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Starified Premiere “What If” Live Performance Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 19th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

starified

What is it about a singing drummer that manages to be so gosh darn impressive? I’m not knocking singing guitarists or singing bassists, or singers, for that matter, but maybe it’s just the anomalous aspect. You don’t see a singing drummer every day, and even less often one who can really deliver melodies alongside the pattern of their drumming. I can think of a couple if I sit hard enough and try, but Vadim Ambartsumian of Starified deserves a place on that still-comparatively-short list for sure. The Starified drummer and lead vocalist is backed by guitarist Yuriy Berezovik on “What If” from the band’s Ripple-issued second album, Fat Hits (review here), which arrived amid the tumult of January with all the comforts of an okay-it’s-time-to-rock-and-roll-now heart worn on the three-piece’s collective sleeve.

Based in Moscow and completed by Dmitri Shurpakov on bass, Starified eschew most microgenre niche-picking in favor of a more straightforward heavy rock approach, with songwriting, melody and groove acting coherently together in order to get their sonic point across. The video premiering below for the aforementioned “What If” seems to have been captured live in the studio, and though the audio is produced — that is to say, you’re not hearing an unmixed, bootleg-style song; unless these guys are just that smooth, in which case they should do everything live all the time forever and save themselves and their recording engineers a lot of studio hours — the crispness of sound is unquestionably part of the band’s aesthetic. They use it to the song’s advantage, furthering the notion that the song is what it’s all about in the first place, which, once you hear the chorus, is a notion with which you’ll likely agree. And a good cause, at that.

I won’t keep you, but if you missed Fat Hits in your start-of-the-year winter hunkerdown, you get a solid four-minute sampler of the energy Starified bring to what they do here, and as far as endorsements go, that’s the one to heed.

Please enjoy:

Starified, “What If” official video premiere

New album ‘Fat Hits’ out now on Ripple Music: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/fat-hits

With infectious hooks, knockout clean vocals from drummer Vadim Ambartsumian and an unabashed nod to late 90s heavy, the Moscow heavy trio takes no prisoner and conjures up an irresistible FM aura, having you hooked all throughout its 41 minutes of straight-up, energetic and headbang-inducing heavy.

Video production by LAPAKOTA (http://instagram.com/lapakota.prod?)
Audio production by Artem Shcherbakov

Starified are:
Vadim Ambartsumian – vocals, drums
Yuriy Berezovik – guitars
Dmitri Shurpakov – bass guitar

Starified on Thee Facebooks

Starified on Instagram

Starified on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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Starified Premiere “Don Loco” Video; Fat Hits Coming Jan. 15

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 2nd, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Starified band 2020

Moscow-based heavy rockers Starified were part of a recent glut of pickups by Ripple Music, and they’ll make their debut on the label Jan. 15 with their third album overall, Fat Hits. The LP runs 10 tracks/41 minutes and is being given its first public airing today with a premiere of the band’s video for “Don Loco.”

Upon its arrival in a great unknowable future, Fat Hits will serve as the follow-up to Starified‘s 2018 outing through CSBR RecordsFeathers, which found the band restructured from the five-piece they were on their debut to a trio, with just guitarist Yuriy Berezovik and bassist Dmitri Shurpakov carried over from the original lineup on the prior 2017 self-titled debut. The newcomer in this pared down version of the group for Feathers was lead vocalist/drummer Vadim Ambartsumian, and he continues to make an impression Starified Fat Hitsas Starified strip away excess from their songwriting and refine their material in songs like “Wider Lane,” “An Ode to Tenacious D” and indeed “Don Loco” to an accessible blend of heavy and hard rock drawing from an array of influences modern and otherwise. There’s some glam in “An Ode to Tenacious D,” and yes, I mean that, but the later “Pick a Fight” delves into atmospherics for its verses before returning to ground for a breakout chorus.

Their songs are energetic, at times aggressive in that later-’90s grunge-is-over-what-do-we-do-now kind of way, as on “Saraton,” and while the penultimate “Noah” seems to show some patience in its rollout — at least until the screaming starts — the finale “Same Old River” is unabashed in its commercial readiness in a way that “Wider Lane” earlier hints toward. Does Russia have rock radio? If so, Starified have a single. A few, actually.

From the opening bruiser “Scapegoat” through “Don Loco” — the cinematic clip for which you can see below — and the sans-frills structures of “What If” and “Anti-Rebel,” Fat Hits is clean and sharp in its production and holds its purpose in the songcraft, but isn’t to be taken lightly in terms of performance. Less “a drummer who sings” than both a drummer and a vocalist, Ambartsumian casts a significant presence and is forward in the mix, but he, Berezovik and Shurpakov are all pretty clearly on the same page when it comes to knowing what they want their sound to do, and that would seem to be to engage as many ears as possible.

Like it says in the headline, Jan. 15 is the due date for Fat Hits. Think of the “Don Loco” video as a preview in the meantime.

And please enjoy:

Starified, “Don Loco” official video premiere

STARIFIED (hard rock, stoner, progressive) – a Moscow based power-trio with a singing drummer (est. 2017). The band members call themselves students of the old-school rock masters: from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath to Foo Fighters and Jack White. Their shows are known for mad expression and glamourous entourage. STARIFIED has already had two Russian tours, a European tour, lots of shows in their hometown – Moscow, released two LP’s, a number of live videos, produced their official music video and they keep on working on the new material.

Starified are:
Vadim Ambartsumian – vocals, drums
Yuriy Berezovik – guitars
Dmitri Shurpakov – bass guitar

Starified on Thee Facebooks

Starified on Instagram

Starified on Bandcamp

Ripple Music on Thee Facebooks

Ripple Music on Bandcamp

Ripple Music website

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