Valentin struck biography, personal life. Yuri Kaplan (Valentin Strykalo): “Humor is a defensive reaction

The queue to enter formed an hour before the announced start of the concert. Hundreds of teenagers (this is, after all, the main audience of the group) were looking forward to the start of the event. And it started, by the way, an hour and a half late. But the grateful audience was not bored all this time: they actively took selfies in front of the stage. And finally, Yuri Kaplan, the lead singer of “Valentin Strykalo”, appeared: he was greeted with thunderous applause! And they sang every song with him, jumped and danced.

Before the concert, Yuri talked to us, talking about how they write songs, how he feels about the ban on swearing, and why a new album is not being released.

— Exactly a year ago, the group’s second album “Part of Something Bigger” was released... What results do you sum up during this time?

When it first came out, we were very pleased with the work done. Now, with the passage of time, our opinion about him has changed. We understand that we made a lot of mistakes and shortcomings in terms of sound. But we won't allow them anymore. Such self-criticism is quite normal; one learns from mistakes.

One of the first video messages to pop stars (this is to Timati), who glorified Yuri as Valentin Strykalo

— When can we expect the next album?

It is not being prepared yet, and we don’t know when it will be. The process of writing new material is not fast at all... But it will happen!

— How are songs written?

Occasionally an idea arises that is refined over time. Moreover, it can be finalized either in a week or six months - as it turns out.

— When did you feel famous?

But there wasn’t such a clear moment when I woke up and everyone started grabbing hands. Everything happened gradually. First someone recognized him on the street, then another. Becoming famous is no longer a goal. Maybe I wanted recognition at some initial stages.

I realized that doing everything for fame is some kind of pathetic desire. The fame, of course, is felt. For example, it’s hard for me in places where young people gather.

— If popularity is not the goal, then what is the goal?

Creative viability, first of all, development in musically. You need to do something good. While not everything is working out the way you want, there is still a lot of work ahead on yourself.

— Do you communicate with fans?

— What do they usually give?

A lot of all kinds of gifts! For example, today I was given socks with pictures of cats. This is a very useful gift! When touring, socks are a necessity.

— How do you cope with such long tours - 40 cities?

Physically it is not very difficult. The tour manager creates a certain regime. For example, we eat three times a day, which usually doesn’t happen outside of the tour. In general, we did not feel any strong fatigue. But it’s really hard mentally. Every day it’s the same thing, it’s a serious emotional load. Then you go away for a long time, go to bad mood, nothing makes me happy for a while. In fact, I just recently came off of last year's tour, and here we are again playing shows.

— The law now prohibits swearing from the stage. How do you feel about this?

I believe that any interference in creativity and art is complete stupidity and absurdity. People won’t stop swearing, drinking vodka or breaking traffic stops just because we don’t sing songs with swear words. That's why we continue to sing them.

— How long did your image of the inhibited guy from the village that you originally created last last?

I actually went to my first interviews in character. But this happened probably three times in total. Then I realized that there was a danger of becoming a hostage to the image. And I was very afraid of this. Then I realized that I needed to organize a group and hammer into everyone’s heads that “Valentin Strykalo” is not a pseudonym, but the name of the group. It seems to me that we have dealt with this. People who came to the concert know all the participants by name. Nobody calls me Valentine. It happens, of course, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

— The group’s Twitter and website have not been updated for a long time. How so? After all, the Internet has become the source of your distribution.

We refused the services of a PR manager and forgot to hire a new one. And all musicians have personal accounts and pages, fans know them. Plus it works official group“VKontakte” is run by our fans. They write there good lyrics, make the group alive. We like!

— What music influences your work?

Hard to tell. I listen to a lot of things. And what kind of music influenced more is unknown. Moreover, I have never listened to anything like what we do.

— The Internet is filled with videos with cover versions of your songs, and the most unusual ones...

Yes, there was a guy who played our songs on glasses... That's cool! When they show me some videos, I watch them with pleasure. I fully support this, why not.

— This is not the first time in Tula... Do you remember the city for something?

We don’t see any cities, they bring us straight to the club, we perform and leave. Therefore, they all merge into one, they are very similar. And the audience is equally cool everywhere!

— Do you think there is any line when choosing themes for songs?

I believe that you can laugh at everything. It all depends on the context and quality of the joke.

— What do you wish for your fans?

May the winter not be so cold. Warmth!

Dossier

Graduated from the Kiev National Economic University named after Vadim Getman, Faculty of International Economics and Management.

Yuri Kaplan published his first video on YouTube in March 2008, calling himself “Valentin Strykalo from the village of Buriltsevo.” Subsequently, Yuri recorded appeals to Timati, Dima Bilan, Potap and Nastya Kamensky, Tea for Two, MakSim, Timbaland, Sergei Zverev. Total views of his addresses to pop stars on YouTube exceeded 5 million.

The Valentin Strykalo group was formed in 2010.

Osip Mandelstam once said: “Gumilev is our conscience.” And our irony is Mr. Kaplan. The handsome man who beats women and children returned to St. Petersburg after a six-month break in creative activity. Before the concert, in an interview with our portal, Yuri talked about selfies, Agatha Christie and beauty.

- You returned after a six-month break. Now I may be asking for an unpleasant answer, but did you miss us?

- Great! Tell me how you can not show up for six months without getting lost in information space, not to lose fans, to maintain interest in your group?

There is a suspicion that everything rests on mine and Zhekin’s (Evgeniy Ilyin, bass guitarist of the group Valentin Strykalo - editor’s note) Instagram. We took a lot of photographs of ourselves during these six months, and people followed it. Our photos received a lot of likes and, accordingly, the audience was not confused. We popped up in the feed all the time, and now they all came (to a concert at the Cosmonaut club - approx.). And I forgot about Andrey’s Instagram! (Andrey Tropeshko, guitarist of the group Valentin Strykalo, - editor's note). When he sits on the toilet, he takes pictures of his legs with his pants down.

- And this gets a lot of likes?

Yes, it's super popular.

- You were recently a lecturer, telling how to promote yourself in in social networks. Give at least three of these... commandments to people who dream of promotion.

Take photos of yourself, but no more than twice a week.

- Why?

It’s just that if you do it more often, the public gets fed up, and your face doesn’t make your subscribers so happy anymore. Then what else...

- This was one.

This is the one... Yes, this is the only one.

- That's all?

Well, if you're ugly or don't look good in photos, then I've got bad news for you, buddy. You won't succeed on social media. networks. The main thing is beauty.

- It's clear. But still you said that your success is an accident. How to teach a person to get into Right place at the right time?

Spend most of your time in different places. And, God forbid, it will shoot...

- You also said that it took a long time to get ready. How long did it take you to get here today?

Fifteen minutes.

- How long does it take, in your opinion?

No, no, it's fast. There just weren't any clothing options. If there were options, I would still think about it. At home I have a lot of clothes, but here on tour I only have one option.

- Do you like shopping? This is such torture!

I don’t like it, but for some reason a lot of clothes appear at home. I do not know why.

- Do fans give gifts, does mom bring them?

No, I just don't know where I came from most of my things at my house. Honestly, it's a puzzling situation, but that's the way it is.

- Your work is imbued with irony, self-irony, but recently I found on your page a photograph of Agatha Christie without a signature. What was this tied to?

One of the brothers just looks like me.

- Which Samoilov?

The one on the right.

- I think, junior. Because of the eyes.

Well, yes, he was similar. But it is in this photograph, not in others. Well, more precisely, he’s not at me, but I’m at him.

- Do you agree with the statement that all comedians are, in principle, depressed people? They experience such a dissonance: in life they are sad, but on stage they give all their positivity.

Humor is defensive reaction. Some people have a very developed defensive reaction. But this is optional. Well, it varies, I guess.

Childhood and adolescence

Yura also learned to play the guitar early, sang well, and actively participated in school amateur performances. IN adolescence I loved listening to “Spleen”, “Bi-2”, Radiohead, White Stripes. I printed out chords and tests of my favorite songs from the Internet and sang them at parties, arousing constant interest among girls. In addition, as a child, the future musician was involved in martial arts, was a fan of Jackie Chan and showed promise in sports.

After graduating from school, the young man first wanted to enter the directing department of the Kyiv Institute of Culture, but, after analyzing the deplorable situation in Ukrainian cinema, he applied to the economics department of KNEU. While studying I played student group, worked part-time as an advertising manager.

Music career

To his great surprise, the video received several hundred views and sparked heated discussion. Friends insisted that Yura not stop and develop this topic. This is how a scandalous appeal to Dima Bilan appeared, in which an aspiring composer from the village of Buriltsevo offers the artist his song “Mom, I’m gay.”

Valentin Strykalo - “Mom, I'm gay”

The video received more than two million views on YouTube and glorified its creator throughout the RuNet. This was followed by similar appeals to Potap and Nastya Kamensky, Sergei Zverev, Timati and others popular performers, which were invariably accompanied by a record number of views.

After the first signs of popularity, Yuri came up with a complete idea new biography to maintain the image of a rural boy. He invented his small homeland- the village of Buriltsevo, Zhitomir region (such a village does not exist), a tyrant father who insisted that his son become an agrarian, a cruel guitar teacher who did not believe in Valentin’s talent.

Valentin Strykalo - “Cayenne”

The next step was radio: in 2010, Sergei Stillavin heard the musician and invited him to his show at the Mayak station. Then Yuri became a guest of programs on NTV and Ren-TV, and then on music channels A1 and MTV. Note that this was 2010, and a performer who made a career using the Internet could truly be considered a phenomenon and aroused interest.

Having achieved popularity on the Internet, Yuri decided to enter the real stage. Having recruited musicians into the group “Valentin Strykalo”, he performed for the first time in front of a live audience at the Kiev club “Tsar Project”, and a year later he began to actively tour Ukraine with songs from his debut album"Calm down and relax."

In 2013, the band’s next album, “Part of Something Bigger,” was released, with which the musicians went on tour throughout the post-Soviet space. Over time, their repertoire was replenished with cover versions popular hits other artists, as well as songs from early creativity Yuri and his team. As part of the album, two videos were released: for the songs “You know, Tanya” and “Space is waiting for us.”

Valentin Strykalo - “You know, Tanya”

In addition to touring, the band actively recorded on the radio and appears on television quite often. The guys became participants in such popular entertainment programs, as in “Big Difference” and “Let Them Talk.”

In 2015, Yuri’s group took a creative break, during which the frontman completely changed the lineup. Soon the new members presented the first single after a long silence, “It will be decided by itself”

Released in the fall of 2016 another album group "Entertainment", in support of which the musicians traveled not only to the countries of the former CIS, but also to Europe. Fans noted that the atmosphere of the album became more lyrical and sad in comparison with Strykalo’s previous records.

Musician Yuri Kaplan from the group “Valentin Strykalo” shares with 34travel his observations about what is the symbol of Kyiv, why you should not leave the city center and which Kiev cemetery is best to go to on a romantic date.

1. Where is the best place in Kyiv to spend the evening and night from Friday to Saturday?

At this time, everyone pours out into the streets, crowds the establishments, makes noise and does all sorts of things. I usually stay at home, and I advise you to. If you are not a fan of clubs and “proper music”, stay at home and go out on weekdays.

2. Where to go on a romantic date?

In Tatarka (historical area in Kyiv - 34travel) there is an excellent cemetery: there are old graves, hills and gullies, and if you come at night on the weekend, you can hear music from the club Closer- sometimes some kind of hypnotic techno plays there, and it seems that some sounds are coming from the graves.

3. In which places in Kyiv is it easiest to feel the spirit of the city?

The spirit of the city - it’s not in places, it’s rather some kind of general impression. Try to visit everywhere in the center. A few days are enough.

4. What places are better not to go into? And why?

Don’t leave the center, it’s not dangerous, but why do you need it?

5. In which area of ​​the city would you recommend living?

Stay in the center. I moved out of the center at one time, but now I’m returning again.

6. Where to go for cultural experiences?

If culture shock- this is also a cultural impression, then just pay attention to the houses-architectural monuments, on which people hang huge balconies made of clapboards, signs for beauty salons and shops, and also how these same houses are painted in a disgusting beige color.

7. What can you bring from Kyiv as a souvenir?

There are cool nesting dolls - all the presidents of Ukraine are there in one.

8. In what places in Kyiv can you meet yourself?

In my house. I'll most likely end up there. If I'm not there, I'm on the horizontal bars.

9. What is the symbol of Kyiv for you?

Most Kiev residents will probably disagree with this, but I like the Motherland most of all. Come and look quickly before they put a balcony on it.

Main photo - kievjournal.com

Fate is connected with the name Valentina Strykalo young musician from Zaporozhye. The young man’s project appeared spontaneously in 2008, during Yuri’s recording of humorous musical numbers For YouTube channel. Kaplan created a short song video message in front of the camera to the artist in a freak style that is popular today.

Unexpectedly, the Ukrainian’s video broke all popularity records on the Internet, gaining over 100 thousand views. At that time, this was an incredible figure, since YouTube was not as popular as it is today.

Childhood and youth

The biography of the creator of the colorful character began in the city of Zaporozhye. Yura Kaplan was born in 1988 into a family of builders. The boy graduated from physics and mathematics school and entered the capital's Institute of Economics and international relations. In his first years, the young man did not study very well, but over time he became involved in his studies and received a diploma in 2010. But in an interview he admitted: he hopes that they won’t have to touch him.

The fact is that he believes that putting a choice in front of a 17-year-old child is at least stupid. Well, what can he know after school? How can he figure out what he wants to do in the future? For example, in those years he was attracted to directing. But he was stopped by the thought that the profession of a film director in Ukraine was unreliable. The guy read student forums, where guys wrote that they were filming with cameras from the 50s, and abandoned this idea. Now he says that he was simply afraid of being an unemployed homeless person with an education as a film director.

After his debut performance in 2008, the singer created several videos where he addressed a number of stars in a humorous manner Russian stage: , and , to group , and . Particularly popular after the song dedicated to Malezhik was a message to Bilan, which collected over 2 million views in a few days, and a little later a song manifesto to Timati, which also reached an audience of millions.

Immediately after this resounding success The guy started getting calls on the Internet and offering to perform. But the repertoire for a full-fledged concert was clearly not enough. Therefore, Yuri decided to write to himself concert program, with which he began to appear in clubs. Just one with a guitar. But this was not enough for him. Now he has finally decided that he wants to make rock music. Kaplan began looking for like-minded people to create his own team.

His parents supported him in everything, and when his mother first saw her son’s video, she said it was funny.

Music

In addition to the artist’s solo performances in Ukrainian program « Comedy Club" And entertainment clubs Kyiv, Yuri Kaplan assembles the musical group “Valentin Strykalo” and in 2010 begins work on the first album “Humble and Relax”, which is released two years later.

Along with the new repertoire, musicians use covers in concerts famous songs other performers, as well as musical material former group Yuri “in She” and the fictional group “Vodichka-Bubbles”. These are tracks such as “Burn” and “Our Summer”, which is famous on the Internet under the second name “Yacht, Sail”.

Most popular songs first disc of the new one creative team The compositions “Cheap Dramas” and “I Beat Women and Children” are considered. At the same time, young musicians promote their creativity by posting all the lyrics and tablature of songs on the Internet for free access.

Along with the creation of the second collection, “Part of Something Bigger,” in 2013 musical group performs at concerts with famous representatives youth culture. In particular, the extraordinary creative duet Valentina Strykalo and Russian performer. Often such performances by artists took place under political slogans in support of Ukraine.

In addition to live performances, the group continues to maintain a personal video blog, in which Yuri Kaplan shares his thoughts and experiences about his personal life, talks about his creative victories, plans for the future and performs new songs.

Valentin Strykalo participates in recordings on radio stations in Russia and Ukraine, such as Mayak, Silver Rain, MTV and Jam FM. Programs with the participation of Yuri Kaplan were broadcast on the NTV and Ren-TV channels. A recording of the program “Big Difference” with the participation of musicians was released on Channel One youth team.

According to Forbes magazine, the group's work was included in the ranks of the top three most famous performers who became famous thanks to the Internet.

Today, the musicians of the Valentin Strykalo project are: soloist and frontman Yuri Kaplan, bass guitarist Stanislav Murashko, guitarist Konstantin Pyzhov and drummer Vladimir Yakovlev.

The genre of music in which the guys perform their songs is difficult to determine. This is indie rock, pop-punk, and indie pop. And on the other hand - comedy rock and neo-psychedelia. It should be noted that the group has enough fans.

Many accuse Yuri Kaplan of snobbery, but he admits that he never thought about anything like that. When I first turned on the camera to record, this image was born by itself.

In 2016, the long-awaited disc “Entertainment” was released, which included eight new tracks. In 2017, Valentin Strykalo made a major tour of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Personal life

Little is known in the media about the personal life of the artist, whose real name is Yuri Kaplan, although his photos with pretty representatives of the fairer sex often appear on the Internet. It is known that at one time his girlfriend was a classmate from the institute, but this connection did not develop into something more. At the moment, the musician does not yet have a wife and children, Yuri is free, at least judging by his "Instagram". The young man is in excellent physical shape - with a height of 178 cm, his weight is about 72 kg.

There are also those who are sure that the singer is unconventional sexual orientation. After all, he didn’t hesitate to sing the song “Mom, I’m gay.” Yes and in his