Nike Borzov: “Everything bad always flies out of my head.” Nike Borzov: Fatal attraction Nike Borzov about love interview

October 9 guest morning show“Lifts” became Nike Borzov. If you are too lazy to read, you can listen to the audio version of the interview below.

On October 14, the album “Puzzle” turns 20 years old and there will be a concert on this occasion. Nike, tell me what will happen there?

There will be a concert there. I will play - and you will listen. I'll play the album "Puzzle" in its entirety. Well, I’ll also add a few tracks from my other albums. Including a couple of tracks that I've never played live. For example, from the 1994 album “Closed” a song will be played that has never been performed due to the fact that in the original it lasts 11-12 minutes and, in principle, not everyone can stand it. But this time I decided that it doesn’t matter - let it be.

Tell Nike a word about timing. Do you have any standard? When you record a song, do you try to fit into some kind of timing or does it not matter to you?

Now humanity has come to 30 seconds. Just recently, about 10 years ago – it was still 2 minutes with a penny of a person’s attention and perception of something new. And now it's 30 seconds. Therefore, we live in such a time of previews, that is, in the first 30 seconds you need to put something in that will hook a person, and he will continue to watch the video or listen to music. And to be honest, I really love long spatial things. Preferably with some kind of introduction, with drama, with all the pies. Well, how can I say – it’s not that I don’t bother. Of course, I don’t do anything on purpose to stretch out the song or make it longer, or, on the contrary, to throw out some verses. But with many things, after recording, I can act very cruelly. Cut them completely and cut them down.

I have social networks - I write on my personal ones myself, and the press attache writes on the official ones. As for criticism on social networks, I understand people. People have nothing to do and, strictly speaking, self-affirmation, and some other complexes - I am completely calm about it. If it is constructive, the person really explains his point of view, and somehow motivates, then this is normal. Even interesting to read. And when it’s “you went there” or “idiot”, then it’s, as they say, “whoever calls you names is called that himself.”

OUR mobile portal received many questions - for example: “Nike, if you were a door, where would it lead?”

To a bright future!

How do you generally feel about such questions? Are they from the field of philosophy for you or is the person just being clever? Would you like to avoid such questions?

It happens differently. Not often, but it happens when I collect questions from people on my social networks that they would like to ask me. I answer them and make such broadcasts conditionally. In video format. And they are very interesting. One question even helped me complete it new song. That is, a question was asked, and the ensuing answer prompted me to two phrases that I used in the song, which I really liked for a long time not enough. That is, I had written a song, and there were two empty spaces. These phrases were missing.

Was very similar story in one of the episodes of "Doctor House". By the way, do you watch TV series or do you consider it a waste of time?

No, why? Happens! TV series are even more convenient - because it happens when you come home or to a hotel from a concert - and you have 15 minutes before you pass out. And these small episodes, you don’t hang out for 2.5 hours, like some kind of film. And you are not particularly interested in it and you can fall asleep in 20-25 minutes. I like it.

What was the last thing you watched?

I really enjoyed the series American Gods. Funny. And it's done right by the book. Here he comes out new Star Trek: Discovery. There are a couple of episodes - very good. The beginning of the war with the Klingons. My daughter and I have, well, not exactly a conflict, but she is for “ star Wars", and I'm for Star Trek.

How old is your daughter? Do you understand each other?

No no. We're completely on the same page. There are no tensions (pah-pah-pah) with adolescence, although it is present.

What kind of music does she listen to?

She is passionate about music. Therefore, she doesn’t have such stupid things to do and so on. She loves to sing and sings cool. It happens mostly to girls - Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande. Those that have a very wide range and have a lot of melismatics, let’s say. She likes to sing these kinds of songs. And recently I even fell for a couple of my things. He walks and sings all the time. And I even want to make more modern arrangements for her to sing. For her birthday, which was September 27, I gave her a cool microphone. Now she's like a real professional vocalist with her own microphone.

Today we talked about last weekend - the weather was good, it was real autumn outside. Tell me, how does this time of year affect you?

Wonderful! I’m sitting in the studio now - they write new album. I write a lot of songs. I even came in a fan sweater today. I have practically all the fall colors here. I really like this time of year. Well, it’s like totalitarianism, roughly speaking, very powerful underground art appears and develops somewhere underground. And so is autumn – it even provokes some kind of uplifting inside a person. Because we are still alive and so on. There is something beautiful about it and I really love autumn.

Do you like books and what was the last thing you read?

Yes, I like reading books more than watching TV series. Now I’m reading a three-volume book - the author’s name is Nikolai Gubenkov. In principle, he is a completely unknown author. The author himself gave me these books. So he's a stuntman. The genre of the book is a combination of reality and fiction. Some kind of surrealism and psychedelia. Plus more mixes on all sorts of mythical and mystical problems. A funny twist, I really liked it, and now I’m reading it avidly. I had a time here when there was nothing to do. I went on vacation, and my love for reading began again. It’s not that there is time, usually you get on a plane, manage to read three or four pages and the plane has already landed or knocked you out. And here it’s just a pleasure and good book. It is called "Anunnaki".

Where did you vacation?

I was resting on Black Sea coast, so to speak. I don't really swim. For some reason in Lately I don't really like swimming in the sea. I like being in the ocean, but I don’t even want to go into the sea. Plus there are many more rumors that everything is very bad with people after swimming. And somehow I decided that I’d rather read a book than give in to this general resort frenzy.

Nike, how do you feel about brands? Phones, clothes, etc.?

Basically, exactly. I like the iPhone, of course, unlike Android themes that viruses do not get into it, it is simple and convenient. No need to bother with this software. That is, this is from a purely convenience point of view. That's why I buy myself such a phone. But now I’m generally in the original mode - I’m now walking around with an old push-button Nokia. When I travel around the world, I always need to buy local phones with local SIM cards. At home I just have a box with these phones, and I just take a phone by color. Based on shoes or coat, I choose a phone to match the color of my clothes and insert a SIM card into it.

In your repertoire there are songs thanks to which you became massively popular - I’m talking about “Three Words” and “Horse”. Aren't you tired of doing them?

In principle, I have quite a few well-known and popular songs - so sometimes I remove something, insert something. Sometimes I forget to put something in and they remind me. “Horse” and “Three Words” are present in almost all concerts. Somewhere I don’t even perform “Three Words” and no one pays attention to it.
Has it ever happened that you are invited to a “reserve” and asked to sing the same “Horse” three times in a row and that’s it?
I didn't have that. But this probably happens often with other performers. I even saw it, it was the beginning or mid-2000s, and I don’t remember the name of the group - a song about a battery. There was a concert - a hodgepodge and the whole audience chanted: “Battery! Battery!". And they decided that they were going to sing that song for their entire set, and they did it seven or eight times. Even I remembered it.

How do you feel about cover bands?

Nike, you played Kurt Cobain in the play. Would you like to repeat this experience and who would you play now?

Yes, it happened, I played in a play. In principle, I liked the experience, but I don’t plan to continue this story, at least for now. Now I like to write music, record it, play concerts. But really, I liked acting in the theater more than acting in films. Because it all happens here and now, you don’t have the opportunity to re-shoot your emotion ten times. This is how you go on stage... It's like a concert - you go out and forget about everything. You immerse yourself in this state, in this role or something else. And you emerge only at the end - after one and a half to two hours. And that's great! And these bows when you walk from the edge of the stage to the beginning. And the performance itself was interesting. Yura (editor's note: Yuri Grymov) built it this way. So interesting, constructive, avant-garde. That is, we played the entire second act in foam, which filled the entire stage, and interacted with this foam. For us, even the foam played the role of a child. It was unclear where everything was happening - that is, from one state to another, from another to a third. I really liked the performance itself - I watched it. It was filmed and once there was a moment where we were editing something there. In 2010, along with the album “From the Inside,” I released a small auto-film called “The Observer,” and into it I inserted a small piece from this “Nirvana” and watched the entire performance. And he really put it in a very cool and interesting way.

How did you prepare for the role?

Well, of course. They provided me with literature and gave me a bunch of disks and tapes with his documentaries. I got acquainted, of course, but even before that I knew something about the group itself, or rather about the music of this group. I really liked the album In Utero. In my opinion, 1993 and in my opinion the last of the album.

Thanks so much for coming, Nike. And see you at the concert in “tons”.

Now you are actively promoting your acoustic program, which you will perform next Saturday at the Beatnik venue.

What awaits you is more of an acoustic rave than just a concert; I have come up with the definition of “ethno-techno” for the style of music you will hear. The name is unclear, but when everyone comes to the performance, its meaning becomes clear. Usually, when people gather for acoustics, they expect “It’s great that we are all here today” and other boring stuff. But here it’s a different story, which is why the public’s attitude towards acoustic music changes in principle. We're taking it to the next level. The term unplugged is also suitable here - without connecting to electricity. Although we have two guitarists who play using modern high-tech instruments. This is how primitiveness and shamanism are combined with modernity. We can say that we are closing the past and the future in a cycle. And if rock and roll had been invented in the Middle Ages, it would probably have sounded like my new acoustic record, which will be released in November-December.

Techno style is now popular among the masses. Why do you think?

Techno is something primitive, primitive, built purely on beats and percussion. Not much happens in it. This is such a constant movement that draws you in, and you begin to change your claims and move to the beat. This is exactly what happens at my concerts.

You said you don't use electronics in this program.

We avoid it in every possible way; we use classical acoustic instruments - piano, harp. I'm lying, there is a synthesizer and an organ, which still remains a more acoustic, airy instrument, despite the fact that it was shoved into a small box. About a year ago I met percussion instrument Cajon - its sound changes from lower in the middle to higher at the edge of the box. When I first heard it, I immediately thought it looked like an analog drum machine from some of the first Hammond organs. It all started with this cajon: I called a percussionist who played this instrument, I began to come up with ideas for her different bits, began performing with two acoustic guitars, I play percussion myself, you will see a lot of junk around me. Seeing people's reactions, and based on my own feelings, I wanted to write it all down. Last December we rented an abandoned cultural center from the 1950s, which had not been restored; the stucco molding remained there. On the walls there were pictures of pumped-up men and women dancing with headscarves, half-naked children with grandfathers, all content and happy. And in this room we sat down with the musicians and recorded more than twenty songs from old albums and two new ones: I wrote one called “Eve” in the late 1980s, the second, “Molecule,” in the mid-2000s. We made songs that are familiar to everyone in a form that you won’t hear in electric albums.

Old songs on new way- actual topic.

It always seemed to me that in order to be on topic, you need to be completely off topic. I am always in the underground of the modern situation and thus ahead of my time. As soon as a fashion ends, everything associated with it dies along with it. The wave of hipsters will finally pass, all the “Pompeii”, On-the-Go, “Tesla fights” will die, in ten years no one will remember about them. Except for those who listen to straight kick drums and don’t perceive anything new. Format fashion stories I've heard it many times, done it many times. About twenty years ago I played with straight kicks - addictive music that didn’t carry anything in itself, working as a soundtrack for a party. I had a group “Mutant Beavers” - a free stream of consciousness project, noise avant-garde psychedelic, we ended with a straight kick, original trance. And as soon as a year and a half later the straight barrel spread, I got sick of it and wanted to return to something more humane.

Recipes for every day

Recipes from all over the world

From that to this shore

Nike Borzov and an almost space odyssey through the musician’s work in all its manifestations.

Songwriter and performer Nike Borzov is a welcome guest in Krasnodar. And he seems to like it with us: he gave concerts twice last year, one of which was as part of the “45 Years in Space” tour, and is planning the next one in the fall of 2018. While waiting for the performance, we talked about the taste for creativity on an earthly and cosmic scale.

About the name of the tour

“Space is a complex and huge structure. Nobody even notices whether we exist or not. Our history, merits and achievements, regalia and orders do not matter. But at the same time, life itself consists of seemingly insignificant little things. So for me, space is the harmony of everything around. Therefore, I decided to use such a complex concept to describe a big tour in which I played the best that I had written throughout my life.”

It is believed that space is infinite, but it has a beginning. Let's talk about the beginning of your story. My parents shared the hippie culture, my mother was interested in spiritual practices, my father was a musician. It's like that?

Yes, there was always some kind of holiday at home, everything was colorful, bright colors, the music is strange, not the same as what was heard on TV then. But there were, of course, disadvantages to this. I remember how, as a child, I once again sat in such a company, I wildly wanted to watch the continuation of the cartoon in the program “ Good night, kids,” and the TV was in the room where the party was going on. It was so noisy and smoky that I couldn't watch the cartoon. I still remember that moment and others like it. But overall it was fun. And creative people gathered: artists, sculptors, musicians. There were especially many of the latter due to the parents’ passion for music.

What instrument did you learn first?

Acoustic guitar. I liked the sound. Mom told me that I didn’t know how to walk yet, but I was already plucking the strings of my father’s guitar. He crawled up, laid his ear on the soundboard and strummed “mi-si-sol-re-la-mi.” This vibration was mesmerizing. To this day, when I play the guitar, I often put my head to it to listen. I love how the body and the instrument resonate: ideas and energies intertwine, creating something organic.

The famous song “Horse” was written by Nike in 1993, recorded in 1997, and in 2000 made the author famous throughout the country, literally turning an underground performer into a representative of the mainstream.

When did you feel like a musician?

I don’t celebrate such moments. I prefer to think that music has always been with me and I am always in music. This is a natural state.

Nike Borzov was a member of the musical groups Mutant Beavers, Killer Honda, and Gravitational Singularity.
In 2003, he played the role of Kurt Cobain in Yuri Grymov's play Nirvana. He narrated the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson and wrote the soundtrack for it.

There was a time when you disappeared from television screens for 8 years. Not every artist can afford such a break and then return and become popular again. What's the secret?

Maybe it’s because I write beautiful songs? (Laughs.)

Definitely. And still?

The fact that I didn't disappear. I was not on television or radio, but I was mastering the Internet, which was not popular among musicians in the 2000s. He was busy with projects that were distantly related to commerce or the mainstream. Can this be considered a disappearance? In a sense, yes. How to leave and then come back while maintaining popularity? I really don't know. Apparently, we need to write high-quality compositions. And this is what I do, even when I work in what most people consider to be an unusual “psychedelic trance.”

About bins and bottoms

“In the 1980s, I wrote in several notebooks on
96 sheets of your career, discography, songs literally by year, up to 2000. Each album consisted of 8 to 20 songs, if a double record was planned. Sometimes I remember something from there and even think about putting together a collection of songs written before the 1990s. It's like a notebook with recipes that you collect so that you can cook something later. From the same period - the acoustic album “Dialogue with the Wall”, I have not posted it anywhere. Maybe when I’m gone, they will find it and publish it.”

Was it a temporary hobby?

There is nothing permanent and eternal in space: neither projects, nor people. If a project fascinates you, then you don’t think about time, you just enjoy the moment. In general, I live in the present. Sometimes I make plans, fantasize. I perceive the past as a chain related events. I have a lot of threads with the past. Often in similar situations I turn to myself as I once was, and from the height of past years and experience I draw conclusions. But still, I like to live here and now.

“Now maximum time is spent on recording a new album. I hope to please them at the end of this year or at the beginning of next. In parallel with recording finished songs, I am writing new ones, but there is no definite concept yet. Every moment everything can change. For now it’s a constructor.”

What project do you consider the most significant in your career?

Solo creativity. It started before Infection and other groups, most of which were for entertainment. It's like, say, when you eat healthy food or go on a diet, and then you eat something wildly unhealthy, but just a little bit. The projects are all different, different from what I do as solo artist. And this makes it even more interesting.

At the age of 14, in 1986, Nike Borzov created music group"Infection", which was known as the first trash-punk project in the Soviet Union.

Variety is necessary - just like in nutrition, so that you don’t get bored. Or like business trips, when you start to miss the people you left. But, I admit, 8 years is too long a pause. I won't repeat it.

11 studio albums Nike Borzov's have been out since 1992. The most recent release is “Acid God” - in 2018.

By the way, we were recently surprised to learn that you took part in culinary programs on TV. What is your relationship with food?

Very warm. We love each other. Nutrition is important. You are what and how you eat. This law works.

What are your fondest food memories?

About my grandmother's dumplings. They were amazing. After she died, I don’t eat dumplings, because I’ve never seen such a taste again and I didn’t get such a buzz from this dish. Also tangerines and, perhaps, Soviet chewing gum - coffee, orange, mint. We chipped in with friends and bought one pack for several people. Sometimes each person got a half, sometimes a whole one.

How are your taste preferences reflected in the rider?

There are registered simple rules, adequate for the health of the musician. Frequent moving, changing food and water - the body is under a certain stress because of this. That's why proper nutrition- part of the contract. On tour we are fine with food. We don’t eat set meals, don’t eat at fast food joints, and don’t snack on the go.

But it certainly wasn’t always like this. What was your diet like when you were young, at the peak of your popularity and on long tours?

Yes, not always. About 20 years ago, during a tour, I could even be left without dinner. The organizers of the festivals in which I participated happened to disappear immediately after the performance. And we didn’t think much about healthy eating back then.

I used to have a tradition: when arriving in St. Petersburg, I would eat shawarma at the station. There was a stall there that sold the best shawarma in the city. I ate it every time there while on tour. And then I got hooked on hodgepodge.

And one day, in the same St. Petersburg, where I just came to visit friends, I overate it. This is literally to the point of wild heartburn. After that I don’t eat solyanka anymore.

Shawarma is most often called shawarma
in St. Petersburg. In fact, these are the same dish. A classic of Arabic cuisine - meat (preferably chicken, lamb or beef), vegetables and sauce wrapped in thin pita bread. But the options can be different: vegetarian, mushroom, sweet, for example fruit or with chocolate spread. Experiments are possible not only with filling - instead thin pita bread maybe pita. Closest “relatives”: Turkish doner, Mexican enchilada, Greek gyro.

Today, as opposed to fast food, I am closer to the philosophy of a healthy, varied and wholesome diet. And for this I have to thank my wife. It's been balanced for ten years now healthy eating- a part of my life. She set everything up and implemented it amazingly easily, so now it comes naturally to me.

“Everywhere I go, I eat tomato soup with vegetable broth. In general, I often become a fan of specific dishes for a while. As it once was - shawarma and solyanka. Today it’s tomato soup.”

Cold tomato gazpacho soup as part of the Spanish culinary tradition Perfectly saturates on a hot summer day and quenches thirst at the same time. Thanks to the simple basis and easy preparation People like to experiment with this dish in professional and home kitchens. Red gazpacho began to be prepared only a couple of centuries ago, when tomatoes appeared in Europe. For classic tomato soup, stale bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, Bell pepper, vinegar, salt, olive oil and herbs.

Indulging in healthy eating is part of becoming bad guy good? Kefir and smoothies do not fit into the image of a rock musician. Or is this stereotype outdated?

I've always been good guy (laughs). At least I tried. And I realized in time that I didn’t want to die young at all. No one needs self-experiments that could end badly. It is important to learn from the mistakes of others, and not just your own. For me, the fashion for alcohol and other rock and roll stereotypes are now uninteresting and outdated, in my opinion.

Does the concept exist today?« Russian rock» ? At least your name is often associated with it.

Yes, he is. The radio station “Our Radio” plays Russian rock today. But I would not talk about what he is like, so as not to offend anyone. Do I associate myself with him? Well, maybe from the position: I’m Russian and I play rock music.

Music conveys feelings perfectly. Is food capable of this? Which dish embodies passion for you, which represents tenderness, and which represents weakness?

Complex issue. Weakness is probably fast food. Sometimes you want it, and you give in to weakness. Well, there are different types of fast food, of course. For example, in Greece there is no haute cuisine at all, but I like their snacks, tzatziki, bread - it’s delicious, and this is a weakness, yes.

Passion is when a dish in a restaurant looks so that you understand: the chef who prepared it is an artist, a musician, just like you. We were recently in Ufa and after the performance we had dinner at a restaurant. Every dish there was like a work of art - both in taste and in design. We almost ate our fingers, and then asked the chef to come out to us to thank us. This kind of food is a passion. And tenderness is what my wife cooks.

Do you have a favorite place or tradition associated with family lunch? Where do you like to have lunch with your wife?

When it comes to restaurants, we are constantly looking for new places, asking friends for recommendations, looking and reading reviews, or driving by and deciding where to go now or in the future. And at home, as a rule, we eat together only once - lunch or dinner. The schedule does not allow us to meet at the table more often. It happens that I eat on the go, and there is such a sin.

Have you become interested in products with miraculous properties?

Yes, this happens on our menu. My wife is a fan of these healthy tricks. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't even know about their existence.

Excellent physical form Is it a genetic gift or the result of effort?

Both. And the genetics are good, and you still have to put in the effort. First of all, of course, you need to think about what and how much you eat.

In modern gastronomy there is a concept« comfort food"(comfort food). Simple and familiar food to lift your spirits, something that always makes you happy. Do you have one? Please share the recipe.

Yes, I have. Take a zucchini, half, for example. And a lot of greens - parsley, dill, onions to taste. Garlic clove. You chop it all up randomly and throw it into a blender, pour a liter of kefir into it. Salt, pepper - not much. And bring to a homogeneous mass. Smoothie or garden cocktail - whatever you want to call it. It invigorates, and you don’t want to eat for a long time after it, and you can drink a lot. Doesn't load. Perfect for breakfast or dinner. In any season.

It can be just to your music.

Yes. To something fun. Try it under “Riding a Star,” “Three Words,” or “A Day Like a Day.” You should like it.

Website: naikborzov.com

Prepared by Irina Dibizheva

Nike Borzov is a treasure of the Russian rock scene. Philosopher, experimenter and loving father, charged with amazing energy and filled with a subtle love of life. A musician whose work exists outside of time, but at the same time is ahead of it.

On the eve of the Roof Music Fest acoustic concert, he shared with us his vision of life, sometimes unconventional and paradoxical, but always honest and independent, and therefore endlessly captivating.

Your first concert record and first concert DVD in 15 years will be released very soon. What other interesting and important things have happened to you lately?

Yes, a lot of important and interesting things happened. In addition to the good, there is also a lot of bad. And all this sets me up, let’s say, in a romantic mood and writing new songs. Right now I’m in St. Petersburg and recording my new songs.

You spent the last two weekends in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where you performed at the Geek Picnic festival with a lecture on the music of the future. Tell us, in your opinion, what is the music of the future?

Of course, I am not imposing anything on anyone, this is only my perception of reality and the vision of the future emanating from it. It seems to me that we see two vectors, two directions: this is music without content, which is aimed at satisfying low needs, at entertainment. In a creative and meaningful sense, it will completely degrade. At some point, roughly speaking, “freaks” will appear on the stage - a person with five heads or, conversely, half of the body cut off and replaced with the body of an octopus or the body of a robot. That is, artists will change themselves in order to surprise people, so that more people paid more money look at this "freak". We see such a crazy, beautiful, freakodelic hell.

What will the second direction be?
If we have a tendency in the first direction - the development of intellectual-artificial, so to speak, diarrhea... (laughs), then the other direction will be the underground: people who refuse to insert chips into the brain or identification chips into the hand. They will listen vinyl records until the end of their days, buy albums, go to exhibitions all the time, read books, not magazines or the “wisdom of Contact”, will love to walk in nature, and not in nightclubs, will fall in love, and not fuck with each other friend who will go to concerts of live individualistic performers.

Does musical Russia have a future?

Yes, of course it is possible. Harmonious and correct. This means a future where everyone is satisfied. It will be necessary for all directions, styles, and types of art to be given their own platform for advertising what they do. When all trends: rock and psychedelic music, the same hipsters, and performers singing in English, Russian, and all other languages, will be available everywhere or there will be a couple of corresponding channels, this will be enough. People will then be able to choose, an alternative will appear. When one thing is advertised and imposed on you, you start buying it without thinking about why you are even buying it. The same advertising and television are akin to what Joseph Goebbels and the Ministry of Propaganda of the Third Reich came up with. Television and television were invented in order to clear people's brains and put there what the ruler needs, who in this moment means mass media leads.

Is that why you don't watch TV?

I don’t perceive it at all in principle. This is an object on which I can sit or put something; I have no other association. Either it is a stool or a table - nothing more. By removing the lamp from the inside, you can decorate it very beautifully. We made such an altar there with all sorts of funny figures. I have on New Year the TV inside was all covered with cotton wool: my dad and mom made it rain there, Santa Claus sat there and the Snow Maiden.

In a recent interview with a children's library, you announced the top list from Nike Borzov, which included the books “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Three Comrades”, “The Journey of Baron Munchausen” and Lovecraft’s stories - books, so to speak, for all generations. What modern Russian prose could you recommend?

Pelevin's first novels were not bad: "Generation P", for example, and further. Each one has some special features. But this is more of a trick, you know? And everything is kind of repetitive, just in different words told. Sorokin has “Oprichniki” and “Blue Lard”. But this is more literature for adults, not for children. Nabokov is funny, but not Lolita, but Invitation to an Execution, for example. He was crazy, so he has a very interesting way of thinking. It is both confusing and fascinating. I’m just reading this work of his and I can’t say yet whether I liked it or not, but it’s interesting to read.

This week you will once again delight St. Petersburg with your performance, giving its residents an acoustic concert as part of the rooftop festival Roof Music Fest. How did the idea to go into live sound come about? What is special about an acoustic concert and preparation for it?

Somehow it happened by chance, a little over a year ago. I think it started with some radio station. Before that, I became acquainted with a percussion instrument that had recently appeared in the world, called a “cajon” - such a small rectangular box, 40 centimeters. My sound engineer and I spent some time to understand how to sound it, and found a certain diagram when it became sound very close in character to drum machines. I invited percussionist-drummer Anya Shlenskaya, who plays my acoustics on this cajon, plus she also has all sorts of bongos and other things to do. My two guitarists Korney and Ilya are on the edges. Well, I was there too on small drums, percussion, tambourine, all sorts of shakers - we rehearsed several songs with this lineup. I immediately began to change the arrangements, and it began to fascinate everyone so much that, after about six months, I decided to record it all - in the end I got 22 compositions collected from my records, plus a couple of new ones - these are the songs “Molecule” and “Eve” "

How do the audience react?

We recently performed at events where there were 15-20 thousand spectators, and the reaction was such that I was already in tears! People were jumping and jumping. Moreover, this rave was held on ordinary acoustic instruments, which people have been playing for a thousand years. Having passed all this electronics, having passed all this technical progress. We just passed the electronics, moved all this technical stuff, and she stands on the side and nervously smokes. And now, this program with these tools will be presented in St. Petersburg.
I even came up with a name for this direction - “ethno-techno”. That is, both “ethno” and “techno”. We have combined the modern and the past.

Have you invented a new direction in music?

In general, yes.

What do you think, is he currently a musician? high level must be the author of his own songs? Gone are the days when it was considered normal to perform songs by other authors?

There are performers who feel the music in such a way that you can’t seem to get enough of it, who perform other people’s songs that you can’t get to the bottom of. Like Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. That is, he did not write a single song in Depeche Mode, all the songs were written by Martin Gore, and no one will say that it was not the vocalist who wrote the song, he lives and feels it so much. It depends on what the task is. If a person wants to earn money, then he can buy a song, no big deal. And, if the task is to change yourself and change this world, at least a little, then you need, at a minimum, to choose which author to work with.

For you, music is clearly not an opportunity to make money.

Yes, because it’s not me who makes music, but she makes me. I'm just a guide. I just feel like I am a participant in a very serious and global process. And this is very important for a person - to feel involved in something great and beautiful.

Is there any reason in the world that could make you give up playing music?

Well...death.

Does your many years of experience provoke you to go into business?

They offer me to do something similar. In general, I generate all sorts of ideas, but, as a rule, they are mostly incomprehensible to the average person and businessman. The latter, in fact, are tuned in to these ordinary people; they set up their business in such a way as to earn more. Now the situation is changing and many of my projects, which I came up with 10-15 years ago, are beginning to creep into the mainstream and become trendy. They will be wildly fashionable in the future.

It turns out that your ideas are ahead of their time?

In this matter - yes. Because when I propose some ideas, they seem radical to many. Not exactly offensive, but touching some not-so-pleasant chords, but nevertheless, it works. And after 10-15 years people say: “man, what a pity that we didn’t use your idea then.” (laughs). Now we would be the first in this business, because it is gaining momentum not only here, but throughout the world.”

Judging by your songs and interviews, you find many answers for yourself in Space. Is this the only religion for you?

In general, we are the Cosmos. Part of space. Everything we see is cosmic material. Therefore, our inner space is as vast as the space around our planet, outside our Galaxy. Strictly speaking, Cosmos is not only about connecting with it externally. It is, first of all, about finding it within yourself, this divine spark. Probably, for me it has always been one and inseparable. In general, I always felt this, but I realized over time, with age, it came as the answer to all questions.

What kind of future would you like for your daughter? Do you wish her the fate of a public, famous person?

Public, famous? I don't want anything like that. She sees it herself and how I react to it. But always, when she had some creative flows, she found these potentials in herself, I explained to her that this is the main thing, and not what is around. On the other hand, I promote education in every possible way so that she develops in a variety of ways, reads a lot, watches less TV, walks a lot, gets new sensations, impressions, sees various interesting things that would captivate her. Accordingly, we give her a choice so that she can decide for herself.

Sometimes they come back... It would seem that his name has been forgotten. The hunted “Horse” was shot, and “Riding on a Star” Nike flew into worlds parallel to success and fame. Recorded as a hero of yesterday - period. And he suddenly went ahead and got out of the eight-year underground. Moreover, with the new album “IZNUTRN”, which is already being called the musical discovery of the year.

Interviewed by Dmitry Tulchinsky

“They wrote on the Internet that I died of an overdose”

- And immediately a question straight to the point: Nike, where have you been for the last eight years?
- I described almost everything that I have been doing for the last eight years in my auto-film, which is called “The Observer” - it will be released along with the record as an appendix to the disc. But in principle, I became interested in theater, played in Grymov’s play “Nirvana”. Then he got involved in all sorts of psychedelic and trance projects: he produced, wrote the soundtrack for an audiobook. He revived his group “Infection” - which, however, three years later he “buried” again...

- In general, there was a lot of things to do. But you know how it is with us: if there is no person on TV, that means he doesn’t exist at all.
- I believe that the main thing is a sense of self-awareness. If you don’t get lost in space for yourself, then, in general, everything is fine. And by the way, I still appeared on TV from time to time, and my songs were played on the radio.

But it’s clear that compared to 2000, when you were named performer of the year, this is heaven and earth. That’s why I got the impression: Nike Borzov was there, but he all came out.
- Hmm, I even read somewhere on the Internet that I died from an overdose.

- Well, that’s a completely logical version.
- In fact, you just need to remember 2002-2003, and what we had in the country. The “Star Factory” began, and rock musicians immediately went to the third, tenth, fiftieth level. Programs where you could come and play a live concert have practically disappeared. The entire space was filled with cheap pop performers singing to “plywood”, who were also promoted every day by Channel One.

So, I think, you then had just a real super chance with that pop music to merge together, to become a full-fledged pop character.
- Maybe this is one of the main reasons why I went into the shadows. I didn’t want to be a pop artist; after all, I don’t perceive my music as something mass. The songs “Horse”, “Three Words”, “Day as Day” were rather an exception in this regard...

- Quite pop songs, in general.
- Let's just say they are simple. I like to talk about some complex things in relatively simple language.

I immediately remember: “My name is Vova, just Vova...” And then Vladimir Vladimirovich had just taken office.
- I think this song will be a super hit again in a couple of years. Maybe even the Russian anthem.

- At one time, I remember, deputies even organized parliamentary hearings about this song.
- Yes, we spent three hours of our precious time analyzing an absolutely empty problem. The song was accused of promoting prostitution, sex... Wow! What a nightmare!.. That is, it turns out that I sang about things that no one had even imagined before. And the song sounded - and suddenly everyone knew about it. I then went to the Duma and, through the secretary, presented the speaker with an invitation to my concert. I don’t know whether he came or not, but they say there were some deputies in the hall.

- They went down in history, one might say. Of the people in show business, in my opinion, the Duma only looked into you and Sobchak.
- And they generally like to engage in all sorts of nonsense that has nothing to do with the progress of the country or with improving the standard of living of citizens. Maybe the analysis of my song became a kind of bright spot for the deputies against the background of their everyday dullness. They also need some kind of show inside the boring corridors of power. And young people, again, need to be involved in parliamentary hearings.

“I didn’t want to live by the rules of show business”

- “The Horse” also gave rise to a series of scandals. True, it didn’t become a hit right away...
- Yes, I included it in the album of the group “Infection” in 1996, a year later I rewrote it for my own album “Puzzle”. And even then this song began to have some bright stories. Let's say a person puts it on the radio, at his own discretion, and he gets fired for it. Then “Horse” became the anthem of all Moscow drug dealers. That is, she immediately began to jump specifically. And in 2000, there was a kind of explosion - they started playing it just everywhere.

- Normal pop story - strike while the iron is hot. And you?..
- But I didn’t want to live by the rules of show business. Yes, I have never been in show business, I was engaged in the creativity that gives me pleasure. If someone else likes it, great. But first of all, I do this in order to get high and surprise myself.

Sounds like an excuse. Many, as they are commonly called, “downed pilots” say that they did not want to play by the rules of showbiz. But I’m sure none of them would refuse to continue their success.
- I agree that the majority would not refuse. But I'm not part of the majority.

-You didn’t like the popularity? Recognition, a sea of ​​fans, autographs?
- No, it’s all very nice. In terms of the fact that you don’t need, firstly, to explain anything to anyone: you come, and everyone already understands everything. Anywhere: be it a store or a record label. But there are also disadvantages, and they stem from the same advantages. Relatively speaking, people think they know everything about you. AND mass consciousness begins to dictate to you: who you should be, how you should act. If you follow his lead, then in most cases you turn into some kind of comic book, a caricature of yourself. I wasn't ready for this.

- Or maybe star fever is to blame?
- I had it. But not at that time, but at the age of 13-15. That's when I had real delusions of grandeur. There is a video recording of one concert from those times, now I’m watching it again - well, practically Billy Idol. When this so-called popularity happened, my friends were in slight shock. And I already understood at the age of 13 that this would happen to me, and it was only a matter of time.

- Moreover, I don’t understand: how was it possible, after the stadiums, to go back to the semi-underground punk?
- I didn’t go to hell. My daughter was born in 2003, for example. Is this punk?

- So I think that there must be more compelling reasons for going into the shadows.
- Yes, my daughter was born. And this is really something when you begin to feel the divine. And dealing with all this fuss - cockroaches, rats - was already somehow disgusting to me. For the last three years I have been recording my new solo record, and unlike the previous ones, it turned out to be very light. Suddenly I wanted light. I wanted people to stop being animals. I wanted to show them that besides sex, food and television, there are many more interesting things. And the whole world real world, is located within ourselves. And if a person does not develop his world, does not make it bright, if he is depressed all the time, in this “horse” state and pushes his cart with illusory happiness “cocaine”, and is steamed from this, and does something he doesn’t like, then he becomes an animal. That is, I wanted to change this world at least a little, to contribute to the treasury of light.

“Now I’m happy without drugs and alcohol”

This is all wonderful. But ten years have passed, life is fast these days. They might have forgotten who Nike Borzov is. And who should we change then?
- I don’t worry about this topic at all: “forgotten - not forgotten.” Only ten years have passed, it’s not that long, no one has forgotten anything. And another ten years will pass, I’m sure, and at the discos of the 2000s (like the discos of the 80s and 90s) everyone will again sing “Horse”, “Three Words” and “Riding on a Star”.

- Are you prone to depression yourself?
- I have depression. But in this state I find my charm, sometimes I even deliberately prolong it. I’m different at this moment, I can write something completely different from what I write in a positive and reckless mood. But I didn’t feel depressed because they started to forget about me. On the contrary, when it started, I began to refuse interviews and stopped attending any events. I just wanted to step away from all this and look at the situation from the outside. On what happened to me, on what is happening in general. And this gave me the opportunity to write a very deep record, which is now out. She is actually very important to me. A job I'm really proud of.

- What about all these rumors about an overdose - are they not out of nowhere?
- By the way, they wrote that I died from a heroin overdose, but in fact I never used heroin. In general, I’m not a big fan of talking about this, but I can say that now there is no alcohol or drugs in my life. At some point I realized: I have all this inside me, I learned how to cause any conditions naturally and on your own. And then I realized that I really regret something. That is, in principle, I don’t regret anything in life, everything was as it should have been. But I really regret this. I really regret that at one time I pumped all this into myself. But now I am absolutely clean, there are no waves of drugs and alcohol, which even after the “start” cover a person for many years. All this ended a long time ago, and now I’m just as really excited without drugs and alcohol.

- Is there really not a drop at all now? Because it could end badly?
- No, at some point I began to drink calmly, without fanaticism, so to speak. To wake up in the trunk of a car - that no longer happened. It so happened that last time I drank when we celebrated the first long-distance tour in the 20-year history of the Infection group. In 2006 we went to Yekaterinburg to the Ural Rock festival and were headliners there. I remember that we left the hall where we were performing in a minibus, followed by a bus full of girls. We arrive at the restaurant, and the frenzy begins: everyone is cool, there’s a really cool atmosphere around. I think it should also be noted. I ordered fish soup for myself, 50 grams. I have a drink and a snack. And I understand that I didn’t get it at all. I take another 50 - no effect. I'm drinking my third fifty dollars. And I immediately get a hangover. That’s when I realized that that’s it, I had already drunk my dose. Apparently, the traffic jam has already surfaced, as in that old joke. And since then I have not drunk alcohol at all.

But they may think: the person has given up and the inspiration has disappeared. After all, both Kurt Cobain, whom you played at Grymov’s, and Jim Morrison wrote while high.
- I don’t know about Cobain and Morrison, I didn’t hang out with them. And no one knows how it was there.

- I can judge Morrison from Stone’s film.
- I understand. But this is propaganda; in fact, Stone is generally a commissioned director. As for inspiration, I certainly don’t get it from drugs, one hundred percent. And abandoning them is in no way the reason that I stopped composing. In general, this happens in my life: I don’t write anything for a long time, and then suddenly, I can’t stop. I compose only according to my mood. But I can’t write a song just so that popularity doesn’t fade. I tried it, it doesn't work...