The official press release in English written by Oleg Ousmanov To view it in Russian

MISTER TWISTER is the most popular rockabilly outfit from Moscow, Russia.Their music is a fresh and unique mixture of many different styles which first became fused in the 50s. In addition to powerful straight rockabilly, one can easily trace jive, blues, twist and jazz influences in MISTER TWISTER’s music.
While idolizing the 50s rock and roll legends such as Bill Haley, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Johhny Burnette, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johhny Cash, Chubby Checker and covering their evergreen ‘classical’ standards, the band refused to be looked upon only as purists. The TWISTERS are not obsessed to sound ‘ezactly’ like ’56 either. They write a lot of their own stuff both in Russian and in English. The band is very well known all around their huge country and gets an ecstatic reception.
MISTER TWISTER has three voices which are quite different at singing both lead and backing vocals. This turns their overall sound into something beyond compare no matter what they do - a catchy ballad or a lightspeed rocker. One for the music... Two for the show... To say that MR TWISTER are wild, crazy, etc. onstage is to say nothing. The guitar player rolls around on the floor, the drummer hops over the 3-piece kit and the bassman mounts his ‘good lady’-string bass, all without missing the beat! As the saxophone solo takes your breath away, the crowd get totally mad and they bop till they drop.
All this helps MISTER TWISTER stand up to the biggest Russian pop acts. The rockabilly cats have played all sorts of clubs, stadiums and 10,000-seat arenas throughout Russia and other Union States scoring quite a number of gigs and tours in Europe as well.
Besides numerous sellout tours and TV-appearances the band was featured in many Western films on Russian rock. MELODIYA, the only Soviet record company, sold more than a 1,5 million copies of MISTER TWISTER’s debut album. The second album full of haunting tunes in Russian (with 4 bonus) rock standards in English got a huge airplay. The band had their third album ‘THE EARLY TWISTS’ out to happy outcries of the fans in 1996. Now MISTER TWISTER is signed to SOYUZ, the biggest Russian record company, having all their stuff reissued on tapes and CD. By the time you read this MISTER TWISTER will have the fourth album out.
The band also started their own record label UBLUES to produce records of rock acts which incorporate blues, country, beat, jazz and (mainly Russian) folk for major record companies.

MISTER TWISTER, the Moscow-based quartet fuses together rockabilly, jive, blues and jazz, bringing in 3 striking voices with energetic and elaborate arrangements and infusing them with new, young and modern attitudes of the 90s in their brilliant nowhere-to-be-found sound.
— tough yet clear jiving sax-guitar riffs a la Bill Haley
— powerful slapping-bass-driven rocking rhythm section 
— skillful and diversified guitar, now mad-rocking like Chuck Berry’s, now jazzy pensive like Joe Pass’ 
— hoarse and groovy saxophone solos 
— three unique vocals with a Beatlesesque touch to the songs, rockers, ballads, twist and blues

The classic line-up of the TWISTERS was like this: 

Vadim Dorokhov — vocals, guitar, lap steel, piano, music, lyrics (died 26.06.1991 of  a heart attack)
Oleg Ousmanov — vocals, double bass, lyrics, music
Valery Lysenko — vocals, drums
Pavel Verentchikov — tenor saxophone, accordion, piano 

discography

a 100-page illustrated band history in Russian worth lookin' anyway

главная/mainpage

рокабилли в России

Russian rockabilly

Гостевая книга/Guestbook