The band was created by a young Soviet dissident, Egor Letov, in December of 1984. GrOb were the ones to fill this vacant niche of punk bands, and now maintains a huge army of fans, admirers, and followers. It inspired hundreds of subsequent Soviet and then Russian punk bands. Up to the collapse of the USSR, GrOb was often viewed as an anti-Soviet band. In his deeply symbolic lyrics, Letov often spoke against militarism, dictatorship, the Soviet system, and the war in Afghanistan. That was the reason the band was censored and prohibited. Letov and his bandmates spent years in hiding, recording songs in the kitchens and cellars of their friends’ flats. Despite heavy censorship, the band played on several rock festivals (notably its premiere in Novosibirsk in 1987, where it was considered a sensation). Contrary to popular image of an anti-communist, Letov himself claimed to be a “true communist” and has not abolished this claim until the most recent switch in his beliefs. Being the most prominent figure of the Siberian rock, Letov has always been a source of many contradictions. At times he expressed opinions exactly opposite to his earlier sayings - thus, he appeared aligned with the nationalistic leftist movement called NBP (National Bolshevik Party, rus. НБП, Национал Большевистская Партия) despite his formerly strong opposition to despotism and nationalism. His contemporary alignment is that of a “World Christian.” GrOb’s sound mainly consists of either distorted electric or acoustic guitars, simple bass lines, rudimentry percussion and Letov’s deeply impassioned voice. During the late 80’s they also started occasionally implementing harsh industrial sounds in the background of the music. Russian punk, songs at one time passed from tape copy to tape copy by hand (magnitizdat). Many modern-day artists such as Chizh, Vopli Vidoplyasova and Smyslovye Galucinacii recorded a tribute album covering GrOb’s songs. In its last years the band was still very active with full-length albums released in 2004 (A Long and Happy Life, rus. Долгая Счастливая Жизнь), 2005 (ER, rus. Реанимация) and 2007 (What Are Dreams For, rus. Зачем Снятся Сны). The story of this contradictory but great band ended on 19th of February 2008 with Egor Letov’s death. |
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