Sonic Terrorist Network

Sonic Terrorist Network is an industrial techno act from Kungur, Uralica. They have released two albums and are in studio working on their third. Their founding members, Alexandr Davydov and Mikhail Shirokov, are the sons of Samuil Davydov and Yaroslav Shirokov, the founder and chief sound manager of Yekaterinburg-based Davydov Records.

Current Membership

 * Alexandr "Lex" Davydov - keyboards, programming (b. 20 August 1987, Yekaterinburg)
 * Mikhail "Misha" Shirokov - keyboards, programming (b. 18 May 1987, Kungur)
 * Lena Davydova - keyboards (b. 31 January 1985, Yekaterinburg)
 * Jason Trevelyan - vocals (b. 8 July 1987, Toronto)

History
Originally the brainchild of two high-school buddies from Kungur, STN was actually founded in November of 2007 in the same, as an instrumental industrial techno act. Lex Davydov, born in Yekaterinburg but raised in Kungur, is the son of a long-time record executive, so the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 was actually a blessing for him and his family, as his father became quite wealthy from the music industry, allowing his mother, a professional musician, to stay at home and teach him music after school.

In high school, he met half-Mari Shirokov, and the two became fast friends due to a variety of mutual interests, including musical tastes, ice hockey, football (soccer), and playing pranks on people.

Not long after their graduation from high school in 2005, though, Cataclysm basically ended their plans to go into professional music, and they were stuck working in Kungur in metallurgical facilities for nearly two years. However, during the Uralic Purges, Shirokov fled to Syktyvkar in the face of rising anti-Uralic oppression. Furious at Russian extremists, Davydov quickly found himself sympathising with the Uralicist Movement, and is on the "List of One Thousand" as being one of the most adamant Russian proponents of Uralicism. He was briefly jailed in July of 2007 for a scrap he got into, but was pardoned this offence when the anti-Uralic mayor of the city was voted out in a landslide only a month and a half later.

In November 2007, as ethnic tensions had eased to naught, the return of Misha Shirokov and a reparation payment made to Lex saw them go on a musical shopping spree, buying keyboards and computer software. Digging up the music they had composed before when they were in high school, Sonic Terrorist Network was born, and Lex's father Samuil let them use a small record studio he owned in Yekaterinburg for free.

Their debut, an eponymous EP, came out in January of 2008, through Samuil's then-label. Come March however, Uralica had been formed, and Samuil was fired from the label over a row with his boss concerning the sympathy they had for Uralics. So the EP was yanked from the label's rotation by the artists themselves.

Three months later, when Kungur was annexed by Uralica, Samuil set up his own small-scale record label, and his son's band was to be the first act in it, alongside Lex's older sister Lena's solo project. However, Lena's solo project did not get off the ground, so Lex and Misha agreed to add her to the band, while in the middle of recording Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network. Half the songs on the album ended up being co-written by her, and it was finished by the end of August 2008. It proved a sizable success, given the so-called "Industrial Musicalution" going on within Uralica with bands such as Bane of the Machine and Digitoxicosis already having had significant success.

By the end of 2008, Davydov Records had signed several minor acts, plus one rather popular rap group from Chernushka, The Bashkir Bwoyz, so they were having decent success. This success would spill over to STN, and would also land them a vocalist.

The instrumental tracks had caught the ear of an Old Canadian industrial enthusiast by the name of Jason Trevelyan, who had moved to Uralica, specifically Kungur, just after its reconvention. He asked to be allowed to practices, and eventually, he came up with some very potent lyrics which Lex and Misha thought suited the band perfectly.

Their second full album, released on Uralica's first anniversary, proved to be a blockbuster. Resonance Blowout, led by its hit single, Original Sin, was declared a "must-have record."

They toured Uralica and a couple other TOOL nations after Karma War, then went back into the studio. Their latest album is expected out at the end of February.

Full Albums

 * August 2008 - Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network
 * April 2009 - Resonance Blowout
 * TBA (expected by the end of January 2010) - 200 Decibels

EPs

 * January 2008 (re-released June 2008) - Sonic Terrorist Network

Singles

 * July 2008 - The Bleeding (from Sonic Terrorist Network)
 * August 2008 - The Long Trip Home (from Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network)
 * October 2008 - Spiritual Starvation (from Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network)
 * December 2008 - Out Of The Water (from Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network)
 * February 2009 - Long Have We Waited (from Return Of Sonic Terrorist Network)
 * April 2009 - Rusty (from Resonance Blowout)
 * June 2009 - Original Sin (from Resonance Blowout)
 * September 2009 - Ten Thousand Feet Under (from Resonance Blowout)
 * November 2009 - Old Man Young Man (from Resonance Blowout)
 * December 2009 - Eclipsed (from Resonance Blowout)

Trivia

 * Besides his music career, Lex also works in hi-tech, mainly in the production of musical technology. He is particularly proud of the hardware synthesisers and vocoders he makes, which he actually uses both in recording and in live performances.
 * Misha speaks both Mari languages fluently as well as Russian, Finnish, English, and Komi-Permyak. He also excels at handball, and once practiced with Kungurrin KPK.
 * Lena has sold scenic paintings for hundreds of dollars. She says her favourite painting was of the Virgin Komi Forests.
 * Jason is 1/4 Armenian, 1/4 Russian, and 1/2 Portuguese, and votes within the Russian Tribe. He also speaks six languages - English, Armenian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, and Eastern Mari, which was taught him by Misha.