Amatory


Amatory is a Russian metal band from Saint Petersburg, formed in 1998 by Denis Zhivotovsky and Daniil Svetlov.
Later in 1998, they were joined by Evgenyy PJ Potekhin but the official birthday of the band is April 1, 2001, when Sergey Osechkin joined and the trio became a quartet.
They are considered to be among the pioneers of Russian alternative metal but their musical approach changed over the years.
Despite relatively little media exposure, Amatory has gained a huge following in a short time through their live performances in Russia, Eastern and Northern Europe, and Central Asia. At the moment they have released 7 full-length studio albums, 2 instrumental albums and 7 EPs.

History

1998–2001: Early years

founders Denis Zhivotovsky and Daniil Svetlov met at the age of 13 in the spring of 1998.
Initial rehearsals were held that same spring in Svetlov's apartment, they played snippets of their favorite songs by Nirvana, Sex Pistols, The Exploited, and a self-penned song by Zhivotovsky.
Rehearsals were moved to Zhivotovsky's apartment because there was an empty bedroom to which Svetlov brought his drum set. The building itself was so called khrushchyovka also known as krushcheby – cheap, easy-to-build apartment blocks that were massively built all over the former Soviet Union from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. They are well known for their poor thermal and sound insulation. With this in mind the aspiring musicians covered with carpets the walls, the door and floor in their makeshift bedroom rehearsal space but it didn't work – the neighbours complained about the noise, regularly banged on the door and called the police.
The trio began performing live by covering Nirvana songs in a nearby school. In 1999 Potekhin and Zhivotovsky got carried away with Korn, but at the same time Svetlov became "addicted" to black metal and grindcore. He started to distance himself from his bandmates, therefore they did a little trick to get their drummer back – they began to write music in the grindcore style but little by little introduced the elements of alternative metal.
In the summer of 1999 they found a rehearsal space in a youth club called Rubin, consequently they should have introduced themselves. On that occasion PJ came up with the name for the band – he called it Amatory. The name itself is said to have come from an English – Russian dictionary and was chosen because it was in tune with Crematory, Obiatuary and Cemetary.
Gradually they realized that they needed a second guitarist, after a short search they found Sergey Osechkin. The first rehearsal as a four-piece band took place on April 1, 2001 – that day became the band's official birth date.

2001–2004: ''Fate's Eternally Hiding (Вечно Прячется Судьба)''

After the demo was recorded, Amatory decided to experiment with innovative musical approach.
A concert in support of "The Bread" was scheduled on November 26, 2002, in a new club "Orlandina". All the bandmates were there on time except of Liolik who had mysteriously disappeared. Later they found out that Liolik was on his way to the club when he was stopped by a police patrol to verify his documents and unexpectedly was drafted into the military service for two years following PJ. In this way Amatory lost their second musician because of the Russian armed forces.
In 2003, though limited in resources, the band began recording their debut studio album. In April they released a single entitled "Fragments" which is regarded as one of their signature songs.
The album titled Fate's Eternally Hiding with Denver and Lexus on vocals was released on November 14, 2003. It was named after one of the songs that was inspired by Irvine Welsh's novella Fate's Eternally Hiding from his trilogy Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance. In an interview to "In search of Titans" Ovchinnikov remembers writing and correcting the lyrics together with Zhivotovsky in the school during the classes, and recording the vocals in a closet.
Shortly before the album's release Alexander Pavlov became the second guitarist of the band.

2004—2006: ''Inevitability (Неизбежность)''

On March 14, 2004, Amatory released a maxi-single entitled "Two Lives". Shortly beforehand Ovchinnikov left the band and his place was taken by the guitarist of Stigmata – Igor Kapranov. For the single's artwork they invented to place the name of the band and their pseudonyms in square brackets to fit their logo. This stylization became 's hallmark.
Following the release the team immediately took up work on new material in collaboration with Danish producer Jacob Hansen. Through working with Jacob, Amatory began to play "in a western manner". Despite the fact that joined the band as the vocalist he was never singing before consequently almost all growling parts for an upcoming album were recorded by .
The second studio album titled Inevitability with and on vocals was released on October 14.
In early 2005, the band released their first DVD titled ost criptum, consisted of home videos recorded by themselves, their crew and friends during the tour in support of the album "Inevetability".
In September 2005, supported Korn in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. At the same time "Black and White Days" won RAMP 2005 for "Best Music Video" and won the "Best Band" category.

2006—2008: ''Book Of The Dead (Книга Мертвых)''

In the spring of 2006, during the "Rock 5 Tour", Sergey Osechkin suddenly felt severe pain in his right side. In the summer of the same year, when the band was working with Hansen on new material, he felt unwell.
The third album titled Book of the Dead was released on Friday the 13th, in October 2006. Five days later, right before the band's performance as an opening act for Stone Sour, they got the news that was diagnosed with liver cancer. Osechkin died at the age of 23 on March 15, 2007, and was buried with his first guitar Jackson, given to him by his grandmother, at the Memorial cemetery to the Victims of 9 January in Saint Petersburg.
Later the band's members many times described that period as the worst time in Amatory's history. They decided to move on but it was a difficult decision. According to , they sank into heavy drinking for a time, and it was their session guitarist Niky Yuriev who kept them from getting depressed during the first leg of the Live Evil tour.
Simultaneously with the tragedy that has hit the band, the year 2007 marked their breakthrough towards a mass audience. According to one of the largest Russian newspapers Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Amatory became a phenomenon and "a dictator of fashion" on the Russian music scene with playing a huge number of sold-out shows throughout the country despite the lack of media support. Around this time the band also gained a following outside of Russia and ex-USSR countries – they received many fan mails from Latin America, Europe, Indonesia, etc.
In the spring of 2007, Amatory went on the second leg of the Live Evil tour with session guitarist Ivan Ludewig. On April 26, 2007, the band did a sold-out show at the Yubileyny Sports Palace, it was filmed and later released as the concert DVD+CD "Live Evil". By summer they played several concerts as a four-piece while looking for a new guitarist. At the same time was invited to perform with Linkin Park in Moscow and Saint Petersburg but they made a choice in favor of their sold-out gig in Moscow and a benefit concert in memory of Sergey Osechkin – all funds raised went to his family and the installation of a memorial.
In September the band went on Saint Seventh Tour with new session guitarist Dmitry Rubanovsky. During the tour the internet TV channel Nashe TV filmed a 17-episode series called "AMATORY in your city" showing what it's like for them their concert and day-to-day life on tour.
On September 19, 2007, a live music video Butterfly Effect from the upcoming DVD Live Evil was released. Also in 2007 released their second DVD EVol.01 made of home videos filmed during their tours since May 2005.

2008—2010: ''VII''

In the beginning of 2008, ESP Guitars together with the band's guitarist Alexander Pavlov created a signature guitar named ESP LTD – it became the first signature guitar awarded to a Russian guitarist. On March 20, the DVD+CD Live Evil, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios in Denmark, was released.
On April 5, received the FUZZ Award in the "Best Alternative Band" category.
In September 2008, their session guitarist Dmitry Rubanovsky became the band's new guitarist and principal music writer. In October, Nashe TV started broadcasting a mini-series filmed during the recording sessions for the upcoming album. It provided an insight into the creation of new songs in collaboration with Danish producer Tue Madsen, known for his work with Meshuggah, Dark Tranquility, Suicide Silence, etc. With Madsen the band recorded a Russian and an English version at the same time but eventually the English version was not released.
In November, released a single Breathe with me and signed a contract with the music label FG Nikitin. This song got in heavy rotation on the radio in Russia and some neighbouring countries, it stayed seven weeks at number one surpassing The Prodigy and Depeche Mode. In 2009 it won the Rock Alternative Music Prize for "Best Song". Together with the huge popularity Breathe with me also caused some confusion and erroneous plagiarism charges because Rubanovsky wrote the music and the lyrics in English when he was a member of his first band "Tearfall", his next band "Horizon 8" recorded the second version. When Rubanovsky joined Amatory they decided to give a new life to this old song and it became the third version with the lyrics in Russian written by Zhivotovsky.
On November 7, 2008, released their fourth studio album titled VII. It became their first album with and earned rave reviews from many critics and an extremely negative response from many fans. Following the release, the band went on Sold Out Tour with a new approach – they focused on the quality of shows and took on the tour their own equipment. It resulted in more expensive tickets and coincided with the Great Recession in Russia – concert attendance fell markedly in all parts of the country.
In April 2009, NTV showed a TV report about the band, underlining that they became iconic without producers and mainstream media support. A little later Daniil Svetlov became "Drummer Of The Year".
On October 27, 2009, the band released an internet single Crimson Dawn mixed by American producer Chris Zeuss Harris.