Ostava

FORMATION AND EARLY YEARS

The Bulgarian alternative band Ostava was formed in 1991 by the university students Georgi Georgiev (lead vocals and guitar), Boyan Petkov (bass), Dragomir Dimitrov (drums). Singer Svilen Noev joined in 1995, bringing in a handful of new songs and a new approach to songwriting. He changed places with Georgi Georgiev and the band began playing songs written and sung chiefly by Noev. However, Georgiev is given lead vocals on several tracks. Drummer Daniel Petrov replaced Dragomir Dimitrov in 1999, thus forming the line-up that would later record the group’s first LP. Prior to Petrov’s joining Ostava was enjoying slight critical praise and no commercial success whatsoever.

PING-PONG (2000)

Ostava’s first long-playing record was released in 2000, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews. The album alternates between melancholic, moody ballads and guitar-driven tracks. The group quickly gained popularity, especially after “Would you come with me?” was proclaimed the “Best rock/alternative song of the year” at the MM Music awards. By this time Ostava were already performing regularly in various venues in Sofia and across Bulgaria.

AFTER LOVE IN THE TIME OF WAR (2002)

“After Love in the Time of War” (alternative translation “After love in times of war”) is arguably Ostava’s most significant record to date. The album demonstrates the further development and elaboration of Noev’s songwriting techniques and Georgiev’s guitar work. Gifted multi-instrumentalist Michael Shishkov joined the band, adding the sense of maturity and ripeness to its sound. The album was very well received and established Ostava as one of the attention-worthy Bulgarian indie acts. By this time the band had already acquired a solid and loyal following.

MONO (2004)

2003 saw another line-up change. Drummer Daniel Petrov sadly left both Ostava and Bulgaria.He was replaced by Vladimir Vassilev, who had made a name for himself playing for Animacionerite and Cigaretta. With him the band continued recording their third studio album. However, with Petrov returning a year and a half later, Vassilev was shown the door. “Mono” was released in December 2004. As Noev put it, the album’s sound was “far away from the melancholy Ostava is generally associated with”. Indeed, “Mono” features several catchy soft rock tunes, vaguely resembling the raw existentialism of earlier works. Nevertheless, the record received rapturous critical acclaim, with singles “Mono” and especially “Chocolate” topping Bulgarian charts.

ROCK’N’ROLL SONG DESIGNERS? (2008)

With a new member on board to freshen-up the band’s sound (Alex Marburg of half Bulgarian and half German descent on rhythm guitar) Ostava’s fourth studio LP entitled “Rock’n’Roll Song Designers?” was released in 2008 by one of the leading labels in Bulgaria – Virginia Records.

The first single off it was the controversially called “Sex in the morning”. Additional mastering was done by 6-time Grammy-nominated Brad Blackwood. The track climbed to the leading spots of many rock / alternative charts nationwide, received positive reviews among the press and was accepted more than well from the fans. An invitation from MM TV to play the track live at the Annual Music Awards in 2007 followed, as well as a number of request from foreign bands to join Ostava on stage at their future gigs.

The second single from the new LP – “Baby”, appeared in March 2008 with a video directed by Vassil Stefanov, who has been working with the band over the years and is responsible for a large number of Ostava’s best clips. The song ended up at the top of the weekly chart of the biggest rock radio station in Bulgaria – zRock, just a few days after its first broadcast. A promotional gig in the well-known Sofia venue “Yalta” was scheduled to back both its release and the release of the new album. Short after the success of “Baby” Michael Shishkov decided to leave the band in favour of his personal projects.

On September 25th 2009 the band promoted officially their third single – the title track off “Rock’n’Roll Song Designers”, at Sofia Live Club. Rushi Vidinliev directed the promo video as a part of his recent project – a trilogy of stop-motion movies. “The video is quite raw and reflects very well the main idea of our track. It’s revolutionary for the Bulgarian terms”, Svilen commented.

Currently the band is working on the follow-up of “Rock’n’Roll Designers?”. A promo video to their latest single “Mexico”, which will also be included in the soundtrack the new Bulgarian movie “Hunting down small predators” along with “Stop”, is scheduled to have its first broadcast later in May 2010.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

In the summer of 2006 Ostava supported LADYTRON at their second concert in Bulgaria – this time at Sunny Beach. Only a few months later they opened for IAN BROWN as part of the MTV EXIT campaign aginst human
exploitation and trafficking , which included Bulgaria among other countries. Two appearances at London’s Brixton Telegraph followed. Ostava have recently supported PLACEBO and LENNY KRAVITZ, at their one-off gigs in Sofia as their performance was an essential part of the tremendous show the headliners had to offer. The band has participated at some of the biggest European rock festivals, including SZIGET (Hungary), EXIT (Serbia) and EUROPEAN CLUB NIGHT (Germany), and has played all over Germany and Romania.