The story of the band Polite Refusal

"Polite Refusal" is a famous Russian rock band formed in the mid-80s. During their long career the band released 13 quality albums and dozens of timeless hits... To this day, the songs of "VO" are remembered and loved... Let's dive into the history of this legendary band!

The beginning of the journey

The band Polite Refusal was formed in October 1985 in Moscow. The name was invented by the first keyboardist of "VO", Pyotr Plavinsky. Subsequently, fans of the band, and just curious listeners, repeatedly tried to decipher the peculiar name... There are a lot of versions of what "Polite Refusal" can mean! So, for example, according to some music lovers, the name of the band is a reference to the prohibition of the Soviet OVIR to let emigrants go abroad. It should be admitted that this is a rather unexpected interpretation... However, it has the right to exist.

But as you can judge, the name "Polite Refusal" has a much deeper meaning... For more than 3 decades, the band's work has been a kind of "easy refusal" from something else... That is - in their music the members of "VO" express their insistence to continue marching on their way... Actually, let's talk about the style of the band!

Style

The band always amazed the listeners' minds with their meticulousness... It was all concentrated in their music, in their lyrics - rather paradoxical and meaningless at first sight, but if you dig a little deeper - very harmonious and deep... It should be noted that defining even the most approximate stylistic framework of the band was always a headache... From the very first day "VO" made it clear to everybody that their creativity exudes eclecticism. And it was not typical for the majority of bands of that era.

In 1986, many people attributed the status of "reggae band" to VO, which was obviously a mistake... Yes, Polite Refusal played a jam session with UB40 themselves - the most successful reggae band in the history of popular music! However, there was almost nothing about the VO themselves that was inherent in the bands of the aforementioned genre. There was no relaxedness, lightness characteristic for reggae... For the band members it was a real work. And it was felt. And how did the musicians manage to play together for so long and not get tired of each other? After all, such cases are not uncommon both in Russia and abroad... Dmitry Shumilov, the band's bassist, commented as follows:

"We have been playing with Roman (meaning Suslov) for over thirty years! How do we manage it? I don't know myself... Apparently, it's only our love for music that binds us together..."

Creativity

The debut album "Opera-86" was released in 1986. The reviews of the record in the then rock-samizdat were full of rave reviews!

Shortly after the album's release, Plavinsky left the line-up, and 1987 saw the release of Dust on Shoes. Plavinsky's absence was on the face of it: the lyrics, written by Arkady Semyonov, were appealing to symbolism, which affected the reviews...

For some time Shumilov was the face and voice of the band, and Roman sang only sometimes, as needed... However, everything changed during the recording of the cult "White Record", released by Melodiya! This time Suslov fulfilled the role of both face and voice, and, in fact, the leader of the group (which he was)! It was this record that became a breakthrough for the band....

Success with the White Plate!

In the late 80's, "Polite Refusal" was released on vinyl by Melodiya. To many people the album is also known as "White Record". For this release the tracks from the first releases were re-recorded. Guest musicians were also present in the studio. As a result, the record sold a staggering 125,000 copies!

The cover artwork was the work of artist and conceptual musician Sven Gundlach. By the way: pianist Maxim Trefan joined the line-up at the same period.

New albums

The early 90's brought listeners 2 awesome albums at once.....

Curiously enough, many compositions from "Ethnic Experiences" had no lyrics at all! The album was sent for publication to Finland. It was released at home only in 1994, and even then it was not without a curiosity! As the master tape was not returned, the album had to be re-recorded! The participants later recalled:

"After listening to the record we realised that we had a lot to work on... We didn't like a lot of things absolutely! This album was written very quickly, so it was quite simple and primitive... And then we got multi-channel equipment... In fact, it's the first album we've done that we took seriously!"

The next work of the band, "And-i once!..", was recorded in 1991, but was released only a year later... The publisher was FeeLee Records. The most interesting thing is that the album was recorded in just a couple of days! It should be noted that this time Suslov emphasised on sound combinations and forms, but the recording was diluted with dance motifs... Later Dmitry Shumilov said:

"Roma was our main generator of ideas, never ceasing to surprise us! He was always coming up with something new, very unusual and interesting..."

The beginning of a new century...

The beginning of the new century brought to music lovers such band albums as "Geranium" and "Legends of Russian Rock". Let's talk about the first...

The recording of "Geranium" took place in two sessions. For the recording of the second session the famous composer Pavel Karmanov, who later became a member of the band, was invited to the studio! As for the first session of 2000, the record with its recording became a true rarity! By the way: in autumn of the same year 2000 "VO" became a participant of World Music Festival, and also gave a concert in New York Elbow Room!

"Geranium" was released in 2002, in CD format. As for the genre style, it can be called avant-progressive with notes of jazz improvisation... Several songs from the album were written by a great poet Grigory Dashevsky. It would seem that the band has finally reached its unique form! However, unexpectedly for everyone its leader, Suslov, announces a creative pause. So, nothing was heard about "Polite Refusal" until 2006... Then the musicians would return to the stage and loudly announce themselves with such albums as "Moscow-Peter 12 and 14 February 2003", "Concerto", "Gusi-Lebedi" and the sensational "Military Couplets"... However, it was that period, until the beginning of the noughties, that many music lovers consider to be the golden period in the history of this wonderful band....

Concerts: a unique band phenomenon!

Along with first-class studio recordings, the band "Polite Refusal" won the public's recognition with their legendary performances on stage! So, by the way, after the performance at the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre (2006) the band released a live album "Concerto". It is noteworthy that former VO members, namely Peter Plavinsky and Maxim Trefan, took part in the recording of the album!

Speaking about the band's live performances it is impossible not to mention the boldness of its members in musical terms: they skilfully combine such things as sound creativity and phonemes with positive retro numbers! As a rule, the halls and venues are practically packed. And at the end of each number the audience literally bursts with applause... At the same time - "Polite Refusal" is not pop hits, usual for radio... It's just a team of good mates! Their music energises everyone around them: you could probably see men and children dancing in front of the stage.

Curiously enough, at different times "VO" performed on the same stage with UB40, Mister Gang, Lindsey Cooper and many, many other bands! This can really be called an achievement! Their live performances are always uncompromising, challenging and at the same time incredibly beautiful. And this once again cheers up the spirit of the public, which remains confident that there are still domestic rock legends whose music can be proudly enjoyed!

Interesting facts

• After the performance in Samara, at the very beginning of their career, the members of VO shocked the concert organisers: they refused the traditional post-concert feast, and simply went to their rooms! At that time it was a kind of disrespect... The organisers of the show regarded this gesture as Moscow arrogance, haughtiness and in general a vile quality....
• Once a long-time associate of VO, Andrei Pasternak, said: "...I was so hooked on their style that after VO I found it difficult to co-operate with other bands: I was constantly dissatisfied, because it seemed to me that everyone was playing very raw and simple...".
• Surprisingly, the members of Polite Refusal themselves do not feel like professionals, considering that they have been on stage for more than thirty years! For example, Dmitry Shumilov once said: "I still don't feel like a musician... We play well not because we are such virtuosos, but because we just played together! We feel comfortable together..."
• At first the collective was called "Musical Research Circle".

Conclusion...

"Polite Refusal is a band that has always faced challenges. But they have always been solved... albeit consistently. So what is the secret of success? Why is "VO" still remembered and talked about today? Maybe the problem is that Suslov and his team coincided with the epoch? Maybe it is not so. However, music lovers who grew up on this music are undoubtedly lucky: they coincided with the era of "Polite Refusal"...