Maxim Kucherenko with his wife. Love is recklessness in its purest form

Commander of the 6th German Army F. Paulus (far left) after capture. January 31, 1943. Photo: RGAPSI archive

The blade is acid-etched with inscriptions in Russian and English: “To the Citizens of Stalingrad, Strong as Steel From King George VI As a sign of the deep admiration of the British people.” Exhibited in the museum Battle of Stalingrad In Volgograd.

Poland was conquered in 28 days, and in Stalingrad in 28 days the Germans took several houses. In 38 days France was conquered, and in Stalingrad in 38 days the Germans advanced from one side of the street to the other... This was reported by London Radio in 1942. Then no one in Europe and the USA had any doubts about what was happening on the Volga big story. However time goes by, and we, some with bitter resentment, and some simply with surprise, discover that the word “Stalingrad” is no longer sacred to everyone. From the high European stands you can hear moans about innocent German soldiers, and fake stories are circulating in the media about the equivalence of what happened in the Stalingrad cauldron and in Tunisia. About why memory is so short, our conversation with the scientific director of the Institute All general history RAS Alexander Chubaryan.

Alexander Oganovich, is the revision of the history of the Battle of Stalingrad the work of journalists and politicians, or is it also supported by scientists?

Alexander Chubaryan: Exists general property time, which takes with it purely emotional assessments of events. And treating the facts of history as something sacred is an emotion. Many of our citizens lived and live by them. Especially the older generation. Modernity brings to light new documents, opens archives, and forces scientists to carefully and thoroughly examine the history of the war. This also applies to the Battle of Stalingrad. There is one more factor that influences the assessment of war in the world, and it can hardly be called objective. This is the current general offensive against Russia. However, this factor rather affects the means mass media than in academic scientific circles. Yes, there is an attempt to blur the fundamental symbols of our victory, including Stalingrad.

These sentiments also exist among some of our former colleagues. For example, in Ukraine, where the idea of ​​non-participation in the Great Patriotic War is gaining points. Patriotic War. In order to promote it in society, the most heroic pages of the history of the Soviet Union are being questioned. Against this background, a campaign to revise the results of World War II is being developed, which is also happening in a number of other countries. This is common in the media, among public figures and less in the academic field.

Many people remember how in Berlin national library a presentation of the Russian-German teaching aid on the history of the 20th century. After difficult discussions, against the background of political disputes and attempts to revise the results of World War II, scientists still managed to agree...

Alexander Chubaryan: Yes, we continue this work... By the way, the second edition of this manual has already been published in Germany. The first one sold out instantly. The manual turned out to be not only successful, but also a commercial project. The project is developing successfully. A volume about the 18th century has already been completed and a book about XIX century. The manual about the 20th century consists of several chapters on key events our common history. We came to the result after more than ten years of various conferences, making plans, discussing them and criticizing them.

German scientists, we must give them their due, suggested that there should be separate chapter about Stalingrad. We did not want to give a special section on the war, because we were not sure that the victors and the vanquished would be able to come to a compromise. At first, we outlined 20 module chapters that we were going to write together, in co-authorship. This plan was two-thirds successful. Out of 20 chapters we did 14 together. But the chapter on Stalingrad was still written in parallel: the Russian scientist - his version, the German - his. What our German colleague wrote was quite objective. Showed both German atrocities and Soviet heroism. But there were still some passages with which we could not agree.

More specifically about the “passages”?

Alexander Chubaryan: For example, a German colleague explained the heroism of the defenders of Stalingrad by the barrier detachments that stood behind our troops and by repressive measures. This topic is now actively discussed in Western literature. Like Stalin’s famous order N 227 “Not a step back!” and its consequences for deserters. Russian historians do not deny the existence of barrier detachments and do not try to obscure cruel essence order “Not a step back!” There is a discussion about this within our community as well. But this, from my point of view, absolutely does not explain the main thing: how they won. Details should not affect overall assessment. Especially when we're talking about about what young people learn about war, who do not have that emotional support, and therefore protection from historical myths— fakes about Stalingrad that the elders had.

And our foreign colleagues who work on topics such as the “Battle of Stalingrad” must remember that in the history of any nation there are sacred, even holy events that have become symbols. You need to touch them, even for scientific purposes, with great caution and respect, no matter what new facts are discovered.

You mentioned buzzword"fakes". Do they also apply to Stalingrad?

Alexander Chubaryan: For example, they compare the bloodshed and losses of the battles that the allies fought in Africa before the opening of the Second Front, and clearly exaggerate the significance of the victories at El Alamein. This old story. I am against underestimating the contribution of the allies to the Victory. Although, of course, there can be no comparison between Stalingrad and El Alamein in terms of influence on the course of the war. And the fact that in Great Britain and other countries they pay tribute to their soldiers who fought and won is normal. But if you really look at things, in none of the named countries these battles were preserved in the memory of the war to the same extent as the Battle of Stalingrad.

Attacks on symbols of Victory are associated with a general attack on Russia. This is a certain attribute of the international situation. When more or less correct relations are observed in the world, such “attacks” move aside. They happen, but rarely. But when is it public policy With the connection of the media, all these myths come to the surface. And the end seems to justify the means. But in some countries this date is celebrated. One of the French television channels showed on January 27 special program and a film dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad, recognizing the role of this victory for the course of the Second World War.

The emergence of shrines is complex and Long procces, into which psychology, traditions, accidents, and laws are intertwined. When did Stalingrad become a symbol of Victory?

Alexander Chubaryan: Immediately after the victory over Paulus's army. If you like, it's like Waterloo for the 19th century. Now more attention is paid to the military side of the Battle of Stalingrad, to the balance of forces, to brilliant operations, tactics and strategy... This is all true. But it is important to remember that then our people believed in the possibility of victory. And the allies realized that Soviet Union can win this war even without them. No other city, no other battle has received such veneration in the memory of Europe as Stalingrad. Metro and square in Paris, streets and boulevards in Bordeaux, Lyon, Nice, Milan... Avenue in Brussels, squares in the cities of the Czech Republic... At the Tehran Conference, Churchill hands Stalin a sword for victory. Roosevelt, speaking, speaks of the great significance of Stalingrad. De Gaulle agrees with them.

“The attacks on the symbols of Victory are connected with the general attack on Russia. This is a certain attribute of the international situation"

On the other hand, in Germany for the first time, the only one during the war, three days of mourning were declared. This never happened again. Hitler and Goebbels spoke on the radio - they also understood the military and political significance of Stalingrad. But most importantly, a German historian colleague who fought and was in our captivity told me about this; in Germany there was a feeling of the inevitability of defeat. A huge group led by a famous man who was Hitler's favorite collapsed. It was a moral blow enormous power. Paulus later wrote that he first understood this when he heard about the assassination attempt on Hitler. The conspirators “felt” trouble.

Maxim Kucherenko and Vladimir Tkachenko, members of the Underwood group, are 32 years old. Both are doctors, a little romantic and a little cynic, both from Crimea. In September, their third album, entitled “Loot Will Defeat Evil,” was released, and we decided to get to know this ironic, talented duo better.

COSMO What has Underwood been doing for the last 2 years—were you not heard, not seen?
Vladimir We hid, and we did the right thing! People who have 30 concerts a month cannot write good songs, they don’t have time. It's good if your last name is McCartney, but in any other case... "Bye baby", "Hello pussy" - the lyrics become more superficial. I decided to gain inspiration and went to Africa, to Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). I saw how liquid latex is extracted from wood, tried the okra vegetable, and visited the center of the civil war.
Maksim And I traveled around Russia, conducting trainings on business psychology. Then we wrote the soundtrack for the film “Words and Music,” and Vladimir wrote the music for the Satire Theater’s play “The Apple Thief,” directed by Olga Subbotina. We are currently writing music for a science fiction film under the working title “The Martian Chronicles,” which is being filmed at Mosfilm. And we also wrote poems for our poetry collection “Sound and Silence.”

COSMO Many people remember you from the song “Gagarin, I loved you...” and consider you a group of one song...
Vladimir Then the Beatles are also a group of one song - Yesterday. “Gagarin” is simply the most successful radio song.

COSMO She also sounded in Roman Kachanov's film Down House.
Maksim Our producer Oleg Nesterov connected us to this project. But we didn’t participate in the general get-together, we didn’t even know the director. We only know that A.K. Troitsky, the musical consultant of this film, later on the pages of Cosmo called us the only valuable thing that was transferred from Ukraine to Russia after Gogol.

COSMO How did you meet each other?
Maksim In 1992, when we were studying in Simferopol in our 2nd year medical institute. Our parents still gave us money back then, we felt lost. As, indeed, are many young people who were pushed into medical school. I began to get acquainted with Simferopol informals, and one poet introduced me to Vladimir, who is from Kherson. As I was told, Vladimir is like this a strange man from the third hostel, which shoots films on 8 mm... And then I shot films on 16 mm. We clashed over film and developers. Then I found out that Vladimir plays an instrument, sings songs well and loves my favorite band, the Doors. And I wrote poetry. Well, one day I suggested organizing a group.

COSMO And you started giving concerts on the rooftops of Simferopol.
Vladimir But before that we performed on the Yalta and Alushtinskaya embankments. We weren’t called “Underwood” back then. They sang songs from Aquarium, Auction, Doors, Vertinsky, Tom Waits and 3-4 of our newly composed songs.
Maksim With the money we earned, we bought a German kombeshnik on the Yalta embankment for 20 bucks from a guy who played music in a restaurant across the street. This was our first joint material object!
Vladimir 3 years ago we performed on the Yalta embankment and then ate in the very restaurant where in 1995 we first found an outlet to plug into...
Maksim And later we started organizing events on the roof of the hostel. Various people flocked there, some gatherings ended in conflicts...
Vladimir My room was all painted with frescoes left by the previous residents. A popular print Lord looked at me from the ceiling in the morning, there were dragons and angels on the walls... And the third floor overlooked the roof of a clinic built end-to-end. We pulled extension cords from nearby rooms there, plugged in the instruments and played.

COSMO And then your amateur tape recordings were distributed on embankments...
Vladimir In 1998, we released our first amateur collection, recording it in Sevastopol in one club. Made 500 copies. They gave or sold for 2 hryvnia 50 kopecks. Then we lived with this money in a camp on Bear Mountain. We also set up a business there - we took an entrance fee to Bear Mountain. One day a woman came up to us and said: “Maybe you’ll let the first cosmonaut of Ukraine pass?” We replied: “Of course.” A man grew up in front of us tall by the last name Kodanyuk. We said hello and let him in for free. (They laugh.) In general, we adapt very well to the world, to the producer...

COSMO Are you on equal terms with the producer?
Maksim Nesterov conducts a dialogue with us and believes our “no”. For example, we refused to perform at the Invasion festival this year - we went on vacation and went home. He didn't insist. We needed some exercise on the eve of the release of our third album.

COSMO Why didn't each of you want to perform separately?
Maksim We are incomprehensible alone and very convincing together. I don’t know why we stuck together like that... Maybe because we had similar grandmothers who spoke a mixed Ukrainian-Russian language. And because they were brought up on the same Dnieper river, only in different parts of it. And they lived in identical small temporary houses in Simferopol, which stand right on the ground... A common multitude was organized, which brought us closer together.
Vladimir According to the horoscope, we fit each other quite closely. I'm Scorpio, he's Leo. In addition, we are psychologically structured differently. I am a reflective schizoid. And Maxim is an affective psychopath. If there were two philosophers or two psychopaths in the group, it would be boring and sad.

COSMO Is this Maxim's classification?
Maksim More likely Kreichmer's, not mine. By the way, we still maintain communication with medical communities. We do not lose touch with those who worked in the Kherson intensive care unit or in the Sevastopol psychiatric hospital. Doctors are wonderful people, and the medical culture is very humanistic and simple. Medicine generally explains the world very easily.

COSMOAre you both practicing doctors?
Vladimir I am no longer there, but until 2000 I worked as an anesthesiologist and resuscitator.
Maksim And I belong to the Eastern European Gestalt Institute. I treat neuroses, situational things - but not with psychoanalysis, but in a more humane way. Sometimes we appear together at conferences, sing...

COSMO Have you ever had to diagnose show business stars?
Maksim We rarely communicate with stars. Because this is a clearing with a built-in hierarchy. And once you get into this hierarchy, you start making a career, but we are not interested in that. We miss each other and ordinary people. For example, I am very interested in human relationships and their meaning. And to Vladimir - the general dramaturgy of life. We put all the experience into the common Underwood meat grinder, and the result is a powerful exhaust - not realism and not glamor, but a synthesis of each other.

COSMO Do you agree that your first album is reminiscent of the work of “Accident”?
Maksim We didn’t listen to “NS” back then. But we are in the same logic, probably. Recently Alexey Kortnev called and admitted that he knows all our songs by heart! AND better than third verse of the song “Fighter No. 0” he had never heard anything in his life.

COSMO They say that Eduard Limonov confessed his respect to you.
Maksim Can you imagine Limonov admitting to anything? Me not.
Vladimir It’s just that one of my friends in Kherson read Limonov’s book “Captured by the Dead,” which actually says that Limonov listened to the radio while in prison. And everything that flowed from there into his ears, Limonov divided into “shit” and “not shit.” He liked “Mumiy Troll”, “Nobody Writes to the Colonel” and “Gagarin”.
Maksim Fortunately, we are considered one of the positive groups that can breathe life, give a good mood, bring in the southern, bright, and kind. They helped Limonov while away his days in prison... (Laughs.) Our music heals.

COSMO It’s interesting that you decided to take it seriously only at the age of 27.
Vladimir Then I decided it was time, took a vacation and came for a month with the goal of distributing our demo recordings to record companies St. Petersburg and Moscow. At the same time, he came to Snegiri Records and asked if Oleg Nesterov could listen to me. They answered me that Oleg is a very busy man and will not listen to me, but we can invite him to our performance... But we simply could not invite him, since the group was disbanded at that time (I worked in intensive care in Kherson, and Maxim - in Department of Psychiatry in Sevastopol). And I left. That same evening I was visiting a Moscow friend, took her tape recorder and sang a dozen songs with an out-of-tune guitar. The tape recorder “pulled up” a little when recording, but there was still some kind of magic, an extraordinary spirit in this “demo”! The next morning I went to Snegiri and asked to return the old “demo” instead of the new one. The puzzles of this tape with Oleg Nesterov’s imagination worked out so well that he called us back a week later and asked us to send something else. All summer 2000, Oleg Nesterov listened only to our songs in his car. In November 2000, we met at the Snegirevka railway station, near Kherson, and went to Moscow.

COSMO What is this word “underwood”?
Vladimir This is the name of the typewriter that Maxim bought from the daughter of one of our Sevastopol friends. We both love typing more than writing. Joy printed word always deeper. I also had a “Moscow” typewriter in my dorm room, on which I typed texts. There were several other options for the name - “Cherry de orchard”, “Naked Lunch”... We settled on “Underwood” also because Dovlatov’s three-volume book was published then, which everyone read. And so do we. The first part of his “Diaries” is called “Solo on Underwood”.

COSMO They say that you ate unusually when you were recording last album. I read: “Dry products from the Sibirsky Bereg company, delivery pizza, shrimp cream soup, pickled garlic, Fitness corn flakes, Lianozovskoye milk “one and a half”, Kherson apricots, Crimean wine no later than 2000...”
Vladimir Apricots grow in my dacha in Kherson. My parents collected them and sent me a package. And we ate these apricots, grown on the black soil of Potemkin Island, fertilized with silt from the bottom of the lake, washed down with wine. Not the safest mixture, of course, but creativity went well.
Maksim Vladimir and I are renting a shared creative laboratory— a two-room apartment, where we periodically cook something for ourselves and for friends. There were downright brutal forms of food. We poured a vegetable mixture into a frying pan, cooked pasta, fried fish sticks, meat, and cooked pilaf. In general, you can do wonderful things with one frying pan. I'm even afraid to buy anything electric, because there will be even more opportunities to cook something. A frying pan is like a guitar - it has a certain inexhaustibility! And at different periods of time, more and more new resources are discovered. For example, it’s good to fry long bacon rolled into a roll, first pin it with toothpicks and sprinkle with spices and cheese. This is a great snack with a glass of wine!
Vladimir For example, while eating, the song “Today it’s fashionable to be a DJ” was born. We sat at the table with the DJs and watched them. Such fashionable people who sell their lifestyle and ease of being... At 2 o'clock in the morning, guys are sitting in the city center in an apartment that costs a lot... These conversations of theirs, their same-sex love for each other, which is not very clear to us... And they are happy. We started joking with them and joked for a month and a half. The result was a song that immediately ended up on Maximum radio.

COSMO Do you still have it? interesting songs. “Sex is a dirty business,” for example.
Maksim There is also a continuation: “...love is pure.” Well, yes, sex is dirty in the vision of many people. Because of this, such a phenomenon as platonic love. When the impulse of attraction should be realized in the body, in sex, but a person stretches it within himself in a sadistic way. In general, until the age of 20-22, it is not very clear what sex is. Against the background of the sexual success of our colleagues at the institute - such macho, easy bandits - Vladimir and I were more romantic towards the female sex. And they constantly wrote songs.

COSMO Sublimated, that means. And you, Maxim, look so much like a macho!
Maksim But I chose consistency. Viktor Tsoi, for example, had two women throughout his life - his First Wife and his Second Wife. And in this monogamy there is a constant resource that allows you to accumulate energy more in creativity than in carnal joys. I'm married, my wife is a dentist. My daughter is 3 years old. They live in Simferopol. The wife opened hers dental office and does not want to move to Moscow. That's why I go to them once a month.
Vladimir I have a common-law wife with whom I have lived for 4 years. I'm also conservative. She comes from Crimea, and we graduated from the same institute, but we met here, in Moscow. She is a gynecologist.

COSMO Like real Crimean guys, did you like to have holiday romances?
Maksim Somewhere between 18 and 20 years old, in general, all relationships were built according to the type holiday romance. In the summer, a girl from Moscow came all expecting something, saw the sea and... The main thing here was to appear as a kind southern guy, holding a bottle of port wine and a guitar. He also knows how to cook pilaf and reads poetry. The power over them was colossal. It was really scary! We must pay tribute, Muscovites have always been independent and smart. But now they have become a little different - there is less romance in them. They love to experiment, but they are more users than explorers.

COSMO And then the girls were abandoned, right?
Maksim No, then I had a telephone relationship period. After that there were meetings in Moscow, but everything was different. Moscow is not the sea, the port wine was not flowing, the girls were in a hurry to earn money... In general, it all ended with the fact that they did not have enough heart to warm the poet.

COSMO Did you also meet your wife “resort style”?
Maksim No. We worked in the same clinic, we were introduced by mutual friends. One day my friend and I came to his graduation. There were tables laid and we began to eat chops that did not belong to us, because we had drunk beforehand. Then my future wife, who didn’t know me, came and asked: “Who ate my chop?” She was told that there was a Kucherenko who had already left. But then we finally met and were introduced to each other with the words: “He ate your chop.”

COSMO Are you, Vladimir, attracted to bitches? The song “Dynamo Machine” from the new album is dedicated to them.
Vladimir Yes, because a real bitch still has a heart. But it is hidden so deeply that she does not consider it necessary to delve into herself, this is a waste of time.
Maksim But she is happy and always joyful! In general, happy women are those who know how to switch off and do not like to drown in feelings. And very sensual girls always have loving fathers, who for them are not just part of family geometry, but the heroes of their lives. And they most often do not meet men like them on their way - it seems to them that they do not exist. Therefore, such girls are usually less happy in their personal lives.

COSMO What is your relationship with Irina Khakamada?
Maksim Nice transition!
Vladimir On the night before the 2004 elections, Irina threw a party; she was also running for president. Our song “Encroach on the President” premiered there. We talked.
Maksim She is so warm-hearted, she is... a samurai after her father. She is in good contact- sees a person, hears him. And she has some kind of free husband with long hair...
Vladimir She's cute, fashionable, wearing jeans. It's nice to see a politician, especially a woman, wearing jeans.

COSMO Since you moved to live in Moscow, have doctors noticed mental changes in yourself?
Maksim The first thing that connected me with the residents of Moscow was sleep disturbance. In Kherson and Simferopol, all stores close at 6 pm; calling anyone after 11 pm is incorrect. And here everyone stays awake until the morning. They say that Stalin instilled this habit. He fell asleep at 4 o'clock and woke up at 1 pm, and all the ministries worked around the clock. In general, people have mental disorders, but they manifest themselves less clearly than in quiet cities. “There are no bright forms! There are no luxurious pictures of diseases!” - the doctors are worried. And all because of pathomorphosis - the ability of diseases to change. For example, the flu now occurs differently than it did 10 years ago. But schizophrenia is not the way it proceeded before the 50th year of the twentieth century. Now urban residents have a reduction form of schizophrenia, which has few external symptoms.
Vladimir I adapted for the first six months. My eyes were running wild, my legs were giving way from large quantity people and crowds of cars. But we overcame stress by mutual support of each other.

This the most popular group“born” in Simferopol, and won people’s love after moving to Moscow. Moreover, over the past 10 years the popularity has only grown...

The group “Underwood” is not only “Gagarin, I loved you o-o-o...” In September, the group presented its seventh album - “Women and Children”, which the creators themselves characterize as a “journey album”, and will arrive in Kyiv one of these days with new program. On the eve of this event, we talked with the main “underwoods” Maxim Kucherenko and Vladimir Tkachenko.

Lisa. Maxim, you once said that your songs are “memorial notes from the 20th century to future generations.” What did you mean?

Maksim. I guess I meant that I'm very smart. (Laughs.) I read this somewhere. Who said that? Either Mark Zakharov, or Faina Ranevskaya... And these “memorial notes” somehow stuck in my head. Our songs have been known for at least 10 years, people come to listen to them, they sing them, and there is interest in them. I think another 10 years will pass, and another 10 years, and then it will all be over.

Lisa. The Underwood group has already reached adulthood, and over the past 18 years, a lot of funny stories have probably happened to you...

Maksim. We once worked in the Russian outback, in the city of Solikamsk, in a local cultural center - a classic Soviet building. Seated hall, exotic! We went out on stage and saw a hall full of grandmothers. They sat quietly in their free seats at the free city event. I immediately got my bearings, introduced us as a “jazz group” and recounted the content of each subsequent song. We played quietly, insinuatingly. The grandmothers glowed and clapped their hands. The most funny comedy- sitcom. You go out and you look like Jim Morrison, and then boom! - and you Kobzon.

Vladimir. And funny moments are associated with forgetfulness. For example, at one time we had a bass player who was on his way to a concert in a taxi and forgot his bass guitar there. Or a drummer who came to a concert but forgot his drumsticks at home. I went into the woods, broke two branches, and played the concert... It’s good that it didn’t happen at the same time.

Lisa. Each of you has been happily married for a long time. How did you meet your wives?

Maksim. Once, as a graduate of a medical institute, I attended a gala banquet of fellow students. Having drunk quite a lot, we wanted to eat. At this moment the hot food was served. My friend said, let's start with the portion while no one is there. So I started. Three years passed and I met my future wife Yulia. We worked in the same clinic. She is a dentist, I am a psychiatrist-psychotherapist. We once remembered our student years, and then it turned out that at that banquet I ate her portion of meat in French. Then she was very angry that “the devil knows who” came and gobbled up her hot dish. Now my wife prepares different things for me herself. delicious dishes, and I can’t get enough of it!

Vladimir. Sveta and I met at some fellow Crimean party in Moscow. It turned out that we studied together at medical school and we have a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances. At the same time, we managed to meet not in Crimea, but a thousand kilometers from home, in Moscow.

Lisa. Is there in your Everyday life place for romance? What romantic actions do you surprise your wives with?

Vladimir. Love is romance and recklessness in its purest form. Therefore, any act of a person in love must be assessed not from the usual point of view, but from the point of view of reckless romanticism, if it needs to be assessed at all. Love gives the soul some new amazing and inexplicable worlds of beauty. A new magnet appears in a person’s consciousness - and all the iron filings of the soul, all the bolts and nuts, your entire frame, your entire world order begin to be drawn towards this magnet.

Lisa. You are also fathers of many children... What do you teach your children, and what have you learned from them?

Vladimir. Every child is unique, and the task of parents is to develop this uniqueness. Punitive procedures seem unjustified to me; the best therapy is conversation. I have always tried to teach my eldest son Sasha, who is 20 years old, to approach life with calm analysis and without excessive heat. In addition, it is important for a man to understand the difference between form and content and the balance between them. In general, we have philosophical conversations with him. And from my little daughter Sonya, I learned not to reject her proposals. She always brings me something: some kind of food, tea, or a guitar. It’s better not to refuse now, so that in old age you will have the proverbial glass of water safely.

Maksim. My eldest daughter Anya shared all the hardships early period our marriage. We didn’t have our own roof over our heads; we lived with our parents. One day Anya heard about birds that cannot live without each other, that they are called “lovebirds,” and said: “These birds are like my dad and mom.” Then I realized that we are strength, and we are together in life. And somehow from that moment everything began to come together. We got an apartment in Crimea, the family found its home... The middle daughter was born after our wonderful family trip to Greece. Arina is a Mediterranean child: temperamental, heat-loving, fiery and open. She's not interested material values, toys. All she wants is chocolate and fun. Younger son Roman was born after a family road expedition to the Caucasus. It’s no wonder that after what we experienced, a boy was born... In general, the main thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. I didn't come up with this. I am simply observing how this great knowledge works. Children scan all the nuances of the relationship between a man and a woman. God gave me a wonderful wife. Her beauty still captivates me, she has warmth, intelligence, femininity and tolerance... In part, I repeat the path of my parents - they have a long and loving marriage. Julia became friends with my father and mother. My mother-in-law, my parents, my children and my wife - we are one gang!

IN last days March you released your sixth numbered album “Bubble Gum”. Is the title of the record a metaphor?

Maxim Kucherenko: The world is generally similar to soap bubble- it can burst at any moment. Human life is also a very fragile substance, like an inflatable bubble made of chewing gum - it takes different shapes, different tastes, you can spit it out... In general, bubble gum is a sphere. Speaking in the language of geometry, the most comprehensive idea of ​​life and the world is a circle, mandala, or ball, for example. The well-known and beloved scientist Grigory Perelman, who did not accept a million dollars from the mathematical community, proved Poincaré’s theorem, which states that “any complex three-dimensional space can be described as a homeomorphic sphere.” I won’t decipher this, but it just means that the sphere is a basic element. And we consider the sphere in a musical and poetic way - and prove our Poincaré theorem with this album.

Vladimir Tkachenko: Of course we would!

M.K. : We have wives. Perelman has a mother, whom he is afraid of, and we have wives, whom we are afraid of. (Laughs).

M.K. : Every healthy man tends to experience certain feelings associated with his childhood, because in childhood all the most important things happen, and he is drawn there all the time. In childhood, the leading moment is spontaneity, and if we lose it, we will turn into Russian pop music - thoughtful, commercial, undifferentiated and poor. Therefore for creative person spontaneity is especially important. All these Wolves pop out spontaneously from “Well, wait a minute!”, Cheburashkas, all this magic...

And how do you manage not to lose this childish spontaneity with age? The group is already 15 years old.

V.T. : And we don’t strain ourselves. If we were tense, it would be noticeable. Spontaneity is born from ease. Ease not in the sense of a superficial attitude towards life, but in the sense of knowing that all problems are surmountable. This thought keeps me afloat all the time.

M.K. : IN recent years Ten years ago we watched the country move from an era of temporary chaos into an era of temporary conservatism, and conservatism for Russia is not so bad, because it has always existed in it. But we ourselves change much more slowly than society.

V.T. : Since we are Southerners, we tend to experience continuous hedonism. (Smiles).

We recently flew in a wind tunnel - it was very nice, we felt like sparrows.

M.K. : Well, in general, the French are called a nation of absolute hedonists; among Russians this is less pronounced. But hedonism is generally characteristic of southerners. A cup of coffee that you can drink for two hours...

V.T. : Hedonism has a very passable definition - it is getting pleasure from life. Of course we are hedonists clean water, and we are happy about it. True, we don’t drink coffee for two hours - we do it faster, and usually in the morning.

V.T. : We can talk to each other for a very long time on abstract topics. A lot of things amuse us, and when there are good joke in a conversation, it can last indefinitely. We love you over a glass good wine joke, laugh and discuss what surrounds us. This, by the way, is one of the sides of our hedonism - to discuss life in all its manifestations.

V.T.: It’s hard not to get tired of her. We get tired, of course. I'm looking forward to the day when the band and I get on the train and go on tour. I would like to treat this city more calmly, but I can’t, and thank God I don’t. It is impossible to get used to Moscow, we realized this once and relaxed, which is another aspect of our hedonism. (Smiles).

M.K. : Well, 250 grams, of course, is the limit, especially if you have to do business tomorrow. Although we recently drank a liter of whiskey on the plane on the way to Crimea. Then we were delighted with the news that they were going to award us the title of Honored Artists of Crimea, we took a bottle to celebrate and then appeared before the organizers of the ceremony in a terrible state. We can drink a lot, yes.

V.T. : Morning is the best dope. I feel great in the morning, and when I wake up in good mood, you won’t find a better doping.

M.K. : I sit and think about one doping, but I won’t tell you about it.

Just tell me. We can.

M.K. : Can? Well... no, I still won’t say. (Laughs). Communication with children.

M.K.: Something like that. But seriously, communicating with children is very cool. I didn't think that such routine things as coming to Parent meeting or watching a child, along with twenty other trunks, sing a song about Maslenitsa - it’s so joyful.

V.T. : No, we're not at all extreme people. Extreme people want to know the wrong side of life and turn their life around, while hedonists, on the contrary, are lazy. So we are far from it. But we actually flew in the wind tunnel – it was very nice, we felt like little sparrows.

What about adrenaline?

V.T. : There is too much adrenaline in life without extreme sports. There are times when you don’t know what to do with adrenaline, and if you also stuff yourself with extreme sports... To do this, you need to live in a quiet place, smell sticks. And when you live in a city like Moscow, stress arises.

M.K. : I generally do not share the modern vision that adrenaline is good. Good energy– smooth. We value a balanced style of behavior, because in our business, every second person is a psychopath. And personally, I feel uplifted after doing yoga. The most fun thing to do is how not to turn yourself into a beaver. At our age, many of our peers are gaining excess weight and they become such beavers - this is what yoga helps with.

Are you attracted to yoga and philosophy?

M.K. : I don't big fan eastern philosophy, all sorts of trips to Tibet... A lot of self-sufficient things are happening here and in Russia. There is such a group “Kursk” - Finns who sing in Russian - and they recently said: “When you come to Russia, you immediately understand what is shit in life and what is not.” I think it's well said.

27.11.2013 18:02

Underwood Group: “Heaven gives us tests and rewards us with gifts”

Text:
Photo: Igor Vereshchagin

The rock band "Underwood" is known to a wide range of listeners. Songs from their repertoire can be heard in the players of people of different professions and worldviews, and everyone finds something of their own. The music conveys the mood, and the poems in the compositions are filled deepest meaning. In September of this year the group released new album entitled “Women and Children”, the presentation of which took place on September 7 in Moscow. Also recently, Maxim Kucherenko and Vladimir Tkachenko became official members of the Writers' Union. Congratulations to the leaders and creative success. With updated concert program the group performed at several concert venues Moscow, St. Petersburg, and also as part of the presentation of the album, the group visited other big cities Russia and Ukraine. And now a few words about creativity, emotions and the new album.

Correspondent Alla Pavlova talked with the group leaders Maxim Kucherenko and Vladimir Tkachenko.

The famous rock band “Underwood” gave a special interview to a RB correspondent before their concert. In September of this year, the group released a new album called “Women and Children.”

Many songs in your work, to one degree or another, make fun of shortcomings and vices. What is your main vice?

M.K.: The most major vice for us it is despondency, lack of energy. When a person is unable to take care of himself or those around him. Bright colors the world for a person with this evil fades and such a person takes the position of energy zero. I thought why, after all, in Christianity, in the commandments, despondency is a serious sin. After all, if you think about it, this zero point is a big problem. The point of no return and zero temperature. This is the most serious collapse of the soul.

In your repertoire there is a wonderful song “Man with a Laptop”; there is a stereotype that people who live on a computer live in parallel on social networks. What is your attitude towards social networks?

V.T.: I have a positive, positive attitude towards social networks. We understand that in the digital age and social networks, it is very difficult to stay away, and it is also very convenient in terms of communication. Therefore, one cannot treat the idea of ​​​​creating social networks without respect. In part, it’s very funny to “friend” and “like”, but I personally am already starting to get tired. But it should be noted that now the world is ruled by gadgets and social networks.

I listened to your new album, in it, as in all your work, two directions of songs can be traced. Some are driving, rock and roll, filled with sarcasm, while others are soft, lyrical. And you, obviously, are so different too. Do you have a strict division in your creativity? For example, one writes lyrics, the other writes drive.

V.T.: There is no such clear division. Taking into account the character traits and difference in emotional temperatures of Messrs. Tkachenko and Kucherenko. Naturally, Maxim has a preference for writing more energetic, rock and roll, catchy songs. Due to my mental makeup, I have a preference to write more lyrical songs. I agree that this is noticeable to the naked eye, especially on the latest record. But I can definitely say that this is not a trend, so I have dance, satiristic compositions, and Maxim has beautiful lyrical ballads that make you want to cry and think.

I believe that any master, any creator should not get hung up on any one style. This creates emptiness inside and exhaustion; you can end up as an individual. You need to be able to switch. Inside the poet there must be an internal switching switch, which you need to be able to control very competently.
By and large, there are only two directions - lyrics and drive. And the Underwood group has all this, so to speak, in our work this very switch switch works clearly. And we are not divided into the fact that one leader is a rock and roll guy, the other is a lyricist. Our creativity is complete because it is shared.

What is your source of inspiration?

M.K.: The source of inspiration for us is a variety of things that affect the senses. In this case, of course, the senses must be ready to receive information. A person must be ready to receive signals from the outside. A clustered and uninteresting product can result when a person does not know how to listen, and above all to himself. Sometimes you just need to close your eyes and organize all the information.

Here I would like to quote the writer Viktor Erofeev, who recently became a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, for cultural services in France. He said: “I am a radio receiver that hisses in search of a wave, but everything must be deciphered and recorded.” Here the intuitive understanding of our role is summarized very clearly. This receiver must always be on and receive waves while in working condition. Actually, that’s when inspiration comes in. Some people think that inspiration is falling in love. But this is one of the shortest inspirations.

Who are your songs for? Can you describe these people, their way of life?

V.T.: Just yesterday one very smart marketer asked this question. And we get asked this question ten times a year. For whom? Who is your audience? Here we are of course at a loss Once again. The Underwood group does not have a clearly defined age or target audience. However, the opposite often happens. First an album is written, then the audience “glues” to this album. Therefore, the audience of our group is very different in age, in outlook on life, the only thing that unites this group is the love of beauty, the love of the Russian language, the understanding of the “beauty” of the language, which we can afford due to its peculiarity in the experience of writing songs. Who cares about this and finds songs for the soul in our repertoire.

We understand that the fans we see at our concerts are not our entire audience. There are people who love the Underwood group, but due to their busy lives they cannot attend our concerts.
For example, surgeons who operate from morning to night, and in the evening get into the car and listen to songs by the group “Underwood” on the way home. This is one example, but we know that there are a lot of people like this, but we want to see everyone at our performances.

Your new album is called “Women and Children”. What is your attitude towards women and children?

M.K.: Obviously, this is the majority of humanity, if we take into account the entire population of the Earth. It is represented by old people, women and children. Society provides a wide range of social choices: people live in a family, a prison, an office or a monastery, or maybe a hermit. And especially no one is against your choice.

Women and children for a man mean, among other things, an immersion in the industry. When you become a family man, you cannot help but take part in the cycle of crap and capital. Because you need to buy real estate, spend money on education and living expenses. In this regard, you are betraying your inner anarchist, who demands uncompromising things. The title song of the album is about this. Family is not just a person’s happiness, but also an element of work, endurance, and tolerance. We wanted to expand on this theme in our new album. Women and children are a force that can destroy you or transform you.

Are family and creativity a single whole or two different independent areas of your life?

V.T.: Family is an earthly basis; when you are with your family, you need to fulfill some earthly duties. The family nest is an earthly basis that is important for a person. It’s good when you are in a family environment. The main thing is for the family to understand that a creative person has a special schedule. Your work, your creative process, is not a stable five-on-two from nine to six, or three days later in the intensive care unit. You live in special rhythm, most of it in creative process. Even if you sit with your eyes closed, you are still working. and not just relaxing.

I prefer to write songs completely alone, in silence, so I close the windows and doors so that extraneous noise does not interfere. Since I am always working, loneliness in the creative process is a necessary component for me to systematize the information received. It's difficult, but when something is born from your thoughts and feelings, it's great.