At the origins of the Soviet and Russian rock band "Sounds of Mu" is the talented Pyotr Mamonov. In the compositions of the collective, the everyday theme dominates. In different periods of creativity, the band touched upon such genres as psychedelic rock, post-punk and lo-fi.
The team regularly changed its line-up, to the point that Pyotr Mamonov remained the only member of the group. The frontman recruited the line-up, he could dissolve it on his own, but he remained part of his offspring until the end.
In 2005, the Sounds of Mu released their last record and announced their dissolution. 10 years later, Peter met with fans to present a new project "Brand New Sounds of Mu".
The history of the creation and composition of the team "Sounds of Mu"
The frontman of the band, Pyotr Mamonov, began to be interested in music during his school years. Then, together with school friends, he created the first Express team. In the group, Peter took the place of the drummer.
The musicians of the group often performed at local discos and school parties. But the success that Mamonov counted on did not find.
Serious passion for music began in 1981. Then Peter worked together with his brother Alexei Bortnichuk. Soon the guys began to record the first collections of "Mother's Brothers". The records of the duet "Bombay Thoughts" and "Conversation on the Site No. 7" attracted the attention of fans of heavy music.
In the new team, Peter took the place of vocalist and guitarist. Bortnichuk, due to the lack of musical education, beat pots with spoons, the make-up artist - with rattles. They were trying to get into the rhythm.
In 1982, the duo expanded into a trio. A new member joined the team - keyboardist Pavel Khotin. He was a student of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, a graduate of the music school in piano. Pasha already had experience working on stage, since he was once a member of the Pablo Menges group.
With the advent of Khotin, rehearsals began to take place more dynamically. This is the first member who had a musical education. Soon, Pavel took the place of a bass player, and called his institute friend Dmitry Polyakov to play keyboards. Sometimes Artyom Troitsky played along on the violin.
Interestingly, it was during this period of time that the musicians recorded tracks that later became real hits. What are the compositions worth: “Source of Infection”, “Fur Coat-Oak Blues”, “Grey Dove”.
Everything was not bad until Bortnichuk failed the team's expectations. The guy often suffered from hard drinking, actually disrupted rehearsals. Soon he was behind bars for hooligan behavior. The group was on the verge of breaking up.
Friends of Artyom Troitsky came to the aid of the team. He brought Mamonov with the right people so that the musician got the opportunity to participate in touring apartments of popular groups: Aquarium, Kino, Zoo.
The formation of the composition of the group "Sounds of Mu"
Pyotr Mamonov gained enough knowledge from the musicians to create his own band. However, apart from Khotin, he had no one. At first, he even wanted to teach his wife to play the bass guitar. But several rehearsals showed that this was a "failed" idea.
As a result, Peter's old friend Alexander Lipnitsky mastered the bass guitar. The man had not yet held the instrument in his hands and did not understand what would come of this undertaking. Alexander compensated for the lack of professionalism by mastering musical notation.
In 1983, the talented Sergey "Afrika" Bugaev, a student of Petr Troshchenkov, took the drummer's place. Peter was sincerely glad that he agreed to become part of his team. Since Sergey managed to work in the Aquarium and Kino groups. Pyotr planned to return Bortnichuk to the place of the solo guitarist. However, while he was in prison, Artyom Troitsky took his place.
The history of the origin of the name of the group Sounds of Mu
Around the history of the creation of the name of the team, disputes are still ongoing. For example, journalist Sergei Guryev in his book says that this title was still in the early works of Peter.
Initially, "Sounds of Mu" is not even the name of a band, but the definition of a dynamically developing creativity - something between the sounds of compositions and lowing.
A close friend of the frontman Olga Gorokhova said that at home she called Peter "ant", and he called her "fly" - all words begin with "mu".
Mamonov's brother first heard this name when they were sitting in the kitchen and looking for options for the band's pseudonym. Then came to mind: "The Living Corpse", "Dead Souls", "Woe from Wit". But suddenly Peter said: "The sounds of Mu."
Presentation of the debut album of the group "Sounds of Mu"
The Sounds of Mu group attended themed rock festivals. This allowed the guys to gain the necessary experience and at the same time tell the music lovers about themselves. The next few years after the creation of the band, the musicians actively toured the USSR. At the same time, a new member joined them - Anton Marchuk, who took on the function of a sound engineer.
On trips around the Soviet Union, the group traveled with programs for future albums "Simple things" and "Crimea". The year 1987 deserves considerable attention. After all, it was then on February 16 that the Sounds of Mu group performed on the Leningrad stage for the first time in its history. The musicians appeared in the company of the Zoopark group in the Leningrad Palace of Youth.
And then just a series of festivals followed. The musicians visited the festival in Mirny, performed several times at the concert venue in Vladivostok. They also sang four times for the residents of Sverdlovsk and the same number of times for fans from Tashkent. This was followed by a series of concerts on the territory of Ukraine. On August 27, on the stage of the Green Theater of Gorky Park, the team appeared on stage without Mamonov. Peter began to drink heavily. Pavlov sang instead.
The band has been touring for over 5 years. The musicians have accumulated enough material to record their debut album. But for mysterious reasons, the recording of the record was put on the shelf.
But everything changed in 1988 at the Rock Lab Festival. After the performance of the Sounds of Mu group, their old friend Vasily Shumov approached the musicians. The man not only offered to produce the first album, but also to purchase all the necessary equipment for this.
Cooperation with Vasily Shumov
Shumov brought the recording studio into perfect working order. He literally forced the band members to record their debut album in three weeks. Naturally, not all musicians were delighted with the producer's perseverance. The atmosphere in the team began to heat up.
“Vasily Shumov has a completely different idea of how our music should sound. The guys and I tried to create some kind of plague, but he, in turn, folded the music to certain limits. Shumov put the process on a fast and professional footing. But in doing so, he broke off interesting ideas ... ”, Pavlov said in an interview.
The band's debut album was called "Simple Things". The collection includes the early developments of Peter Mamonov. They sounded cool, but there were still new tracks that needed to be recorded.
When the musicians turned to Shumov to put a recording studio at their disposal, he agreed. Soon the musicians recorded another disc "Crimea". Produced by Marchuk. This time, the soloists of the Sounds of Mu group were satisfied with the work done.
The peak of the popularity of the group "Sounds of Mu"
In 1988, the Sounds of Mu group went on tour abroad for the first time. Under the patronage of Troitsky, the team was invited to Hungary to perform at the popular Hungary Carrot festival. Despite the alcohol intoxication of the soloists of the group, the performance at the festival was "5+".
Then the guys went on a joint tour with the group "Bravo" and "TV" in Italy. Rockers managed to visit Rome, Padua, Turin. Unfortunately, the performances of Soviet rock bands were rather coolly received by Italian music lovers.
In the same year, another important event took place in the creative biography of the Sounds of Mu group. Troitsky introduced the musicians to Brian Eno (formerly the keyboardist of Roxy Music, and then he was the sound producer of popular foreign bands).
Brian was just looking for an interesting Soviet band. The work of the Sounds of Mu group pleasantly surprised him. Eno shared his opinion about the tracks of the guys, calling the songs "a kind of manic minimalism."
This acquaintance grew into a strong union. Brian offered to record a contract with the musicians. According to the terms of the contract, the Sounds of Mu group had to first record a record for a Western release and then make a large-scale tour of Britain and the United States of America.
Going global
The Zvuki Mu compilation was created in a few weeks in Moscow at a rented GDRZ recording studio (in London at Air Studios). The disc includes already beloved tracks from the albums "Simple things" and "Crimea" published in Russia. As a bonus, the guys attached a previously unpublished track "Forgotten Sex".
The compilation was released in early 1989 on Eno's label Opal Records. Despite the huge expectations of the musicians, the disc was not successful, although it was warmly received by fans and critics. The work done cannot be called a defeat. Nevertheless, the musicians have stocked up with colossal experience of cooperation with foreign partners.
Soon the team took part in the TV show "Musical Ring". The group "Sounds of Mu" pleased the fans of their work with new songs: "Gadopyatikna" and "Daily Hero". According to the results of the audience voting, the AVIA team won. One of the jury members present acted impudently with the frontman of the group, suggesting that Mamonov appear as a psychiatrist.
This period of time is marked by a busy touring schedule. Moreover, the Sounds of Mu team mainly performed for their foreign fans.
The collapse of the team "Sounds of Mu"
"Sounds of Mu" in 1989 remained one of the most popular groups in the Soviet Union. Therefore, when Mamonov announced that he intended to dissolve the team, this information came as a shock to fans. Peter considered that the group had become obsolete.
Before finally leaving the stage, the Sounds of Mu group performed concerts for the "fans". The guys organized a tour of Russia. On November 28, the band played for the last time at the Rock Lab Festival. At the same time, former soloists of the group appeared on the stage: Sarkisov, Zhukov, Alexandrov, Troitsky.
Mamonov wanted to continue in the updated composition. Former members of the band forbade the musician to perform under the famous pseudonym "Sounds of Mu".
Thanks to the ban on musicians, the Mamonov and Alexey collective was created, which, in addition to Peter, also included Alexei Bortnichuk. Instead of a drummer, the duo used a programmable drum machine, and a phonogram was used as a rhythm section.
Second composition
The performances of the duet did not go as smoothly as Peter would like. He soon came to the conclusion that the band still lacked a drummer. His place was taken by Mikhail Zhukov.
Zhukov stayed in the group for a very short time. The album "Mamonov and Alexei", which was released in 1992, was already recorded without Mikhail. Even the fans felt that the band needed musicians. Soon, Peter invited the guitarist Evgeny Kazantsev, the virtuoso drummer Yuri "Khan" Kistenev from the Alliance band to the place. The place of the latter some time later was taken by Andrey Nadolsky.
By this time, Pyotr Mamonov came to the conclusion that it was time to change the name, since his group was no longer a duet. He managed to reserve the right to have the name "Sounds of Mu", to release new materials under a pseudonym. In 1993, the band's discography was replenished with the album Rough Sunset.
Every year, Pyotr Mamonov devoted less time to the team. The man suffered from hard drinking, and when he returned to normal life, he paid considerable attention to solo projects.
Moving to the village
In the mid-1990s, Peter moved to live in the countryside. He became interested in faith and began to rethink his life and work. In the wake of the search for his "I", the musician had the idea of creating a metaphorical costume performance. Kazantsev was supposed to portray a rooster, Bortnichuk - a fish, Nadolsky - a chick in a nest. And Mamonov would saw the branch on which he sits, and fall from a great height into a thicket of nettles.
The members of the group ceased to be a single entity. There was nervous tension in the team due to conflicts. Everything worsened after the unsuccessful performance of the team on October 31 at the Moscow Drama Theater named after A. S. Pushkin. The team was expelled from the hall in disgrace. Fans of the Sounds of Mu group drank alcoholic drinks in the hall during the performance of their idols. They also smoked cigarettes and used foul language.
Mamonov was struck by the boorish behavior of the fans. He was completely disillusioned with the rock party. These events finally convinced the musician to disband the group now forever.
The dissolution of the group did not prevent the release of a double disc. We are talking about the album "P. Mamonov 84-87". The collection includes rare recordings from apartment concerts.
The further fate of Peter Mamonov and the group "Sounds of Mu"
Pyotr Mamonov conducted subsequent musical experiments alone. He recorded songs, performed for fans of his work on stage, even released albums. It is interesting that the musician did all this under the name “Sounds of Mu”.
Music critics noticed that the songs now began to sound completely different. There was no hard rock guitar sound, but instead there was minimalism, simple guitar arrangements, as well as classic blues motifs.
The desire for Christian values eliminated old tracks from Pyotr Mamonov's repertoire. They once made him and the group "Sounds of Mu" the idols of the rock scene.
In the late 1990s, Mamonov recorded a kind of soundtrack for the solo performance "Is there life on Mars?". And also agreed to publish the disc "Legends of Russian Rock".
Release of the collection "The Skin of the Unkilled"
For a long time, the musician showed no "signs of life." But in 1999, Peter published the collection "The Skin of the Unkilled", which included unreleased songs. As well as the disc "I scored good ones on one CD."
In the early 2000s, the discography of the Sounds of Mu group was replenished with the long-awaited album Chocolate Pushkin. The collection became the basis of the planned one-man show. Pyotr Mamonov described the genre of new tracks as "lit-hop".
Three years later, the group's discography was replenished with the albums "Mice 2002" and "Green", which later switched to the format of the next performance. The compilations were warmly received by music critics and fans. But there could be no talk of any return of huge popularity.
In 2005, the presentation of the album "Tales of the Brothers Grimm" took place. The new disc was a kind of musical interpretation of famous European fairy tales. The collection cannot be called a commercially successful work. Despite this, the album was noticed in the underground party.
The publication OpenSpace.ru recognized the album "Tales of the Brothers Grimm" as the record of the decade. In 2011, the collection One and the Same was released as an appendix to the film "Mamon + Loban".
"From the Sounds of Mu"
The former soloists of the Sounds of Mu did not leave the stage. Today musicians Lipnitsky, Bortnichuk, Khotin, Pavlov, Alexandrov and Troitsky take the stage. They also give concerts under the creative name "OtZvuki Mu".
In 2012, Alexei Bortnichuk announced to fans of his work that he was leaving the project due to personal disagreements with other members of the group. Pyotr Mamonov did not perform in the group, although he maintained rather warm relations with his former colleagues.
"Brand New Sounds of Mu"
In 2015, Mamonov announced that he had created a new electronic band. The musician's new project was called "Brand New Sounds of Mu". At the time of the creation of the team, its members prepared a concert program "Dunno" for fans.
The group included:
- Pyotr Mamonov;
- Grant Minasyan;
- Ilya Urezchenko;
- Alex Gritskevich;
- Glory Losev.
The audience saw the Dunno concert program only in 2016. Music lovers met and saw off the musicians with applause.
In 2019, Petr Mamonov turned 65 years old. He celebrated this event on the stage of the Variety Theater with a musical performance by the Totally New Sounds of Mu collective called “The Adventures of Dunno”.
In the same 2019, the musician was hospitalized with a myocardial infarction. After treatment and rehabilitation, Pyotr Mamonov resumed his creative activity. In November of the same year, he went on tour with the Brand New Sounds of Mu group.
Pyotr Mamonov also pleases fans with creative concerts in 2020. Peter's next concerts will take place in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The death of a member of the group "Sounds of Mu" Alexander Lipnitsky
On March 26, 2021, it became known that one of the founders of the Sounds of Mu group, Alexander Lipnitsky, died. He crossed a frozen body of water on skis, fell through the ice and drowned.
