Soviet rockers gain acceptance

By Victor Dabby
of The Canadian Press

Autograph members Sitkovetsky, left, Guitkin, Makarevich, Mikhalin and Berkout in Quebec City — CP

MONTREAL — At first glance, they look like any other rock ’n’ roll band — young, shaggy-haired musicians dressed in the mandatory tight jeans and T-shirts.

Only when the lead singer, a Rod Stewart-lookalike who struts all over the stage, starts belting out the lyrics does one realize that this band is playing something rarely heard in North America — Russian rock ‘n’ roll.

Back in the U.S.S.R., the band is called Autograph and they’ve sold more than a million records. They’re bonafide Soviet stars. But didn’t Soviet authorities once consider rock a “decadent” art form? What’s different now? Mikhail Gorbachev, that’s what.

Explains bearded guitarist Alexander Sitkovetsky: “We have a very active rock scene now, many different styles — heavy metal, progressive rock, art rock, even Soviet punks in Leningrad.”

Soviet punks?

Well, not “real punks,” Sitkovetsky adds quickly in almost flawless English. Not exactly your Sid Vicious types.

“In the Soviet Union, being a punk is more of a fashion, to dress in a certain way, listening to this kind of music. And, they have their own bands who play for them."

Autograph, a self-described progressive rock band, was in North America for the first time to take part in last week’s Rendez-vous 87 hockey and culture extravaganza. They were part of the Soviet cultural contingent that included the Red Army Chorus and several members of the Bolshoi Ballet.

Between hockey games, the band played at the Rock for Peace concert in Quebec City, which attracted some 10.000 fans to the Colisee. Autograph shared the stage with Canada’s Glass Tiger and Tom Cochrane, as well as the American band Chicago.

It wasn’t the first time that Autograph has had international exposure. In 1985, they were seen in the Live Aid global TV concert to raise money for Ethiopian famine victims. They perfomed an antiwar number called Requiem for John Lennon.

It was then that the rock band, formed three years earlier, gained official acceptance.

“In 1985, rock 'n' roll bands became very popular, very active and the rock scene was filled with about 300 professional bands and many amateurs,” says Sitkovetsky.

Speaking in an interview in Montreal’s Spectrum nightclub before Autograph’s only concert outside Quebec City, Sitkovetsky was eager to blow away all the stereotypes that North Americans have of Russians.

“People in America think we all come from Siberia and walk like this,” he said with a smile, marching across the cramped dressing room in robot-like fashion.

Actually, Sitkovetsky and the other four band members, all classically trained musicians from Moscow, aged 24-33, are quick to display their familiarity with the latest in rock music.

Their favorite bands? Genesis, Yes, Queen, Foreigner, and Canada’s own Saga and Rush.

Where do they perform in the Soviet Union?

“We are popular enough that we can play in large sports arenas, we like it very much because it is a very good feeling playing for thousands of people,” said Sitkovetsky, who emerged as the group’s spokesman.

The other four members — Leonid Guitkin (bass), Leonid Makarevich (keyboards), Victor Mikhalin (drums) and Artour Berkout (vocals) — quietly left the dressing room, strewn with cans of Coca-Cola, as the interview progressed.

Continued Sitkovetsky: “Last summer, we had 10 sold-out concerts in Kiev. We had 12,000 people who came to see us. We also play in small clubs. Rock festivals are also very popular right now.

“In every big city of the Soviet Union, you have rock festivals. Maybe not all of them are very big but they’re very interesting. The authorities cooperate in setting them up."

Sitkovetsky is mildly indignant when the issue of censorship is raised. For him, it’s not an issue: “We’re proud of our creative life. We’re doing what we want to do and for us, it’s very important.”

When did this rock renaissance start to occur in the Soviet Union?

“The change is due to Mikhail Gorbachev. That (the period under former leader Leonid Brezhnev) was another time. Rock was very young then and all the people thought it wouldn't last.

“They thought that it was, how you say, a fad.” Is rock’s new-found acceptance linked to increased openness by authorities on the subject of drug use in the Soviet Union?

“I think this (drug) problem always existed, as in every other developed country. We’re speaking about it very much because drugs are a real problem and we’re trying to solve that. But the problem is not as big as in the West.

“I really don’t know of any Soviet rock musician who is using drugs.”

Star Phoenix, February 1987