Surtsey Group

In the city of St. Petersburg there is a wonderful group called Surtsey. They play beautiful music and don't sing stupid lyrics.

Here is an example of their music.

Here's an example of their video:

Surtsey is: Vova Shlepakov, Petya Bolobon, Grisha Bolobon, Mitya Kuznetso and Aizhan Kurmanbaeva. The other day we met and discussed Icelandic phonetics, Dutch festivals, Russian ballet and recording a debut album.

About the name

Surtsey is named after an island in Iceland, the youngest island in the world (it appeared above water in 1963). The group members do not have a consensus on how to pronounce their name correctly. Vova shouts “surtsa!!”, and Petya and Grisha think that saying “surtsey” is the most correct way in Russian.

“Before, we didn’t have any name at all, we came to the point and said that we were the Alisa group, for which we were allowed to rehearse for free. Then it became sick of playing without our own name, then Petya came up with the idea of ​​calling the group Surtsey. We got confused, but in In the end they agreed."

About the history of creation

When Petya and Grisha met, the first was zero, and the second was two, it turned out that they were brothers. Twenty years later they met Vova, who brought drummer Mitya. The guys wanted to put together a string quartet, and with this request they sent a letter to Santa Claus. This is how cellist Aizhan appeared in the group.

“In general, we didn’t sit down with a list and didn’t specifically look for members of the group... “How are things with drums now? Do bands with drums play? They seem to be playing”... or “I just saw the video, there are four guys with cellos, so we need a cello.” Our composition is a happy coincidence."

About the lack of vocals

Among those who have heard Surtsey's music, almost everyone liked it, but the common opinion is that "everything seems great, but the vocals are missing."

“And we know a lot of bands that are doing great, but... they have vocals. Finding a good vocalist is not easy, we must have the same interests, and he must have a good voice and a desire to perform with us. But if you want vocals, then We will have one - there is an idea to work with guest vocalists."

About the performance in Holland

“The fact is that the Queen of Holland is Grisha’s grandmother.
In fact, we were just lucky once again. One Russian group was unable to go to the festival and recommended us. The organizers liked us and invited us."

About joint creativity

Surtsey's songs are used in their films by fellow aspiring directors. In addition, two small ballets were staged to their music.

“The ballet impressed us very much. It’s very cool when there is not only your music, but also other people who are inspired by it, and then inspire us. We ourselves don’t interfere, but we don’t refuse cooperation.
If Gondry calls, we will definitely answer him or call him back."

About recording the album

“We are currently actively working, session musicians will be present on the album, if everything works out as planned, it will be very great. I have heard this music a thousand times, but when it sounds in its current version at a rehearsal, I already get goosebumps... I really want to do everything as planned."

"We're not in a hurry. There are a lot of bands that record an album a little earlier than they should have done. You either need to strive for the maximum and try to achieve it to the best of your ability, or you can give up. That's why we put everything into the album, what we are capable of at the moment."

PS The Surtsey band will have two concerts very soon.

October 22 @ Tsokol, St. Petersburg
October 31 @ Chocolate Factory, Moscow time