Molchat Doma Band is a post-punk musical group that was formed in 2017. Also known as Houses Are Silent, it became an overnight sensation following its viral success on Youtube and Tiktok. The band which comprises the Trio; Egor Shkutko, Roman Komogortsev, and Pavel Kozlov has released three albums and many songs including Sudno.
As it is, the Russian-speaking band from Belarus is not the only one to have a breakout via social media, yet, they continue to maintain their relevance. So, who are the members of the band and what are their best songs?
The Rise of Molchat Doma Band
Molchat Doma band was formed in 2017 through the efforts of three members; Egor Shkutko, Roman Komogortsev, and Pavel Kozlov.
The band’s material is a mixture of post-punk, new-wave, and synth-pop genres of music that attracted a following outside their native Belarus.
They self-released their first album (S krysh nashikh domov –С крыш наших домов- ‘From The Roofs of Our Houses’) the year they formed but it did not attract the needed attention that will make them a household name.
Subsequently, they released the album again under the German record label, Detriti Records in the later part of 2017. This time around, the success was more resounding.
They followed this with the release of their next album (Etazhi) under the same record label in 2018. The second album was redone on six separate vinyl pressings and before long, it sold out.
After this, the band signed to Sacred Bones 2020 and it opened them to a wider audience when they performed in London. Accordingly, the London venue had to be upgraded twice to accommodate the spike in ticket sales. Their song, Sudno reached no. 2 on the Spotify worldwide chart in 2020.
However, their breakout was short-lived due to the Covid 19 outbreak and the lockdowns that followed after.
Molchat Doma’s Social Media Breakthrough
Despite the release of two albums in their early years, the breakthrough for the Molchat Doma band came with an upload of their material on social media during the Corona outbreak.
As stated by the band members, they feared for their emerging band when Covid broke out. In the ensuing months, they, like every other person faced the shutdown of the world and the disruption of activities.
In a twist, their second album was uploaded on YouTube by a vlogger known as Harakiri Diat, without the permission of the band. Nonetheless, it did not take long before it pulled over 2 million views, giving the band the breakthrough it always craved.
According to sources, Harakiri Diat purchased the rights to their first album on vinyl after which he went ahead to digitize it and upload it. Following this, the album became a hit in January 2019 when many people found the recommendation for the material and listened to it. The trend moved to Tiktok as many young people found Sudno, one of the tracks on the album quite appealing.
By 2020, the band forced Harakiri to bring down the work for copyright violation, even though it was what really opened them up.
Meet The Molchat Doma Band Trio
As indicated, the Molchat Doma was formed by three Belarusian friends, Egor Shkutko who is the band’s vocalist, Roman Komogortsev who handles the guitar, synthesizer, and drum machine, as well as Pavel Kozlov who takes care of the bass guitar and synthesizer.
Now over 5 years after its formation, the band still maintains its original members without any of them leaving or anyone joining. Here are all the members:
Egor Shkutko
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He is the lead vocalist of the band who was born on August 21, 1995. The29-year-old trained as an electrician and was working as a salesman, selling radio electronic stuff before he decided to concentrate on building a musical career.
Roman Komogortsev
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The 30-year-old plays the guitar, synthesizers, and drum for the Molchat Doma band. He started a musical career after his grandmother gave him a guitar as a birthday present.
Aside from his knack for music, Roman had also wanted to become an engineer, but that dream came to an end after he was expelled from school.
The self-taught instrumentalist started using FL studio-a program used for writing and making songs. According to him, the program is easy to understand and use. He wrote songs such as Ash Code and Antipole using the program. Over the years, he did covers of songs for Tributes to Black Sabbath and a.A.t.U.
The Guitarist is also a producer who has worked for another Belarusian post-funk band, Nürnberg. He was responsible for mixing, mastering, and the synth on their album, Skryvaj(2018)
Pavel Kozlov
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He plays the bass guitar and synthesizer for Molchat Doma. He was born on August 13, 1993, to parents who are originally from the Soviet Union which later broke up. Unlike the other members of the Molchat Doma band, Pavel had an interest in music from a young age.
Purportedly, he started waiting for his career to take off from the third grade. He enrolled at a music school where he honed his skills in playing different instruments.
Despite spending 7 and half years in music school, the 31-year-old did not complete his studies for reasons unknown.
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The Band Has Three Albums So far
So far, the Minsk-originated band has three albums to its name. These are;
S Krysh Nashikh Domov
- Released Date: April 2017
- Genre: Coldwave
- Songwriter: Molchat Doma
In April 2017, they released their debut album. The album which is also translated as ‘From The Roofs of Our Houses’ introduced their style which borrows from 80s Russian rock music.
So far, the album has not won any awards but it set a trend that has made the band relevant.
Etazhi
- Released Date: September 2018
- Genre: Post-punk, new wave, cold wave
- Producer: Roman Komogortsev
- Songwriter: Egor Shkutko
The release of Molchat Doma’s second album, Etazhi(Floors) in 2018 proved to be more successful than the first. The single, Kommersanty came out in July 2017 but it was added to the album.
Etazhi became an instant hit with Sudno. Following this, it made them popular outside their native home of Belarus as they did sold-out shows in other parts of Europe. It also garnered more than a million Youtube hits.
Monument
- Released Date: 2020
- Genre: Post-punk, New wave
- Producer: Roman Komogortsev
- Songwriter: Egor Shkutko
Molchat Doma’s latest album as of this writing is Monument. It was released in 2020. This album returns to the well-captured sound of its first album as it dwells more on its Russian appeal.
The album was quite successful as it reached no. 97 on the Top album sales and no. 12 on world albums.
Molchat Doma band sings in Russian despite being a Belarusian band. Even at that, they proved their relevance by capturing the attention of many outside Belarus through their sound. For now, the band is on a path to becoming one of the greatest bands to come out of the country following the success of their albums.
