Every fan of beat, pop-rock or alternative rock should visit a live concert of the Latvian band Brainstorm at least once.
The compositions will be understandable to residents of different countries, because the musicians perform famous hits not only in their native Latvian, but also in English and Russian.
Despite the fact that the group appeared in the late 1980s of the last century, the performers managed to achieve worldwide fame only in the 2000s. Then the Brainstorm team represented Latvia at the popular Eurovision Song Contest.
The country took part in the festival for the first time. Thanks to the efforts of the five musicians, the group managed to take 3rd place. The audience and the jury warmly accepted and highly appreciated the talent of the performers and the music written in indie style.
History and composition of the Brainstorm group
The Brainstorm group, which is known and loved today by people from different parts of the Earth, appeared in the small provincial Latvian city of Jelgava (not far from Riga).
But to be more precise, it all started with a strong friendship of five guys who studied at the same general education and music schools.
From childhood, future celebrities showed interest in music - they participated in school concerts, sang in the local choir, and after school they ran home, where they composed and performed their compositions.
The first serious plans for the band came from guitarist Janis Jubalts and bassist Gundars Mauszewitz.
Some time later they were joined by vocalist Renars Kaupers and drummer Kaspars Roga. The last colleague in the workshop was the keyboardist Maris Michelson, who also plays the accordion.
Future celebrities quickly realized that the quintet was more than successful - everyone was in their place, everyone understood the genre, the main idea of the compositions performed, no one pulled the rest of the participants back, trying to take a leading position.
At first, the musicians performed under the name "Blue Ink". Later, the composition began to be called loudly and impressively "The Five Best Guys in Latvia".
Under this name, the group existed until one of the performances was visited by the aunt of the drummer Kaspars. She described her impressions as follows: “This is a real Brainstorm!”.
The performers liked this feature. They made a translation of the term into Latvian and they got Prata Verta. It was decided to leave the English version to conquer international music venues.
Then, taking the first steps towards conquering the musical Olympus, they did not yet know that they would cope with the test of fame with dignity, they would be able to maintain strong friendship.
Even after the death of Gundars Mauszewitz in 2004, it was decided not to take a new bassist to the permanent line-up. The musicians assigned this place posthumously to the deceased comrade. Since 2004, Ingars Vilyums has become a session member of the group.
Creativity of the group
Since the band's inception, the musicians have built the road to high-quality European rock, inspired by the then mega-popular grunge style.
Already in 1993, the group released their debut release, which did not become popular among listeners. In fact, only one Ziema composition became famous.
The musicians were not very upset, because then creativity was only their hobby - everyone had a permanent job that allowed them to earn a living.
So, Renars worked at the local radio, Kaspars worked as a television operator, and Janis and Maris served in the judiciary.
Dream and faith in yourself
However, future celebrities gave every free minute to their cherished dream - they wrote music, rehearsed, did not give up, hoping and believing in their own strength.
And very soon they were rewarded - in 1995 the composition Lidmasinas became popular. Clockwork motif, cheerful performance liked the local youth.
So much so that the composition became a hit on the Super FM radio station, quickly taking a leading position in the chart, winning several music awards along the way.
In the same year, the band performed at the major international festival Rock Summer, which was held in Tallinn.
Already in 1995, the guys recorded and released the second disc Veronica, which included the loudest compositions, such as the famous Lidmasinas, Apelsins and other hits.
Every day the Brainstorm group became even more popular. Therefore, it is not surprising that the large recording company Microphone Records drew attention to the team.
The new disc, released in 1997, was already recorded on high-quality equipment in a good studio.
Pure high-quality sound enhanced the impression made by the music. The new album was a real bomb, which included romantic ballads, melodic rock compositions, invigorating hits performed on the guitar.
The record quickly gained popularity, breaking sales records, eventually becoming "gold". And the Brainstorm team became famous in all parts of Latvia.
Participation of the group in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000
It was the composition from this disc My Stars that the musicians chose for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, which was held in Stockholm. It was the first participation of Latvia in the world show.
But, despite this, the question of the candidate was resolved quickly - who, if not the Brainstorm group. The boys did well, taking 3rd place. As a result, Latvia received honor, and the musicians received unprecedented prospects and a chance to become famous all over the world.
Already in 2001, the band released the disc Online, which included the song Maybe, which became a mega-popular hit. The album itself is the debut and so far the only collection of the group that has received the “gold” status abroad.
Popularity increased like a snowball. Then, in 2001, the guys were able to fulfill their childhood dream - they played "as an opening act" for the world-famous Depeche Mode band.
A few years later, the Brainstorm group itself began to collect full stadiums. The team began to actively cooperate with musicians from other countries.
Thus, they created a joint composition with the BI-2 group, worked with Ilya Lagutenko, Zemfira, Marina Kravets, playwright Evgeny Grishkovets and American performer David Brown.
In 2012, the band went on a grand tour, during which they were able to perform on almost all continents.
In 2013, the tour was replaced by festival trips - the Brainstorm group visited the Hungarian Sziget, the Czech Rock for People, the Russian Invasion and Wings.
Brainstorm group now
In 2018, the band recorded the Wonderful Day album. Interestingly, the video clip of the same name was filmed aboard the International Space Station by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky.
They did not bypass the cinema, devoting a lot of time to it. The musicians first starred in Kirill Pletnev's feature film "7 Dinners", playing themselves. Of course, that all the musical compositions in the film belong to the band Brainstorm.
The musicians continue to actively tour, release new hits, which they are willing to talk about on their official pages on social networks.
