Alisa

Алиса Alisa
L-R: , Kinchev, Samoylov, Levin
Background information
Also known as	Alisa
Origin	Leningrad, Soviet Union
Genres	New wave, post-punk, punk rock (early) Hard rock, heavy metal, Christian rock, Christian metal, folk metal, industrial metal, alternative rock (recent)
Years active	1983-present
Website	Official website
Members	Konstantin Kinchev Petr Samoylov Eugeny Levin Andrey Vdovichenko Dmitri Parfyonov
Past members

Alisa (Russian: Алиса) is a Russian hard rock band, who are credited as one of the most influential bands in the Russian rock movement.

Alisa was formed in November 1983 by bassist Svyatoslav Zadery. The band's name originated from Zadery's nickname. The band's lineup was finally completed in 1984, when new vocalist Kostya Kinchev (real name Konstantin Panfilov) and guitarist Petr Samoylov joined. Their debut album Energia was recorded between 1985 and 1986, released by state publishing monopoly Melodiya in 1988 and sold more than a million copies.

But the relations between two leaders, Konstantin and Zadery, were deteriorating, and finally Svyatoslav departed from the band. This occurred just one hour before Alisa was to perform at a concert. Alisa had to ask Kino bassist Igor Tihomirov to replace him for one concert. Later Zadery created his own band Nateh! (Russian: НАТЕ! - "Take that!"). Zadery died on 6 May 2011 due to complications from a stroke at the age of 50.

The growing popularity of the band created a fan community called the Army of Alisa, known for their rough behaviour at concerts. It led to animosity between the band and Soviet officials. In 1987, the newspaper Smena accused Alisa's leader Kinchev of Nazi propaganda and worshiping Hitler. Kinchev filed a suit for calumny and moral loss compensation. After the year-long court process the magazine published the refutation. Alisa's next album was titled Article 206 part 2, a chapter ("Hooliganism") of the USSR Procedural Code, alluding to this process. It was recorded in 1989, but would not be released until 1994 due to the tapes going missing.

There were more changes in 1988, when guitarist Igor "Chuma" Chumychkin joined the band. This change was followed by the heavier sound of next two albums, Shabash and For those Who Fell From the Moon. Alisa toured through Europe and Israel together with fellow Russian heavy metal band Aria. The album Black Mark, released in 1994, was dedicated to the memory of Chuma, who committed suicide by jumping from a window.