Amatory

The future [AMATORY] founders Denis [DENVER] Zhivotovsky (Russian: Денис Животовский) and Daniil [STEWART] Svetlov (Russian: Даниил Светлов) met in the spring of 1998 as teenage skateboarders in the courtyard of the block of flats where they both were living at the time.

At the age of 13 they began to rehearse in Svetlov's apartment – Daniil played the drums, and Denis played the acoustic guitar.

In the autumn of the same year, they met Eugene PJ Potekhin (Russian: Евгений Потехин), who became the long-awaited vocalist and the « real » guitarist of the newborn band. Zhivotovsky then left the guitar in favor of the bass. A little later, the rehearsals were held in his apartment.

From left to right: Denis Zhivotovsky, Daniil Svetlov, Eugene Potekhin (1999)

In 1999, PJ came up with the name for the band and called it Amatory. With the new name they began to regularly play concerts in schools and underground clubs. In 2000, their first demo was recorded. Gradually, they realized that they needed a second guitarist, and after a short search they found Sergey [GANG] Osechkin (Russian: Сергей Осечкин). The first rehearsal with him took place on April 1, 2001 - that day later became the band's official birth date [1].

With this new line-up the band played several concerts until June, when unexpectedly for all of them Potekhin was drafted into the military service for two years. After losing their vocalist and songwriter, they decided to move on. [DENVER] took the vocals and the writing of the lyrics, and music writing was gradually assigned to [GANG]. This new team composed a new demo called « I Will Not Survive ».

In the autumn of 2001, Alexey [LEXUS] Ovchinnikov (Russian: Алексей Овчинников) joined the band and became their rapper. A year later, the team recorded an EP called « The Bread » (Russian: Хлеб) together with SPERMADONARZ (a joint project of the musicians from the bands Кирпичи and Animal Jazz). In April, 2003, Amatory released the single « Fragments » (Russian: Осколки).

Their first full-length studio album titled « Fortune's Always Hiding » (Russian: Вечно Прячется Судьба) with [DENVER] and [LEXUS] on vocals, was released on November 14, 2003. The album was named after one of the songs that was inspired by Irvine Welsh's novella « Fortune's Always Hiding » from his trilogy Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance [2].

Shortly before its release, Alexander [ALEX] Pavlov (Russian: Александр Павлов) became the second guitarist of the band.

The album received the FUZZ People's Choice Award 2005. After such a resounding success the band was invited to perform at some major Russian festivals.

[AMATORY], 2005. From Left to right: Igor Kapranov, Daniil Svetlov, Sergey Osechkin, Denis Zhivotovsky, Alexander Pavlov (sitting)

In 2004, [LEXUS] left the band, and his place was taken by the guitarist of the band Stigmata - Igor [IGOR] Kapranov (Russian: Игорь Капранов). The team immediately took up work on the new album with [DENVER] and [IGOR] on vocals, it was recorded with Danish producer Jacob Hansen. Through working with Jacob, [AMATORY] began to play "in a western manner”. Their second studio album titled « Inevitability » (Russian: Неизбежность) was released on October 14, 2004, and shortly thereafter [IGOR], according to the statement of FUZZ magazine, became the voice of a generation.

In 2004, Amatory together with the bands Psychea and Jane Air, formed the « Spb (short for Saint Petersburg) Music » coalition, in the following years they were performing on joint tours.

On February 6, 2005 the band released the single "Black and White Days" (Russian: Черно-Белые Дни) which was dedicated to guitarist Dimebag Darrell of the bands Pantera and Damageplan, who was shot and killed on stage by a deranged fan during a concert in December 2004. "Black and White Days" won RAMP 2005 (Russian Alternative Music Prize) for "Best Music Video", and [AMATORY] won "Best Band" category.

In early 2005, the band released their first DVD titled [P]ost [S]criptum, consisted of home videos recorded by themselves and their crew and friends during the tour in support of the album "Inevetability". It provided an insight into the band's tour and concert life, their experiences and adventures on the road and during the shows.

In September 2005, [AMATORY] supported Korn in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

In the spring of 2006, during the "Rock 5 Tour", Sergey [GANG] Osechkin suddenly felt severe pain in his right side. In the summer of 2006, when the band was working on their third album with the same producer Jacob Hansen, he felt himself unwell.

[AMATORY] released their third album titled « Book of the Dead » (Russian: Книга Мертвых) on Friday the 13th, in October 2006.

Five days later [GANG] was diagnosed with liver cancer. He passed away at the age of 23 on March 15, 2007. On the album "6" (2015) there is the song dedicated to him, titled "15/03".

[AMATORY] live in Saint-Petersburg, April 26, 2007

On April 26, 2007, the band did a sold out show at Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg as a part of the second leg of their Live Evil Tour. It was filmed and later released as the concert DVD+CD "Live Evil".

Also in 2007 [AMATORY] released their second DVD "EVol.01" made of home videos filmed during their tours since May 2005.

In the beginning of 2008 ESP Guitars together with the band's guitarist Alexander [ALEX] Pavlov created a signature guitar named ESP LTD [A - 600] - it became the first signature guitar awarded to a Russian guitarist [3].

In September 2008, their session guitarist Dmitry [JAY] Rubanovsky became the band's new guitarist and principal music writer. In November, [AMATORY] released the single « Breathe with Me » (Russian: Дыши Со Мной) and signed a contract with the music label FG Nikitin. This single was widely played on the radio and video music channels in Russia and the near abroad. In 2009, it won Rock Alternative Music Prize for "Best Song".

On December 18, 2008, Amatory released their fourth studio album titled « VII », which was recorded with Danish producer Tue Madsen. It became the first album with the new guitarist [JAY] and caused mixed reactions and excitement from the fans.

At the end of 2009, the band introduced the internet single « Crimson Dawn » (Russian: Багровый Рассвет).

On July 28, 2010, Igor Kapranov announced that he is leaving the band and going to devote himself to religion. For the band and the fans this was a complete surprise which caused a storm in music media and among the fans, and a large number of discussions. After that Igor stayed in the Valaam Monastery (Russian: Валаамский монастырь) for some time. He was replaced by Vyacheslav [SLAVA] Sokolov (ex- Such A Beautiful Day, The Wheels Of Sorrow). The fifth studio album « Instinct of the Doomed » (Russian: Инстинкт Обреченных) with [DENVER] and [SLAVA] on vocals was released on October 24 of the same year. It was also produced by Tue Madsen.

[AMATORY], 2010. From left to right: Daniil Svetlov, Dmitriy Rubanovsky, Vyacheslav Sokolov, Alexander Pavlov, Denis Zhivotovsky. Photo by Maria Mitrofanova.

In June 2011, [AMATORY] joined Slipknot (band) as the special guest at their show at Olympic Stadium (Moscow). Then, on the occasion of the band's tenth anniversary, the band goes on the "X Anniversary Tour" with their new vocalist [SLAVA] and former vocalist [IGOR] as the special guest. Before the tour, they released the internet single « Fragments 2.011 » (Russian: Осколки 2.011). Later in the same year, Dmitry [JAY] Rubanovsky left the band.

In 2012, Ilya [K] Kukhin (ex - Such A Beautiful Day, The Wheels Of Sorrrow) was officially announced as the new guitarist. Also in 2012, Alexander [ALEX] Pavlov left the band and was replaced for the tour by the session guitarist Ilya [IL] Borisov (Russian: Илья Борисов), who later became a permanent member of the band. Shortly afterwards in 2012, [AMATORY] announced the suspension of its activities, saying this on the official website where the band explained this decision by the fact that the musicians were not able to go on long tours. In the same news, they announced a tour called « The Last Concert? » (Russian: Последний Концерт?). On September 8, 2012, the band released their second concert DVD "The X-Files: Live In Saint-P & On The Road 2011–2012".

After the end of "The Last Concert?" tour in December 2012, [AMATORY] went on hiatus performing at only few festivals in 2014.

[AMATORY] live in Moscow, October 15, 2015. Photo by Georgy Tchentzov

In 2014, the new guitarist and music writer Dmitriy [HELLDIMM] Muzychenko (Russian: Дмитрий Музыченко), ex-Naily, joined the band. Since 2015 the musical activity of Amatory had resumed with the single "Stop The Time" (Russian: Остановить Время). In October 2015, Amatory released their sixth studio album simply titled « 6 » with [SLAVA] on vocals. This album received very mixed reactions from the fans because the band had changed its musical style and in the same time it became the first album without [DENVER] on vocals.

On October 12, 2016, [AMATORY] released their third EP « Fire » (Russian: Огонь). It consisted of three tracks, one of which was recorded with Russian rapper ATL.

Since the summer of 2017, the band toured throughout Russia with a new approach where the fans could suggest a song for a concert set list.

On March 11, 2018, Vyacheslav Sokolov was dismissed from the band because of his unprofessional behaviour, heavy drinking, and the last straw was the participation of Slava in TV project « The Songs on TNT » (Russian: Песни на ТНТ) where he acted not correctly towards the band.

[AMATORY] live in Saint Petersburg, November 10, 2019. Photo by Elizaveta Bulaeva.

On March 29, 2019, [AMATORY] unexpectedly released the single « Space Kamikaze » (Russian: Космо-камикадзе) with a new incognito vocalist, whose face was covered by a mask. On July 5, the second single "The Knife" (Russian: Нож), recorded together with Russian rapper Dirty "RAM" Ramirez, was released, and a lyrics video for this song appeared on the official Amatorytube YouTube channel.

A few days later, the band announced a live broadcast on VKontakte and posted another photo with the new singer without a mask. Many guesses were confirmed - Sergei Raev (a member of Obscure of Acacia, Triumphant, Celestial Meridian, and also known for working with Shokran and Sumatra) became the new vocalist of the band. The seventh studio album « DOOM » with Sergei Raev and Ilya [IL] Borisov on vocals was released on October 18, 2019. The music video for the song « Star Dust » was filmed with participation of the fans of the band.

After the "DOOM tour" Amatory announced two concerts with guest musicians on the occasion of the band's 19th anniversary - on March 22 and April 3, 2020. But due to pandemic COVID-19 they were moved to September 2020.

On April 17, 2020, the band released 3 instrumental albums: The Unvoiced Pt. I (6 Instrumental), The Unvoiced Pt. II ( Fire Instrumental) and The Unvoiced Pt. III (DOOM Instrumental).

• 2003 – Вечно Прячется Судьба (Fortune's Always Hiding)
• 2004 – Неизбежность (Inevitability)
• 2006 – Книга Мёртвых (Book of The Dead)
• 2008 – VII
• 2010 – Инстинкт Обречённых (Instinct of the Doomed)
• 2015 – 6
• 2019 – DOOM
• 2020 - The Unvoiced Pt. I ("6" Instrumental)
• 2020 - The Unvoiced Pt. III ("DOOM" Instrumental)

• 2003 – Осколки (Fragments)
• 2004 – Две Жизни (Two Lives)
• 2005 – Чёрно-Белые Дни (Black and White Days)
• 2006 – Преступление Против Времени (Crime Against Time)
• 2007 – Слишком Поздно (Too Late)
• 2008 – Вы Все Лишены Своей Жизни (The All of You are Deprived of Your Lives)
• 2008 – Дыши Со Мной (Breathe with Me)
• 2009 – Багровый Рассвет (Crimson Dawn)
• 2010 – Сквозь Закрытые Веки (Through Closed Eyelids)
• 2011 – Осколки 2.011 (Fragments 2.011)
• 2012 – Три Полоски (The Three Stripes) (featuring Animal Jazz)
• 2012 – Верь Мне (Believe Me)
• 2012 – Момент Истины (Moment of Truth)
• 2015 – Остановить Время (Stop The Time)
• 2019 - Космо-камикадзе (Space Kamikadze)
• 2019 - Нож (The Knife) (featuring RAM)

• 2008 – Live Evil
• 2012 – The X-Files

• 2002 – Хлеб (The Bread)
• 2006 – Discovery
• 2009 – We Play – You Sing
• 2010 – We Play – You Sing Pt. 2
• 2011 – We Play – You Sing Pt. 3
• 2016 – Огонь (Fire)
• 2020 - The Unvoiced Pt. II ("Fire" Instrumental)

• 2005 – [P]OST [S]CRIPTUM
• 2007 – Home Video EVol. 01
• 2008 – Live Evil
• 2012 – The X-Files: Live In Saint-P & On The Road 2011–2012

• FUZZ People's Choice Award - 09.04.2005
• RAMP (Russian Alternative Music Prize) 2005 : "Best Band", "Best Music Video" for "Black and White Days" - 22.09.2005
• RAMP 2009 : "Best Song" for "Breathe With Me" - 29.10.2009