Russian rocker Alexander Kutikov

Among people close to the world of domestic rock music, there is a firm opinion that according to his compositional and vocal abilities Alexander Kutikov deserves a more impressive solo career. He could achieve more by using all his potential for personal success, and not for collective creativity in the composition of the cult, but the group.

Kutikov's answer is one: "The car" is the home of the native, the "machinists" are the family, and he deals with personal projects no less than others.

Gornist from the Patriarchs

He is one of the most dedicated fans of the Moscow "Spartak". Alexander Kutikov jokes that the love of football and patronymic - this is all that he inherited from his father. Victor Petukhov, except for "Spartacus", played for the "Wings of the Soviets" from Kuibyshev. But instead of him, who left the family early, the main man in the family was a maternal grandfather - Naum Moiseevich Kutikov, who lived a complicated life of a nomenklatura worker of Stalin's and Khrushchev's time.

Alexander Kutikov was born on April 13, 1952 in Moscow near the Patriarshy Ponds. His mother danced in a gypsy ensemble and, apparently, endowed her son with musicality and artistry at the genetic level. Childhood of the future rocker was a typical Soviet-pioneer with a formal school life in the morning and a tumultuous domestic life until night, where a strong character and strong fists were a tangible dignity. The boxing classes helped Sasha maintain the authority among friends from the Patriarchs, and classes at the music school in the class of wind instruments made life easier in the school and pioneer camp - the best bugler was not found.

Getting landmarks

At the age of 14, he first heard a friend from a friend who had heard music before - they were The Beatles. One of the tracks of Norwegian Wood so impressed Kutikova that soon the desire to engage in such music became his defining for the rest of his life. There was an incentive for mastering the guitar, which helped the lessons in the music school.

To start his career, Alexander Kutikov chose a specialty in the related music of the region - a sound engineer. Soon he became one of the youngest specialists in working with sound on the State Television and Radio. Among those whom he recorded during the broadcasts and in the studio were many pop stars of the time: Karel Gott, Helena Vondrachkova, "Singing Guitars", etc. People with common interests are always drawn to each other, and soon Kutikov is among those who were involved in the birth of domestic rock.

The birth of "MV"

Later, Kutikov half-seriously said that the desire to master the game on the bass came about from two circumstances. The first - there are fewer strings on the bass, the second - an acute shortage of class bassists in all groups that arose from the end of the sixties throughout Moscow. He quickly became known as a master bass player. Therefore, when the young Andrei Makarevich was looking for a replacement for the retired guitarist, Kutikov was apt. With Andrey they became friends from the time of his studies at the Institute of Architecture, so he joined the team painlessly, introducing a major rock and roll spirit into it.

Alexander Kutikov, whose biography has been associated with the "Machine of Time" since 1971, left the group several times to become its permanent participant from 1979. The first withdrawal was caused by a conflict with one of the co-founders of the group - Sergei Kavagoy, because of which in the 79th year, "MV" had to recreate anew. In 1975, Kutikov left the group to officially get a job - he was invited to the Tula Philharmonic, otherwise he was threatened with a period for parasitism.

"Leap Year"

After the first departure from the "MV" Kutikov played in a group created by Chris Kelmi and A. Sitkovetsky from the "wreckage" of the teams "Airport" and "Sadko." The time spent in "Leap Year" turned out to be useful for the musician. He gained valuable experience working with high-class musicians, once again appreciated the significance of the poetic component of rock: according to his recommendation, texts for some compositions of "VL" were written by the famous poetess Margarita Pushkina. In the group, he met the drummer Valery Efremov, who became his longtime companion in the "Machine".

The peak of this creative union was the scandalous victory at the 1974 rock festival in Tallinn, where the Time Machine also participated. Then, contrary to the pressure of ideological bodies, the group became a laureate. But two bears in one den close, and "Leap Year" broke up into "Rock Atelier" and "Autograph", and Kutikov and Efremov together with Makarevich became the core of the revived "Time Machine".

New turn

Andrei Makarevich and Alexander Kutikov, photos of which were present on all disks and posters of "MV", began to work together again. For more than four decades the composition of the group has been repeatedly shuffled, but as Alexander says: "These are all our people!". During all this time he made a significant contribution to the collective creative process. Kutikov is a full-fledged co-author of many compositions with which "Machine" is personified. He composed music for such hits as "Turn", "Jumps", "For those who are at sea", "Music under the snow", "Night", "In good time", "He plays at the funeral", "If We would have grown up. " In the opinion of connoisseurs, only the unique Butik singing gives authenticity to the performance of these songs.

Like other participants of the "Time Machine", he accumulates his own musical material and Alexander Kutikov. Discography of his solo albums began in 1990 with the CD "Dancing on the Roof" and has seven albums. Among them "Lavka Miracles" (1996), "The Best. Time Machine "(2002)," Demons of Love "(2009). In 2014, a new stage began in the solo music of the musician. He began to actively cooperate with people who previously helped him in recording solo discs. Soon there was an album "Alexander Kutikov and group" Nuance ".

With the "Machine" and without it

He has many creative incarnations. He is an experienced sound producer who worked with the stars of rock and pop music: Alla Pugacheva, Leonid Agutin, Bravo bands, Nautilus-Pompilius and many others. Issued CDs with the records of I. Brodsky and Y. Aleshkovsky. He participated in many television projects, among them the famous "Old songs about the main thing." He is the owner of the record company.

But, most importantly, he continues to compose and perform good music.