You're reading: Confessions of a self-made star

A soft-spoken Yuriy Kaplan, 25, the front man and founder of the band Valentin Strikalo, looks a lot like the young man from his first videos – a little shy, stiff and barely making eye contact.

“I am such an introvert and it is very hard for me to deal with new people,” Kaplan confesses. “Very hard.”

But everything changes when Kaplan starts talking about the music, genuinely displaying affection for what he does. Here Kaplan speaks about the perks of not having a music education, the effect his songs have on the younger generation and where he sees himself in 10 years.

His career started off in 2008 as “something to do when I was bored.”

Kaplan got online, wrote a simple song, addressed it to the Russian singer Vyacheslav Malezhik and meant it as a joke. A few weeks and videos later, it seemed like everyone was a little bit obsessed with the up and coming Valentin Stikalo (Kaplan’s pseudonym for the project). In those early videos, Kaplan poses as a shy young man from the imaginary Buriltsevo village, who always has something to say to celebrities. In his most famous video, Kaplan addresses Russian pop star Dima Bilan, dedicating a “coming out” song to him. The song had “Mom, I’m gay” in the chorus, hinting at Bilan’s alleged homosexuality. The video was watched 1.86 million times on YouTube.

“Some people were uncomfortable with the videos that I made, receiving them as a serious thing and not as the jokes they were supposed to be,” says Kaplan, who believes that it is quite possible to live on money made by performing and to continue doing what he loves. According to Forbes Ukraine, one show by the band costs $5,000 to $10,000.

“I have no interests other than music,” says Kaplan. “Even on my days off I get up, have my breakfast, post something on Twitter and grab my guitar.”

The Valentyn Strikalo band is Kaplan and his three friends. With the band, Kaplan performs numerous shows a month in nightclubs in Ukraine but mostly in Russia. While gaining popularity with the crowds, Valentin Strikalo is also creating controversy due to its constant and frequent use of curse words – especially since most of the band’s fans are under-age.

At a typical Valentin Strikalo show audience members scream out the song lyrics at the top of their lungs, particularly enjoying the raunchy language.

“My mother keeps asking me to stop writing songs that are filled with cursing, but that is our band’s only peculiarity. It is our personal success route. The kids love cursing so much, they are mesmerized by it. I am exploiting this trend,” Kaplan says simply.

After his first video got up and running on YouTube in March 2010, Kaplan got wide recognition. In 2010 Forbes Ukraine listed him in the top three artists that started as Internet celebrities. He was also named the best artist of the Web 2.0 generation by Russkiy Pioner (Russian Pioneer) magazine.

Kaplan says he doesn’t have any music education and will probably never try to get it. He admits that he sometimes lacks “technical knowledge and some skills,” but says that doesn’t matter much for the music he performs.

“In my music everything is based on the emotions, feelings,” Kaplan says. “This way is more honest, I think. That is why I believe one should read more, listen more, try and inhale as many interesting things as possible – that way the material will write itself.”

He questions the idea of “forced music education,” saying that it “killed so many geniuses.”

“Don’t make your child study something that he or she doesn’t want – when the time is right and the kid is 12 or 13 and wants to play an instrument – he will,” says Kaplan.

Right now Valentin Strikalo is preparing to introduce the band’s second album to its audience and begin a new tour as soon as this fall, starting with Russian cities.

“I like being on the road, it is romantic in a way,” says Kaplan. “It is a bus-and-gas-station kind of romance. One of the problems is that I always forget stuff. Once I even forgot my guitar at the airport. I’ve heard an announcement about a guitar that was left behind and was laughing up to the point when I realized that the idiot who lost his guitar was me – it cracked up the whole airport.”

Despite the success that the band is having right now, touring countries of the post Soviet Union and expanding their fan base, Kaplan doesn’t see himself doing music for a long time, saying that the rehearsals, different cities, performances are routine for him.

“In 10 years I would like to be in good health, look good and open a kiosk that sells everything. Everything and cigarettes,” Kaplan says with a laugh.

Kyiv Post staff writer Alisa Shulkina can be reached at [email protected].