25/17 (band)

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25/17 is a Russian music band based in Moscow with two frontmen: Blednyi and Ant. Their music includes elements of rap-rock, hip-hop, alternative hip-hop, hardcore rap, alternative rock, punk rock and electronic rock.

“25/17 play Russian rap using in their lyrics both, typical “slavic” techniques with its poetry and philosophy, and the heritage of Russian rockers from the 80’s and 90’s.” Some lyrics refer to the Bible, which one could expect taking into account the band’s name

Originally founded in 2002 by Andrey Blednyi from Omsk, Siberia as Ezekiel 25:17, the project’s style has changed a lot after 2006, when another musician from Omsk, Ant (Anton Zavyalov) joined the band. With its name being a homage to a modified quote from the Bible appearing in “Pulp Fiction”, a Quentin Tarantino movie, the band has been writing lyrics about all aspects of the human life from a postmodern perspective: with a lot of references to arts, literature, movies and the pop-culture as a whole.

25/17 lyrics are dealing with social, philosophic and spiritual topics and often referring to the poignant topics in the Russian society. The band has accumulated among their friends such persons as Konstantin Kinchev and Branimir.

A milestone for the group came in 2008, when Ant won Russia’s first hip-hop TV show – the rap contest “The battle for Respect”. This drew attention to Ezekiel 25:17 as a band. From 2009 on, the band has been known as 25/17, making it easier to pronounce its name for the audience, radio and TV hosts.

From 2011 onwards the band has continued recording songs featuring different Russian rock stars including Konstantin Kinchev (Alisa) and Vyacheslav Butusov (Nautilius Pompilius).

During this period Blednyi and Ant became friends with Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, who has been supporting the band and can be seen as an actor in some of the band’s video clips.

In the beginning of September 2014 25/17 presented “Russky Podorozhnik” (“The Russian Plantain”). The album consisting of 12 songs was presented on YouTube with 25/17 posting a video clip for each song day after day from September 1st on. Every video clip is a short movie telling a story. Among the moviemakers there are Alexander Veledinskiy, Yulia Aug and Andrey Davydovsky. The acting includes Andrey Merzlikin, Stasya Miloslavskaya and Zoya Berber. Some of the songs feature Russian rock stars.

In 2015 25/17 released “Par” (‘The Steam”), an album, which was recorded entirely live.

In 2017 an experimental album about the dramatic period of the 1990s in Russia was released. “Umeret’ ot Schastya” (“Dying from Happiness”) became a tribute to Blednyi’s friends who struggled to survive the 1990s due to a period of financial and social instability, drug consumption or alcoholism.

Due to stress during this period the band announced a period of silence in 2019, cancelling most of its live appearances in 2020.

In early 2020 25/17 appeared with a live performance in “Vecherny Urgant”, a Russian late night talk show and performed an unplugged concert in Moscow. They have also announced to present a new album in the coming autumn

Lyod 9 (Ice Nine)

From 2011 Blednyi and Ant are also known for their art house side project, which is called “Lyod 9” (“Ice Nine”), a homage to Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional solid material from “Cat’s Cradle“. It has accumulated the band’s most experimental songs with a much more hardcore sound and biting lyrics. Typically the two frontmen wear black sunglasses to distinguish themselves from 25/17

Discography

Studio albums

Ezekiel 25:17

2004 — «Честное слово третьего подземелья»

2008 — «Засада. Крепче стали»

«25/17»

2009 — «Только для своих» "Tol'ko dlya svoikh" ("Members Only")

2010 — «Зебра» "Zebra"

2012 — «Песни о Любви и Смерти» «Pesni o Lyubvi i Smerti» "Songs of Love and Death"

2014 — «Русский подорожник» "Russky Podorozhnik” (“The Russian Plantain”)

2017 — «Умереть от счастья» “Umeret’ to Schastya” (“Dying from Happiness”)

2017 — «Ева едет в Вавилон» «Yeva yedet v Vavilon» “Eve Is Going to Babylon”

2020 — «Байки из склепа» "Bayki iz sklepa" "Tales from the Crypt"

Awards

2017 Major League 2017 Music Award from Novoe Radio.

2018 XI Annual National Chart Dozen Award Nashe Radio award in the nomination "Group" and "Album" (“Eve Is Going to Babylon”)

2020 XIII Annual National Chart Dozen Award. Nashe Radio award in the nomination "Duet"

Concerts and tours

Spring-Summer 2012: “Песни о Любви и Смерти” tour Russia & Ukraine.

Autumn 2012-Spring 2013: 10 лет на волне. Live tour Russia, Ukraine & Belarus.

Spring 2013: "Лукавые Дни" tour Russia.

Autumn 2013: Лед 9 - "Холодная война" Russia tour.

September 2014 - June 2015: "Русский Подорожник" Russia & Belarus.

Autumn 2015 - Spring 2016: "Пар" Russia & Belarus tour.

May 14th 2016: IIHF World Championship live performance.

In 2016 25/17 gave a live performance in front of over 100.000 participants of Nashestvie, one of the largest rock festivals in Russia.

Autumn 2017 - Spring 2018: "Ева едет в Вавилон" Russia, Latvia, Lithuania tour.

2019: Вспомнить Всё Russia & Belarus tour.

Summer - Winter 2019: Лёд 9 - Оглушительная тишина Russia tour.

March 15th 2020: Акустика concert in Crocus City Hall Moscow

External links

Official site

25/17 on Soundcloud

25/17 on Allmusic

25/17 on Soundcloud

25/17 Official Group on VK

References

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