PUNK 1 (3) pp. 305–321 Intellect Limited 2012

Punk & Post-Punk Volume 1 Number 3 © 2012 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/punk.1.3.305_1

Ivan Gololobov University of Warwick

There are no atheists in trenches under fire: Orthodox Christianity in Russian punk

Abstract Keywords 1. In the west relations between punk and religion have been rather straightforward. Russian punk 2. Punk music – understood as a statement of self rule, and ultimate independence – Russian rock 3. naturally resisted religious restrictions and subordination to God, church or priests. Orthodoxy 4. It was thus no surpriseIntellect that, alongside other 2012 institutions of authority, religion Christianity 5. became a frequent object of derision within punk rock. This article, however, investi- Letov 6. gates a peculiar fusion between the ethos of punk protest and the values of Orthodox Neumoev 7. Christianity in Russian punkNot rock. It considers,for indistribution particular, the Siberian punk Sudakov 8. scene and explores the aesthetics and ideology of its key figures: Roman Neumoev of Grazhdanskaia 9. Instruktsiia po Vyzhyvaniiu, Egor Letov, the leader of Grazhdanskaia Oborona and Oborona 10. Oleg Sudakov aka ‘Manager’ of Rodina. 11. 12. 13. Introduction 14. 15. The relationship between punk and religion might seem to be pretty straight- 16. forward. Music which was seen as a revolt against the laws of others, as ‘a call to arms to the kids who believe that rock and roll was taken away from them’ 17. and as a ‘statement of self rule’ and ‘ultimate independence’ did not favour 18. religious restrictions and the idea of subordination to God, church or priest 19. (McLaren 1976 quoted in Salewicz 1981). It was no surprise that in religion, 20.

305

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 305 10/22/12 2:22:33 PM Ivan Gololobov

among other institutions of authority, punk rock found one of its most popu- 1. lar objects of attack. ‘Anarchy in the UK’, the first song released by Sex Pistols 2. in 1976 opens with the declaration ‘I am an Antichrist!’. PiL’s ‘Religion’ (1979) 3. develops the theme: 4. 5. Stained glass windows keep the cold outside 6. 7. While the hypocrites hide inside 8. With the lies of statues in their minds 9. 10. Where the Christian religion made them blind 11. Where they hide 12. 13. And prey to the God of a bitch spelled backwards is dog 14. Not for one race, one creed, one world 15. 16. But for money 17. Effective 18. 19. Absurd 20. 21. In the following decade this anti-religious attitude continued to dominate the 22. British punk scene. It was a rare band that did not touch on the theme of corrupt 23. and oppressive religion in their songs. It suffices to mention The Damned, the 24. declaration by UK Subs in their ‘Robot Age’ that ‘God did not make man, Man 25. made God’ or The Exploited with their ‘Fuck Religion’. On the other side of 26. the Atlantic the situation differed little. In the United States, where churches 27. enjoyed more influence and there were closer links between Christianity and 28. official state discourse, the critique of religion became central to punk rebel- 29. lion. As a core part of their ideological struggle, Bad Religion assailed the moral 30. order ‘which comes from outside and is projected down to us, specifically for 31. us to follow’ (Graffin 2002). According to G. Graffin, such an order, ‘prescribed 32. by some transcendental being’ often called God, prevents humans from being 33. themselves. For nearly three decades and in more than a dozen albums the 34. band consistently advocated alternative morality uncovered by the act of criti- 35. cal thinking. In the 1980s, many other hardcore groups, such as the Dead 36. Kennedys,Intellect Black Flag and Agnostic2012 Front followed the same path and clearly 37. expressed their total disregard for religious beliefs, practices and institutions. As 38. Roger Miret,Not the singer forof Agnostic distribution Front, said in one of his interviews: 39. 40. I have no religious beliefs. I hate religion. Originally I was Christian. 41. I did my communion. I’ve done all that shit. I’m against it. […] I think 42. religion is very fascist. That’s why there are so many religious cults. Just 43. imagine, a world with no religion, how great it could be. 44. (1986) 45. 46. With the arrival of Green Day, Blink 182, surf and skate punk bands in the 47. 1990s, punk rock achieved global commercial popularity. Now, with its indif- 48. ference to politics and preoccupation with everyday life, it seemed to be less 49. involved in the fight against religious dogmatism. However, it did not make 50. original pop-punk any closer to religious doctrines. As Billy Joe Armstrong, 51. the singer of Green Day, puts it: 52.

306

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 306 10/22/12 2:22:34 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. I was raised with a fear of God. […] I think that’s something that’s 2. 2. ingrained in us. It’s beaten into us as a society, that we fear God. […] 3. 3. I think it was about law and order and trying to keep people subservient. 4. 4. (Webster 2010) 5. 5. 6. 6. Although the first Christian punk album was released by the Bill Mason Band 7. 7. as far back as 1979 it was only at the end of the 1990s that the anti-religious 8. 8. stance began to be challenged within the punk scene. R. Haenfler, for exam- 9. 9. ple, notes the movement of Christian youth into the straight edge scene 10. 10. (2006: 38, 45–46). MxPx, The Providence or Squad Five-O, while remaining 11. 11. punk bands, openly declared their Christian identity. In the United States and 12. 12. United Kingdom, labels started to release Christian punk and hardcore bands 13. 13. and special resources were developed such as http://hxcchristian.com, http:// 14. 14. christianpunks.co.uk or http://www.mypraize.com, promoting Christian punk 15. 15. and hardcore. Christian punk and hardcore bands started to advocate their 16. 16. place in the scene: 17. 17. 18. 18. Hardcore started as music with a message […] You know, like vegan 19. 19. bands and straight-edge bands. And we feel we’ve got a stronger 20. 20. message than anyone else’ says 20 year old Hanley, who runs a Christian 21. 21. punk club in Kingston, New York. 22. 22. (Sandler 2001) 23. 23. 24. 24. Moreover, such bands as the Knights of the New Crusade, for example, dress 25. 25. in Knights Templers’ outfits and preach wiping out the ‘heathens’, and the 26. 26. Polyphonic Spree evoke Christian baptism services in the course of their 27. 27. performances. 28. 28. Nonetheless, Christian punks, as well as other believers, remain marginal 29. 29. and to a certain extent discordant with the punk scene. De facto Christian 30. 30. punk constitutes a conservative move: it aims to preserve external values and 31. 31. life attitudes articulated outside of the punk scene. The message dissemi- 32. 32. nated by Christian punk originates and takes shape in religious discourse 33. 33. and punk itself is rather uncritically seen as a vehicle for bringing this exter- 34. 34. nal message to a particular audience. This, strictly speaking, confronts the 35. 35. basics of punk ethos. It is incompatible with the appeal for revolution, of 36. 36. whatever kind, self-rule and independence. Moreover, Christian punk can 37. 37. hardly embraceIntellect the call for the critical assessment2012 of social mores propa- 38. 38. gated in the politically conscious wing of punk rock. The occasions when 39. 39. individuals turn towardsNot religion throughfor punkdistribution rock remain exception- 40. 40. ally rare, while the opposite tendency of abandoning religious beliefs in 41. 41. the course of one’s punk journey is common. Religion remains inauthen- 42. 42. tic and antagonistic to the scene and continues to be a regular object of 43. 43. ideological attack. A case in point here is the Canadian punk group Living 44. 44. with Lions who in 2011 released an album, titled Holy S**t, which features 45. 45. cover art that looks like a Bible subtitled ‘The Poo Testament’ and depict- 46. 46. ing Christ as excrement. Equally indicative of this tendency are: the name 47. 47. adopted by the Bristol band – Jesus Bruisers; the song ‘God is Dead’ by the 48. 48. Heart Attack; or ‘Jesus Entering from the Rear’ by the Feederz. Independent 49. 49. venues and distro networks are dominated by anti-religious sentiment and 50. 50. Bad Religion’s label Epitaph Records continues to enjoy significant success 51. 51. in picking and promoting bands of a similar ideological standpoint, of which 52. 52. NOFX and Rancid are just two examples.

307

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 307 10/22/12 2:22:34 PM Ivan Gololobov

Religion in Russian rock music and early punk rock 1. Russian rock never embraced ideological and cultural antagonism towards 2. religion since, in the Soviet Union, it was as little appreciated by the state 3. as rock music was itself and the pressure of official Soviet ideology forced 4. many religious practitioners underground. Early Russian rock bands formed 5. in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, such as Akvarium/Aquarium, Zoopark/ 6. The Zoo, DDT, Nol’/Nil and Auktsyon/Auction, while generally critical of the 7. cultural mainstream and society as a whole, never attacked religion. On the 8. contrary, Boris Grebenshikov, the leader of Akvarium, used religious themes, 9. that mixed Buddhist imagery, pre-Christian images and Orthodox symbolism, 10. widely in his music. In a number of interviews Grebenshikov calls himself 11. a believer simultaneously loyal to Russian Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Sufism, 12. Taoism and Yoga (Ill’inskaia 2009; Interfax 2009). By the end of the 1990s, 13. however, other legends of Russian rock were unequivocal about their beliefs. 14. Konstantin Kinchev of Alisa, Dmitriy Reviakin of Kalinov Most/Kalinov Bridge 15. and Yuri Shevchuk of DDT declared their commitment to Russian Orthodox 16. Christianity, to the degree that Kinchev for instance often performs with a huge 17. Orthodox cross on his chest, is given to appear before an audience in a t-shirt 18. decorated with the slogan ‘Orthodoxy or Death!’, invites Orthodox priests to 19. sanctify his gigs, and no longer gives concerts during periods of Orthodox 20. fasting. Yuri Shevchuk joined Kinchev in promoting Orthodoxy. In 2004 he 21. presented an official documentary on the history of the Russian Orthodox 22. Church; in 2006 he met with the future Russian patriarch Kirill; and in 2009 23. he took part in a tour devoted to the 1200th anniversary of Russia’s adoption 24. of Christianity in which his band shared the stage with Orthodox priests and 25. missionaries. In 2009 Shevchuk recorded an album, including seven songs 26. written by Evgeny Maksimenko, an Orthodox priest from Dnepropetrovsk, 27. which was perceived by many as an openly proselytizing work . 28. Early Russian punk rock was not so straightforwardly involved in this 29. spiritual search. Russian punks have been keener on exploring darker facets 30. of everyday life and the place of the individual in an oppressive cultural and 31. social environment. They can hardly be seen as prophets of the Good and 32. were considered to be tricksters and jesters. 33. Punk rock emerged in Russia at the very end of the 1970s in Leningrad, 34. where Andrei ‘Svin/Pig’ Panov formed his first band Avtomaticheskie 35. Udovletvoriteli.Intellect Svin was often 2012 referred to as one of the most exemplary athe- 36. ists of the Russian rock scene, as an anonymous author of the samizdat maga- 37. zine Roksi wrote in 1983: 38. Not for distribution 39. It is interesting that Svin is a devout atheist; probably the only devout 40. atheist I have had the pleasure to meet. The second most famous punk- 41. musician, known as the Green (Zelenyi), is a believer, he is Orthodox. 42. (1983) 43. 44. Symptomatically or not, little is known about the Green hereafter, while Andrei 45. Panov is widely considered to be the ‘main Soviet punk’ (Preobrazhenskiy 46. 2010). He was an outspoken nihilist and his uncompromising attack on the 47. cultural and social mainstream made him one of the most radical figures on 48. the Russian rock scene of the 1980s. His songs are full of bitter anger towards 49. party officials, intellectuals, informal entrepreneurs, dissidents, workers, ordi- 50. nary citizens in general, and not least – himself. 51. 52.

308

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 308 10/22/12 2:22:35 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. I don’t care, I don’t care 2. 2. If I am a man or a piece of shit 3. 3. 4. 4. I am anyway just a piece of shit 5. 5. 6. 6. And a piece of shit doesn’t care about anything. 7. 7. (Avtomaticheskie Udovletvoriteli/Automatic 8. 8. Satisfiers, ‘Vse ravno’, Peite s nami, 1995) 9. 9. 10. 10. In Moscow the first punk bands were formed at the beginning of the 1980s. In 11. 11. contrast to the Leningrad scene they were more into musical experimentation 12. 12. and poetic absurdism. DK/Deh Kah and Zvuki Mu/The Sounds of Mu and 13. 13. their leader Petr Mamonov are the clearest examples of such aesthetics. Until 14. 14. his mid-30s, Mamonov lived a life of an ordinary, although educated down- 15. 15. shifter, enjoying excessive drinking and the pleasure of Moscow’s street life. 16. 16. At the beginning of the 1980s Mamonov started writing songs and formed a 17. 17. band called Zvuki Mu which was noticed immediately on the Russian under- 18. 18. ground scene because of their highly unconventional style and outrageous 19. 19. stage performances. In their songs Zvuki Mu mixed the avant-garde and punk 20. 20. rock with poetics of everyday life’s banalities (Estrada 2004: 572). Mamonov’s 21. 21. lyrics ‘range from grotesque alcoholic ravings to alienated soliloquies about 22. 22. love. In one song Mr. Mamonov compares his lover to a fly, “a source of infec- 23. 23. tion”’ (Keller 1988). 24. 24. Siberia, separated from Russia’s cultural centres by enormous distances, 25. 25. produced a very particular scene. It was born in the early 1980s and by the 26. 26. end of the decade united bands and performers from Omsk, Novosibirsk and 27. 27. Tyumen’. Formed in a harsh climate and austere cultural, social and economic 28. 28. environment of deindustrialization and poverty, Siberian punk was more 29. 29. direct and uncompromising, both in its ideology and sound. This sound was 30. 30. raw, aggressive and intentionally miserable in terms of quality. Having little 31. 31. of Moscow’s musical sophistication nor the slovenliness of early Leningrad 32. 32. punks, the Siberian scene was overtly political and radically engaged with 33. 33. moral issues. 34. 34. Russian punk in general, and the Siberian scene in particular, do not 35. 35. receive extensive coverage in academic literature, especially in that published 36. 36. in English. Even Steinholt, through whose work the English speaking 37. 37. academic communityIntellect is first introduced to2012 Siberian punk (2008, 2009), does 38. 38. not address issues of religion. However, references to the religious character of 39. 39. rock protest in other EastNot European scenes,for such distribution as Hungary (Szemere 2001) 40. 40. demonstrate that the adoption of Christianity into Russian punk took its own 41. 41. particular route. It did not turn towards the Baptists, the Jehovah Witnesses 42. 42. or other ‘imported’ confessions with their glossy promises of salvation. More 43. 43. appealing to Russian punks proved to be a raw Russian Orthodoxy, full of 44. 44. doubts, challenges and spiritual search. 45. 45. 46. 46. Egor Letov and Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil Defence 47. 47. Egor Letov was a founding member and the undisputed leader of what is 48. 48. probably the most famous Russian punk band, Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil 49. 49. Defence, formed in the Siberian town of Omsk in 1984. Their first eleven 50. 50. albums, recorded from 1985 to 1989, are full of dark realism, hopelessness, 51. 51. anger and hatred towards authority, pop culture and the establishment. 52. 52.

309

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 309 10/22/12 2:22:35 PM Ivan Gololobov

A wall of low frequencies, rhythmic drums recorded in the best traditions of 1. lo-fi sound, and a grinding guitar distorted through a homemade fuzz box 2. completes the brutality of the songs. Onstage Letov, with long dark hair, 3. dressed in a long black coat or a dark jacket covered with safety pins and 4. self-made symbols of anarchy, used to perform unrehearsed movements 5. closely resembling some shamanistic ecstasy. His deep, low pitched voice 6. regularly went into outrageous screaming and broke into choking. If there 7. was any spirituality in the early music of Grazhdanskaia Oborona, it would 8. be a pagan dialogue with the spirits of the underworld rather than a search 9. for God. Letov’s lyrics are filled with images of violence, death and suicide. 10. Egor Letov himself defined the style of his group as ‘Siberian suicidal post 11. punk’ (Smeliak 2004) and his lyrics demonstrate why: 12. 13. I love blue palms 14. 15. And the iron curtain on the red background 16. Raw lips under the horde of crows 17. 18. And bodies eaten by the worms 19. I love remote echo 20. 21. And rotting liquid in my head 22. My own mould of hiccup, fuck it 23. 24. I am a necrophile, I love myself 25. To those born dead 26. 27. Knit buttons instead of their eyes 28. 29. Necrophilia … 30. I love to die publicly 31. 32. Sinking up to the throat in all kinds of dirt 33. I love good orgasm 34. 35. IntellectAnd my toilet swollen with2012 shit 36. But early in the morning 37. 38. I will joinNot the cue tofor the mausoleum distribution 39. Necrophilia … 40. (Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil Defence, 41. ‘Nekrofilia’, Nekrofilia, 1987) 42. 43. The first religious references appeared in Letov’s songs at the beginning of the 44. 1990s when he released a record called Pryg-Skok (1990) under the auspices of 45. his new band Egor i Opizdenevshie/Egor and the Fucked Ups. From the sleeve 46. a listener could see that the second song on the album was called ‘Pesnia 47. o sviatosti, myshe i kamyshe’/‘A Song about Holiness, Mouse and Reed’, a 48. direct reference to high religious discourse. The most interesting, however, 49. was the first song ‘Pro durachka’/‘About a Fool’. It is entirely vocal with no 50. instruments. The whole accompaniment consists of multiple overdubbed male 51. 52.

310

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 310 10/22/12 2:22:35 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. 5. 5. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 9. 9. 10. 10. 11. 11. 12. 12. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 15. 16. 16. 17. 17. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. Figure 1: Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil Defence, Vsio idiot po plany/Everything is 21. 21. going according to the plan, Russia, GrOb records 1989, cover of the vinyl edition, 22. 22. Russia, GrOb – TAU produkt, 1991. 23. 23. voices and, together with its circularly repetitive melody, the song sounds very 24. 24. much like a church chorale. The lyrics add additional impetus to the religious 25. 25. imagery of the music: 26. 26. 27. 27. Today I bought some little balloons 28. 28. 29. 29. I will fly with them over magnificent country 30. 30. I will swallow fluff, I will dive into the earth 31. 31. 32. 32. And will answer all the questions with ‘Always alive!’ 33. 33. A fool is walking in the skies 34. 34. 35. 35. He is looking for someone more foolish than him 36. 36. The Sun was shining day and night 37. 37. Intellect 2012 38. 38. There are no atheists in trenches under fire 39. 39. Not for distribution 40. 40. The blind will make it, the miserable will win 41. 41. You could not even imagine this! 42. 42. 43. 43. A fool is walking in the woods 44. 44. He is looking for someone more foolish than him 45. 45. 46. 46. In 1993 Egor i Opizdinevshie recorded their second album 100 let odinochestva/100 47. 47. Years of Solitude with songs ‘V nachale bylo slovo’/‘In the Beginning there was a 48. 48. Word’ and ‘Evangelie’/‘Evangel’ clearly referring to biblical themes. 49. 49. 50. 50. Sharp-sighted windows 51. 51. 52. 52. Who will warm the sharp-sighted windows?

311

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 311 10/22/12 2:22:37 PM Ivan Gololobov

Have some pity with silent words 1. 2. On your tin Christ 3. Greedy fingers 4. 5. Who will feed these greedy fingers? 6. Hold with your hungry arms 7. 8. Your unsaved Christ. 9. Shadows on the run 10. 11. Who will catch the shadows on the run? 12. Cover in secure chains 13. 14. Your hopeless Christ. 15. 16. Slippery veins 17. Slippery alarming veins 18. 19. Kiss with your cold lips 20. Your Christ through the looking glass. 21. 22. Round skies 23. Who will punish round skies? 24. 25. Strangle with obedient hands 26. Your naughty Christ. 27. 28. Despite the growing number of religious references in the music, Egor Letov 29. was hardly a practising believer himself. As he acknowledged in 2005 in his 30. comments on 100 Let Odinochestva/100 Years of Solitude, while recording the 31. album he was actively experimenting with psychotropic substances and on 32. one occasion nearly died of an overdose (Letov 2005a). In 1994 he joined 33. the newly formed National-Bolshevik Party led by the controversial writer 34. Eduard Limonov and a renowned nationalist Alexander Dugin. Orthodoxy 35. wasIntellect welcomed there since in2012 part it constituted one of the pillars of nation- 36. alist discourse. However, Letov was not involved with these debates and 37. focused on Russian Breakthrough, a youth musical wing of the NBP more 38. engaged withNot communist for rhetoric. distribution By the end of the 1990s, Letov had left 39. the party and distanced himself from his former political allies; he did not like 40. to talk about it and repeatedly spoke of his National-Bolshevik past with a 41. generous dose of cynicism. 42. Letov confirmed that he was baptized in 2005, though his take on baptism 43. was not something of which the Orthodox Church would be particularly 44. proud. He was openly critical towards confessional loyalties and was rather 45. distant from the very idea of the church as an institution: 46. 47. Yes, I wanted to get baptised. But there was a problem – it cost 200 48. dollars. I was very angry at this and am still quite angry. It is not that I 49. am greedy or anything I am disgusted by the fact. This is blasphemy. You 50. cannot take money for baptism, it kills the very beauty of this moment! 51. 52.

312

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 312 10/22/12 2:22:37 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. So we decided to go there, to the river Jordan, I went in and since then 2. 2. I have considered myself an ‘official’ Christian. And, indeed, a member 3. 3. of all religions. That’s why I am wearing the universal cross [vselenskiy 4. 4. krest]. Although even if I didn’t do this, I would be one anyway. 5. 5. (Letov 2005b) 6. 6. 7. 7. Letov remains one of the most controversial figures in Russian rock music. For 8. 8. many it is still difficult to reconcile the radical anti-authoritarian ethos of his 9. 9. early albums and his romance with communism in the 1990s, or his preoc- 10. 10. cupation with aggression, violence, death and suicide with the appeal to the 11. 11. forces of life and order as expressed in one of his political statements: 12. 12. 13. 13. The whole history of humanity is marked with war, the war between the 14. 14. fiery, creative, constructive forces, the forces of order, and the forces of 15. 15. chaos, anarchy, destruction, inertia, death. The fact that I am here says 16. 16. that I have already made my choice a long time ago. We and all our 17. 17. movement [Russkiy Proryv] are on the side of order, the forces of the 18. 18. Sun, creative and constructive forces. 19. 19. (Letov 1994) 20. 20. 21. 21. Throughout his life, the music of Egor Letov aimed at decentring dominant 22. 22. discourses through controversy. Religion enters his songs as part of such 23. 23. controversy. For him it is not a guide to life or a moral code to follow. Letov is 24. 24. not calling for the observation of religious norms, nor does he do this himself. 25. 25. However, it would be wrong to say he dissembles in his appeal to religious 26. 26. discourse or to accuse him of the use of religious sentiment for manipula- 27. 27. tion. In the music of Egor Letov, religion is a transcendental ground which 28. 28. cuts across the meanings of the increasingly materialist society of post-Soviet 29. 29. Russia. Letov always tried to make his music real. The anger of his early 30. 30. albums physically entered the mind of a listener with outrageous scream- 31. 31. ing, sheets of distorted sound and lyrics unthinkable in the Soviet Union. The 32. 32. collision of religious imagery with punk anger and self-abasement shared the 33. 33. same intention; to make music real. This he no longer did by testing the real- 34. 34. ity of his songs against the wall of dominant discourse – by simply confront- 35. 35. ing it with his performance. Instead, he showed the fatal incompleteness of 36. 36. human life irresistibly divided between good and evil, the individual and soci- 37. 37. ety, dreams andIntellect reality. This rupture was 2012 expressed through the collision of 38. 38. punk aggression and Christian love, seriousness and cynicism, the spirit of 39. 39. anarchy and the appeal Notto the authoritarian for ideologiesdistribution of Communism and 40. 40. Nationalism. It is radical, unclear, full of open meanings, and highly confus- 41. 41. ing. But this is its point. Such confusion disrupts the ideological comfort of the 42. 42. audience and pushes it out of the roles and ‘choices’ prescribed to an indi- 43. 43. vidual by the ideology of consumerist success. Sometimes, it does so in a quite 44. 44. radical way. For example, Artemiy Troitskii, a Russian music critic, believes 45. 45. that Letov is directly responsible for hundreds of suicides committed by young 46. 46. people under the influence of his music (2004). Then again, it is also a fact 47. 47. that Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil Defence inspired thousands of teenagers 48. 48. across the former Soviet Union to pick up guitars and to start playing their 49. 49. own songs. Egor Letov remains one of the most popular Russian musicians, 50. 50. known far beyond the punk scene (Globalis 2008), and the official website 51. 51. of Grazhdanskaia Oborona is one of the most visited music resources on the 52. 52. Russian-speaking Internet.

313

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 313 10/22/12 2:22:38 PM Ivan Gololobov

Roman Neumoev and Instruktsiya po Vizhyvaniyu/ 1. Instructions for Survival 2. 3. Instruktsyia po Vyzhyvaniyu/Instructions for Survival is one of the oldest 4. Siberian punk bands. It was formed in 1985 in Tyumen’ and in the same year 5. gave the first ever punk gig in Siberia. It was held in the hall of the Tyumen’ 6. State University. After the gig nearly all members of the group were either 7. expelled from the Komsomol (Young Communist League), lost their jobs, or 8. were forcefully conscripted into the army. Shortly after this famous concert 9. the band was joined by Roman Neumoev, who became the new leader, singer 10. and songwriter. Neumoev did not consider himself a punk. Neither did he 11. believe that punk rock ever existed in Siberia: 12. 13. We never really had punks here in Siberia, at least not like they did in 14. Moscow, never mind Piter [St Petersburg] and not to mention in the 15. West. People often laughed at us, ‘What sort of punks are you? Some 16. kind of Narodovoltsy [Populists] …’ So, we admit we never managed to 17. become punks. 18. (2007) 19. 20. For all that, Neumoev was often considered one of the most significant figures 21. in the Siberian punk scene. The first albums of Neumoev’s songs, Nochnoy Bit/ 22. The Night Beat recorded in 1986 and Konfrontatsiia v Moskve/Confrontation in 23. Moscow released in 1988 are full of anger, despair and are highly uncompro- 24. mising: 25. 26. You are ugly, teenagers laugh at you 27. You are dangerously tempting 28. 29. You are suspiciously alive, you are probably a Jew 30. Psycho, dissident, faggot 31. 32. Your friends are in the disciplinary units 33. On the floors of the dorms, in psychiatric clinics 34. 35. IntellectThey know what the KGB 2012 is, they know what metal fear is 36. We are going down in the basements 37. 38. We areNot going into undergroundfor distribution flats 39. We are going illegal 40. 41. This is our rock-n-roll front 42. (‘Rock-n-roll’nyi front’/‘Rock-n-Roll Front’, Night Beat, 1986) 43. 44. Despite all his anger and aggression, Neumoev is seen as: 45. 46. a universal nihilist, who has chosen a direction upwards […] a rebel who 47. believes in April, light Spring and a White Tsar. A rebel who continues to 48. shock the public. Now with his radically right-wing attitude to the world, 49. Romych [colloquial form of the given name ‘Roman’] speaks about ‘punk 50. in Christ’, to the society of the spectacle and the world of fast food. 51. (2007) 52.

314

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 314 10/22/12 2:22:38 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. His way of confronting the ‘society of the spectacle and the world of fast 2. 2. food’ was not straightforwardly ‘in Christ’. According to Alexander Kushnir, 3. 3. author of the seminal 100 Tapes of Russian Rock, around the turn of the 1980s 4. 4. Neumoev, a physicist by education, unsuccessfully tried business, yoga, and 5. 5. occultist practices, and it was only at the beginning of the 1990s that he came 6. 6. to Orthodox Christianity (2003). Although he claims he had always been a 7. 7. Christian, it seems more feasible that his turn to Christianity happened some- 8. 8. where around this time. As mentioned by Kushnir, Neumoev had a reputa- 9. 9. tion as an extremely impulsive and unpredictable person, full of phobias and 10. 10. secrecies which invite doubts as to his own account of his faith. Looking at 11. 11. his songs, however, it becomes clear that references to religious themes in 12. 12. the early Instruktsiia po vyzhyvaniiu/Instructions for Survival albums are close 13. 13. to non-existent. Pamiat’/Memory, recorded in 1991, is less radical poetically 14. 14. and more philosophical. Here Neumoev began using references to ‘Christ’, 15. 15. ‘God’, ‘Heavens’ and religious metaphors such as ‘white warrior’ and ‘black 16. 16. crow’. In 1994 Instruktsiia po Vyzhyvaniiu recorded the album Religiia serdtsa/ 17. 17. Religion of the Heart on which Neumoev openly declared himself an Orthodox 18. 18. Christian and in 1995 he moved to Pechery, a small town in Pskov oblast’, to 19. 19. be closer to the monastery in which his spiritual instructor resides. The new 20. 20. line-up of his band also declared their close links with the church: ‘Our saxo- 21. 21. phone player is affiliated with Nikandrova Pustyn’, me, with Pskov-Pecherskii 22. 22. monastery, guitar player Dmitry Bibikov is singing in the monks’ choir there’ 23. 23. (Neumoev 2007). Reflecting on the relationship between punk and Orthodox 24. 24. Christianity Neumoev says: 25. 25. 26. 26. I think that if it is possible it is possible among all rock-n-roll youth 27. 27. and among punks especially. If we take the way ordinary punks think, 28. 28. they are clearly oriented towards something sacral. In my understand- 29. 29. ing, a punk is someone who is trying to drive himself out of this reality 30. 30. [deistvitel’nosti] by all possible means. And he is easy to put on the path 31. 31. of religious search. It is more difficult to do this with people who live 32. 32. calmly. […] And here, people, especially young ones, strive for spiritual 33. 33. search. This environment is ready to hear a sermon. They literally just 34. 34. need one push. […] A punk is someone who in principle does not want 35. 35. to put faces on [litsedeistvovat’], he wants to show as much as he can 36. 36. who he is in reality. I mean a real punk, a punk in his essence. He has a 37. 37. clear-cut desireIntellect not to pretend. A real 2012punk, therefore, is someone who 38. 38. already does not belong to this world. And this is a perfectly normal 39. 39. thing. […] Many of theNot young punks for are ready-made distribution God’s fools [yuro- 40. 40. divye]. But only if we speak of the real people, not those drinker-punks 41. 41. [panki po pianke]. 42. 42. (Neumoev 2006) 43. 43. 44. 44. 45. 45. 46. 46. Oleg ‘Manager’ Sudakov 47. 47. Oleg ‘Manager’ Sudakov is one of Letov’s close collaborators. In the mid-1980s 48. 48. Sudakov was a leading member of Siberian punk bands Anarkhiia/Anarchy 49. 49. and Armiia Vlasova/Vlasov’s Army. In 1988 he joined Grazhdanskaia Oborona/ 50. 50. Civil Defence and for a short period performed with them as a singer. Later that 51. 51. year, together with Egor Letov, he formed Kommunizm which was to prove one 52. 52. of the most productive Siberian prank avant-garde projects. Between 1988 and

315

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 315 10/22/12 2:22:38 PM Ivan Gololobov

1989 Letov and Manager recorded about 15 ‘official’ albums and an endless 1. amount of jointly written songs which were not released on record. In 1989 2. they formed another band Tsyganiata i ya s Ilyicha/Little Gypsies and Me from 3. Ilyich. Their albums Gaubitsy Leitenanta Guruby/Howitzers of Lieutenant Guruba 4. (1989) and Adzhuna-Drive (1990) are predominantly based on Manager’s own 5. material with Letov providing instrumental accompaniment and backing-vo- 6. cals on some of the tracks. Unlike Grazhdanskaia Oborona/Civil Defence, the 7. records of Tsyganiata/Little Gypsies had less obvious anthems and were in 8. large part experimental. Poetically, Manager was less aggressive than Letov 9. and his lyrics were more abstract: 10. 11. On the blessed island of Communism 12. 13. There are red and juicy berries 14. From the arse straight into the mouth 15. 16. From the arse straight into the mouth 17. Without anger and predilection the builders are gathering 18. 19. Celebrating in song the eternal manly stroke 20. Birthdays are older than the jubilee of the right faith 21. 22. Before the birthday and older than the foundation pit of Chevengur. 23. (Tsyganiata i ya s Ilyicha/Little Gypsies 24. and Me from Ilyich, ‘Na blazhennom ostrove 25. Kommunisma’/‘On the Blessed Island of 26. Communism’, 1990) 27. 28. However, in spite of all this sophistication, religious themes were far from 29. central in Manager’s songs of that period. His attitude towards faith in general 30. is clearly explained in one of his interviews from 1992: 31. 32. […] Then these calls to think sober and the appeals to faith. I don’t 33. know, if it meant the work of the spirit, some longing for the truth, 34. escape from the manifestations of spiritual totalitarianism in society, 35. this is one thing… But if to take the faith in the sense of a concrete 36. Intellectturning towards God, purification 2012 of one’s own soul, love for others and 37. other actions directed towards the salvation of the soul, then I don’t 38. have anythingNot to dofor with it. […]distribution If anything happens, according to the 39. church canons […] I, and we, will be in the first line for burning. Not 40. in the sense that we are Satanists or because of other stupid things, but 41. because our lives and creative activity are much closer to the truth, to 42. the light, to the skies, than all this religious boom…. 43. (Aksyutina 1999: 281–307) 44. 45. In 1993, along with other underground musicians, Manager joined the 46. National-Bolshevik Party and began supporting other patriotic organiza- 47. tions. At approximately the same time he formed his new project Rodina/ 48. Motherland, which became one of the most active members of Russkii Proryv/ 49. Russian Breakthrough, a creative wing of the National-Bolshevik Party. In his 50. new band Manager predictably continued his philosophical attack on ‘spir- 51. itual totalitarianism’. Aesthetically however, this attack differed significantly 52.

316

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 316 10/22/12 2:22:39 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. 5. 5. 6. 6. 7. 7. 8. 8. 9. 9. 10. 10. 11. 11. 12. 12. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 15. 16. 16. 17. 17. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. Figure 2: Rodina/Motherland. Byt zhivym/To be alive, IzBA records 1995, cover 21. 21. from the CD edition by Polden Music 2010. 22. 22. 23. 23. 24. 24. from what he was singing before. He no longer used explicit lyrics, excluded 25. 25. anatomical excursions and rid his texts of any kind of irony, something that 26. 26. was extensively present in his previous projects. This straightening of his 27. 27. music performance was not only related to his new involvement with political 28. 28. parties. Manager became a devout Christian. 29. 29. According to Manager he turned towards Christianity for ‘almost mystical’ 30. 30. reasons (Oleg ‘Manager’ Sudakov, interview, 21 September 2009). He started 31. 31. to be tortured by nightmares and visions, and, looking for a remedy, started to 32. 32. read ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. In 1994, at the age of 32, he was baptized. 33. 33. 34. 34. There were no big contradictions between the behavioural code offered 35. 35. by Jesus and what, for instance, I used to believe in. They were closely 36. 36. linked and related. So I decided that I should go and get baptised. […] 37. 37. And anotherIntellect thing - the testament which 2012 is put in front of a man is the 38. 38. same as what we were speaking about in punk. There is more to you 39. 39. from the side of God,Not the super-being. for He helpsdistribution you to look at yourself 40. 40. even with your own eyes, even if you are not regularly going to church 41. 41. […] and this code is not invented by human beings and it is not governed 42. 42. by them, and therefore it is easier for you to understand mistakes and 43. 43. develop some kind of direction, to compare and to make judgements. […] 44. 44. Punk is an attempt to revitalise and to fill with new content the notions of 45. 45. good [dobro] and brotherhood, how paradoxical it may be. If we take it in 46. 46. this ethical or even aesthetic code, punk is something like the method of 47. 47. Brecht, some kind of distancing, and attempts to look at the same thing 48. 48. in a slightly different way, and under a very expressive angle. […] It does 49. 49. not mean that you have to rip your shirt off on the stage, slit your wrists, 50. 50. perform naked; all this is an external attribute related to the mainstream 51. 51. and ordinary formal side of the idea. […] Honest justice – this is what I 52. 52. would call punk. Exactly because of its expressiveness, radical overdrive,

317

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 317 10/22/12 2:22:40 PM Ivan Gololobov

scratchy surface … when an action, a lesson takes out the superficial and 1. you reveal yourself, or to put it better, your own way reveals itself to you, 2. then you don’t have any more questions. 3. (Oleg ‘Manager’ Sudakov, interview, 21 September 2009) 4. 5. Rodina recorded four albums with the last one, titled Dobrovol’nyi Edem/ 6. Voluntary Eden released in 2009. Religious themes occupy a substantial role 7. in their poetic imagery. Manager is actively touring Russia, performing acous- 8. tically material from all his projects. He continues writing for oppositional 9. media where he increasingly addresses religious problems. Some of the arti- 10. cles, such as ‘Razdelennoe edinstvo very’/‘Divided unity of faith’ (Sudakov 11. 2008b) or ‘Po obe storony kresta’/‘On both sides of the cross’ (Sudakov 2008a) 12. discuss problems of the Russian Orthodox clergy in the style and with the 13. precision of an official church magazine. 14. In September 2009 Manager played an unplugged concert in Krasnodar, 15. held in the hall of a local cinema club. He sang his songs and answered the 16. audience’s questions. After the song ‘Dobrovol’nyi Edem’/‘Voluntary Eden’, a 17. member or a local punk band Bad Crimers known as Scalp, sitting in the first 18. row, asked what the song was about and whether Manager was an atheist or 19. if he believed in God. In response, Manager pulled out his Orthodox cross 20. from under his shirt and declared: ‘I explained it in plain Russian earlier. We 21. are all baptised here, and you are still asking whether I believe in God or not. 22. Remember “there are no atheists in trenches under fire!”’. 23. 24. Conclusion 25. 26. The turn of perestroika rock revolutionaries towards Orthodoxy in the 1990s 27. and 2000s is not all that surprising. Humanistic ideas and a focus on the 28. moral aspects of life, central in Russian rock, do not really contradict Christian 29. values. This is clearly acknowledged by the Russian Orthodox Church itself 30. and, in particular, by the influential archdeacon Andrei Kuraev, who in his 31. public speeches and numerous publications draws a clear link between the 32. spiritual search of Russian rock music and the values of Orthodox Christianity 33. (2004, 2010). However, Siberian punks are not Russian rockers. They belong 34. to that scene neither aesthetically nor ideologically. They are workers, miners 35. or soldiers, not prophets or missionaries, and their attitude to Christianity 36. exposes this difference. In spite of the obvious disagreements on religion – Intellect 2012 37. Siberian punks are similar in one aspect: they do not treat Christianity as a safe 38. corner that provides some kind of spiritual security. Nor do they regard it as 39. a symbolicNot and ideological for resource distribution to protect the Russian nation, as Kinchev 40. is calling for, or the purity of human soul, as Yurii Shevchuk suggests. For 41. Letov, Manager and Neumoev religion in general, and Orthodox Christianity 42. in particular, is a banner declaring commitment to the struggle, in which 43. the falsehood and deception dominating our lives are actively confronted by 44. beliefs. It is a call for action. A call that paradoxically echoes Leo Tolstoy, who 45. wrote in his religious manifesto over 100 years ago: 46. 47. Men linked together by deception form, we might say, a compact body. 48. In the compactness of this body lies all the evil of the world. 49. Revolutions are only efforts to break this compact body by violence; but 50. its component parts will last until an inward power is communicated to 51. them that can force them asunder. 52.

318

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 318 10/22/12 2:22:40 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. The chain that fetters them is ‘falsehood’, ‘deception’. The power that 2. 2. sets each link of this human chain free is ‘truth’. The truth is transmitted 3. 3. to men by deeds. 4. 4. Deeds, which bring the light to each man’s heart, can alone destroy 5. 5. the chain and remove one man after another out of the compact mass 6. 6. fettered by falsehood. 7. 7. (Tolstoi 1885: 235–36, original emphasis) 8. 8. 9. 9. 10. 10. References 11. 11. Agnostic Front (1986), ‘Agnostic Front interview’, Ink Desease, #10, https://files. 12. 12. nyu.edu/cch223/public/usa/info/af_IDinter.html. Accessed 20 November 13. 13. 2011. 14. 14. Aksyutina, O. (1999), Pank-virus v Rossii/Punk-virus in Russia, Moscow: Lean. 15. 15. Estrada (2004), Estrada v Rossii. XX vek. Entsiklopedia/Estrada in Russia. 20th 16. 16. Century. Encyclopedia, Moscow: Olma-press. 17. 17. Globalis (2008), ‘Vsyo idet po plany/‘Everything is Going According 18. 18. to the Plan’, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, http://www.youtube.com/ 19. 19. watch?v=9aCxDlh5OOc. Accessed 20 November 2011. 20. 20. Graffin, G. (2002), ‘A punk manifesto’, http://punkhistory0.tripod.com/punk/ 21. 21. id2.html. Accessed 20 November 2011. 22. 22. Ill’inskaia, O. (2009), ‘Boris Grebenshikov: “Ya pravoslavnyi chelovek”’/‘Boris 23. 23. Grebenshikov: “I am an Orthodox man”’, Obrazovanie i pravoslavie, 24. 24. 26 November, http://www.orthedu.ru/news/626-09.html. Accessed 25. 25. 20 November 2011. 26. 26. Interfax (2009), ‘Grebenshikov ne v silakh postich’ “religioznye techenia”, 27. 27. krestitsa i chitaet mantry odnovremenno’, Interfax, 14 April, http://www. 28. 28. interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=29751. Accessed 20 November 2011. 29. 29. Haenfler, R. (2006), Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social 30. 30. Change, New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University 31. 31. Press. 32. 32. Keller, B. (1988), ‘About the arts: Moscowl; rock, born in the U.S.S.R.’, The 33. 33. New York Times, 9 October, http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/09/arts/ 34. 34. about-the-arts-moscow-rock-born-in-the-ussr.html?src=pm. Accessed 35. 35. 20 November 2011. 36. 36. Kuraev, A. (2004), Rok i missionerstvo: besedy s bogoslovom/Rock and Christian 37. 37. mission: talksIntellect with a preacher, Moscow: 2012EKSMO-Yauza. 38. 38. —— (2010), Rok-propovedi: protodiakon Andrei Kuraev/Rock-sermons: archbishop 39. 39. Andrei Kuraev, Moscow:Not Nikeia. for distribution 40. 40. Kushnir, A. (2003), 100 magnitoal’bomov sovetskogo roka/100 tape albums of Soviet 41. 41. rock, Moscow: Agraf, http://www.rockanet.ru/100/80.phtml. Accessed 42. 42. 20 November 2011. 43. 43. Letov, E. (1994), ‘Elementy, sobranie levykh sil (rech’ i otvety Egora 44. 44. Letova)/ ‘Elements, an assembly of Left forces (a speech and respon- 45. 45. ses of Egor Letov)’, Moscow, DK Oktiabr’, http://www.youtube.com/ 46. 46. watch?v=HJPtQ0NZsYg. Accessed 20 November 2011. 47. 47. —— (2005a), ‘Comments to the album 100 let odinochestva/100 Years of Solitude’, 48. 48. http://www.gr-oborona.ru/pub/discography/sto_let_odinochestva. 49. 49. html. Accessed 20 November 2011. 50. 50. —— (2005b), ‘Otvety na vorposy posetitelei ofitsial’nogo saita Grazhdanskoy 51. 51. Oborony’, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, http://www.gr-oborona.ru/pub/ 52. 52. offline/1112791243.html. Accessed 20 November 2011.

319

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 319 10/22/12 2:22:41 PM Ivan Gololobov

Neumoev, R. (2006), ‘Neumoev Roman Vladimirovich, 1963 g.r.’, Pravaya.ru, 1. 17 October, http://www.pravaya.ru/ludi/451/9374. Accessed 20 November 2. 2011. 3. —— (2007), ‘V mire est’ Tsar’’, Zavtra, 10:694, 7 March, http://www.zavtra.ru/ 4. cgi/veil/data/zavtra/07/694/71.html. Accessed 20 November 2011. 5. Preobrazhenskiy, V. (2010), ‘Pamyati Maika Naumenko: “Ya chast’ Mira 6. Kotorogo Net”/In Memory of Maik Naumenko: “I am a part of the 7. World which does not exist”’, Newsmusic, 20 April, http://newsmusic.ru/ 8. news_2_19260.htm. Accessed 20 November 2011. 9. Roksi (1983), ‘Roksi: Tolkovanie na Svinyu/Roksi: Interpretation of a pig’, 10. Roksi, No.6. 11. Salewicz, C. (1981), ‘The grand British punk revolution’, D.O.A.: The Official 12. Filmbook, a Punk Magazine, http://www.punkmagazine.com/vault/vault- 13. doa_grand.html. Accessed 20 November 2011. 14. Sandler, L. (2001), ‘God save the teens, local kids seek a new kind of church 15. through hardcore and hip-hop’, Village Voice, 29 May, http://www.village- 16. voice.com/2001-05-29/news/god-save-the-teens/. Accessed 20 November 17. 2011. 18. Smeliak, M. (2004), ‘Zhizn’ kak chudo, interviu s Egorom Letovym/Life as 19. miracle, an interview with Egor Letov’, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, http:// 20. www.gr-oborona.ru/pub/pub/1095686537.html. Accessed 20 November 21. 2011. 22. Steinholt, Y. (2008), ‘Fascists who-us? Grazhdanskaia oborona from punk 23. “westernisers” to psychedelic “slavophiles”?’, CEELBAS Workshop 3: 24. Transnormative Cultures: Politics, Protest and Punk, University of Warwick, 25. UK, 5 September–6 September. 26. —— (2009), ‘Continuous suicide: Egor Letov and the Soviet Union’, BASEES 27. International Conference, Cambridge, UK, 28 March–30 March. 28. Sudakov, O. (2008a), ‘Po obe storony kresta/Beyond the both sides of 29. the cross’, Portal-credo.ru, 17 October, http://www.portal-credo.ru/ 30. site/?act=fresh&id=842. Accessed 20 November 2011. 31. —— (2008b), ‘Razdelennoe edinstvo very/Shared unity of faith’, Russkii 32. Printsip, 19 January, http://rusprin.info/press/religion/pravoslavie/razdel- 33. yonnoe_chuvstvo_very. Accessed 20 November 2011. 34. Szemere, A. (2001), Up from the Underground: The Culture of Rock Music in 35. Post-Socialist Hungary, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. 36. Tolstoi,Intellect L. (1885), What I Believe2012 (trans. Constantine Popoff), London: Elliot 37. Stock. 38. Troitskii, A.Not (2004), ‘Luchshe for by Egordistribution Letov opravdal svoi suitsidal’nye teorii i 39. pokonchil s soboi/It would be better if Egor Letov would prove his suicidal 40. theories by killing himself’, SMI.ru, 7 December, http://www.smi.ru/ 41. interviews/105/. Accessed 25 November 2011. 42. Webster, S. (2010), ‘Green Day singer tells Bill Maher: “Religion is a bunch 43. of bullsh*t”’, Rawstory, 10 April, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/04/ 44. green-day-singer-tells-bill-maher-religion-bunch-bullsht/.Accessed 20 45. November 2011. 46. 47. 48. Suggested citation 49. Gololobov, I. (2012), ‘There are no atheists in trenches under fire: Orthodox 50. Christianity in Russian punk’, Punk & Post-Punk 1: 3, pp. 305–321, 51. doi: 10.1386/punk.1.3.305_1 52.

320

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 320 10/22/12 2:22:41 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire

1. 1. Contributor details 2. 2. Ivan Gololobov (b.1975) has previously worked as a Research Fellow at 3. 3. the Norwegian Institute of Foreign Affairs (1998) and at the Institute of 4. 4. International Law of Peace and Armed Conflicts, University of Bochum, 5. 5. Germany (2004–2006), and taught at the University of the West of England 6. 6. in Bristol (2007). He has participated in a number of international research 7. 7. projects including ‘Far from the cities: Social transformation of the post-Soviet 8. 8. village’ (German Research Council 2002–2005) and ‘The role of regions in 9. 9. transforming post-communist societies’ (INTAS 1999–2002). He is currently 10. 10. teaching and working as a Research Fellow on the AHRC funded project on 11. 11. ‘Post-socialist punk’ at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick. 12. 12. 13. 13. Contact: Ivan Gololobov, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, 14. 14. Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. 15. 15. E-mail: [email protected] 16. 16. 17. 17. Ivan Gololobov has asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and 18. 18. Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work in the format that 19. 19. was submitted to Intellect Ltd. 20. 20. 21. 21. 22. 22. 23. 23. 24. 24. 25. 25. 26. 26. 27. 27. 28. 28. 29. 29. 30. 30. 31. 31. 32. 32. 33. 33. 34. 34. 35. 35. 36. 36. 37. 37. Intellect 2012 38. 38. 39. 39. Not for distribution 40. 40. 41. 41. 42. 42. 43. 43. 44. 44. 45. 45. 46. 46. 47. 47. 48. 48. 49. 49. 50. 50. 51. 51. 52. 52.

321

PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 321 10/22/12 2:22:41 PM