Proving that imitation really is the greatest form of flattery, a bootleg version of viral sensations Angine de Poitrine has been playing shows in Russia and raising a few eyebrows in the process.
The polka-dot-loving, microtonal duo have taken the internet by storm in 2026, with their KEXP performance watched 15 million times since February, winning the heart of Dave Grohl along the way.
But with great power comes the great possibility that a tribute band will come out of the woodwork. Except this isn’t a tribute band – they’re posing as the real thing.
The downside of wearing elaborate stage costumes and masks like the Canadians do means it’s harder to distinguish real from ripoffs, but the fact that this band plays what looks to be a single-necked, non-polka-dotted eight-string guitar, rather than the unique twin-necked beast that has become the real band’s centerpiece, does give the game away.
Well, that and the fact that they sound like a Temu version. This is “we have Angine de Poitrine at home” manifest.
“There’s a fake [version of the] band touring Russia already, with the costumes and everything,” Sam Murdock, the real band’s art director, tells Exclaim. “They keep tagging the band, and they don’t even say it’s not a real band. And they have a one-neck guitar.”
Of course, there’s nothing untoward about tribute bands, but Murdock feels this goes beyond traditional, artist-impersonating realms. And it’s Murdock’s job to separate fact from fiction.
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“We’re living in a weird time where everyone’s trying to make money off the band,” he says. “Right now, there’s like 1,500 fake T-shirts online already. I removed 700 fake T-shirts on Tee Republic and on Red Bubble, but they keep on popping up.”
Footage of the fake band performing in Moscow has emerged online, with a clear gulf in class between them and the real deal.
But with Eastwood now offering an Angine-coded microtonal double-neck, born after a failed signature guitar collab, the fake band might look a little more convincing in the near future. Not that we should be giving them any ideas.
The actual band, meanwhile, are on tour for the rest of the year, starting in Canada, before moving through Europe in October and finally landing in the US in November/December. At the time of writing, Russia isn’t on the schedule.
