KRUIZ - Russian Metal
Anyone
who was a true fan of the now defunct Canadian metal video show THE
POWER HOUR can remember the Russian band Kruiz. Their video for the song
"In Flames" was played many a time on this show. I had it
taped off and always liked it. I have no idea from what CD this song is
from or what this band's history is or even if they are still together.
This song was released in the mid to late 80's and although the
production is not up to today's standard the song itself does not sound
that dated. In fact, when I first heard the NOCTURNAL RITES track
"Unholy Powers" from their CD The Sacred Talisman I was
reminded of the riffing in this Kruiz song!!! Be sure to check out the
MP3 for this song below.
I poked around on the net to see if I could find
anything on Kruiz or their whereabouts and all I could find was a
mention of a tour date. According to a DIO tour itinerary from 1999
Kruiz opened for Dio in Moscow, Russia at the Olimpiyskey Stadium on May
the 3rd 1999. So it seems as if the band are still together after all
these years! If you know more info about the band or if they have a
webpage please let us know.
Update #1
(Thanks to Chris for this update!)
Some info on Kruiz, specifically guitarist / mastermind,
Valeri Gaina. Kruiz broke up in the early 90's and Valeri moved to L.A.
- mainly because it was no longer safe to be in Russia with the new mob
controlling everything and blackmailing prominent bands and musicians
into paying protection monies - where he formed a band called KARMA who
put out a great s/t CD on Frozen Hound, his manager's label (also came
out on ZYX in Germany). The music was sort of a cross between STP and
the Peppers - nothing like Kruiz, but very cool stuff.
Valeri also built his own studio and started producing
local bands such as Leather Hyman and Isle Of Sleep. Karma came close to
signing with Mercury but ultimately the deal fell through and the band
broke up. Instead Valeri hit the jackpot producing dance music for the
Asian market and one of his acts actually went gold in Korea. He also
formed a new band, THE INSULATED, with the bass player/singer from Karma
and put out an album titled 'Fence' on Frozen Hound in ' 97. The music
is pretty much alternative rock only not as good as Karma. There's an
e-mail address in the CD booklet - frozenhound@earthlink.net
- which may or many no longer be valid.
Update #2
The self titled album with "In Flames" on it came out in 1988
on WEA Music Canada. The album had 9 songs on it including a Russian
version of the song "In Flames."
Update #3 - From Moscow!
Apparently, the band KRUIZ, with Valeri Gaina, NEVER played with DIO in
Moscow as mentioned above. There is confusion with the band name because
in Russia there are TWO bands called KRUIZ. There is the first
KRUIZ featuring Valeri Gaina, and another KRUIZ that played pop-hard
rock. After KRUIZ, Valeri Gaina started own project that called GAIN.
They released two songs in v/a "Monsters of Russian Rock." Two
songs from KRUIZ (V.Gaina) were released on this 2LP release.
Thanks to Sergey from Russia for the update.
Update #4 - Got It!
Thanks to this very page we now have a copy of KRUIZ on
vinyl which was quickly transferred to CD-R. "Classic Pick"
review was added.
Update #5 - A brief history of Kruiz
Here is pretty much a standard history of Kruiz, that I put together
from a few sources, including "Andrew" and
"Igor" from Russia!
Kruiz was formed in 1978 or so as a rather boring hard rock band,
with the lineup of Alexandre Monin on vocals, Valery Gaina on guitars,
Serge Kirnitsky on bass, Serge Sarychev on keyboards, and Seva
Korolyuk on drums. They released an album called "The Top" in
1980, which was semi-official and really a glorified demo. `In
1980 they released their first official album "The Top Keeps
Turning", with Alexander Kirnitsky on bass, and additional
keyboards by Matvey Anitchkin. In 1981, with another lineup change
of Vsevolod Korolyuk on drums, they released their second official
album, "Listen to Me, Man".
In 1983 they released a live album called "Zeppelin Voyage"
with a slightly different lineup of Monin, Gaina, Gregory Bezougly as a
second guitarist, Oleg Kouzmitchyov on bass, Vladimir Kapoustin on
keyboards, and Nikolai Tscunusov on drums. Then, the Soviet
authorities demanded the breakup of the band! They released
one final EP, "P.S. To be Continued", with some live tracks
recorded in Tembov, Russia.
In 1985, Valery Gaina reformed the band with himself on vocals and
guitars, Alexander Kirnitsky on bass, and Vsevolod Korolyuk on drums,
with additional vocals by Vadim Malikov. This band recorded a
slightly heavier album caled "KiKoGaVva", where the album
title was made up of the first 1 or 2 letters of everyone's names.
This band was short-lived and Valery Gaina soon recruited another
lineup with himself on vocals and guitars, Fedor Vasilyev on bass,
and Sergey Efimov on drums. This band had a more speed-metal
sound. They recorded the demo "So Come with Us" in 1986,
and the album "Kruiz 1" later that year. The demo and
album had the same lineup except for the song "Rock is
Forever", which was banned by the authorities and therefore
appeared only on the demo. They also played at the Rock Panorama
festival. This performance was interesting since they played the
song "Don't Lose Your Head", which had appeared on the
KiKoGaVVa album. Otherwise they only played songs from "Kruiz
1".
Kruiz became internationally famous when they opened for Rage a few
times, and they recorded another demo in 1988, and then redid some of
the songs in English for their album "Kruiz" later in 1988.
This album was released in Germany, and included 8 English language
songs, and a Russian version of "In Flames", for which they
would also make a video. Kruiz later opened for Metallica and
Slayer, and were going to record a third album, but they could not, due
to contractual obligations.
Valery Gaina then formed the band Gain, with Vladimir Bajin on
vocals, Alexander Shprot on bass, and Andrei Shatounovsky on drums.
This band recorded one album in 1990 but it only came out in 1995, with
two bonus tracks from the unreleased Kruiz album with the famous
speed-metal Kruiz lineup. Valery Gaina then moved to the US.
The old vocalist of Kruiz, Alexandre Monin, reformed the band Kruiz
in 1994 with the lineup of himself, Gregory Bezougly on guitars,
Vladimir Kapoustin on keyboards, Oleg Kouzmitchyov on bass, and Nikolai
Tschunosov on drums. They went back to the original AOR-style
music and released the albums "Live at Robin Hood Festival" in
1994, "Stand up Everyone" in 1996, and "Live
Collection" in 1998. They also opened up for Dio on May 3rd,
1999.
- Ultra Boris -
Update #6 - Kruiz on the web!!
You can find some info about KRUIZ at http://kruiz-gaina.narod.ru/
or better (because the site in Russian only) try to contact site owner -
dimm_kiss@yahoo.com
Bassist Fyodor Vasilyev is also the member of Russian hard-rock group
"Black Coffee" http://www.blackcoffee.ru/russian/biography/vasilyev.html.
He lives in Moscow at present time.
I haven't any information about drummer Sergey Efimov.
There was yet one album called "KRUIZ-1",which was released
in USSR in 1987 by "Melodia" (state recording company). Lyrics
of all songs on this album in Russian only.
Best regards,
Sergey
(Moscow Russia)
More Kruiz on the web at: http://www.kruiz-gaina.narod.ru/