Brainstorm (Latvian band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses: see Brainstorm (disambiguation).

Brainstorm
Background information
Origin	Jelgava, Latvia
Genre(s)	Rock
Years active	1989-present
Label(s)	Microphone Records Brainstorm Records
Website	brainstorm.lv
Members
Renārs Kaupers Jānis Jubalts Kaspars Roga Māris Mihelsons
Former members
Gundars Mauševics

Brainstorm or Prāta Vētra are currently the most successful Latvian pop/rock band. The band became international popular in 2000, when Brainstorm took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, where they finished third with the song "My Star".

The band was formed in the summer of 1989 in Jelgava, Latvia by four old classmates Renārs Kaupers, Jānis Jubalts, Gundars Mauševics and Kaspars Roga. Soon after, their younger schoolmate Māris Mihelsons also joined the band. The title of the band was taken from what one old foreign lady said about their music, who characterised it as a "brainstorm". In Latvian it translates as "Prāta Vētra".

In September 1992 Brainstorm released their first single "Jo tu nāc" (Because you come) and finished 9th in the most popular Latvian music contest - "Michrophones" questionnaire, . After this came their first album - Vairāk nekā skaļi (More than a loud) 1993. The most popular song of the album is "Ziema" (Winter), which has also a video.

1994 was the most quiet period in the band's history, although this year was released maxi-single Vietu nav (There's no space) with only 500 copies.

In 1995 one of the band's earlier songs "Lidmašīnas" (Airplanes) became one of the most commercially successful single in Latvia and song of the year of Radio Super FM. This year the band also performed in Germany and the United Kingdom.

After experimenting with alternative music, Brainstorm returned to mainstream music and released their next album Veronika, which was very contemporary and popular with the teenage audience. The most popular songs from the album were "Dārznieks" (Gardener), "Apelsīns" (Orange) and "Lidmašīnas" (Airplanes), and the popularity of the band's concerts increased.

At the end of the year Latvian radio stations started to play the song "Tavas mājas manā azotē" (Under my wing is your home), which was in the 1st place of the Latvian Airplay top for 9 weeks and becacme the biggest hit of 1996.

The next step to success was signing a contract with Microphone Records, one of the biggest record companies of Latvia and releasing the next album Viss ir tieši tā kā tu vēlies (Everything as you wish) in 1997. The album got gold status and made Brainstorm the most popular band in Latvia. The most popular songs of the album are "Viss ir tieši tā kā tu vēlies", "Mans draugs" (My friend), "Neatgriešanās" (No return) and "Tavas mājas manā azotē". In conclusion, almost all the songs of this albums became the band's unofficial hits because of the band's special concerts and vocalist's Renārs Kaupers ability to entertain every audience.

Because of the very big popularity of Brainstorm members of the band received offers to manage TV and radio shows and to take part in the musical performance of the theatre Dailes - The Good Soldier Švejk, which became the most visited theatre show in Latvia. Brainstorm's first international single was recorded in the year of 1998 in Germany with Volker Hinkel, the producer of Fool's Garden. This single is "Under My Wing", the English verse of "Tavas mājas manā azotē". The single got into airplays of the Baltic States and also other countries. Soon after this, band got Grand Prix of the Karlshamn music fest in Sweden.

In 1999 Brainstorm released their fourth album Starp divām saulēm and first international album Among The Suns, which is the English version of "Starp divām saulēm". The album was recorded in Sweden and Denmark. All five singles of the album - "Puse no sirds" (Half of a heart), "Starp divām saulēm" (Among the suns), "Lec" (English version - "Try"), "Prom uz siltajām salām" (Eng. version - "Ain't it funny") and "Tu izvēlējies palikt" (Eng. version - "Welcome to my country") reached the top of the Latvian radio charts shortly after releasing.

On 13th of May 2000 in Sweden, in only 3 minutes Prāta Vētra or Brainstorm became an internationally noticed band when they participed in the 45th Eurovision song contest. Their song "My Star" got the 3rd place among more than 20 contestants. Brainstorm got very positive reviews from the music experts. "My Star" got in almost every country's radio airplays, Among The Suns can be bought in many countries.

In August of 2000, after more than a 10-year career, was released The best of the Brainstorm '89-'99 with the band's most popular, interesting and not released songs.

2001 was the year of releasing the album Online or, in the Latvian version, - Kaķēns, kurš atteicās no jūrasskolas; "Maybe" from this album is Brainstorm's one of the most popular international compositions. The video of the song was shoot in Prague and it got into ethers of many countries of Europe. The second single "Waterfall" also got success, the video for it was shot in Finland. In Latvia the most popular song of this album was "Spogulīt, spogulīt" (Mirror, mirror), which contains the lines of the fairytale about Snow White by Brothers Grimm.

The next album Dienās, kad lidlauks pārāk tāls or A Day Before Tomorrow was released in 2003. The lead singles of this album - "Colder" and "A day before tomorrow" ("Plaukstas lieluma pavasaris") - were produced by a famous German producer Alex Silva. The album was recorded in Germany and Denmark.

In 2003 Brainstorm warmed-up The Rolling Stones in their concert in Prague. Brainstorm presented a saxophone to Mick Jagger for his birthday.

In 2004, one of the band founders died on the night between 22nd and 23rd of May in a tragic car accident on the highway between Riga and Jelgava - bassist Gundars Mauševics or as his friends called him - Mumiņš.

Despite this tragical loss, the other band members continiued working further.

In 2004 Brainstorm and a well-known Russian band Би-2 recorded a song “Скользкие улицы” which is included in the new album of Би-2 “Иномарки” released on 2nd of March, 2004 and which has taken position number 1 on radio charts in Latvia, Ukraine and Russia. In 2005 Brainstorm released their album Četri krasti. The most popular songs of this album are "Četri krasti", "Rudens" and "Pilots Tims".

On 21st of August 2005 during their tour, in the concert in Mežaparks, Brainstorm had a record audience - 40000 fans. All the concerts of this tour were sold in record time. At the beginning of 2006 Brainstorm released an English verse of Četri krasti - Four Shores. The lead single "Thunder Without Rain" became popular in the best part of Eastern Europe and has a big airplay on MTV Europe and VH1 Europe.

They received the MTV Europe Music award for Best Baltic Act in 2006.