Interview with Valery Kipelov (video). Valery Kipelov: “Production leaders wrote angry letters about us

VALERY KIPELOV

INTERVIEW WITH PASSION

Valery Kipelov, of course, is a singer from God. This is one of the most powerful throats that have ever sounded in Russian rock. I would write it simply - in rock, but some people will never forgive me for such pathos. I bet my head is cut off; the lion's share of the success of "Aria" is on his conscience. It just so happens that almost any kind of music can be played in Russia, but the truly worthwhile vocalists can be counted on one hand, but the name of Kipelov even among these “selected ones” stands apart.

Valery is a sociable, friendly and pathologically polite person. Most of all, he is afraid that during the next journalistic interrogation a dark story will come to light about how his parents, in order to force their child to go to music school, met him halfway and bought a dog. Kipelov is a homely man and for some time now has been completely teetotal. The only thing he can still afford is to smoke a cigarette. As far as I noticed, he prefers cigarettes that are light and long. “Come to my house!” - Kipelov immediately suggested, immediately rejecting my provocative proposals to sit somewhere in the center with a glass of beer. “Have you forgotten where I live yet?” - “No, I didn’t forget, just remind me of the code!” - “534, well, if something happens ~ you’ll shout: the code, alas, doesn’t work...”

I didn’t really hear Valery Alexandrovich’s last words on the telephone receiver. However, finding myself at the entrance of the Kipelovsky house, covered with appropriate inscriptions and signs, I realized that I had no choice but to scream: as luck would have it, the entire entrance seemed to have died out - no one was entering or leaving! Imagine the bewilderment of teenagers in “Aria” T-shirts hanging out on a nearby bench when, in front of their eyes, a seemingly decent young man suddenly starts yelling: “Kipelov!!! Open the door!". The teenagers are very happy and, drowning out my calls addressed to Kipelov, begin to chant: “A-ri-ya”! “Aria” come on!” Finally, the door at the entrance clicks, inviting me inside.

Kipelov often likes to repeat that he has the image of a “lyrical hero.” Previously, in operettas this was called more specifically - “hero-lover”. In life, Valery decisively does not live up to his “heroic image”. No pathos! He attracts people precisely because of his goodwill.

Kipelych, honestly, I won’t ask anything about the dog.

It’s better not Kipelych, but Kipelovich. Fine! And thanks for that.

Let's sort out your childhood, and then move on to higher matters.

What about childhood? My childhood was normal. I tried more and more to play sports. Dad wanted to make me a football player or a hockey player - he himself once played football. I was born in Kapotnya - and there is an oil refinery there, and there were probably about nine such teams there. So everyone in my area was either hockey or football crazy.

At concerts you always make some strange movements, reminiscent of the behavior of a boxer in the ring. Someone, Kupriyanov, it seems, even called you “athlete.” By any chance, have you taken up boxing?

I myself am surprised where I got this from. No, I have to disappoint you, I’ve never been involved in boxing, but on stage everything comes out naturally.

Is it true that Igor Kupriyanov is your cousin?

As for Kupriyanov, yes. Well, so, about my sports hobbies. I wasn’t very good at hockey, but football... I was specifically planning to devote myself to a sports career, to go to a sports school. But this activity didn’t go any further. I don’t know, maybe because of the flat feet that the doctors discovered in me... I limited myself to playing for the factory. Dad constantly went with me to all sorts of sports camps and training camps and almost never left me. He taught me, one might say, everything, for which I am still very grateful to him.

Somehow you missed such a fact in your biography as studying at a music school.

Is it true? It can not be! Yes, I really played the wonderful folk instrument for five years - the button accordion. At first I didn’t really like the button accordion, but then I got involved and played with great pleasure, picking up various rock and roll hits on it - “Creedence”, “Deep Purple”, for example... It turned out very funny.

I'm looking forward to the classic confessions of which band "turned" your worldview. What was it: Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who?

You guessed right! Yes, I really had such a turning point - I heard “Creedence”. Before that, all my undemanding musical needs were limited to Soviet pop music. I liked the group “Veselye Rebyata” - sometimes they even sang “firm”, then “Pesnyary”... But when I heard “Creedence” - pay attention, it was “Creedence”, not “Beatles” or “Rolling Stones” - I'm so crazy! In my opinion, “Creedence” had simpler, more intelligible, hit music and... a voice! Oh, I'm just crazy!

Did you listen to it on reel-to-reel?

No, first there was a Bulgarian record. The first song was “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”, and then “Chameleon”, “Raspberry” and “Hey, Tonight” - that was the record. I just hit her! I really wanted to try myself in this regard. We had many yard teams in Kapotnya, from time to time I tried to play with them, but it all ended, as a rule, in port wine. And I really didn’t like this.

The Aria group celebrates its 30th anniversary with two big concerts at Stadium Live on November 28 and 29. Valery Kipelov, the vocalist of the classic composition of “Aria”, who has been heading his own project for more than ten years, also participates in them. Lenta.ru talked to Kipelov about the history of the first Russian professional heavy metal band, which included stadiums with thousands of people and work as night watchmen, ridicule from underground musicians and complaints from production leaders.

“Lenta.ru”: “Aria” arose on the basis of the vocal and instrumental ensemble “Singing Hearts”. How did it happen that the Soviet VIA took over and turned into a band playing heavy metal in the spirit of the super popular Iron Maiden at that time?

Valery Kipelov: I came to “Singing Hearts” from the “Leisya, Song” ensemble, where I worked for five years together with Nikolai Rastorguev. But in 1985, a special commission appeared that checked ensembles, repertoire and ideology, and many VIA did not pass this commission. They were sent for a rehearsal period - that is, they had to retake and prepare a new repertoire.
Then it was mandatory to perform 80% of the songs of members of the Union of Composers and 20% of young authors, as they were called. We did “A Day Without a Shot” by Tukhmanov, “Anthem of Democratic Youth”, “If only the boys of the whole earth”, but “Leisya, song” did not pass the commission, they “tightened” us. For various reasons, including ideological ones. A rather difficult period began; no one believed that vocal and instrumental ensembles would be allowed to work at all.
And then Viktor Vekshtein (producer and director of “Singing Hearts”, who tragically died in 1990) called me. approx. "Tapes.ru"). They had already been screened, and Wekshtein decided to make a separate project based on “Singing Hearts”. He invited Nikolai Noskov; bassist Alik Granovsky was also there at that time. But Noskov left, and I came, and soon guitarist Vladimir Kholstinin came. At first we played what was left of Noskov, I brought some songs “Leisya, song”. Somehow the song “Torero” was born. They tried to look for poets, but many refused. Alexander Elin and Rita Pushkina agreed to write for us.

Photo: Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti

And you decided to play heavy music?

I always loved Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, I was aware of all these events. Nikolai Rastorguev and I even tried to introduce some elements of rock and roll into “Leisya, Song”. So the love for rock music has always been there, and here, even more so, such conditions - we passed the screening, there were no brakes. And we persuaded Weckstein, I don’t know by what means, to try to record an album.
Formally, we were part of the “Singing Hearts”. We went on tour, played who knows what. The first part played some incomprehensible repertoire, and in the second part they accompanied Antonina Zhmakova, singer and wife of Wekshtein. We devoted the entire summer of 1985 to recording our first album, which was called “Delusions of Grandeur.” Wekshtein listened and liked the songs. He said that yes, it would be difficult to break through, since it was still a difficult period, but Gorbachev was already in power, and things became simpler with ideology. Wekshtein was an experienced man, he knew which strings to pull, which rooms to go into, and somewhere in October, I think, the album was released.
Wekstein really wanted to call the group “Vulcan” and even composed a song with that name. At his insistence, we recorded it. It was such a compromise. Then this song was tactfully cut off and the film was distributed for distribution without it. And the album went under the name “Aria”.

Who suggested the name?

Most likely, it was Kholstinin’s idea. I really wanted some short musical name, maybe something reminiscent of Iron Maiden. Beautiful, musical, capacious, easy to chant. Moreover, Kholstinin had an Aria Pro-II guitar. The album spread throughout the country literally in an instant, and then Wekshtein learned that the group’s name was not “Vulcan”, as he had dreamed, but “Aria”. There was a showdown, and somehow we convinced him that “Vulcan” resembled a brand of vacuum cleaner. In addition, there was a film about a border dog named Vulcan.

Is it correct to call Aria the first Soviet heavy metal band?

Although we all loved rock music in our souls, we had never been able to perform it on a professional stage before. Some bands may have started playing heavy metal in the USSR before us, but we were the first to do it on the professional stage.
We worked from Mosconcert. This caused ridicule among underground musicians. They all considered themselves real, they were all from the underground, in rock laboratories, and we officially, that means, work in the Mosconcert. But I believe that it was our merit - we staked out this matter at the official level.

Regarding relations with the underground: Kinchev once said in an interview that “Alice” was very friendly with “Aria”.

There was no hostility between the musicians. This was mainly done by those around him, journalists, in particular Artemy Troitsky. It’s painful, I remember he didn’t love us. I thought that heavy metal is the music of people suffering from an inferiority complex, so they gather in big heaps to scream and chant. Then Troitsky said that Kirkorov is probably a more worthy person in rock than me. Troitsky believed that the progressives were Butusov with “Nautilus Pompilius”. That means they were fighters against the system, but we were not. But we never laid claim to these laurels, we were never fighters against the communists, the Bolsheviks, never. We were minding our own business, music, and fighting was not our prerogative.

Photo: Alexey Kudenko / Kommersant

How did the first listeners react to heavy metal? I remember, for example, that in 1987, at metal concerts in Moscow, spectators were forbidden to get up from their seats, and those who stood up and, say, waved their arms were taken out of the hall by the police.

At first there were different situations, because half of the concert we played as “Singing Hearts”, and half as “Aria”. The name “Aria” was officially approved only in 1986, so it happened that people came to the VIA “Singing Hearts”, but received something else and were indignant. There were production leaders who wrote angry letters. They liked Zhmakova because it was, after all, a Soviet stage, but we had all sorts of complaints, to the point that we were threatened with dispersal. In the end, in 1986, sometime in the fall, the name was officially approved, and the artistic council met for a long time. Sasha Gradsky helped us a lot in this regard, convincing us that this music also has a right to exist. They objected to us, saying that the songs were too aggressive. Weckstein argued that this was “our answer to Chamberlain,” our response to Western influence. By that time, we had the songs “Will and Reason”, “Stand Up, Overcome Fear”.
By the end of 1986, we had already recorded two albums (the second album was called “Who are you with?”), and for various reasons, contradictions arose within the group - both with Wekstein and between the musicians. Unfortunately, this composition died for a long time. From the first cast, Volodya Kholstinin and I remained, and in 1987 it was already another “Aria”. Zhmakova became, as it were, completely separate - Wekshtein recruited musicians for her and she also decided to play heavy music called “Octopus”.

In the history of “Aria” there was such a sinusoid: great popularity during the perestroika years, then another rise in the early 2000s, and between these peaks there was a time when almost nothing was heard about the group.

Yes, yes. The first surge was after the release of the second album. Then heavy metal became fashionable, and only the lazy did not play such music. Even Pugacheva, in my opinion, put on iron bracelets. Rotaru also began to use elements of hard rock. It was very fashionable, and then the fashion began to fade away. In 1987, we recorded a very successful album, one of the best - “Hero of Asphalt”. And probably already in 1989, the popularity of heavy music began to fall, other priorities appeared: affectionate, small, large - everything related to pop music. There were mostly plywood workers there; they didn’t have to worry about sound, everything was simple for them.
Cunning people invested money in them, it was hard to compete with them, but we tried. And here is the lowest point of the sine wave - it was approximately 1992-1994, this was the bottom. We almost didn’t work, since we were offered to work on “wood” (I mean equipment, hall), but we tried to do some concerts. During this period, Dubinin and I worked as guards at the same base where we rehearsed.
It was very difficult, because almost everyone had families, children, I had two children. Many musicians broke down and some left for Belgium, Germany, America, thinking of finding themselves there. We did not experience such illusions, because we soberly assessed our capabilities, and we knew that such musicians, such groups in the West are like uncut dogs. We followed our line, tried to hold on, to survive.
Probably, the rise began in 1995. We recorded a successful album, “Night is Shorter than Day,” and the rise lasted until 2002. We parted ways with Aria at the very peak of its popularity. Everything was in perfect order for us: touring, finances, everything was great, you can’t say anything. This usually happens when things are bad, but we separated when things were good. This is probably what distinguishes us from other teams. It actually turned out to be a rise, but it didn’t pass the test with copper pipes.

What was your first group, Peasant Children, like?

The guys played at dances and there was a very strange repertoire. Well, what they play at dances. In fact, there were very talented musicians there, there was a wonderful guitarist and songwriter Dmitry Korzyuk, now deceased. It was more like Soviet pop music, although we performed cover versions of Creedence and The Beatles at dances and weddings. That is, Soviet pop music and also cover versions, let’s say. Nazareth, Love Hurts often sang.

What do you think of the new wave of heavy music that emerged in the 2000s?

It’s difficult for me to judge this; I don’t know much about this matter. More of a question, probably, for the musicians of the Kipelov group. They are younger, they listen to these commands. At one time I didn’t really like the band Metallica, I loved Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Ozbourne more - these were my main three classic heavy metal bands. Before that, I really loved Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and at one time I simply adored the band Creedence Clearwater Revival. This is what I was brought up on.
Of all the bands that came after classic heavy metal, Muse is my favorite. My whole family is devoted to this group, we go to concerts. I like some of the System of and Down songs, but I still prefer classic heavy metal. Although in my life I hardly listen to this music at all. I listen to Cossack songs, my favorite singer Evgenia Smolyaninova, folk songs, good Soviet pop music. As a child, I listened to a lot of opera singers, Lemeshev, Kozlovsky, I loved the folk singer Lydia Ruslanova and still listen to her. Therefore, my preferences have a very strange mixture.

It is quite logical, because it is also all melodic and beautiful.

Yes, I actually love the classics. I often go to concerts. Here is the Helikon Opera, now they have a new theater, I will go. My brother-in-law works there, and the former vocalist of the “Master” group, Misha Seryshev, also works there. I enjoyed watching the production of “Boris Godunov” in their chamber hall.

Many fans of Kipelov and Aria are close to fantasy aesthetics. Now many films and TV series are being made in this aesthetic. Do you see this?

I didn't get into Game of Thrones. What immediately hooked me was “The Lord of the Rings,” one of my favorite films. I watch it with my granddaughters, I have two of them. The eldest is 14 years old, the youngest is six. With my children too, they are already adults: my daughter is 35, my son is 26, he is graduating from the conservatory in the cello class.
It seems to me that The Lord of the Rings is the most successful film in this genre. All the others - “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Harry Potter” - somehow didn’t really impress me, but I liked this one. Maybe the music, maybe the actors, maybe the plot. In the texts of the Kipelov group, the heroism is still more personal, more earthly, or something. I’m somehow not very interested in singing Icelandic sagas or anything like that. Although I find there something that can be taken and adapted to modern times, I enjoy doing this.

Even before the release of the new album, it was said that it had a clear concept. What is it?

Valery Kipelov: It's in the name itself, "Living in Contrary". The first song, the title track, sets the mood for the entire album, and the final song "On the steep bank", ends with the same words, “live in spite of.” The entire album is imbued with this idea: to live contrary to circumstances, this world, the culture that is being imposed...

How does “Glamourous Bird” fit into this concept?

Valery Kipelov: The glamorous bird is not a specific bird, but a certain person. You know how people say: “Let's see what kind of bird this is!” I won’t be specific - they know what they are. We have a lot of them - a carriage and a small cart. This is one of the few songs that we would like to write about a social topic. It tells a story on behalf of the heroine who finds herself in this glamorous world, a story about what happens to her. The song contains the following lines: “It’s so easy to believe in a fairy tale, glossy dope,” in which you can see the idea that we must live in spite of all these things, that we must think about the soul more than about the form, the external design. I often watch TV, unlike my colleagues in the group, and therefore I see a lot of programs that are mainly devoted to the external side. Little is said about the soul, mostly it is said about how a person should look, what he should drive, what he should wear. Here, too, the idea is that one must live in spite of this, a person is not known by this, but by what is inside him and what he will leave behind - this is the most important thing.

Valery Kipelov: I wouldn't say that anything has changed. Just as we were engaged in collective creativity, that’s how we do it. In the first place is the person who proposed the idea, brought some kind of riff, and my job is to compose a melody, if there was no chorus, make a chorus, sometimes suggest some arrangement points, some parts are entirely mine.

Are the vocal melodies in the songs entirely yours?

Valery Kipelov: Not everywhere, but in those songs that were co-written - in almost all of them. It’s more convenient for me to do this, since I’m a vocalist, and I build a vocal outline for myself. Musicians mainly do harmony and arrangements, and I do what I do is build the melody.

Valery Kipelov: Approximately in the same way as music. It turned out that most of the ideas for the songs were invented by me. Previously it was the other way around: Margarita Pushkina she came up with ideas, and even if I suggested something, it always changed for her. And now Rita I wrote the lyrics, I edited them, made some of my own adjustments, and in percentage terms we ended up with about 50/50 in most of the songs.

And in those songs where your co-authorship is not indicated, then...

Valery Kipelov: This means that almost the entire text was adopted. There were some amendments, but we considered them to be very minor: if a certain word was not sung, or I was uncomfortable singing it, I changed it to another. No more. Initial idea Rita was only in the song "Madness". IN "Breath of Last Love" it was different: the idea was mine, but the whole implementation was Pushkina.

There were probably many options?

Valery Kipelov: We always have a lot of variants of lyrics for a song, and they are constantly changing. For example, it was "Breath of Last Love","Last Breath of Love": that is, it seems that only the words have been swapped, but the meaning has changed very much. A lot of texts were written. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do everything on this album, and we still have a few songs left: there are melody, there are arrangements, everything has already been recorded, but there are no lyrics. And vice versa: there are texts for which we have not yet composed melodies. Therefore, there is such a definite foundation for the future.

This leads to the following question: does the KIPELOV group have songs whose music is written to lyrics?

Valery Kipelov: No, not yet. It just happened that some of the texts were mostly ideas Rita Pushkina– were not embodied on this album, but I liked the lyrics themselves because of their idea and concept. Rita often gives unused options to other groups, but I asked not to do this because I liked the lyrics and maybe we will try. And now, since work on the album is over, we now have time, we can try ourselves in a new capacity, that is, writing music to lyrics, which we didn’t allow ourselves before.

Those Left Behind from the Album "Living in Contrary" Will the songs be released as a single over time or will they be included on the next album?

Valery Kipelov: Most likely, it will be a single, because I won’t wait so long until we compose all the songs, until all the lyrics are written, until we record it all, mix it... Moreover, now the situation on the market of publishing companies is changing very much strongly, and therefore it is more and more difficult to release an album with the help of some company. Perhaps we will make new songs and immediately post them on the Internet, or we will only play them at concerts. And as time passes, perhaps we will decide that it is time to make a studio version of these songs.

Song "On the Edge" was released two years ago as a single. Was it re-recorded or simply remixed for the new album?

Valery Kipelov: There was some replaying because the musicians weren't very happy with acoustic guitars. The vocal track remains mostly the same. The violin parts may have been replayed, but, in general, the same version remained, the only thing was that it was remixed and remastered. That version was made with Hansen in Denmark, and the new one in Germany.

Why were you not satisfied with the collaboration with the Danish studio? After all, several previous releases were mixed by them?

Valery Kipelov: I was quite happy with it; more musicians weren’t happy with it. Jacob Hansen He worked quite quickly, which I liked, he responded quickly. And with the German studio they simply offered us another option for cooperation. Our friend the drummer Mike Terrana At one time, various studios offered us, but we ourselves arranged a casting for various studios. As a result, the choice fell on Michael Voss. And another price-quality ratio: Michael It worked quite quickly and we worked online. We couldn’t go to him to mix the album there, because we didn’t have it completely ready, and so we sat here in Moscow. He called us, and we talked on Skype, explained what we would like to do, some specific wishes. Therefore, we had more advanced work with him.

In your opinion, are there studios in Russia that could record, mix, and master an album with high quality?

Valery Kipelov: Maybe there are, but I don't know about them. I know from the experience of other musicians that many did the same as us: recorded here and mixed there. ALICE, For example. Of course, I wanted to record there, since they have more experience in how to initially record sound. We already had problems here: we recorded the drums, and when we sent the tracks there, we got this German, Michael Foss, said that our banks are not recorded very well, and there are a lot of problems with the plates. That’s why I would like to register there. I think we will definitely try to do this in the future. What does this have to do with? Firstly, there are specialists there, and secondly, the studios themselves. Our studios work in this mode: today they write pop music, tomorrow some populists, then metalheads, then punks - there is no specialization. And in the West, mostly, studios are clearly specialized: there is, for example, Finnvox, which produces hard music, and many more similar studios. And they have everything tailored to our music, that is, there is no need to invent anything on the existing sound in order to improve it. And there are clear specialists there who understand how to do this. Unfortunately, we don't have those. All this applies not only to sound, but also to design.

How did you meet the artist? Felipe Machado Franco who did the album cover?

Valery Kipelov: Accidentally. He himself came to our site and offered his services. I know he did the cover for ICED EARTH, and for some other famous teams. Therefore, our director contacted him and offered him cooperation. He said that he would be happy to do it and that he liked our group. I didn't know we had fans in Colombia. He made the cover quite quickly and exactly what we wanted. There was some kind of novelty in this, and it seemed to me that we had moved away from the standard cliches that were characteristic of our artists. I liked that she was unusual. You can argue about the very essence of this cover, but I liked the color scheme and the idea. He tried to reflect the idea of the entire album in this way - "Living in Contrary".

This time you invited an orchestra to record the album...

Valery Kipelov: Yes, we wrote some songs with the orchestra, but not all. We recorded several songs with Globalis... The fact that a single was recorded "On the Edge", it was not an orchestra, it was us who collaborated with the Gorsky Quartet. Now we just realized that we need more instruments, the sound should be thicker, more orchestral.

And at the concerts, the orchestra, as usual, will be crammed into the studio port, and there will be no keyboard player?

Valery Kipelov: Yes. It's no secret that we carry with us a porto-studio, which we have packed: a metronome for the drummer, keyboards - because we don't have a keyboard player, orchestral moments. Moreover, in some places I have recorded backing sounds. Now, however, we have begun to change this situation, since all our musicians have sung, but not yet at the level at which we would like.

Do you think it’s worth reproducing the full studio sound of a song at concerts?

Valery Kipelov: Just imagine: if you remove from the song "I am free" all the keys, all the orchestrations, leave only live instruments, guitars - she will lose a lot

Of course, the basis is there – the keys.

Valery Kipelov:

That's what I'm talking about. Therefore, where we can remove the keys, we sometimes do this. Sometimes we have to play without a click, especially at festivals. It’s often difficult to use the port studio there: sometimes the channels get mixed up or something else. We turn it off and play, but I understand that it sounds poorer. Where the keys are important, we leave them; where they are not important, sometimes we abandon them.

You are also releasing a new album as a vinyl record...

Valery Kipelov: She should appear in ten days. An offer came in and I saw no reason to refuse. I'm interested in this, I'd love to listen to it on vinyl myself. We even did special mixing and mastering for vinyl.

That is, the sound is as close to analog as possible?

Valery Kipelov: Yes. The sound is not so hard, it was not flattened, there is no compression. You can hear all the beauty of vinyl there.

Will a video be shot for any song from the new album or not?

Valery Kipelov: We thought, yes, we even had preliminary negotiations with the people who make the videos. There was a proposal on their part to shoot a video for the song "Breath of Last Love", which I really would not like to do, since it is a very traditional step: to make a video for a lyrical ballad. Again, it all comes down to this: where to place all this? Since it is clear that they won’t take us anywhere near any of the central channels, some regional channels remain: MusicBox, A-One, maybe, although they say that they also have some problems. If earlier we had options with MTV, MuzTV, now these are completely pop channels, they don’t even have such a section, their format has changed a lot. We need to understand whether this is worth doing. And then - I have a certain disappointment in terms of all the videos in the filming of which I have ever taken part: as part of the group ARIA, and later – as part of the group KIPELOV. I can’t name a single clip, by and large, that I like. In my opinion, the best video in the entire history that we shot was the video for the song "Give it some heat" groups ARIA, and even then it was just a concert version. And this is the only thing that has ever inspired me. Everything else... There were good shootings, such as on "I'm here". In fact, we found a gorgeous place, filmed everything, but I didn’t like the video. When I saw it incarnate, I realized it didn't fit the song at all. I don’t like to shoot in such a way that the video doesn’t reflect the essence of the song at all. I know that there are people who try to make a video that has nothing to do with the song at all. I do not like it. So I'm not happy with all the clips, so I'm wondering if it's worth it. Then again, this is a rather expensive project if you take this issue seriously. It is clear that he will not fight back: this is, in general, a publicity stunt. And again the question arises: if filmed, where to show it? So I don't see any point. Maybe we'll do it for ourselves. But for this we need to clearly understand: if we want to make the video that we like, then we must find the right directors who would understand the tasks.

Why did you change the label from CD-Maximum on Mystery?

Valery Kipelov: This to some extent depended on the previous agreement with the Melnitsa concert agency. It’s just that they now have such a triumvirate, if you can call it that: the promotional company “Melnitsa”, the publishing company “Mystery” and “C.A.T.” And therefore, when we signed an agreement on our concert activities with a promotion company, we had already actually signed an agreement with the publishing company.

That is, you didn’t have any particular dissatisfaction with the previous agreement?

Valery Kipelov:

It is clear that there were problems. When you sign a contract, they always arise. But the new agreement was signed two years ago, and now everything has changed quite a lot compared to the time when it was originally signed. Again, the Internet makes a big contribution. Musicians invest, record an album, the publishing company releases it all, and then it turns out that the albums immediately appear online. Therefore, there are problems with selling the album. In the West they somehow solve everything, although they also have their own difficulties in this regard. Anyone who downloads for free believes that he has the right to do so, but he forgets that musicians also have problems, that they sometimes live by publishing albums. In addition, to record the next albums, you need quite a large investment. And young teams simply cannot afford this. We basically do everything ourselves: we have neither producers nor any people who would move it all financially. On the one hand, this is great: we are completely independent of anyone in this regard. That is, there is no dictate over us regarding music, lyrics, or how we should look. But on the other hand, there are certain problems, financial problems. We can't always do what we would like. But we are trying.

Photos taken from the Kipelov group fan zone website

Valery Kipelov about “Megalomania” and inferiority complex

Photo: Viktor Pogontsev / Russian Look

I came to “Singing Hearts” from the “Leisya, Song” ensemble, where I worked for five years together with Nikolai Rastorguev. But in 1985, a special commission appeared that checked ensembles, repertoire and ideology, and many VIA did not pass this commission. They were sent for a rehearsal period - that is, they had to retake and prepare a new repertoire.

Then it was mandatory to perform 80% of the songs of members of the Union of Composers and 20% of young authors, as they were called. We did “A Day Without a Shot” by Tukhmanov, “Anthem of Democratic Youth”, “If only the boys of the whole earth”, but “Leisya, song” did not pass the commission, they “tightened” us. For various reasons, including ideological ones. A rather difficult period began; no one believed that vocal and instrumental ensembles would be allowed to work at all.

And then Viktor Vekshtein (producer and director of “Singing Hearts”, who tragically died in 1990 - note from Lenta.ru) called me. They had already been screened, and Wekshtein decided to make a separate project based on “Singing Hearts”. He invited Nikolai Noskov; bassist Alik Granovsky was also there at that time. But Noskov left, and I came, and soon the guitarist. At first we played what was left of Noskov, I brought some songs “Leisya, song”. Somehow the song “Torero” was born. They tried to look for poets, but many refused. Alexander Elin and Rita Pushkina agreed to write for us.

Photo: Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti. Olimpic village. At the club-cafe “At the Fountain”. Disco. The rock band "Aria" performs. 1988

And you decided to play heavy music?

I always loved Led Zeppelin and was aware of all these events. Nikolai Rastorguev and I even tried to introduce some elements of rock and roll into “Leisya, Song”. So the love for rock music has always been there, and here, even more so, such conditions - we passed the screening, there were no brakes. And we persuaded Weckstein, I don’t know by what means, to try to record an album.

Formally, we were part of the “Singing Hearts”. We went on tour, played who knows what. The first part played some incomprehensible repertoire, and in the second part they accompanied Antonina Zhmakova, singer and wife of Wekshtein. We devoted the entire summer of 1985 to recording our first album, which was called “Delusions of Grandeur.” Wekshtein listened and liked the songs. He said that yes, it would be difficult to break through, since it was still a difficult period, but Gorbachev was already in power, and things became simpler with ideology. Wekshtein was an experienced man, he knew which strings to pull, which rooms to go into, and somewhere in October, I think, the album was released.

Wekstein really wanted to call the group “Vulcan” and even composed a song with that name. At his insistence, we recorded it. It was such a compromise. Then this song was tactfully cut off and the film was distributed for distribution without it. And the album went under the name “Aria”.

Who suggested the name?

Is it correct to call Aria the first Soviet heavy metal band?

We worked from Mosconcert. This caused ridicule among underground musicians. They all considered themselves real, they were all from the underground, in rock laboratories, and we officially, that means, work in the Mosconcert. But I believe that it was our merit - we staked out this matter at the official level.

Regarding relations with the underground: Kinchev once said in an interview that “Alice” was very friendly with “Aria”.

There was no hostility between the musicians. This was mainly done by those around him, journalists, in particular Artemy Troitsky. It’s painful, I remember he didn’t love us. I thought that heavy metal is the music of people suffering from an inferiority complex, so they gather in big heaps to scream and chant. Then Troitsky said that Kirkorov is probably a more worthy person in rock than me. Troitsky believed that progressives are with “Nautilus Pompilius”. That means they were fighters against the system, but we were not. But we never laid claim to these laurels, we were never fighters against the communists, the Bolsheviks, never. We were minding our own business, music, and fighting was not our prerogative.

Photo: Alexey Kudenko / Kommersant / “Aria” performs at the rock festival “Invasion”, 2001

By the end of 1986, we had already recorded two albums (the second album was called “Who are you with?”), and for various reasons, contradictions arose within the group - both with Wekstein and between the musicians. Unfortunately, this composition died for a long time. From the first cast, Volodya Kholstinin and I remained, and in 1987 it was already another “Aria”. Zhmakova became, as it were, completely separate - Wekshtein recruited musicians for her and she also decided to play heavy music called “Octopus”.

Cunning people invested money in them, it was hard to compete with them, but we tried. And here is the lowest point of the sine wave - it was approximately 1992-1994, this was the bottom. We almost didn’t work, since we were offered to work on “wood” (I mean equipment, hall), but we tried to do some concerts. During this period, Dubinin and I worked as guards at the same base where we rehearsed.

It was very difficult, because almost everyone had families, children, I had two children. Many musicians broke down and some left for Belgium, Germany, America, thinking of finding themselves there. We did not experience such illusions, because we soberly assessed our capabilities, and we knew that such musicians, such groups in the West are like uncut dogs. We followed our line, tried to hold on, to survive.

Probably, the rise began in 1995. We recorded a successful album, “Night is Shorter than Day,” and the rise lasted until 2002. We parted ways with Aria at the very peak of its popularity. Everything was in perfect order for us: touring, finances, everything was great, you can’t say anything. This usually happens when things are bad, but we separated when things were good. This is probably what distinguishes us from other teams. It actually turned out to be a rise, but it didn’t pass the test with copper pipes.

Photo: Ogonyok / Kommersant / Aria, 1990s

What was your first group, Peasant Children, like?

The guys played at dances and there was a very strange repertoire. Well, what they play at dances. In fact, there were very talented musicians there, there was a wonderful guitarist and songwriter Dmitry Korzyuk, now deceased. It was more like a Soviet stage, although we performed cover versions at dances and at weddings. That is, Soviet pop music and also cover versions, let’s say. , Love Hurts sang often.

What do you think of the new wave of heavy music that emerged in the 2000s?

Of all the bands that came after classic heavy metal, Muse is my favorite. My whole family is devoted to this group, we go to concerts. I like some of the System of and Down songs, but I still prefer classic heavy metal. Although in my life I hardly listen to this music at all. I listen to Cossack songs, my favorite singer Evgenia Smolyaninova, folk songs, good Soviet pop music. As a child, I listened to a lot of opera singers, Lemeshev, Kozlovsky, I loved the folk singer Lydia Ruslanova and still listen to her. Therefore, my preferences have a very strange mixture.

It is quite logical, because it is also all melodic and beautiful.

Many fans of Kipelov and Aria are close to fantasy aesthetics. Now many films and TV series are being made in this aesthetic. Do you see this?

It seems to me that The Lord of the Rings is the most successful film in this genre. All the others - “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Harry Potter” - somehow didn’t really impress me, but I liked this one. Maybe the music, maybe the actors, maybe the plot. In the texts of the Kipelov group, the heroism is still more personal, more earthly, or something. I’m somehow not very interested in singing Icelandic sagas or anything like that. Although I find there something that can be taken and adapted to modern times, I enjoy doing this.

Interviewed by Alexander Zaitsev

Valery Kipelov is not just a leading Russian rock vocalist. This is a man about whom legends are made. The vocalist of two cult Russian rock bands "Aria" and "Kipelov", the idol of several generations of hard rock fans, the idol of heavy metal and hard rock Valery Kipelov again comes with his band to Israel to give two concerts in Haifa and Tel Aviv .

Interviewed by Sevil Velieva.

I was at your concert in Israel last time, and I was surprised by the number of young people. I understand why you have a lot of fans 35-50 years old - that is, those who grew up on your music, but why do so many 20-25 year olds come to you?

You won’t believe it, but we have a lot of children at our concerts, and after the concert they often give me postcards from 6-7 year old children, touchingly signed like “thank you very much, Uncle Valera.” I generally test my songs on my granddaughters. I have granddaughters 15 and 7, and if they like it, then it’s a good song (laughs). I can’t understand why young people listen to us: we are definitely not fashionable, but we communicate on equal terms with young people, and this really captivates them. The finalist of one major music competition in Russia performed the song “I’m Free” at 13, and we accepted it with respect. It is clear that when he sang “I could be with you, I could forget about everything,” he did not put into it the same meaning that I do, but nevertheless, for him it meant something different. And this also had a right to exist.

I don't know a single person who would be indifferent to the song "I'm Free" - regardless of age, location and even language. She's very catchy. And in this regard, one very general question - what should a person who wrote such a song feel? Did you immediately realize that you had created a masterpiece?

We wrote it in 1997, together with Sergei Mavrin, the guitarist of “Aria,” but somehow it didn’t take off then. We didn't really count on it, it was just a song written among others for our album. We almost didn’t even play it as part of “Aria”: I wrote it, showed it to my colleagues, but the reaction was quite cold. And after the formation of the Kipelov group, it became clear that it needed to be rewritten. We made the arrangement a little tougher, it sounded a little heavier, and at our own risk we gave it to the radio. And then I was very surprised by the reaction to this song. She fired. I don't know why it sounded. Since then, for a long time, I could not go to the market or buy cigarettes (I was still smoking then) without being told: “Oh, I’m free!”

You also differ from your fellow musicians in that you do not shy away from public places. You mention a couple of points here: you go to the market, you use public transport, but they recognize you both because of your musical merits and because of your characteristic, memorable appearance, right? How comfortable are you with being a public figure who is always recognized?

I do use public transport and people often approach me asking for a photo or an autograph - I don't see any problem with that! I don't like familiarity, but apparently no one does. But I have never encountered any kind of everyday rudeness from fans. I remember once I even signed an autograph on the identity card of a metro employee - they recognized me, but there was nothing else to sign. I have a very adequate attitude towards my data, my capabilities, and have never tried to pretend to be a star. And in general, I really love this thing - to pull my cap over my eyebrows so that no one recognizes me, and go, listen to what they are talking about around me.

Remember the fairy tale "Caliph for an Hour", right? You now resemble this very padishah.

Yes, yes, yes, exactly!

In general, you are an absolutely unconventional rock musician: you are a family man, you do not use drugs or alcohol, it turns out that you even quit smoking a long time ago. How do you feel about the fact that it is impossible to attach certain labels to you - neither to your appearance, nor to music, nor to your lifestyle? And in general, are you a classic rock musician?

Indeed, rock musicians have certain attributes. But in life they are ordinary, and wear ordinary clothes. As for music, my answer is this: I try to expand the boundaries. I'm a rock musician and I love rock music, but that doesn't mean I don't like other music. For example, I really love folk songs, I really love ethnic music, and I try to introduce some elements into my work, despite the fact that I greatly irritate some of my listeners. I love war songs, for example, and perform them regularly. That's why I'm really against labels: I've always been interested in trying something new.

I’m not very surprised: I remember that you graduated from music school with a class in playing the button accordion. But I have a question about the texts...

Oh, the lyrics are the hardest part of the process! You can write good music, you can make an excellent arrangement, but the question is to write such text that it touches a person’s soul. It is very important for me to write texts like this. And when they tell me that I wrote an ode to Putin with my song “Unconquered,” I feel unpleasant: both of my grandfathers died in the war - what does politics have to do with it? I expressed my feelings in the song...

We will hear this new song again, but for now let's talk about what has already been written. You are the absolute record holder, in my opinion, for the number of mentions of your texts in modern literature. And what’s interesting is that for some reason all modern authors see in your texts a reflection of dark forces. Lukyanenko classifies you as a Dark Other, Alex Korzh too - yes, this list goes on and on! How do you explain this to yourself and how do you, as an Orthodox person, feel?

(laughs) There is a stereotype that rock musicians are a priori on the side of dark forces. This, of course, is not true. We had a lot of such “otherworldly” ones, but at the same time there were and are much more light, warm songs. For us, writing such “dark” songs was an element of the game, maintaining the image. When we wrote the song Antichrist, for us it was just good lyrics for good music, but our listeners interpreted it differently. And it was unpleasant when listeners endowed my songs with a meaning that was not originally intended. Now we no longer perform it at concerts, I have disowned such songs.

What will you perform in Israel this time? Why should we come to Kipelov’s concert?

We will present another program, we will definitely play a new song “Unconquered”, dedicated to the besieged Leningrad. It came out earlier this year, so we haven’t had a chance to sing it anywhere yet. We will, of course, play some of our old songs that everyone knows. We don’t know what else will be different, because in many respects our program is determined on the spot. We are giving 2 concerts - in Haifa and Tel Aviv, and it is likely that the program will be different in both places. It always depends on the mood of the public, on our mood, on technical capabilities.

Has it ever happened that you changed the program during the concert?

Yes, of course, it happened that in the process we had to change something, almost without any agreement. Most often this was due to technical capabilities - some click did not work, the equipment froze, some instrument did not play as it should. We have to urgently replay. Or something clicked in my head, and I realized that the next song should be like this.

And how did the musicians get out of your moods?

(laughs) Well, with professionalism and stone calm, as if everyone knew from the very beginning. What can they do?

Concerts of the loudest Russian rock band in every sense, "Kipelov", will be held:
September 23, Friday, at 21.00 - in Haifa (Rappoport Hall);
September 24, Saturday, at 21.00 - in Tel Aviv (Club "A-Theatron")
Order tickets online on the official website Restinter.com or by phone: 03-5790033