Crematorium is a rock band from Russia. The founder, permanent leader and author of most of the group's songs is Armen Grigoryan.
The Crematorium group, in terms of its popularity, is on the same level with rock bands: Alisa, Chaif, Kino, Nautilus Pompilius.
The Crematorium group was founded in 1983. The team is still active in creative work. Rockers regularly give concerts and occasionally release new albums. Several tracks of the group are included in the golden fund of Russian rock.
The history of the creation of the Crematorium group
In 1974, three schoolchildren who were passionate about rock created a musical group with the loud name "Black Spots".
Musicians often performed at school holidays and discos. The repertoire of the new group consisted of compositions by representatives of the Soviet stage.
The Black Spots team consisted of:
- Armen Grigoryan;
- Igor Shuldinger;
- Alexander Sevastyanov.
With the increase in popularity, the repertoire of the new team has changed. The musicians switched to foreign performers. The soloists began to play cover versions of popular songs by groups: AC / DC, Grateful Dead and other foreign rock bands.
Interestingly, none of the musicians spoke English fluently. As a result, listeners received cover versions in "broken" English.
But even such a nuance could not stop the increase in the number of fans of the Black Spots group. After graduating from high school, the musicians did not betray their dream. They still played rock.
In 1977, another member joined the group - Evgeny Khomyakov, who owned a virtuoso guitar playing. Thus, the trio turned into a quartet, and the Black Spots group transformed into the Atmospheric Pressure collective.
In 1978, the Atmospheric Pressure group released a magnetic album, which, unfortunately, has not been preserved, but the tracks from it were restored and in the early 2000s, released on the collection Requiem for a Headless Horseman.
The first performances of rockers took place in the House of Culture. But most often the musicians performed for their friends. Even then, the musicians had their own audience of listeners.
In 1983, the rockers decided to rename the band. And so the name that is known to modern fans of heavy music, "Crematorium", appeared.
The beginning of the formation of the Crematorium group
In the mid-1980s, the main hits of the Crematorium group appeared: Outsider, Tanya, My Neighbor, Winged Elephants. These songs don't have an expiration date. They are relevant to this day.
The composition of the group at this stage in the life of the Crematorium group was not stable. Someone left, someone returned. The team included both professional musicians and close friends of Armen Grigoryan.
The Crematorium team was finally formed with the arrival of Viktor Troegubov, who became the second leader for a long time, and violinist Mikhail Rossovsky.
Thanks to the sound in the violin tracks, the band's signature sound appeared. More than 20 musicians have been in the group.
Today, the band consists of permanent leader and soloist Armen Grigoryan, drummer Andrey Ermola, guitarist Vladimir Kulikov, as well as Maxim Guselshchikov and Nikolai Korshunov, who plays double bass and bass guitar.
The history of the name of the rock band "Krematorium" can be found in Vasily Gavrilov's biographical book "Strawberries with Ice".
In the book, fans can find out the detailed history of the creation of the band, find unique and never published photographs, and also feel the history of writing CDs.
“... The defiant name was “born” by accident. Either from the philosophical concept of “catharsis”, which means the purification of the soul with fire and music, or in spite of the names of the then official VIA, such as singing, cheerful, blue and other guitars. Although it is likely that the creation of the "Crematorium" was influenced by the works of Nietzsche, Kafka or Edgar Allan Poe ... ".
The beginning of the studio activity of the group
In 1983, the Crematorium group presented their first studio album, Wine Memoirs. In 1984, the collection "Crematorium-2" was released.
But the musicians received their first "portion" of popularity after the release of the disc "Illusory World". Half of the tracks of this album will form the basis of all collections of the best works of the Crematorium group in the future.
In 1988, the rocker's discography was replenished with the Coma collection. The composition "Garbage Wind" deserves considerable attention. Armen Grigoryan was inspired to write the track by the work of Andrey Platonov.
A video sequence was made for this composition, which, in fact, became the first official clip of the band. With the increase in popularity, relations within the team became even "hot".
The soloists are no longer shy about expressing their opinion sharply against Grigoryan. As a result of the conflict, most of the musicians left the Crematorium group. But this situation has benefited the group.
Armen Grigoryan was not going to ruin the team. He wanted to perform on stage, record albums and give concerts. As a result, the musician assembled a new line-up, with whom he worked until the 2000s.
At the end of the 1980s, the group had an official fan club, the World Organization of Friends of Cremation and Armwrestling.
Crematorium staff in the 1990s
In 1993, the rock group celebrated its first major anniversary - 10 years since the creation of the band. In honor of this event, the musicians released the disc "Double Album". The collection includes top compositions of the group. From a commercial point of view, the album "hit the bullseye".
In the same 1993, the group played an anniversary concert at the Gorbunov House of Culture. Interestingly, at the end of his speech, Grigoryan burned his hat in a revealing way, thus marking the end of an important period in his life.
Then it became known that the group suffered losses. The team left the talented Mikhail Rossovsky. The musician moved to Israel. The concert was the last where Viktor Troegubov played.
A year later, the soloists of the Crematorium group were invited to star in the film Tatsu. On the set of the film, Grigoryan found a new violinist in the group - Vyacheslav Bukharov. In addition to playing the violin, Bukharov also played the guitar.
In the mid-1990s, the trilogy "Tango on a Cloud", "Tequila Dreams" and "Botanica" was released, as well as the dilogy "Micronesia" and "Gigantomania".
In the early 1990s, the Crematorium group for the first time in its life went to conquer foreign music lovers. The musicians played concerts in the United States, Israel and the European Union.
The Crematorium Group in the 2000s
The 2000s began for the Crematorium group with the presentation of the collection Three Sources. The track "Kathmandu" was even included in the list of soundtracks of Alexei Balabanov's cult film "Brother-2" with Sergei Bodrov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Daria Yurgens.
Against the backdrop of demand and popularity, relations within the group were far from ideal. During this period, the Crematorium group actively toured Russia and abroad. But the musicians did not record new collections.
Armen Grigoryan mentions in his interviews that he considers it inappropriate to record an album in this period of time. But unexpectedly for fans, Grigoryan presented his debut solo album "Chinese Tank".
In turn, fans began to talk about the breakup of the group. The composition of the rock band has been updated again. After this event, the Crematorium group nevertheless released the next album, Amsterdam. The musicians presented a video clip for the title track of the collection.
In support of the new collection, the rockers went on the Journey to Amsterdam tour. After a big tour, the musicians abandoned studio activities for a long time.
And only five years later, the discography of the Crematorium group was replenished with a new album, Suitcase of the President. We definitely recommend listening to musical compositions: "City of the Sun", "Beyond Evil", "Legion".
This period turned out to be more productive for the Crematorium group. In 2016, the rockers presented several new compositions at once, which were included in the new album "The Invisible People".
The album began with a percussive riff of Ave Caesar and continued to the very end of a 40-minute piece that the band hadn't recorded in a long time. The collection includes not only new, but also old tracks in a new way.
Interesting facts about the group
- There are several versions of the origin of the band's name. One of the versions: Grigoryan somehow dialed the number, and in response he heard: "The crematorium is listening." But most music critics were inclined to this version: the musicians, without bothering, named the band after one of the songs from the debut collection.
- In 2003, when the band performed in Europe, the organizers of the concert in Hamburg canceled the performance of the rockers, citing the name of the band and the law on Nazism. The musicians did not quite understand this act, since they managed to perform in Berlin and Israel without any problems.
- For the collection "Double Album", which was released in 1993, the album cover was supposed to be decorated with a common photograph of the band. The soloists of the group had a severe hangover and the photo could not be taken in any way - someone constantly blinked or hiccupped. A solution was found - the rockers were photographed in threes.
- "Rock Laboratory" considered the name of the group "Crematorium" gloomy and depressing, so for several years the team performed under the name "Cream".
- In the late 1980s, Armen Grigoryan had financial difficulties. To remedy his situation, he composed several tunes for a children's quiz show. However, before giving the materials to the studio, the man set a condition - not to mention the name of the team. This could have a negative impact on the reputation of the Crematorium group.
Group Crematorium today
In 2018, the Crematorium group celebrated its 35th anniversary. In honor of this event, the musicians held a series of concerts for fans.
In 2019, the band pleased the fans with the release of new compositions: "Gagarin Light" and "Kondraty". Not without performances by rockers.
In 2020, the Crematorium group will delight fans with performances. In addition, the guys are scheduled to participate in several music festivals. The latest news about the life of your favorite team can be found on the official page.
