Pep-See celebrates 20 years

For local ‘extreme-disco’ band, 20th anniversary is a time to look forward.

By Sergey Chernov

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: February 27, 2013 (Issue # 1748)

KOSMONAVT Photo (l to r): Pep-See singers Anna Kipyatkova, Maria Volkova and Inessa Mikhailova.

Pep-See, the local “extreme disco” band fronted by three flamboyant female singers who seem to like wearing their grandmothers’ clothing while singing upbeat songs with sometimes dark overtones, will mark its 20th anniversary Friday with a birthday bash at Kosmonavt, a large concert venue located in a former Soviet film theater.

According to the band, musicians Kesha Spechinsky of the group Vnezapny Sych, who wrote some of Pep-See’s best-known songs such as “Vovochka” and “Parni. Muzyka. Narkotiki” (Boys. Music. Drugs) and Vitaly Kudryavtsev, whose songs for Pep-See include “Manya” and “Disco,” will join Pep-See on stage to perform their songs with the band.

After three albums released in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pep-See stopped putting out CDs, preferring live shows and the occasional audio upload and YouTube video.

Anna Kipyatkova, one of the three frontwomen, said this week that what the band is up to can be seen in last year’s video “Gorye” (Grief). The fast-paced and side-splitting short film stars Ivan Turist, who fronts the local avant-rock band NOM, as the main villain, and was directed by NOM’s bass player and singer Andrei Kagadeyev.

The other work that Kipyatkova recommended is a cover version the band recorded for a NOM tribute album. Called “Live in Porto Negoro (Your High-heeled Shoes Are Knockin’ At My Heart).” The song is a trashy Euro disco number sung in English and is available as a free download at www.pep-see.kroogi.com.

Turist is expected to take part in the anniversary concert along with Prepinaki singer Alexander Lushin, video artist Sergei Kravchenko and the band S.P.O.R.T., all of whom represented the face of the then-new and exciting St. Petersburg indie music scene of the early 1990s alongside Pep-See.

Former members of Pep-See, including Denis “Ringo” Sladkevich, who now performs with avant-rock instrumental band Volkovtrio and accordion-driven folk-punk Skazy Lesa, and Igor Rozanov, the drummer with ska-punk band Spitfire, will join the band onstage as well.

Pep-See formed in 1992, and originally featured singers Kipyatkova (born Tsaturova), Inessa Mikhailova and Maria Volkova (all three made their debut in the pioneering techno band Lyuki and billed themselves as the Kipyatkova Sisters), plus drummer Sladkevich and Vnezapny Sych frontman Kesha Spechinsky, who was actually the mastermind behind Pep-See’s formation.

“[Spechinsky] came up with the idea,” said Kipyatkova in an interview with The St. Petersburg Times back in 2002.

“He is a very active person. He gave us the initial push, but was instantly carried away by something else, and the snowball rolled on without him. And, of course, we had his songs.”

Spechinsky composed some of Pep-See’s best-known songs, including “Vovochka,” which led the band to national fame and overshadowed his own, underrated band.

Originally called Pepsi, the band took its name — suggested by drummer Sladkevich — in a naïve bid for sponsorship from PepsiCo, but soon discovered that the global soft drinks giant did not like the idea and wanted the band to change its name.

Local legend Sergei Kuryokhin, the late musician and film composer, produced “Tikhy Shorokh Shin” (The Soft Rustle of Tires), the band’s first track, at the Lenfilm studios.

Alongside Markscheider Kunst, Tequilajazzz, Kolibri and S.P.O.R.T., Pep-See became one of a handful of popular local bands who frequently performed at the small number of trendy indie venues in the city at the time, such as Griboyedov and Fish Fabrique.

Because of the mainstream success of such songs as “Vovochka,” the band was frequently seen on Russian television. At one point Pep-See’s popularity saw them emerging from the underground scene where they belonged. But they were quick to retreat from big venues and television shows into the familiarity of cozy, smoky clubs.

“We had a period when we performed in big venues,” Kipyatkova wrote in answer to a question from a fan on Pep-See’s homepage.

“But showbiz in Russia is full of utter scum. And we were expected to lip-sync to a tape. We left this road to popularization. We rejected this sphere knowingly. This is a different idea of performing, a different type of concert. Having tasted this beauty, we understood that it was disgusting and left. That’s why we like clubs better. And, I should say to you, New Year’s Eve television concerts are a complete pile of puke!”

According to Kipyatkova, Pep-See mostly performs at clubs in Moscow and St. Petersburg. “They know us in the provinces, but can’t afford to invite us, because we’re mostly known to people who are really interested in music there,” she said. “[We mostly play] the club scenes in the two cities, although we also fly to Siberia once in a while.”

Kipyatkova did not specify why there haven’t been any more albums since the band’s third album “The Tantsy/Ze Dances,” which was released in 2001. But earlier she had expressed dissatisfaction with Pep-See’s first two releases, the 1996 “Tri Zvezdy Na Nebe” (Three Stars in the Sky) and the 1999 “Ustupite Lyzhnyu” (Get Out of the Way).

She dismissed them as badly recorded, a fact she blamed on poorly equipped local studios.

“[The albums] sounded rather provincial,” Kipyatkova said. “The idea was clear. Some people had fun [listening to it], some people didn’t, but it was simply not good enough as far as the sound was concerned.”

“Although we worked hard — especially on the second album — we were completely dissatisfied with the result,” she added.

Currently, Pep-See feels more comfortable releasing bits of material as soon as the band comes up with something worthwhile, Kipyatkova says.

“We upload things when we have something good, but we don’t want to present it as an album for the time being,” she said.

“It isn’t relevant or interesting to us. What’s interesting to us is to sing songs, as always. We continue to do this; we transform within ourselves and the musical space surrounding us transforms as well. We make use of [this space], and use innovations in music and technology, and we think that everything comes out well. People come to the concerts, dance and have fun with us and this is the most important thing. We do it for ourselves, because we can’t live any differently.”

Pep-See will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 1 at Kosmonavt, 24 Bronnitskaya Ulitsa. M: Tekhnologichesky Institut. Tel. 922 1300