O.Torvald is a Ukrainian rock band that appeared in 2005 in the city of Poltava. The founders of the group and its permanent members are vocalist Evgeny Galich and guitarist Denis Mizyuk.
But the O.Torvald group is not the first project of the guys, earlier Evgeny had a group “Glass of beer, full of beer”, where he played drums. Later, the musician was a member of the groups: Nelly Family, Pyatki, Sausage Shop, Plov Gotov, Uyut and Cool! Pedals.
Over the years of its existence, the group managed to release 7 albums, win the national selection at the Eurovision Song Contest. And also shoot more than 20 video clips and win the hearts of many "fans".
early years
The first year of its existence, the group lived in Poltava, but their concerts were limited to 20 spectators. Then it was decided, despite the lack of money, to go to conquer the capital.
In 2006, the group moved to Kyiv, where they lived in the same house for five years. At that time, the O.Torvald team was known only in narrow circles. It was difficult for ordinary guys from Poltava to join the metropolitan party.
According to the guys, this time was difficult, the group constantly moved, drank alcohol, and had noisy parties.
In 2008, the O.Torvald group released their debut self-titled album, shot a video clip for the song "Don't Lick". But it never achieved the desired popularity.
Three years later, the first serious album "In Tobi" was released. Many noted that the sound of the group has changed significantly. The drummer and bass player also changed in the band. They started talking about the group.
In 2011, the group went on the first large-scale tour "IN TOBI TOUR 2011" in 30 cities of Ukraine. Then the musicians became very popular. More people appeared at the concerts, the sound became better, the girls began to like the musicians even more. At the beginning of 2012, O.Torvald returned to the cities where they played in the fall and received Sound Out.
Popularity, Eurovision Song Contest, O.Torvald's Year of Silence
Starting in 2012, the musicians have gained dedicated “fans”. The audience at the concerts continued to grow, the press even more often mentioned the new rock band.
The O.Torvald group did not forget to please the "fans" and released two albums in a year. The first collection "Acoustic", which included 10 tracks, was calm. The musicians tried to experiment and find new relevant sounds.
In the fall of 2012, the group released the next album, Primat, which to this day remains one of the favorites among devoted "fans". The band began to sound more powerful on the record. The musicians added more alternative sounds and abandoned the lyrics. And went on a small tour in support of the album.
In the summer they were invited to perform with the Primat album at many festivals. The guys continued to perform, winning the hearts of people, while recording new material.
In 2014, the group released the fourth album "Ti є", the sound producer of which was Andrey Khlyvnyuk ("Boombox"). A joint cover version of the group for the song "Sochi" ("Lyapis Trubetskoy") was included in the album. At the end of 2014, the musicians shot a video for the main song of the album "Ti є".
In the summer of 2014, O.Torvald became the most festival band, having played over 20 festival sets.
In 2015, the guys released a soundtrack to the serial show "Kyiv Day and Night" and became even more popular. In the winter of 2015, the group performed two concerts at the Sentrum club in the capital. The first concert (December 11) was for girls. The guys arranged a real date with the "fans". They put on white shirts, gave roses to the girls, played beautiful lyrical songs. The second (December 12) - for the guys, it was a real "gap". The most driving songs, powerful slam, broken voices. The group became very successful.
But Galich and the guys did not stop there. Over the next year, they recorded a new album dedicated to the "fans", "#ourpeopleeverywhere". Despite the band's efforts, the album received a lot of negative feedback from longtime "fans". But critics praised the new high-quality sound of O.Torvald. And songs often appear on the air of popular radio stations in the country.
Big group tour
The group went on tour in 22 cities of Ukraine in support of the album. After returning, the musicians decided to participate in the National Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 in order to conquer a new audience. The musicians presented the track Time, which received a lot of different reviews. Some noted the drive and high-quality sound, others reacted sharply to the lack of knowledge of the English language of the frontman.
Despite all the difficulties, the O.Torvald group won the preselection thanks to the support of the audience. She became the official representative of Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, where she later took 24th place.
After the “failure” at the competition, the musicians began to actively express negative opinions in the press. Every interview was bound to have tricky questions about failure. But the guys did not lose faith in themselves and continued to work. A new album "Bisides" was recorded, which was released in the fall of 2017. And Galich laughed it off in response to a frank hate that he wrote down the number "24" as unloved.
2018 was a turning point in the history of the group. At the beginning of the year, drummer Alexander Solokha left the group, who was temporarily replaced by Vadim Kolesnichenko from the Scriabin group.
In the spring, the guys went on a small tour of the cities of Europe, performed with concerts in the cities of Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. In the summer, the band played festival sets and announced that they were going on a sabbatical for a year.
While on vacation, the musicians continued to look for a drummer, trying to record new material. But things didn't go as planned, and the band was on the verge of breaking up. Later, Yevgeny Galich lost his father and fell into a deep depression.
The guys did not appear in public, did not give interviews and did not perform. Loyal "fans" worried about the fate of the group and tried to support the guys. But they haven't talked about returning to the stage yet.
Loud return of O.Torvald
After almost a year break, on April 18, 2019, the O.Torvald group announced their return with two tracks and video clips filmed on them.
In the first video clip "Two. Zero. One. Vіsіm." we are talking about the difficult fate of the musicians during the break. Eugene dedicated the lyrics to his father, the words feel the pain that the frontman lived.
Then came the second work "Named". The guys finally managed to find a member of the group - a young drummer Hebi.
After that, the musicians were again talked about in the media. They constantly gave interviews, talking about the new development of the group and the upcoming high-profile premiere of the album (October 19, 2019).
In May, the band moved to a country house, constantly working on new material.
On July 4, the musicians presented another new track and a video clip "Not Here Here". The band then went on a small festival tour.
