“We came from the underground and became popular with our pop-culture parodies. One day to my horror I realized that our group has become similar to the objects of our parodies and mockery. We were starting to merge with all those pop-star crowd, but I’m not one of them and never wanted to be,” - Sergey Mikhalok, the band’s leader says. He admits that it wasn’t so easy to give up the show business game and become independent once again.
According to him, “it was very difficult to get our true essence back on top. And the thing wasn’t about any contracts. We had to overcome public opinion and, most importantly, set our own minds free. At first, my internal discomfort from the gap between the authentic “Lyapis Trubetskoy” and its public image was relieved by hard drinking and other stuff, but when my weight peaked at 110 kilograms and my mind was about to collapse, I gave up everything, lost 25 kilograms and started to play the music I like.”
“Capital” is the second independent album by “Lyapis Trubetskoy” after the “Zoloty’ye yaytsy” (“Golden Balls”) created in 2004 under heavy reggae and ska influence. “While working on “Zoloty’ye yaytsy” we didn’t understand what to do with our independence. As a result there were some reflex attempts to score a radio hit with “Rain’ka” or “Pochtal’iony” (“Postmen”), - Sergey Mikhalok says. – But this wasn’t the biggest problem. The whole album was overproduced, we tried to mix too many styles, musical instruments and sounds in it. So, we paid too much attention to the form instead of the essence. We were in need of a real professional who could tell us what was good and what was too much.”
That is why searching for a sound producer was one of the main tasks while working on “Capital”. At some point the band wanted to record their album in London, in the hometown the legendary British ska-band “Madness” (one of Mihalok’s favourites). When almost everything was ready for that, a chance interfered. At a concert in Kiev “Lyapis Trubetskoy” met a famous Ukrainian sound producer Vitaliy Telezin. He worked with “Okean El’zi”, “Brat’ia Grim” and other top Ukrainian/Russian artists. But it wasn’t the thing that attracted Mikhalok and his friends.
“We are from the same generation with him, we had common world outlook, we liked the same music. And it was the music we wanted to record on our new album. I don’t want to offend anyone, but, roughly speaking, for our band he is the first studio guy who didn’t need explanations about what is California wave or how “Green Day” and “Offspring” make their sound,” - Mikhalok says.
And this combination has worked perfectly well. Now it’s already clear that the new album will mean to the band and its fans no less than the legendary “Ty kinula” (“You Gave Me Up”) in 1998 and will give a rise to the new popularity wave for “Lyapis Trubetskoy”. Still, according to Sergey Mikhalok, the ideology of both the new album and the present group is different from what used to be in the years between these two landmarks. He says: “When I started my career I used to write songs that changed me and the world around me, but later I began to create stuff, that didn’t have influence either on me or the world around. At best those songs could be a soundtrack for some wedding or birthday. And what is horrible at some point I even used to be proud of that. But now I have come back to what everything started from – to a mix of biting satire and powerful chords.”
Video clips have played an important role in the album presentation. The first clip for the song “Hare” (“Enough”), a cheerful wedding trash-video, was filmed by a famous actor and new wave director Vladimir Epifantsev. The second clip, animation video “Capital”, which has become a real Internet sensation, was made by Aleksey Terekhov, co-author of the legendary “Au” (1998) and “Rozochka” (1999) videos. "Capital" has hardly appeared on TV, but has already won several prizes and got a lot of nominations on the different video & music festivals in Russia, Belarus, Portugal and so on.
Frontman Siarhei Mikhalok anounced mid-March 2014 that the group would ceased to exist the next 1 September.
offical website
www.lyapis.com
myspace page
www.myspace.com/lyapis
Грай
Ляпис Трубецкой Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Шэрыя быкі танчуць карагоды
Ланцугі ў начы адліваюць златам
Воран там крычыць з воўкам родным братам.
Палыхае там вогнішча да неба
П'юць яны віно заядаюць хлебам
Песні ім пяюць старыя цыганкі
Б'юць капытам, б'юць, а ў небе маланка!
Гэтыя быкі, маюць сваю праўду:
Ім не трэба сонца, цемры ім багата
Ім вясны не трэба, ім зімы б паболей
Каб ты хлопец спаў на пячы ў няволе
Грай! Шукай! У снах юнацтва свае мары!
Грай! Гукай! Вясны зяленай цёплай чары!
Грай! Спявай! Дружна песні райскай волі!
Грай! Грай! Гані быкоў – вярнецца доля!
Напілісь быкі, скачуць па краіне
Топчуць ручнікі капытамі ў гліне
Скачуць па дварах, адчыняюць хаты,
Хто не пахаваўся – будзе вінаватым!
Гэтыя быкі, маюць сваю праўду:
Ім не трэба сонца, цемры ім багата
Ім вясны не трэба, ім зімы б паболей
Каб ты хлопец спаў на пячы ў няволе
Грай! Шукай! У снах юнацкіх тваі мары!
Грай! Гукай! Вясны зяленай цёплай чары!
Грай! Спявай! Дружна песні райскай волі!
Грай! Грай! Гані быкоў – вярнецца доля!
The song "Грай" by Ляпис Трубецкой is an energetic and upbeat track. The lyrics speak to a sense of freedom and the pursuit of dreams. The first verse describes a place where even the crabs have no barriers to move freely, where wild bulls dance, and chains flow with gold. The crow cries with his brother wolf, and a fire rages high as they drink wine and sing old Gypsy songs. As they stomp their hooves, the snow melts, and spring blossoms arise.
The chorus urges the listener to play, to search for the dreams of youth in their sleep, to call out for the warm embrace of green spring, to sing songs of heavenly freedom in unity. The second verse continues with the description of the bulls' wild dance and their carefree attitude. They trample on the hillsides and open doors to houses, exposing those who didn't hide themselves.
Overall, the song celebrates a spirit of rebellion against societal constraints and the pursuit of one's individual dreams. The chorus acts as a rallying cry for listeners to embrace their inner wildness and never give up on pursuing their passion.
Line by Line Meaning
Недзе ля ракі, дзе не мае броду
Where the river has no ford
Шэрыя быкі танчуць карагоды
Gray bulls are dancing in the fields
Ланцугі ў начы адліваюць златам
Chains glisten in the night with gold
Воран там крычыць з воўкам родным братам.
The raven screams there with his brother wolf
Палыхае там вогнішча да неба
The bonfire there is burning high
П'юць яны віно заядаюць хлебам
They drink wine and satiate themselves with bread
Песні ім пяюць старыя цыганкі
Old gypsies sing them songs
Б'юць капытам, б'юць, а ў небе маланка!
They pound with their hooves, they pound, and the frost is in the clouds!
Гэтыя быкі, маюць сваю праўду:
These bulls have their own truth:
Ім не трэба сонца, цемры ім багата
They do not need the sun, they have plenty of darkness
Ім вясны не трэба, ім зімы б паболей
They do not need spring, they need more winter pain
Каб ты хлопец спаў на пячы ў няволе
So that you, boy, could sleep on the stove in bondage
Грай! Шукай! У снах юнацтва свае мары!
Play! Seek! Dream your young dreams!
Грай! Гукай! Вясны зяленай цёплай чары!
Play! Call out! The warm spell of green spring!
Грай! Спявай! Дружна песні райскай волі!
Play! Sing! Together, the songs of paradise freedom!
Грай! Грай! Гані быкоў – вярнецца доля!
Play! Play! Chase the bulls - fate will return!
Напілісь быкі, скачуць па краіне
The bulls got drunk and caper through the land
Топчуць ручнікі капытамі ў гліне
They stomp the towels with their hooves in the mud
Скачуць па дварах, адчыняюць хаты,
They jump through the courtyards, open the doors
Хто не пахаваўся – будзе вінаватым!
Who didn't hide - will be guilty!
Contributed by David N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.