Present time
Vyacheslav Zarubov
Kirill Afonin
German Osipov
Valentin Tarasov
participants
Kirill Antonenko
Vladimir Khoruzhy
Andrey Gusev
Maxim Leonov
Alexey Lyubchik
Mikhail Kraev
In February 2004, the group released its second album, “Districts-Quarters,” which became its breakthrough to fame. A number of video clips are broadcast by Muz-TV and MTV Russia: “Everything That Concerns”, “Strong Drinks”, “Southern Night”. The album is followed by a concert tour throughout Russia and the CIS, lasting almost two years.
In 2005, a disc of remixes and “Beasts - Karaoke” were released. Recording of the third album begins. In the fall, the first song from the future disc appears in rotation - “Roma, Sorry.” The album itself, entitled "" was released in March 2006.
"Beasts" received a number of awards. In 2004-2009, the group was named “Best Rock Band” according to the Muz-TV channel. In 2005, the group received a similar award from MTV Russia. In 2004, “Beasts” received the MTV Europe Music Awards as “Best Russian Performer”.
In 2006, Roma Zver released an autobiography called “Rain Pistols,” which describes his life in Taganrog before moving to Moscow and creating the group. Along with this, there has been a sharp decline in appearances on television.
In 2007, a video was released for the song “Brunettes and Blondes” from the not yet released album. The composition of the group is changing: keyboardist Kirill Antonenko and bassist Konstantin Labetsky are leaving. They were replaced by Alexey Lyubchik (bass guitar) and Vyacheslav Zarubov (keyboards).
At the end of 2007, a video was released for the song “To You” from the not yet released album. The song "Apartment" is included in the soundtrack of Vladivostok-FM, one of the radio stations available in the game Grand Theft Auto IV.
In July, a video is released for the song “I’m with you” from the not yet released album. In the same year, “Zveri” became “Best Rock Group” according to Muz-TV for the fifth time in a row.
On October 31, the group released their fourth album entitled “Further”, presenting it at the Moscow club “B1 Maximum”. The album was supposed to be released in the spring, but the finished material was ruined by a flood in the studio. The group is moving to a new studio: “ZveriSoundStudio”.
In November 2008, the group closed the RMA award of the MTV Russia channel with a scandal. After playing a 10-minute set consisting of all the old hits, Roman Bilyk ends the performance with a show of his middle fingers and leaves, and guitarist Maxim Leonov breaks his guitar with the inscription “No more rock on RMA” in the middle of the stage.
On May 29 and 30, 2009, 2 acoustic concerts were held in Moscow as part of the new project “Close Animals” at the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky. The program featured the song “Spring” by the group “Beijing Row-Row”
On June 5, 2009, the group “Zveri” was recognized for the 6th time in a row as the best “rock group” according to Muz-TV.
At the beginning of autumn 2009, sound engineer Alexey Martynov, who had worked in the group from the very beginning, left the group. He is replaced by Dmitry Dobry, who previously worked with the group “Cockroaches! "and singer Linda.
At the end of September 2009, the collection of concert videos (“Districts-Quarters”, “Dance”) of the group “Zveri” was replenished with another creation for the song “Speak”. The material for the video was a video recording for a DVD made during acoustic concerts in Moscow at the end of May 2009.
By the beginning of 2010, “Beasts” were recording several new songs in Kyiv. They were included in the fifth numbered album, which was released in the spring of 2011.
2011 was the year of the group’s 10th anniversary, so “Beasts” celebrated this date on a grand scale. On December 2, 2011, the group played a big concert at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg and on December 11, 2011 at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow.
In January 2010, a video for the song “Nobody” appeared, directed for the first time by Roman Bilyk.
On March 8, 2011, the fifth studio album “Muses” was released, which included nine new tracks, a cover tribute to the Kino group - “Peremen” and two remixes of the songs “The Sun for Us” and “Mickey”.
On June 1, 2012, the group “Zveri” received the MUZ-TV award for the seventh time in the category “Best Rock Group.” As part of their performance at the award, together with the group “Casta,” the group performed the hit Around the Noise. At the end of July 2012, the group “Zveri” released a video for the song “No Need Anywhere” from the album “Muses” (2011).
In 2013, the collection “Best Animals” was released, which collected the best songs from the first five albums in a new arrangement. The musicians took an unconventional approach to both the recording of the album and its design. Work on the album took place in St. Petersburg in the summer of 2013, and all the musicians wrote at the same time. The album itself consists of two discs in a magnetic box with cover art by artists Maria and Vladimir Semensky. Each album is accompanied by unique stills from the Zveri group’s videos (for each copy, the original films with the clips were cut by hand). The five-year collection of the best songs of the Zveri group “Best” is included in the top 3 of the Russian branch of iTunes, taking 3rd place, which is the best indicator among Russian-language albums at the moment.
On June 14, 2013, the group released a new single called “Youth,” for which a video clip was made, recorded at a solo concert on April 27, 2013 in Moscow.
In 2015, Zveri received the “Best Rock Band” award from the Muz-TV channel.
On March 1, 2016, the Zveri group released their seventh studio album, “No Fear,” which was released on iTunes. The album was recorded with the participation of London sound producers, including Jerry Boys, known for his collaborations with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The presentation of the video for the song “Fly” took place on February 29, the main role in the video was played by actress Irina Gorbacheva, directed by Roma Zver.
Roma Zver also shot a video for the song “No Fear,” where the main roles were played by people who overcome their own fear and do something amazing: skaters, a pole dancer, a slackliner, breakdancers, a fire dancer and others. In the summer of 2016, an experimental video for the song “You are so beautiful” was released, where Roma Zver acted not only as a director, but also as a cameraman, producer, editor and played one of the main roles together with his wife Marina Koroleva. The clip was filmed with one GoPro camera.
On June 12, 2016, it became known that Maxim Leonov (lead guitar, backing vocals), Alexey Lyubchik (bass guitar), Mikhail Kraev (drums) were leaving the group in July. Their place was taken by musicians Kirill Afonin (bass guitar), German Osipov (guitar), Valentin Tarasov (drums), Vyacheslav Zarubov remained at the keys.
On March 26 in New York and April 1 in Los Angeles in 2017, the group “Zveri” performed with the concert program “The Best”. The program includes hits from all albums over fifteen years.
In 2017, “Beasts” released a video for the song “Ships”. The same video is sent to the “Window to Europe” competition in the “Best Music Video” category, where it wins.
In 2017, “Beasts” toured with the program “Acoustics. The Best,” and in the summer of the same year, “Beasts” began work on a new album.
In 2017, Roma the Beast released his second autobiography, “The Sun for Us.” On September 15, 2017, the mini-album of the group “Zveri” “Friends in the Ward” was released.
In 2018, Roma Zver released a selfie video for the song “Veselo”. The video was shot alone, without leaving the apartment (where this song was born). On March 15, 2018, the 2nd mini-album is released - EP “Wine and Space”.
Roma Zver and German “Albanian” Osipov (solo guitarist of the group ZVERI) acted as music producers of the film “Summer” (directed by Kirill Serebrennikov). At the 8th international CANNES SOUNDTRACK award, which is held as part of the main program of the Cannes Film Festival, they were awarded the main award for the musical design of the film “Summer”.
Compound
Current composition
- Roman Bilyk (Roma Zver) - vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar; producer (2001 - present day)
- Vyacheslav Zarubov - keyboards (2007 - present day)
- Kirill Afonin - bass guitar (2016 - present day)
- German "Albanian" Osipov - lead guitar (2016 - present day)
- Valentin Tarasov - drums (2016 - present day)
Former members
- Konstantin Labetsky - bass guitar (2003-2007)
- Kirill Antonenko - keyboards (2002-2007)
- Vladimir Khoruzhy - guitar (2002-2003)
- Andrey Gusev (Gustav) (2002-2003)
- Maxim Leonov - lead guitar, backing vocals (2003-2016)
- Alexey Lyubchik - bass guitar (2007-2016)
- Mikhail Kraev - drums (2002-2016)
Discography
Studio albums
- - Hunger
- - Districts-blocks
- - When we are together, no one is cooler
- - Further
- - Muses
- - One on one
- - No fear
Live albums
- - Acoustics
- 2017 - Acoustics. The best
Remix albums
Collections
- 2013 - Best
- 2014 - All the best in one
Mini albums
- 2018 - Animals in the Zoo (film soundtrack) "Summer ")
Radio singles
| Year | Name | Charts | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Airplay | Russia Airplay | Moscow Airplay | Ukraine Airplay | Kiev Airplay | Audience Choice Chart | Final annual | |||
| 2003 | Rain pistols | 66 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Everything that concerns | 8 | 208 | 200 | 138 | 110 | - | 101 | Districts-blocks | |
| 2004 | Little s | 100 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Hunger |
| Districts-blocks | 106 | 175 | 69 | 216 | 233 | - | - | Districts-blocks | |
| South night | 30 | - | 191 | - | 353 | - | - | ||
| Southern Night (RMX) | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | 90 | Animal Mixes | |
| stronger beverages | 7 | 261 | 13 | 396 | - | - | 23 | Districts-blocks | |
| Nese Galya water | 189 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2005 | Snowfall | 57 | - | - | - | - | - | - | When we're together, no one is cooler |
| remember me | 105 | - | 110 | - | - | - | - | Districts-blocks | |
| Districts Quarters (Remix) | 109 | - | - | - | - | - | - | Animal Mixes | |
| For you (S-Fulikon) | 68 | - | - | - | - | - | 129 | ||
The group “Zveri” was founded by Roma Bilyk together with his friend Alexander Voitinsky in 2001. Roman came to conquer Moscow immediately after graduating from the Don Interregional College of Construction and Economics. In 2000, I met the future producer of the Zveri group, composer Alexander Voitinsky, who at one time worked with Ivan Shapovalov, the producer of the scandalous Tatu group. The musicians to participate in the “Beasts” group were selected through online advertisements. In February 2002, the group released their first video for the song “For You”. The rotation of the clip was very minor. The group did not achieve the desired popularity the first time, but was noticed by Alexei Kozin, head of the record company CD Land Records, with whom a contract was signed in the summer of the same year. The video was followed by the recording of the debut album “Hunger”. In June 2002, the songs of the newly formed group “Zveri” appeared on the radio for the first time, they were heard on the waves of the radio station “Our Radio”. In winter, the second video for the song “Simply Such Strong Love” is released, which is successfully played on MTV and by the end of winter it already occupies the top positions on the charts of this channel. All in the same year 2002, the group performed for the first time at the Nashestvie festival.
The release of the album “Hunger” occurred on February 19, 2003. Songs from this album: “Rain-Pistols”, “Ring”, “For You”, “Simply Such Strong Love” were successful in the “Chart Dozen” hit parade. It was a long-awaited album, and such hits as “For You” and “Just Such Stylish Love” predetermined the success of the first album. During this period, the formation of a fan club for the “Beasts” group also took place.
In the fall of 2003, the group began touring for the first time. The first away performances of the group “Zveri” were designed for small venues and did not have a grandiose scale, but, nevertheless, concerts of the group “Zveri” in points quite remote from the capital, namely in Yekaterinburg, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Kaliningrad, Kazan and other cities are very successful.
The magazine “Molotok” was the first to put a photo of the lead singer of the group “Zveri” Roma Bilyk on its cover in 2003. And a year later he began to constantly publish materials about “animals” and even dedicated all issues of July 2004 exclusively to “animals”, becoming a kind of fan publication of the “Beasts” group.
In November 2003, changes took place in the group's composition. Guitarist Volodya Khoruzhy and bassist Andrey Gustav left the group. In their place they took Max Leonov and Kostya Moiseev. A new line-up was being formed, which was destined to experience real success, go on large-scale tours throughout the country and neighboring countries, and become a real team.
At the end of December 2003, the main hit of 2004 appeared on the MTV channel - the video for the song “Everything that concerns you.” At the same time, the “Beasts” group receives the status of the country’s main youth group, and Roma Beast is presented as a new star and youth leader. And on January 25, Students' Day, the group has its first serious sold-out concert in St. Petersburg.
The second album of the group “Districts-Quarters” was released on March 11, 2004. On March 26, 2004, the group’s first truly large-scale concert took place at Luzhniki. Thus, the stage of ascension to the stars was passed.
Next, the group “Beasts” takes on the organization of the All-Russian Tour and travels all over Russia, starting with Kaliningrad and ending with the Far East. The group's workload was colossal - twenty concerts a month. Therefore, in the summer of 2004, a month-long timeout was taken. In August, the concert tour resumed, and the guys went to Kazakhstan to play the postponed concerts.
October 16, 2004 “Beasts” become winners in the categories “Best Artist”, “Best Group” and “Best Video” at the MTV – Russia Music Awards. However, on March 18, at another music award “Poboroll”, established by “Our Radio”, the group “Zveri”, although it was represented in many nominations, did not receive any awards.
On October 25, 2004, the second large-scale solo album of the group “Zveri” was played in St. Petersburg. The event took place at the Ledovy Sports Palace. It was truly a grandiose event. More than ten thousand fans of the group gathered, who raised their hands in the air in a mad drive and sang along with Roma the Beast all 20 songs sung. On November 17, 2004, the group “Zveri” goes to Rome to participate in the MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony. On December 11, 2004, a solo concert took place at the largest indoor venue in the country at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex.
In 2005, the group released a collection of remixes and the disc “Beasts-Karaoke”, and also began recording their third album. One of the first songs of the new album, “Roma Sorry,” appears in wide rotation in the fall, and the album itself was released in March 2006 under the title “When we are together, no one is cooler.” The group attempted to participate in the Eurovision 2005 competition with the song “Snowfall”.
In 2006, frontman of the group “Zveri” Roman Bilyk published his autobiography entitled “Rain-Pistols”. In this publication, fans of the group found a complete description of the Taganrog period of the performer’s life. Against the backdrop of all this, there was a sharp decrease in the frequency of the group’s appearance on television.
In 2007, a video for the song “Brunettes and Blondes” was released, which will then be included in the group’s new album. The composition of the group changed again.
At the beginning of 2008, the group “Zveri” was filming another video for a song from an album that had not yet been released. This time it is a video version of the song “To You,” and in July a video for the song “I am with you” is released.
The compositions “Districts-Blocks” and “Rains Pistols” were used in the film “Everyone Will Die, But I’ll Stay.” In July, a video was released for the song “I’m with you” from the not yet released album. Also in 2008, the group was awarded the title of “best rock band” according to Muz-TV for the fifth time in a row.
And on October 31, the group “Zveri” finally released the album, so anticipated by the fans of the group. The group's fourth album was released under the title "Next". The presentation of the new album took place in the famous Moscow club “B1 Maximum”. The group changes the studio to “ZveriSoundStudio”, since there was a flood in the previous one, which prevented the earlier release of the album.
On May 29 and 30, 2009, Roma Zver and his team played two acoustic concerts at the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky, which took place within the framework of the Close Animals project. On June 5, 2009, the group “Zveri” for the 6th time became the best rock group according to Muz-TV. In the early autumn of 2009, sound engineer Alexey Martynov, who had been part of the group since its inception, left the group. He is replaced by Dmitry Dobry, who previously worked with the group “Cockroaches!”, as well as with the singer Linda. At the end of September 2009, another video was released based on materials from the band’s concerts. This time for the song “Speak”.
By the beginning of 2010, the Zveri group finished recording a number of new songs in Kyiv, which would later be included in the new fifth album, the release of which the Zveri group planned for 2011. The album was planned to be very aggressive, heavy in sound, which was supposed to be completely new in the group’s work.
In 2010, the Zveri group was involved in several cover projects with other rock performers. So, at a concert on May 28 in the fashionable St. Petersburg club “Zal Waiting”, a cover version of the Kino group’s song “We are waiting for changes” was performed, and on June 10, at the “Songs for Alla” concert, the group “Zveri” presented their cover of the song Alla Pugacheva “Love alone is to blame.” On November 27, “Beasts” congratulate the group “Moral Codex” on their 20th anniversary in the form of a performance of cover versions of the songs of the hero of the day “Actress for Life” and “Don Perditto”. The group also worked on a cover of Alexander Rosenbaum’s famous song “Gop-Stop”.
2011 is the year of the 10th anniversary of the Zveri group, and naturally the heroes of the day are going to celebrate this anniversary on a very large scale. Events are planned for autumn 2011. The site chosen was the Olympic Sports Complex. The group also plans to release an album called “The Best,” which should include old hits in new rock arrangements. The team also continues to work on a new album, which will feature electronic sounds.
On March 8, 2011, the group released their fifth studio album, “Muses,” which included both new tracks and a cover of the Kino group and two remixes of the songs “The Sun for Us” and “Mickey.”
"Beasts", the object of adoration of Russian schoolgirls in the mid-2000s, won the "Best Rock Group" award nine times at the Muz-TV awards, were laureates of the "Debut" and MTV Russia awards, and in 2005 Forbes magazine included the group in the list of the most rich Russian performers. The group's work can be classified as pop-rock.History of creation
Roman Bilyk, known to fans as Roma Beast, founded the group “Beasts” in 2001. A simple guy, a vocational school graduate from Taganrog, came to Moscow in 2000 in search of a better life. The capital met him inhospitably: he spent the night on abandoned construction sites, worked as a security guard in a nightclub, but did not lose hope of finding contact with a producer who would help him fulfill his old dream - to create his own rock band. 
Thanks to his work at the club, he met producer Alexander Voitinsky, who a couple of years earlier had helped Ivan Shapovalov open the Tatu group to the world. The remaining musicians - drummer Mikhail Kraev, guitarist Vladimir Khoruzhy, bassist Konstantin Labetsky and keyboardist Kirill Antonenko - were found via the Internet.
The main stages of creativity
In 2001, the group’s debut video for the song “For You” was released, in which Roma the Beast in a formal suit and a girl in a wedding dress acted out a plot reminiscent of the film “Bonnie and Clyde.” The captivating video sequence and the languid voice of the vocalist ensured the video rotation on MTV.Animals - For You (2001)
In 2003, the musicians released their debut album “Hunger,” which included 12 compositions. The absolute hits of the record were the lyrical “Rain Pistols” and the perky “Simply Such Strong Love,” which never left the Chart Dozen hit parade. A year later, a re-release of the album was released, which included a new song “Heroes”, as well as several concert recordings and a duet with Tatyana Bulanova.
Animals - Just such a strong love
In February 2004, the second album “Districts-Quarters” was released. Listener opinions were mixed. On the one hand, the track list included very driving compositions: “Southern Night”, “For Love from the Neck”, “That’s Not the Point”, reminiscent of the yard ditties “Lyuba” and, of course, the song “Everything that concerns you” , which became the calling card of “Beasts” for a long time.
On the other hand, it was no longer “school rock” from the time of “Hunger” - the sound had changed, the record included many melancholic songs with sometimes even suicidal motives: “About Love”, “Oceans”, “Playing Yourself”, “Remember Me” ", "Stronger beverages". Nevertheless, it is this album of “Beasts” that is considered a breakthrough - in 2005 it brought Bilyk the Muz-TV Award in the “Best Album” category.
In 2005, the team began creating the third album, “When we are together, no one is cooler,” which was released in March 2006. The musicians again experimented with sound, as a result of which critics found references to the style of indie rock Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys.
Listeners noted an increase in sound quality, but complained about the loss of individuality. If the first album of “Beasts” was compared to a nugget that did not receive a worthy cut due to the small experience of Roma and the company, then in the third, few people managed to find something new. The group was accused of an initially commercial approach, targeting a teenage audience and infantilism.
“Beasts” is characterized by an energy built on rebellion, but “When We Are Together No One Is Cooler” is more like a storm in a teacup.
However, there was no need to talk about a drop in popularity - at live performances, “Beasts” still put on a spectacular show and charged visitors with the energy of youth. However, there were rumors that the third album would be the last, that the Beast decided to disband the group in order to pursue solo work.Animals - See you soon
However, in 2008, the fourth album “Further” went on sale, which also received mixed reviews. The track list includes only 12 songs, and the singles “To You”, “I’m with You” and “Brunettes, Blondes” have already been thoroughly “heard”. However, thanks to the songs “My Love”, “Eyes”, “Speak” and “Bye”, fans began to hope for the upcoming revival of the old spirit of “Beasts”. The album also includes the old song “Tram,” a recognized stadium hit.
In the fall of 2009, “Beasts” got a new sound engineer, Dmitry Dobry, and the previous one, Alexey Martynov, left the team. The group began work on the next numbered album.
In 2011, the group released an anniversary album, which collected the best hits of the entire existence of the group (25 songs in a new arrangement), as well as a studio rock and roll record “Muses”, which included the tracks “Mickey”, “Mickey”, already well known to fans. Nobody" and a cover of Viktor Tsoi's "We are waiting for change", which turned out to be much harsher than the original. Roma Zver argued that “Muses” ended the previous era of the group and opened a new page.
The 2014 album “One on One” turned out to be small (only 9 songs and 1 remix) and very sad, with deep lyrics and a ballad style. The former “Beasts” awoke only in the aggressive “Juliet”. Videos for the songs “Youth” and “Vows” were released, but, like the entire record, they went almost unnoticed.
“The fuse has disappeared,” some fans complained, others argued that it was absurd to demand songs about youthful sex from a 37-year-old married man, that “Beasts” were looking for a new concept and they were doing well.
The rightness of the second category was proven by the seventh album “No Fear” released in 2016, where both a heavy “rock” sound and romantic lyrics were observed, which deeply revealed the poetic side of Roma the Beast. Trying to keep up with the times, “Beasts” paid a lot of attention to creating music videos: for half of the 10 songs included in the album, five videos were released: for the title “No Fear”, “Fly”, “You are so beautiful”, “Serenade” and "Ships". 
Scandals
In 2006, at the Golden Gramophone in the Kremlin, “Beasts” were supposed to play the song “Roma, Sorry.” The phonogram began to play, but Roman remained behind the scenes, came on stage only for the second verse and was defiantly silent.However, conflicts due to the lack of opportunity to sing not to the soundtrack were not uncommon for the group. In November 2008, at the closing of the RMA awards, the Beasts were not given the conditions to perform live, which is why the musicians left the stage with a scandal: the Beast showed the middle finger to the audience, and guitarist Maxim Leonov broke his guitar.
"Beasts" at Russian Music Awards 2008
In 2014, the leader of the group sued Sergei Svetlakov and Alexander Nezlobin for copyright infringement. The comedians wanted to include the song “Southern Night” in the soundtrack of the comedy “Graduation,” but Bilyk refused. The song was still featured in the film, and litigation ensued, which the Beasts won. The creators of “Graduation” were ordered to pay the group a million rubles.
Discography
- Hunger (2003)
- Districts-blocks (2004)
- When we're together, no one is cooler (2006)
- Further (2008)
- Muses (2011)
- One on One (2014)
- No Fear (2016)
- Friends on the ward (2017)
- Wine and Space (2018)
Group "Beasts" now
Recently, “Beasts” have switched to a new mini-album format for them. Thus, in September 2017, the EP “Friends in the Ward” was released with five new songs. A video was shot for the track “Veselo”, or rather a monoclip - it was created through the efforts of one Roma the Beast within the walls of his apartment. He was a director, a cameraman, an editor, and an actor.Roma Beast – Fun
In March 2018, “Beasts” pleased fans with another new product - the mini-album “Wine and Space”.
The group “Beasts” was created in 2001 by a visitor from Taganrog, Roman Bilyk, known under the pseudonym Roma Beast. The producer was composer Alexander Voitinsky, who previously collaborated with the producer of the Tatu group Ivan Shapovalov. They recruited the band's musicians through advertisements on the Internet.The group soon released a video for “For You,” the video for which was shot before the song was written. The video was followed by the debut album “Hunger”. The song from this album, “Rain-Pistols,” was a success in the “Chart’s Dozen” hit parade. In the same year, the group performed for the first time at the "Invasion" festival.
In 2004, the group released its second album, “Districts-Quarters,” which became its breakthrough to fame. A number of video clips are broadcast by Muz-TV and MTV Russia: “Everything That Concerns”, “Strong Drinks”, “Southern Night”. The album is followed by a concert tour throughout Russia and the CIS, lasting almost two years. The ensemble's popularity is growing, but observers note an increasingly strong pop bias in Bilyk's work. Along with rock festivals, “Beasts” begin to perform at pop industry events.
In 2005, a disc of remixes and “Beasts - Karaoke” were released. Recording of the third album begins. In the fall, the first song from the future disc “Roma, Sorry” appears in rotation. The album itself, entitled “When we are together, no one is cooler,” was released in March 2006.
"Beasts" received a number of awards in the field of show business. In 2004 and 2005, the group was named “Best Rock Band” according to the Muz-TV channel. In 2005, the group received a similar award from MTV Russia. In 2004, “Beasts” received the MTV Europe Music Awards as “Best Russian Performer”. The group also starred in the film “Words and Music.”
In 2007, Roma Zver released the first part of his book “Rain Pistols,” dedicated to the history of the group.
Compound
Roman Bilyk (Roma the Beast) vocals, guitar;
Kirill Antonenko (Kirbas) keyboards;
Maxim Leonov guitar;
Konstantin Labetsky bass guitar;
Mikhail Kraev (Bee) drums.
The group “Zveri” was created in 2001 by Roman Bilyk and producer Alexander Voitinsky. Roman came to Moscow from Taganrog, where he studied to become a builder and wrote songs. After the name “Beasts” appeared, Roma also acquired a corresponding pseudonym. As for Voitinsky, at first he saw his production project as completely different, but changed his mind after hearing Bilyk’s songs: Roma turned out to be a talented melodist and an interesting poet - at the same time, he spoke a language understandable to young people and sang in a frankly untrained voice. The rest of the musicians in the group were recruited from advertisements on the Internet.
“Beasts” began with a rotation of the videos “For You” and “Simply Such Strong Love,” after which the album “Hunger” (2003) was released, on which even stronger songs were found - for example, “Rain-Pistols.” “Beasts” was then willingly played on “Our Radio” and invited to “Invasion”. Almost every year, “Beasts” became the best rock band according to the Muz-TV award, but they did not become part of the rock community - the nationwide popularity that fell after the release of the second album “Districts-Quarters” (2004) prevented them.
The songs “Everything That Concerns”, “Strong Drinks”, “Southern Night” became hits largely thanks to the videos that Voitinsky shot. An original idea was invented for each video, so it was interesting to watch most of the “Beasts” videos - Bilyk got the opportunity to show his acting talents, although, as a rule, he played himself in different circumstances.
“Beasts” toured a lot, and Roma became one of the main characters in teen magazines and television shows. In 2006, “Beasts” released the album “When we are together, no one is cooler,” which consolidated their success, but from a creative point of view indicated some marking time. In addition, Roma the Beast imagined himself as a writer and published the book “Rain Pistols,” in which he talked about his life before moving to Moscow. The book carefully preserved the very naturalness that producer Voitinsky nurtured: the memories dictated by Bilyk were included in the publication in an almost unedited form. Unlike the songs, where this technique worked well, the book received mixed reactions. The promised sequel has not yet been published.
In 2008, the old songs “Districts-Blocks” and “Rains-Pistols” were included in the soundtrack of Valeria Gai Germanika’s acclaimed film “Everyone Will Die, But I’ll Stay.” At the same time, the album “Next” was released, which contained timid musical hints about the growing up of “Beasts” and their inevitable separation from the teenage audience. At the end of the year, Roma and Co. caused a scandal at the MTV RMA awards: guitarist Maxim Leonov broke his guitar with the inscription “No more rock on RMA-Russia” in the middle of the stage, protesting the inability to play live.
After this, the group continued to tour, but slightly reduced the frequency of releasing hits. Preparations for the next album were further slowed down due to the search for a new sound and parting with producer Voitinsky. As a result, the Muses disc, released in 2011, turned out to be eclectic - hits in the traditional style were interspersed with compositions with more mature arrangements, and one of the most successful songs was the cover version of “We are waiting for changes” by the Kino group.
