M. Spirit

The band was formed in 1994, most likely in early spring.

Vaida (Vladislav Petkun) and Valera (Sergey Valevka) met in a specialized class created in one of the Daugavpils secondary schools. The class brought together students aspiring to enter the Riga Aviation University (RAU), offering the chance to complete two years of curriculum in just one. Alongside top students, the future band members also landed there, drawn by the prospect of ditching school as quickly as possible.

After entering RAU in different departments, they moved into neighboring dormitories. Vaida would drop by Valera's room with his guitar to catch up with other former classmates, drink vodka, and shout songs. Even before university, Vaida was already deeply immersed in rock music, had long hair, and was well versed in it. Valera lagged behind Vaida when it came to the underground counterculture, and the most extreme group in his collection was Roxette.

One day Vaida told Valera that back in Daugavpils in Pogulyanka (a forested neighborhood of Daugavpils), he had an acquaintance named Yura who had some musical gear in the attic of his private house, and that he and Yura had jammed together a couple of times – Vaida on guitar and Yura on drums. Vaida suggested that the three of them try playing together under the name Metal Spirit, and so it was agreed. Since Vaida and Valera lived and studied in Riga, rehearsals were set for weekends in Daugavpils.

And thus the first punk band in Daugavpils was born. At that time, Daugavpils had very little going on in terms of alternative music. Everything was confined to the hard rock band Dvinsk, which virtually monopolized the city's rock scene, and a couple of lesser-known bands playing fairly decent rock.

For bass, Vaida brought in his neighborhood friend Reagan (Dmitry Raginevich), and they began rehearsing in the attic of Yura's house. Reagan was a working-class lad who didn't attend university and was due to be drafted into the army soon anyway. Yura was thin and short, resembling a gypsy, but never lacked female company. As a result, the novice musicians often had to wait outside in the freezing cold while Yura entertained his girlfriends in the attic. Vaida wrote the songs; Valera also wrote a couple, but soon ran out of steam and switched strictly to vocals.

Not far from Yura's house, in a large suburban house, lived another lad nicknamed 'Podoslanny' ('The Infiltrator', Dima Khairulin). One day he stopped by Yura's place, caught Metal Spirit mid-rehearsal, and burned with the desire to join. Eventually, Dima was rechristened Jack (like the drum cymbal), the band relocated to the garage on the first floor of his house, and they parted ways with Yura, whose alcoholism and ladies were clearly of greater interest to him than an emerging musical career.

Interestingly, Jack's father was a well-known old-school musician. Jack's brother was also a professional musician living in Poland. Jack's father, who lived separately, helped buy an amplifier and speakers. Jack's mother took kindly to the young musicians shouting in the garage.

Long rehearsals began: Vaida composed the songs, Jack beat the drums, Reagan played bass, and Valera sang (if one could call it that). In truth, Vaida was the musical powerhouse and the face of the band, writing the lyrics and music and running the rehearsals.

The main influences at the time were The Exploited and the Sex Pistols, though they experimented with everything from Oi! to speed metal. Valera and Vaida studied in Riga and returned to Daugavpils on weekends for rehearsals. Soon Metal Spirit was renamed M. Spirit, so they wouldn't sound like a purely metal band.

Vaida studied mechanical engineering at RAU in the same cohort as Marek and Roma Sapelkin from the Riga band Ryba Mech Svoloch Obyknovennaya. This proved hugely helpful in getting M. Spirit booked in Riga. The band's debut concert took place in the RAU auditorium under the title 'Crawl, Turtle'. Alongside M. Spirit, Ryba Mech Svoloch and a couple of other outfits played that night.

Soon an opportunity arose to play in their hometown. The first concert in Daugavpils, in the auditorium of the Railway Technical College, was a real test: an unknown band playing music that nobody in Daugavpils had ever played before. There were no mohawks, of course—for that in Daugavpils our heroes would simply have been beaten up by local thugs after the show—but the mission was accomplished. Fortunately, everything went swimmingly, and connections with the local underground scene were established. Even Kuzya from Dvinsk (effectively the headlining band at the gig) introduced himself to Vaida. At one point, a guy named Vlad played drums instead of Jack; tragically, Vlad later died of leukemia, and the Daugavpils scene even organized a memorial concert in his honor.

By the summer of 1995, enough material had accumulated for an album, but Reagan was drafted into the army and replaced for the recording by Slayer, a skinny, lively, eccentric young man who appeared out of nowhere. Slayer earned his moniker from his passion for death metal. They recorded the album 'Zadushevnye pesenki M.S. Pankukhina' ('Heartfelt Songs of M.S. Pankukhin'—M.S. Pankukhin being a play on M. Spirit, as you might guess). Reagan is not on the first album cover, but on the wall one can see the inscription 'Reagan is in the Army'. The wall featured on the cover was located on the grounds of an abandoned factory in Pogulyanka; the musicians spray-painted it themselves, using it as the backdrop for the cassette inlay. The recording was done at the home of Kuzya, leader of Dvinsk and one of the founding fathers of the Daugavpils rock movement. Kuzya possessed all manner of gadgets like amps, tape decks, mixers, and other gear, along with extensive musical experience. Several concerts in D-pils followed.

Through dorm acquaintances, Vaida met Valmieras Konj (the Valmiera Horse), a mohawked musician and fierce punk who later became one of the most prominent musicians in Valmiera's alternative music circles. Konj lived in a rented flat in Purvciems, studied at a technical college, and rehearsed on weekends back home in Valmiera with the band Neludi, which he had founded. Vaida and Konj became close friends, and soon M. Spirit played a concert in Valmiera, followed by another in Valka. It was a very unusual foray by punk musicians from Russian-speaking Daugavpils into the heart of Latvian-speaking regions. During the Valmiera and subsequent Riga gigs, various friends filled in on bass—Reagan was in the army, and they didn't want to replace him permanently.

Musical tastes also began shifting toward indie and grunge, with the Pixies exerting a heavy influence on Vaida's later M. Spirit songs.

The band continued rehearsing and gigging in Riga and Daugavpils, but gathering everyone became increasingly difficult: Jack was studying at a medical school on the other side of Riga, Reagan was serving in the army, and Valera and Jack couldn't make it every weekend. Effectively, the band disbanded shortly afterward, though all three continued hanging out together in Riga's countercultural circles.

Later, Vaida joined the well-known Daugavpils band Glazki Stekolshchika, which brought together accomplished musicians (unlike the heroes of our tale), and he became immensely popular and beloved in Daugavpils underground circles. Tragically, in February 1999 he died in Valera's room at the RAU dormitory just days before receiving his university diploma. It was a profound shock to all friends and the music scenes of Daugavpils, Valmiera, and Riga. A memorial concert featuring local bands was held in Daugavpils in his honor.

Jack left for Belarus, graduated as a doctor, and became a university lecturer. Valera moved to the United Kingdom. Reagan relocated to Moscow. The three have not been in touch since.