Grazhdanskaya Oborona
| Grazhdanskaya Oborona | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | GrOb, GO, Posev (1982-1985), P.O.G.O. (1988), Vrag Naroda (1989) |
| Origin | Omsk, USSR (now Russia) |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1984-1985 1986-1990 1993-2008 |
| Labels | GrOb, XOP/Moroz, Misteriya Zvuka, Wyrgorod |
| Associated acts | Posev, Instruktsiya po Vyzhivaniyu, Makhno, Kommunizm, Egor i Opizdenevshie |
| Website | http://www.gr-oborona.ru/ |
| Members |
Yegor Letov Natalia Chumakova Alexander Chesnakov Pavel Peretolchin |
| Past members | Yanka Dyagileva, Konstantin "Kuzya UO" Ryabinov, Oleg Sudakov, Alexander Andryushkin, etc |
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская Оборона, [ɡrɐʐˈdanskəjə ɐbɐˈronə]), Russian for Civil Defense, or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for coffin) were one of the earliest Soviet and Russian psychedelic/punk rock bands. They influenced many Soviet and, subsequently, Russian bands. From the early 1990s, the band's music began to evolve in the direction of psychedelic rock and shoegaze, and band leader Yegor Letov's lyrics became more metaphysical than political.
In 1982 the 18-year-old poet and musician Yegor Letov formed the band Posev (The Sowing, named after the official NTS magazine) with his friend Konstantin "Kuzya UO" Ryabinov. In 1984 Posev became Grazhdanskaya Oborona. The band was preparing to record an album, but their defiantly anti-authoritarian stance and overtly political lyrics made them an easy target for the KGB. "The mother of our [second guitarist] Babenko, she was a sort of a party official, she listened to our records and went to the KGB and said, "Comrades, my son is involved in an anti-Soviet organization", Letov recalled. In autumn 1985 Letov was committed to a mental ward, and Ryabinov was forcibly drafted into the army despite having a heart condition. Letov was released from the mental ward in March 1986 and immediately began to write and record music. He often recorded on his own, and while he credited other musicians, his collaborators went under pseudonyms as Letov remained on the outs with the Soviet system and, as he stated in an interview, the original members of GrOb were forced to sign sworn statements saying that they would stay away from Letov. In 1986-87 he recorded several cassette albums, playing all instruments himself, and released them through magnitizdat under the name of Grazhdanskaya Oborona. It was lo-fi, straightforward garage punk rock/post-punk with slight reggae influences and weird, irrational lyrics, inspired by Russian Futurist poetry.
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