Louna (in Russian Луна, though they actually go by the Roman spelling—it means “moon”) is a pretty recently established Russian rock group. The name comes from the nickname of one of the founders, Lu (Лу; actually Lusine Gevorkyan, Лусинэ Геворкян), an ethnic Armenian. The group was founded in 2009 by two of the members of […]

Skalpel (Skaльпель) is a Russian ska band hailing from Moscow. They are one of Russia’s best known bands playing old-school ska. Skalpel have made a mark on the international scene as well, playing shows with seminal bands like Bad Manners, The Beat, The Toasters, Be Nuts, Dr. Ring-Ding, Valkyrians, and others. They have released material […]

Male Factors is a Russian ska-punk band with a strong chanson influence. Their lyrics generally deal with criminality and drinking, and they were signed to Hobgoblin Records, a label notoriously owned by a former hacker and black marketer. They sang in Russian, English, Spanish, and German. They use the English name consistently. The band started […]

Elizium (Элизиум) is a Russian ska-punk band from Nizhny Novgorod. Elizium plays across a number of genres, including ska, reggae, and metal, from which they have derived their own genre, which they call “space-rock” (“космос-рок”). Their name is taken from an ancient Greek conception of the afterlife. Elizium has  played with a number of well-known […]

Distemper is a Russian ska-punk band known for their combination of straightforward punk rhythms with danceable ska parts. Starting out in 1989 as a hardcore punk band, Distemper transitioned to their current ska sound around 1995. They consistently use a version of their name written in Latin characters. The band was formed in 1989 in […]

Iva Nova (Ива Нова; the name translates to “new willow”) is a Russian experimental folk-punk group. They combine elements of punk, blues, tango, and other styles with Russian folk music, creating a sound that has been hailed by rock journalists as radically innovative and interesting.  Their band website proclaims that they’re an “alternative ethno-extreme that […]

Bobsleigh (Бабслей—though note that this is not the usual Russian word for “bobsleigh” and is perhaps also a play on the Russian word баба, “woman”) were one of Russia’s first successful folk-punk bands. The band formed in St. Petersburg in 1998 initially as a bit of a joke. The members all loved folk music, but, […]

NAIV (НАИВ) is an internationally known and politically outspoken Russian punk band formed by army friends Maksim Kochetkov and Aleksandr Ivanov. In Russian, their name is an acronym for “New Harlequins and Voltigeurs” (НАИВ: Новые арлекины и вольтижёры). After putting out a DIY demo tape, NAIV’s first studio album, Switch-Blade-Knaife, titled in English and featuring […]

KnyaZz (КняZz) is Russian punk band whose sound lands somewhere at the intersection of punk rock, ska, hard rock, and folk. The group was founded in 2011 in St. Petersburg by Andrei Knyazev (Андрей Князев), of Korol i Shut (Корол и шут) fame. Knyazev decided to start the band when he became dissatisfied with the […]