Hair Peace Salon is a power pop band from Minsk, Belarus, influenced by Britpop bands and British indie rock. Hair Peace Salon's music is notable in Belarus rock music by its use of English lyrics. The group was founded in 1998, and they have released one full-length album Gentleman, and numerous singles and EPs. In 2013, the members took a break when frontman and co-founder Aleh Vial created another band, Bristeil.
History
Early years (1998–2001) Aleh Vial expressed his desire to play music as early as 1996. The following year, his brother acquired a drum kit for his band, which eventually became the first instrument Aleh learned to play. Aleh wanted to join his brother's musical group but was not accepted because he did not play any musical instruments at that time.
In 1998, Aleh, who would become the vocalist and guitarist, gathered two school friends, bassist Maksim Dziewitsynski and drummer Alexander Vashchyla, to form a band. They were inspired by other local Belarusian bands such as Jitters, whom they were mutual friends with, and other bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, and Pearl Jam. In their early years, the group focused on learning to play their instruments and experimenting with their songwriting.
First releases (2002–2006) Their first public performance, coinciding with their new band name Hair Peace Salon, was on February 22, 2002, during a birthday tribute concert to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana at the Minsk club Baza where they would perform several songs. Alexander left the band later that year and was replaced by Artur Luchkow on drums.
Soon after, solo guitarist Vadim Dubina joined the band as their lead guitarist. In March, Hair Peace Salon participated in an avant-garde music and fashion festival in Minsk. To promote themselves, the band recorded their first single, "Next Level," consisting of two songs, which was released in early 2004.
In June 2004, Hair Peace Salon, along with Jitters, participated in the international festival Piirideta Muusika ("Music Without Borders") in Narva, Estonia. During this period, Artur Luchkow and Aleh Vial also played in Jitters, where Konstantin Karman sang and played bass guitar. Both bands frequently performed together at joint concerts and festivals, developing a close friendship.
The band made strides in the grunge scene, actively playing at various Minsk clubs from 2002 to 2004. In 2005, Vadim Dubina left the band due to family circumstances. Four months later, guitarist Vadim Isayev joined the band as their new lead guitarist, via an ad in the Muzykal'naya Gazeta ("Musical Newspaper") newspaper.
In July 2005, Hair Peace Salon participated in the Polish festivals Basovišča '05 and then at Rock-kola-2005 in Polotsk later that year in December. Their next promotional CD was released in 2005, featuring the single "Hover," with the title track included in the British alternative rock compilation"Spotlight On" by Matchbox Recordings, released on November 14, 2005.
In October, Aleh Vial ended performing within Jitters to dedicate more time to Hair Peace Salon. Also near the end of 2005, keyboardist-vocalist Andrey Kozik joined the band, but only played with them for about six months.
By the end of spring 2006, Artur Luchkow also left his side projects with Jitters, and the band spent the year performing on stage. They participated in several concerts across Belarus, as well as foreign festivals, notably in Poland, including "Rock bez Igły" in Tychy, "Wiosło Jaćwinga" in Suwałki, and "Fiesta Borealis" in Olsztyn. Additionally, the band performed at a joint concert with Neuro Dubel, Kama, N.R.M., Indiga, and other prominent Belarusian rock bands in support of the release of the "Songs of Freedom" compilation series, held at Bangalore Square in Minsk on August 25, 2006.
Gipsy and in Tune (2007–2009) In 2007 the second EP was released. All songs were performed by all four official band members, while keyboard parts were played by a few different session musicians. The band got the nominee in the category "Rush of the year" at the "Рок-коронация 2007" award show in February, won a selection into the finale in May as the finalist of the contest "ИдиНаРок" in June with its prize, got to record a song in a professional music studio, performed at the biggest country stages during the Day of the City Minsk and at the festival "Ambasovišča" was held by the Belarusian Embassy of the US in September, and became just a semi-finalist on the international live music competition Global Battle of the Bands (2007), but lost to a French band Milque Twins.
After tinkering with sessional keyboardists prior to and on the "Acoustics of Spring" March presentation in view of a half of the year business trip of Konstantin Karman, to the end of 2007 the number of the official members of the band was increased, as he paused the existence of his band Jitters and was invited to play in Hair Peace Salon on a full-time basis. The band already had a full-time bass player, and because he had bought a Roland JP-8000 on his business trip to Scotland, he became a keyboardist with vocal parts, as well as composing songs. On 28 October 2007 the EP Gipsy was released. The new look of the band was shown at the presentation of the EP Gipsy supported by Open Space and some other musicians and friends of the band on 18 November 2007.
On 25 October 2007 the split album named Split Before, Together Now was released on the West Records label to promote this new collaboration. This CD contained Hair Peace Salon (Gypsy) and Jitters (Pick Me Up) EPs with the original artwork filled with two laced together shoes as a symbol that there were two bands, but since this release they are united now. "The guys from HPS have always admired the creativity of the not very famous but beloved in certain circles Jitters band. And today they caught up with them in skill, came near, and even outstripped them in some ways," highlighted Elena Sobolevskaya from the newspaper Muzykalnaya Gazeta the music standards of both Britpop and brit rock collectives in her album review. In addition to regular gigs, given circa 30 live shows in the 2007 year, musicians were successfully participating in various music contests, such as "Musical Playoffs" (semi-finalists), "Golden Acoustics" (the winners),
The official video on the self-titled lead single of the EP "Hover" featuring new band member Konstantin Karman was filmed in February 2008 to be showcased on the television program «Pro движение+».
In March 2008 the lead guitarist Vadim Isaev left the band. That was a hit during the record sessions of the upcoming EP, and although the band tried to find a new solo guitarist, these efforts fell short. Despite this, the remained quartet decided neither to slow their recording tempo, nor to decrease the number of live performances. They took the second place in the contest "Музыкальный спарринг". The very first presentation of the EP In Tune was held in the "Bronx" club on its release date on 1 November 2008 supported by the folk band Akana-NHS with Irena Kotvitskaya and Rusya from Indiga. This CD had four songs, including one bonus track.
As a winner of preliminary rounds together with the Open Space, in January 2009 the band played in the local final of the Bandscan festival, the final of which had to be taken place in Sweden, but they took the second place after The Toobes. The official video of the single "In Tune" was shot in February, and the full edited clip went on public in December. During the springtime, drummer Artur Luchkov left the band as a result of disagreements within Hair Peace Salon, but after brief searching Alexey Kuznetsov, an ex-member of Prophetic Dream, Iris7, and some other bands, was seated in the drum chair.
During the upcoming year, Hair Peace Salon was working in the studio on new material, getting experience with acoustic as well as rock programs, and often playing gigs with the British wave band Open Space like in previous years.
As a participant in the project "Tuzin. Perazagruzka" from the web-portal "Tuzin.fm" and the public campaign "Budzma Belarusians!", the band re-released its song "Ice Age" in the Belarusian language with the poetically translated lyrics by man of letters, Vital Voranau, which became their first song in their native language. This notable track called "Studzień" was put on the compilation CD of the project released in December 2009, subsequently officially digitally re-released on SoundCloud in 2014. In August the band won a national selection organized by European Radio for Belarus and went to Chernihiv (Ukraine) at the "Be Free" festival to present this mother language version of the song live with Lyapis Trubetskoy, Vopli Vidopliassova, and more Belarusian and Ukrainian rock bands.
At the end of 2009, the band redesigned their website with artwork by Polina Pastushenko, director of the "In Tune" music video, to support the release of the brand new video clip on the song "Like A Whale" filmed as a participant of the TV-show "PROдвижение +". Shortly after, Alexey Kuznetsov left the band in December 2009. The frontman Aleh Vial later said that this happened because they had not been playing with him in harmony well. In the coming months, Vladimir Agayan, a fan of the band who won the new drummer selection, became his successor. So, Vial, Devichensky, Karman, and Agayan began to cooperate on a new CD, as they made know on the air on the radio "Stalitsa" and on the pages of the ("I Love Rock and roll") magazine.
Gentleman (2010–2012)
The band was doing well in the first several months of 2010 winning round-by-round in the "Graffiti Open Music Fest" festival, when on 5 April 2010 the very first single of the upcoming full-length album called Happy for a While was released on the Chinese market with different artwork at first to support the signing of the new drummer, while its worldwide release was 5 days later. That one marked the musical shift of the band towards power pop, while the album had to be released next fall. A new melodic and dress code switch was showcased on 10 April 2010, and the release event in the "Broadway" club was supported by Drum Ecstasy, Кассиопея, The Stampletons, and more.
In September 2010 the band made a double release as the brand new rock 'n' roll internet-single Rolz'n'Rulz was supported by the experimental remix EP HPS Remixed filled with 6 remixes of the songs from two latest singles from a few different Minsk electronic stage DJs in trance, drum 'n' bass, downtempo, and more styles.
All of two songs from the singles Happy for a While ("Happy for a While","Out of Time") and self-titled "Rolz'n'Rulz" were credited with Alexey Kuznetsov as the drummer despite his leaving Hair Peace Salon almost a year ago. On 3 December 2010 the band gave an online concert on the biggest Belarusian web-portal Tut.By, performed several songs from these new singles.
In the press release in support of both single and EP, the band indicated that the work on the upcoming debut album will be done by the start of winter 2010. Nevertheless, during the 2011 year the band continued to be focused on writing songs for the forthcoming album.
On 18 March 2012 the band made the official reveal of the first full-length album in a short video clip. Music works from the past three years were merged in the album Gentleman, and this release was started rolling out for free from the official band's website hairpeacesalon.com from 21 March 2012. It's worth to note that despite the previous announce, only 10 tracks appeared in the final release.