In March 1985, Bashlachev along with Yuri Shevchuk played at the Leningrad Rock Festival. The two performed before an audience of six hundred concertgoers at the Leningrad Veterinary Institute in Leningrad. A recording of this concert was released under the title of "Kochegarka". Officially a worker at a coal boiler station, popularly known as Kamchatka (it also served as an underground rock venue), Bashlachev became a member of the Leningrad Rock Club. In June 1987 he performed at the Leningrad Rock Festival for the second and final time, and was awarded there Nadezhda (Hope) prize.