In December 1996 the first concert of new rockabilly quartet took place in St. Petersburg, Russia. The newborn band was named "Cadillacs", because of the fact that all members had tattoos with some kind of Cadillac image. Nowadays in local gigs the band uses the name "Cadillacs" more often than ''Spootniks". But back to 1996, it must be said that in that time the city needed a band that could play traditional rockabilly. The ideological leaders of that band were Sergey Shornikov and Michail Lavit, who both had a small experience of playing in similar bands, such as "Sunstrockers" and "Shakin’ Spears". In that period Kirill "Mozart" Poddybnyi played guitar. Pavel Petrov was on drums.
In that time the band played mostly songs from artists who came from Sun Studio. Cheerful fuddles and brawling on stage became visit card of "Cadillacs". After a year of such playing "Cadillacs" became one of the most requested band at small bars and clubs of St.Petersburg. But soon problems with members began. Musicians came and left, some people decided to stop playing any music, others went to other styles of music. From 1998 to 2000 more than ten people had been playing in "Cadillacs".
But despite such frequent changes in line-up, the band continued to play at clubs and at private parties. The guys often had gigs in Moscow, so they had got many friends and fans.
And only in summer, 2000 the band line-up became steady. And the band's style remained the same. "Cadillacs" still plays traditional rockabilly.
In 2001 "Cadillacs" were invited to Rockabilly Rave and have changed the name to "Spootniks". And just before the trip to England, in December 2000, the guys recorded promo-CD under the name "Spootniks".
In 2002 17-years old drummer Alexander Sokolov joined the band. Nowadays he’s still playing with "Spootniks" on some concerts.
In the summer 2004 "Spootniks" had a big tour over Europe. They played in some local clubs and took part in a few festivals such as "Brandenburger Rock’n’Roll and Rockabilly Meeting" (Germany), "Summer Jamboree" (Italy) and "Terschelling Rock’n’Roll Street" (The Netherlands).
If you are viziting Saint-Petersburg, don't miss the cchance to see the band live!

The Spootniks are
Sergey Shornikov - vocals, rhythm-guitar
Andrey "Andreich" Androsenko - solo-guitar
Alexander Loginov – upright bass, backing vocals