Cruise (band)
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Cruise (Kruiz, ) is a heavy metal band from the former
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Started in 1980 as a government-controlled
soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...
and
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
act, the band enjoyed great success all across the USSR before the revocation of their license to perform/record in 1984 as part of the state's brief crackdown on the Western culture. In 1985, founding member and guitarist Valery Gaina reformed the band with a completely different lineup that featured him on lead vocals. This was followed by a major shift in the overall sound and image; from
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
to heavy metal. In 1987, the band officially released their debut album "Kruiz-1" as a metal band, selling one million of legal copies. Outside Russia, they are best known for their video, ''In Flames'', which was played many times in the mid-1980s, on the
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
metal show, The Power Hour. Having released their debut English language album in 1988, Kruiz toured extensively in Russia, Europe, and North America before breaking up in 1990. In 1992, all founding members, excluding Gaina, reformed a non-metal version of the band. Gaina, in turn, organized a one-off reunion of the band's metal lineup in 2016.


History

Kruiz was formed in 1978, originally playing soft and hard rock songs with
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
lyrics. The original lineup consisted of Alexander Monin (vocals), Valery Gaina (guitars), Alexander Kirnitsky (1956–2008) (bass),
Sergey Sarychev Sergey Mikhailovich Sarychev (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Сарычев; born 1 August 1959) is a Russian politician, who served as the vice-governor of the Tyumen Oblast from 2018 to 2022, and the interim governor of the Tyumen ...
(keyboards), and Vsevolod Korolyuk (drums). In 1980, they released their first album called ''The Top'', which was really a collection of demos. In 1981, they released their first official album, ''Крутится Волчoк'' (transcription: Krutitsya Volchok, translation: The Top Keeps Turning), featuring Alexander Kirnitsky on bass, and additional keyboards by Matvey Anitchkin. This was followed by another album ''Послушай Человек'' (Poslusshay Chelovek, translation: Listen, Man). In 1983, the lineup changed to Monin (vocals), Gaina (guitars), Grigory Bezugly (guitars), Oleg Kuzmichov (bass), Vladimir Kapustin (keyboards), and Nikolai Tchunusov (drums). This lineup released the album ''Путешествие на Воздушном'' (Puteshestvye na Vozdushnom, translation: Balloon Journey). Shortly after the release of this album, the band, unfortunately, drew the ire of the
Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
government and were ordered to disband. The band released one final album ''P.S. Продолжение Слeдует'' (P.S. Prodolzhenye Sleduet, translation: P.S. To be Continued) in 1983, before stopping all activities. In 1985, Valery Gaina decided to reform the band and take a heavier approach to their music. This lineup was short-lived and Valery Gaina soon recruited another lineup with himself on vocals and guitars, Fyodor Vasilyev (bass), and Sergey Efimov (drums). One song (Rock is Forever) was promptly banned by the authorities and hence, only appears on the demo. The band went on a European Tour in 1989 and were featured on a German TV program, "Mosh Special", on 5 February 1989. Kruiz opened for bands such as
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
and
Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
and were scheduled to release a third album, titled ''Culture Shock'', but their contractual obligations prevented them from doing so. Sergey Efimov flew back to Russia. Gaina and Vasilyev attempted to finish the album using the services of Iain Finlay (then drummer for Running Wild), but could not complete the album. Shortly after this, the band broke up.


Post breakup

Valery Gaina then formed the band Gain, with Vladimir Bajin (vocals), Alexander Shprot (bass), and Andrei Shatounovsky (session drummer). This band recorded an album in 1990 but it only came out in 1995, with two bonus tracks from the unreleased third Kruiz album ''Culture Shock''. Valery Gaina then moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, mainly because of the rise of the
Russian Mafia The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia. In December 2009, Timur ...
. He formed a band called Karma and released an album (Fence) under the Frozen Hound label. Drummer Sergey Efimov also moved to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and later played in bands called Wolves and Hippies of Chaos, where he also sang in the band. He also found work as a session musician.


Reunion

In 1994, the original vocalist of Kruiz, Alexandre Monin, upon the success of V. Gaina, reformed the band, with the lineup consisting of himself, Gregory Bezougly (guitars), Vladimir Kapoustin (keyboards), Oleg Kouzmitchyov (bass), and Nikolai Tschunosov (drums). This lineup returned to their original style of soft and hard rock music and released three albums, ''Live at Robin Hood Festival'' in 1994, ''Всем встать'' (translation: Stand Up Everyone) in 1996 and ''Live Collection'' in 1998. On 27 August 2010 Alexandre Monin died aged 56 of
peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...
. Soon after Monin's death, the band announced a new lead singer in the name of Dmitry Avramenko from the band "Charisma".


References


External links


Unofficial site, devoted to metallic Kruiz of Gaina & CoKruiz – BNR Metal Pagesgainamusic.com
– Official webpage of Valery Gaina {{Authority control Speed metal musical groups Russian heavy metal musical groups Soviet heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups from Moscow 1980 establishments in the Soviet Union