"Modern world lives according to the laws of the zone. To survive, one must "do not believe, do not be afraid and do not ask." But if you want to be called a man, you must be afraid to offend God..." Konstantin Kinchev is sure.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the leader of the Alisa group, Konstantin Kinchev, is the most charismatic of Russian rockers. He always spoke under the slogan "Compromise is not for us!" and loved two colors: black and red. Fans of "Alice" were considered the most "reckless" of rock fans, and their name - "Army of "Alice" - accurately reflected the essence of the movement. Kinchev's frenzied energy turned on the hall from half a turn, and the fans were ready to follow him anywhere. Although a clear idea - where and why to go, for the time being did not exist. But then it appeared - Orthodoxy. The time came, Kinchev came to white color. It got to the point that some priests began to attend Alisa's concerts ... The other day, Konstantin Kinchev turned 50 years old. The hero of the day told Itogi about the path he had traveled. In his usual way. Without a hitch.

For rockers, the anniversary is also not an empty phrase: some of your colleagues even invited guests to the Kremlin. Admit it, if you now met your former self, from the 80s, what would you say to this lad?

Well, for example: "Old man, you look good, unlike me!" (Smiling.)

Your lifestyle has changed markedly. But someone complains: "Here, an Orthodox, and everyone performs bare-chested and in shorts."

- I advise "someone" to pay attention to themselves, maybe they will dig up something. I just try to listen to the advice of the Church. And the interest of some priests, such as Father Andrei Kuraev, who know and love this genre, is absolutely clear to me. Because sincere and freer rock music is difficult to come up with anything.

Once you said: "As it was customary from the roots, everyone on his frontier carries out military service - a monk, a warrior and a jester." Is the image of a jester compatible with churchness for you?

Buffoonery for me is absolute freedom. It may sound arrogant, but a jester can afford to look down on the world. Sometimes with irony. Sometimes with love. Sometimes with indignation. And how buffoonery correlates with Orthodoxy in the eyes of the general public ... which, as a rule, speaks negatively about the Orthodox faith, I do not know.

Buffoonery is a favorite role for many rockers. But today only lazy people don't talk about the "death of rock". After all, this is the music of rebellion, and against what now to rebel?

- "Rebellion", "protest ..." These are all, excuse me, the stupidest clichés invented by journalists and sucked over for more than twenty years. There was no protest. There was a different life, which was perceived as a confrontation with the system. But in fact, the opposite is true. It was the system that opposed and rebelled against the rock movement. There is no need to look far for examples: they planted, knitted, etc., etc. And with all this, we simply lived, spitting on all social conventions. And now we continue to live the same way, speaking in the face of the surrounding reality, or "yes, yes" or "no, no."

What about the confrontation with the music establishment? For example, they talk a lot about your quarrel with Mikhail Kozyrev. How do you feel about the version that he outlined in the book "My Rock and Roll"?

To be honest, I have not read this book, but judging by the statements on the Internet, there is a complete distortion. Therefore, I leave these "memoirs" on the "literary" conscience of the author.

And how do you feel, for example, about the accusations of nationalism that were made against you after the songs "Sky of the Slavs" and "Beasts"?

I am used to all kinds of accusations and, frankly, I react to them with the proverb "The dog barks, the caravan moves on."

Sometimes it barks quite loudly. Rumor has it that for the song "Power" you were even banned from entering Ukraine.

No one forbade me to do this, it is you who draw information from the newspapers, probably. As I went to Ukraine, I still go. I have no idea what angered Ukrainian public figures and some journalists in the song "Power". There is such a thing going on in power that the devil will break his leg! For five years, the "authorities" have been stealing from each other, completely spitting on their people. That's about it and the song, about the Ukrainian government with all its "orange snot".

And why did you refuse to tour in America at the time? No one will be allowed to enter there.

In my understanding, America is the enemy. This definition has nothing to do with the people, it directly concerns foreign policy states. And what do you want me to do on enemy territory?

Admirers from the "Army of" Alice "follow you not only as a musician, but also as a missionary. But isn't Orthodoxy doomed in modern Babylon, isn't it being forced out by the "religion of the matrix"?

I am not engaged in missionary work, I was not engaged and I am not going to. If someone really wants to assign this title to me, I will have to clarify that I have been a "missionary" from the moment I stepped onto the rock site. As for Orthodoxy... I think it is useful for society to return to God, and it is never too late. And there can be no break with God, He is always there. And the Lord does not wait for society, but for a person. Everyone.

Convincing, but not for everyone. Here, for example, the song "Be afraid, ask and believe." Isn't this a hidden response of criminal morality and the Tatu group with their "Don't believe, don't be afraid, don't ask"?

The modern world lives in a state of inverted consciousness. And therefore guided, without knowing it, by the law of the zone. Where, in order to survive, one must "not believe, not be afraid and not ask." But if you want to be called a man, you must be afraid to offend God, ask for God's help and believe that this help will always come.

Is censorship needed today in show business, on TV or on stage?

When films like "Enemy at the Gates" are shown on the central channels, there is somehow a desire to censor the broadcasting schedule. In general, I can hardly imagine that American television would broadcast tapes whose heroes are good Russians fighting bad Americans ...

Well, there are also quite authentic things. How do you feel about Lungin's "Island"? Could you be in a similar movie?

Very powerful movie, watched it six times. There would be more of these. And I couldn't play...

At times you acted as a staunch monarchist. Is autocracy possible and appropriate in our time?

Impossible, but appropriate. I regard autocratic power as a colossal responsibility before God and the people. Sole responsibility is not the responsibility of thousands who throw decisions at each other, in the end achieving nothing but personal benefits.

And how do you feel about responsibility? Let's say you were asked to enter Public Chamber or to the Presidential Council for Culture. Would you agree?

Jesters have no place in the wards. Jesters place in the squares.

Evgeny Belzhelarsky

Strokes for a portrait

Monk, warrior and jester

Speaking in school terms, Konstantin Kinchev is "a typical representative of the generation" who grew up in boiler houses and bohemian kitchens. At the dawn of perestroika, when a certain liberties had already leaked into youth environment, and ideological supervision had not yet been lifted, Kinchev got the role of a scapegoat. He sang about "the time of worms and toads", that "the watchmen continue to sleep, but their sleep is clearly disturbed." And Komsomol members strictly ordered Komsomol members not to go to his concerts and not to listen to his songs, the hero of which, according to one critic, was "Dr. Boogie, a crazy and drug addict." All existing dogs were hung on the "Alisa" group. In a way, it's not accidental. Everything happened as in the famous rock anthem: "... Academicians scratch their bald spots, shoulder straps whistle, ruddy housewives turn green at the word" rock ". Comrades in the offices flood the table with their cheeks, again at dinner another rock-n -roll". Then times and slogans changed. No one has banned anyone, but it has become a good tone to portray radicalism for money. Having abruptly turned the invisible steering wheel, Kinchev once again found himself an outcast in all "pretty decent" communities. Just at that moment, the main event in the life of Dr. Boogie - now a former one - happened. He believed in God and came to Orthodoxy.

Today Kinchev, with some kind of Avvakum determination in his eyes, convinces his fans to keep their minds in hell and their hearts in heaven. Someone will say: how many of us today put on crosses - and officials, and managers, and party bosses? It's like that. But Konstantin is Orthodox in the most primordial, catacomb sense of the word. Which, despite the numerous walks of high-ranking officials with candles, is perceived today almost as dissent. "They gilded the crosses, stuck them anywhere. Yes, they exchanged one for wine - which was given ..." For Kinchev, faith is beliefs, not decorum. He can even perform on stage in shorts and bare-chested, why not? And at the same time cancel concerts during Holy Week. Because, following what was said by the Apostle Paul, he strives to observe "that circumcision that is in the heart, according to the spirit, and not according to the letter."

Results No. 1/655 (01.01.09)

“The point is not only that the girl, who had had health problems for a long time, lost it there completely. It's about the forever crippled soul. No one will return a few months to a person locked up on an absurd charge.” Nun Evgenia (Senchukova) - about why she calls to pray for Anya Pavlikova.

How Christ was lost in the liturgical and production process, what are the advantages of "godless" Europe, how we solve our problems without God, and what to do if it is impossible to change the world and the country - says the rector of the house church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg, Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov.

The famous Russian director Alexander Sokurov gave Sofiko Shevardnadze a long interview and spoke about his vision of history. Screenwriter who created the series cult films, answered questions about the attitude towards Joseph Stalin, perestroika, the Bolsheviks and the Soviet regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin compared communism with Christianity, and Vladimir Lenin's mausoleum with the veneration of the relics of saints. The author of the book "On the Scales of Faith: From the Communist Religion to the New "Saints" of Post-Communist Russia", doctor of historical sciences, professor of St.

For the first time, the name of Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev was heard in 1995. Then the priest, having learned about the Russian pilots who ended up in an Indian prison and that they face the death penalty, turned to the head of the DECR MP (then Metropolitan) Kirill (Gundyaev) and to human rights activists. Father Dionysius baptized the pilots right in prison, and in 2000, thanks to common efforts, they were released.

The Federation Council sent a school history textbook for grades 10-11 for examination, since when describing the events in Ukraine in 2014, the authors made formulations that did not suit the senators. History, that is, they continue to write and rewrite, based on momentary needs or what these needs are considered to be.

"Communist ideology is very much akin to Christianity," Vladimir Putin said in the film Valaam, which aired last Sunday on the Rossiya 1 TV channel. The rector of the Moscow Church of the Trinity in Khokhly, Father Alexei Uminsky, at the request of MBKh Media, told what he thinks about this and other statements of the president.

How Church and State Separated 100 Years Ago

2017 was a year of challenging centennials. They remembered the two Russian revolutions, being afraid to say something superfluous: such a large part of our modern life determined by the events of those years, which is sometimes easier to remain silent.

For thirty years, the historian Anatoly Razumov has been looking for the names of the repressed and collecting bit by bit their biographies. He has been doing this for exactly as many years as they generally talk about repressions in recent history Russia - since 1987. His "Leningrad martyrology" is a collection of 16 volumes, they contain 50 thousand names and biographies of only shot Leningraders. He is one of the creators of the Levashovskaya Pustosh memorial on the site of the former execution site of the NKVD.

Nikita Petrov, a specialist in the history of the Soviet secret services, reads an interview with the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, finds in it old myths, rigged figures, non-existent documents, and explains why he should not be taken seriously.

"The revolution that changed the world" - for a long time I saw in this sore Soviet phrase only a figure of propaganda. Now, in the year of the centenary of this revolution, I must admit that what happened in Russia in 1917-18 really changed the world - where more, where less, and here in Russia - completely, as they say - "to the foundation."

about why it is pointless to argue about the translation of prayers

There was “sensational news” in the media: the Pope was going to rewrite the prayer “Our Father”. And instead of “lead us not into temptation,” now he will have “do not let us fall into temptation” in the text.

Has your listener changed in a quarter of a century? Does the energy of today's hall differ from the first "alisomans" in vests and pioneer ties?

Casting glances into the hall, I see practically no changes. This is, like 25 years ago, twenty years old. The old ones are drawn to retrospective events ... Then the police put a lot of pressure on the public - now relations are more tolerant. Apparently, with our long existence, we deserve some kind of indulgence (laughs).

In the 80s, at the time of the Leningrad Rock Club, there was a sense of the unity of Russian rock. And then everything fell apart. Why?

It was a feeling of unity, like in a prison. You know, everyone sits and dreams of freedom. When they receive it, someone takes the path of righteousness and ties up with their criminal past, and someone undermines the nearest store and sits down again. While we were in prison, everyone dreamed. And then, the rock club - it was a public phenomenon. We were in sight. And they got freedom - and everyone went his own way.

Are you sorry?

It's a pity that's what. I recently came across the “Nostalgia” channel, and the “Musical Ring” program was just spinning there ... “Auktyon”, “Center”, “Sounds of Mu”, “Jungle”, “TV” - I remember all these groups well, I know and I love. Many of them are not close to me, but each was original, individual. And now everything is averaged by the format, bright and talented is not encouraged. Everyone plays the same.

Have you, as the leader of Alice, changed a lot over the years?

In a professional sense, it is difficult for me to evaluate myself. Because I just live for myself and live, I make a lot of mistakes, I find in myself the need to repent of them.

If we talk about critics, then I agree with them: we have become tougher and more musical. In the texts, I have not abandoned the Aesopian language. So it's more interesting to put words into sentences.

IN Soviet years Aesopian language performed a completely different function ...

Meaning veiled ... But then the communist regime collapsed - and thank God. It became possible to express their thoughts without hesitation. And then many realized that they had nothing special to say.

Do you remember how the texts were encrypted so that they could understand their own, but the authorities did not guess? Were there any collective classes in secret writing?

We acted more clumsily. At the time of the rock club, there was a department that “littered” our texts: they put the stamp “permitted for execution” there. To deceive them, it was necessary to come up with a move. For example, we dedicated the song “My Generation” to the struggle of the oppressed people of some republic against imperialism. They put fake epigraphs. If you delve into the archives of the state security department, then they probably survived there.

There is a stereotype that rock always exists in opposition to something. In the US in the 1960s, that "something" was the consumer society and the Vietnam War. In the USSR - the state system. What does Russian rock need to fight today, and is it necessary?

I would like to answer a question with a question. Do you think that rock is protest music or do you have a different attitude to this genre?

I think rock is music.

Thanks! So I think that this is music and an art form. So, part of our culture with you. There is protest, of course. But this is not the main component of my songs.

And what is the main thing?

And Shakespeare's stories: love, hate, life, death, truth and betrayal - everything is as usual.

Here you are about the eternal, and I'm about the changeable. The rock party no longer has a common enemy. For whom it is pop music, for whom it is power. You are imprinting glamor, the ideology of success in your songs. Do you have ideological enemies?

The enemies within me are all concentrated. I fight with the help of the weapons that the Lord gave me - I write songs about what is not good in me and what I would like to deal with. Well, in life I try to match the song. Just don't lie, no matter how pathetic it sounds.

Recently, rockers have again been actively talking about their political beliefs. Is this a return to the public stage?

If we talk about Shevchuk's concerts, then this is a vague position and pure water populism. "Do not shoot!" - to whom is he addressing?

To the people.

That's it. To the people in general. And this people accepts everything with glee. He does not see that this is pure conjuncture.

And fate should not perform the function of public conscience?

Rock musicians must play and sing their songs well. And the business of the state is to listen or not to notice.

Do you have old acquaintances whom you will not shake hands with because of the difference in views?

Perhaps there are none. Everyone is entitled to their own outlook on life. I respect this right, although I may consider the position of a person a delusion that is harmful to my country. And this is a field for discussion, which can turn into a scuffle.

Outgrows?

Depends on how much you drink. Since I am a non-drinker, I do not outgrow.

But is it necessary to convince the erring one?

No, let him make his own mistakes. Who are you to force a person to live in his own image and likeness? You yourself can be wrong. I am not a destroyer in spirit.

Speaking of spirit. You were baptized in 1992. What was the most difficult test for you after that?

People who do not embark on this path do not see the temptations. It seems to them that they live wonderfully and deserve a better fate in another world. And many even consider this life the final phase of existence. But as soon as you embark on this path, you see your imperfection. The further you go, the clearer you see. A huge field for work opens up.

Things like creative block, pride, despondency, depression - they go out of life. All sins are registered, and they all live in you. Remember and fight - that's all, that's enough. And as Elder Seraphim said, acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thousands will be saved around. That is, make yourself better and through yourself - the world around.

In 2006, you, Yuri Shevchuk and Roman Neumoev visited Metropolitan Kirill. Did this meeting give you something?

To be honest, I didn’t understand at all why we went: well, we just met and parted ways. Although then Shevchuk, together with his father Andrei Kuraev, went to Ukraine and traveled to 20 cities. This is a useful action, given the situation there - the pressure of sectarians, attempts to split the Russian Orthodox Church. Another thing is whether it finds some kind of response in the hearts of the listeners.

So far, the response from Ukrainian listeners has been caused by your statement that Crimea will be Russian. Are you getting angry emails?

Yes, not yet.

Your radical views and statements in general are rejected by many. Ever since Orthodox and, let's say, patriotic vocabulary appeared in your songs, they simply began to be removed from radio broadcasts.

My ideological position has always been rather rigid. Of course, the liberal public bristled, and a campaign of defamation began: I became a fascist, an obscurantist, an old drug addict who has lost his mind. The Internet was full of these statements in the early 2000s. I knew it would. But I don't care who says what. I know that I'm going my own way. The dogs around are barking, and my car is moving. I am not at all accustomed to the label "fascist": I was a "fascist" in 1985, under Soviet rule. I won't make excuses, and I don't want to. Let's leave these statements on the conscience of the liberal public.

I don't like liberals.

What do you think: should Russia always have some kind of “enemy” or should it be tolerant?

You see, the thing is - it is very easy to wave your saber and express indignation when you do not have the slightest responsibility, when your cross is a booth in the kitchen or at gang meetings. I saw how there were 200 people on the "march of dissent" and 500 TV cameras around. My neighbor in the village says: it would be great if St. Petersburg joined Finland! And liberals have a billion such opinions. Every cook knows how to run the state. And she herself can only chat and cook dumplings and cabbage soup. It is very easy to find fault - it is much more difficult to build. And the state has assumed this responsibility. And he understands that we would be glad not to quarrel with anyone, but the geopolitical situation is such that we are threatened. Because we are rich natural resources, we occupy a vast territory, and our population is negligible in comparison with the territory. We are a tasty morsel! Therefore, either we will defend our land and leave to our descendants what our ancestors conquered, or we will gradually turn into Luxembourg that no one needs. It's easy for Luxembourg to be tolerant!

Do you think that we have obvious enemies?

It is absolutely clear to me that America considers us an enemy. We spent 16 years trying to please her. We really wanted to be loved ... No one will love us. Pragmatic rationalism is what guides them in dealing with us. It is more profitable, as our leadership says, to have a weak partner: it is convenient to manipulate them. And when we become stronger, this causes indignation among our overseas partner.

That is, in your opinion, “a bipolar world is preserved,” as Soviet announcers used to say.

We wanted to join NATO at the dawn of our reforms, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But they didn't take us. And if they did, it is not clear who NATO could resist. And they left the status of potential enemies to us, and not to some kind of international terrorism.

And you seem to have disagreed with Shevchuk in your views on what happened in Ossetia?

My position is as follows: we have protected the Ossetian people, for which, I hope, they will be grateful to us for centuries. We did not leave our friends in trouble. And for this act, apart from gratitude to my country, my state, I have no other feelings. I just, unlike the Ufa rockers - this applies to both Shevchuk and the Lumen group - do not oppose the country to the state. I like my state in its current state. I don't like the economic crisis, but it's a global problem. We'll survive it too.

How do you feel about globalization?

This is the building of Babylon, which was destroyed by the Lord God. We are again stepping on the same rake. I am for the exuberant color of national sovereignties. I want all nationalities to live within the limits that the Lord indicated to them, and not assimilate.

And then what about migrants from the former Soviet republics - should they assimilate in Russia or not?

Keep in mind that I am now thinking like that young lady in the kitchen: this is not my business. But if you look at the problem seriously, there is no escape from the shortage of labor. Therefore, labor migration is inevitable. And if it exists, there is also the movement of peoples back and forth in search of a better life. We have all of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus now working and living. But it is important that they learn the Russian language, become familiar with our culture, and eventually be able to assimilate as soon as they crossed the borders of their territory. And if that doesn't happen, we plant a time bomb. At the end of the century before last, the Albanians began to populate the primordially Serbian territory - and what did it come to?

Settlers and faith should adopt?

We have a multi-confessional country. We have always managed to live peacefully with Muslims, and peace be with them at home. And God forbid, just continue to live peacefully.

But in our country this peaceful coexistence sometimes turns into severe hatred towards the non-believers.

This is due to the fault of the sectarians. True Islam and our cathedral apostolic church always centered. Only sects that broke away from Christianity and Islam are totalitarian, radical, and profess the destruction of the infidels. It has nothing to do with real religion. But charismatic leaders group around themselves people who are narrow-minded and offended - and off they go. To manipulate this public, one must look for an enemy. The enemy is found - the money went. Immediately, public funds from behind the hillock begin to pour funds into these sects. What is it for? Again, so that the enemy country is weak. These are obvious things. And either a scoundrel or a fool can not see this. Who liberals consider themselves to be is their business.

Do you visit America, with enemies?

I went to the USA for a long time - after the bombing of Serbia, I refused to go there both on tour and just like that. I have no complaints about the people, the Americans, no. People are pretty much the same everywhere. There are good ones, there are bad ones. But there is a system of power.

IN contemporary art there are many precedents with anti-religious themes: lawsuits are underway in cases of insulting the feelings of believers. Can the church forbid or censor the self-expression of the creator?

Here's the thing. We are, of course, for freedom. But when someone else's freedom hurts you, you protest, don't you? This is a normal situation. That's when blasphemous public biennials are allowed, or whatever words they use...

...performances...

Yes, performances! And they, these biennials and performances, hurt a lot of people, including me. It even physically hurts me. The wife believes that they, the artists, know about it. But I don't think they know, I doubt they even think about it. They just express themselves, spitting on everything around. If there were an inner, heart censor, every step of a person would be measured with the will of God, and censorship would not be needed at all.

That is, the state or the church should still intervene?

1

The state has serious tasks without it. Prohibitions can only lead to anger. But it is necessary to put in the place of the presumptuous. And for this we have a fairly radical organization, the Union of Orthodox Citizens, who come to exhibitions and break everything there. And they do it right.

Doesn't pop music cause resentment in you?

None at all. If an artist has an audience, he has the right to exist. Another thing is that pop musicians are mostly busy serving parties, birthdays and weddings. But that's the way it's always been. Restaurant artists have returned to the restaurant, to the service industry. I have nothing to do with this genre.

I only touch the market when I finish an album and sell it to a publisher. The tender starts. Many publishers say that the market is monstrous, terrible, and everything is falling, falling, falling ... Meanwhile, for some reason, queues are lining up to buy our album. And here a simple market mechanism operates: who more money offers, to that we give the album. This is not my task - how to play songs and everything else on the air. The broadcasts appear when the publisher needs to sell the album: he hires a PR agency, makes me give interviews, like you do now. I dutifully fulfill my obligations. And when the album comes out, everyone forgets about my existence. And I'm making music again. Actually, it's always been that way. Even in difficult times, my family and I did not starve - music fed us.

What is the most important thing for you in music?

Energy. I can’t watch concerts on TV: they are all dead, like theatrical performances. Therefore, one must go to the theater and rock concerts. After the final chords, the art of music dissolves into the air, just like the theater, which is why the latter is valuable to me. I don’t like cinema very much ... There are, of course, good films, but only theater can delight me.

Does the feeling of energy go away with age? Or is energy a thing without age?

If I got tired of this business, I assure you, I would stop doing it. I like my job. I read an article about the Rolling Stones here. The author analyzes this phenomenon and comes to the conclusion that rollers are great assholes. If all sorts of cynical speculations are possible about me - why I make music, then Jagger is a rich man, he can do without concerts. But for some reason he plays at his sixty-four years - he likes it! I'm one of those assholes who likes to go on stage. At this moment, time does not exist for me, it dissolves.

Photos: Fedor Savintsev for RR; Alexey Kudenko/Kommersant

Publication date: 09. 2003
Sent by: Bochkareva Liza
Source A. Zhitinsky. Journey of a Rock Amateur (Leningrad, 1990)

Interview with Konstantin Kinchev (1989)

K. Kinchev (b. 1958) - leader, vocalist, author of texts and music of the popular group ALISA (Leningrad).
The ALISA band was born in April 1983, when bass player S. Zadery, who had previously played in the Leningrad hard rock band CRYSTAL BALL, gathered around him young musicians committed to rock and roll and the "new wave". The group made the program "Mirror", in which the motives of the famous book by Lewis Carroll echoed with modern realities public life. At that time, in addition to S. Zaderiya, ALISA included A. Shatalin (guitar), P. Kondratenko (keys), M. Nefedov (drums), B. Borisov (vocals, saxophone).
Real success came to ALICE in the spring of 1985 after a new singer and songwriter K. Kinchev appeared in the group, who moved to Leningrad from Moscow. A little later, he created songs that became, in essence, youth anthems: "We Are Together and "My Generation". ALISA became the laureate of traditional Leningrad rock festivals three times (1985 - 1987), at the beginning of 1986 the tape album "Energy" was released (two years later it was reissued by the Melodiya company), in June 1987 - the album "Block of Hell" , in February 1989 the group finished work on the album "The Sixth Forester".
There have been a number of changes in the group during this period. In 1986, S. Zaderiy left the group, who created new group NATE! . He was replaced by bass player N. Samoilov. In 1988 Muscovites I. Chumichkin (guitar) and V. Osinsky (keys) were invited to take the place of A, Shatalin and P. Kondratenko. Occasionally, other musicians appeared in the group.
A conversation between a rock amateur and K. Kinchev took place in Moscow in February 1989.

Rock Dilettante. Kostya, we met four years ago, after the Third Rock Festival. Remember, in the amateur house, I took you aside to talk. And you seem to have mistook me for some big boss...
Konstantin Kinchev. Yes, it was...

RD. And then, when you found out that I was not from the district committee and not from the KGB, how did you feel about my studies in rock and roll?
Kinchev. Well, I knew that there was a certain writer that I once read as a child. Such funny sea stories - about how hemp is harvested in the field. And rock and roll is just a whim rich man who wants to help the boys.

RD. In my opinion, you are confusing me with Konetsky ... Well, okay. I know less about you than about the Leningrad rockers. I wonder how it all started in Moscow and specifically with you?
Kinchev. In Moscow it began even more violently than in Leningrad. There were so many bands and concerts here that every day we went somewhere from the party and penetrated - by hook or by crook. RUBY ATTACK, LIP SUMMER, SUCCESSFUL ACQUISITION, VOLUNTARY SOCIETY, something else... Well, and THE MACHINE, of course... I myself began to go to the session from the seventy-third year, I was fourteen years old. There was a party with records, for me the main ones at that time were BLACK SABBATH. At the age of fourteen, he learned to pinch chords - they taught him in a pioneer camp. We had a hippie tent camp near the pioneer camp. Well, they are there with guitars, with tape recorders, with girls ... So they taught me to play, to clamp the first chords. And so it went ... Then the ensemble at school, then - dancing ...

RD. How did parents and school feel about it?
Kinchev. My parents thought I was a jerk all my life.

RD. And now?
Kinchev. Not now. Now they are proud. When they began to write in newspapers ... And at school, they also treated that way.

RD. They say you played at dances in Lyubertsy?
Kinchev. No, not in Lyubertsy - in Krasnogorsk. Also a city near Moscow, the same.

RD. On what team?
Kinchev. There were several teams: BROKEN AIR, THE GOLDEN MEAN, THE CIRCLE OF THE BLACK HALF... Some of them invited me, some were mine...

RD. Does the GOLDEN MEAN still seem to exist?
Kinchev. May be. It was a university team, I was invited there, but I hung out and left, because there I was forced to sing other people's texts.

RD. And by that time they already had their own?
Kinchev. They had mine as soon as they started. But they were a la BLACK SABBATH - solid ghouls, witches, devils - just the end of the world! My whole room was painted with portraits of Ozzy Osbourne, cobwebs, all sorts of spiders, skulls ... In general, sheer Satanism.

RD. Where did you study after school?
Kinchev. First he worked, then he entered the Institute of Technology. Then he left the institute. I mowed down the army, there was such an article - the residual effects of a traumatic brain injury.

RD. And the singing school Bolshoi Theater?
Kinchev. This funny story was. We once drank beer, there was such an institution at VDNKh, it was called "Parliament". Now it is closed, unfortunately ... They drank, sang, then one person came up to me: "Do you study somewhere?" I said "No. He gave me the address. The next day I went there and passed the first round. Then he went again and did. I sang then, as I remember now, "Burn, burn, my star ..." and "Oh, it's not evening, it's not evening ...". Under the piano

RD. Did the school prepare soloists?
Kinchev. No, it's for the choir. It took four years to study there. I stayed there for a semester with a ponytail ...

RD. How did you live?
Kinchev. He worked as a sitter at the Surikov School.

RD. Well, and then "Dr. Kinchev" appeared?
Kinchev. Yes. I have such a group - RECREATION AREA. Panker helped us to sign up in St. Petersburg.

RD. Is this what they call "Nervous Night"?
Kinchev. Yes. We recorded this at Panker's, overnight.

RD. Did you already know in Leningrad?
Kinchev. In very narrow circles. They brought me to Mike, I sang songs there. Mike said, "Well... that's interesting..."

RD. But now, finally, you have come to ALICE. It seems to me that before you, ALICE was something inexpressive. I judge by the festival of the eighty-fourth year.
Kinchev. And then I liked it. I even noted for myself that I would like to play in this team.

RD. But the vocalist, you must admit...
Kinchev. Borya Borisov? Yes, he did this with his hand and sang "The strong go forward" ...

RD. A year later, everything changed. For me, until now, the first appearance of ALICE at the festival of the eighty-fifth year with you has remained as something extremely cool and even shocking ...
Kinchev. Yes, the program was fun.

RD. Then you sang "I Begin the Way". Further, I more or less imagine the path of ALICE to myself. Of course, it could be assumed that your way of being on stage, ALICE's music will attract many. But no one expected such superpopularity. You know, I once went on the back of the stage at the Jubilee when you were singing to get a look at the party from above. The spectacle struck me: a swaying sea of ​​faces turned towards you, delight, happiness and at the same time some kind of stupidity ... How do you feel about your fans?
Kinchev. Differently. Sometimes I hate them, sometimes I love them.

RD. But aren't you afraid?
Kinchev. I wasn't afraid before. Until one time I managed to jump off the stage into the crowd.

RD. Is this excitement everywhere or only in Leningrad and Moscow?
Kinchev. We have now traveled to Tashkent and Dnepropetrovsk. The reception was warm, but the audience... In Tashkent, the hall for four thousand, and tickets sold one and a half. In Dnepropetrovsk, at first, the hall is also incomplete, and then already full.

RD. How did the local authorities react?
Kinchev. In Tashkent, I was fined fifty rubles. For statements from the stage.

RD. What did he say?
Kinchev. What can I say? Said something.

RD. What is the relationship with the police in St. Petersburg?
Kinchev. Yes, they seem to be behind now. The last time there were concerts in the SKK, there were no clashes.

RD. Explain, please, the latest line-up changes.
Kinchev. I did not want to play in the Shatalin team. Well, he didn’t want to - no need, what to do with him? They tried to persuade him - he said "no" and left with Pasha.

RD. For creative reasons?
Kinchev. Explained creatively. He said he wanted to play other music. And Pasha supported him. On our part, we parted extremely peacefully, and then they suddenly got offended and felt that they had been kicked out. In fact, no one kicked them out, and if Shatalin now says that he wants to return, for God's sake, come back.

RD. And what kind of disassembly was with the name of the group?
Kinchev. They thought they were "older" than us. They played longer in the team, because it seems that the name ALICE belongs to them. As for me, Y)) Y I could remove this name, but everyone else said no. I also talked with Zaderiy, and at first he said that the name should be changed, and then I gave him the arguments of the guys, and he considered them reasonable.

RD. The question, of course, is a sensitive one, although everything is clear from common sense: in the minds of fans, the name ALICE is soldered to your name, although it was not you who created this team. Well, what do you think, who today has, so to speak, the copyright to the name of the group?
Kinchev. I believe that our artist Andrei Stolypin. He came up with the capital letter, the stage design, and the image. He invented these stars.

RD. Now let's touch on the material side of the existence of the group. Now the group is very popular, has tours, fees and more. But there are fears that the wave of widespread passion for rock, the wave of excitement, has subsided. The mass audience has already "ate" rock and turned to TENDERING MAYS. Actually, it should be so, because rock is not a mass culture, it is rather elitist. Are you worried about the decline in rock popularity?
Kinchev. To be honest, I don't care. They will not come to the stadiums - we will play at smaller venues. They will not come there - we will sit in the studio and write D * albums. N*Dapartments we will play again.

RD. And if there is less money, then to hell with them?
Kinchev. To hell with them. Absolutely all the same.

RD. Very well. Then back to creativity. Tell me what are you reading? What do you like in poetry, say?
Kinchev. Gumilyov, Brodsky... But most of all now I love Khlebnikov, especially his prose.

RD. Kostya, it's been a year since Sasha Bashlachev passed away. Tell about him. How did you meet?
Kinchev. He invited me to his birthday party. Well, I've come.

RD. Didn't they know each other before?
Kinchev. We talked on the phone. He knew me, and I also knew him from the records. I listened - I liked it.

RD. What do you like about his songs?
Kinchev. Probably the same as in it when we met. He taught me, first of all, to treat the word differently than I did. It seemed to me: the word and the word - to hell with it. You can break it off, shove it into a line. For him, the word was a piece of life.

RD. Did you see it in his poems or did you talk about it?
Kinchev. And they talked, of course. I saw how he works with the word, it even broke me from it. Because he wrote with a bit of mathematics, or something: he built lines like this, here he deduced words that should rhyme, then they rounded off with arrows ... This with this, then with that - the chain turned out to be huge! And I wrote like this: sat down - and you're done ...

RD. In a TV interview, you said that it was clear to you how he would end.
Kinchev. I was just sure of it. There could be no other end for him in everything - in his life, in the way he treated everything.

RD. Did he understand it himself?
Kinchev. Not that he understood - he knew it for sure. He's already made several attempts. And no one could stop it.

RD. Maybe it was connected with wine, with "grass"?
Kinchev. He didn't drink at all! Didn't drink or smoke. Nothing ... It's like Hermann Hesse - there are people from the category of suicides. He was in that category. Another thing is that they may never reach this end. Sasha was suicidal just from the beginning. It was like a backup. He probably gives some strength to overcome life's difficulties. You always know that there is a way out, the last one... Apparently, he has nothing left but this forbidden chance.

RD. Finally, what is your relationship with God?
Kinchev. My relationship with God is tense: I love him, but he does not love me.

Again, rejoicing at the news that the monsters of Russian rock will soon come to us, I remembered the interview with Kinchev. which I wrote. but never published it anywhere. Such an exclusive, though somewhat old - I throw it into the magazine here.

“By the mid-1980s, the main star of the Leningrad Rock Club was Alisa with a new vocalist, Kostya Kinchev. Other bands refused to perform in front of them: who wants to step onto the stage and be pelted with empty bottles?
Fedor Chistyakov, former leader of the group "Zero" in an interview with Ilya StogOFF for the book "Sinners"

Twenty years have passed. The country has changed, rock and roll itself has changed, and Kostya Kinchev has changed. But "Alisa" is alive, and as long as one of the legends of Russian rock exists, we can say that "rock and roll is alive!" So now it is no longer Kostya who thinks so, but Konstantin Evgenievich Kinchev.

- Which city, in your opinion, has the most loyal audience?
- Oddly enough, in St. Petersburg!

The anthem to rock and roll that you recently created with a lot of rock musicians contains these lines: “I don’t remember exactly, but someone said that rock and roll is it. In complexes, arrogance is born ... No more than that. In whose garden is a pebble anyway?
- Well, if there is no surname there, then I left it a secret, and if I wanted to open it, I would put my surname there.

If you really don’t want to reveal the secret to whom this opus was dedicated, then tell us about the process of creating the song ... Still, almost all the rockers of the country are in one composition ...
- The process went very well ... I am grateful to all those who responded to my proposal to perform this song. The only precedent was during the work on the song. Yuri Yulianovich (Shevchuk - author's note) signed up, but then he called back and said that he did not want to participate after all. He is a man of complex nature, so he was capricious ...

- And no one “fought” for the lines? Or was the distribution carried out by your "iron fist"?
- By my hand, yes. I'm the author.

- Do you support Shevchuk's movement against the dominance of pop music?
- No, I don't. This is a waste of time and effort.

- How do your songs appear? What is involved in writing them?
- Only with my spiritual impulse. All songs that are born are associated with him. In general, it somehow happened that the songs appear ... on their own. Sometimes, when you start writing, you don’t even really understand what you are writing about. It's kind of a rhythmic beat. You catch impulses and immerse yourself in them… What is it? Impulses cannot be touched, it is just like the wind. Everyone knows that he is, but no one has seen him.

The question of understanding the meaning of songs by authors and listeners ... Viktor Tsoi, they say, sang the song "Change!" about school changes, but people understood in a completely different way ...
- Listen, I knew Viktor Robertovich well ... He was a very ironic person, and all these tales are just excuses for journalists. He sang about something completely different.

Konstantin, you are a rocker… Therefore, I will not ask for forgiveness for the question… advise your favorite hangover remedy!
- I don’t drink anymore, probably for nine years, and even beer ... Therefore, I already forgot what a hangover is.

- But it was!
- Well, it used to be. Probably the cabbage pickle helped a lot.

Are you only into music, or are you also interested in business? Where do you invest your earnings?
- Only music and nothing more. I have never been in business and never will. It takes an enormous amount of energy and time. And my time is strictly limited, and I don’t have much of it left at all. It makes no sense to scatter.

A few years ago, in an interview, you admitted that you cut your own hair and do not bother with your image at all. Has the situation changed somehow?
- Well ... I don't seem to have a haircut now! That's how it all remained, from time to time I take scissors and shorten my hair.

- Konstantin, what do you think, what feature should a young growing group have?
- I do not know. I do not pull on a young and growing group.

And if you remember the first performance of the Alisa group? What was your zest that made people listen to you and become a fan ...
- I don't know what the highlight is. I just went on stage and people were happy. It started with dancing back in the city of Krasnogorsk. When we started playing, the respected audience simply stopped fighting and for some reason started dancing.

- "Alice" is not just one of the legends of Russian rock, milestones in its formation, you are now the idol of youth. How do you explain the fact that the younger generation is as big a fan of your songs as their parents?
- First of all, I am infinitely grateful to the "younger generation" for the credit of trust given to me. Apparently, there is something in me and in my songs that warms the hearts of young people.

- How do you feel about the actual problem of piracy in our time?
- Yes, as well as to the fight against pop music. It is useless, in my opinion, to do absolutely anything about it. Anyway, this question is not for me, but for the publisher. I finish work on the album at the moment when signing the contract, I transfer the rights to it to the publisher, but how the publisher will already be engaged in promoting it on the market is not my concern. I'm currently working on new songs, maybe the next album. Why should I be interested in the fate of what has already been done?
My philosophy is simple: songs written, songs given. Who wants, he listens. Who does not want, he throws it into the basket. That's all.

- Is rock 'n' roll alive? In your opinion today?
- Subjectively, yes. And objectively, I do not presume to judge. Subjectively... I can transfer this understanding to the Alisa group. "Alice" is alive, so rock and roll is alive!

- Is there a question that you have never been asked, a question that you would not be able to answer?
- There is no such question, everyone has already asked me ... I am ready for any question, and it seems to me that I have already answered all the questions in my long life.

Kinchev, Butusov, Grebenshchikov… Because they are legends, they have nothing to do with our world, even being at arm's length during an interview or a press conference. Kinchev is much closer to me when I’m a hundred meters from the stage, and therefore from him, I sing along: “We are moving along the strings of fate ...”, than when, being at a distance of the same hand, I ask a question about the history of the creation of this song ...