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Send a Request for Igor & Red Elvises to Come to Your Town!

iLike.com has a new feature, “Come To My Town.” With the press of a button, you can request that Red Elvises come to your town to play a concert.

We will be able to view a list of the cities that have accumulated the most votes for us to come play, so get all your friends and family to vote!

Check out our iLike page at www.ilike.com/artist/Red+Elvises.

Red Elvises
The Best Of Russian Rock'n'Roll
And
America's #1 Singing Sweethearts
Arriving from Siberia just moments ago, Red Elvises are taking North America by storm. Blending good old rock'n'roll with ethnic music from their homeland, these post fab-four developed the ideal music for beer guzzling and dancing 'til you drop. Strong musical influences include Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla, Chuck Berry, Spice Girls and speeches by Comrade Fidel Castro.

Well, actually ...

The Red Elvises were founded in 1995 by two Russian political refugees, singer/songwriter Igor Yuzov and actor/bass-balalaika player Oleg Bernov in Los Angeles, California. Igor and Oleg met during Russia's Peace Walk and subsequently played together in a Russian folk-rock band called Limpopo. Believing that one can't go wrong with "The King" Elvis Presley as an inspiration and with "red" being not only Oleg's favorite color but the national color of their native country, the band name Red Elvises was created. Actually, it is widely believed that Igor came up with the "Red Elvises" name by seeing Elvis come to him in a dream, wearing a red dress! Igor will neither confirm nor deny the truth of that rumor.

The band's third original member, guitarist Zhenya Kolykhanov (he later legally changed his last name to "Rock"), had also emigrated to America and had been spending time playing in Texas. For the first few months Andrey Baranov was the band's drummer, but within that year, the first American in the band, drummer Avi Sills from Austin, Texas, was added to the lineup. The four of them got their start playing on Santa Monica's famed 3rd Street Promenade but became so popular that they were eventually asked to leave. The reason? They drew such huge crowds that the shopkeepers complained it was interfering with business! Soon thereafter the band set forth in its quest for world domination and endless summer nights. Playing countless shows every year, they became known as one of the hardest working bands in show business, as well as being one of the nicest and most accessible.

When they weren't playing on the road they were busy recording and self-producing their own CDs. Grooving to the Moscow Beat was the band's first release in 1996, followed by Surfing in Siberia in 1997. The phrases "Kick-Ass Rock 'n' Roll From Siberia," "Your Favorite Band" and "Good Times Tonight" became well known by fans throughout the country and around the world. At some point soon after the beginning of each show, audiences were assured, then and now, that "We are Red Elvises and we will be Your Favorite Band!" or sometimes, "We are Red Elvises, America's Singing Sweethearts!" Either way, crowds have always responded to Red Elvises' good-natured humor and rocking music by filling dance floors, often dancing onstage, drinking a lot of beer and generally having good times.

1998 would prove to be a banner year for Red Elvises. The band released their breakthrough CD, I Wanna See You Bellydance, for which an eye-catching video, complete with professional belly dancers, was later produced. Their music filled the soundtrack of Lance Mungia's independent film released in 1998, Six-String Samurai, a film in which they also had small roles and screen credits. It was destined to become a cult classic as well as a film singlehandledly responsible for introducing a number of current fans to the band's immense musical talent. With Lance Mungia also directing, the band produced two music videos of songs from the Six-String soundtrack, Lovepipe and Boogie on the Beach, that year. A full-length concert video, Live on the Pacific Ocean was also released, showcasing their appearance at the Santa Monica Pier's Twilight Summer Concert Series.

The small screen also beckoned with television show appearances, resulting in Red Elvises' guest spot in an episode of the now-defunct Fox television series Melrose Place (Episode #206, "Suspicion") which aired on November 9, 1998. Near the end of that year they appeared on FX's Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular performing their signature song, I Wanna See You Bellydance, accompanied by Penn & Teller's show dancers, which aired in January 1999.

They released three new recordings in 1999, two studio-produced and one live. The band's fourth and fifth studio albums, Better Than Sex and Russian Bellydance, a Russian language version providing a different flavor to the songs of their smash album I Wanna See You Bellydance from the previous year, were both released in March 1999. Later in that same month Red Elvises' high energy performance at San Francisco's famed Great American Music Hall was so incredible that in mid-December it was released as the band's first live double album, Live At The Great American Music Hall.

That summer the FX television channel hired Red Elvises to play in Malibu on the beach for their Beverly Hills 90210 Swimsuit Beach Party highlighting a marathon airing of syndicated episodes of the hit series. FX held and flew the winners and ten of their friends to the beach party to appear on TV and dance to the band's music. Red Elvises were also mentioned in the July 1999 edition of the paperback travel guide (available on Amazon.com), Travel Smart: Southern California by Gary Gordon, who wrote, "The Santa Monica Pier (west end of Colorado Avenue) has restaurants, bars (like Rusty's Surf House [sic] - catch the Red Elvises if they're there!)."

February 2000 heralded a brief change in musical direction for the band with the release of their seventh CD, Shake Your Pelvis, a more electronic techno/disco style CD that greatly differed from their earlier releases. December 2000 also saw an end to Avi Sills' association with the band with his decision to move on to other musical opportunities.

The band persevered as an all-Russian three-piece during 2001 with Oleg giving up the big red balalaika bass and taking over much of the drumming. A new tradition was born during this time with each of the band members taking a turn on drums and combining their percussion efforts in a dramatic three-for-all drum solo during their classic hit Sad Cowboy Song. Igor switched to bass guitar and Zhenya still played lead, although they, along with Oleg, rotated instruments somewhat as each played the drums. In March two new studio CDs were released, Welcome to the Freakshow, written entirely by Igor, and Zhenya's decidedly different Bedroom Boogie. Freakshow stayed more true to the classic Red Elvises sound and was also notable because of its nearly-nude cover photo of all three band members exposed, strategically covered only by their instruments. As always, the band continued their non-stop touring across America throughout the year and also toured their native Russia spreading good times everywhere they played.

In 2002 a new word was added to the English language, Rokenrol, which is not only self-explanatory when said aloud but was also the title of Red Elvises' new CD that year. Rokenrol was recorded entirely in Russian with the exception of two songs, Juliet by Igor and Sunshine by Zhenya, both sung in English. Zhenya began a side project, Zeerok, going in a completely different musical direction, and by the end of the year decided to commit to his new band full time, announcing his departure from Red Elvises. The band kept busy during the summer months with a tour through Russia that included some filming for the upcoming film Mail Order Bride (it's original title was Red Squares and working title was The Russian Job), returning home in August to record the soundtrack. The band also returned to television with an appearance playing themselves in an episode of the Fox action series Fastlane (Episode #3 "Gone Native"). Even the big red van got into the act; it was shown parked outside the club where the band played on the show.

In 2003 Igor switched back to guitar, this time on lead, and Oleg returned to the large bass balalaika, much to the delight of longtime fans because this move brought him out front again, closer to the audience. Completing the new lineup were another Russian, Oleg "Schramm" Gorbunov on keyboards and accordion and new American drummer Adam Gust. In early February they received confirmation that they had been chosen to do a European Coca-Cola commercial to be produced showing in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. They kicked off their touring that year in late February and continued nearly non-stop until June. In August they went on the road again and worked steadily through the end of the year. There was no new CD in 2003 but audiences loved seeing them across America, as always.

The major event for early 2003, however was the screening of the completed film Mail Order Bride, with the soundtrack consisting entirely of Red Elvises music, at the American Film Market (AMF) Film Festival in Santa Monica, California on February 21st and 24th. It is a romantic action comedy starring Danny Aiello, Vincent Pastore, Ivana Milocevich, Robert Capelli, Jr. and other fine actors, and during a party scene at the end Igor and Oleg are featured in a cameo appearance playing music and dancing. Theatrical release in America proved elusive but it is due to be released on DVD sometime in 2004.

By the end of the year Adam decided to pursue other drumming opportunities and Schramm wanted to work on other projects as well, closer to home, so they both left the band, although Schramm joined them on their tour of the Northwest in June of 2004, playing keyboards.

In 2004 Red Elvises once again reinvented themselves when the original bandmates Igor and Oleg added three new members. They were American-of-Ukranian-descent Roman Dudok on saxophone and flute, American drum virtuouso Craig Pilo and a new Russian, Alex (nicknamed Sasha), on keyboards. The band began their year by releasing their 11th CD (10 studio, 1 live), Lunatics and Poets on April 3rd. It is completely in English and reflects their musical integrity and growth, with a southern California rock 'n' roll sound mixed with a sound more reminiscent of their Russian roots. They also kicked off the first leg of their Lunatics and Poets tour in April and booked a heavy tour schedule for the year that includes a trip to Russia in August.

Red Elvises have maintained their independent status by declining several major record deal offers, and instead have produced all their albums on their own Shooba-Doobah Records. With work in cinematography(Six-String Samurai, Mail Order Bride, Armageddon, Skippy) and Television (Melrose Place, Fastlane, Penn & Teller's Sin City Extravaganza, VH-1 Behind the Music) along with consistent creation of high quality crowd pleasing fun music and a reputation for an energy level through the roof, Red Elvises have a bright future and remain one of the best live performance bands ever. They currently reside in Venice, California where they continue to pursue numerous film and music projects.

©2003 by Roland "Medved" Viera. Revised in 2004 by Kayt Owens. All rights reserved.

What's the cure for condos? More Elvises

On tap tonight: Red Elvises and Skipper's Smokehouse, a match made in Soviet surf rock heaven.

Well, it is for now. Get out and see 'em soon, because you never know what could happen.

Hey, I only worry because one of my favorite local music venues, Ybor City's the Masquerade, shuttered last month.

Man, I loved the Masquerade. Under that name and in its previous incarnation as the Ritz, I enjoyed shows by the Afghan Whigs to Fishbone to Smashing Pumpkins. All were unforgettable.

And I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast this morning.

(My editor's going to want me to clarify the joke, but I'm not giving in.)

I made this next point a little while ago on my blog, The Ill Literate (official motto: Corrupting Debutantes Since 2005). As I'm writing about Skipper's it's appropriate to note it again.

Someday some idiot is going to want to tear down Skipper's to build a condominium.

Don't panic, I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow.

(However, I am saying that tomorrow the Earth will crash into the sun. Just a heads-up.)

You might have noticed that at this rate, every single good thing in Tampa Bay – and every bad thing too – eventually will be torn down to build a condominium.

And I will laugh and laugh and laugh at their fate.

From my home.

In a culvert.

So until that horrible day when North Tampa's musical jewel becomes some ungodly combination of the words "Bay" or "Sky" or "Sun" with the words "Pointe" or "Glade" or "Vista," let's enjoy Skipper's as much as we can.

Which brings me to tonight's Red Elvises, which bills itself as a surf rock group from Siberia. Actually, two members hail from Russia, one from Kazakhstan and one from Minnesota.

I first saw the Elvises when they appeared in the cult film Six-String Samurai, and since then I've caught them a solid half-dozen times – most recently a couple of months ago at Skipper's.

They're pretty much the perfect band to see at Skipper's backyard concert area, a.k.a. the Skipperdome, where you have a few beers and dance in the Florida air before it becomes too hot.

Which should happen, oh, by tomorrow.

And when you go, if you feel your body start to shake uncontrollably with an insistent rhythm, don't worry – it's not bulldozers coming to clear land for a condo.

It's just the Elvises.

Well... probably.

Best come out and support Skipper's just to be safe.

Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3431. His Times blog, The Ill Literate, is at www.sptimes.com/blogs/tampaarts/

Better Red than dead: Red Elvises take rockabilly for manic ride

He was hot. He was famous. He was fat. He was dead.

Such was the plight of Elvis Presley, "The Hillbilly (Fat) Cat."

Igor Yuzov and Oleg Bernov were each well-aware of Presley, his history and his plight when they separately left their homes in and around the Ukraine seven years ago and headed to America to pursue their dreams of rockabilly stardom.

"Yes, sure, even in Russia, we knew of your Elvis very well," Yuzov said, in an accent that would make Boris Badenov proud. "There was a great rockabilly movement in the Ukraine, although it was all underground. To play music and trade music was almost like selling drugs. In my hometown, all of us who love rockabilly would get together in this secret place in the park where people can exchange Western propaganda."

He laughed, something which Yuzov does almost constantly. He is one happy Ukranian.

"What I mean is that trading records was still something illegal," he said. "What was cool in music was spread mainly by word of mouth when we were young. To see our idols, like Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry, we would have to see a picture of a picture of a picture. It was degrading to us, but at the same time, it made it all very mysterious. It was like, 'Wow, these guys are cool.'"

Yuzov met Bernov at a Soviet/American peace walk. The two found that they shared an enthusiasm for rockabilly, and they headed to Venice Beach, Calif., where they played rockabilly music on the boardwalk to earn money. They originally performed under the name Limpopo, the name of an underground Ukranian band of which Yuzov had been a member. Yuzov said that, in Ukranian, "Limpopo" translates, loosely, into "elephant's butt."

"Back home, we would have a rockabilly club, where the guys would have pompadours and be jumping around to our music, which was like 1950s music, but with a little Russian pop mixed in. Our name was sort of a joke. But when Oleg and I started jamming at the beach, we started making pretty good money. America was much better than I thought it would be. Little kids were screaming, going crazy. One time, the police came, and we thought we were going to be arrested. Instead, they hired us for a party. Rockabilly is such an American thing."

Red Elvises
Surfing In Siberia
Folk n' Roll records

by Brian Parrish

From out of the gulag and into your CD player come the Red Elvises, a rockabilly-surf band with an upbeat, danceable sound. On April 13, the band played San Antonio's DMZ Clubhouse with native bands Soda Pop Spys and The Drones.

The show was the band's return performance to the DMZ after just playing there a few days prior. The Red Elvises are on tour supporting the group's new release Surfing In Siberia, one the best rock n' roll records to come out so far in 1997. Each band member is highly skilled in a not only the instruments they play, but in their knowledge of music. The effect is perfect surfabilly pop.

What better song to start off a surf album than with the classic "Misirlou", coyly re-titled as "Surfing In Siberia". Led by guitarist Zhenya Kolykhanov, the album blends traditional central European sounds with the American influence of surf guitar and touch of funk. In "Don't Stop the Dance"Kolykhanov's guitar is smooth and polished. Singer Igor Yuzov's melancholy vocals add to the band's skilled balladry. In "Siberia", Yuzov croons out lyrics about the subarctic wasteland: "Take me to the land of cosmonauts/where the women do vodka shots...". The Red Elvises take the surf guitar style of classic bands like The Astronauts and The Lively Ones and skew the sad rhythm of "Siberia" with a touch of humor. This is the band's trademark-mixing humor, the awkwardness of a new language, and good music.

The band finishes the album with covers of Chuck Berry's "Rock n' Roll Music" and "Ukrainian Dance #13. The group's East-meets-West combination of music works without sounding absurd.

The Red Evises currently reside in Los Angeles; perhaps this is how the band picked up a "surfier" sound compared to their '96 debut Groovin' to the Moscow Beat which is more rockabilly oriented. In the band's live show, the Red Elvises fuse their rockabilly and surf flawlessly. Besides, just watching bassist Oleg Bernov play the bass-balalaika is well worth the price of admission.

Better off red
By Thomas Conner World Entertainment Writer
6/25/99

The Red Elvises dish up rock 'n' roll . . . Siberian style.

Perestroika takes on a whole new meaning for drummer Avi Sills.

"I've found the best way to bridge the gap between the United States and Russia is to drink a lot of beer together and get people to take their clothes off," Sills said, laughing, during an interview this week.

Sills is the lone American member of the Red Elvises, comprised chiefly of excitable Siberians with a penchant for American roots rock.

The roll call: Sills on drums, Igor Yuzov singing, Oleg Bernov on the balalaika bass guitar and Zhenya Kolykhanov on lead guitar. Yuzov and Bernov came to the United States in a rock-folk band via an international Star Search competition. They won and landed a Kit-Kat candy bar commercial. Eventually they broke off to do their own, more rockin' band, added Kolykhanov and Sills and started churning out records like "Grooving to the Moscow Beat," "I Wanna See You Bellydance" and the latest, "Better Than Sex."

The sound is a bit of everything -- rockabilly, surf, country, ethnic folk touches -- and Sills said it's all the result of madness.

"All the voices in our heads are pretty wacko," he said. "It's all about making people feel good, and it's got this huge Russian twist to it. It's fun."

Fun is the main thing here ("We put the `f' back in fun," Sills said). The Russian members all have theatrical backgrounds, and they put them to use in the live show.

"It's a very visual show," Sills said. "This band is all about giving back to people and making music fun. We make light of serious topics, we run around all over the place -- it's contagious. People love for you to be an idiot on stage. And girls love it.

"We're Gorbachev's answer to the Spice Girls."

Much of the manic live energy comes from the group's roots on the American streets. For two years, the Red Elvises played nearly every day on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. These wildly visual and improvised performances landed them appearances in TV shows like "Melrose Place" and movies like "Six-String Samurai."

"It was beautiful and grueling. You have to make people stop what they're doing for half an hour and watch the show, donate some money and buy something -- a CD, a bumper sticker, a T-shirt. We're very capitalistic," Sills said. "We actually got kicked off the street eventually. Luckily it was about the same time we started getting good bookings. They gave us five tickets in two weeks for ordinances they hadn't been ss enforcing in years. Our crowds had simply gotten too big. The businesses were doing poorly because people couldn't get to the stores. So they had us kicked off."

The Red Elvises are off the street and on stage Wednesday at The Fur Shop, 520 E. Third St. Ill-Fated opens the show at 9:30 p.m. Cover charge is $4.

Published Tuesday, June 22, 1999

Jon Bream/Pop musing: Red Elvises play riotous rock with a Russian accent

Jon Bream / Star Tribune

When Oleg Bernov was going to school in the Russian town of Vologda, his teacher didn't understand why students wanted to go off to a university in Moscow or Leningrad instead of attending the local college. The curious and restless Bernov said he preferred the advice of rock singer Jim Morrison: "The West is the best."

"We decided to go that way," Bernov said. "You can't go farther west than Los Angeles."

On L.A.'s Venice Beach, Bernov and some buddies from Russia formed one of the wildest and wackiest rock bands in the West or the East. The RedElvises have concocted a sound more irresistible than matryoshka dolls and more potent than a Molotov cocktail -- an intoxicating blend of rockabilly, surf, Tex-Mex, klezmer, swing, Slavic melodies, film scores, TV theme songs, Middle Eastern licks and gypsy scales. Throw in the lame jackets, Bernov's oversized triangular bass and bright red hair, and more energy than a troupe of Cossack dancers, and the RedElvises add up to a silly, good time.

"We are four very screwed-up individuals," said Bernov, 34, whose RedElvises made their Twin Cities debut Monday with a cameo at Borders in Richfield and who perform tonight at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis. "With three Russians in the band, it's already a screwed-up sense of humor. And then the American [drummer] -- a little Jewish guy who grew up with eight sisters."

Back in Russia, after studying electrical engineering at a college in his hometown, Bernov headed to Moscow and ended up working in an avant-garde theater group for seven years. His theater experience is obvious onstage.

"I consider myself a clown," Bernov said last week after a sweaty set in Pittsburgh. "I like to look like a fool; everybody is scared of looking stupid but everyone else likes to see somebody else acting like a fool. Before, [when] we play Russian folk music, there was humor there but people couldn't really sing along with the songs."

No such problem with the RedElvises. The humor in such tunes as the island-meets-bluegrass "Sad Cowboy Song" and Middle East-meets-swing "I Wanna See You Bellydance" is as obvious as Bernov's red hair, which he dyes every three weeks.

As for Bernov's cartoonish three-string triangular bass -- each side is nearly 4 feet long -- it was inspired by a bass balalaika that a friend brought to Bernov from Russia. It's red, of course.

With that aforementioned folk band, Limpopo, Bernov learned about the United States, where he settled in 1991. The band appeared on TV's "Star Search" (the $5,000 prize money was used to buy a van, which enabled them to tour the States and Canada) and recorded a Kit Kat candy bar jingle (for which the musicians had to join a union, which meant health insurance, which meant Bernov could later get an operation on his vocal cords).

In 1996, Bernov and the rest of the group -- guitarist Igor Yuzov, guitarist Zhenya Kokykhanov and drummer Avi Sills -- played their first gig on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. They have since put out four CDs on their own label (they've turned down major-label offers), appeared on TV's "Melrose Place" and received much video exposure on MTV in Moscow (although the band has yet to perform in Russia).

Because of their moniker, the four bachelors were invited to audition for "The Dating Game" when a woman who was an Elvis Presley fan was on. Sills ended up being Bachelor No. 1, but he didn't get the date.

Back in Russia, Bernov didn't know much about Elvis Presley. other than his being the king of rock. He was more likely to listen to the Beatles or Deep Purple.

"The first time I saw Elvis on TV was when he was old and fat; he did not impress me much at all. We've got tons of that in Russia," Bernov said. "But when I saw young Elvis on video after living in the States, I realized that guy had great charisma and energy about him."

Last month, the band visited the King's Graceland mansion in Memphis. "It was not as big as we anticipated," Bernov said. Still, he called it a religious experience. "Elvis is kind of embodiment of the American dream -- this truck driver from Tennessee who ultimately made it."

The band took its moniker not because the musicians are Presley fans but because "Elvis" is a recognizable name associated with rock, and they are Reds from Russia. Moreover, Bernov figures that making it in America is all about coming up with clever slogans for marketing. The band advertises itself as "the only rock 'n' roll from Siberia" -- even though they're not from Siberia. And the crafty quartet named its latest CD "Better Than Sex."

"It's a catchy phrase like Vogue magazine [covers] -- 'the secret of orgasm,' " Bernov said. "It's shameless. It's capitalism."

Elvis used Hollywood to further his career. The RedElvises hope to use all that's available in the entertainment capital to boost their career. They're doing the music for a TV cartoon series for the fall, and Bernov would love to write movie soundtracks.

"In nine years in the States, I've never had a straight job," he said. "The RedElvises, we're the makers of a good time. Ultimately, when we have a good time, it's contagious. I'm happy that it is my job."