In news that left me feeling more than a little gutted earlier today, ¡Forward, Russia! announced that after their next gig they’re going to take a break from doing things for the immediate future. The full statement is available here, but the band have been at pains to stress that they are not splitting up. This has naturally made their single gig in Leeds a must for me. Given the date I reckon I’ll just make that a birthday present to myself.
Back to the announcement though, it really did sadden me. It does make sense though, given that the last I heard Rob (bassist) had a full time job and the statement says that Katie (drummer) is going to do an art course in Nottingham. Tom (singer) has been producing mainly for a band called Minnaars and that all sounds quite interesting. As ever Whiskas appears to have been doing a variety of things. Check out his blog. (Nyevsky Prospect in the sidebar 
) Still it’s not hard to feel a little bit upset at the news. The lack of ¡Forward, Russia! gigging and releasing music for the foreseeable future will certainly leave a largish gap in my musical life.
As I’ve already talked about here, this year has not been a good one for bands I like. They all seem to be splitting up, or putting things on the back burner for a bit. Still at least this ¡Forward, Russia! seem to just be taking a break. Tom put it quite well I think when he said on the forums that At The Drive-In went on indefinite hiatus, whereas ¡Forward, Russia! are doing somehting more like My Bloody Valentine. Still, I hope it doesn’t take 10 years for any new activity.
I guess there’s nothing more to do other than to celebrate the two excellent albums they’ve released to date, a multitude of fantastic gigs that I’ve witnessed (well over 20, maybe 30…I lost count) and look forward to hearing more in the future.
Perhaps in light of recent events they thought their name had become a bit …. unfortunate.
Perhaps. I did play around with the idea of involving the South Ossetia issue in the introduction, but thought it was in poor taste.
They wouldn’t have had these problems if they’d kept their old (but discarded before they even played a gig) name; Welcome Megatron.
Welcome Megatron is a way better name for a band!
But you didn’t even watch Transformers. Neither did I.
Its a sad day. Whens the last gig??
The 17th of October, in Leeds.
Hopefully it’s just the last gig for now, as is the plan.
hmmmm… tbh it looks bleak. Looks like a a be final unless Katie’s course gose tits up and they all lose the jobs there a way to get. Hope im wrong but not sure :S
I don’t think it will be their last gig. From what they’ve said on the forums it’s looking quite promising that there will be something more. Exactly when that will be is anybodies guess though.
I’m not expecting anything sooner than 3 years anyway.