Feddy: “Futuristic Figure”

Feddy are a St Petersburg outfit that recently emerged from the ashes of punk trio Begemot (“Hippo“).  That earlier ensemble had garnered significant respect and renown over the second half of the ’90s; it was based around the efforts of front man and vocalist Fedia Lavrov (above).

This new project is described as “an  explosive mix of rock music with kick-ass electronica.  The band calls it ‘rock & rave.’  You could describe it as a heavier version of The Beatles together with some kind of techno-Pistols.  Then add The Prodigy… played on guitars!  That’s how rock & rave becomes a new step forward in the development of modern music.”

There’s a great deal of truth in that statement, but not in the idea that Feddy are making great strides into new territory.  What they are doing, however, is placing their disparate reference points in new combinations, whilst allowing those same influences to remain independent of one another.  In other words, the band’s uniqueness lies in its energetic, eclectic linking of sampled styles from all over the place.

For example: on their MySpace page, the number of namechecked influences is almost out of control.  It’s as if an novellist has included so many quotations from other works, he has become more of an archivist than an artist.  The roll-call of Feddy’s idols runs more than 40 years through the history of rock & roll, although the band does show a certain fondness for the late ’70s.

In particular for 1977, which is very telling.

And this, it’d be fair to say, is where both Feddy’s style and significance can be found.  The images in this post, many of which are overexposed (above and below), are reminsicent of late-70s fanzines, in particular from the NY scene, rather than the more understated, ironic, or self-deprecating equivalent in the UK.  Feddy are a band that embody the bold, brash sounds of America kicking its classic rock addiction.

For that reason, it seems perfectly understandable that Feddy, when telling their own story, claim to have embraced a grungy, garage aesthetic long before NY’s The Strokes(!).  These early chronicles also include several other claims or intentions in the same spirit.  They show not only how the band has frequently and deliberately used the oldest, most ramshackle equipment available, but also labored since their inception in the specific direction of “Euro-American” rock.  This was because “the Russian market had absolutely nothing to offer us.”

The biography needed for a young Russian man to claim this punk or Stooge-like status makes for interesting reading. Lavrov claims to have spent all of two weeks in the Soviet army, a month in a mental hospital (as assistant, not resident), and to have been interviewed by the KGB over some suspect recordings that showed scant respect for the authorities.

His subsequent brushes with established art forms were equally fleeting.  He served briefly as a set director’s assistant at a youth theater, and then as stage technician at the world famous Mariinskii Ballet.  These promising glimpses of high art were accompanied by employment in distinctly lower realms: Lavrov worked as a miner, building tunnels for the St Petersburg metro.

His handiwork is still visible today.

In one of the band’s blogs he lists his dreams for the future, which are now far from pneumatic drills and railway sleepers.  He’d like to sign a recording deal in Western Europe and make tons of money, in order then to return Russia, where he’d “help impovershed kids who have talent.”

That’s the fiscal goal.  The cultural one is to show the outside world that “not every Russian is a vodka-drinking freak.”

While Feddy busy themselves with that tricky task, we offer the new album, which has been placed online in a rather strange format: one huge, 50-minute mp3.

It’s a remarkably vibrant, energetic recording, very much in the spirit of late punk’s dalliances with a more radio-friendly sound.  The quality of songs doesn’t flag as you work your way through the later tracks; in fact, the more you listen, the greater the sense of injustice that Feddy do not have that recording contract.

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