The turbulent 90s and the "storm" of Russian Olympus: INTERVIEW with composer Gennady Filippov

Russian musicians are actively cooperating with western labels and are gradually gaining fame on global platforms. Read about how domestic artists were making their way to the arena in the early 90s in an interview with composer and producer Gennady Filippov in Made in Russia.

- Tell us a little about your creative path, your first musical instruments, your projects?

- I started playing drums when I was a teenager and fell in love with western pop-rock music. I started to form the first rock bands even then. Dmitry Kharatyan participated in one of them as a vocalist and guitarist. By the age of 20 he had mastered musical literacy and learned to play the piano. He has graduated from the Tsaritsinskoye Music College, piano and composition class.

In the 80s all amateur groups were striving to become members of the Philharmonic Hall - there was no other way to break through to the musical Olympus in the USSR. My first band (band Kollaps) was lucky enough to get into the Novgorod Philharmonic. Then we renamed it into the group "Show - 03", which was led by Sergey Chernomor, a well-known presenter and parodist in the USSR. The repertoire was exclusively composed by me. The program in those days began with the song "Minor Land" (Pakhmutova, Dobronravov). Then, having parted with Chernomor, the group renamed itself "Parma" and toured the whole Komi Republic. After unscrupulous distributors and administrators, the band broke up.

About half a year I've been working in the band "Zodchie" with a block of my own songs as the keyboard player of Tyumen Regional Philharmonic Society.

Having returned to Moscow, together with Andrei Rusakovsky I organized the band MAXI, which performed exclusively my author's songs in the New Wave and pop-dance style. This project achieved a certain success in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad). We were ready to conquer the western musical Olympus.

- Let's talk about your foreign experience? The life of a young Soviet artist abroad? How were Europe and the USSR fundamentally different?

- I started abroad in 1989. The Swedish label Screen Team International got interested in my melodies and our band and offered us a two-song contract. The whole band, accompanied by a film crew from Leningrad went to Stockholm.

Of course, arriving from behind the "Iron Curtain", we were surprised by Sweden and it by us. Swedish frontier-guards, seeing such a delegation from the Soviet Union with samovars, hats with earflaps and cockades, forgot to stamp our arrival into the country.

The first meeting with Screen Team International turned out to be the last, because the head of the company, Thomas Moo, said he was only interested in Gennady Filippov and his tunes, he was not interested in the other participants. Naturally, I could not leave my friends behind. We all left together. We weren't going to give up, but under Swedish law we could only work as cleaners during our stay. The whole group got jobs in different restaurants. I worked 10 hours a day in a Japanese restaurant. Quite quickly another record company was found that was interested in our work - Ricochet Records. We signed a contract for two singles and a lot of musical activity began. The two talented and very famous music producers of the future were appointed as managers of the project: Jacob Hendler and Carl Mickel (Jacob produced Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys at the end of 90-s).

It was with him that I developed a good relationship, I consider Jacob my first teacher in western show business. Every morning for two months I went to his house with a new tune - this eventually paid off. He was deeply convinced that the strength of any musical project from Russia would depend solely on the melody. During the musical trials and recordings we met very interesting people: the guitarist from the band EUROPE and the lead singer of Secret Service, who at that time founded a powerful music company called Sonet. And suddenly, when the work was in full swing, there was a conflict between the organizer of our trip and the management of my company - that's why we came back to Russia.

- Can you tell us about the time after Sweden? About travelling to the States, about music bands.

- In 1993, the Moscow-based "Green Star" company signed a contract with us for recording a whole album in the West. The search was stopped on "MasterFonics" studio in Nashville. Within a year we had recorded 10 tracks. The team of Americans involved consisted of reputable members of show business. Namely: Joe Ciccarelli (Frank Zappa's team), Carl Marsh (ZZ top album producer), Lisa Roy (Hollywood producer).

Of course, there were a lot of interesting ideas while working on this album. One of them was to do a joint track on my song "Peace in the world" with an American star. The choice fell on country singer Dolly Parton. After listening to the track, she agreed. Unfortunately, when she came back to the States, it was half a year after our return to Russia.

- How were you greeted in your home country after your long creative journey? What country did you return to?

- Things had changed in Russia and the changes in pop music were not for the better. I went straight to PopKomm international forum (Cologne) with our American album. It was an exhibition exclusively for specialists, for those who were directly involved in the music business. There I met famous representatives of Russian show business: Yuri Antonov, Dmitry Malikov, Igor Matvienko and others. Many record labels showed interest in our American album. I brought to Moscow 2 ready contracts to release the album in Denmark and Italy.

- Tell us about the emergence of the band "Vostok", what was going on in show-business in 90-ies? Was it hard for young bands in terms of promotion and finances? Who did you have to work with?

- Due to the current situation, we decided to put off our western plans for a while and try to realize ourselves in Russian show business. We got several offers from sponsors and investors but we chose Alexander Yakovlevich Tolmatsky. He had been interested in my music for a long time and was ready to promote our band to the Russian market. The band's name and line-up changed. We became Vostok. We changed male vocals to female. We got a quartet: Gennadi Filippov, Andrei Rusakovsky, Natalia Sigayeva and Larisa Filippova (Yudchits). Thus a band reminiscent of ABBA and Ace of Base appeared.

Our alliance with Tolmatsky worked already in half a year. In the beginning of 1996 song "Mirages" blew up. From that moment VOSTOK became a star of Russian pop music. Then there were songs that became hits: "Until We Meet", "Dance of Yellow Leaves", "The Snow Queen". I was the only author of all the songs.

We recorded three albums, but we had to part with Tolmatsky at the end of 1998. Then we went to Cologne to record a new album produced by a German musician Didi Hamond. This album was financed by Philip Kirkorov. Subsequently, Andrei Rusakovsky and Natalya Sigayeva stayed in Europe and worked on another project. The band split up.

I have had the chance to work with many of our artists since the Vostok group began: Philip Kirkorov, Margarita Sukhankina, Sergey Zverev, Jam Sheriff, Pierre Narcisse and others. In the 90s, it was easier for young artists to find funding.

- You are now producing various projects and have established the production center Zvezda Stolitsy. Can you tell us about the production business in Russia? What sums in turnover could you be talking about? What are the costs? Tell us about your new music projects and plans.

- The "Star of the Capital" production centre was formed in the early '10s. I held vocal competitions to identify talented performers who could be produced. Over the years, a bank of my signature songs (over 300) was created and offered to aspiring artists. Of course, "Zvezda Stolitsy" works on a commercial basis, as it is necessary to maintain the office, studio and a whole team of employees. Lately, unfortunately, only well-to-do people can get involved and do promotion in show business. Of my singer-songwriter clients, few can record an album, buy exclusive rights to songs.

In 2017 I met a wonderful musician and singer Natalia Rodina. We rebuilt the band Vostok, recorded and released several new albums after a 15-year hiatus. We made a beautiful, melodic English-language project "LuiGiNa".

- After the start of the pandemic many musicians and music industry workers found themselves in a difficult situation because of the cancellation of concerts and restrictions. How did you survive the pandemic and how are things now?

- Unfortunately, like for many artists and musicians, the pandemic hit us in the heart. At the beginning of March 2020 we were expecting a concert tour of Siberia.

A day before the departure, a pandemic was announced, so even today major concerts and tours have been cancelled. Our concert activity is not so active, there are periods when we are working and touring. We've been rebuilding and giving online concerts. But I think it's hard without an audience and an exchange of live energy! Maintaining a production office became impossible. We closed the office. But now it is possible to produce remotely. We are impatiently waiting for cancellation of covid measures and return of large-scale concerts.

Made in Russia / Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova