Early years (1998–2001) Aleh Vial expressed his desire to play music as early as 1996. The following year, his brother acquired a
drum kit for his band, which eventually became the first instrument Aleh learned to play. Aleh wanted to join his brother's musical group but was not accepted because he did not play any musical instruments at that time. In 1998, Aleh, who would become the vocalist and guitarist, gathered two school friends, bassist Maksim Dziewitsynski and drummer Alexander Vashchyla, to form a band. They were inspired by other local Belarusian bands such as
Jitters, whom they were mutual friends with, and other bands such as
Nirvana,
Radiohead, and
Pearl Jam. In their early years, the group focused on learning to play their instruments and experimenting with their songwriting.
First releases (2002–2006) Their first public performance, coinciding with their new band name Hair Peace Salon, was on February 22, 2002, during a birthday tribute concert to
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana at the Minsk club Baza where they would perform several songs. Alexander left the band later that year and was replaced by Artur Luchkow on drums. Soon after, solo guitarist Vadim Dubina joined the band as their lead guitarist. In March, Hair Peace Salon participated in an avant-garde music and fashion festival in Minsk. To promote themselves, the band recorded their first single, "Next Level," consisting of two songs, which was released in early 2004. In June 2004, Hair Peace Salon, along with Jitters, participated in the international festival Piirideta Muusika ("Music Without Borders") in
Narva, Estonia. During this period, Artur Luchkow and Aleh Vial also played in Jitters, where Konstantin Karman sang and played bass guitar. Both bands frequently performed together at joint concerts and festivals, developing a close friendship. The band made strides in the
grunge scene, actively playing at various Minsk clubs from 2002 to 2004. In 2005, Vadim Dubina left the band due to family circumstances. Four months later, guitarist Vadim Isayev joined the band as their new lead guitarist, via an ad in the
Muzykal'naya Gazeta ("Musical Newspaper") newspaper. In July 2005, Hair Peace Salon participated in the Polish festivals
Basovišča '05 and then at
Rock-kola-2005 in
Polotsk later that year in December. Their next promotional CD was released in 2005, featuring the single "Hover," with the title track included in the British alternative rock
compilation"Spotlight On" by Matchbox Recordings, released on November 14, 2005. Also near the end of 2005, keyboardist-vocalist Andrey Kozik joined the band, but only played with them for about six months. By the end of spring 2006, Artur Luchkow also left his side projects with Jitters, and the band spent the year performing on stage. They participated in several concerts across Belarus, "Wiosło Jaćwinga" in
Suwałki, and "Fiesta Borealis" in
Olsztyn. Additionally, the band performed at a joint concert with
Neuro Dubel, Kama,
N.R.M., Indiga, and other prominent Belarusian rock bands in support of the release of the "Songs of Freedom" compilation series, held at Bangalore Square in Minsk on August 25, 2006.
Gipsy and in Tune (2007–2009) In 2007 the second EP was released. All songs were performed by all four official band members, while keyboard parts were played by a few different
session musicians. The band got the nominee in the category "Rush of the year" at the "Рок-коронация 2007" award show in February, won a selection into the finale in May as the finalist of the contest "ИдиНаРок" in June with its prize, got to record a song in a professional music studio, performed at the biggest country stages during the Day of the City Minsk and at the festival "Ambasovišča" was held by the Belarusian Embassy of the US in September, and became just a semi-finalist on the international live music competition
Global Battle of the Bands (2007), but lost to a French band
Milque Twins. After tinkering with sessional keyboardists prior to and on the "Acoustics of Spring" March presentation in view of a half of the year business trip of Konstantin Karman, to the end of 2007 the number of the official members of the band was increased, as he paused the existence of his band Jitters and was invited to play in Hair Peace Salon on a full-time basis. On 28 October 2007 the EP
Gipsy was released. The new look of the band was shown at the presentation of the EP
Gipsy supported by
Open Space and some other musicians and friends of the band on 18 November 2007. On 25 October 2007 the split album named
Split Before, Together Now was released on the West Records label to promote this new collaboration. This CD contained Hair Peace Salon (
Gypsy) and
Jitters (
Pick Me Up) EPs with the original artwork filled with two laced together shoes as a symbol that there were two bands, but since this release they are united now. "The guys from HPS have always admired the creativity of the not very famous but beloved in certain circles Jitters band. And today they caught up with them in skill, came near, and even outstripped them in some ways," highlighted Elena Sobolevskaya from the newspaper
Muzykalnaya Gazeta the music standards of both Britpop and
brit rock collectives in her album review. In addition to regular gigs, given circa 30 live shows in the 2007 year, musicians were successfully participating in various music contests, such as "Musical Playoffs" (semi-finalists), In March 2008 the lead guitarist Vadim Isaev left the band. That was a hit during the record sessions of the upcoming EP, and although the band tried to find a new solo guitarist, these efforts fell short. Despite this, the remained quartet decided neither to slow their recording tempo, nor to decrease the number of live performances. They took the second place in the contest "Музыкальный спарринг". The very first presentation of the EP
In Tune was held in the "Bronx" club on its release date on 1 November 2008 supported by the
folk band Akana-NHS with Irena Kotvitskaya and
Rusya from Indiga. This CD had four songs, including one bonus track. As a winner of preliminary rounds together with the
Open Space, in January 2009 the band played in the local final of the Bandscan festival, the final of which had to be taken place in
Sweden, but they took the second place after
The Toobes. The official video of the single "
In Tune" was shot in February, and the full edited clip went on public in December. During the upcoming year, Hair Peace Salon was working in the studio on new material, getting experience with acoustic as well as rock programs, and often playing gigs with the
British wave band Open Space like in previous years. This notable track called "Studzień" was put on the
compilation CD of the project released in December 2009, In August the band won a national selection organized by
European Radio for Belarus and went to
Chernihiv (
Ukraine) at the "
Be Free" festival to present this mother language version of the song live with
Lyapis Trubetskoy,
Vopli Vidopliassova, and more Belarusian and Ukrainian rock bands. At the end of 2009, the band redesigned their website with artwork by Polina Pastushenko, director of the "
In Tune"
music video, to support the release of the brand new video clip on the song "
Like A Whale" filmed as a participant of the TV-show "PROдвижение +". Shortly after, Alexey Kuznetsov left the band in December 2009. The frontman Aleh Vial later said that this happened because they had not been playing with him in harmony well.
Gentleman (2010–2012) The band was doing well in the first several months of 2010 winning round-by-round in the "Graffiti Open Music Fest" festival, when on 5 April 2010 the very first single of the upcoming full-length album called
Happy for a While was released on the Chinese market with different artwork at first to support the signing of the new drummer, while its worldwide release was 5 days later. That one marked the musical shift of the band towards power pop, while the album had to be released next fall. A new melodic and dress code switch was showcased on 10 April 2010, and the release event in the "Broadway" club was supported by Drum Ecstasy, Кассиопея, The Stampletons, and more. In September 2010 the band made a double release as the brand new
rock 'n' roll internet-single ''
Rolz'n'Rulz was supported by the experimental remix EP HPS Remixed'' filled with 6 remixes of the songs from two latest singles from a few different Minsk
electronic stage DJs in
trance,
drum 'n' bass,
downtempo, and more styles. All of two songs from the singles
Happy for a While ("
Happy for a While","
Out of Time") and self-titled "''Rolz'n'Rulz''" were credited with Alexey Kuznetsov as the drummer despite his leaving Hair Peace Salon almost a year ago. On 3 December 2010 the band gave an online concert on the biggest Belarusian web-portal
Tut.By, performed several songs from these new singles. In the press release in support of both single and EP, the band indicated that the work on the upcoming debut album will be done by the start of winter 2010. Nevertheless, during the 2011 year the band continued to be focused on writing songs for the forthcoming album. On 18 March 2012 the band made the official reveal of the first full-length album in a short video clip. Music works from the past three years were merged in the album
Gentleman, and this release was started rolling out for free from the official band's website hairpeacesalon.com from 21 March 2012. It's worth to note that despite the previous announce, only 10 tracks appeared in the final release. "10 good-quality tracks and nothing redundant " from "the album we can certainly be proud of" via Tuzin.fm received mostly positive response: "beautiful voice, good lyrics, excellent sound, flawless execution, competent flow", "''"Rolz'n'Rulz"'' rules", "this collective is just about closer to the standard of the European tradition of combining rock instruments with enough pop melody than all", "melodic and melancholic songs, beautiful guitars, and the recognizable high vocals of Aleh Vial", "
polyphony that sometimes forces to recall
the Fab Four gives lightness and a feeling of a large stroke to sound". At the same time reviewers noted a lack of brightness and originality, because the record was being heard like an ordinary
British wave album. "Very nice work where individuality is felt" as it was noted in the review of the year by Tuzin.fm was selected in a few tops of Belarusian albums released in that span, and its first track "
Borderline" was chosen in the top of the best contemporary Belarusian songs by
Lenta.ru. Following the album launch, a substitution was made in the band which played live as a trio for a short time again, as Alex Stepanovich was found to replace Vladimir Agayan, who left Hair Peace Salon in July, and the new drummer was officially introduced in September 2012. Because of that, the release party show was postponed to 11 October 2012.
Break-up (2013) Supported the new album with a row of shows, acoustic for half of a year, at its third appearance at an annual
Acoustic of Spring event in March 2013, the band showed some new songs to be released under new Aleh Vial's Bristeil band
copyright later on: a brand new song in Belarusian
Nieba Abraz and
Lana Del Rey's hit
Video Games (both are from the
Cyruĺnia Svietu EP, the latest one will be actually re-sung and
covered in the Belarusian language). The band received a nomination for "Debut of the Year" at the Rock Profi awards for
Gentleman. At the end of August 2013, together with The Toobes and
Dzieciuki the band was selected to represent Belarus in Poland at the "
Cieszanów Rock Festiwal 2013". Having worked together on recording "VS ½ HPS" in Spring 2013, frontman and guitarist Aleh Vial and drummer Alex Stepanovich with two other musicians founded new Belarusian rock band named
Bristol later in autumn. The band has never declared about its break-up, but since 2013 there were no new songs released. == Style ==