Peter Solowka was the founding guitarist for the wonderful UK pop band the Wedding Present, and played with them on their first batch of releases up to and including 1991’s mindblowing and essential Seamonsters, after which he was shown the door. But during his tenure in that band, he was a mover behind one of the band’s more off-the-map projects—a series of Peel Sessions wherein TWP devoted themselves to interpretations of Ukrainian folk songs. That was a short lived phase for the Wedding Present, but it became Solowka’s career. Upon being jettisoned from TWP, he was able to devote his attention to a side project that grew from that Weddoes diversion, the Ukrainians. That band name is about as exactly-what-it-says-on-the-box as band names come: they play traditional Ukrainian folk music amped up with post-punk textures and aesthetic strategies.
The band’s somewhat narrow concept has proved remarkably durable—they’ve existed for 25 years now, and have not only been recording and releasing music fairly steadily, they are touring the UK in support of a new LP in May. But the works I’m keen to share today are two EPs, released ten years apart, that pay tribute to the music of the Smiths and the Sex Pistols. The Smiths covers EP, 1992’s Pisni iz The Smiths, is great fun while being reverently respectful to the source material. This doesn’t feel cheeky, just really robust. Even the originally dismal “Meat is Murder” kicks ass. Savour the flavour:
“Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again)”
“Koroleva Ne Polerma (The Queen Is Dead)”
“M’yaso - Ubivstvo (Meat Is Murder)”
“Spivaye Solovey (What Difference Does It Make?)”
Ten years later, the band would repeat the conceit with the Sex Pistols tribute Anarchy in the UK, much of which was repurposed for an expanded 2014 Record Store Day release called Never Mind the Cossacks Here’s the Ukrainians. (Pisni got an RSD reissue as well, but in its original form, with no extras.) It’s a lot more straight up rock than the Smiths covers EP, but the intro to “Pretty Vacant” retains a traditional touch that won my smile.
“Anarchy In The U.K.”
“God Save the Queen”
“Pretty Vacant”
Bonus! A band that draws its inspiration and identity from the nation that Chernobyl calls home HAD to cover Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity,” right?
Previously on Dangerous Minds
Sex Pistols, Clash, and Motörhead covered celtic folk style by Vyvyan from ‘The Young Ones’