Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out

Russian rockers the Red Elvises get the party started

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The only thing more American than apple pie is rock 'n' roll. The only thing more Russian than bortsch and babushkas is--uh, rock 'n' roll?

If you're into the Red Elvises, a trio of Muscovites and one Yankee imperialist drummer, then the above statement holds water. "Russia is a happening place these days," says red-haired bassist Oleg Bernov when quizzed on the status of surf, rockabilly and suchlike back home. "The scene is definitely there, but we are not there. It's hard to say what the latest news is; I'll go check it out this September."

In the meantime, the band is rumbling and bumbling all over the Land of the Free, living the rock 'n' roll dream. One they won't wake up from--America's proven to be every bit the lurid cartoon fantasyland the three Russkies imagined. "It's great. It's like one neverending movie. We see so many characters, so many freaks. I wish we had a cameraman with us all the time. We've seen a lot of North America, and sometimes it's just like Spinal Tap."

Speaking of movies, the band did tunes for, and appeared in, a calculated-for-cult-status film called Six-String Samurai, which never did make it to theatres here. "It's a weird martial-arts rock 'n' roll movie," explains Bernov. "The director and the main actor came to the very first Red Elvises show and said they want to make a movie and use our music. We said, 'Sure.' It's Hollywood. You hear that almost every day. But a few months later they came through. They used music from our first two albums."

The thing about the Red Elvises' music is that, for all the surf twang and rhinestones and be-bop-a-lu-las, their red roots shine through. Their tunes are rife with folk riffs from Russia and elsewhere. "It's like having an accent when we speak. We grew up with this music, and later discovered a lot more ethnic music from all over the world." Case in point: the back-to-back tunes "Hello From Istanbul" and "I Wanna See You Bellydance," title track to their latest disc. Starting on some middle-eastern trance drums, the thing builds through minor-chord arabesques into a sleazy surfcore stomp.

Then there's Bernov's trademark balalaika-bass, a four-stringed oddity of the first order, pictured above for your amusement. "I have two," Bernov says proudly. "One is a real contrabass balalaika, I brought it from Russia. It's hollow-bodied and very fragile. The second one is custom-made in Venice by Carruthers Guitars. I designed it myself."

There's one thing, though, where Uncle Sam's got the drop on Mother Russia. "Elvis is the American dream come true," Bernov notes wistfully. "That's why people love him. A simple guy, a truck driver from Tennessee made it all the way to be the king." Only in America, nyet, comrade?

At Café Campus on Sunday, Aug. 20, 10pm, $7.

©Mirror 2000