Music / Tequilajazzz

Tequilajazzz are an alternativc rock band from Saint-Petersburg. Their classic line-up included the vocalist and bassist Evgeny “I-I-I” Fedorov, the drummer Alexander “Doocer” Voronov and the guitarist Constantin Fedorov. The band was founded in 1993 and their first album Strelyali? brought them some acclaim in the local hardcore scene.Their sophomore effort, Virus (1997) became a definite Breakthrough Hit. Songs off this albums were heavily rotated on rock-oriented FM-stations, videos were made for three tracks off Virus. Tequilajazzz was invited to important Russian rock festivals. As In 1997 dance remixes were a huge trend, the band made the one for the track Samolyot (Aeroplane) which became one of their main hits.

The third album by the band, Celluloid was intended to become an even greater breakthrough in 1998, making them huge rock stars. It was softer than its predecessor, various videos appeared on music TV, journalists wrote rave reviews. The song “Winter Song”, radio friendly in comparison to their previous radio singles, became a pretty big hit, so did “Last Summer’s Theme”. In the end it did not bring them the planned rock superstardom as the music of Tequilajazzz was still too heavy for the wide rock audience. However Tequilajazzz was named the band of the years by the OM magazine. Celluloid probably remains their most important album and is always highly placed on the lists of all time best Russian rock-oriented records.

The fourth album, 150 Billions Steps, was, frankly speaking, more of the same, though by no means a stedown. It was a set of excellent songs and produced one hit.

After three albums in three years which brought the band a fairly big success (as in being proclaimed the band of the year by rock magazines and several of their songs awarded as well) but showed their limitations (as in not being able to really woo the millions) Tequilajazzz took a pause and returned in 2002. Their new album, Vyshe Oseni (Above the Autumn) was once more approved by their audience and it is generally considered a creative success but the time has changed and the band could not hope to make a sensation any more in the early 2000's.

Then band maturity set in and a new album (Zhurnal Zhivogo, The Journal of a Living (person)) appeared in 2009, the first and the only full-length release not to receive any accolades. Its name was a hint at the Livejournal, which was then all the heat.

After that record, the band’s three members parted their ways in 2010. In 2013 they reunited for some performances and since then the band kept an “on-and-off” status. In 2016 Tequilajazzz lost one of their original musicians, Konstantin Fedorov, who was replaced by a totally new guitarist. The group released a new album of acoustic songs, NEBYLO, in 2018.

The style of the band can be compared to Faith No More or Nomeansno (in Tequilajazzz's more experimental moments).

---

Original lineup

• Evgeny I-I-I Fedorov - vocals, bass
• Konstantin Fedorov - guitar
• Alexander Doocer Voronov - drums

Studio discography

• Strelyali? (1994)
• Virus (1997)
• Celluloid (1998)
• 150 Milliardov Shagov (1999)
• Vyshe Oseni (2002)
• Journal Zhivogo (2009)
• NEBYLO (2018)

Tropes

• Album Title Drop: On an abum 150 Milliards Steps the title is mentioned twice in a lengthy monologue of Evgeny Fedorov which finishes the last track Poslednyaya which also means The last one) and thus the whole of the album.
• Audience Participation Song: Pedro, off their earliest album Strelyali?. As it is by no means one of their main hits, it implies that the audience is genre-savvy enough.
• Bookends: On the album 150 Milliardov Shagov the first song is named Pervaya (the first one in Russian) and the last song - Poslednyaya (the last one in Russian).
• Bread Milk Eggs Squick: Nalivaya starts with the lines "The world has so many wonders: Space, Paris, Mercedes"
• Dead Artists Are Better: Probably the point of the song Rosenbom. Its text lists many dead stars, Including Jimi Hendrix, Ian Curtis, Sid Vicious, then goes "А ты еще крепкий старик, Розенбом" (You are still a robust old man, Rosenbom). Rosenbom might be an allusion to a certain Russian singer-songwriter, who is very uncool in the eyes of an alternative rock band.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The sleeve of the album 150 milliardov shagov (150 Billions Steps).
• Face on the Cover: Evgeny Fedorov is prominently featured of the cover of Celluloid◊.
• Gratuitous English: The song Takaya Zhe Kak I Ya twice mentions the phrase wild, wild side.
• Gratuitous German: The lyrics for the song Pistolet include the scream Eins, zwei, Polizei, most probably in a reference to this infamous song
• Hostage Situation: The plot of the song Samolyot (Aeroplane)
• I Am the Band: Played with for Evgeny Fedorov. He is recognisabledue to his baldness and without him the band would not exist but so is Alexander Voronov, who has some charisma of his own. As both of them were a part of the band during its gradual reunion, it is Tequilajazzz all right. Constantin Fedorov is somewhat of a generic guy and while he was obviously an integral part of the classic 90's line-up, his absense does not cancel the reunion even if somewhat lessens its impact.
• Lighter and Softer: The traject of the band in 90's. Strelyali? (1994) was a very hardcore record, Virus (1997) was somewhat lighetr and Celluloid (1998) even more radio-friendly, meaning rock stations, but with some attempts at pop songs.
• Myspeld Rökband: Tequilajazzz should be spelt with three "z"'s.
• Film Noir: The tropes of the genre are present in the video for the song Pistolet (The Gun).
• Ode to Intoxication: Nalivaya is this, also iе is an unironic praise of getting drunk.
• One-Steve Limit: Gloriously averted. This three-piece outfit originally included Evgeny Fedorov and Constantin Fedorov (no relation at all). Fedorov is a very frequent Russian surname indeed.
• Shout-Out: The title of their 2009 album Zhurnal Zhivogo, or The journal Of a Living (person) is a reference to the blog platform LiveJournal which was all the rage in Russia at the time.
• Spoken Word in Music:
  • In Rosenbom Fedorov speaks out "А ты еще крепкий старик, Розенбом" (You are still a robust old man, Rosenbom).
  • In Pistolet Fedorov speaks out Eins, Zwei, Polizei
  • In Poslednyaya (The last one) Evegeny Fedorov pronounces a lengthy monologue about his intense night life which includes partying, smoking and drinking.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: Zimnee Solntse (Winter sun).
• Title-Only Chorus: Last Summer's Theme is an original variant of this trope. The first verse has it that "this tune without verse or chorus happened to become our last summer's theme". Then the chorus is indeed made up by several memorable guitar notes played over and over again. Then follows second verse and once more the same chorus. Thus the chorus does not have the words at all, only the "guitar theme" but the theme is named in the song title.

---