Achi news desk-
The group have toured the world, but this year they will be releasing their first album in English as well as embarking on a UK tour, including a date in Edinburgh.
Lead singer Sviastoslav ‘Slava’ Vakarchuk was born in the Soviet Union, has a PHD in theoretical physics and is a former member of the Ukrainian parliament.
His first love, though, has always been music – even if it wasn’t always readily available behind the Iron Curtain.
Mr Vakarchuk tells the Herald: “Some might say that it was culturally black at all behind the Iron Curtain, and that might have been true to some extent until the mid-80s.
“But after perestroika and the breaking of the ice between the United States and the Soviet Union it was different, it was a very turbulent time.
“You were free to do many things but the irony was that you didn’t get the chance to do that.
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“In the 60s and 70s they would punish you for listening to certain types of rock music, saying it was anti-Soviet.
“In the late 80s when I was a kid it was fine, nobody cared what you listened to or played, but the real stuff was hard to come by.
“For example, I remember the first time I heard The Beatles was in 1987 when I was 12 years old – and I fell completely in love.
“I became a huge Beatles fan, you’d have experienced it for 25 years then but it was new to me.
“The first time I saw them was on one of the first Soviet late night shows, there was this black and white video of McCartney singing ‘Let It Be’ and I was like, ‘wow, s*** man’. I remember being totally excited.
“That changed my whole trajectory, my obsession with The Beatles made me a musician.
“As is usually the case, if The Beatles were your first love everything else follows. The boys and I, our group from school, were into old British rock like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones , Pink Floyd as well as blues and rock music from the east and the States.
“Then 1991 changed the whole perspective, not just for me but for kids all over the world, when grunge came out: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana.
“I think my main influence was the mixture of grunge and old British and American classic rock, and you can add to that our basic Ukrainian Slavic DNA – so you have your Celtic roots.
“Put all that in a cocktail and you can see where Okean Elzy is coming from.”
He formed Okean Elzy, which translates as Elza’s Ocean, as a teenager in 1994 and after four or five years of hard graft he became one of the biggest names in Ukraine.
At a time of relative harmony between east and west they also traveled across Russia and other former Soviet bloc countries, but the ousting of president Viktor Yanukovych and the subsequent Russian annexation of Crimea changed things forever. .
Mr Vakarchuk says: “Yanukovych, in my opinion, was a disastrous president.
“We didn’t feel it as a band because we were the most popular band in the country, we were playing arenas and stadiums, and I think half of our itinerary would be in Russia.
“We were the only top artist in Russia who didn’t sing in Russian or English.
“We didn’t feel, as a band, anything bad but as a citizen I felt it. It got closer and closer to the point where Ukrainians said ‘enough’, maidan happened and the rest is history. ”
That history is, unfortunately, bloody. For the past 10 years though, Mr Vakarchuk has been traveling to the front lines to perform for his country’s troops.
He said: “The war in Ukraine did not start in 2022 as many people think, it started in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and took over some parts of Donbas.
“I’ve been playing for the troops ever since, so when the invasion started on a large scale, I also increased my trips to the front line – it became full scale for me.
“So far we have given 241 performances combining hospitals, free cities, town squares but the majority are on the front line.
“I go there with just my guitar, early Bob Dylan style or Johnny Cash style, you have no equipment, there is no stage, your chair is a box of bullets.
“It’s very basic but it gives you the goosebumps, the feeling of where you are and what you’re doing.
“Every time I go on tour with the band I miss these things, because these little performances mean more to me than gigs in Madison Square Garden or the Albert Hall.”
Okean Elzy have just released their first English song, ‘Voices Are Rising’, with a full English album to follow later.
Mr Vakarchuk learned the language from a very early age, but he admits that making the switch to writing songs was not easy.
He explains: “My mother tongue is Ukrainian and I try to write in I’s language feel rather than speaking or even thinking.
“I can speak English, but when it comes to writing it’s a completely different story because you need to write what you feel. I can write what I feel in English and people can understand it but somehow it doesn’t sound cool. Even I as a listener can see that.
“I was lucky to have partners for most of the songs who were my co-writers and they gave me good insight.
“It was a great experience writing songs with great songwriters from Britain and the US and I loved it. It’s like a new page for me, to some extent it feels like starting your career over, you’re 19 again and starting your new journey.”
He and Okean Elzy will play a charity gig in Edinburgh on April 19 as part of their Help for Ukraine tour, and with real emotion the frontman talks about Scotland.
Mr Vakarchuk said: “I’ve been to Edinburgh twice with my family and I can tell you that I love the city, and I love Scotland in general so much.
“It’s one of the best countries I’ve ever seen, the scenery of the Highlands and Edinburgh. I haven’t been to Aberdeen or Glasgow but Edinburgh is amazing and I’m really looking forward to coming back to play.
“I have the opportunity to say how grateful Ukrainians are to all Britons – English, Scots, Welsh, whoever – for supporting Ukraine.
“We see the support, and we feel it too. Not only in your words but also in actions.”
