We Are Red Elvises - Your Favorite Band!

November 13, 2014 10:18 AM

Igor & Red Elvises play what is best summed up as 'Siberian surf rock.'

Bacon!
I Wanna See You Bellydance

Igor Yuzov and Red Elvises were an integral part of the soundtrack for 'Six String Samurai,' with Love Pipe and Boogie On The Beach. Before he was a red elvis, Igor fronted Limpopo, which is how he landed in LA. 12 Questions With Igor Yuzov.

They recently added a couple more parts to the core guitar-and-balalaika sound, for all you closet disco dancers.

The Fanzine, The Facebook, The Myspace, Pictures.
3 With your outsider's perspective, where's the strangest place in America that Red Elvises have ever played?

Key West is pretty crazy. Montana surprised me. Texas surprised me. Austin, Texas: I was surprised at so much live music there. Even Venice Beach, Calif. When I got there, it was like, "That's the place I like to be!" So I still live there.

I am a Rocketman


and if you ever find yourself crawling like a lobster down Duval street...

posted by the man of twists and turns (37 comments total)

I love Six String Samurai, and I don't care who knows it.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:22 AM on November 13, 2014 [12 favorites]

Saw it in the theater, I think at Two Boots Cinema in NYC? Great fun.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:27 AM on November 13, 2014

and a surprisingly comprehensive wikipedia page.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:27 AM on November 13, 2014

Nthing SSS. Anybody got a ratchet?
posted by dragstroke at 10:29 AM on November 13, 2014

Man, crazy these guys are still at it. They used to come through Lincoln pretty regularly a decade ago when I still lived there and still saw a lot of good shows for ten bucks. It was, invariably, super entertaining.
posted by brennen at 10:32 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

They play 8 days or so in Montana every summer, every night in a different town, sometimes playing two places (Helena and Livingston) in one night.

Best place I've seen them is Chico Hot Springs. Second best was the basement of the Badlander in Missoula on a hot summer night.
posted by ITravelMontana at 10:46 AM on November 13, 2014

They've come through Tallahassee a bunch of times. Always fun.
posted by Cookiebastard at 10:46 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I saw them over a decade ago at a poorly-attended show in a tiny Fort Lauderdale bar. I'd seen Six-String Samurai so I knew how awesome they are, but I wasn't expecting to be sitting at a bar about three feet away from the bass player. Predictably, they tore the fucking roof off the place.
posted by the_bone at 11:00 AM on November 13, 2014 [2 favorites]

They come through our little town twice a year, it's always more fun than drinking with jesus. Their lineup is always changing, right now it's pretty good with Sarah on woodwinds and Anne on trumpet and keys.

And I found that purchasing their swag enters you into a secret society of sorts.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:01 AM on November 13, 2014

I've seen them! I think I've seen them twice! Three times if you count spotting their Red Elvises bright red tour van at a hotel on Colorado Blvd. the next day.
posted by alex_skazat at 11:07 AM on November 13, 2014

This thread needs animated gifs, because this gif I made of a show of theirs I was at perfectly captures the vibe.
posted by dmd at 11:10 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wow...saw these guys fifteen years ago in Toronto and they put on a pretty great show. A friend of mine had for some reason brought a watermelon into the bar and presented it to the lead singer mid-gig. He got a big cheer when he held it up and announced "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A WATERMELON!!!"
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:11 AM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Isn't Elvis originally a Latvian or Estonian name? I suspect that, thanks to the USSR's penchant for relocating populations, there are probably more Elvises in Russia than the US.
posted by acb at 11:16 AM on November 13, 2014

This thread needs animated gifs, because this gif I made of a show of theirs I was at perfectly captures the vibe.

Man, upload that gif to imgur. That link is deader than a doornail.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:16 AM on November 13, 2014

Played with 'em once many years ago and still remember we had a blast. Really fun live show.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:28 AM on November 13, 2014

I have loved them for years after a co-worker turned me on to their music. Your post made me go look and see if/when they ever play in my area only to find I somehow totally missed a show they played 1 month ago. Doh!
posted by Captain_Science at 12:06 PM on November 13, 2014

I love Six String Samurai, and I don't care who knows it.

Much like Steely Eyed Missle Man, I too love Six String Samurai and I don't care who knows it. In fact the more people that know this, the better.
posted by damnitkage at 12:20 PM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I hate to be a stickler here, but isn't the plural Elvi?
posted by pdxjmorris at 12:21 PM on November 13, 2014

If you think their recordings rock, you really need to see them live. You can't help but have a good time.
posted by Soliloquy at 12:25 PM on November 13, 2014

I LOVE these guys!

My bellydance troupe did a performance to I Wanna See You Bellydance, it brought down the house! And that song was so much fun, I went looking for their other stuff. You can't help but feel happy when you listen to them (and dance to them!),
posted by MissySedai at 12:35 PM on November 13, 2014

As another inveterate lover of Six String Samurai, I'm going to have to see if I can catch a show sometime. If for no other reason then so I can say, "The last live show I saw was Igor and Red Elvises," rather than "The last show I saw was Bad Company."
posted by ob1quixote at 12:49 PM on November 13, 2014

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...THE RED ELVISES!!!

EVERYBODY

SHAKE YOUR BODY

GROOOOVIN'
TO
THE
MOSCOW BEAT

When I first moved to Santa Monica in '96, the Elvises used to play on the Promenade, our outdoor mall. They were awesome. My friends and I would go to their shows, where they were even more awesome. We played their CD over and over until everyone said turn it off but we wouldn't because their music was AWESOME.

I am very happy they are still playing. Also, that is a *brutal* tour schedule.
posted by RakDaddy at 12:55 PM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

The first time I saw these guys (at the Twilight Dance Series on the Santa Monica Pier, prob 15ish years ago), they were called something like Popov. I used to see them play what seemed like every week at Rusty'sm also on the pier.

I didn't realize they became "Igor and the".

It was sad when Bernov lost his giant ass triangle bass, he had left it in a hotel or something. It was even sadder when he left the band, but their wiki page says he is back so that is great.
posted by sideshow at 12:59 PM on November 13, 2014

Yeah, apparently Oleg left the band for a year to perform as a clown in a traveling Russian circus.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:02 PM on November 13, 2014

The entire Six String Samurai Youtube link. Enjoy!
posted by damnitkage at 1:08 PM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

The entire Six String Samurai

In glorious 360p.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 1:12 PM on November 13, 2014

I'm not sure the loss of the balalaika bass was entirely an accident. The thing was cumbersome and heavy, and it was hurting Oleg's back. Though I'm sure it was a crowdpleaser, sometimes a musician's health has to come first.
posted by Soliloquy at 1:15 PM on November 13, 2014

Caught them at the Gilroy garlic festival, and of course I loved the six string samurai soundtrack.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:30 PM on November 13, 2014

This is so cool!
posted by Gadgetenvy at 1:33 PM on November 13, 2014

Holy crap, I used to see these guys play on the Santa Monica pier about a million years ago. Gonna try to get to the show in December - great to hear they're still at it!
posted by Space Kitty at 2:41 PM on November 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

I fixed Igor's accordion back in the 90's, and I don't care who knows it.
posted by boilermonster at 12:35 AM on November 14, 2014 [5 favorites]

The first time I ever saw them at a music festival probably 15 years ago the performed just before the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz performed on the same stage. Toward the end of Wirtz's set the Elvises picked him up by his piano bench, lifted him way up and started carrying him around the stage. Well, I guess you had to be there but I've been a fan of the Red Elvises and Wirtz ever since.

Ha, it was 15 years ago Here's them performing at the Tropical Heatwave festival in 1999 in Tampa.
posted by lordrunningclam at 5:53 AM on November 14, 2014

Reminds me of The Leningrad Cowboys and the 1989 movie The Leningrad Cowboys Go America. OK, not Russian, Finnish... but there's a similar vibe, ya? Here they are in action.

Awesome shoes. Awesome hair.
posted by ecorrocio at 9:32 AM on November 14, 2014

they were called something like Popov

They were called Limpopo! It was so great: we'd go to the promenade, get Belgian french fries, and then dance around while watching Limpopo menace the tourists with their bass balalaikas.

I should check and see if I can find my old Limpopo T-shirt. I might still have it somewhere.Not that it would fit or anything.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:21 AM on November 14, 2014

this is very sad song...

...is called "Strip Joint Is Closed"


(marketing director of said tiny Fort Lauderdale bar here...show wasn't that poorly attended given the fact that they had never played South Florida before. Now the area is a regular stop on their way to Key West. As this thread attests, it seems they have played pretty much every inch of North America!)
posted by bonefish at 11:36 AM on November 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

Saw them circa 2001/2002 at the Lafayette Brewing Company in Indiana. Great show, and then they hung out and played foosball afterwards. They were a lot of fun. I still have a yellow pencil that says "Red Elvises--Your Favorite Band". Good to see that they're still around.
posted by Fuego at 10:37 PM on November 14, 2014

Damn, and I was trying to AVOID a broken link. here it is.
posted by dmd at 5:24 PM on November 15, 2014