Therr Maitz

Therr Maitz (ter 'meɪts) is a Russian indie band, which brings together a mix of trip-hop, acid jazz, breakbeat, house, disco, funk and pop. It was founded by musician, producer, and composer Anton Belyaev in 2004. Since 2011, Therr Maitz has been active in concert and touring, participating in major music festivals, releasing music, and participating in film and television projects. The group was recognized with the award for Most Popular Russian Music Band at the "Event of the Year" ceremony in 2014. The band was also the best selling act on iTunes Russia and Apple Music Russia in 2015, and received the award for Best Russian Artist at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards. Anton Belyaev (lead vocals, keyboards) Victoria Zhuk (vocals, songwriter) Ignat Kravtsov (drums) Dmitry Fomin (bass guitar) Dmitry Pavlov (guitar) Jorge Luis Nunez Palacio (percussionist) Ilya Kamaldinov (guitar) In 1995, while studying at Academic School of Music, Anton Belyaev hosted jam sessions on the interdenominational Christian radio station "New Life" in Magadan. During this time, Anton composed the track «The Flow». In 1998 Anton Belyaev entered the Khabarovsk State Institute of Arts and Culture in the Pop and Jazz Art Department. During his studies Anton worked at various clubs of Khabarovsk as a musician and an art director. In 2004, as he became the art director of "Russia" club, where Anton Belyayev invited musicians: Dmitry Pavlov (guitar), Maxim Bondarenko (bass), Konstantin Drobitko (trumpet), Eugene Kozhin (drums) to play. The availability of technical resources in the club allowed Anton Belyaev to start creating music that would become the base for future Therr Maitz tracks. Anton created the tracks "The Flow" and "Paris Line" using the samples recorded in Magadan before 1998. Inspired by his purchase of a Rhodes Piano Mark II, Anton Belyaev recorded a song named "The Ocean", with the lead melody performed by Konstantin Drobitko (trumpet). In 2005, Anton Belyaev signed a contract with a Japanese company for a series of club performances in Tokyo and Kyoto and moved with the musicians to work in Japan. In December 2005, promoter Sinisa Lazarevic opened the "Out Hall" club in Vladivostok and invited Therr Maitz to play at the opening. Afterwards, Dmitry Pavlov and Maksim Bondarenko moved to Moscow. Constantine Drobitko left the band, due to a work contract in Korea. Eugene Kozhin decided to stay in Khabarovsk. Anton Belyaev worked in Vladivostok (at the BSB and Out Hall clubs), and in 2006 he moved to Moscow. From 2006 to 2010 Anton Belyaev worked as a musical producer with Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Igor Grigoriev, Maxim Pokrovsky and Polina Gagarina. Projects with Therr Maitz was placed on hold. In May 2010 Therr Maitz released their first album, Sweet Oldies, which is a compilation of the tracks written during the early period of the band. As the album sold well, Anton Belyaev decided to reunite Therr Maitz. In the fall of 2010 Anton Belyaev met Oleg Ingiozov (percussion, the TANTSUI project) and invited him to join the band. On 22 October 2010 in club Squat they had a gig. Afterwards, Dmitry Pavlov (Megapolis, Poles) and Maxim Bondarenko left the group, and Anton Belyaev started looking for new musicians. During the session recordings for Igor Grigoriev's track "Tango", Anton Belyaev met Nikolay Sarabyanov (guitar) (MAD DOG, Basta, Irina Bogushevskaya, Grishkovets and Bigudi, Tokyo, Machete, Batyrkhan Shukenov) and invited him to work with Therr Maitz. During recording sessions for Polina Gagarina, Anton Belyaev met with Artem Tildikov (bass with Zemfira, Noggano), who also joined Therr Maitz. Boris Ionov (drums Zventa Sventana, Guru Groove Foundation, Basta, Vladimir Presnyakov, Polina Gagarina) replaced Oleg Ingiozov in the spring 2011. The first concert with the new line-up was held on Friday, May 13, 2011, in Cargo Bar on Red October. Ilya Lukashev (Zemfira, Elka, Grishkovets and Bigudi, Zventa Sventana) was invited act as the sound-engineer for the concert. Victoria Zhuk (Los Devchatos) was invited to sing as well. As a result, the present band lineup was formed. In 2011 Therr Maitz performed in one of the largest festivals in Russia Usad'ba Jazz, the annual Kazantip Republic international festival, the MIGZ international festival of music and media art. In 2012 in Tomsk the band participated in the Red Rocks festival supported by Sberbank Russia and which coincided with the Olympic Games in Sochi. In May 2013 in Gorky Park Therr Maitz performed at The Bosco Fresh festival, which was a part of open-air festival Cherry Wood, alongside other indie-rock acts such as WOODKID, Datarock, Motorama. On June 12, 2013, the annual Maxidrom festival organized by Radio Maximum was held. 30 seconds to Mars was the headliner of the festival, and Therr Maitz was invited to play as a warm up act. Right after Maxidrom, Therr Maitz went on tour to the Russian Far East where they performed twice within the Red Rocks festival (in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok), and also performed in some additional club concerts. On July 27, 2013, Therr Maitz participated in the Gipsy parking electronic music festival, headlined by the American musician Nicolas Jaar. The popularity of Therr Maitz sharply increased after the success of its frontman Anton Belyaev in the second season of the Russia's version of "The Voice" (2013). The debut single "Make It Last", released on February 13, 2014, was on top of the iTunes singles chart in Russia for a week. Later, the song appeared in the soundtrack to the «Some like it cold» movie. On February 20, 2014, Therr Maitz appeared on the Evening Urgent broadcast live from Sochi where the Winter Olympic Games taking place, and the single "Feeling Good Tonight" was played for the first time live on air. On May 12, Therr Maitz was featured for a third time on Evening Urgant and performed the song "Stop Quiet". On May 15, Therr Maitz gave a concert where they presented songs from their upcoming album. On the same day, the album became available for preorder on iTunes, and two versions of "Feeling Good Tonight" (the radio version and UNKLE remix) were released as instant gratification tracks for immediate download. The radio version was the leader of week, having topped the iTunes charts within a day after release. On a roll, the first single "Make It Last" also returned to the charts. On May 16 Therr Maitz became the first Russian band ever to have three songs at the top of the iTunes chart simultaneously. Starting in June 2014 the band went on a Russian tour to promote their upcoming album. In a month, Therr Maitz visited over 10 cities and played the festival season in Russia by taking part in all the largest open-air festivals in the country: Usad'ba Jazz, Wild Mint, ParkLive, Stereoleto and The Afisha Picnic (with Jamiroquai as headliners). Having returned to Moscow, Therr Maitz started to work on a new acoustic program for a concert on December 4, 2014, in Crocus City Hall. On September 19, 2014, right after their concert in 16 tons in honor of for Anton Belyaev's birthday, the band launched a reward crowdfunding campaign on the planeta.ru website. During the next three months, fans had a chance to take part in the creation of a Therr Maitz documentary — Moviecorn – consisting of video of a concert by Therr Maitz in Ray Just Arena club on May 15, a documentary-style shooting of behind-the-scene band life, and other special bonuses. On December 22, 2014, the campaign was successfully completed. Funds raised went to the creation of the movie Moviecorn, and its release. On December 4, 2014, the band performed a unique acoustic concert at Crocus City Hall accompanied by a string orchestra from London. The orchestra was conducted by Sally Herbert. New string arrangements of well-known Therr Maitz songs (Feeling Good Tonight, Make It Last, Stop Quiet, See you) and covers of worldwide hits were made for the acoustic concert. The concert also featured the premiere of the