St. Petersburg band Messer Chups received an award at the Ameripolitan Music Awards

St. Petersburg band Messer Chups received an award at the Ameripolitan Music Awards in the Rockabilly Group category. Why the victory of a Russian group at a not so widely known music competition is worth being proud of, explains Igor Gavrilov.

The Ameripolitan Music Awards took place in Austin, Texas. Messer Chups leader Oleg Gitarkin posted a video on social networks where his group goes up on stage to receive an award, which is presented by a gentleman in a cowboy hat – a familiar accessory for everyone present. Addressing the audience, Messer Chups bass player Zombirella (Svetlana Nagaeva) says: “It’s a great honor to be recognized among all these great musicians. It literally breaks my heart.”

The Ameripolitan Music Awards were founded by Texas country guitarist Dale Watson in 2013. Its goal is to honor the heroes of the ameripolitan genre. This is an unofficial designation that will not be found on the list of Grammy nominations. The genre combines four subcategories in which white American artists perform: rockabilly, honky-tonk, western swing and outlaw. Dale Watson decided that representatives of these styles deserved their specialized award, and since then the ceremony has been held annually. The prize is an old-school rockabilly microphone with tree roots at its base, symbolizing the rooted nature of ameripolitan. The awards are funded by funds raised by fans.

Among the nominees there are unlikely to be names well known outside the United States or even outside the American South, unless you take into account the classics Wanda Jackson, Jerry Lee Lewis and Brian Setzer, who were represented during the ten years of the award’s existence. The award can fully be called niche, the more important it is that it is awarded to a group that was born not in the Texas deserts, but in the Neva swamps.

Oleg Gitarkin (born Oleg Fomchenkov) began to develop Messer Chups in the late 1990s, during the period when his joint project with electronics engineer Oleg Kostrov, “A Knife for Frau Müller,” had already gained all-Russian popularity. “A Knife for Frau Müller” was loved for its lightness, playful tone and catchy dance melodies with a serious presence of retro samples. In Messer Chups, Oleg Gitarkin gravitated towards surf, rockabilly and psychobilly. The group’s inspirations include Bettie Page, Bela Lugosi, Russ Meyer and Ed Wood, as well as Soviet cartoons, Italian slashers, The Addams Family, Dick Dale and The Cramps. A regular guest on the first Messer Chups records is Lydia Kavina, the great-niece and student of the inventor of the theremin, Lev Theremin.

In the 2000s, Messer Chups systematically shifted the focus of its activity to Western markets; its records were released in Germany and the USA. Since the middle of the decade, the group’s albums have been released on Ipecac Recordings, a record label owned by the lead singer of Faith No More, Fantomas, Tomahawk and Mr. Bungle Mike Patton. All his projects, to a greater or lesser extent, are characterized by a distinct sense of artistic madness, and in Messer Chups he certainly felt “his own”.

When they talk about what “the achievements of Russian music at the international level” should look like, many imagine something like tATu in the charts or Alla Pugacheva at Eurovision. But other times, successes in niche styles are sometimes more important than achievements in the mainstream.

Messer Chups has been working all over the world for many years, but it won the “Best Rockabilly Band” award in a place where Russians have never been seen. The previous such sensation was Bering Strait from Obninsk, a group nominated in 2003 for a Grammy for “best instrumental country performance.” The successes of compatriots in musical niches are not as noticeable as the rise to the top of the tATu and PPK or Grammy charts for classical music performers. But there is something to talk about. The hard rock band Black Sonic Pearls with Arseny Borodin from Star Factory-6 will release its debut album tomorrow in all countries of the world and is preparing for a tour with Slash from Guns N’Roses. The album of Vladimir fusion guitarist, member of the American Recording Academy Roman Miroshnichenko was just awarded an award at the World Entertainment Awards. And Leonid Vorobyov’s group Leonid & Friends, performing works by the classics of brass rock Chicago, is going on another tour of the USA. In today’s world, not only victories, but even the presence of domestic musicians in markets aimed at an international, non-emigrant audience, looks like a serious achievement.