Oblachny Kray

Birth of the Sound

In 1978 in Arkhangelsk, far from the capital's music centers, Sergey Bogaev, Oleg Rautkin, and brothers Igor and Nikolai Lyskovsky created the band "Myortvye Ushi" (Dead Ears). The aspiring rockers had a "Ural" guitar, a homemade bass carved from a birch log, a battery-powered children's piano "Mikki", and pioneer drums. None of the boys had professional music training, but the desire to play rock no worse than foreigners was enormous.

The first recordings were made on household tape recorders in Bogaev's apartment on Vaneeva Street (now Sadovaya) and spread across the entire Soviet Union through the magnitizdat network. In late 1981, for a performance at a Soviet pop song competition in Novodvinsk, the band changed its name to "Oblachny Kray". By 1982, Bogaev, Rautkin, and Lyskovsky had found their signature sound — heavy, psychedelic, with no equivalent in Soviet rock music.

"Oblachny Kray is not just a band. It is an entire universe of sound, born in the Russian North."

Peak Years

In January 1982, "OK I (Forest Secrets)" was recorded — an album that stunned Aquarium's musicians and their producer Andrey Tropillo, who were visiting Arkhangelsk on tour. The recording quality on a household tape recorder seemed incredible even by Leningrad standards. In April, "OK II. Agri-Rock" came out with Vladimir Budnik on vocals, followed by "Great Harmony" in November. In 1983 — the provocative "X-Ya Amateur Show".

In 1984, Bogaev moved to Leningrad at Tropillo's invitation. "Bastard's Fate" (1984) was recorded at Tropillo's studio with Vladimir Budnik and Aquarium's legendary drummer Evgeny Guberman. "Stirrup and People" (1985) — the band's most popular album, included in the "100 Magnetic Albums of Soviet Rock", with saxophone by Mikhail Chernov "Uncle Misha" from DDT, and played on borrowed instruments (Grebenshchikov's guitar!). The climax was the triumphant performance at the Podolsk-87 rock festival.

Legacy

After the tragic death of bassist Andrey Lukin in 1991, Oblachny Kray effectively disbanded. Bogaev moved to Petersburg, where he worked as a sound engineer at the "Antrop" studio under Tropillo. In 2007, he was named one of the top ten sound engineers in St. Petersburg. In 1999, he returned with the album "Love for Life", where he became the lead vocalist for the first time, recording bass and keyboard parts under the pseudonyms Egor Zadrygin and Ivan Besprobudnykh. This was followed by "Patriot" (2003), "Life in 2007" (2004), collaborations with the band "Plen Off", and six years of work on the final album "Ygyatta".

On June 2, 2011, Sergey Bogaev passed away. He is buried at Bogoslovskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg, next to Viktor Tsoy and other great rock musicians. With him ended the 33-year history of Oblachny Kray — from Arkhangelsk to Leningrad, from underground recordings on a household tape recorder to a vinyl record on "Melodiya".