Group Refining Net Worth

Biography of the group Refinage

The Refining group – at first four, and in 2019 there are already six creative talented guys who settled in St. Petersburg. The year 2012 is considered the date of formation of a musical group that does not squeeze itself into the framework of a certain direction. Since that time, Affinage have released five studio albums and filmed several video projects. Their songs “Like”, “Sasha” and others are heard in feature films, and the musicians themselves strive to create compositions that are shockingly close to every person.

History of creation

The paths of the four members converged at one point while guitarist and songwriter Mikhail (Em) Kalinin was trying to create an aAIDS project, bassist Sergei (Sergeich) Shilyaev played in Her Cold Fingers, trombonist Alexander (Om) Evdokimov was trying to create group “Sasha Om”, and bayanist Alexander (without a pseudonym) Koryukovets independently honed his skill in playing the instrument.

Kalinin and Shilyaev were introduced to Vologda in 2007, they tried to perform as a duet, but it did not work out. Having moved to St. Petersburg a few years later, the guys, in an unsuccessful search for rock musicians for a future group, became an acoustic duet called, which will soon become known to everyone as the first Affinage album: “Me and Mobius are going to Champagne”.

A few months later they were joined by an accordionist (not to be confused with an accordionist!) Koryukovets, who also moved to St. Petersburg from Vologda. The band’s birthday is the date of the first rehearsal – March 13, 2012. The group, who called themselves what they once saw in a fashion magazine with the word “affinage”, which in French means “cleansing”, began diligent rehearsals.

The first live concerts were held as an encore for a sophisticated St. Petersburg audience. Inspired by their first success, the guys turned to Anatoly Nikulin, the lead singer of the Valery & The Greedies punk band, who at that time had his own studio, with a request to record a mini-album. Trombonist Alexander Evdokimov, invited for the song “Affect”, became the fourth permanent member of “Affinage”, an independent group that works without sponsors, producers and labels.

The main stages of creativity

After recording the mini-album “Refining” in 2013, they started talking about the group. The song “Hero of My Childhood Dreams” stayed on the charts of “Our Radio” and “Chart Dozen” for almost two months. The guys presented the video for the song “Affect” in the St. Petersburg Miracle in May of the same year.

In autumn, another piercing EP “Children” saw the light of day, which included the tracks “Sasha”, “Vanya”, “Papa”. As the musicians admit, this release is deeply personal, akin to psychotherapy after the loss of a loved one. The musicians put on formal suits for the presentation.

In the winter-spring of 2014, Refining presented its first full-length album, first in Moscow, then in its native Vologda and St. Petersburg. In the same spring, the only song in French appeared, “It’s better for me not to know anything extra about you.”

The summer was marked by the release of the mini-album “I’m Flying / Growing”, and then the musicians started recording the second big album. As Em admits, the work was much different from previous creations, and it seemed to him that the audience would not accept this “gloomy magical creature” called “Russian Songs”. But the musicians themselves were one hundred percent sure that the new album was a real treasure. Working on a furious overcoming of opportunities, a serious study of one’s own voice, intense vocals – all this was appreciated by the fans and enthusiastically accepted in the spring of 2015. The presentation of the new album took place in three cities – St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk.

In the winter of 2016, the team presented to the audience the third studio album “Russian Songs / Afterword” live on the “Live” project on “Svoe Radio”. Inspired by the success, the guys went on a full-fledged tour of Russia, then worked on the release of the mini-album “Mira”, which became the harbinger of the fourth studio album “Make the Sea”. In the spring of 2017, the album was presented in Minsk, after which Affinage went on his anniversary tour.

In the summer of that year, the team became a member of the Invasion for the first time, despite the fact that some of the previously announced artists refused to perform at the festival, which was taken under the wing of the Ministry of Defense. In autumn, “Refining” first appeared on television. In the same year, the group released the anniversary album “The Best of Five Years” and took part in the creative project 25/17 “Eva Goes to Babylon”. A new sound engineer Ilya Mutovkin joined the group.

The musicians spoke about the fifth studio album called “Gold” in their interviews as a harmonious and logical impressive story of eighteen songs. In this album, which was released in 2018, you can find the features of all previously written compositions, and at the same time, each one sounds in a new way, as if the songs grew out of “children’s pants”. At this time, drummer Richard Starkov joined the creative team.

Collaborations with other artists

• Lay low in Avtovo – Refining ft. Echoes of smoky porches
• Sailor – Refining ft. 25/17
• Fangs – Refining ft. 25/17
• Mistakes – Refining ft. Animation

Discography

• Me and Moebius going to Champagne (2014)
• Russian songs (2015)
• Russian songs/Afterword (2016)
• Make the Sea (2017)
• Gold / EP – You who found / EP – Room with personal belongings / EP – Miracle (2018)

Group “Refining” now

Refining is an active participant in large festivals: “Wild Mint”, “Old New Rock”, “VK Fest”. The guys are invited to their programs by famous musicians, for example, they visited the “Kvartirnik at Margulis” on NTV, in the program “Salt” on Ren-TV.

For 2019, the band has planned the release of the next studio album, which they are intensively working on. April gave the fans of Affinage a presentation of the new single “I’ll Never Tell You Goodbye”, which took place in Moscow. The group’s spring tour of the cities of Siberia continues, which will end on April 27 with a concert in St. Petersburg. Gradually realized desires and plans. As the guys themselves say, they have confidence that they can draw the atmosphere, express human states with dignity. That is why they share their creativity with the whole world.