Born in a fishing village on the eastern coast of Russia, KC émigré Max Kunakhovich sings like Eugene Hütz with a head cold and frequently trips over his English. His musicianship is choppy, and a 5-year-old could probably draw stick figures better than he does. Yet these things, plus adequate motion-graphic skills and a gift for satire, combine to produce viral-video gold. The six videos that he and his Nuthatch-47 bandmate Adam Purdon have made should be viral gold, at least. At last look, the video for their band's signature song, "Russian Gangster's Grandma" (If your throat gets too sore/I'll make you tea with lemon/And for protection, don't forget/Your A-K-Forty-Seeeeven), was approaching a mere 3,800 views after being up on YouTube since January, while the equally priceless, 11-month-old "Superstore Clerk" (My name badge shows my name/I wear an awful vest/But trust me that some day you'll see/Fat gold chains on my chest) was struggling to break 700. It's a crime — the chuckles-to-minutes ratio of a typical Kunakhovich gem is as good as you'll find just about anywhere else on the Web, placing the 'Hatch light-years ahead of other area bands, most of which act as though YouTube is an actual TV channel. As Max and his comrades prove, all it takes is a little wit, a little ingenuity and lots of vodka.
Comments (0)