Shmely started in 1998 in the Ukraine when Alexander (Shmel’) and Lyolya Zasedateleva (stage name Lyos) decided to form a band. Before that they had several projects, such as Kunstkamera A, White Elephant, Rubbish Chute Roat, MT-10 and probably some others. It is not that being in those projects was less exciting for them than the band itself, quite on the opposite. When Shmel and Lyos were engaged in those projects, behaviour perhaps mattered more than the musical side. It was a time for madness and shocking people. The couple (they got married in 1995) was notorious for being extreme, reckless, shameless and totally unpredictable….and they still are to some extent.

So the projects were pushed aside as Shmely aroused. As for the name of the band, there is a story behind it. It stands for ‘Bumblebees’, but that was not the point. It is derived from Alexander’s surname – Shmelyov. Shmely confess that no matter what their music was like and what line up they had, everyone kept calling the band only like this – Shmely. So this word quickly stuck to them and since then, there was nothing doing, the couple, their work and people around them have been recognized as Shmely.

In 1998 Shmely met Rostislav Sherbatko (Ross) and together they recorded several albums in Rovno, the Ukraine. The recording featured also Andrey Bilash (drums) and Sergey Korobkov (bass). In that year they started doing gigs as Shmely and at the same time they composed new songs. This inability to live without making music has always been the crazy couple’s incurable disease.

Ross deserves a few words too. He was a great pop music composer with a perfect musical ear, who influenced Shmely a lot musically, especially in terms of improving Shmel’s vocals technique. And even though Shmely were not always happy with his pop arrangements, they could not but adopt some of his catchy pop elements and sometimes used them on their albums.

Then there were lots of gigs…some of them were a part of youth contests, some – part of sports events and some – part of a promotion campaign for another presidential candidate. Meanwhile their first albums were released and distributed by the Kiev-based studio MOON. It seemed a big chance for the poor musicians, but it didn’t work out. During a concert in honour of another politician they performed ‘Sex, drugs and home vodka’ instead of the planned songs. As a result, they were secretly banned everywhere. In spite of this, Shmel’ and Lyos went on with the gigs.

Later Shmel’ and Lyos formed a small biker club called Kvakston’s Freaks in Rovno where they kept on doing independent secret gigs and enjoyed life with their friends. Their parties were full of extreme, booze and girls.

From the music standpoint, Shmely was considered to be a punk rock band, though it wasn’t real punk rock in its classical sense. At that time, despite being banned, Shmely managed to perform at different local music festivals under the name MT-10 (the name of Shmel’s bike).

Shmely went to Moscow with gigs several times and finally moved to live there. After performing the song called ‘A skinhead girl from Moscow’ there were rumours about the connection of the band with the fascists, but it surely was not true. The song was misinterpreted. It was meant to be a mockery of all the radical political ways. So it started all over again: empty clubs, poverty, negative attitude of society and isolation.

However, the crazy couple didn’t lose heart and went on recording and performing songs. To earn money for living Lyos and Shmel’ had to work. Shmel’, despite having higher education, worked as a loader, washed dishes and Lyos sold music cassettes at Gorbuha (a large music store in Moscow).

Shmel’ and Lyos met lots of great musicians. Among them were Nikolay Bikov and Vladimir Alimin.

In 2002 Les and Shmel formed a new line up:
Lyos – vocals
Shmel’ – vocals
Sova (Oleg Turigin) – guitars
Ivan Timoshenko – guitars
Andrey Martinenkov – drums

This year can be considered the year of the birth of Shmely as we know them and their music now.

With this line up Shmely performed and even toured a bit.

Then Ross, the keyboardist, returned to the band. Even now, when they look back, Shmely say that the time spent with Ross was the brightest and the most extraordinary one in their creative work. Nobody knows why (perhaps because of his girlfriend), but in 2005 Ross left the band.

Since 2001 Shmely’s CDs were released through such labels as Moroz and Misteria.
Every year Shmely released a couple of albums, but none of them appeared on TV or radio. However, they did lots of gigs…all sort of gigs…all dimensions of madness.

There were many changes in the line up: Ivan Timoshenko left the band and came back, the guitarist Bazilio (Igor Ermakov) played the guitar and took part in the recording of several albums. He brought a different guitar sound to those albums. Then there was another guitarist Dutch, who contributed to a heavier sound of some albums, then another drummer Martinenkov, who also came and left the band several times. Nevertheless, this constant ‘migration’ has never bothered the couple who commented on this by saying the following: ‘Musicians come to us and leave the band when they feel like doing it, it is up to them to decide. If they were Shmely once, they will always be a part of Shmely.’

Apart from this, starting from 2001 Shmely created one-album projects: Antivirus, Dramatics and finally U.L.A. It is worth mentioning that Alan Waters (Alexander Gromtsev), a magnificent musician, collaborated with Shmely on a couple of albums.

Since 2005 Shmel’ and Lyos composed and made arrangements for most songs on their own. They also collaborated with Bazilio, Sova and Ivan from time to time. The albums were recorded and mixed at TENIP and AW studios.

In 2008 Shmel’ and Lyos performed electric versions of their songs live and toured with them with DJ Python, sometimes with the guitarist Bazilio and the drummer Martinenkov.

In 2008 there was another change in Shmely’s line up: Ksiron, a bagpiper, appeared in the band. Since 2008 he has been taking part in song recording and live gigs, especially acoustic ones. The acoustic part has always been a special part of Shmely’s creative work. Shmel and Les played many acoustic gigs on their own and they still do. It is interesting that many people love Shmely especially for their acoustic side.

In 2008 Shmely did some half electric gigs, but they felt that they got less satisfaction from what they were doing, which contributed to future changes, both line up and music wise.

In January-February 2009 Lyos and Shmel’ alone recorded ‘The Moscow fair of pleasures’ and changed the ‘live’ line up. Apart from Shmel’ and Lyos, the band included and includes now the following musicians:
Dmitry Resser – guitars
Alexander Golov – drums
Ksiron – bagpipes, flute, psaltery, keyboards
Sergey Spitsin – bass

At the same time Shmely gradually extended the line up for U.L.A project:
Shmel’ and Lyos
Aleksey Grizlov (Grizzly) – synths, bass
Kirill (Glazeg, or ‘Eyeball’) – drums
Ksiron – bagpipes
Yura Horin – guitars

Throughout the year 2000 Shmely played gigs with both line ups and alone (acoustic gigs) as well.