ESP Magazine

There’s something very strange going on here. It sounds like the Statler Brothers with Russian accents singing “Flowers on the Wall” with surf guitar breaks and Greg Allman organ riffs.

Welcome to the world of the Red Elvises, founders of Eastern Block rockabilly surf music, or as their bumper sticker proclaims, “kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll from Siberia.”

The concept, according to co-founder Igor Yuzov, is “about enjoying life, no matter what it is. Happy music — upbeat, party music. People come and have fun — that’s the whole idea behind it.”

Though the band uses the King’s name, they don’t do any of his music. “We did a little bit of Elvis’s tunes,” says Yuzov, “but not any more. He’s the best to do his own songs. But just the name stuck to us.”

The band, which Yuzov describes as “a couple of Russian guys, a couple of Americans,” grew up on what he labels as “the forbidden music coming from the West,” which in his case translates as’50/’60’s surf music and rockabilly. Some Stray Cats, The Ventures and some British bands including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones also had a hand in shaping the Red Elvises music.

But the Red Elvises are no retro band. The influences have been bent and twisted until the sound is like nothing heard on these shores. “What we do is very eclectic music,” Yuzov affirms. “It’s rockabilly/ surf, Russian, like traditional music, heavy on rock and some disco and jazz. And I like Mediterranean, so we’ve put it in there too, so it’s just a mixture of everything that we listen to.”

The band is on the road promoting their latest release, Lunatics and Poets spreading the Iron Curtain gospel, Red Elvis style, up and down the East Coast.

“I had a dream about it, so that’s why we’re called the name, you know, the band Red Elvises,” says Yuzov. “We don’t cover songs — people prefer when we do our original music.” The singer writes all of the Red Elvises’ music as well as playing guitars, bass and banjo.

Yuzov didn’t learn all he knows about surf music lounging on the shores of the Baltic Sea — he got some of his education on the other side of the Pacific at Venice Beach, home to a diverse collection of characters including a variety of street performers.

“Yeah! Venice Beach,” Yuzov says excitedly when asked why he chose that as home base. “First time I came on a tour here from Russia, and walked on Venice Beach, all the freaks running around, and I thought, yeah — that’s the place for me. So I lived there since then.”

What about the folks back home — how do they take to this culture-bending venture?

“I think they are very proud of us because we’re pretty much the only Russian band performing in the United States,” Yuzov states. “There used to be Gorky Park in the ’80s. I guess they decided to go back home to Russia, but we still here playing, enjoying life.”

Yuzov and the Red Elvises express that joy on stage and invite the audience to participate. “It’s like a kindergarten for adults,” he laughs. “People kind of become similar that they used to be when they were 14-16, dancing, going crazy. People dance, party. It’s very festive atmosphere — its like carnival or something.”