Hardballs

Hardballs is a Russian rock band whose music is written in several styles: alternative, hard rock, metalcore, post grunge, pop rock, metal. Signature sound and powerful vocals will not let any rock music lover get bored. The date of formation of the band is considered to be 2012, when the line-up was already formed, the band decided on the repertoire, and then the name appeared. In 2011 vocalist Evgeny Kolchin left Oppositions, the band he was singing in at the time, and started to prepare material for a solo project. He showed demo tapes to his friends: Andrey Shestakov and Alexander Yudin, who were not against him playing as guitarists. Then, they called Alexander Kondratenko on bass and Maxim Baryshev on drums. With this line-up they reworked the material, recorded some demo tapes and played some gigs. 2012 became the year of changes. Shestakov leaves the band and starts playing drums in a blues-rock band. Kondratenko takes the guitar instead of him. A young musician Vladislav Vasilchenko, a classmate and colleague of Yudin's school band, is called to play bass. In this line-up in 2012 the first single "Why are we here" was recorded at a studio in Zelenograd. The band announced itself in the network, began to perform at various festivals and warm ups of famous rock bands. The story of the appearance of the name of the collective is simple: the band thought for a long time how to be called, and in order to get ideas, they asked their friend to characterise their music. He told them they were cool, just hardballs. That's how the name stayed. (Hardballs is a stable word combination, from English slang meaning: cool, uncompromising). The name has other meanings, which some members of the band didn't like, but, as they couldn't think of a better name, it remained. Later Kondratenko leaves the collective, and Shestakov returns as a guitarist. In 2013, Evgeny becomes a member of the more popular heavy metal band Gran-Kurazh'y instead of their former vocalist Mikhail Zhitnyakov, who left to join the band Aria. And performs with them until 2018, remaining a member of Hardballs. Shestakov leaves the band again due to a conflict with Baryshev. Despite this, the band prepares material for a new album. In the spring of 2014, the band breaks up with the drummer - Maxim Baryshev, who by that time had become the drummer of the death-metal collective Cobra. For some time the remaining members work on the album with three of them (Kolchin, Yudin, Vasilchenko). Shestakov returns, but already as a drummer, having gained experience in a blues-rock band. On the second guitar they take a former colleague from the school band Alkor - Anton Samsonov. In August 2014 Hardballs released their debut album "Adrenaline". The album is released on discs by metalism records label. It spreads all over the internet, to all music portals and streaming services. The band continues to improve their sound, their shows and become brighter and brighter at concerts. In 2015 the band took part in many festivals in Moscow and Moscow region. The biggest shows were Motomaloyaroslavets and Metro on stage. At the end of December 2015, after participation in the festival "Iron Curtain", Evgeny is noticed by the members of the band "Mavrin", and c 2016 he works for three bands. In 2016 Hardballs released a new mini album "Upstairs", which was presented in Moscow. The band again performs on the main stage of Motomaloyaroslavets, for the first time goes on a long trip to Zavolzhsk, and for the first time sounds on Svoi Radio in the programme "Alive". Almost the whole year 2017 was busy with recording new material, and in February 2018 a new full-length album "On the dark side of me" was released. Songs from which got into the rotation of His Radio, were played on Our Radio and on several other radio stations. The discs with the new album were released by the band on samizdat, as well as placed on all popular streaming services. The song "Thread of Sadness" is being recognised by listeners and critics, the music video for this song is shown on Nashe TV. The band found a manager Anton Budarin and went with the presentation of the album across the country: Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, St. Petersburg, Tver, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Simferopol, Belgorod, Kazan, Samara, Moscow and others. But because of a quarrel with the guitarist and drummer at the end of the tour, Anton decides to leave the collective. In 2018, Hardballs play at the city day in Moscow at the Metro on stage festival. The live broadcast and recording of the concert is provided by Megogo online cinema. At the end of the year, Evgeny leaves Gran Kurazh and sings in Hardballs and Sergey Mavrin's band (until 2023). Soon a few more members join the band: Alexey Bakhirev - PR, advertising, Marina Diakina - tour manager. In May 2019, the mini-album "Run" is released. On the song "Quenching the pain" the band shoots a story video. Hardballs play presentation in several Russian cities, take part in the largest festivals Moto Family days and Taman. From behind-the-scenes and concert footage they make a music video for the song "I'm coming back" and "Run". Alexander Yudin takes part in the guitar battle "Guitar battle Moscow". Also, in Moscow the band organises its own festival Hardfest vol. 1, one of the participants of which is the well-known actor and vocalist Nikita Presnyakov and his band Multiverse. In January 2020 Alexander Yudin played his last concerts and left the band, deciding to start his solo career. The band started preparing material for a new album. Some time later the band's manager Marina leaves. Since the spring of 2020, the world was hit by the epidemic of coronavirus, and the band existed exclusively in the network, communicating with fans online. All concerts and festivals of this period were cancelled. There is enough material for a double album, and the band is thinking of releasing everything. In August Alexander Yudin returns to the band again, helps to record guitar parts for the new album, but in autumn, having received an offer from the band Times Square, leaves again for good. In November 2020 Hardballs release the single "Last Chance", in December the single "I Know". In February 2021 the first part of the album White Noise, consisting of 8 songs, is released. The band gives a concert in Moscow with guest guitarists: Pavel Popov (ex-guitarist of Finnish hard rock band Santa cruz) and Alexander Burlov, who would later become the band's second guitarist. The band releases a live video for the song Last Chance, using footage from the Moscow presentation. In April 2021 the album White Noise is released in full, in May the lyric video for the song White Noise appears, and in June the band shoots a music video for the song Against All. Coronavirus restrictions still keep the concerts quiet, and all planned events for summer and autumn are cancelled. Hardballs manager Alexey Bakhirev leaves the band. The band records a video for an acoustic version of the song "Afloat" on the stage of the Progress Palace of Culture in Zaprudna, where Alexander Burlov lives, and decides to use this stage for an online concert, and present the album live in autumn 2021. Pandemic 2021 makes it very difficult for bands to perform live, so Hardballs decide to concentrate on streaming from their studio during this time. On 28 December, the band releases the cheerful song "New Year's Eve" and a mock music video for it... In 2022 the single White noise (English version of the song White noise) is released and with the permission of Evgeny Margulis, the band shoots a music video in his house under construction. By the way, the guitarist Anton Samsonov had something to do with this construction. After that, in the same year the song "A Drop in the Sea" is released, the first song to which music was written by Alexander Burlov. The band celebrates its tenth anniversary with anniversary concerts in capitals, and a little later the drummer Andrey Shestakov leaves the band, leaving to work in another country in the field of computer games development. He is replaced by an old colleague from Oppositions and Magvay, Daniil Titov...