Rock Karaoke II ~ poster design

I was asked to design a promotional poster for a special karaoke event at a local bar in St. Petersburg, Russia. The event was dedicated to 80's russian rock bands (from Saint-P especially) and the community that surrounded them. Bands such as Kino, Nautilus Pompilius, Akvarium, DDT and many-many more made a great contribution to russian music and influenced a few generations of musicians and music lovers.

For better understanding of the theme and the concept let me share some history with you.

At first, rock was banned in the USSR as anti-soviet and branded as capitalist music. It was illegal to arrange such gigs and make money from music performances, musicians could even be arrested for that!

In the early 80’s, the ice started melting and after several attempts the formation of a special rock organisation in Leningrad (St.Petersburg nowadays) was approved by the party. Leningrad rock club (LRC) operated a venue on 13 Rubinstein street which is considered to be the first legal venue in the USSR. It was much more than just a concert club as we know from present time; it was an entire community of like-minded people, a place for musicians to gather together, exchange ideas, hang out and of course, play some music! It was literally a breath of fresh air.

LRC has become a cultural phenomenon becoming the birthplace for lots of bands loved by people all over Russia and former USSR countries. And even abroad!

I was asked to use the LRC address as a symbol of the community and make references to the visual key of this period. Here is the poster accompanied by some visuals that inspired me.