Naive

What would the Ramones have sounded like if the US had an inflation
rate of 4000%? What would Johnny Thunders have sounded like had he
lived in a country where the average male had a life span of only 58
years, due to chronic alcoholism? Or the Cockney Rejects, if the
average wage in the UK was only $120 per month? Ask these questions and
you're only beginning to scratch the surface of the world's most
interesting bands, Naïve.

Formed in 1988, NAÏVE began in the Russian army with two recruits Max
Kotchetkov (bass) and Sasha Ivanov (vocals). Both trained to be
soldiers, they traded their patriotism for punk rock, moved to Moscow
and started a band. There they were joined by Ruslan Stoopid (guitars)
and Mike (drums) who was years later replaced by another fellow Moscow
crony Dima Snake.

In 1991 NAÏVE released their first single "Tanks-Punks" and a debut
album "Switchblade Knaive" in the then USSR. When Tim Yohannon of
MaximumRockand Roll saw their video to "Tanks-Punks", he realized that
he HAD to release "Switchblade Knaive" in the States on the MRR label,
making it the first punk record out of Russia to be released in the US.

Meanwhile back home, the band had no problems attracting attention. In
addition to numerous fanzines and magazines, some of the big Communist
papers like "Moskovsky Komsomolets" and "Komsomolskaya Pravda"
published articles on NAÏVE. They were declared "most disgusting band
of the year" on national TV.

Possibly their most controversial move, however, was when they
performed one-and-a-half songs in front of the Russian parliament
building (and more than a few tank barrels) during the so-called "coup"
of 1991. Despite their anti-communist position, they had to run for
their lives from a virtual lynch mob, because they also chanted "Boris
(Yeltsin) is an asshole!" from the stage. Initially, infamy like this
prevented the band from playing abroad, as Soviet authorities decided
that they demonstrated poor examples of Soviet youth. Nevertheless,
"Switchblade Knaive" was listed in the national radio charts for
months.

In 1993, inspired by a personal account of buying LSD from the police
officers, the band released their second LP "Militia on Acid"(which was
banned shortly) and which was later released under a different name
"Beer for NAÏVE". As the political climate in Russia had changed, NAIVE
were finally able to obtain exit visas and completed a full European
tour (Though not everything went smoothly. Stoopid was discovered in
France by immigration police with an expired Egyptian passport, and
after several days in a French prison - which he now recalls
wistfully-- he was deported back to Moscow).

After the tour Max quit the band and moved to US. The band reacted to
this with a release in 1995 of their third album"Dehumanized States of
America". "Gradually, step by step, our world is turning into one
enormous corporate empire of dehumanized states", says Sasha, "We
should resist this." Max was replaced by "Pete" on bass, a devoted fan
since the release of their debut album, foregoing a formal audition.
The album firmly established NAIuml;VE as one of Russia's premier punk
bands. Yet even with relative success they still encountered it's ups
and downs, with the literal loss of a drummer Mike (as heroin became
priority number one) and the deaths of several close friends due to
drugs and alcohol.

In 1997, they recorded the album "Post Alcoholic Anxieties" in Moscow,
and the album was released in Russia that summer. "Post Alcoholic
Anxieties " is a natural continuation of a topic first praised by "Beer
for NAÏVE / Militia on Acid" with the main theme proposing the
following thesis: self destruction through vodka is better than self
destruction through heroin. This period marked the height of their
alcohol abuse; not necessarily to glorify it, but definitely to come to
terms with it.

www.naive.ru