A humorous and charismatic personality, Igor has the necessary skills to successfully manage our new project!!!
Dmitriy Gerstein (unfortunately, Dima left the project in December, but the biography will remain as a testament to his input into the project. We'll miss you, man!):
The infamous Gera - the rhythm master and the source of the craziest jokes, anecdotes and general no-holds-barred attitude! He brings the "sweet" into the "Sweet Steel"!
Born on September 21st 1983, a Virgo (by zodiac only ;)) our man was irresistibly pulled by the magic of the guitar since his childhood - he started playing 12 years of age, and hardly ever stopped since! He met our bass wonder Eugeniy in the Kiev College of Business, where they both studied, and they started up on an acoustic guitar project, incredibly helped by a famous former rock guitarist Vladimir Getman. That's the time when the idea of a full-blown music project began to appear. Skip a few months, come August, they met Alexey, and from then on, the history is described above in the History of the Band. Right now, Dima owns a Yamaha Pacifica 112 - black on maple with a steel finish on the mechanics - a absolutely corker! He loves the tremolo hand and is a bit of a hard man, when it comes to pumping out rhythms - but a real softie on the love songs he composes. On some songs he steps in for a bit of a solo wonder, when Alexey goes to the background with arpeggios and rhythm!
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