, a three-piece indie rock band from Athens, Georgia, play unique three-dimensional pop songs with dance beats and high energy. Known for being widely eclectic in genre and seriously prolific, Russian Spy Camera released their debut full-length album, You Are A Vulture, on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records in 2006 and their follow up, Mutiny In The Kitchen With Knives, in March 2008.
They have played festivals such as CMJ in New York City, Athfest, and Popfest as well as shared bills with other popular acts as How I Became The Bomb, Venice Is Sinking, Snowden, and Gringo Star in numerous venues throughout the southeast.
Seeing Russian Spy Camera live is a high-energy rush littered with thunderous stylized beats from Andy Turner (drums), multi-instrument swapping from McGregor Button (piano, bass, guitar), and unpredictable unique stage presence from Ryan White (guitarist/singer). They are known at times to have non-band members wandering around on stage in costumes and masks throughout the show, which, when added to their commanding performance, results in an exceptionally fun experience while not losing artistic merit.
Currently, they are playing select shows and planning a third album while considering what direction Russian Spy Camera should go in next.
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Official Biography of Russian Spy Camera
In December of 2004, Ryan White was recording tracks on his computer that were rough ideas of songs he had been writing. The first of these songs was "Svengali What's The Caper", taking its name from a line of dialogue in a Twilight Zone episode. Having just finished college and having just broken away from his previous collaborative recording project with a friend, he decided to put some of his ideas to use.
This new project needed a name. One evening inside of an Athens coffee shop, Ryan was talking to a friend about Lomography and Lomo cameras. He gained a strong interest in Lomography when he chose the company as his final advertising campaign for a class. Ryan's friend claimed to have heard of the cameras and heard they used to be Russian spy cameras, thus secretly becoming the new name for Ryan's project.
Eventually he dropped off a finished copy of Svengali What's The Caper to the University of Georgia's on campus radio station and managed to get it put into rotation. Shortly afterward, the radio station contacted "Russian Spy Camera" to play live on the radio believing it to be a band and not one person. Agreeing to play said show, Ryan had to find a "band".
Ryan knew Andy Turner from playing music in the past and asked Andy if he would join him for the show. Before the show actually happened, they had a second request to open for a friend's band at the 40 Watt. Russian Spy Camera played their first show at the 40 Watt on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 as a two-piece band. The radio show followed five days later on Tuesday, June 21st.
Since Russian Spy Camera had put so much effort into practicing for these shows, and since recordings in Ryan's house were being completed as pre-production for a future fall recording, the two decided to keep playing shows. By fall they recorded You Are A Vulture at Bel*Air Studios with Jason NeSmith in Athens. By early spring of 2006 the record was completed and negotiations were made to have the record put out on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.
2006 found the band playing many shows as a two piece until late July when they asked a friend to play bass and piano on stage at two shows. McGregor Button played his first show with Russian Spy Camera on July 21st, 2006 at Nuçi's Space in Athens followed by an infamous performance in Murfreesboro, TN the very next night.
And there it was: show after show after show. By the following November they had played CMJ in New York City and started to make plans for their second full length record, Mutiny In The Kitchen With Knives. Recording took place throughout the grueling Athens summer in 2007 and by the end of the year it was nearly finished. Russian Spy Camera decided to leave Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records due to lack of promotion.
After a fall tour of the southeast, and now two years of playing music under their belt, Russian Spy Camera went on hiatus as Ryan White unexpectedly decided to travel through Europe for an indefinite amount of time. Before he left in the Spring of 2008, Mutiny In The Kitchen With Knives was released online for free download with no promotion and no tour.
Since then, Russian Spy Camera returned to its original "recording project" status as Ryan completed the third Russian Spy Camera album, M Withdrawals, in May of 2010. The record still has not been released and the future of Russian Spy Camera as a touring band is uncertain since Ryan moved to Barcelona, Spain in May 2010.
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