"KnyaZz" is a rock band from St. Petersburg, which was created in 2011. The origins of the team are the legend of punk rock - Andrey Knyazev, who for a long time was the soloist of the cult group "Korol i Shut".
In the spring of 2011, Andrei Knyazev made a difficult decision for himself - he refused to work in the theater on the rock opera TODD. In 2011, Knyazev told his fans that he intended to leave the King and the Jester group.
The history of the creation of the KnyaZz group
The new musical group included: bassist Dmitry Naskidashvili and drummer Pavel Lokhnin. In addition, the first line-up included: guitarist Vladimir Strelov and keyboardist Evgeny Dorogan. Stanislav Makarov played the trumpet.
A year later, the first changes in the composition began to occur. In 2012, the KnyaZz group broke up with Stanislav. A little later, Paul left. The talented Yevgeny Trokhimchuk came to replace Pasha. The guitar solo was performed by Sergey Tkachenko instead of Strelov.
In 2014, Dmitry Rishko, aka Kasper, left the team. The musician commented on his departure with the desire to pursue a solo career.
He had enough material to create a debut album. Soon the musician presented the albums The Nameless Cult and CASPER to fans. Dmitry was replaced by Irina Sorokina.
To record collections, the band invited cellist Lena Te and trumpeter Konstantin Stukov, as well as bass players: Sergei Zakharov and Alexander Balunov. In 2018, a new member Dmitry Kondrusev joined the group.
And, of course, Andrey Knyazev, the leader and founder of the new team, deserves considerable attention. The new group continued to create in the style of "The King and the Jester", but with its own twist.
The formation of an individual style was beneficially influenced by the fact that he was engaged in solo projects for a long time.
Andrei Knyazev is a closed person. Despite this, it is known that Knyazev was married twice. From his first wife, he has a beautiful daughter, Diana. The second wife, whose name is Agatha, gave birth to his daughter Alice.
Music and the creative path of the KnyaZz group
The start of the punk band began with the maxi-single "Mystery Man". This track not only paved the way for the group, but became its hallmark. The composition "Mystery Man" sounded on all radio stations in Russia.
Soon the group "KnyaZz" went to conquer the rock festival "Invasion". The lively audience watched with interest the performance of the musicians. After the performance, the fans gave the guys a loud applause.
At the Invasion festival, the musicians presented four tracks that had never been heard before. The music of the group was liked by fans of heavy music. However, Andrei Knyazev was a little upset that the new team began to be compared with the King and the Jester group.
At the music festival, many were able to appreciate the other side of the leader of the group - Andrey Knyazv. The frontman presented the art installation Rock in Colors.
In 2013, viewers could enjoy the video clip for the maxi-single "Man of Mystery". Thus, the team "trodden a path" to the hearts of the fans.
In the same 2013, the group's discography was replenished with the first album "Letter from Transylvania". The main hits of this collection were the tracks: "Adel", "Werwolf", "In the jaws of dark streets".
The composition "In the Mouth of the Dark Streets" captivated the listeners so much that they did not want to let her go from the leading positions of the country's music charts.
Interestingly, Andrei Knyazev recorded the song "Letter from Transylvania" when he was part of the "Korol i Shut" group. However, the frontman considers this work to be solo. She was not included in the repertoire of "Kish".
In 2012, the musicians presented the collection "The Secret of Crooked Mirrors", which is still considered the best work of the KnyaZz collective. The highlight of the work was the powerful vocals and the deep meaning of the lyrics.
Interestingly, "The Voice of the Dark Valley" was released as a separate maxi-single, which included a cover version of the track "Glasses" by the Aquarium group and a song dedicated to the Zenit football club.
Soon the band's discography was replenished with the third studio album "Fatal Carnival". The work on the collection was carried out directly in St. Petersburg, and the mastering was entrusted to the American studio Sage Audio.
Already in 2014, the musicians presented the album "Magic of Cagliostro". A colorful video clip was released for the musical composition "House of Mannequins".
Some fans noted that this album "smells" of literature. Fans saw an echo of the novels "The Three Musketeers", "Formula of Love" and Shakespeare's play "Hamlet".
The musical composition “Pain”, which Andrey dedicated to his friend and colleague on the stage, Mikhail Gorshenev, who is known to the general public as “Pot”, deserves considerable attention.
Andrei took a melody written by Mikhail himself as a musical basis. This song is a duet with Gorshenev's younger brother Alexei. Interestingly, Lyosha followed in the footsteps of his famous brother. Today he is the frontman of the Kukryniksy group.
In 2015, in the St. Petersburg club "Cosmonaut", the musicians presented their fifth studio album "Harbinger". The album contains 24 tracks. Andrey Knyazev wrote songs at the dawn of his solo career.
The musical composition "Passenger", released by the release, instantly took a leading position in the "Chart Dozen". The album was warmly received by fans and music critics.
In 2016, the soloists of the group officially announced that fans would soon see the sixth studio album. Soon the musicians presented the collection "Prisoners of the Valley of Dreams".
In support of this record, two collections were released: "Ghosts of Tam-Tam" and "Sorcerer Boar".
Around the same time, the musicians took part in the popular Salt program on the REN-TV channel. TV presenter Zakhar Prilepin managed to ask the most interesting and hot questions.
In January, the presentation of such two tracks as "Bannik" and "Brother" took place.
KnyaZz group now
In 2018, the presentation of the new album "Prisoners of the Valley of Dreams" took place in the capital's Glavclub Green Concert club.
The compositions of this collection were “peppered” by the group “KnyaZz” with the sonorous sound of gothic, folk and hard rock. Thus, the musical group once again reminded that they have no equal.
Andrei Knyazev told reporters that the new album cost him a lot of nerves, since combining several musical styles is not an easy task, even for professionals.
But the efforts and labor of the musicians were worth it. The collection was deservedly appreciated by music critics and fans.
But this was not the latest news. In the same 2018, the KnyaZz group released the mini-album Children's Songs for Adults with the participation of Alexander Balunov, a former colleague from the KiSh team. Especially music lovers were pleased with the track "Hare".
According to Balu, the joint track will become part of a full-fledged collection in the future. In addition, Alexander said: “Knyazev has had material for the new album since the time of the acoustic record. We’re just waiting for the “click in the head”.”
Collective today
Fans can learn about the latest news from the life of their favorite team from social networks. The group also has an official website where the latest news appears.
In 2018, the musicians appeared on the Evening Urgant show. For their fans, they performed one of the most popular compositions of the repertoire "I'll jump off a cliff."
In the same 2018, the soloists of the KnyaZz group presented the concert program “A Stone on the Head” to fans, which took place in the Olimpiysky sports complex.
At this concert, the musicians honored the memory of Gorshenev, and it was also the anniversary of the Korol i Shut group, which would have turned 2018 in 30.
2019 has been an equally productive year for the team. The musicians released such singles as: “The Painted City”, “The Lost Bride”, “Pankuha”, “Former Slave”, “Barkas”. Video clips were filmed for some tracks.
Concerts of the group "KnyaZz" in 2020 are held with a retrospective program, which is composed of their hits of the legendary band. Also, the musicians perform the imperishable works of the group "Korol i Shut", written by Andrey Knyazev.
Andrey Knyazev, in one of his interviews, said that the dates of the concerts could be rescheduled for another time. It's all because of the threat of the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.
Knyaz team in 2021
In June 2021, the Russian rock band KnyaZz pleased fans with the release of a new video. We are talking about a playful video for the song "Beer-beer-beer!".
