Jitters (band)

Jitters (Russian: «Джи́ттерс») is a rock band from Minsk, which played mostly rock 'n' roll and post-grunge, one of the main Belarusian representatives of the British indie rock of its time. Its initial line-up was formed in 1998, the collective released the full-length album "Split Before, Together Now" (with Hair Peace Salon), as well as several EPs. In 2007 musicians halted their collaboration and joined other groups: Konstantin Karman teamed up with Hair Peace Salon, Ivan Barzenka and Pavel Kudrin banded together with beZ bileta.

Early years as a trio (1998–2002)

Jitters was founded by the school friends Konstantin Karman, Syargey Kondratenka, and Eugene Vial in Minsk, Belarus in 1998. Inspired by the works of world-famous English grunge and alternative rock groups Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Mudhoney, the children acquired their first musical instruments and decided to learn how to play melodic, solemn and psychedelic rock too.

The first performance of Jitters was held at the Minsk "Alternative" club (later known as the "A-Club") in 1999. Since the guys began from the musical side practically from zero, the participants compensated for disadvantages of performance skills with energies at first. Two English-language compositions "Floating Light" and "Consumed" were put on the debut promo CD, and as it was noted in the review article of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta, the songs were written by new romantics who have been down with Britpop.

That published judgment of music critics was rather mediocre ("there is definitely room for improvement"); however, thanks to the first record in 2001, the band was invited to participate in the national music festival Rock-kola in Novopolotsk where got an additional fourth certificate of the winner specially conferred on it. Eyewitnesses remember its spectacular performance on the Minsk City Day in 2002: the scene on Francysk Scaryna Avenue in front of the KGB and the loud singing of "Pick me up" in its windows.

The following year, Jitters almost disbanded, as drummer Eugene Vial, who emigrated, left the trio and Konstantin Karman began playing bass guitar in the Маркі band. A pause in the work of Jitters lasted about a half of the year, but after that the team gathered together again and in a new line-up.

Quartet (2003–2007)

Jitters went in the 2003 musical year as a quartet: guitarist and backing vocalist Aleh Vial and drummer Artur Luchkov from a very close to the trio band joined the founders Konstantin and Syargey. Both new musicians played in the indie rock and Britpop Hair Peace Salon group from Minsk at the same time as well what left a significant mark on the sound of Jitters.

Music changed with the arrival of Aleh and Artur, and it was possible to feel by the new material which allowed to get the first prize in the category of "Rock music" at the festival "Music without borders" (Estonian: "Piirideta Muusika"), which was held in Narva (Estonia) in June 2004, where Hair Peace Salon performed too. In July of the same year the band successfully participated with the romantic rock program in the Polish festival "Basovišča-2004". As ОСА from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta wrote according to the results of the show, "The style was clearly felt here. It was possible to draw a parallel with Muse somewhere."

In October 2005 Aleh Vial left the line-up of Jitters due to certain technical and logical reasons and in order to devote more time to his band Hair Peace Salon, where he was the frontman, and behind the guitar, he was replaced by Ivan Barzenka, who had previously played in the Rosary, Paparis, Port Mone, Па Глазам bands. In the spring of 2006 Jitters invited a new drummer to record the new CD "Pick Me Up": instead of Artur Luchkov, who remained a touring member of the group for a few more months, the drum part was played by already familiar to listeners of the Rosary, Port Mone, Usplёsk, Paparis, Krambambula, and beZ bileta bands Pavel Kudrin.

Jitters spent 2006 year doing frequent concerts, including along with Hair Peace Salon, Open Space, Milque Twins, which were the representatives of the British wave of rock music in Belarus too, and sealed it with the final of the "Navarra Underground" festival. In support of the fresh material from the "Pick Me Up" record, which was presented on October 25 at the club "ЁЁ", Jitters together with Hair Peace Salon went to Polish festivals "Rock bez Igły" (Tychy), "Fiesta Borealis" (Olecko) (with beZ bileta too). After that, the gentlemen took a little sabbatical.

In 2007 the founder of the group Konstantin Karman rightfully entered into the squad of Hair Peace Salon, and to strengthen the relationship, on October 25 the joint album "Split Before, Together Now", which included the EPs "Gipsy" (Hair Peace Salon) and" Pick Me Up" (Jitters), was released on the record label West Records, and Jitters’ musicians helped friends from Hair Peace Salon in recording of their part of the disc: besides Konstantin Karman, who gave backing vocals and accompanied on the synthesizer in the songs, the play of Ivan Barzenka on keyboards was noted on the first two compositions of the release. The live CD presentation took place on November 18. The cover of the disc was adorned by two children's shoes tied with laces as a symbol of group unification.

“The collective captivates with very intelligent but interesting and bold energy. Hooligan vocals insistently crawl through the ears, very confident arrangements give a pleasure," critic Alena Sobolevskaya from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta wrote on the Jitters part of the album, as she compared the music of the band with the works of Travis, Radiohead, Muse, Blur, and Coldplay.

Cessation of activity (2008–)

“We decided to temporarily "freeze" the Jitters project," Konstantin Karman told the republican portal of alternative music xlam.by on the eve of the presentation of the joint album "Split Before, Together Now." “And since we have been acquainted and on friendly terms with Hair Peace Salon for a long time, there were no obstacles for unification. We have been "exchanging" musicians previously. There will be two voices in HPS now." After that, since 2008 Jitters has no longer released new material, and the musicians of the band finally dispersed among other groups: Konstantin Karman strengthened the line-up of Hair Peace Salon, Pavel Kudrin and Ivan Barzenka became the members of beZ bileta, and the last of them in 2011 turned into the leader of the cover band ContraBanda, and since 2015 also participates in the English indie rock band The Bruised Trouveres; lead guitarist Syargey Kondratenka moved to the Netherlands. It is noteworthy that Konstantin Karman from bass guitarist and vocalist emerged as keyboardist and vocalist of Hair Peace Salon, because there was already a bassist in that group, while the artist who had been known to the guys from joint performances bought a Roland JP-8000 synthesizer during a business trip to Scotland which served as the material basis to respond to the suggestion of the colleagues to change his profile positively.

From the very beginning, the trio focused on guitars in songs, and in 2000 at first impressions of them, the Muzykalnaya Gazeta described the band’s works as grunge. In 2007 their followers from the band Мутнаевока namely attributed Jitters to the first generation of the Belarusian grunge via the Muzykalnaya Gazeta. “The guys from Jitters, representatives of the underground culture of the early 2000s attributed to the capital clubs of that time „28“, „The Base“, and others, were those who played good music among drunken teenagers and on modest apparatuses and who were really nice to listen to,” journalist Tat’yana Zamirovskaya pondered on the eve of the Rock Coronation 2001.

The jury of the Belarusian music festival Rock-kola of the 2001 year highlighted prize-winner Jitters, because they "played really well, funk-like, sometimes with melodies Britpop alike – everything was professional and very beautiful," Tat’yana Zamirovskaya from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta summarized the show. The program which was performed by the musicians of Jitters at the festival "Basovišča-2004" was described by critics as "something Britpop alike interspersed with acid jazz." The national "British" cohort mates from the band Клёндайк enrolled Jitters to this musical genre too.

In general, the sound of the band is compared to the creative works of Hair Peace Salon: after listening to the promo CDs of the 2005 year of both groups, О’К observed on the pages of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta that "all of what was written about HPS can be written about Jitters. Maybe the „jittersy“ are a little sharper. But a half of the line-up of Jitters even plays in Hair Peace Salon... or vice versa." SLAP as a concert columnist at xlam.by echoed his idea, because it is like “six and two threes.” "We have known each other and respect the creativity of each one of us", leader of Hair Peace Salon Aleh Vial commented on the joint album for the music portal LiveSound.by in 2007, "that is why we are similar in style. And we sing in English."

On the background of the performances of Brit-rockers Open Space, Milque Twins, Hair Peace Salon too from the joint concert in the autumn of 2006, columnist of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta Slap corresponded that "most of the people came to listen only to them [Jitters]," they "bewitched the listeners with bare hands", it was also noted that "they appealed to the listeners with the sincerity of vocals, lyrical and selfless execution that worked out including due to the excellence of new drummer Pavel Kudrin (the guy is a magician, he played so free and easy). On the example of the EP “Pick Me Up,” he as an author at xlam.by concluded that the band broadcasts “the modern sound of rock and roll.”

Tat’yana Zamirovskaya from the weekly BelGazeta described the music of Jitters in the review of the album Split Before, Together Now with the words, “annoying, authentic and blues-like eccentric – it has a crazy dancing Gomez-like and Happy Mondays-like style, and there are no pretentious reflections."

What it comes to the language issue, the musicians of the English band formulated an opinion in the interview to the national alternative music portal xlam.by in the middle of the 2000s that due to the fact that they do not sing in the Belarusian language, they are hardly invited to festivals and lack airing on the radio despite the high-quality creative work by itself.

On the question of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta about the teams that they like in the second January issue of 2005, the colleagues of the musicians on the grunge scene from the band "Caravan" featured "the wonderful bands" Hair Peace Salon and Jitters, moreover the latter was promoted for the fact that "they play original music." Vitaly Artist, the frontman of beZ bileta, praised both in 2006 as well, “I am very happy that it happened to represent our country with bands like Jitters and Hair Peace Salon. In Olecko we really „lit it up“. There will be more respect for Belarusians from now on.” On a proposal from Hanna Sivakova from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta to name their competitors in 2007, members of the band Мутнаевока mentioned Jitters and assessed the band as "very cool".

During the visit of journalists of the Muzykalnaya Gazeta to the band Hair Peace Salon in late 2006, with whom the band performed and recorded repeatedly, the group Jitters received a positive evaluation from participants of the first one. Bassist of the band Maxim Devichensky and drummer Artur Luchkov noticed that although both projects play different music with an opposite mood, they have common roots and thinking. After his departure from Jitters, leader of the quartet Aleh Vial admitted that both groups began to sound more confident and lost the similarity, which was attributed to the ensembles previously, ascribed considerable merit in this to his successor Ivan Barzenka.

Multi-instrumentalist Pavel Kudrin was described in estimates of Hair Peace Salon as a very talented drummer, which "so deftly conveys his riffs – very complex, uneven, but at the same time intelligible to the pops – that there is a feeling of flying in his play and his dancing behind a drum kit.” Aleh Vial, former guitarist and backing vocalist of Jitters, during a performance on the TV channel "CTV" in 2010 was named "one of the best Belarusian rock performers". Oleg Klimov, music expert at Experty.by, in 2012 attributed him to the scope of “best national English-singing rock vocalists.”

"Guys from HPS always admired the works of not very famous but beloved in certain circles the Jitters band. And today, they caught up with it in skills, become next to it, and even got ahead in something,” Elena Sobolevskaya from the Muzykalnaya Gazeta summed up the decade of existence of both in 2007. In 2007 music critic Tat’yana Zamirovskaya on the pages of the BelGazeta expressed a personal opinion, "to be honest, it would be better if Hair Peace Salon broke up and became part of Jitters, rather than the other way around."

“Despite the abundance of bands that play in the style of Brit-rock, this musical trend in our country has long remained in the shadows. And now a breakthrough came about," the music portal LiveSound.by with such words treated the release of the disc Split Before, Together Now.

• "Promo Disk 2000" (EP, 2000)
• "Promo Disk 2003" (EP, 2003)
• "Promo Disk 2004" (EP, 2004)
• "Promo Disk 2005" (EP, 2005)
• "Jaded" (EP, 2005)
• "Pick Me Up" (EP, 2006)
• "Split Before, Together Now" (joint album with the participation of Hair Peace Salon, 2007)

Timeline