For the last 18 years, Austrian self-described purveyors of “Russian turbo polka metal” Russkaja have leveraged a Soviet-era look and wild sound to ply their craft. They even released their latest album Turbo Polka Party via Napalm Records today. Yet not even hours after their newest release was made available to the public, the band has announced that they’re calling it quits.
According to the band’s statement, which they posted to their social media accounts, their schtick has become a liability in the wake of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Despite their multiple statements denouncing Putin and the war, including the release of an anti-war song called “No Borders,” the band said they no longer feel like they can continue with their “satirical use of Soviet symbols and language.”
Hey there,
the band RUSSKAJA has ultimately decided to quit with the band. This is after 18 years very sad news of course, but the ongoing war in Ukraine that was initiated by Russia on Feb 204th 2022 makes it impossible for us to continue with an image and style that is making satirical use of Soviet symbols and language. The band is called RUSSKAJA (transl. Russian) and based a lot on those attributes with a singer that was born in Russia and brought to Austria more than 30 years ago.
What once was fun in the band’s music is nothing but bitter now and the band members cannot go on stage anymore without feeling that bitterness in every note played and every word sung. All the lyrics written have a totally different meaning now and none of the bandmembers wants to represent this since in these times it is only associated with war, death, crime and blood spilled.
The time has finally come to stop this. We tried to do statements, position ourselves publicly for what we stand and that’s peace and unity. But we can feel that it’s not enough and also it will not change anymore. We realized that this war will not stop soon and even if it would, the Soviet imagery and style is forever damaged now.
RUSSKAJA has also become a target in the web, there’s shitstorms everyday and with every new single we release. People call us Russian terrorist and pro-Russian even if we are the exact opposite. Finally we also care about the safety of our crew and all people involved and we don’t want to risk anything violent happening when we’re on the road and playing shows.
To most of us RUSSKAJA was not only our band but it was also our existence. This decision is very very sad for all of us but after all that happened since Feb 24 2022 we don’t see any other chance here.
We hope that all fans, promoters & partners can understand the hell we’re going through taking our own baby to the grave after all these years. As a farewell gift we wanna give you our new album TURBO POLKA PARTY.
Peace
RUSSKAJA
This is an absolutely wild turn of events for the band, since they literally just released an album and were planning to go on tour later this month. It should go without saying that those shows are now canceled and anyone with tickets to those gigs should reach out to the venue to figure out what’s going on.
While they may not be the biggest act out there, it’s sad to see such a long-running band come to an end because some psychotic despot wants more land. Fuck Putin.