The King and the Clown is a Russian rock band. Group "King and the Jester": brief biography

History of the group's creation

After school, Misha entered the restoration school and there he met Andrei Knyazev (Prince), who also joined their group. The fifth member was bassist Dima Ryabchik, who got Gorshka and Prince to work at the Hermitage. Thanks to this, they got their own housing in a communal apartment, where the guys set up a rehearsal base.

In 1989, the group released the album “Heresy”, decorated with drawings by Gorshenev. It was not officially published, but some compositions (for example, the song “Pyanka”) were subsequently “brought to mind” and included in the studio albums “KiSh”.

With the arrival of the Prince, the concept of the group changed, Andrei began to write mystical texts, reminiscent of humorous fairy tales based on myths and legends. Therefore, it was decided to change the name of the team, and after long meetings it began to be called “The King and the Jester.”

The main stages of creativity

King and the Clown. Concert at the Tam-Tam club, 1993

In the early 90s, the group recorded two tapes at home: “The True Killer” and “Make yourself at home, traveler.” Almost all the songs subsequently ended up on the KiSh studio albums.

In 1993, Knyazev joined the army. After demobilization, he came to his bandmates with many new texts and ideas. At the same time, a new guitarist, Yakov Tsvirkunov, joined the group. In 1995, the Prince’s demo album “Love of a Scoundrel” was released (in 1999 it was reworked and went on sale under the name “Acoustic Album”).

In the fall of 1996, the first studio album group - “A stone to the head.” All the lyrics belonged to the Prince, and all the music was written by Pot. Thanks to the success of the album, the musicians went beyond Tam-Tam and began performing in other St. Petersburg clubs. By this time, the group had a firmly established reputation as hooligans and brawlers.

The King and the Jester – A stone to the head (live-1997. Polygon)

An indicator of success was the fact that Yuri Shevchuk invited them to his festival “Fill the Sky with Kindness”; “KiSh” held concerts at the Gorbunov Palace of Culture and the Yubileiny Sports Palace.

But the real breakthrough for the band was the rotation on Nashe Radio of the song “Jumping from a Cliff” from the 1995 demo album, which immediately increased the number of the band’s fans several times over. From that moment on, “KiSh” began to attract full houses from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad and became welcome guests at the most prestigious rock festivals in the country.

The group celebrated its tenth anniversary grandiose concerts in Luzhniki and Yubileiny, a major tour of Russia and Belarus and the release of the next album. In the same year, “KiSh” were among the most advanced rock musicians in the country who took part in the recording of the album “Screen Tests,” dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the death of Viktor Tsoi. This significantly expanded their circle of fans, who were joined by classic rock fans.

In 1998, the group’s first video, “Men Ate Meat,” was released, which was included in the rotation of Russian MTV. In 1999, he joined the team new member– violinist Maria Nefedova. Her instrument was first heard in the “Acoustic Album,” which was released the same year.

The King and the Jester - If the meat is men

The new millennium for musicians was marked by the release of the album “Heroes and Villains.” The team did not meet the deadline, so they were unable to implement everything planned. For example, the song “Memories of Past Love” was released in an instrumental version - the Prince simply did not have time to come up with the lyrics. The recording was helmed by “Alice” guitarist Evgeny Levin. According to Prince, he paid too much attention to the sound of the instruments, so the vocals on the album were unfinished, and this led to the commercial failure of the album. However, listeners, despite the musicians’ fears, fell in love with “Heroes and Villains” no less than the previous albums, especially the melancholic “The Executioner’s Bride” and the romantic ballad “The Drevlyans Remember with Bitterness.”

In 2001, the album “As in old fairy tale"with a track list of 17 compositions. Among them: “Damned an old house", previously released as a single and becoming a chart-topper, a revised version of the 1994 song "Animal Farm", as well as "Memories of Past Loves" - now with lyrics. Shortly before the presentation of the album, guitarist Alexander Leontyev joined the permanent lineup of “The King and the Jester”.

The King and the Fool – The Cursed Old House

The musicians loved to shock the audience and constantly came up with something unusual. During their concerts, spectacular scenery was installed, and the artists never appeared in public without appropriate costumes and makeup. The picture was complemented by Pot's knocked-out front teeth, which gave his appearance an ominous flair. Fans of the group still remember the performance at the hippodrome in Ramenskoye, which was preceded by a mystical torchlight procession of Dominican monks, which brought the audience into indescribable ecstasy.

In 2004, Maria Nefedova left the group. The album “Mutiny on the Ship” was released without her participation. Perhaps due to the lack of a melodic violin, he greeted listeners with a heavier sound. In addition, the record was recorded from a live performance. This album is the last one on which you can hear Baloo's bass guitar. After Balunov left, his place was taken by Sergei “Zakhar” Zakharov.

The King and the Fool – Rum

In 2005, Prince and Pot decided to separately realize their creative ambitions and released two solo albums. Mikhail recorded a tribute record “I am an alcoholic anarchist”, dedicated to creativity punk group “Brigadny Podrak”, and Andrei’s solo album “Love of a Scoundrel” was imbued with romantic and medieval motifs. This experiment did not in any way affect the atmosphere in the team, which continued to exist with the same composition.

But six years later, Knyazev finally decided to leave the group and, taking violinist Dmitry Rishko with him, began his own project, Knyazz. Gorshenev at that time was completely absorbed in his new brainchild - the horror opera TODD, in the creation of which he was helped by RAMT actors. In the fall of 2012, the premiere screenings of this unusual horror musical took place at the Moscow Film Actor Theater, and the music from it formed the basis of two latest albums groups.

On July 19 of the following year, the KiSh frontman died in his home from a heart attack caused by a morphine overdose, just short of his fortieth birthday. Read more about Pot's death in his biography.

His ashes were buried in St. Petersburg, and about ten thousand people attended the farewell ceremony. The musicians went on a farewell tour to the cities of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine and informed fans that from 2014 they would perform as the Northern Fleet group. It was decided to leave the name “The King and the Clown” only on the posters of the TODD opera.

Collaborations with other artists

• “Summer will end” – “The King and the Clown” ft. "Kukryniksy"
• “Punk Rock Lessons” – “The King and the Clown” ft. "Brigade contract"
• “Oh, near the meadow, near the meadow” - “The King and the Clown” ft. Pelagia
• “Ulva Brewery” – Mikhail Gorshenev ft. "The Troll Bends the Spruce"
• "Do not rush!" – Mikhail Gorshenev ft. Chacha and the “Lomonosov Plan”
• “Werewolf” – Mikhail Gorshenev ft. "Tales of the Black City"

Scandals

The King and the Jester – Remembered with bitterness by the Drevlyans (acoustics, TV)

In November 2007, at the KiSh concert, a group of nationalists attacked visitors. One of the group members was hit in the leg by a pyrotechnic projectile, which started a fire. At the same time, a fight broke out, which resulted in the hospitalization of several fans of the group with head injuries and fractures. One of them, 21-year-old Alexei Kovrizhkin, died without regaining consciousness.

Discography

• Stone to the head (1996)
• The King and the Clown (1997)
• Acoustic Album (1999)
• Heroes and Villains (2000)
• Like an old fairy tale (2001)
• Sorry, no gun (2002)
• Mutiny on a Ship (2004)
• Nightmare Salesman (2006)
• Shadow of the Clown (2008)
• Demon Theater (2010)
• TODD. Feast of Blood (2011)
• TODD. On the Edge (2012)

The group "The King and the Clown" now

Andrey Knyazev continues to perform as part of the KnyaZz group. He did not join the Northern Fleet and forbade them to perform their songs. Anniversary concerts of the KnyaZz group were planned for the summer of 2018 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the founding of the group and the fifth anniversary of Gorshenev’s death.

The group “King and the Clown” (better known as KiSh) was formed in Leningrad in 1988. The founders of the team are three classmates: Mikhail Gorshnev, Alexander Shchigolev and Alexander Balunov. Initially, the newly formed team was called “Office”. After the first rehearsals, the participants realized that they wanted to play punk rock music. After 2 years they met Andrei Knyazev, who had a special gift - writing fairy tales. The poems written carried the character scary tales, some of them were very dramatic, others, on the contrary, humorous. In 1990, the group appropriated the name “King and Jester”. In 1992, the first public performance took place in the building of the famous Leningrad rock club; this period of time is considered the beginning creative path team. On stage, they constantly changed their stage image, sometimes the makeup changed in accordance with the theme of the songs. With the arrival of Yakov Tsvirkunov in the group, the guitar sound in the songs acquired a new, professional character. The group begins to perform alongside such famous punk bands as “The Stranglers” and “Toy Dolls”. The group becomes very popular, they give a lot solo concerts, and becomes headliners of all festivals. In 2011, the most important member of the “golden lineup”, Andrey Knyazev, left the group. He decided to create his solo project “KnyaZz”, into which he immersed himself completely. Despite the departure of a strong vocalist, the band did not lose its popularity and existed for several more years. In 2014, the group ceased to exist due to the death of its founder, Mikhail Gorshnev.

The horror punk band is distinguished by its unusual style of performing songs. The band's later performances shifted from rhythmic horror punk to folk rock, art punk, hardcore punk and hard rock. The first unofficial album was called “Be at Home, Traveler!”, which was released on cassettes in a limited edition and became a real rarity among fans. Famous works: “Acoustic Album”, “Demon Theater”, “Mutiny on a Ship” and “Like an Old Fairy Tale”. In total, 12 studio albums, 2 live albums, 3 compilation albums and 8 video albums were released.

Each song represents small complete stories that are mystical, historical and even fantastic in nature. There are several compositions of the group that were not presented in the albums, among them: “Beat Freddy”, “ The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Black Raven” and “Dance of the Evil Genius”.

And now we offer to listen to all the songs of the “King and the Clown” group directly on our website online. We provide high-quality sound and fast loading of all songs. Improved portal service, offers to download mp3 to your device for the maximum a short time. Just a moment and you will enjoy your favorite melody on your phone. We wish you pleasant listening!

497 rebounds, 8 of them this month

Biography

The very name of this group has become synonymous with an entire generation in modern Russian rock: with its own worldview, aesthetics and mythology, which had a tremendous influence on hundreds of thousands of young people across the country, which, in turn, made its musicians new teenage idols, willingly or unwillingly taking up the baton from the inevitably maturing ALICE. Her progress was not rapid, but no less impressive: in ten years - from the end of the troubled 80s to the second half of the 90s, subject to all sorts of cataclysms, when manipulation of consciousness became a common practice in our show business - THE KING AND THE Jester passed the path from the stage of the TaMtAm club to stadiums and sports palaces without much support from the media and serious financial investments. The main advantages of the group all these years have been the magic of its performances, the unique musical language- from straightforward Russian punk to hard hard with elements of art rock - and, undoubtedly, texts in which wild folklore fantasy met brutal buffoonery.

THE KING AND THE Jester appeared in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1989 and traces its origins to school group OFFICE, which appeared two years earlier in one of the schools Krasnogvardeisky district. Its members included classmates Mikhail "Gorshok" Gorshenev (b. 08/07/73 in Leningrad), guitar, vocals, Alexander "Balu" Balunov (b. 03/19/73 in Leningrad), guitar, vocals, Alexander "Vasya" Vasiliev, bass , and Alexander “Lieutenant” Shchigolev (b. 8.04.73 in Leningrad), drums. Impressed by the music of THE CURE, EXPLOITED and SEX PISTOLS, as well as the rising stars of the Leningrad Rock Club (OBJECT OF JOKE, ALICE, AUCTION), they immediately began composing their own songs.

In 1988, at the end of the eighth grade, Gorshenev entered the restoration school, where Andrei “Prince” Knyazev (b. 02/06/73 in Leningrad) ended up in the same group with him - he had a recognizable graphic style, was going to become an artist, and also wrote original poems that aroused Gorshenev’s interest. By the end of the first year, Prince joined KONTORA as a second vocalist, and he and Gorshok began composing new songs, which they recorded on household audio equipment. These recordings have survived but have not yet been published.

In mid-1990, while practicing in the restoration workshop at the Hermitage, Pot and Prince came up with a new name for the group, KING OF THE Jesters. By this time, Vasiliev had left, and Dmitry “Ryabchik” Ryabchenko (b. 10.20.72 in Leningrad) became the new bass guitarist. In 1991-1992, at the semi-professional studio of Mikhail Kolchugin (ex-AUDIENCE B), the KING OF THE JOINTS managed to record four songs (“Dead Woman”, “Hunter”, “King and the Jester”, “In the Valley of the Swamps”), which were performed in the program of George Gunitsky "Roxy-Audio" on State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. It is interesting that the functions of director and press agent in THE KING OF THE JUSTS at this stage were performed by Sasha Shchigolev.

A little later, the group made its debut on stage, performing in Igor Golubev’s rhythm studio in the hall of the former Rock Club on Rubinshteina, 13, after which it slightly “corrected” its name, changing it to THE KING AND THE Jester (which more clearly emphasized the presence of two authors in the group). In May 1992, Lieutenant was the first of the musicians of the KING AND THE Jester to go into the army. His place was taken by Gorshka's younger brother Alexey "Yagoda" Gorshenev. Bala was called up next, but just six months later he managed to return home ahead of schedule.

In the spring of 1993, THE KING AND THE Jester ended up in "TaMtAm", which at that time was the stepfather home for all varieties of punk - from the orthodox SPIDERS, HULIGANS and VIBRATOR to the more experimental KNIVES FOR FRAU MULLER, AUSWEIS or CHIMERA. Although before this the music of THE KING AND THE Jester could only be classified as punk rock with a certain degree of convention, from that moment on the ideology of anarchy began to have a much more significant influence on the style and modus vivendi of the group.

In the same year, THE KING AND THE Jester made two more attempts to record his songs at the Tse Tse Records studio, and took part in I Beer Festival at the Yubileiny Sports Palace and played a concert at the Moscow club "Sexton FOZD". Already at the very New Year The Prince was also drafted into the army.

During his absence, the group completed and published the album “The King and the Clown” at their own expense. In addition, it now has a director: journalist, promoter and heavy music expert Dmitry “Noisy” Zhuravlev. THE KING AND THE Jester constantly performed in St. Petersburg clubs (Polygon, Ten, Gora, Art Clinic, Sawmill, etc.) and made a blitz tour of Moscow clubs. In May 1994, Poruchik returned to duty, and Lyosha Gorshenev, who also played in VIBRATOR during these two years, organized his own group KUKRYNIKSY in 1995.

In 1995, KING AND THE Jester, who performed with increasing resonance, received the Cactus Award, established by the 10 club, as the Best Punk Band of the Year. Ryabchenko decided to quit music, and Balu temporarily took over the bass guitar, while a certain Petya, who never settled into the group due to his addiction to various consciousness stimulants, became the lead guitarist. Then Balu returned his guitar, and Grigory Kuzmin from VIBRATOR became the bass player.

At the end of the year, the ranks of the KING AND THE Jester were strengthened by the second guitarist Yakov “Yasha” Tsvirkunov (b. 07.27.75 in Leningrad), a student at the Financial and Economic Institute and former member punk-industrial group AUSWEIS, with whom THE KING AND THE Jester crossed paths more than once on the Tamtam stage. They recorded the first version of the second album “Be at Home, Traveler” (released in a small edition under the Always Records label). The following June, this lineup took part in the DDT Theater festival "Let's Fill the Sky with Kindness" at the Petrovsky Stadium, which brought the group's popularity to new round.

Immediately after the festival, Grisha left, and Balu finally took up the bass. In August-September 1996, the first professional recording of THE KING AND THE Jester, “A Stone to the Head,” was made at the St. Petersburg “Melodiya” (PSG), which was financed and published by Kurizza Records. In October, the famous St. Petersburg Beatle scholar Kolya Vasin held an annual concert in honor of John Lennon's birthday at the Polygon club. The KING AND THE Jester, who was invited not without fear, did not spoil the holiday, famously performing his version of “Yellow Submarine”.

On May 23, 1997 they played at the Punk Festival in the Moscow Palace of Culture. Gorbunov, completing the program with the already proven "Yellow Submarine". In early July, the DDT Theater held its second festival “Songs of the End of the 20th Century”, where THE KING AND THE Jester performed as established artists. Friendship with DDT helped them gain preferential access to the studio in the Zheleznodorozhnikov Palace of Culture, where in August the early material of THE KING AND THE Jester was recorded, which amounted to new edition album "Be at home, traveler" (recording and mixing: Igor Sorokin). It was re-released by Nox Records in 2000.

In October 1997, Manchester Files re-released the album "A Stone to the Head" on CD. A month later, a sound engineer and keyboard player by training, Pavel Sazhinov (b. 04/28/71), appeared in the group - a year before that he moved to St. Petersburg from Arkhangelsk, where he was the leader of the popular new wave group HYPNOZ.

At the same time, the work of THE KING AND THE Jester attracted the attention of St. Petersburg television director Natasha Krusanova, who filmed for the television program " White Stripe"half-hour dedicated to them musical film; Four new songs were recorded specifically for him on TV. The film was a success and was shown repeatedly on both St. Petersburg and central television channels. In addition, Natasha introduced the KING AND THE Jester to a veteran of the St. Petersburg punk scene, and now producer and sound engineer Igor “Panker” Gudkov, who took an active part in the fate of the group, organizing a series of concerts for it, some of which were recorded and filmed - in particular , it was Panker and his companion Slava Piskunov who filmed the concert at the Polygon, which formed the basis for the first video book of THE KING AND THE Jester, “The Holiday of the Buffoon.” Later, Shumny released a video film “Concert on Manezhnaya Square” in Moscow. In the summer of 1998, the famous video director Boris Dedenev shot the first professional video for THE KING AND THE Jester, “The Men Ate Meat,” at Lennauchfilm.

Since by this time the group’s music had moved far from the canons of punk rock, revealing a tendency to complicate arrangements and use elements of folk, gothic and even progressive rock, its palette needed new colors, as a result of which in the fall of 1998 violinists Maria Bessonova (ex-AD LIBITUM) and Maria Nefedova (b. 1.09.79 in Leningrad). True, the first Masha quickly disappeared (since she played in at least half a dozen other groups), but the second (before that she participated in the groups ROWAN TOWER, MUSIC T and PILOT) registered in the KING AND THE Jester for a long time.

The group was forced to play one of their regular concerts (Gorshenev had to go to the hospital) in acoustics. His program consisted almost entirely of the Prince’s songs, written by him while still in the army, somewhat more personal and intimate in nature. Then this program (with the working title “Love of a Scoundrel”) was recorded and finalized in a studio, receiving the name “Acoustic Album”. Participated in its recording famous singer Marina Kapuro (YABLOKO) and both violinists, and Sazhinov even played the harpsichord. The acoustics were noticeably different from other works of THE KING AND THE Jester, so Gorshenev even proposed publishing it as Knyazev’s solo album, but this idea was later abandoned.

With the help of a Moscow admirer of the group, Elena Karpova, who worked for central television, the album was picked up by ORT Records, which at that time was headed by Joseph Prigozhin. The "Acoustic Album" was released on cassette and CD and in a matter of weeks spread throughout the country, attracting thousands of new fans to the group's music, who formed an informal community, somewhat reminiscent of ALICE'S ARMY and standing out at concerts and in the crowd with its appearance.

On February 20, 1999, the “Acoustic Album” was presented at the St. Petersburg Sports Palace “Yubileiny” and attracted five and a half thousand spectators, after which the group’s audience began to grow in geometric progression. March 6 at the Palace of Culture named after. Gorbunov hosted the Moscow premiere of the album. The contract with ORT was not continued - perhaps for the better - and THE KING AND THE Jester remained at large.

Another problem that arose for the group, which was increasingly invited to tour, was the lack of full-fledged management. Dima Zhuravlev was busy with his television program “Stairway to Heaven” and could not devote much energy to it. At one time, the reins of the group were taken over by Balu and Tsvirkunov (who, by the way, graduated from Finek), but this created new problems, Panker preferred the younger KUKRYNIKS to seasoned artists, and here, very opportunely, Alexander Gordeev (b. 04/18/65 in the village of Timiryazevo, North Kazakhstan region). A graduate of the University's Department of Geography, a successful businessman and a blues harmonica player who played with the Kharkov groups KUKU, MORNING, RAIN and DIFFERENT PEOPLE, Gordeev first heard the KING AND THE Jester at the next festival of the magazine "Fuzz" and took the risk of trying himself as its director.

On June 16, 1999 THE KING AND THE Jester played a powerful concert at the Spartak club. On the initiative of Panker and Alexei Dega, they were filmed and recorded. Then the recording was finalized in the Dobrolyot studio and formed the basis for the group’s fourth album, “Eli Meat Muzhiki,” the title of which became one of its perhaps most popular songs. The album was released under a previously concluded contract with Manchester Files.

During this period, the group spent several months a year on tour, so work on its next album, “Heroes and Villains,” was completed in record time. It was recorded at Dobrolyot by ALICE guitarist Zhenya Levin, and released by the mysterious Moscow Windows company under the invented label Capital Production.

Over time, the music of THE KING AND THE Jester became more and more complex and rigidly structured, which created a need for a guitarist skilled in modern metal techniques. We managed to find him very close by: Alexander “Renegade” Leontiev (b. 06/13/76 in Chisinau) came to St. Petersburg in the early 90s, having completed a year of education, dropped out of the Veterinary Institute, from the first day he took part in KUKRYNIKS and once helped the KING And JOKING at an acoustic concert. At that time, the KUKRYNIKS were quickly drifting towards pop rock, and Renegade, who was thirsty for stronger musical sensations, was not on the same path with Gorshenev Jr., so in April 2000 he decided to join the KING AND THE Jester. In July, the group, as part of the St. Petersburg delegation, visited a rock festival in the Altai Mountains, on the banks of the Katun River.

In the spring of 2001, THE KING AND THE Jester celebrated its tenth anniversary on a grand scale. By this date, Mysteria Sound, which had already collaborated with the group, released a collection best songs"Meeting"; in addition, a grand tour took place with concerts in all major cities the European part of Russia, Siberia and Belarus. As part of it, THE KING AND THE Jester gave concerts at the Yubileiny Sports Palace and at the small arena of the Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow).

That same summer they became the main headliners of the new St. Petersburg festival “Open Windows!”, after which they participated in it every year, despite the fact that this did not always coincide with their concert schedule: once the group came to the Central Park of Culture and Culture, where all this time "Windows" was held, on a bus straight from the tour, in another - the performance began at a quarter to eleven in the morning, because at one o'clock I had to fly by plane across half the country! At one of the festivals, Gorshok courageously entered into a duel with riot police who were beating teenagers.

At the end of 2001, the album “Like an Old Fairy Tale”, recorded according to an already proven recipe, was released. The video illustration for the song “Cursed Old House” was made by Valery Khatin, the author of the videos for NASTYA, DEADUSHEK and KUKRYNIKSOV. In addition, in 2001, the Grand company included a collection of the group's songs in its "Encyclopedia of Russian Rock".

In April 2002, KING AND THE Jester was named Group of the Year both by Fuzz magazine and by listeners of Our Radio, and in May unexpectedly received the rather official Ovation Award as Best Rock Band Years (before them, only Yuri Shevchuk received such recognition).

In October 2002, the group’s discography was supplemented by a new studio album, “It’s a pity, there is no gun.” At the beginning of next year, the Moscow publishing house "Nota-R" published the book "The King and the Clown: the most true story the most incredible group", which included memories of the musicians and people close to her, the contents of all albums and lyrics.

On April 11, the Stop Time company held a concert of THE KING AND THE Jester at the largest concert venue St. Petersburg, in the SKK. Contrary to those of little faith who claimed that the group’s popularity was on the wane and that it would not gather this hall, the concert was a complete success. The victory became all the more convincing because it was won against the backdrop of a conflict that flared up between the band’s musicians and “Our Radio,” whose owners, in Moscow’s arrogant manner, believed that they were the ones who brought the group into the public eye. The confrontation ended with the work of THE KING AND THE Jester disappearing from the airwaves of Nashe Radio, which did not in any way affect the attendance of his concerts.

In March, Mystery Sound released in all formats (plus DVD and VHS) a recording of the group's concerts at Luzhniki on October 18-19, 2002 under the title "Dead Anarchist".

On June 5, 2003, through the efforts of Gordeev, under the auspices of the KING AND THE Jester, the Old House club was opened. Its walls were decorated with the Prince's graphics, and the general policy was aimed at supporting the traditions of St. Petersburg rock. The club existed for two years and held hundreds of concerts (including ALICE, AQUARIUM, Konstantin Nikolsky, COLONEL AND COMMON SOLDIERS) and several festivals, including two semi-finals of "Open Windows".

In February 2004, Masha Nefedova unexpectedly left the group, intending to continue her education in the USA. Next, Gordeev parted with THE KING AND THE Jester. Nevertheless, the group continued to work a lot: on April 16, it repeated the experience with SKK (at the same time, they were warmed up by veterans of the British punk rock of the 80s GOLDBLADE, whom the KING AND THE Jester met at the previous “Windows”), worked on new material, On November 13, she presented the next album, “Mutiny on the Ship!”, and Pot and Prince, in addition, were engaged in solo projects.

Pot's individual program, which was prepared with the musicians of the BRIGADE CONTRACT group, was shown in March 2005 at the Palace of Youth, and later recorded and published.

By 2006 new line-up“The King and the Jester” is finally staffed. Sergei Zakharov becomes the new bass guitarist, and Dmitry “Kasper” Rishko becomes the violinist. The band decides to do without a second guitarist. With the new lineup, KiSh releases the album “Nightmare Seller”, from which the songs “Puppets”, “Mask”, “Rum”, “Reflection” and “Joker” again hit the radio charts. IN New Year's Eve In 2007, on Nashe Radio, musicians told the fairy tale “Morozko,” which they interspersed with songs from the album Seller of Nightmares.

15th anniversary of the group

In 2007, the group successfully toured Russia on a tour dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the group. In all major cities the group gives enchanting 2-hour concerts. The brightest, as always, are the concerts in Moscow (sold out at Luzhniki) and St. Petersburg. In the second half of the year, the group begins hard work on a new album. The group's sound engineer Pavel Sazhinov joins the main lineup of the group as a keyboard player. His place is taken by a young sound engineer Denis Nevolin. KiSh also has a permanent photographer for the group Victoria Viatris.

On November 18, 2008, the tenth album Shadow of the Clown was released. The concept of the album is interesting. The image of the jester was replaced by an ominous clown and his shadow. Hence the songs are called shadows, and the texts and poems are called penumbras. The album is divided into 3 semantic parts. The first is the clown's penumbra. Second penumbra conspiracy in court. Third zombie penumbra. And one bonus track “Prompter”, which is set to the music of the song “Funny Gun”. The track “Dagon,” which appeared in the rotation of Our Radio long before the release of the album itself, took first place on the Chart Dozen chart more than once. In general, the album can be considered very good in sound. All recordings were made on the highest level and perfectly mixed. The song “The 13th Wound”, written by Gorshk to the verses of Andrei Fedechko from the group “Sontse-Khmari”, is sung in a mixture of Ukrainian and Old Russian languages ​​and is dedicated to Nestor Ivanovich Makhno. The most original track on the album can be called “A.M.T.V,” which expresses a protest against the American television channel MTV.

In 2009, the group announced the start of recording an unplugged album. The recording will feature Pot and Prince (vocals, music, lyrics), Yasha ( acoustic guitar), Zakhar (semi-acoustic guitar), Kasper (violin), Pasha (piano), Lieutenant (tambourine). Also, on April 10, 2009, a new concert DVD was recorded at CDK MAI, which the group has not done for more than 5 years.

The music styles of the different albums were radically different, ranging in sound from classic Russian rock ("A Stone to the Head"), elements of punk rock ("The King and the Fool") and hardcore punk ("Like an Old Fairy Tale", "Mutin on a Ship" ) to the acoustic folk-rock periods ("Acoustic Album"). The style and music of KiSh are similar to horror punk bands, especially the Misfits. Gorshenev, a longtime fan of this group, often appears at concerts wearing their T-shirt. The influence of folk rock and folk metal is also noted. The band itself often positions itself as a punk rock band.

“The King and the Jester” is a punk rock band created in Leningrad in 1988. True, then it was called “Office”. But she already had the most important thing - creator, soloist and literally the face of the group, with creepy makeup, inspiring fear, but that makes it even easier to recognize.

History of creation

In 1988, a student at an unremarkable Leningrad school, Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev, and his classmates Alexander “Lieutenant” Shchigolev and Alexander “Balu” Balunov decided to take up music. The newly created band played punk rock, the melodies and lyrics were fully consistent with the chosen direction.

Mikhail Gorshenev

A year later, the usual punk was washed away by a wave called Prince. I met the pot at the restoration school. A new acquaintance wrote very original texts. Each was a complete work, albeit of a small format. The author borrowed plots from folklore, mythology, and fantasy.

The Prince liked the sound of the music created by the group, and Pot liked the Prince’s poems. From that moment they count down general history activities in the "Office".

The name "King and Jester" appeared in 1990. The guys sorted for a long time different ideas: “The Slaughtered Dandelion”, “Armageddon”, “Apocalypse”, “King of the Jesters”. The last name, with minor variations, was eventually adopted.

“KiSh”, as fans are now used to saying, wrote tracks in a semi-professional studio in 1991-1992. Then the guys first appeared on stage and took part in the radio broadcast.

In 1994, the album “Be at Home, Traveler” was released in small quantities, exclusively on audio cassettes. Considered a great rarity among fans, it is not included in the canonical discography.

“The King and the Clown” “toured” only to the clubs of St. Petersburg, until in 1996 they filmed a thirty-minute program about them. It was shown more than once on Channel 5. The shooting resulted in 4 videos for the compositions “Fool and Lightning”, “Sudden Head”, “Gardener”, “Shadows Wander”. A distinctive feature of all four is their extremely small budget.

Music

Song “horror stories” allow us to call the style of “The King and the Jester” horror-punk, but it would be wrong to limit ourselves to this definition only. Folk rock, art punk, hardcore, and hard rock can be traced in the work of “KiSh”.

In 1996, the performers presented the first official collection “A Stone on the Head” to the audience, which was later recognized as “program” for the early “KiSh”. A year later, listeners were able to enjoy the album “The King and the Fool,” which included tracks from the unofficial “Make yourself at home, traveler,” recorded in better quality.

1998 was marked by the release of the third album. More melodic, less punk-like, “Acoustic Album”, as they say, “shot.” The ballad “I’ll Jump from a Cliff”, which quickly rose to the first line of the “OUR Radio” hit parade, brought the performers all-Russian popularity. In the same 1998, with the help of director Boris Dedenev, the first normal video appeared for the composition “Men Ate Meat,” which also ended up in the “Chart Dozen.”

In 1999, “The King and the Clown” played a solo album for the first time in its history and created the album “The Men Ate Meat.” Having survived the meeting of the millennium, the group created another record - “Heroes and Villains”. Burst into the charts new track- “The Drevlyans remember with bitterness.”

In 2000, a collection appeared best works“KiSh” - “Meeting”, and in 2001 - one of the most famous albums “Like in an old fairy tale”. In it and in the sixth album “It’s a pity, there is no gun!” (2002) anarchy permeates the texts. But “The King and the Jester” has an “undignified” reputation among Russian punks, many believe that Pot and Prince do not belong to the punk environment.

Nevertheless, “Cursed Old House” has been at the top of the “Chart Dozen” for a long time; the video of the same name by Valery Khattin is played on “MTV Russia”. In the early 2000s, "KiSh" collected a bouquet of recognition: the "PoboRoll" and "Ovation" awards, the title best group according to a survey conducted by Fuzz magazine.

Among other things, “The King and the Clown” recorded three live albums and eight video albums. “Mutiny on a Ship” (late 2004) stands apart in the “KiSh” discography – it was written “live”, as a live album.

Fans of “The King and the Jester” became excited in 2005: the records “I am an Alcoholic Anarchist” and “Love of a Scoundrel” were released, solo albums of Pot and Prince, respectively. But the excitement turned out to be premature: at the end of 2006, “Seller of Nightmares” was presented.

The tracks “Puppets” and “Rum”, like other “KiSh” songs before them, barely got into rotation, stayed in the “Chart Dozen” for a long time. In 2008, according to tradition, at the end of the year, the ninth album, “Shadow of the Clown,” appeared, and in 2010, “Demon Theater.”

In parallel with the creation of more and more new songs and recording albums, “The King and the Clown” gave concerts and actively participated in Russian and foreign festivals and musical projects. In 2011-2012, two albums based on the horror zong opera “TODD” were released - “Act 1. Blood Festival” and “Act 2. On the Edge”. The story for the project was voiced by .

Compound

There were constant castlings in the “King and the Clown” group. Alexander “Balu” Balunov, Yakov “Yasha” Tsvirkunov, Alexander “Renegade” Leontyev, Sergey “Zakhar” Zakharov, Dmitry “Ryabchik” Ryabchenko - guitarists and bass players - came and went. From 1997 to 2014, he worked first as a sound engineer and then as a keyboard player Pavel Sazhinov. Periodically, Gorshka’s younger brother, a member of the group and also Gorshka’s younger brother, “came in” to help.

The “golden” lineup is considered to be those who played in the group in the early 2000s. From the first days of “KiSh”’s existence, soloists Prince and Gorshok, drummer Lieutenant, and bassist Balu worked for the benefit of the group. In addition to them, the “golden” line-up included guitarist Renegat and violinist Maria Nefedova.

In 2011, Andrei Knyazev announced his retirement from free swimming. The result of this was that the composition of “The King and the Jester” began to look like this: Mikhail Gorshenev, Yakov Tsvirkunov, Sergei Zakharov, Alexander Shchigolev, Alexander Leontyev, Pavel Sazhinov.

On July 19, 2013, Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev was at home. He was a little less than three weeks short of his 40th birthday.

"The King and the Clown" now

Having said goodbye to Mikhail Gorshenev, “The King and the Clown” said goodbye to the fans. The musicians of the group, not intending to disperse, organized new company– . This was the name of one of the compositions “KiSh”. Knyazev is working on a solo project.

The memory of Pot will forever live in punk hearts, which is why there are group pages on various social networks.

The group originated in 1987 in Leningrad high school No. 147. The founders of the group, Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev, Alexander “Balu” Balunov and Alexander “Lieutenant” Shchigalev were classmates and organized the group in the seventh grade. The name "King and the Jester" appeared only in 1990.

In 1990, after graduating from school, Pot entered the restoration school. As Pot himself admitted, he lacked something for his soul. There he met the second key figure of the group - Andrei "Prince" Knyazev.

“I look, a guy is sitting, singing, it’s clear that he’s talented - and he just sang, without a guitar. I met him several times and simply didn’t pay attention to the singing boy. And then I thought, sold the car, the apartment, became normal, an ordinary person, a friendship began, we created the first songs - then “The King and the Clown” appeared."

But first, Pot himself wrote poetry and music...

Pot: “I don’t even want to think about that time, it was a stupid time. The real “KING AND THE Jester” appeared with the Prince’s lyrics, and the music immediately became different, more soulful. We work as one whole, in parallel, together: so he wrote lyrics - and there is already music."

In 1991-92, the first few songs were recorded at the semi-professional studio of Mikhail Kolchugin - “Dead Woman”, “Hunter”, “King and the Fool”, “In the Valley of the Swamps”. In the same year, the first broadcast on the radio took place in the program of Anatoly Gunitsky.

And then the “guest tours” began in the clubs of St. Petersburg. The first public performance took place in 1992 at the Igor Golubev rhythm school in the building of the old rock club on Rubenstein 13. 1993 year - First performance at the St. Petersburg club "Tam-Tam" by Seva Gakkel, as well as at the Moscow club "Sexton FOZD". The group has new director Dmitry Zhuravlev "Noisy". From 1993 to 1997, “The King and the Jester” performed in the St. Petersburg clubs “Tam-Tam”, “Polygon”, “Mountain”, “Ten”, “Sawmill”, “Rock=Club”, “Art-Clinic” and others.

In 1994, a small-circulation unofficial album “Be at home, traveler” was recorded. This option is not numbered.

In 1995, Yakov Tsvirkunov joined “The King and the Clown” as a guitarist.

In 1996, a half-hour program about “The King and the Clown” was filmed, which was repeatedly broadcast on Channel 5. Natasha Krusanova and her film crew helped with this. From the program four low-budget videos appeared for the songs “Fool and Lightning”, “Sudden Head”, “Gardener”, “Wandering Shadows”.

In 1996, the first numbered album, “A Stone on the Head,” was released, recorded at the Melodiya studio. In the same and in next year“The King and the Clown” took part in the festival on “Petrovsky” “Let’s fill the sky with kindness”, which was organized by Yuri Shevchuk and the “DDT Theater”. The group also appeared on the stage of Yubileiny and the Gorbunov Palace of Culture, playing at festivals with such groups as "TOY DOLLS", "THE STRANGLERS", "EXPLOITED"

Yasha: “For our first presentation, in the fall of 1996, more than five hundred people came to “Vatrushka” - “Vatrushka” was crackling. And after this concert we were already on the same level."

1997 was the year of the release of the second album entitled “The King and the Clown”. The album consisted of those songs that were included in “Make yourself at home, traveler!”, but were recorded better (in 2000 the album was returned to its original name). In the fall of 1997, a sound engineer was invited to the group - Pavel Sazhinov "P. Sound".

Yasha: The album was recorded in August at the DDT Theater studio. We really enjoyed recording it with a good sound engineer Igor Sorokin. The album turned out to be very successful. Despite all the errors, its sound quality is an order of magnitude higher than “A Stone to the Head.”

After this, the team felt cramped in their native St. Petersburg, and concerts began in Moscow and other cities of Russia.

“Concerts are basically improvisation. What face Pot will make next moment - only he knows. But what is it - he once beat up some fan at a concert. He threw a can at him - well, Pot couldn’t restrain himself : got off the stage and rushed at him with his fists."

In 1998, the next “Acoustic Album” was recorded at the Melodiya studio, which differed in sound from the previous ones and was considered a joke. Singer Marina Kapuro, Maria Bessonova, as well as Maria Nefedova (violin), who after recording began to play with the group, took part in the recording.

"To create higher quality and interesting music, we were looking for a second guitarist for a very long time. We auditioned a huge number of guys, but never found what we needed. Masha plays the violin, and we thought that the violin was the second guitar. In some ways the violin is limited, but in some ways it is better than the guitar. Basically, Masha plays the guitar part on the violin."

Balu: “It’s just that one day we agreed on a concert at the Rock Club, but Gorshok ended up in the hospital and couldn’t perform. At first we wanted to cancel the concert, and then we thought that, in principle, we’d play just as well ourselves. We tried, and Everyone really liked it. All the songs in this program have been remade."

In the summer of 1998, the wonderful St. Petersburg director Boris Dedenev and his film crew The first real video was shot for the song “Men Ate Meat.”

On February 20, 1999, the group gathered for the first time at the Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg. The concert was organized by the company "SP-concert." In 1999, "Acoustic Album" was released on ORT Records. At the same time, a new director appeared in the group, Alexander Gordeev (gr. " Different people"). In 1999, the concert album “Men Ate Meat” was released, recorded at the Spartak club with the assistance of Panker (Igor Gudkov) and Alexei Dega, nicknamed “fearless”. At the same time, a video version of this concert was also released. From the materials of this concert and a concert at the Yubileiny Sports Palace on October 10, 1999, a video was made for the song “Hunter”.

In 2000, the next album “Heroes and Villains” was released. The group has a new guitarist Alexander Leontiev “Renegade”, who was previously involved as a session musician.

KiSh
IceHeart 2006-04-18 10:06:33

I really like the group "King and the Clown"! These are really talented guys! I like what they sing about and the music they play!!! Come to us more often! Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk region. Ukraine!!!