Tesla Boy: history, success, best songs and albums, frontman Anton Sevidov today

New Wave and its unimaginative love of synths and energetic rhythms became popular in Europe and the USA in the 1980s. Then Depeche Mode and Eurythmics were tearing up the charts with their innovative approach to thinking of new wave through synth-pop and gave birth to a new "beast" - music to which one always wanted to dance. The masters of soul and rhythm and blues, like Stevie Wonder, were also into synthesizers and analog piano-like machines: they were virtuosic and very futuristic. Going beyond certain genres thanks to the music of digital keyboard instruments has become the calling card of many artists. Was there something similar in Russia as well?

It is safe to answer this question in the affirmative. In the 1980s, popular music in the USSR, despite the heyday of underground rock, was taken over by synthesizers, among other things. The bands Forum, Alliance, Coffee, and Bioconstructor skillfully introduced the aesthetics of the futureThe genre is now being revived by Anton Sevidov and his incredibly cool project. Now the popularity of the genre is being revived by Anton Sevidov and his incredibly cool project Tesla boyHe is the man who has gained fame not only in Russia, but also in the West. This is what the article is about.

It all started with... The Internet.

Anton Sevidov, the ideological inspirer of Tesla Boy and the band's frontman, became interested in music when he was a child. At that time he was actively listening to the records collected by the future star's father. Among artistsThe people who significantly influenced Anton's musical taste were jazz musicians, as well as soul singers such as Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder.

The young Sevidov quickly learned the basics deejayingHe was promoted in his musical literacy by the famous Russian saxophonist and jazzman Alexey Kozlov, who taught Anton how to make arrangements and use software to record music in his home studio. His love of vintage synthesizers made Sevidov a true professional: he began to work as a sound producer and became popular as a session keyboard player (for example, for the bands Auktsion, Bi-2, and Spleen).

Sevidov's first real band appeared in 2002 and was called "Neonaut.". Apparently, the musician wanted to combine the Greek prefix "new" and the word "cosmonaut". We can conclude that the love for futuristic records did not go anywhere, but the Neonaut project gravitated more towards real tools - It was more guitar music, similar to Muse and Radiohead.

In 2007, a musical group appeared on the Russian scene Tesla boyAnton Sevidov, who gravitated toward electropop and pronounced new wave. Anton Sevidov returned to the roots of his activity, he needed to "unleash" the musical energyThe demo recordings were enormous in number. That's when Tesla Boy appeared, which, in addition to Sevidov, included both his casual acquaintances and colleagues from Neonaut.

mini album "Tesla Boy EP." was recorded entirely in a home studio, and initially Anton distributed his demos on the Internet. The public appreciated his efforts, so the young band began to perform at the openings of exhibitions, and then gave their first full-fledged concert at the Moscow club.

The success was overwhelming, both Russian and foreign media wrote about Tesla Boy, and a nice bonus was an offer from British sound recorder companies "Mullet Records, which was ready to produce and release their debut EP. Since then, the band's activity has been on the rise.

Popularity came

Debut album Tesla boy was released in 2010 with a slightly different lineup. "Modern Thrills The band turned out to be futuristic and eclectic, and even had disco elements in it. The bright drum machine and drums by Mikhail Studnitsyn were perfectly complemented by Anton Sevidov's gentle vocals. Dima Midborn's bass guitar and Konstantin Pokhvalin's guitar with unique effects gave the sound real dynamics.

The success of the first record allowed the band to go on tour abroad. They performed at various festivals in Spain and Norway, went to Sweden and Finland in 2011, and visited New York in 2012!

Release of the second studio work "The Universe Made Of Darkness" came in 2013. In it Tesla Boy continued to develop their long idea of promoting English-speaking synth-pop from the future to the masses. The singles "Fantasy", "Split" and "1991" were popular to fans team.

In 2018, the band is releasing its third album, titled "Remedy.". This work departed in some ways from the band's previous recordings and was finished with a renewed lineup. Nevertheless, the record turned out to be very mature and left in itself that "electronic backbone" for which they loved Tesla boy.

"I would like these songs, in keeping with the title of the album, to become medicine for the soul for people," Anton Sevidov confessed.

The first Russian-language work...

Tesla Boy gained recognition in the West as well, because they always produced English-language music. That was the reality that Anton Sevidov always adhered to. Writing songs in English was for him easily and niceand the phrases that no one needs this language and that there is nothing to speak it in Russia, the frontman of the band easily skipped over and continued to do what he really wanted to do. like.

In 2019, however, Sevidov stunned the public with the release of his first Russian-language song, which was called "The cold will go away". This tender single represented a new era in the work of Tesla Boy. And in 2020, the world heard the album "Andropov"which turned out to be quite conceptual.

As noted Anton SevidovThe name was chosen for the surname of the Soviet general secretary, because in the group's understanding he represents control in his image. Sevidov sings about how to cope with this control in himself. In general, he was inspired to create such a record by Memories from deep childhood, the aesthetics of the late USSR and Kirill Serebrennikov's film Summer.

Tesla Boy and Anton Sevidov today

After the release of "Andropov," Tesla Boy went into lull, performing only at concerts and festivals. The new material was postponed until a certain time. And then in August 2022 Anton Sevidov shared with his fans long-awaited with photos from a music studio in St. Petersburg. And then he surprised me with the release of his first single since 2020, titled "She Took My Money"which once again amazed the band's fans with its beautiful electronic sound.

In January 2023, Tesla Boy continued to release songs: this time a dark new level composition called "Hate.". Sevidov went back to his "electronic" to the roots, but is not planning a new album release just yet.