O.Torvald

1. O.Torvald (Оторвалд)
2. Date of foundation – November 4, 2005
3. City – Poltava (Ukraine)
4. Language – Ukrainian, English
5. Genre – pop-rock, pop-punk, alternative rock, grunge

Composition:

1. Yevhen Halych;
2. Denis Myzyuk;
3. Mykola Raida;
4. Dima Dram;
5. Yevhen Ilyin.

Former members:

1. Oleksandr Nechiporenko;
2. Andriy "Bit" Litvinok;
3. Igor Odaryuk;
4. Volodymyr Yakovlev;
5. Mykyta Vasyliev.

History of the band

O.Torvald is a famous Ukrainian rock band, created in 2005 in Poltava. A year later, the musicians moved to Kyiv, where they continued to develop their careers and eventually reached the level of stars of the domestic music industry. The band was founded by five musicians: vocalist and permanent leader of the band Yevhen Halych, guitarists Denys Myzyuk and Oleksandr Nechyporenko, bass guitarist Ihor Odaryuk and drummer Andriy Litvynok. The name Otorvald symbolizes energy, freedom, detachment and crazy fun.

Each musical group has its own unique story. For O.Torvald, it began with the acquaintance of Yevhen Halych with Denys Myzyuk in 1994. It was then that the common dream of creating their own rock band was born. Powerful live shows at festivals, large-scale tours, loud screams of fans, bright flashes of cameras, recognition of a wide audience and popularity - this is how the rockers' friends saw their lives. Inspired by the desire to play rock and roll, the guys founded their first band called Cool! Pedals. However, the band did not last long and ceased operations by 2005.

On November 4, 2005, the musicians decided to start a new page in the history of their creativity and created the band O.Torvald. The new band included members from the previous project who were ready for new challenges and achievements. Less than six months later, the band moved to Kyiv. There, the musicians rented a spacious private house, which at that time became both a rehearsal base and a shared home for them.

Creative path

For O.Torvald, a period of active creative work began: participation in numerous competitions, searching for his own sound and striving to win the favor of a new audience. The band managed to make a strong statement at such festivals as "Tavriyski igri", "Chervona ruta", GBOB, "Perlyny sezonu" and others. At the same time, the musicians did not abandon creative experiments, creating and recording their own songs. Some were included in studio albums, others remained in the form of demos, preserving the spirit of the first creative attempts.

At the end of 2007, Zhenya Galich's team began work on the first album at one of the Kyiv studios. Oleksandr Pipa, known as a former member of the bands VV and Attraktor, was behind the mixing of the tracks. The album, recorded at the Vesna Music studio, was called O.Torvald – 2008 and was released in May 2008. The musicians added a video clip for the track “Don’t Leave” to the album, which was their first serious debut in the context of creating video projects.

After the release of the debut album, attention to the band increased significantly. O.Torvald began to appear more and more often on television, radio and in other media. The success continued with the release of the video clip for the song “Feelings”, which was released before the presentation of the album. In early 2009, Alex Baev (an American director of Ukrainian origin) approached O.Torvald with a proposal to shoot two video clips. Baev noted that he had long dreamed of working with a Ukrainian band, and this collaboration became the embodiment of his idea. For filming, they chose a song from the album "Kyiv-London" and a new track "Ne gruzy". A real mass recognitionI came to O.Torvald after the release of their second album “In You” in September 2011. The album consolidated the group’s success on the Ukrainian music scene and gave listeners new cool hits.

In February 2012, O.Torvald began an acoustic tour, during which the band’s performances were recorded. Later, the material was finalized in the studio and released in the format of the album “Acoustic”. The summer of that year was extremely eventful for the band: the musicians appeared on the stages of 20 festivals, including Prosto Rock (with Linkin Park and Garbage), “Better City” (with Evanescence and The Rasmus), Ekolomyja and others. At the Global Gathering festival, together with DJ Tapolsky and VovKING, they presented an experimental mini-album “Use Us”, which combined electronic sound and rock sound. Later, the band's discography was supplemented with the following releases:

1. "Primate" (2012);
2. "You Are" (2014);
3. #nashilyudyvsyudy (2016);
4. "Bisaydy" (2017);
5. Diller Kaifu I (2019);
6. Diller Kaifu II (2019);
7. «Fatigue» (2024).

In 2017, O.Torvald, following the results of the national selection, won the honor of representing Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest. With the song Time, the group took 24th place. Over the next few years, there were changes in the composition of the team. In the spring of 2022, the leader of the group Zhenya Galich stood up for the defense of the Motherland and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, O.Torvald continued their active work and currently remain one of the most popular representatives of the Ukrainian rock scene. The band does not cease to delight its fans with new songs and concerts, bringing fresh ideas and sound to life.

Among the famous singles and separately released tracks of O.Torvald:

1. “We Are Two”;
2. “Everything from the beginning”;
3. «Scream»;
4. #ourpeoplearehere;
5. «Breathe»;
6. «Voice»;
7. «Kyiv day and night»;
8. "I'll Be Back" and many others.

Interesting facts about the band:

1. O.Torvald is deservedly called one of the main festival bands of the country: the musicians have shared the same stage with such world music stars as Linkin Park, Garbage, Evanescence, The Rasmus and others;
2. the band's leader Zhenya Galich was nominated for the title of the most handsome man in Ukraine according to the popular magazine Viva!;
3. in their own work, the band members were inspired by the works of Nirvana, Nickelback, Placebo;
4. in 2015, O.Torvald was nominated for the Yuna music award as the Best Rock Band, but the group Okean Elzy won. At the award ceremony, during his live performance, Zhenya Galich made an unexpected gesture of protest. The musician smashed his guitar on stage, symbolically hinting at the injustice of the expert jury's decision.