Mumiy troll Belgium History

1979
The charismatic frontman, lead singer and songwriter of the band, Ilia Lagoutenko, has been the driving force since the beginning. Originally from the port of Vladivostok, in the Far East of Russia, he formed his first psychedelic punk band named Bony P at the age of 11, together with his friend Pavel Babiy and sung in English. This was at a time when Russia was still isolated behind the Iron Curtain, and any rock'n'roll activities were considered subversive and were hence forced underground.

1982
During the eighties the band switched to Russian lyrics and changed their name to Mumiy Troll, experimenting with different music styles from neo-romanticism to big beats. Mumiy Troll released two cassette-only albums and established a following in the underground scene of many Russian cities. However, being labelled "the most socially dangerous band in the world - alongside Black Sabbath and the Sex Pistols" by the local Communist Party Chief, but "sweet popsters" by aggressive rock critics, did not help the band to become recognized by the general public. Ilia spent the first half of the next decade in oriental studies. He moved to China and then to the UK. However he still continued composing and shared his experiences and projects with friends in Russia

1996
In 1996, having been almost forgotten, Mumiy Troll was offered a modest record deal by the Vladivostok company "Dekade". It enabled Ilia and his long-term collaborator, Leo Burlakov (now the band's manager), to start their first proper studio project in London. The resulting album, "Morskaya" (Nautical), along with its fantastic promo videos (with constant rotation on MTV Russia), intrigued the Russian audience enough to get Mumiy Troll the status of "Best Band of the Millennium". "Morskaya'' reached Number 1 in the Russian charts, as well as the other MT albums.

1997
Mumiy Troll then delivered a successful live version of the album, exploding all the rumours about Mumiy Troll being a "one-hit wonder" studio project. They continued to tour throughout Russia and the former USSR republics and gave thousands of music fans, in more than 70 cities, an unforgettable impression of the band.

In June 1997, MT released the album "Ikra" (Caviar). MT turned out to be the real discovery of 1997. Having found their audience, Mumiy Troll are now seen a Russian treasure - 'The Dostoyevskys of Modern Pop'. Their enigmatically smiling leader has not only became a sex-symbol of his generation but also a most desirable and adorable figure for the Russian media, who found they had finally met an intelligent, human, faithful and independent creator amongst the morass of second-rate Russian pop stars.

1998
June 28th, 1998 MT released "Shamora. Pravda o Mumiyah i Trollyah. 1983-1990
(Shamora, the truth about Mumiy Trolls 1983-1990) in 2 parts (Shamora is the name of a beach in Vladivostok, the band's home town) This album was full of surprises for all MT fans, as it shows more of the musical activity of the band from the earlier years and reaffirms the unique and innovative style of the band, who's creativity cannot be limited to any principles.

The new tour "Tak Nado" (The way it is) started on July 2nd 1998 in Vladivostok. While on tour, the band released a mini-album ' S Novym Godom Kroshka! (Happy New Year, Baby!) on December 1st. It features 10 tracks: Live and studio versions of the song as well as 8 remixes by different DJs. By the end of the year, 3 more video clips were released: Delfini (Dolfins), Ranetka (cannot be translated; it's a nickname for a girl) and Vladivostok 2000. The latter was shot at the concert in Vladivostok on July 2nd.

1999
The video for "Inoplanetnyi Gost" (Interplanetary Guest) was edited. At the "Fuzz" Award ceremony in St Petersburg on April 3rd, 1999, they won the "Best Video of the Year" award for the video of "Delfini" and, same as last year, 'The Best Group of the Year" award too. Other than that, the group released the official video bootleg of "Na Concerte Mumiy Trollya 17-18 decabrya 1998, DK Gorbunova. (At the MT concert. 7-18 Deccenber 1998 at the Goburnov Place of Culture)

MT released a new video in manga style (Japanese animation) for "Utekay" (Run Away). In May the band worked in London at the demo of the new studio album. They gave 4 shows in Russia among which performances at the U1 festival in St. Petersburg and Megahouse in Moscow.

On 8th August 1999, the collector's edition of the Morskaya-album was released, celebrating the 2-year anniversary of its 1st edition.

1999 was a very busy year for MT: they recorded the new studio album, toured Japan, filmed a new clip for the new MT song "Nevesta" (Bride) and shot another video for the future album song "Karnavala Net" (No Carnaval).

2000
Also in 2000 MT didn't rest much. The 2nd part of January was spent in Tallinn (Estonia) where they held a repetition for their "Rtut Aloe" tour.

On February 5th, the Chinese New Year, "Tochno Rtut Aloe" (Exactly like Mercury Aloe) was released and MT planned a tour in Russia and surrounding countries, which lasted several months.

In April the video of "Bez Obmana" (No Deceit) was shot, the Fuzz award was held again in St. Petersburg and MT's "Nevesta?" was nominated for best video of 1999.
After completing their Spring Tour, MT began working at the Sound Organic studio in London, recording and putting together several new songs, to be put on future singles and albums. The group also recorded the song "Eightgrader Girl" (Vosmiklasnitsa) by Victor Tsoy, for the tribute album "Kino-45", released in memory of this legendary singer.
In September the new video for "Klubnichnaya" (Strawberry One) was released and MT performed at the traditional Ukrainian Fesitval "Prosto Rock" (Just Rock).

In September MT held its Extraordinary Concert in Gostini Dvor in Moscow. Not only MT, but also the symphonic orchestra Globalis, DJs from the Moscow Grooves Institute, Olesja Ljaschenko & Katja Shalaeva (Backing vocals), Sergey Mazaev, the group "Facts" from Riga (Latvia) and many others took part in it.

As part of the "Bez Obmana" tour, MT held two concerts in Israel and on December 1st, the muscians performed in New York. Last but not least, they released the 4th and final single of the Exactly Mercury Aloe - album ,"Moya Pevitsa / Drugie Mesta" (My female singer/ other places).

2001
On January 3rd the MTV premiere was held for the video of "Moya Pevitsa". And at the end of the month, the musicians departed on tour again, until the beginning of April.

In the 2nd half of February, the group travelled to Germany, where they recorded a new song "Obeschaniya (promises) in both Russian and English and Mumiy Troll was chosen to represent Russia at the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest; where they would perform the English version of 'Lady Alpine Blue" .

On March 20th, the band released the concert album "An Extraordinary Concert in Gostiny Dvor".

Then MT participated in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Copenhagen on May 12. The performance was watched by a television audience of an estimated 100 million viewers from 30 different countries.
Afterwards, the band travelled to London and gave a concert at "The Mean Fiddler" on May 17th.

On the 24th of June, they were back in Moscow to ake part in the Megahouse festival. In the beginning of July they left for Latvia, where they started working on new songs for their upcoming album.

Between 19th July and August 5th, Mumiy Troll toured the Crimea on the "Crimean Funs" tour. During this tour they performed at two festivals: "Taurian Games" in Kashovka and "Ulet" (Flight away) in Stereguschee.

In October, Mumiy Troll is planning a tour through Scandinavia and Germany.
Mumiy Troll is now a household name in Russia, throughout the former Soviet bloc, and in an increasing number of other countries. Fan mail and interview requests arrive all over the world. Still independent and even without any distribution outside Russia, Mumiy Troll successfully played concerts in the UK, USA, Israel and Japan. Their live performance at Kanemori Hall, Hakodate, Japan, was broadcast by satellite to over 40 million viewers in Asia. Hong Kong's Channel V has broadcast television documentaries about the band. Scandinavian radio stations play their songs...

In Russia Mumiy Troll usually play 5,000 - 20,000 seat arenas on their tour. They headlined the Moskowsky Komsomoletz Festival in Luzhniki, playing for over 100,000 people!
"The socially most dangerous band in the world" has arrived!