Black Coffee is a famous Moscow heavy metal band. At the origins of the team is the talented Dmitry Varshavsky, who has been in the Black Coffee group since the creation of the team to this day.
The history of the creation and composition of the Black Coffee team
The year of birth of the Black Coffee team was 1979. It was in this year that Dmitry Varshavsky became a student at the Gnessin Music College.
Around the same period of time, Dmitry wrote the song "Country" to Voznesensky's poems.
Varshavsky is a native Muscovite. He was one of the first people who "brought" hard rock to Russia. The young man mastered playing the guitar in the 1970s. Later he started writing songs.
After graduating with honors from the Gnessin Music College, Varshavsky went to Los Angeles. There he entered the Academy of Music, where he was a diligent student. Between couples and practical classes, Dmitry continued to write songs.
The first composition of the group
In 1982, being the lead singer of the Black Coffee group, Varshavsky invited Fyodor Vasiliev to the band, who took the place of the bass player. Fedor, like Dmitry, was born in Moscow. He, like Varshavsky, studied at Gnesinka.
In fact, that's where the guys met. During this period of time, another participant joined the guys - Andrey Shatunovsky.
A few years later, Shatunovsky decided to leave the team. His place was taken by Maxim Udalov. Interestingly, he created the first drums on his own, modifying pioneer musical instruments.
In addition, Udalov independently learned to play the drums. Maxim began his musical career with the Black Coffee group.
Prior to that, he was not listed in any team. At the same time as Udalov, Mavrin joined the team. However, he only stayed with the group for a year.
Bassist Igor Kupriyanov joined the band in 1986. Igor took the place of Andrey Hirnyk and Igor Kozlov, who had been part of the group for less than a year. Kupriyanov was already known to rock fans, as he was in several bands.
Guitarist Sergey Kudishin and drummer Sergey Chernyakov joined the band in 1986-1987. During this period, the Black Coffee team was already playing in the local philharmonic society.
Chernyakov and Kudishin in 1988 announced that they were leaving the group. The guys decided to pursue a solo career, went into free "swimming".
A new member Igor Andreev came to the team, who, having been a member of the Black Coffee group for a short time, left, giving way to Oleg Avakov. The vocalist was Dmitry Varshavsky.
In 1988, the group toured on the territory of Ukraine. In the same place, Varshavsky saw new soloists in the person of Andrei Pertsev and Boris Dolgikh. Pertsev came to replace Chernyakov.
And by the end of 1988, Andreev left the group, in the middle of 1989, Pertsev, invited to the Red Sky group, also left.
In the same period, a conflict broke out between Kupriyanov and Dmitry Varshavsky, because of this, the team left Kupriyanov. In 1990, the group also lost the talented Dolgikh. But the real shock came to Varshavsky a little later.
Six months later, all members of the Black Coffee group left the team, moving to Kupriyanov's group Caffeine. Dmitry remained at the "helm" of the group, he had the right to use the name and the accumulated materials of the team.
Dmitry Varshavsky, without thinking twice, recruited new soloists for the group. The old members returned to the team: Shatunovsky, Vasiliev and Gorbatikov.
Very soon Shatunovsky and Gorbatikov left the team, but the group celebrated the return of Andrei Pertsev and Konstantin Veretennikov.
5 years after the start of his creative career, Dmitry Varshavsky began to invite "disposable" musicians to participate in tours and record full-length albums, and soon this practice for the Black Coffee group became a familiar classic.
In fact, the group became a solo project of Dmitry Varshavsky. During the existence of the group, there were more than 40 soloists in it. It makes no sense to list all the names of the participants.
The new composition of the famous group
Upon the return of Varshavsky to the territory of the Russian Federation, the composition of the band became stable: Igor Titov and Andrey Prestavka played percussion instruments, and Nikolai Kuzmenko, Vyacheslav Yadrikov, Lev Gorbachev, Alexei Fetisov and Evgenia Varshavskaya played bass guitar.
Music group Black coffee
The band's debut recording appeared in 1981. We are talking about the musical composition "Flight of the Bird". The work on the song was carried out at the Melodiya recording studio.
The sound engineer was Yuri Bogdanov. The words for the song are written by Pavel Ryzhenkov.
The first concert of the group "Black Coffee" was held in the Moscow club "Iskra" in 1984. Around the same time, the first tour of Kazakhstan took place.
A year later, there was a change in the composition, and the team began to work from the Aktobe Philharmonic.
Soon the group again went with their concert to Kazakhstan. The tour lasted about six months. During this time they played 360 concerts.
Soon the Ministry of Culture of the USSR blacklisted the Black Coffee team. However, in 1987, the hatred disappeared.
Having settled in the Mari State Philharmonic, the team received a tour certificate, giving the right to officially tour the USSR.
The debut album Cross the Threshold was released in 1987. The collection included compositions that later became hits: “Vladimir Rus” (“Wooden Churches of Rus'”), “Leaves” (later a video clip “A Falling Leaf From a Branch” was shot on it), “Winter Portrait”, etc.
The debut album was released with a circulation of 2 million copies. This event was a real success for the team. Until that moment, the soloists of the Black Coffee group had already independently released three releases: demos of ChK'84, Sweet Angel, and Light Metal.
A little later, a mini-album of the Black Coffee group was created at the Melodiya recording studio.
The peak of the popularity of the Black Coffee team
In the mid 1980s to early 1990s. was the peak of the popularity of the Black Coffee team. After the release of the album, the group went on one of the largest tours in the USSR.
Each performance of the group was accompanied by a standing ovation. In between performances, the musicians did not rest, but recorded soundtracks to create a new album.
In the same 1987, the team performed at the Luzhniki Sports Complex. The group's popularity increased exponentially. The group was on everyone's lips, it was number 1 in the USSR.
By 1988, the popularity of the Black Coffee group had already gone far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. They received an offer to participate in the San Isidro Music Festival in Madrid.
The music festival lasted more than a week, with world rock stars performing on the stage. Upon arrival at home, the soloists of the group again performed at the Luzhniki Sports Complex.
It was a benefit concert. The guys stood on the same stage with such groups as: "Time Machine", "Secret", "DDT", "Nautilus Pompilius" and others.
After participating in a charity festival, the Black Coffee group got their first video clip "Vladimirskaya Rus". The filming of the video took place in the residence of Kolomenskaya.
big tour
The next step is a tour of the territory of Moldova. In the same period of time, Varshavsky decided to terminate the contract with producer Hovhannes Melik-Pashaev. The group went into free "swimming".
After the termination of the contract, it was not the most favorable period in the life of the Russian rock band. The moment of termination of the contract coincided with the crisis that was inside the team.
Varshavsky tried to record a collection with the old line-up. But tense relations with the soloists did not allow this desire to be realized. The album "Freedom - Freedom" was released only in 1988.
However, the collection officially went on sale in 1990. The compositions "Nostalgia", "Light Image" and "Free - Will" became hits.
In the early 1990s, the Black Coffee group recorded a new album, Golden Lady, all the songs were in English, and a video clip for one of the compositions was filmed in New York.
Every year the band had more and more fans in other countries.
In the fall of 1991, they toured Denmark, a year later Varshavsky went to the USA and gave his first concert there, and two years later the artists went on their first tour of American cities.
In 1990, the group's discography was replenished with the Golden Lady disc. A feature of the collection is that the tracks that were included in the disc were recorded in English.
For one of the tracks, the guys filmed a video clip in New York. Recording songs in English significantly expanded the audience of fans of the Black Coffee group.
In 1991, the Russian rock band toured Denmark, a year later Varshavsky went to the United States of America and gave his first concert there. A few years later, the group went on their first tour of major cities in the United States.
In the mid-1990s, the group's discography was replenished with two more albums: "Lady Autumn" and "Drunk Moon". Dolgikh and the non-replaceable soloist of the band Varshavsky participated in the recording of the last collection.
In the late 1990s Varshavsky returned to Russian territory. He celebrated this event by organizing a concert in Moscow. The performance of the Black Coffee group was held with a large house.
Band in the early 2000s
At the beginning of 2000, the lead singer of Varshavsky was the guru of Russian rock.
In 2002, the band presented to its fans a new collection "White Wind". A few years later, the group's discography was replenished with the album "They are demons."
At the end of 2005, the disc "Alexandria" appeared, in 2006 Varshavsky presented several compositions from the new album on Radio Russia. The official presentation of the disc "Alexandria" took place only in 2006.
Another mini-collection of the Black Coffee group was released in 2010. The album contains only three tracks. The next collection of the group "Autumn Breakthrough" was released five years later.
Varshavsky did not forget to please his fans with performances. So, in 2015, the team toured Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Between concerts, the musicians recorded new tracks. For many, the group is the standard of high-quality and genuine rock. This is a "breath of fresh air" for fans of heavy music.
Interesting facts about the Black Coffee group
- "Cross the Threshold" is the most successful record of the perestroika era. Its circulation was more than 2 million copies. The disc "Free - Will" became no less popular.
- In the musical composition "Vladimir Rus" they mention the painting by I. Levitan "Above Eternal Peace".
- After recording the collection "Light Metal", the band went on a big tour of Russia. When the group performed in Chelyabinsk, the fans dismantled the roof of the Sports Palace.
- In Dnipro, a record number of tickets were sold for the concert of the Black Coffee group - 64 thousand!
- In Barnaul, there was panic and confusion at the concert. The directors of the team were arrested, and the soloists of the Black Coffee group were sent to Moscow on the very first flight.
Group Black coffee today
Dmitry Varshavsky and his team will perform, create and delight fans with concerts in 2020 as well. Warsaw has an Instagram profile. It is there that you can see the latest news about your favorite singer and his band.
In 2018, the Black Coffee group recorded a new disc, Vysotsky 80. In 2019, the composition of the group changed again. Drummer Andrei Pristavka decided to leave the band. Nikita Pavlov took his place.
In 2019, the team celebrated its 40th anniversary. In honor of this, the musicians presented the collection “We are 40 years old!”. Naturally, not without a festive tour.
In 2020, the band's performances will continue. The poster of performances can be seen on the official website of the group.
