Soviet (band)
| Soviet | |
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Soviet in 2002
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Syracuse, New York |
| Genres | Synthpop, new wave |
| Years active | 1998–2004 2015-–present |
| Website | sovietbot |
| Members | Keith Ruggiero, Chris Otchy, Chaz Windus |
| Past members | Amanda Lynn Berkowitz Greg Kochan Kenan Gunduz Ian Scheller Adam Hughes Christian Serramalera |
Soviet is an American electronic rock band that formed in 1998 in Syracuse, NY. They later moved to New York City. Although influenced more by new romantic and Britpop music, Soviet was one of several Electropop artists who surfaced in the late 1990s that popularized the sound New York promoter and DJ Larry Tee coined as electroclash. The longest standing core member lineup consists of vocalist and songwriter Keith Ruggiero, and keyboardists Christopher Otchy, Amanda Lynn Berkowitz, and Greg Kochan.
The band began in 1995 while Keith Ruggierio attended Syracuse University as a film student. Having long been fascinated with the electronic new wave sound made popular by groups like China Crisis, Human League, Talk Talk, Ultravox, Gary Numan, and OMD, he set out to make music in this vein. It was difficult for him to find a band with similar interests, and so he began writing songs and recording on a Tascam 4-track tape machine with a few analog synthesizers he was able to acquire cheaply. He began to create demos, which he circulated to several friends.
A mutual friend gave a demo to Christopher Otchy, who was also attending Syracuse University, and the two began to talk about forming a band. Ruggiero then recruited Adam Hughes and Ian Scheller on synthesizers and drums respectively, and the band began practicing. They began to play at parties and rock venues throughout the area, notably the Starlight Ballroom, Styleens, Planet 505, Shrine Student Center, and the Senior block party where immediately after they performed a riot erupted.
The demos recorded at this time were collected into a rough debut album, <C>.
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