Group "Factor-2": biography of participants, composition, founding history, songs

Soloist and founder of the group "Factor-2"

Ilya Podstrelov

- (born June 17, 1980 in the city of Vorkuta, Komi Republic) - Russian singer, musician, producer, creator and author of the sensational hits of the group "FACTOR-2", of which he is the lead singer to the present day. Due to Ilya’s resemblance to the American performer, he is often called the “Russian Timberlake.”

[edit] Biography

It so happened that since childhood Ilya showed great interest in music! Already at the age of 5, he learned to plaintively ask his aunt, who taught solfeggio lessons and singing lessons, both at a music school and at home, to attend these intriguing classes, where everyone very funny tried, with their mouths wide open, to sing various vowels, breathed in jerks and obediently did various interesting exercises to develop their voice! His beloved parents, mom (Nina) and dad (Leonid), immediately felt the little, curly-haired boy’s craving for music and decided that they would send him to be torn apart by strict teachers at a music school. And what do you think???? They did just that! Ilya was incredibly happy.

Ilya Podstrelov: “I found the name “Factor-2” in the dictionary of international words”

A pop singer with Serpukhov registration told Oke-info about creativity and personal

Ilya Podstrelov is from Vorkuta, then fate brought his family to Germany. Today he calls himself a Serpukhovich. For several years now, in between business and creative trips, Ilya has been living in a cozy apartment in Ivanovskie Dvoriki. We met with him and talked about Serpukhov, life before and after Factor, the ideal girl, and even chicken noodles. The conversation turned out to be confidential.

***

An ironic smile, pleasant manners, insinuating speech - no, this guy does not fit well with the image of a goofball hooligan, which his career in the popular youth group "Factor-2" created for him. The work of "Factor" can be treated differently, or you can not treat it at all , but the fact remains: yard songs with extremely intelligible lyrics and uncomplicated music found such a strong response in the hearts of Russian youth that for three years the group collected sold-out crowds in big and small cities almost every day. In 2012, the group, consisting of two soloists - Ilya Podstrelov and Vladimir Panchenko - broke up, each of the guys went his own way, but the trail of former popularity stretches behind them to this day.

- Ilya, here we are sitting in a popular cafe... Do people recognize you?

- Yes, still. For some reason it’s especially special in Serpukhov. Sometimes I want to go to billiards, karaoke, but there is always someone who knows me, they start looking, pointing, discussing... I don’t really like all this, I try to retreat. In winter, a hat is a lifesaver, but now it’s more difficult (strokes a shaved head). My director and friend Arthur jokes about me. As soon as he sees a group of gopniks, he immediately says: “There, your fans are standing there. You raised them..."

- Well, in your songs you just created the image of guys from the street...

- Yes, such hooligans... I liked what I did, I didn’t look back at anyone. But I myself am different - homely, calm. As a child, I didn’t create problems for my parents; I went to music school to study piano, although the guys in the yard didn’t approve of it. But in my songs I could relax, allow myself a certain vocabulary... Of course, I didn’t show this to my parents...

— You’ve probably been asked a hundred times: what kind of “factor” is this, where did the name come from?

— I found it in the dictionary of international words. I liked the sound and didn’t even look for other options. The two were added later, as a sign that there were two of us. Well, when success came and journalists began to ask us about the origin of the name, we stated that we would like to become an important factor in music...

- Let's tell everyone who is not a fan of Factor 2 how you got to Germany...

“We lived very modestly, even poorly. And then my dad found out that, thanks to our Jewish roots, we have the right to emigrate to Germany. It took a long time to collect documents and arrange everything. And they left. It turned out that there are a huge number of Russians in Germany, in every city there is a Russian club, and not just one, a Russian school. And there are also a lot of people from the Middle East. You come to the playground and everyone there is in burqas...

— You spent half your life in Germany. Factor 2 was born there. Why did you come back?

“I couldn’t be there anymore.” Their way of life, mentality - everything began to put pressure on them. I had a family there, but we couldn’t save it. I have a daughter left, she is now seven, I try to visit her as often as possible. Parents are there too. And I moved to Russia.

- ... And he broke up with his bandmate. How why?

- It would take a long time to explain this. It became uncomfortable. A lot rested on me, and I did not feel adequately supported. Plus financial differences intervened. I alone took on a large debt, and Volodya remained on the sidelines... This despite the fact that we met at school, were like brothers, shared all the hardships of the first period, then popularity...

— History knows cases when groups broke up and then united.

- Unite? This makes no sense to me. I did and do everything myself. For the sake of the “picture”? No. I developed such a distrust of people as a result of this story, Mom, don’t worry. Of course, there are close people whom I trust, but they are few.

— How did you end up in our city?

— This is where my friend, sound producer of the new “Factor-2” Andrey Kamaev comes from. Initially, I got to Serpukhov thanks to him. And I liked it here. I wouldn't like to live in Moscow, it's not as convenient as it seems.

—Are you now free to swim, your own boss?

- You can say so. I work a lot. I tour with old and new songs, organize concerts of other performers, write songs, shoot videos. It has its own recording studio. In Serpukhov, by the way. I’m almost never at home, I’m constantly on the road... In two years we’ve grown up very well. People come, it gives me hope.

- However, the popularity that was in the 2000s is no longer there.

- Of course, I understand that. I changed the “picture” to quality. At that time I didn’t develop, didn’t grow, didn’t work on my vocals. We didn’t even listen to each other on stage, we just went out and sang. Three years of wild touring... The producers were in a hurry to squeeze everything they could out of us, and they made good money. Something like a million dollars. Naturally, we got very little.

- When you said about wild tours, I imagined something else... Drunkenness, debauchery - all the “horror stories” of show business...

- There was drunkenness. I am very afraid of airplanes, and I had to fly almost every day. Yes, and just relieved the tension. I found myself in an environment completely unusual for me. There were a lot of fans. They shook the bus and kissed it from all sides. There are still ardent fans who persistently seek communication. Blackmail, threats - all means are good. I never respond to such letters. But now I can proudly say that I have not drunk alcohol for five years.

— There is an advertisement on your social network account that you are looking for your other half...

“I wrote this partly as a joke... Although the girls took it seriously, there was even a small quarrel between the two “contenders.” Now I'm alone. Not long ago, a relationship that was important to me ended, but I mentally return to it. Who knows, maybe there isn’t a full stop there yet... In general, relationships are such an incredibly complex thing, some kind of vicious circle from which you can’t get out at all.

— Well, by the age of 34, you probably had formed the image of an ideal companion?

- I'm not original in this. Beautiful, pleasant, kind. It is very important to be “easy” and positive. I am a pessimist myself, I can be sad alone. I want joy. Comfort. I really love comfort, home environment, home cooking. Even in restaurants I try to order something simple - chicken noodles, dumplings... But as luck would have it, everyone treats me to delicacies.

—What do you like to listen to for your soul?

- Indians. Meditation music, mantras. I do meditation, I love it. I love light jazz. Any music that doesn't bother me. I love Tsoi, grew up on it and still listen to it. Doesn't get boring.

— What, in your opinion, was the secret of the success of Factor-2? Smart promotion?

- Don't think. It was just folk music, it spread from hand to hand, by word of mouth. Nobody even knew the name of the group, but the songs were already being sung in the courtyards. They are simple and easy to learn to play guitar on. And texts about life. And they also came at the right time.

April 17, 2015

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[edit] FACTOR 2 – history of the group

In 1997-98, such songs as “Airplane Germany-Russia”, “I have you alone”, “Forgive me”, “Lone Star”, “200 grams”, the legendary “War” and many more tracks were already written, which will soon become hits! In 1999, in the German prof. school, Ilya met Vladimir Panchenko. I invited him to sing together, showed him the existing repertoire and... off we go!!! They got so involved in composing songs and rehearsing that they even started skipping school! In one breath we recorded their first disc and began distributing it to acquaintances and friends. After some time, when the songs of “FACTOR” were already sung by Russian-speaking immigrants in all corners of Germany, the first producer became interested in their work. He offered to perform in Russian-language clubs. The result was colossal! The popularity was so rapid that the leaders of local clubs lined up and fought for the group, which became a kind of phenomenon for the Russian-speaking population of Germany. In 2002, the FACTOR-2 group went on its first tour, which consisted of more than 270 concerts and lasted about two years. At the same time, the clubs were always packed no matter where they went! Ilya and Vova worked on this wave until 2004! Later, a disc with their songs fell into the hands of Sergei Zhukov, just when he was on tour in Germany! Interest appeared immediately. It is worth noting that by that time, pirated discs with songs from “FACTOR-2” were already being sold in full force on the markets of Russia and Kazakhstan, but few people knew, in principle, who exactly sang them!!! What kind of innovation is FACTOR-2? All that remained was to highlight their faces and competently present the “PRODUCT” to some record company! Sergey Evgenievich, as an experienced businessman, did it in the best possible way! He was also the director of the first videos and came up with various creative things as part of the group’s PR. And already in January 2005, two new albums of the Factor-2 group were released in Russia - “We are fake MCs” and “In our style”. At the same time, a video for the song “Beauty” (directed by Sergei Zhukov) is being shot in support of them. The success was stunning. From this moment on, the group begins touring around the country and abroad. In August 2005, “Russian Radio” accepted this song into rotation, and it immediately took first place in the “Golden Gramophone” hit parade. At this point, both first albums have already sold in large quantities and are being reissued with bonus tracks. In September 2005, Factor-2 released their third album, Stories from Life, in two versions at once - Super Hard and Extra Light. In addition to the covers (black and white, respectively), the releases are distinguished by the presence/absence of profanity, as well as 2 exclusive tracks on each. At the same time, a video was shot for the song “Stepfather” - the first interactive video in Russia with three different endings. The final version of the video was created with the help of viewers who voted for each of the three options on Muz-TV. In 2007, the contract with Sergei came to an end, and they decided to try to work themselves. In 2008, their independent album “Rarity” was released and a video “I’ll Try to Forget” was shot for one track; it reinforced the independence of the group members (working without a producer). From 2009 to 2012, the group recorded singles, two of which had videos for “Fire” and “People Like Me.” In August 2012, as a result of a conflict between the soloists of Factor-2, the group broke up.

"Factor 2" is a German-Russian musical group formed in 1997. The group's repertoire is a mixture of different styles. In August 2005, the song “Beauty” took first place in the Golden Gramophone hit parade. The origins of the group began in 1997. Ilya Podstrelov, living in Vorkuta, began composing songs on a synthesizer, which his parents gave him. He graduated from music school, and then went to Germany with his parents. Ilya was studying at a vocational school at that time, where he met Vladimir Panchenko. Volodya told Ilya that he also plays music and sings well, which he later convinced himself of. Ilya invited him to sing together. This is how the group “FАKTOR-2” was formed (the first name of the group was “You and I”). The guys wrote songs and tried to give their first concerts. In August 2002, Vitaly Moser (DJ Vital), who successfully produced several German projects, came across the guys’ songs and offered them collaboration.

In September of the same year, the guys signed contracts. In November they held their first big concert for 3,000 people. In July 2003, the Factor 2 group went on a tour that lasted about two years, eventually giving 274 concerts.

In December 2003, DJ Vital, when meeting with Sergei Zhukov, gave him a disk from the group “Factor 2”. Sergei was interested in the project, and the guys’ work is being published in Russia.

Less than a year later, in January 2005, two albums of the Factor 2 group were released in Russia - “We are fake MCs” and “In our style”. At the same time, a video for the song “Beauty” (directed by Sergei Zhukov) is being shot in support of them.

In August 2005, “Russian Radio” accepted this song into rotation and it immediately took first place in the “Golden Gramophone” hit parade. At this point, both first albums have already sold in large quantities and are being reissued with bonus tracks. In 2008, their independent album “Rarity” was released, and a video “I’ll Try to Forget” was shot for one track; it reinforced the independence of the group members (without a producer). Since 2009-2010, the group has been recording singles, one of which has a video “Fire dangerous”.

In 2011, the guys are preparing a new album and embark on a tour of Russia with it (Protvino, Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.), for some time Ilya and Vladimir hide the name of the album. But the guys never released the long-awaited album, only a few singles, some of which hit the music charts, namely the tracks “But I’m not here” and “Kareglazaya”.

Thus, the guys began to regain their popularity, and many remembered this group again, despite rumors about their disappearance from the Russian stage. At the beginning of 2012, the guys announced that they were working on an acoustic album, which would be released online that same year.

Ilya Podstrelov was born on June 17, 1980 in the north of Russia, in the city of Vorkuta. At the age of 7, his parents sent him to music school, after which he acquired a secondary music education in piano. He entered a music school, which he was unable to complete due to his move to Germany. In 1996, his permanent place of residence became the city of Hamburg, where he still lives.

Vladimir Panchenko was born on August 28, 1981 in Kazakhstan, in the village of Tyulkubas, South Kazakhstan region. Since childhood I have been interested in music. At school he took part in amateur performances and was a soloist in the choir. In 1995, he moved permanently to Germany, Hamburg, where he soon began to engage in acrobatics and for 4 years made progress in this sport.

At the end of 2007, the group parted ways with the producer. The guys decide to continue performing despite the incident, under their own names “Ilya and Vladi.” Later, after releasing the independent album "Rarity", they began releasing singles.

In mid-2010, the release of singles was stopped, but the guys announced that they were going to release an album. In January 2011, 4 singles were released.

In Germany, the guys patented themselves in 2009 as “Faktor-2”.

[edit] Awards for creativity

The success of the group in 2005 was confirmed by the “Golden Discs” certificates (200 thousand sales), awarded to the musicians on behalf of the National Fund of Phonogram Producers (NFPP) in December. This honor was given to each of the four releases released by the group (“We are fake MCs”, “In our style”, “Life Stories - Super Hard”, “Life Stories - Extra Light”). In January 2006, the DVD “Give me a vacation!” was released. with a recording of a Moscow concert that took place in December 2005. It also includes video clips and original videos from the “Tell the Truth!” campaign. In May 2006, at the Russian recording industry award ceremony "Record-2006", the duet "FACTOR-2" won in the "Group of the Year" nomination. This award, the criterion for which was sales of legal media in the calendar year 2005, once again confirmed the success of the group. During their work in Russia, the group "FACTOR-2" received: 4 GOLDEN DISCS (for more than 800 thousand copies sold), the "RECORD" PRIZE and became the laureate of the "SONG OF THE YEAR" award.

[edit] Factor-2 - second wind

After the collapse of the group, Ilya Podstrelov decided to engage in further creativity and promotion of the work of the FACTOR-2 group in his homeland, and returned to live in his native Russia! In a couple of months, a new team was formed - I. Podstrelov and A. Kamaev! There they wrote new compositions: “Tits”, “Uzbagoysya”, “I Know”, “Fizruk”, “Student”, which quickly found their listeners and began to occupy leading positions in the charts of leading radio stations in Russia. In November 2012, a video was shot for the joint song of Ilya Podstrelov, DJ SLONa and Buranovskiye Babushki - “Anthem of Youth”. This was followed by the shooting of videos for Ilya’s new solo songs and the revived songs of the Factor-2 group. The last two hits, “Uti, my little one” and “I’ll get married,” immediately after filming videos for them, appeared on TV and became winners on various radio stations.

Ilya Podstrelov, wife

In 2005-2007, the group “Factor-2” literally blew up the musical spaces of our country with their slightly hooligan, but still vital songs. Naturally, Ilya Podstrelov, as one of the soloists, was also on the crest of success and fame. Today, unfortunately, both the group itself and the band’s songs are a little forgotten. This is due to the fact that Factor-2 ceased to exist, and both of its main participants went on a solo voyage, ceasing not only their professional joint activities, but also all communication in general. However, Ilya Podstrelov still decided to return a few years later, in 2012, to again try to conquer the musical Olympus. In this regard, interest in the performer’s personal life, in Ilya Postrelov’s wife Tatyana and his work flared up again.

The performer met his future wife when he was still in the Factor-2 group. The acquaintance happened for a very banal reason - the group needed a beautiful female voice to record one of the songs. Friends advised me to work with a girl named Tatyana, who at that time sang in one of the many girl groups. Work on the song did not work out, but communication with the beautiful girl continued. Ilya Podstrelov and Tatyana were friends for two years, until they finally realized in each other not just a kindred spirit, but a soul mate, which is simply impossible to do without. Now the performer and his chosen one have a strong family. Considering Ilya Podstrelov’s own admission that the lyrics are born from everyday life and events in his personal life, it is easy to guess that it was Tatyana who inspired him with a song called “Tanya-Tanyusha,” which is still popular among young people.

In his interviews, even before his marriage, the lead singer of the Factor-2 group repeatedly stated that he had great respect and truly loved the work of the singer Linda, whose time on the domestic stage, by the way, was also quite short. At the same time, he added that he would call his daughter by that name. And he kept his promise. The daughter that his beloved wife Tatyana gave birth to is indeed called Linda. Now the girl is about 8 years old. She misses when dad is away for a long time due to his tour schedule, and always happily awaits his triumphant return with a bunch of gifts.

As we see, in the personal life of Ilya Podstrelov there is complete order and harmony. All that remains is to wish him new great victories in the musical field.