![]() ![]() In result we make our dreams come true.” Leonid & Friends “To sing in English in Russia, it’s not so very good. “To be a cover band, it’s not very good,” he says. “Because we break all the rules of show business in Russia, you know. “I have an idea about if you’re not afraid to break the rules you have a chance,” Vorobyev says. ![]() Very fantastic things, like magic maybe.”Īs for how it happened, Vorobyev says it might all go back to the rebellious roots of rock ‘n’ roll. ![]() “I think I do what I did all my life - with the same effort, with the same love, with the same passion,” he says. And the band’s two albums of Chicago songs, aptly titled “Chicagovich” and “Chicagovich II,” have mostly received raves from fans on Amazon, CD Baby, Google Play and iTunes. ![]() On the band’s YouTube channel more then 1.2 million have viewed “25 or 6 to 4,” with many other Chicago songs in the mid six figures. More than 125,000 follow them on Facebook. Leonid Vorobyev says he doesn’t really know why fans in the United States and elsewhere in the world have embraced his band so heartily, but laughs happily at the fact that they do. The band was originally only a studio project until Roman Vorobyev joined as manager, and even then they only played once a month or so given that one member lives in Kiev, Ukraine, while the others are all in or near Moscow. Vorobyev transcribed and arranged the parts for the band to play on that song and all that followed, painstakingly listening to the original records to pull out the drums and bass, guitars and keyboards, horns and harmonies. “For ‘Brand New Love Affair,’ it started with a lyrical ballad, and bam, everything changed. You turn another page, you see more picture. “You turn one page and you see another picture. “For me, many Chicago songs look like fairy tales,” he says. “Brand New Love Affair,” the song Vorobyev picked for his 60th birthday present, did arrive until “Chicago VIII” in 1975, and while it wasn’t originally as big of a hit for Chicago as songs such as “Make Me Smile” or “Saturday In the Park,” he says he’s always loved it for the way the musical imagery changes as it unfolds. He sings a few bars of the music from those first songs, tracks such as “Questions 67 and 68” from the band’s 1969 debut, “Chicago Transit Authority,” then “25 or 6 to 4” from “Chicago II,” the follow-up that arrived later that same year. My head was spinning but I was so happy.” next day, and whole day through the night we recorded his tape to mine: Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad, all kinds of things. Western music in general and rock ‘n’ roll in particular was not all that easy to find in the then-Soviet Union, so when he met a drummer from Moscow after a concert one night, and was invited to stop by that band’s hotel the next morning and bring a tape recorder to bootleg the Muscovite’s precious stash of rock albums, he jumped. It was the early 1970s and Vorobyev was 18 or 19 and living in his hometown of Chita in Siberia when he first heard the music of Chicago. Robert Lamm, Chicago’s founding keyboardist, stopped by the studios on Thursday to meet the Russian and Ukrainian musicians before coming back over the weekend for a show.Īll of which leaves Leonid Vorobyev and his friends - none of whom has ever seen Chicago live, the band never touring in Russia - delighted and amazed at how this crazy experiment has turned out. Seraphine is expected to sit in for a few songs at The Village this weekend. Founding drummer Danny Seraphine contacted them early on to say how much he enjoyed their recordings and videos of songs he and his Chicago band mates created. No, it’s just because they had fun playing this music, and that’s why it’s so authentic.”Įven members of Chicago have become fans. “This whole project started not because they tried to do some smart marketing move or there’s an audience for this or whatever. “And the second thing is, the fans see that the band is having so much fun playing this music,” he says. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |