Schneider left after completion of that album, but St. Petersburg, where he used audio samples of Schneider's voice to create their first 1999 cassette tape, Chudovishe i Chudovishe ('Monster and Monster'). In 1998, he was joined by German promoter and musician Annette Schneider, who played synthesizer for Messer Chups, then a duo. With Gitarkin in the driver's seat, Messer Chups was a frenzied musical tornado drawing in more and more dialogue and score snippets, surf rock riffs, historical recordings, and antique synthesizers, produced only in the Soviet Union. Kostrow released his solo work under his own name, but Gitarkin, ever faithful, created the spin-off project Messer Chups (Messer meaning knife, Chups like Chupa Chups, the lollipop). But like most long-distance relationships (Gitarkin lived in Hamburg, Kostrow in Moscow), the pair soon split. When Messer für Frau Müller splintered, guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist Oleg Gitarkin stood firm, recruiting Oleg Kostrow of Phantom for a new-and-improved Messer für Frau Müller. Adhering stylistically to a number of genres including rockabilly, horror punk, lounge, and surf rock, Messer Chups was founded in 1998 after the breakup of German-Russian psychobilly ensemble Messer für Frau Müller. Surf rock drums, big-band influences, and cinema clips show the presence of Gitarkin's western influences, but the band also incorporates antique synthesizers and animations samples identifiable with his Soviet childhood. Messer Chups is the low-brow musical concoction of Russian-born artist and musician Oleg Gitarkin, employing audio collage methods to create thick layers of sampling from trash horror films, cartoons, and other diverse sources.

Messer chups tour