25 years on the road to a dream: the story of drummer Evgeny Prokopenko

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In 1994, he first sat down for drums in his native Russian Belgorod, to conquer show business in Los Angeles today. The story of Zhenya Prokopenko is an example for all young and ambitious musicians.

The first steps

Like many others, Zhenya Prokopenko started out in a garage with a group of friends. No one knew how to play drums, so the fate of mastering drums fell to our hero. Now he jokes that then he did not choose the drum kit, but she chose him.

At the stage of training, Zhenya did a lot of work, devoting all his free time to his hobby. The garage group of friends broke up, but Eugene continued to master the instrument and soon realized that he was no longer ready to live his life without music.

The first successful project, founded by Prokopenko together with talented musicians from his hometown, was the pop-rock band Libido. Eugene began to cooperate with Libido in 2003, having devoted 5 years to this group. During this time, the band has significantly grown in its creativity, performed at many cool festivals, actively rotated on radio stations, but it was time for the drummer to keep moving.

In parallel with his work in Libido, Zhenya was a session drummer in the Magnetic Anomaly group. In 2007, he was approved in the main line-up, after which Zhenya became a full participant and was able to prove himself not only as a music performer, but also as a co-author and co-producer. During the cooperation, and this, in general, almost 10 years, many albums were recorded and a lot of concerts played.

In 2007, the famous record label KRUZHEVA MUSIK appeared in Evgeny's professional biography with the shocking project Quest Pistols and the rock band of ex-ranet Lera Lera, with whom the musician worked as a drummer and a permanent member of the production team for almost 5 years. At the same time, Zhenya collaborated with the Velvet group, Zhenya Otradnaya, Alexei Goman and many other famous musicians.

In 2011, creative searches led Evgeny Prokopenko to the 4POST project, and then to the Lex Nulla group, playing alternative rock. In 2014, Evgeny and other talented drummers created the Drum Cast project - a spectacular drum show, which was honored to participate in the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi.

Moving to the States and the first successes in American show business

Zhenya has always been inspired by the variety of hard rock, but in the vastness of the former CIS it was not so easy to find a project that would completely satisfy the musician, because the peak of popularity of rock in these latitudes took place back in the early 2000s. Another thing is Western tendencies, demonstrating the demand for the whole variety of difficult directions. For a long time, Eugene dreamed of performing at large European and American rock festivals, where hundreds of heavy bands from all over the world represent their work, because in his homeland, besides Invasion, at which Prokopenko performed more than once, there are not many really large-scale musical events for rockers.

The decision to move was not easy, because in Russia and Ukraine Evgeny has grown to the status of a top drummer, and in the States no one has heard of him yet. It was also obvious that it would be much more difficult for a Russian musician to break into America, because visitors from our regions there often automatically receive the stigma of an outsider. However, having experience in dozens of different projects, Zhenya was able to quickly acquire useful contacts and interesting acquaintances in a new place.

In addition, in his search for new projects, Evgeny quickly realized that the main value of Russian musicians in the states lies in their versatility - the ability to be not just a drummer, but also a music producer. Also, many years of experience in live performances and a lot of knowledge in the field of recording various music are highly valued there. It is not surprising that a talented musician with 25 years of experience in the industry did not go unnoticed and successfully joined The Gitas project as a session drummer.

In 2017, Prokopenko was offered to become a permanent drummer in the rock band Sick Mystic. Collaboration with American colleagues allowed Eugene to discover a lot of new things in the world of music, and his invaluable experience and talent significantly diversified the sound of the group, which did not go unnoticed by critics. Sick Mystic is currently working on recording a new album, Party Animal, for a release on December 13, 2019. Following the presentation, the team will embark on a US tour.

An offer from the cult gang Society 1

Eugene dreamed of playing heavy music, and this dream came true when he received an offer from the Society 1 project, which brings the power of industrial rock to the world. The leader of the group is the notorious extremist Matt Zane, whom Zhenya speaks of as a talented musician, a performance person and a powerful artist. This project allows Evgeny to maximize his creative potential, therefore Prokopenko is extremely pleased with the joint work and professionalism of the band's musicians.

Now the team is preparing for the release of a new album, Black Level Six, and is actively preparing for a tour of the United States and Europe. The release of the album is planned for early 2020, the date has not yet been announced.

In the near future, Prokopenko will have a lot of interesting events: a new album, the launch of a scandalously famous project in the whole world with a new line-up, as well as numerous concert programs around the world.

The story of Evgeny Prokopenko is a story about courage, determination, talent, patience and an endless amount of constant work in the name of his dreams. To break into the Los Angeles show business is something that seems completely impossible to many, but Zhenya proves that nothing is impossible for a talented and persistent musician.