The idea of Soviet Russia often paints a bleak picture in our minds; in the height of the Cold War, many Americans saw it as a cultural blackhole. In her music video “Feeling,” singer/songwriter Joanna Stingray reveals to us that behind the Iron Curtain, there were rock n’ roll musicians running along rooftops, recording in cramped apartments, and performing to riotous crowds.

Stingray’s memoir, Red Wave: An American in the Soviet Music Underground will be released in September by DoppelHouse Press. Watch the video to see the many colorful characters in the underground music scene who thrived against the backdrop of Leningrad’s harsh realities and became legends.