Ukrainian band O. Torvald is hot now. Besides releasing a new album and doing a promotional tour of 22 Ukrainian cities, the band’s lead singer Zhenya Halych played a starring role in a recent film.
And to top it off, O. Torvald won the national competition to represent Ukraine in Eurovision 2017, hosted in Kyiv this May.
But while the future looks brighter, the gifted rock stars of O. Torvald have a darker past of excessive alcohol consumption and a rocky music career. Here’s 6 little-known facts:
From a military family
Lead singer Halych was born in Bila Tserkva, a city of 210,000 people 80 kilometers south of Kyiv, but spent his childhood in Kazakhstan, where his father, a military officer, was stationed. When Halych turned eight, his family had to relocate to Poltava in central Ukraine, where Halych would later meet his future bandmates.
Halych first tried following father’s footsteps and studied at Poltava Military Institute of Communications: “I can’t say I deeply regret, but perhaps I shouldn’t have wasted five whole years of my life on it,” Halych told Ukrainian magazine Viva. “Never in my life have I had to use the knowledge I gained there.
O. Torvald performs their Eurovision song “Time” at the final of the national selection on Feb. 25. (Youtube / Eurovision Song Contest)
Before O. Torvald
Halych used to be in a band called Stakan z-pid pyva, povnoho piny (a glass with beer foam). Then he was the drummer in a jazz band called Nelly Family. Halych also played drums in a Kyiv punk rock band called Piatky (Heels). Then there were Kolbasnyi Tsekh (Sausage factory), Plov Gotov (The plov is ready), Uyut (Cosiness) and a ska punk band called Kruty! Pedali (Spin! The Pedals).
The name “O. Torvald” was inspired by all the mischief that the rock stars got in. In Russian, “otorvatsia” means “to party hard” and the made-up name “O. Torvald” sounds similar.
Rock-star lifestyle
Halych told news website Insider about some of the bands’ antics, saying the Kruty! Pedali band members were “always drunk, all the time” and some became “hopeless alcoholics” later. “Once during a concert of Red Hot Chili Peppers covers, I got completely naked, with just a sock preserving my dignity, and jumped into the crowd like that,” Halych said in another interview. “After that, as I remember, somebody grabbed me and put me in a car, where a girl was waiting for me for quick sex.”
O. Torvald also reportedly regularly hosted wild alcohol and sex parties.
Ukraine’s representatives at the 2017 Eurovision O. Torvald perform at the Atlas club in Kyiv on Feb. 14. (Facebook / O. Torvald) (Facebook/O.Torvald)
Host of radio, TV shows
Halych has hosted a few radio and TV programs in Poltava and Kyiv. One TV show was called “Trash show. Chipsy. Chiksy. Lavandos,” broadcast on the M1 music channel.
The show was aimed at teenagers with a late-afternoon time slot. The hosts openly spoke about sex and the female body. It was cancelled after several years.
A veteran of the music scene
Few had heard of O. Torvald before 2016, when they released their “#nashiliudyvsiudy” album. But O. Torvald has actually been together for 11 years. The band was founded in 2005, and apart from Halych, consists of guitarist Denys Miziuk, drummer Sasha Solokha, bass guitarist Mykyta Vasyliev and DJ Polarnik. O. Torvald has so far released five albums, 20 music videos, and played hundreds of gigs and over 20 festivals. With “#nashiliudyvsiudy” an electronic spin was added to the rock sound of the band, and many fans have dubbed it “the new era of O. Torvald.”
The song “#nashiliudyvsiudy” (“Our people are everywhere”) has been dubbed “the new era of O. Torvald” by many fans. (Youtube / Otorvaldband)
Halych is a family man now
He met his wife Valeria in 2008, bringing his wild years to an end, he said in an interview with Viva. They started off as friends because she had a boyfriend. But Halych started becoming so fond of Valeria that they suggested they stop meeting.
“She answered ‘I also can’t live without you, and don’t know what to do with myself,” Halych said. “Then Lera told her boyfriend everything, and they split up. Two months after that I proposed.”
They have a three-year old daughter Eva and another child on the way. Now, when Valeria or Eva cry, “I lose control and can agree to anything – just so they stop.”
