Weesp (band)

Weesp is an alternative post-metal band from Minsk, Belarus. The band style can be described as a mix of heavy and recognizable riffing, groovy drumming beats, analogue synth sounds, and melodic expressional vocals. Even though band members used to call [1] their style alternative rock, some music journalists describe [2] it as “combination of metal and rock genres”, and some songs they define [3] as nu-metal. With the release of the Black Sails album the band have defined themselves as 'alternative post-metal'.

Weesp
Background information
Origin	Minsk, Belarus
Genres	Alternative rock, electronic,
Years active	2008–present
Labels	DIY
Website	weespofficial.com
Members	Alexei Falco Dmitry Budzko Stanislav Budzko Mikhail Zaluckiy Alexei Galesnik

Early years

Band front man Lex Falco together with Michail (Mike) Zalucky (guitar) formed the band in Minsk when they both were studying in high school in the middle of the 2000s. Later, the rest of the members joined and, in 2009, the band finally announced its name - "WEESP" and immediately released the Taste of Steel EP].[4] ( Weesp is the name of a village in the Netherlands.)

Inspired by such bands as The Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Korn and Metallica, they soon formed their own sound: a combination of heavy riffs with melodic and classic synth sounds.

After the next EP release This will destroy us [5] (2011), Weesp performed at numerous concerts and festivals, including those in Baltic countries, CIS, Poland, Germany and Czech Republic (2012-2015). The band also released a few singles during that period.

2015 - "The Void" album

On 20 August 2015, Weesp released their first full album The Void on which they had been working from 2012).[6] The recording had been postponed for a long time. According to frontman, Lex Falco the “album reflects feelings and experience from the last 10 years of our lives. This is why the sound and mood of the album at times differ a lot if you listen to different songs. This album has both vivid teenager impressions and bitter life lessons”.[7]

The album includes a few tracks in collaboration with Cory Brandan from Norma Jean. Brandon features in the "Solar Empire" and “Everything Burns” tracks.[8]

Unlike previous albums, The Void was not recorded in the band's home city but at the Polish studio Hertz by the Wieslawski brothers, who were working with such bands as Behemoth and Vader.[9] The mastering was done at Turtle Tone studio.[9]

The band was touring across Europe (Poland, Germany, Czech Republic) in 2015-2017.

2018 - "Black Sails" album

Weesp released the "Illumination" single at the end of 2017, together with the official video.[10][11] They announced a new album named Black Sails to be released in the first half of 2018. Later on the band announced that "Black Sails" would be released on April 5, 2018 and is produced by the Wieslawski brothers.

The band released two more singles in February and March 2018 - "Not Over" and "Who We Are" and in addition a "Not Over" official music video.[12][13][12]

During the album promo campaign Weesp started to call their fan community Black Sails.

The ‘Black Sails’ album has the theme of opposing the pressure of society on people who want to be different, opposing witch hunting and mass cultural dictatorship.

The band released the "Black Sails" album on April 5, 2018. The album features 9 songs and has a total length of 41 minutes.

2019 - "Crystal Clear Waters" album

On September 11 2019 Weesp released its new album Crystal Clean Waters[14]. It features 7 tracks from the previous albums (The Void and Black Sails) played with acoustic instruments and two songs from the last album recorded live during the show in Minsk.

The band filmed music videos for new versions of “illumination”, “Red Neon Glow” and “Monsters” songs, which are on YouTube[15].

Discography

Studio albums

• 2009 – tasteofsteel

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Taste of steel"	04:01
2.	"rivalry spirit"	02:28
3.	"Charcoal and chalk"	05:57
4.	"Caves"	04:43
5.	"Tooth-brush"	05:05
6.	"Funny Faces"	03:07

• 2011 – This Will Destroy Us

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Will Destroy US"	03:38
2.	"There's Like No Tomorrow"	04:39
3.	"Livan"	04:21
4.	"Sub"	03:41
5.	"The Horror"	05:09
6.	"Exodus: remastered"	03:07

• 2015 – The Void

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Livan"	04:26
2.	"Solar Empire (feat Cory Brandan of Norma Jean)"	04:28
3.	"Unstable Matter"	03:18
4.	"Beware the Blind Spots"	03:58
5.	"Icarus Flight"	03:43
6.	"Charcoal and Chalk"	05:16
7.	"Bruises and the Cuts"	04:24
8.	"Murderers"	04:07
9.	"Full Stop"	04:01
10.	"Omen"	03:53
11.	"The Void"	04:14
12.	"Everything Burns (feat Cory Brandan of Norma Jean)"	06:49
13.	"Waves"	04:50

• 2018 - Black Sails

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Who We Are"	05:52
2.	"Red Neon Glow"	04:16
3.	"Monsters"	04:00
4.	"Not Over"	05:14
5.	"Roads, Hotels"	04:40
6.	"The Stream"	03:26
7.	"Illumination"	04:24
8.	"Black Sails"	05:38
9.	"After Us"	04:29

• 2019 – Crystal Clean Waters

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Illumination (Acoustic Version)"	04:24
2.	"Red Neon Glow (Acoustic Version)"	03:31
3.	"Monsters (Acoustic Version)"	04:03
4.	"Beware the Blind Spots (Acoustic Version)"	02:31
5.	"Who We Are (Acoustic Version)"	03:51
6.	"Livan (Acoustic Version)"	03:27
7.	"Roads and Hotels (Acoustic Version)"	03:20
8.	"After Us (Live)"	04:57
9.	"Monsters (Live)"	04:23

Singles

• 2009 – "Exodus: origins"
• 2011 — "Our Own Gale"
• 2013 — "Caves unplugged"
• 2015 — "Murderers"
• 2015 — "Solar Empire"
• 2017 __ "Illumination"
• 2018 __ "Not Over"
• 2018 __ "Who We Are"

Live

• 2010 — Livan
• 2011 — "Omen" (The Prodigy cover)

Music videos

• 2011 – "Livan"
• 2013 – "Caves unplugged"
• 2013 – "Our Own Gale" (lyric-video)
• 2013 – "Sub"
• 2015 – "Murderers"
• 2015 – "Solar Empire"
• 2017 – "Illumination"
• 2018 – "Not Over"
• 2018 – "Who We Are"
• 2018 – "Black Sails"
• 2019 – "Crystal Clean Waters"

Members

• Alexei (Lex) Falco – vocals, piano
• Michail (Mike) Zalucky – guitars
• Dmitry (Mi) Budzko – bass
• Stanislav (Stak) Budzko – electronics
• Alexei (Gul) Galesnik – drums

References

1. "Интервью с группой Weesp | IRL.BY". IRL.BY (in Russian). 2015-07-15. Archived from the original on 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
2. "Weesp – The Void (CD Album – Zeppelin Records) – Side-Line Music Magazine". Side-Line Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 2016-05-13. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
3. Pas, Jakub. "Weesp - The Void". www.darkplanet.pl. Archived from the original on 2016-05-03. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
4. "EP2009: taste of steel". SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
5. "EP2011: this will destroy us". SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
6. "The Void (full album audio stream) - YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
7. "Distortion-magazine | Music Magazine". distortion-magazine.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
8. weespwilldestroyus (23 July 2015). "Weesp - Solar Empire ft Cory Brandan [Official Music Video 2015]". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2018 – via YouTube.
9. "HOME - Hertz Recording". Hertz Recording. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
10. "ILLUMINATION". soundcloud.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
11. weespwilldestroyus (24 December 2017). "Weesp - Illumination (single 2018)". Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018 – via YouTube.
12. weespwilldestroyus (16 February 2018). "Weesp - Not Over (single 2018)". Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018 – via YouTube.
13. weespwilldestroyus (15 March 2018). "Weesp - Who We Are (single 2018, alternative post metal, new music, free listen)". Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018 – via YouTube.
14. https://soundcloud.com/weesp/sets/crystal-clean-waters
15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb-4Vuot-aU

External links

• Weesp official web-site
• Video on YouTube