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.