The Blast

The Blast

The Blast are a Chicago area band active in the early 1990s. The name is also used by several other groups, including a Russian band formed in the 1990s and a South African band that releases a two-track EP called Little Sister around 1988.

The Russian group begins with Nash on vocals, Khalp on guitar, Gia on bass and Sergei on drums. Nash first obtains albums by The Beatles during the communist period, and that music shapes the band’s sound alongside references to early 1980s angular pop and Britpop, especially Oasis. Although Russian, the group sings in English. It is first noticed playing live venues in Moscow in the mid-1990s.

The Blast sign to the UK independent label ApolloG, where they release the single Cookies are sweet in the UK and the album Pigs can fly in Russia. After leaving ApolloG, they later sign to Ghost Records. At that stage Gia and Sergei leave and are replaced by the Bulgarian duo Valiol on bass and Vlado on drums. On Ghost Records they record the six-track EP Blast and the albums Fuck the industry and Real Life. Khlap is later replaced by Misha, and the band records new material with Chris Brown, who has worked with Muse and Radiohead.

The band also plays festivals in the Baltic states, Russia, Ukraine and South Africa, and appears on bills with Blur, Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes in Moscow. A website at the address listed in the bio is associated with the group.