The band began in 1981, when former At Last guitarist Dan Murphy pulled Dave Pirner out of his punk band The Shits and founded new project called Loud Fast Rules.

At the first rehearsals, Pirner combined the duties of a vocalist and drummer, but a little later, a "clean" drummer Pat Morley appeared in the band, and Pirner got the rhythm guitar. The direction the team took on hardcore pop. In 1984, the band changed its sign to Soul Asylum and signed with Twin Tone Records. Under the direction of producer Bob Mauld, the guys recorded their first record, Say What You Will". The 1986 disc "Made To Be Broken" was also recorded with Mauld, except Grant Young was now on the drums.

Before parting ways with Twin Tone, the band released Clam Dip And Other Delights on the label, featuring covers by Foreigner (Jukebox Hero), Glenn Campbell (Rhinestone Cowboy), Janice Joplin ("Move Over"), Barry Manilova ("Mandy"), etc.

In 1988, the activities of Soul Asylum were temporarily suspended, but a few months later the musicians returned to work, signing a contract for the release of the next album with the major label A&M Records. The band's compositions increasingly began to sound on the radio, but the albums "Hang Time" and "Soul Asylum And The Horse They Rode In On" could not get into the charts, and the disappointed "A&M" terminated the contract. In 1992, Soul Asylum took Columbia Records under its wing. On the new label, the musicians recorded the album "Grave Dancer's Union", which contained the super hit "Runaway Train". Thanks to him, the record not only ended up on the charts, but after some time gained multi-platinum status.

The song was dedicated to children who ran away from home, and did not leave the hearts of millions of listeners indifferent. The musicians themselves did not cash in on this sore subject, and all the money from the release of the single "Runaway Train" was transferred to the national charitable organization "National Missing Persons Charity".

Meanwhile, the song itself stormed the charts, reaching number five on the Billboard charts. The group appeared on the prestigious David Letterman Show and then at the MTV Awards in front of four hundred million viewers.

Soul Asylum is now so popular that the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, invited them to perform on the White House lawn.
Further interest in the team was fueled by Dave Pirner, who appeared with his girlfriend Winona Ryder in the film "Generation X". However, the popularity of just one song began to oppress the musicians, and they dropped "Runaway Train" from their live set lists, deciding to return to their punk roots.

Before the release of Let Your Dim Light Shine, Sterling Campbell took over on drums. However, this comrade did not last long in the group, and by 1998 Chris Quintana was temporarily taken in his place. The rest of the Soul Asylum members have recently preferred to have fun in various side projects.

AT further group failed to repeat the success, and during the recording of the album "The Silver Lining" bassist Karl Muller died of cancer, and about further development The group has nothing to say.
But in 2010, information appeared on the band's website that the band was working on a new disc.

Soul Asylum June 17, 2012 will present their new album, the first in 6 years. Delayed Reaction is also the band's first album since founding member bassist Karl Mueller passed away in 2005.

SOUL TO SOUL (Soul II Soul), English legendary band. Formed in 1989 in London. It consisted of: Jazzie B. (real name Beresford Romeo, Beresford Romeo) (b. January 26, 1963, London); Nellee Hooper (b. in Bristol) (producer, musical arrangements); multi-instrumentalist Philip "Daddae" Harvey. The group is characterized by a combined style of acid house, ... Read all

SOUL TO SOUL (Soul II Soul), English legendary group. Formed in 1989 in London. It consisted of: Jazzie B. (real name Beresford Romeo, Beresford Romeo) (b. January 26, 1963, London); Nellee Hooper (b. in Bristol) (producer, musical arrangements); multi-instrumentalist Philip "Daddae" Harvey. The group is characterized by a combined style of acid house, soul and R&B. The band originally played at the Africa Center (in London's Covent Garden), where she was noticed by producers from "10" (one of the branches of Virgin). On this label, Soul II Soul released two singles - Fairplay and Feel Free, which attracted close attention from the press and London club administrators. Enlisting vocalist Caron Wheeler, Soul II Soul released their third single, Keep on Movin', which entered the UK Top Ten in March 1989. The same fate awaited the next work of Back to Life, also recorded with Wheeler (summer 1989). This was followed by debut album group "Club Classics, Vol. one".

In America, it was released under the name "Keep on Movin'" and became a super hit on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining "double platinum" status and receiving two Grammy awards (for "Best R&B Instrumental" (African Dance) and "Best R&B Vocal Group (Back To Life)". Shortly before the recording of the second album Soul II Soul «Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade" Wheeler left the band. This did not prevent the album from occupying the top of the British hit parade, but the confusion and vacillation in Soul II Soul continued: the band soon left Hooper, and Jazzy Dee was left almost alone. Hooper went on to work with some of the biggest acts of the early 1990s, including MASSIVE ATTACK (Blue Lines album), Björk (Debut and Post), Madonna (Bedtime Stories), U2 (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me") and others. In 1992, Soul II Soul released new album Vol. III: Just Right", warmly received by the press and having a considerable commercial success. It was followed by the collection Vol. IV: The Classic Singles", and then the band's fifth album, Vol. V: Believe.

Discography:
Club Classics, Vol. 1 (EMI, 1989) | Keep on Movin' (Atlantic, 1989)
Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade (Atlantic, 1990)
Vol. III: Just Right (Virgin, 1992)
Vol. IV: The Classic Singles (1994)
Vol. V: Believe (Virgin, 1995)
Time for Change (Island, 1997)

Soul Asylum evolved from the Loud Fast Rules punk band formed in 1981 by Dave Pirner (vocals, drums), Dan Murphy (guitar) and Karl Muller (bass). With the arrival of drummer Pat Morley, Pirner switched to guitar and the band began performing around their native Minneapolis. Thanks to incendiary, dynamic shows, the band quickly amassed a fan base for itself, and in 1984, Soul Asylum signed a deal with Twin / Tone Records. By then, Morley had left the group and Grant Young had taken over the rig. In August 1984, the debut EP "Say What You Will, Clarence...Karl Sold The Truck" was released, produced by Husker Du frontman Bob Mould. The recording contained 9 loud fast-firing tracks and five years later was re-released with bonuses as a full-length album.

In 1986, the band released a couple of full-lengths, gradually mixing elements of seventies rock and country into hardcore. One reviewer described the "Soul Asylum" sound of the time as a "Kiss" party with Hank Williams to the sound of a departing train. In the meantime, Pirner's introspective lyrics had matured, a fact that caught the attention of the major A&M Records.

Saying goodbye to "Twin/Tone" with the mini-album "Clam Dip & Other Delights", the group debuted under a new roof with "Hang Time". This record was produced by Patti Smith band member Lenny Kaye, and differed from previous works by a harder sound. The sessions were led by Steve Jordan, who introduced semi-acoustic guitars and pianos. Although "Spinnin" peaked at number 15 on Billboard's "modern rock chart", sales of "And The Horse They Road In On...", as well as "Hang Time", were slow. and A&M was quick to terminate the contract.The band was already on the verge of breaking up, but an offer from Columbia Records saved Soul Asylum from the final collapse.

As it turned out, this company did not fail, and in 1992 the band released their most famous album "Grave Dancers Union". However, success did not come immediately - the first two singles, "Somebody To Shove" and "Black Gold", although they got into the Top 10 modern rock lists, did not cause a big stir. The situation changed when the video "Runaway Train" dedicated to the missing children was released.

The touched topic left few people indifferent, and the song, which landed on the fifth line of the main Billboard chart, won the Grammy in the nomination "Best Rock Song Of The Year". The album "Grave Dancers Union" went double platinum, and the musicians generously shared the proceeds, transferring the proceeds from the sale of "Runaway Train" to charity. However, it was not without overlap, and Michael Beinhorn, who directed the sessions, advised getting rid of Grant Young. The new drummer is Sterling Campbell (ex-"Duran Duran"), whose official debut took place on the album "Your Dim Light Shine". this work, which contained the hit "Misery", although it was in the top ten and received platinum status, it was noticeably inferior to "Grave Dancers Union" commercially.

The next feature ("Candy From A Stranger") turned out to be a failure, and "Soul Asylum" was again left without a contract. The failure forced the team to be silent for a long time, and when the musicians decided to create a new album, Muller was diagnosed with cancer. Karl still participated in the sessions of "The Silver Lining", but this record was his last, and he died before the official release of the record.

Where we will talk all summer about young artists who are changing Russian music right now.

The quartet of friends from the Volga region began with a performance at last call, and now it can be heard on a tour of the United States or at Afisha Picnic. They are respected by both BBC radio presenters and Detroit burlesque dancers. But they themselves want to work and tour around their homeland. We asked the band's drummer, Igor Zhukovsky, how it all turned out.

ABOUT SCHOOL GROUP

I studied in Nizhny Novgorod at school number 33. The head teacher knew that I was learning to play the drums, and asked me to gather a group to perform at the last call. The group gathered: two of my classmates and my grandmother's neighbor. It was about ten years ago. Then, two or three years later, we got together again with this line-up, started playing funk conceptually and got The Soul Surfers. For a long time they just rehearsed without speaking. We recorded a demo, sent it to labels and DJs, and we were invited to two labels at once. We chose Detroit, we liked it better, the conditions were better - and released records there. And only after that, having decided that once they release, it means that the music is of high quality, we began to give concerts.

In general, we united on a territorial basis, of course. But by chance - and out of love for funk. We had an interesting class. Now it’s hard to understand this, the Internet is everywhere, but then different schools and classes could have their own fashions, different subcultures. Now this is not the case, all children are unified. We had Beastie Boys in vogue, jungle, funk, everything went around the school on cassettes. Igor Bolshov, our guitarist, was very fond of funk. Miller, who plays the organ, also knew him well. Yes, and Dima, grandmother's neighbor, was also in the know. We loved this kind of music, and when we got together, we decided to play like James Brown.

ABOUT DRUM AND BEATS

I started playing drums because at first I was a DJ, a turntablist. My name was Eln, Pencil has my beat on one of the albums. For beats, I was looking for samples and from this I became interested in records, even more than beats. In general, I have seven classes music school in the piano class, moreover, at the age of 4-5 they took me there to the percussion department, but they didn’t take me there - they said that I was small. He returned there only at the age of 16-17. Estimate, there eight lessons cost 300 rubles, and one private one is much more expensive. The school is nearby, study as much as you want, teacher from the conservatory!

ABOUT THAT YOU SHOULD NOT PISE

We just played for a long time without even recording. Didn't like how it turned out. Gradually began to like it. My dad is a sound engineer, I already knew something myself and began to write us. Then I'm a pretty arrogant person, and I wrote to the dude from The Dap-Kings, which is Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, which was Amy Winehouse's group. Their leader is the band's bassist and head of the Daptone Records label, so I wrote to him: "Hello, I'm Igor, I'm 19 years old." Well, I outlined the moments so that he would understand that I understand something, and asked how they are recorded, some technical points. He answered in a day and wrote detailed advice. Later, our Artem stopped by their studio, he was given a tour there. And our records were sent - we know for sure that they reached them. There is a video for the anniversary of this label, there is a tour of the studio and our records are visible, standing on the piano, the same pack of five layers. In short, we must not piss and communicate.

ABOUT RECORDS AND SALES

Of course, we immediately decided that we would be released on records. Well, I decided, I'm collecting forty-five. I just don't listen to modern funk bands that aren't on record. Such is racism. If you're a normal band that respects soul and funk, you should release records anyway. We need to keep this cool tradition going. Our first record was printed at a factory in Detroit, where Motown label printed all of its own.

Records can sell well. There is a Finnish band The Soul Investigators, they told me they sold 20,000 of their album on vinyl alone. If you have good material and it reaches different audiences, it's real. And on 20,000 records you can make good money, they have a good margin. We have a single that has sold 1,000 copies and is currently under reprisal. This is the track "Doin' the Rasklad", he was cast in the series "Glee" and, apparently, that's why he sold well. And the album has even more circulation. In total, our vinyl sold, probably, 12000-13000 pieces.

ABOUT LABEL

We are currently working with two labels. Detroit Funk Night Records, small and independent; it was opened by DJ Frank Raines. He hosted funk parties and they were so successful that he started making 7" records as well, since he lives near the factory. He releases funk and rap, he even had some J Dilla beats, Guilty Simpson released something. Such a local label loved by the people, they even have a website just recently, although 75 releases are just around the corner. We sent out our tracks, and they also sent them. Frank really liked it and he immediately offered to release five 7-inch records of 500 copies. The first two sold out in two weeks, and he said he was ready to work with us further. Now we have released 27 singles and 1 album.

Another label is Ubiquity Records. I tried to make a re-release of Soviet funk there, mixed them with Melodiya, but nothing came of it. And in the end, they accidentally found out that I was from The Soul Surfers. They say cool Mouzon, if there is something unreleased, give it to us. We gave them two singles, one they attached to the series "Glee". Then they said that they were actually doing albums, not singles. We got together, did it for a long time, did all the feats we wanted with foreigners. I brought it here, at the conservatory, in Gorky.

It is still difficult to make money with this music, despite the work with foreign labels. But we simply believe that the people need such music. People need live frenzy, such funny concerts. This is not subcultural music, it is understandable to everyone, it is for people. We don't make super-conceptual music where the concept is more important than the content. With the release of the album, we stayed at number one on iTunes in the "Soul" category for a week - for rappers this may be ridiculous numbers, but for us it was a shock. Didn't expect this.

ABOUT US TOUR

There are a lot of funk bands in the US and a lot of records coming out. The theme is far from dead, it lives on. There is soul culture, there is funk culture. And these are not some teenagers or hipsters, these are respectable guys, former gangsters and pushers. They really love this music. Such people came to our concerts in America and brought grass in bags, I never held so much in my hands. These guys grew up out of ballsy hip-hop and they wanted slow soul and powerful funk. They say that we have hard funk, as they say, raw. And psychedelic soul. Compared to the soul rock bands of the sixties.

We travel to Europe quite regularly, in the fall we will go to Switzerland, Spain, and maybe France. And they went to America once, a small tour was: Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis. And I also played DJ sets in LA and San Diego. It went really well, especially in Chicago, where there were a lot of people. In Detroit, it turned out strange, but with its own romance. We performed in the dimly lit lobby of an abandoned hotel, and the dressing room was one of the rooms in that hotel. In St. Louis, the concert was in a bar, and we had a burlesque in front of us. These slightly plump aunts undressed to the nipples, and on the nipples they have such tassels. And the leader of this booth asked me to play along with her on the drums while she undressed, there is even a video on YouTube. Then these chicks called us at three in the morning, looking for - boys, where are you, we are ready for anything.

What we took away from this tour is this: America is very similar to Russia, but we wouldn't want to live there. We were terribly tired of burgers, saved ourselves with Chinese food as best we could, and on the last day I just cooked hodgepodge. I also believed in the international. Anywhere is more fun together, you don't need to listen to all this political shit. They live in their own way, of course, but in general they are the same.

ABOUT PATRIOTISM

Our goal was not to go to the USA and stay there. We want to bring soul back to Russia, that's our goal. This music was popular, a lot of VIA played funk, jazz-rock, where is it all?! We see at concerts that people like it. It doesn't matter what it's called, but it's a fun, cool tune that you want to dance to. Our goal is to defeat subculture. We are funk purists, of course, but real funk purists don't try to be in a subculture. James Brown wasn't just trying to be popular with funk, he just wanted to be popular. Funk is simple music, quite radical. We want to carry it to the masses, and not to a party of 20 people. We actually started with the digging of Soviet records, our first songs were inspired by the Soviet groove of the seventies. The fact that we are called to America or Europe is great, we are pleased, but our main stage is here. We are not interested in being an export group only. There is such a dude Tame Impala from Australia, for some reason there was a strong psychedelic party in his city. Somehow he became known all over the world through the Internet, he became quite famous, travels all over the world. Is it export? Of course. Australian artist? Of course, they love him more than anywhere else.

ABOUT RADIO AND CINEMA

We really want to make music for radio and television. We recently completed the design of Mayak radio. That is, all jingles, all federal radio screensavers - everything was written by us. We just went to Stilavin's show once, he was very inspired and after a while we were offered to do it. AT best traditions library music. We also licensed a song for the film "Good Boy", which will be released in the fall. I didn't watch the film, I don't know if it's good, but it became " Best Film"at the Kinotavr recently. The track "Get It Right" was taken for the stage where they dance a break.

ABOUT YOUR SIDE PROJECT BROKEN HEARTS

The Broken Hearts band is our side project that we are actively working on. This is a soul group that collaborates with domestic artists. The idea is to appear in Russia new style, lowrider soul, deep soul. There are already vocalists who are ready to work. Of the rappers, except for Vladi, Basta expressed interest, we recorded an instrumental for him, I don’t know if he will go to work. With Tony Tonite, Heartbreak recorded a version of the song "Ayayay", it was included in his album, but it is not indicated that we play it. In terms of composition, we are the same, but conceptually we play Russian soul. After listening to the instrumentals of Broken Hearts, I already gave myself to more than one chick, so we expect that there will be a bomb. Deep soul is just for this - to have a girl in your pocket. Gasholder offered us to release an album with them, we thought it was a great idea to release soul on a hip-hop label. But now I don't know if it will work or not with them. The Americans are also interested, their sound is interesting. You can also release it in Finland, on the label of that band The Soul Investigators. But I would like to find a Russian label that could help with media support, radio. So that these songs go to the masses.

ABOUT MODERN MUSIC

Of course, we are interested in contemporary music. I really love the beat and bass scenes, I'm interested in uk-bass. I have loved Hudson Mohawke since before it was called that. And not so long ago, Ivan Dorn's manager contacted us, said that Ivan likes our album and he invites us to play at his concert in Nizhny Novgorod. As a gesture of goodwill, of course. We are pleased with such attention, we agreed. You can treat Dorn as you like - I treat it well. He does fresh and right. We called the horn section and had a performance for half an hour. It turned out cool, he liked our performance, I liked his.

ABOUT DIGGING

I continue to be a digger, even though it has become more difficult. It spurs me on because touring with the band has given me more places to dig. I met a huge number of top diggers around the world and now I get the most interesting records not through purchase, but through exchange. Here I find rare Soviet records, which may not be interesting here, but are in demand there. I exchange with people like Dante Carfagna, Egon (Head of Now Again label, subdivision of Stones Throw), Gaslamp Killer. Connected to the worldwide network of diggers. Fortunately, I have such reserves that I can not dig anything for another five years. Interest in Soviet records has not subsided for about 10 years. Melodiya has released almost more records than all other labels, but you need to be able to find something interesting. Foreigners come and try to dig, but they fail. They don't understand what's cool. Many attempts have been made to re-release Soviet music, but the Melodiya firm does not give anything for re-release. And even when he says he will, in the end nothing will come of it. They themselves reissue the classics and don't give a damn about everything else. I showed them what was valuable, I guaranteed that I would do everything for them. Not for money, for an idea. This record costs 300 bucks, I say, if it is re-released, everything will be sold out! Well, after the appreciation of the dollar, it became expensive to print records and they completely forgot about it.

ABOUT SIMILAR GROUPS

In our category, I can name only The Great Revivers from St. Petersburg. It's an instrumental band, they play library - something like music from action movies of the 60s.

Another cool group Medzhikul - cool boogie in Russian. Nobody seems to do funk anymore. There are good Moscow bands that play garage rock. Thunderbeats, for example. This is not at all what we do, but the aesthetics are clear. They play great live, great fellows. Of the modern ones, I really like the Lapti beatmaker, I recently bought his record. I was at his set at the Boiler Room, the most disastrous one, where he played his music for 15 minutes and everything went wrong and broke. And it was all broadcast, horror, poor guy. Still, this music is not for live, but for porn films.

"Soul" domestic I heard, but I'm not ready to listen to it. With such texts I can not understand. Maybe it's internal snobbery, but I can listen to Ivan Dorn without breaks, and our type of soul ... Not at all. Maybe it's my taste that's weird.

ABOUT PLANS AND SOUNDTRACKS

On July 30, we perform at the Afisha Picnic together with the English musician Sean Lee, who was on our album. Moreover, we will not just play along with him, but he will arrive in advance and we will prepare something interesting, we will rehearse at the Zil plant. And for August we were offered to play in the Vyborg Castle. I'm wildly interested in this - it's really an ancient fortress. Hope it works. We are planning to release an EP of Broken Hearts for the winter. But be sure to write that we dream of writing a soundtrack for the film. Suddenly someone will read it. We will write well. A young director who shoots festival films, or an elderly director who makes bad Russian films - pay attention to us. We are for the Russian soundtrack. Let Russian soul play with the cops in the series!