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“We used to be good friends but then I moved to another coach and we lost contact. But a few years later we met once again (none of us ever knew that we had been into heavy metal music). So we decided to give it a try and luckily it came out exceptionally well.” Evgeny said.

Soon, they started searching for a vocalist. Evgeny's father mentioned that at his work (he is a judge) there was a guy who could sing brilliantly and who somehow knew Evgeny from boxing training that both had been practicing for long period. Nevertheless, Evgeny did not actually remember him. So a meeting was booked and when Evgeny saw this fellow he recognized him immediately.

“It was actually funny – neither of us knew that we liked heavy metal music or had even played in a band before.” Evgeny said.

There was a problem of finding a title of the band. It was finally decided to take their name from Scandinavian mythology because Alexander and Evgeny were fond of Nordic music and culture. Moreover, it had a direct correlation to Russian culture (“Asgard” in Russian).

With the time Alexander “Rokk” brought his friends Igor “Ingwar” (drums) and Denis “Ragnar” (bass). The band was officially formed in Krasnodar, Russia in 2004. Shortly after, the band added a new member to backing vocals. Her name was Irina Zaparozhtseva who is married to the bass player.

Musical Background
Initially, Asgård didn’t even think about emerging deep in music. They just started to play for fun and it turned out to be cool – everyone enjoyed it. So, eventually, they emerged from the rehearsing facilities and went on stage – played a few gigs.

From a general point of view, everyone in the band liked music when they were kids, except Evgeny. He hated heavy sound, but at some point there was a turning point when his musical priorities changed dramatically. Alexander “Rokk” first started as a guitar player and used to play rhythm and solo guitar in various bands. Once, a singer left the band he played in at that time, so he took up a new guy on guitar and Alexander took up singing for a change, since then his voice is his main instrument. The same sort of thing happened with Evgeny. He actually like the keyboard sounds a lot. However, he couldn’t afford to buy one so he bought a guitar instead which subsequently became his main instrument. Nevertheless, he picked up on some basic keyboard techniques and still enjoys playing it. Alexander Pigarev’s main instrument was trombone. He started playing the instrument while studying at the local University of Culture. Besides the trombone, he also played fortepiano and some other instruments. He has played in so many bands and orchestras, that probably he doesn’t know the real quantity himself. He even used to play keyboards at ice hockey matches.

On The Verge - the album
“It’s like we have lived through another’s life!” Evgeny said. Asgård were fortunate to peak the interest and work with the famous Swedish sound producers Mikael “Nord” Andersson/Martin Hansen who produced the Finnish band: The Rasmus album “Dead Letters” which has sold over a million and a half records worldwide as well as the actor Peter Stormare album among many others…).

In 2003, the members of Asgård had been playing in different local bands before they met each other, even though Evgeny Grebennikov (guitar) knew Alexander “Rokk” Savchenko (vocal) from boxing training.

“To say that Mikael and Martin are great is an understatement. It was a stunning experience recording “On The Verge” at Nord Studios in Stockholm. We learned a lot from that record session and had a great time. Though it was a lot of hard work and intense with the scheduling and we were confronted with different problems during the recording process (like SAS Airlines going on strike and the mixing console malfunctioning due to power fluctuation one day). Nevertheless, we somehow found the time go crazy and have fun as well.” laughs Evgeny.

Live
In the beginning, Asgård had performed few concerts due to the fact that Alexander Evtushenko (bass) and Alexander Grebennikov (drums - Evgeny's father) couldn't combine their primary studies and work subsequently and they were replaced by Vladimir Volchenko on the bass and Igor "Ingwar" Pachomoff on the drums. Later there were more shows; among those that Asgård played was the concert in a Saratov, Russia a festival in the city square. It was unbelievable. It was our first headline concert and the audience was just brilliant. People there gave us such a warm welcome. The organisers were highly professional from local security to the sound engineers, technicians, assistants and stage managers. It was a great time! We rocked!

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