Max Pokrovsky, soloist of the Nogu Svelo group: “The future of the country does not bother me! Max Pokrovsky: "I draw "children's pictures" for adults."

The press conference of the Nogu Svelo group on the eve of the celebrations associated with the 15th anniversary of the group (see MUSIC from 25 and 30.03 and 11.04.04) took place at the Variety Theater on April 19.
The conversation with journalists took place in a more than informal atmosphere, which the leader of Noga, Maxim Pokrovsky, emphasized in every possible way. On the stage, active work was underway to prepare the festive concert, namely, the installation of scenery and sound tuning. Therefore, the musicians (Maxim Pokrovsky, Maxim Likhachev, Viktor Medvedev, Igor Lapukhin and Anton Yakomulsky) were sitting on the stage, the journalists were in the hall, and the microphones were almost not involved in the conversation. After the formal voicing of the triple reason for the gathering (the 15th anniversary of the band, the release of the album "Candid Photos" and, finally, the publication by the Vagrius publishing house of Pokrovsky's book "Children's Drawings"), Maxim suggested starting a conversation: "We just want to talk without any official moments and other things." The musicians immediately noted that they are characterized by some "slight carelessness that accompanies creativity", as they did not heed the logic and requests from the management "not to lump everything together" - that is, to separate these three informational occasions in time. However, Maksim Pokrovsky stressed, in this case, "Noga Svelo" did what they wanted. It should be noted that April 20, in relation to the 15th anniversary of the team, is a somewhat arbitrary date. “We don’t record them at all,” Pokrovsky said, but Anton Yakomulsky remembered that there is still one exact date: “January 9, 1989 - the first audition of a band with this name in the Moscow Rock Laboratory.” Such a memory caused genuine admiration of colleagues.
Several questions were raised at once regarding the book "Children's Drawings". It turned out that the name of this work was given by one of Maxim's favorite poems, and the content is divided into four parts: lyrics, poems that have not yet been set to music (of which, to Pokrovsky's surprise, there are quite a few), ditties ("they are almost without obscenities, but amazingly nasty") and a series of jokes about Kostya ("It's like Little Johnny, but funnier"). The book is decorated with photographs and drawings, the latter being penned by Pokrovsky himself. Maxim even showed the audience the cover and illustrations of his own authorship, made on a computer in his spare time from his main activity. Currently, the circulation is in the printing house ("It dries badly!") And is waiting in the wings. As for the album "Candid Photos", here the musicians went against the laws of show business. According to Pokrovsky, initially the disc was really conceived as a banal collection of the best songs, especially since requests to publish such an album sounded from all sides, but such a step seemed boring to Noga, and Candid Photos included, along with hits, compositions, theoretically intended for the next numbered disc ("I'm not the last hero", for example).
The journalists did not disregard the general theme of the work "The leg was brought together." Thus, the attention of television to the ensemble - and vice versa - which has sharply increased over the past few years, Maxim Pokrovsky commented as follows: "We realized that television programs will only get better if we go there," but then, tuning in a serious way, he added, that only by participating in two major television projects: "Forte Boyard" and "The Last Hero", he was convinced that in television art there is a place for creativity, and kindness, and respect. To the eternal questions, which boil down to the phrase: "Your inner feelings in connection with the anniversary," Maxim Pokrovsky was helped to answer by Messrs. Lapukhin and Yakomulsky. The musicians came to the unanimous opinion that it is much easier to live a long biological life than to exist in the form of a collective; as such, the group has not experienced any creative stagnation and is not going to; their music changes and develops over time, while maintaining a certain common core. To the thesis of stagnation, Pokrovsky added that the concept of the group being in demand is very relative: "The album" Box "was the most unclaimed from a commercial point of view - despite the fact that for us it sounds the most whole and was not recorded at all during a creative lull."
Finally, about the upcoming concert, Pokrovsky said that the performance would consist of two parts. In the first one, a kind of theatrical show is expected, in which the group will hide from the eyes of the audience, and in the second, the musicians will play their songs, guided rather by "club" specifics: without any scenery, just standing in front of the audience.
Julia Kontorova, InterMedia

The book "Children's drawings" ("Vagrius", 2004), the leader of the "Nogu cramped" group Maxim Pokrovsky, according to the author himself, is not intended for children. Although it is inhabited more and more by fairy-tale characters: dwarfs, gnomes, clowns, devils, dolls, witches and vampires, young naturalists and talking animals. In addition to familiar songs, the book includes poems, ditties, anecdotes "about Kostya" and drawings by Maxim Pokrovsky.

Here are examples of the work of a person who is known as a musician, but it turns out that he “dabbles” in a variety of art forms.

PARTS

*** I'm dying of longing, of longing I'm tearing hairs on my pope, hairs. I tickle my stomach with my fingers, I tickle, I don't want to give an interview, I don't want to.

*** A refrigerator fell from the sky, Hitting the crows. Kashpirovsky, your alarm clock Will bring you to the funeral!

“Kostya decided to become an artist and entered GITIS. After graduation, there was a distribution: someone was assigned to the Moscow Art Theater, someone to the Maly Theater. And Kostenka was assigned to Durov's Corner. - Who will I play there? - asks the graduate. - A monkey or a donkey - as the trainer decides.

All works in Max's book complement each other, creating their own "parallel" world, frightening and alluring. Although the author himself thinks differently:

There is no "parallel world". In poems and drawings - the world in which we live, and the images of those people whom we meet daily on the streets, train stations and squares. Only all this is noticeably embellished.

How did the drawings come about? Did you make them specifically for the release of the book to illustrate the poems?

No, they appeared on their own. I just sat down at the computer and drew portraits of different people. You know, in life there are very interesting types. For example, men who really want to appear serious. They walk in pointed boots (they are also called “shoe boots” and are not worn anywhere except in Russia), they have handbags in their hands, and next to them are no less exotic women.

- Are your poems and songs somehow interconnected?

I have few poems. The book contains what I wrote for 10-15 years. From all this "heritage" I have chosen one poem from which I want to make a romance. In general, there are poems, but there are lyrics - and they are completely different: music is written on the lyrics, and poetry should simply remain poetry.

- Who do you think your reader is?

I do not represent my reader, as well as my listener, because I do not do anything to order. Of course, when we come to radio stations with our songs, they help us understand which songs could be more in demand, but when I work, I don’t think that I will move on the radio.

Kostya is Vovochka's brother, only Vovochka is evil, and even a vulgar one, and Kostya is just a fool. Why "Kostik"? It just seemed to me the most expressive name.

It just seems that everyone can write a ditty. In fact, it is very difficult to make it short, witty, with a reasonable amount of "salt and pepper". How did your ditties appear?

Appeared - and all. Some of them are pretty nasty too. But there are no mothers. I wrote obscene ditties after the book was being prepared for publication. It seems that I don’t have any swearing in this book at all ... (Maxim speaks uncertainly, as if even apologizing. - Approx. Aut.) And therefore it turned out to be completely censored. Although ... I would not give it to children.

Maxim, your poems and songs are very imaginative. And the drawings are no less expressive. Didn't want to make a video clip for your own song?

No, I didn't want to. I believe that everyone should mind their own business. At the same time, of course, we always discuss some of our ideas with the director of the video, we consult.

- What are your impressions of participation in the "Last Heroes"?

There are many impressions left. Of course, there will be photos, a song, and a video clip ... When we were just going to participate in the first program, I remember Dima Pevtsov said: “There you will live a small, but your life!” And so it turned out.

Did you miss your family far from home?

In general, I rarely go home, and therefore I don’t feel “boredom” in the traditional sense. I can’t imagine that I can sit down, prop my cheek with my hand and ... get bored. Of course, I think about the house, about my loved ones, it is important for me to know that everything is in order with them. During the negotiations on the continuation of the project, other players also said that they would like to receive news from home more often. For me personally, “two-bit” information was enough: everything is fine, so we continue to play.

- For some, home is a place where you can spend a couple of days before your next trip. Another - lovingly equips his family nest. What is your home for you?

Unfortunately, at home, as I said, I rarely manage to stay. But in general, a house is, first of all, a closed door. This is my world, where outsiders are not allowed to enter.

Larisa Suetenko