It was a little scary because the format was new, people were unfamiliar, the main channel of the country. I was afraid of finding myself in hostile territory and having to try on a completely different role. Because, despite all the possible bonuses, you could get into trouble. Although it seems to me that I got myself into trouble. (Laughs.) I try to understand what is happening, but with such crazy activity it is difficult.

Strategy further development do you have?

The main task is to bring people to my group. To show that I have a whole team of musicians behind me, all of whom are talented, beautiful, sing and play great. That we have joint creativity and life besides “The Voice”. There is not much time - 2-3 months. In six months, new heroes will appear, there will be new project. These are the rules of the game.

Two weeks after being posted on YouTube, it had 400 thousand views. And the second version was edited with an emphasis on Therr Maitz.
You need to be in time during this period.

Coming out in April new album your group. Why is he second in number, but first in essence?

The first album Sweet Oldies (2010) is a pop product. It is clear that we are not trying to get on every radio with this album, but it is aimed at being easily perceived.

Is anyone helping with the release?

We didn't commit ourselves to any label, but we started collaborating with the big English publishing company Believe. The thing is that the label, when creating an artist, also makes money from concerts. What good does this do me? If they were putting on a multi-million dollar laser show, this would be understandable, but there is no such practice here.

I registered an account myself and posted the album on iTunes. I received $400–600 a month, but this is not the money that I want to earn. On the other hand, this is not the kind of music that is worth buying. This is a computer control rehearsal, designer lounge music, applique from beautiful pictures. I put it together in 2010 from old tracks, which I’m not too ashamed of.

Are you planning a tour of Russia?

A large Moscow agency, which was involved, in particular, with Zemfira’s Russian tour, came to us with an offer. Now we are talking about 40 cities and sites from 2 to 5 thousand places. And we responded to this offer with joy, although previously we were involved in concerts ourselves. But it is difficult to control their quality.

Often we are simply deceived. They say: the hall will be like this, the sound will be like this, people will be allowed in freely, tickets will be sold at this price. Then an update comes from the fan base: a poster was hung in the city, where it says “Anton Belyaev” instead of Therr Maitz and they also put the logo of the show “The Voice” on top. We arrive, and it turns out that this is not a club, but a restaurant, the deposit for a table starts from 10 thousand rubles. As a result, there are “furs” sitting in the hall, but what should we do? It seems they sent us photographs, and everything was different in them. We're tired.

The hotel cannot be located in the same building as the karaoke. There should be dark curtains on the windows - we sleep during the day. A restaurant should not be a canteen, after which all my boys are forced to take pills for heartburn. This is bad, because you have to work in the evening, and everyone is angry.

They began to offer three times more concerts than before. In December 2013 there were 44 invitations, and this is physically impossible. You can't make all the money. I don't want to play all the concerts in the world in a year and then die. I still want to live, so I can play two concerts, even three, a week.

I want an ideal world. And you do nothing, and a lot of performances, and all the time relaxed, rested. I want to come to the concert - and how to bang. But in the end everything happens a little on the limit.

Have your relationships within the group changed due to the surge in popularity?

Not at all. Maybe the chain of command has become a little stricter - not in the sense that I have become more of a boss, but in the sense that the responsibility has increased. This can't be rock 'n' roll pure form. Whiskey is removed from the rider simply because there is no such thing as now we have played, and then we rest. We don't rest.

In general, do you have an easy character?

Superficially easy, yet not easy. I am quite principled, I have positions from which I do not retreat. It's difficult for those around me. And it shows up strongly in work. Not everyone can stand it, because it is constant control and tyranny. No one around me has an opinion. That is, they express it, and I suppress it.

Attempts to play family with musicians are, in principle, doomed to failure. If I start intentionally throwing consolidation parties, it won't be right. So far everything is happening naturally.

In December, you led the hit parade with Vera Brezhneva on Channel One. Are there any other TV projects planned with your participation as a presenter?

I'm not ready to format my personality. And everything that doesn’t force me to do this suits me perfectly. I’m ready to host a cooking show if it’s funny. So far there is an agreement on a talk show about music on Channel One. I will communicate with people on a topic that I understand.

I’ll try not to be a critic until the end, because it’s important to me how I look in front of the musicians.

What if Nikolai Baskov comes?

I think this program will be in a different format. But even if he comes, I will ask him the questions that interest me. Why, Kohl? I'm ready to ask this and want to hear the answer. Why do you do everything like this? Explain to us. Why do you make videos like this? Why is the quality of the music so high?

Are you done with producing?

I haven’t given up on this, I just don’t understand when to continue. Let's say we worked with Polina Gagarina, she writes beautiful songs on English. Was serious creative process, and at the same time some kind of pop music was flopping, which eventually shot out of each iron. And that’s it, she didn’t have time for this. Now she realized that she wants to work, but I can’t.

They say about you that as a sound engineer you are a cool “firm” - what does this mean?

This probably means my attitude towards work. I care what I do. And so every time - for $500, and for significantly more. I also wrote down quite a lot of unpleasant chansons. This is a craft. With current technology, it's not difficult to make bad music. (Laughs.) Just so as not to drown, but it seems that it passed.

Your wife helps you with your business. Is it true that she quit her job for this?

The two most difficult roles are mine and hers. I, as an infantryman, constantly run with a machine gun, they just tell me - hit to the right, and I hit. And Yulia, in general, takes all the blows. Something always needs to be monitored. She is on equal terms with everyone, and the demand from her is the same.

And how does she feel?

This is stressful for all of us, but it would probably be worse if I sat in unwashed underpants at home at the computer, shouted that I was a genius, banged my fist on the table and earned 10 thousand rubles. My wife is my number 1 fan, as is my mother. They share this place. And it's very invigorating. In my current state, it is important to have such a psychological haven. I understand who I am doing all this for. When you see that someone really feels good from it, everything is more justified.

You said that when you met Yulia, you promised to sing to her while standing on the table.

Magdalene's Aria from Jesus Christ Superstar. I don't know why this occurred to me, because I don't sing this song. I still have to.

Anton Belyaev about Therr Maitz’s plans to conquer the West and his attitude towards the new “Voice”

On November 11, a big concert by Therr Maitz will take place at the Bud Arena club. On the eve of the performance, group leader Anton Belyaev met with HELLO.RU and spoke about his Napoleonic plans.

Anton, we interview you on average once a year. And every time you talk about a new incredible idea - either you’re planning a concert with Bashmet at Crocus, or you’ve been filming a video for 4.5 years. Now he has released a video for the song My Love Is Like, which can safely be awarded the title of the strangest video of the year...

An artist must constantly change, grow, develop. This basic rule show business. There are musicians who entered the profession at some level and continue to move on without changing their position, but this no longer “sticks” the viewer. And as a result, interest in them decreases.

My Love Is Like collected about 5 million views on YouTube in less than a month. At the same time, the clip is radically different from everything that is present on Russian music television. But earlier this"sinned"only Shnurov.

The funny thing is that I didn’t watch Shnurov’s “Exhibit” video, are we discussing it? I heard the song, but the video didn’t happen, it’s a coincidence.

We made a high-quality video not because we wanted to “puzzle” someone. We had abstract videos, and people got the impression that we were all such intellectuals, romantics and smart people. Anyone who has attended concerts knows that this is not so. (Laughs.) We have different songs - this is what we tried to show by recording My Love Is Like, and we wanted to make the video bright and high-quality, so that later there would be no thoughts that they didn’t screw it up, they could have done it better... And so it happened, video it worked.

We experienced the launch of the video while on tour, and it was not easy. We flew out at the beginning of October, the video came out on the 7th, and then I followed its progress. After all, it only seems that if the product is good, it will become successful on its own. In fact, success is always the result of competent management. For the consumer to notice the product, it must be placed on the right shelf.

Anton, in one of his interviews with HELLO! You said that in the song “I”m Feeling Good Tonight you are so confident that you can perform it in any condition and anywhere. Can you now say the same about My Love Is Like?

Fans really like I'm Feeling Good Tonight, it's always convenient to open concerts with it, but at the same time I realize that this song is the stupidest and most primitive of everything I've written, and My Love Is Like is the same. But this is justified: so that to stay with the audience, sometimes you need to do something simple. I love my slow and complex songs that no one likes.

At the same time, both the song and the video are very"Western"V in a good way this word.

And this is also not just like that. With the new video we want to open up to foreign audiences. We were often asked if we were planning to start conquering the West, since we sing in English, but now I can say that we are ready for this.

Anton, Therr Maitz tour took place in different cities of Russia, including you visited Far East, in Siberia. How do you relax after weeks on the road?

Returning home this time, I slept for two days. I woke up, turned on the movie, ate the broth and fell asleep again - I never watched a single movie to the end. The road is always exhausting, so I can fall asleep anywhere: on an airplane, in the back seat of a car. I don’t drive a car myself - I realized that it wasn’t for me after I bought a car in my youth that I owned for only 5 days. Now my driver or my wife Julia takes me for rides; we have a Range Rover Evoque in bright orange. Yulia says that she feels like a rock star when she drives out onto the road, everyone pays attention to her, since the car is quite rare and noticeable.

I can't help but ask about"Voice". New season It turned out to be very resonant due to the fact that among the participants there were several people from the music scene - Tatyana Shamanina, Alexander Panayotov, Katya Gordon. How do you feel about this?

I am loyal to the presence of not everyone there, but many. When a person is not intended for the stage, but he is a media person and for some reason gets into the show, this is wrong. No offense. But “The Voice” is not a show about music, it’s a show of emotions. Ratings are based on how the viewer reacts to what is happening, and if the participant is positive, that's good, if negative is also good, otherwise it will be bland. So even the appearance of characters in the show that do not coincide with our understanding of justice is justified in this situation.

You may like Shamanina or not, but it is impossible not to recognize the fact that she is talented. She has been performing as part of the Guru Groove Foundation for a long time, but she did not have access to a large audience, so I think coming to the show was a logical decision in her case. And Panayotov is rightfully there. Long time after" People's Artist"He was nowhere to be seen, he needs to remind the viewer of himself. We know that he is good, but let the audience remember this too. Let's see if he can choose the right material, present himself and gain a foothold.
Marina Savelyeva (HELLO.RU) and Anton BelyaevThis is exactly the most difficult thing - the show is on over the course of several seasons, and only Therr Maitz and Nargiz became consistently popular. Why?

Because you need to understand: you can be as talented as you like, but if you don’t offer the consumer something special, you won’t last long. This is marketing. When I came to “The Voice”, I filled a niche that was not occupied at that time. Unconventional use of the resource is the path to results. I was at the castings of the 3rd and 4th seasons and saw how five boys a day came in glasses, sneakers and a jacket, who sang - sometimes even sang very well! - Chris Isaac. Some use the images created by others literally, others, who are smarter, use the same schemes and mechanisms. But this is useless and will never work. Use your head, look for your niche, there’s no other way. And surprise.

Therr Maitz's repertoire includes songs exclusively in English. Is it possible that someday the group will release a composition in Russian and surprise us in this way?

I don’t want to sing in Russian yet. I don’t forbid myself from doing this, I just don’t want to do it out of the desire to expand my audience. I will not write a song specifically to be taken on by Russian Radio. Now, if someday I can figure out how to do it well, like “Friday,” for example, or “Mumiy Troll,” then it’s possible.

Youwith Therr Maitz Are you making things difficult on purpose? Last year you performed with an orchestra, this year you are vaingloriously looking towards the West.

We just want it to be interesting. When we held a concert at Crocus for the first time, we understood that we were not quite in the usual show business segment. Therefore, it was decided to do something experimental in musically. We brought an orchestra that wrote music for the films "Gravity", "The Lord of the Rings", " Star wars". It was funny - we “write” our garbage, and scores with the marks “Spectre”, “Star Wars” are lying around. They have leftovers from yesterday, you know. (Laughs).

It's cool to hear your music from such hands... Real ones. Then we worked several more times with the Voronezh and St. Petersburg orchestras. The process is labor-intensive, but always produces results. We did an acoustic program, then an electronic one.

Anton, during our last conversation a year ago, you said that in principle you are ready to do only what is interesting and close to you, even if the concerts will not take place in a huge " Crocus", and in a compact club"16 tons"...

I changed my mind! (Laughs.)

Other artists have already quoted this phrase in interviews, but you changed your mind.

You get hooked on popularity and success; it’s stupid to deny it. I don't go back on what I said, but I'm now willing to admit that I'm taking a broader view of the situation.

Do you want your music to sound from all angles?

Anton Belyaev is called one of the best musicians in Russia. Lately He is engaged not only with his band Therr Maitz, but also presents a new immersive show “Faceless” on November 9 in St. Petersburg, and also gave a solo concert on November 3 at the A2 club. Anton told StarHit how he felt in the role of dad, and also admitted that if he had not met his wife Yulia, he would have begun to “destroy.”

The premiere of the immersive show “Faceless” will take place in St. Petersburg on November 9, where many of the characters will be wearing masks. Will you become a participant yourself?

In “Faceless” I am not an actor, but a composer. The work on this project was difficult, we recorded about 11 hours of music. stood in front of us interesting task– the show will take place in a mansion on Palace Embankment, where there are more than 50 locations and in all these locations different sources sound - it was important to find connections so that when moving from one location to another, we would not interfere with the music, but would lead the viewer further. Therefore, we came up with a form in which music allows you to think out a lot. Naturally, there are moments that were invented and written in advance, but the main canvas is the music, which was created by live musicians.

Yes, I'm interested different genres. What we do for the stage is very clear and understandable work. There are always some surprises here, other opportunities, I’m interested in not being confined to my own genre, that’s why I’m interested in both cinema and theater arts.

How was the concert in St. Petersburg?

We performed with great string group, played their concert hits, as well as fragments of the new album, which will be released on February 14. To be honest, I swore that we wouldn’t do this, but it’s impossible, I wanted to quickly show fresh material.

This year you have many projects, but the most important thing is that you have a son. Who does he look like?

IN at the moment- at me! There are photographs of me and his as children that are simply identical, they have a frightening resemblance (laughs). Mom's traits can also be traced. All in all, an interesting guy.

He was born...

It turns out that he is a Gemini according to the horoscope, do you believe in the forecasts?

I think my wife pays more attention to such things. It is clear that genetic and cosmic data will influence its formation, but upbringing is the most important part. I think we need to observe human development.

After whom did you name your son Semyon?

Since we musical family, then we were looking for some interesting name. We had big list, our top list, and until recently we thought that when we looked at it, we would choose from it. As a result, when I saw my son, I realized that none of our fancy names suited him. The midwife brought me to this idea: “What’s your name?” - “But not yet” - “We need to name it, a person must have a name!” At first I was with my son, and then I took him to a special place where babies are kept after birth, and went to my wife: “So, we have a meeting for 20 minutes, we must decide what the person’s name is.” We looked on Google, it was Semyon's day. When this sounded, we said to each other: “Yes, okay.” There was no deep meaning or serious preparation in this, but I am very glad that it happened. The name suits my son very well.

Many parents try not to show their children, but you often post photos of your son on the Internet...

Is it true that with the birth of a child, the worldview changes?

You know, I wouldn't agree with this 100%. Despite the fact that my age has exceeded 30, and I have not yet had a child, the questions “When?” Naturally, they were present. And in my environment, people gave birth every month. But I was never obsessed with procreation, I never thought about it seriously - that is, the transition happened easily for me: my wife became pregnant, and I realized that I was ready. I feel organic in my role as a dad - I like it: rocking my son to sleep and even changing diapers. Just came into my life new person, so there is no dissonance.

It seems that you and Yulia have an exemplary marriage...

You know, we are an absolutely normal family that sometimes quarrels both at work and at home - again, what you see are just pictures on the Internet. It is clear that we do not broadcast or advertise all our lives, we are happy when we are on the beach, we are happy when the autumn leaves fall, we are a completely ordinary couple who are lucky to have each other. From myself I can say that if I had not had such a wife, then perhaps some time ago I would have gone down the path of destruction, because this person organizes me and turns me into an efficient and conscious unit. In general, as a musician, I am a chaotic person - but meeting with Yulia saved and stabilized me

She is a former journalist, and it often happens that stars align with media workers...

This is probably due to the fact that they interview them, but Yulia did not interview me. At that time, I lived in such a way that it was just another funny story. After a friend’s wedding, after drinking a few glasses with Lolita Milyavskaya, I went to see my friends - Dutch architects, whom I had not seen for a long time. We drank, decent girls were sitting at the next table, and I decided to say boorishly: “Let’s send them vodka?” We sent them vodka, everyone laughed, and as a result of this communication, Yulia gave me her phone number with the wrong number. I found this phone a few days later, got into the wrong place a couple of times, finally got through and said: “I don’t really need this, but if you want, we can go to a jazz party.” It was an absolutely boorish intrusion into her life, but we met, went to a party, and after that we lived together. After some time, I realized that after this meeting I did not want to look for anyone else.

Either some kind of stagnation would begin... Naturally, musicians are ambitious, we want to open up to the world, to be loved, listened to music and understood. But aggression accumulates while you do something to the table, until it finds a way out, the person gets angry. It seems to me that I was on some kind of Rubicon. Completely alien to me television projects, I don’t accept the “Star Factory” system, when you came, they made something out of you, dressed you up in nice pants and forced you to sing a song that, according to the producers, will bring you success. Therefore, all my friends put pressure on me, my wife said: “Dude, stop showing off! Go, it won’t get any worse!” I managed to maintain my opinion in this situation. During the show I followed my plan: I did what I wanted, sang the songs I wanted, argued with the orchestra when I didn’t like what they were playing and didn’t allow me to change my nature.

Photo: Olga Tuponogova-Volkova

The “Voice” project on Channel One introduced TV viewers to many talented musicians. Among them is ANTON BELYAEV, vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, one of the founders of the group Therr Maitz. And if most of the stars of such television projects quickly fade away, then Anton’s popularity seems to be only gaining momentum every day

Anton Belyaev is a professional musician. He is a graduate of the pop and jazz department of the Khabarovsk Institute of Culture and Arts, and a music producer. Anton founded his band Therr Maitz in the early 2000s. “I can’t even say when exactly,” he says, “because it was all kind of in between. There was no structure, we just played. Then, when we felt cramped within Khabarovsk, we went to Vladivostok, performed in Japan for some time, and then it all came full circle and came to nothing. It became clear that we had to go to Moscow.”

In the capital, Anton was a producer of other performers - such as Polina Gagarina, Elka, Maxim Pokrovsky, and his own musical searches relegated to the background. A couple of years ago the Therr Maitz band changed its lineup, and the band began to actively develop again. Now the guys are preparing to release a new album.

Despite such an impressive resume, Anton became famous globally only at the moment when he stood up from the piano after performing Chris Isaac’s song “Wicked Game” at a “blind” audition in the “Voice” project. Then all the jury members turned around - everyone was ready to become Anton's mentor. And the singer Pelageya, like a true woman, seeing the handsome vocalist, couldn’t even resist and gasped. When I asked Anton if he knew about the power of his charm and whether he used it, the musician thought only for a second, then smiled: “I always felt capable of a lot and I can’t say that I had to use my charm to get anywhere.” then get there. I don’t remember who said this, but I want to repeat: up until that moment, in general, I was a star, you just weren’t aware.”

It was New Year's show and hit parade, a sequel is now being prepared, but so far everything is at the stage of verbal agreements. This is my first experience as a presenter, and the experience is not easy. I don’t feel super relaxed in this role anyway, and besides, they didn’t give me a prompter. They gave me a ten-page text in A4 format, which contained a lot of information: the names of the groups, the order of presentation, some other things... Later I looked at “Red Star” and thought that I could have done a better job. But overall, I’m probably not ashamed. It seems like nothing.

Are you planning to continue your career in television?
It depends on what projects and in what capacity. I was offered to participate in musical projects, which I’m not ready for because I don’t want to deviate too much in terms of genre. I'm not as flexible as some might want me to be. That is, no one will force me to sing “correct” Russian songs anyway. And this is not a financial issue. And as a presenter, I can allow myself to be this and that, and it will not be like prostitution in relation to my music. I think that I will continue to develop in this direction.

What, someone has already tried to make you sing “correctly”?
Certainly. But I don't need anyone to take me under their wing. There is no need to be someone's brother, matchmaker, or owe someone anything. I do what I do, and if it sells and makes people happy, then everything is fine. I have my own internal framework. I have already been offered twice to organize a concert for Therr Maitz in the Kremlin, but I thought it was some kind of schizophrenia.

Why? Isn't this everyone's dream Russian artist?
Our music is a little different. The fact is that our people react very quickly to the smell of money. Having realized who they can make money on, they take it without looking. I meet people, they say: “Concert in the Kremlin. Everything will work out. We will cover the whole of Moscow with banners.” I ask: “Do you even know what we’re playing?” They: “Well, how? Well..." I say: "No, the situation is a little different." And even after they understand that our music is not a format for them, they still stand their ground: “Come on, everything is cool.” That is, the main thing for them is to sell now. But how it will look, how appropriate it will be - it doesn’t matter. Maybe we'll make a few million from the concert, they'll make a few million - that's the whole point. And the fact that people come to a “sit-down” hall and understand that they are being suppressed there by dubstep does not bother anyone. It turns out that this is already a problem for us and the audience. I wouldn't want that.

Anton, Therr Maitz has been around for many years. What do you think prevented the group, and you yourself, from becoming popular earlier?
Everything has its time. Our creativity used to be too complex, atmospheric and informative only for musicians. It wasn't a genre that could capture people that widely. Now we play alternative music, which at the same time remains quite pop - our songs are even sung with a guitar in the yard. If we talk about me, I’ve been performing “as an adult” not so long ago, maybe a couple of years. Before that, on stage, I was functionally an addition to my synthesizers. I was more interested in production. For me, time spent in the studio was more valuable than on stage. So I couldn't sell myself as a stage performer. But over time, I began to get sick of working on other people's pop music, and my priorities began to shift. Plus, at some point, the financial problems that existed when I moved to Moscow faded into the background. There was no longer any need to get up early in the morning and go earn money to rent an apartment.

Did you know what you would do in the capital, or did you come at random?
There was nothing clear. The bravest guys from the group arrived first - the guitarist and bass player. Two months later I arrived. They wandered around here, couldn’t find a place for themselves, but with me in the band it turned out to be easier. Because I am an arranger-producer, and as soon as I receive an order, the work automatically appears for everyone around me. So we existed for a couple of years and expanded from order to order, until everyone was finally fed, watered and settled. That's when we started our movement. We spent a year and a half testing, performing at festivals and club concerts. Last fall we were preparing a record, part of which we recorded in London - it was painstaking work. But in the end, “The Voice” turned up. In the spring we will have new stage- album release, program expansion, more expensive show.

I really like your song I’m Feeling Good Tonight, but I couldn’t find it on the Internet. But back in the fall you promised to shoot a video for it.
Yes, there are no final versions of what we are playing now and what will be included in our new album anywhere. There are some demo versions, but the first release will be in early February: we will present a song that no one has heard yet. The “I’m Feeling Good Tonight” video has already been shot and is currently in post-production. This is a story about a stupid manager who failed in rabbit hole, like Alice in Wonderland. This is where the action develops. In general, our management will probably be happy to talk about this. And I want to see how people react. I'm a little afraid.

What? Reactions?
Yes. You know, sometimes they tell you about some new movie, that it’s cool and awesome, and you watch it and think: “So what?” I would like people to understand that we are not deceiving them.

Do you write your own songs?
Only in English, not in Russian. I can only intervene in the process. Mostly I work on the final product: how the song will sound, who will sing, play, and so on.

It always seemed to me that in order to write confidently in foreign language- stories, songs - you need to at least live in a country where this language is spoken.
In some book - or movie? - there was a character who knew everything about Paris and in any conversation would interject: “And in Paris at this time there is snow, and the sun falls on it like this” or “And in Paris such and such sunrises and sunsets.” And then it turned out that he had never been there. That is, it’s not a matter of where you were and what you saw, but what idea you have and what you are striving for. By the way, I am also from this category. I've never been to Paris, but I have a song called Paris Line - about a plane landing in the area Eiffel Tower.

Anton, I noticed the metaphorical nature of your speech even when I read your interviews. Have you tried to write something artistic?
(Laughs.) No, I haven’t tried it. I'm very lazy. My friends often say to me: “Damn, I need to write a memoir about you.”

Isn't it too early for memoirs?
Of course, this is not serious. The first and last thing I wrote was something like a summary. My friend Igor Grigoriev, a musician and former editor of OM magazine, once presented me on a website and tortured me for a long time so that I would supplement his material with my biography. Well, I wrote it - with obscenities, emoticons, dots. Can you imagine? He saw it and said, “Dude, we’ll leave it the way it is.” And then he also commented on this text that this was the only prose he would like to read, that it was almost Limonov... In general, he out-praised me. For musicians, lyrics are a problem. For example, we still don’t have our own press release, we can’t write anything to ourselves - it’s awkward. Read the texts of some mediocre DJs on modern websites - they have a lot written about themselves: I am this, that, my track is supported by this... All this is nonsense.

Were you also embarrassed to write essays at school?
It was easier with them, I remember. My thoughts have always been normal, but I still have problems with spelling. I always check if I spelled the word correctly.

I read that you were expelled from all schools: both from the secondary school and from the music school...
No, they didn’t kick me out of the music room, everything was fine there. And I was kicked out of general education, but not because I was a bad student.

Bully?
Yes, there were all sorts of precedents. I studied at a school that was considered elite, and at some point the management decided that this school and I were incompatible because of my youthful actions and reports to the police.

If it's not a secret, what distinguished you then?
In general, there were crimes. I've never been an angry guy... I went to music school through the park. I got hit on the head there from time to time. I just lived in such an environment: either you constantly walk around with a broken eye, or you assert yourself. At the age of twelve to fifteen, it is impossible to assert oneself through the ability to play the piano. The brain doesn't work like that. Since I have leadership inclinations, I was implanted into this environment and even became something like a leader. I had to justify my position with brave deeds: punching someone in the face, taking something away. It was all pretty serious. When I left my native Magadan to study in Khabarovsk, I was met with a whole parade of troubles. ( Laughs.)

Has your conscience bothered you?
Tortured. I had to step on a rake about five times to understand that this was absolutely not my path.

Is your family still in Magadan?
Yes, my mother, my sister and her son live there - my nephew. There is also a grandmother. She turned 85 the other day, and I managed to escape from the tour and came home, where they didn’t expect to see me at all. ( Smiles.) My sister has been living with her mother for the last ten years, because her mother is sick and she needs someone to be with her. She is our former software engineer, such a serious specialist from a serious organization. All sorts of geological research organizations were popular in Magadan, and she worked in one until collapse began in the country. When everything fell apart, my mother became a computer science teacher at school. They and my wife are my family.

Have you already met your future wife here in Moscow?
Yes. I remember I was leaving our sound engineer’s wedding, I went to see my friends in a cafe, and she was there... It’s all quite simple. Julia is our general manager at Therr Maitz, she coordinates everything around us. Just the other day, this became her main job; she left Europe Plus, where she was a journalist, because it became impossible to combine both.

Is Yulia trying her hand at music?
She has a desire to develop in this direction. She is now studying vocals and learning to play the piano. She is very musical. I think we would not have even started communicating at one time if this were not so.

Tell me, how does Julia feel about your increased popularity? Just pay attention to how the ladies at the next table look at you.
(Smiles.) Julia controls my social network life, all my accounts are open to her. I treat this like work, and she knows it. People, of course, are different. Usually I have no problem taking pictures with everyone, but some people behave strangely and are overly assertive. This is unpleasant for both Yulia and me. It’s impossible to explain to everyone that you just came to relax; at some point you want to stop it all.

Are you angry?
I react as calmly as possible, I’m not rude. It's hard to make me angry. I tend to assess a situation from different angles, put myself in someone else’s shoes and try to understand why things happen this way and not otherwise. I'm not strict with people at all. I don't hate those who don't give me money, those who are late for a meeting with me. I quickly forgive those who are not obligated to me. I'm just drawing conclusions for myself. People who have scored a lot of negative points cease to exist for me. But I don’t quarrel with anyone, I’m not trying to cure anyone or prove that they should live like this. It's not my problem.

It must be a little hard to work with you: when you don’t scold, it’s hard to understand that you did something wrong.
It’s not easy, because, despite the external “cuteness”, I am a tyrant at work, I never adapt to anyone. Thank God, the people who are now with me understand perfectly well that I do not accept some things, and we almost never have punctures.

In one radio interview, you introduced your guys and started doing this, I quote, “with the most unimportant person” - the sound engineer. Don't guys get offended by jokes like this?
If my sound engineer could say after the broadcast, “Why did you offend me?”, I think we simply would not have communicated. I’m not joking to say that I’m in chocolate, and the rest are in... ( Smiles.) It’s clear that everyone wants the ladies to throw themselves at him, but everyone also understands perfectly well that we reap the fruits of our work together, albeit to varying degrees. We have a kind of sociable humor, a kind of negative charm: we are rude to each other all the time, but in fact there is great love behind this. The guys know me well, so I'm absolutely calm.

What is Anton really like and how did he come to fame? Some of the answers surprised us.

Anton Gorodetsky

Timofey Kolesnikov

Anton, let's start with a recent trip to Tokyo. Why did you go and why specifically to the Japanese capital?

Together with my band Therr Maitz, we went to record an acoustic album on the roof of a Tokyo skyscraper. Tokyo - because it is far away, because it is more difficult. I was there when I was young - a student and with absolutely no money. And then, thanks to the Johnnie Walker project, the opportunity arose to return under different conditions. Since those times, of course, a lot has changed there: this time it is not as impressive as in the late 90s. It’s still different from Moscow, but not so much. At the height of the day, the city center is completely empty, everyone is working hard. It’s cool that such a huge metropolis is located somewhere out there, far away, on an island. Here's Australia and New Zealand the same. I want to go there now - the buzz from work, from life and not getting me into such troubles. For me, you see, everything clearly fits into this idea of ​​“positivity leads”, it really works. I approach any task positively, because I know that solving them moves me forward. it is necessary with pleasure and harmony.

You're talking the point. What difficulties did you encounter while traveling?

I am a fierce perfectionist, I always want everything to turn out exactly as planned in my head. Most often, however, you just have to be happy that it works out at least halfway. On initial stage During our travels, my team and I were forced to abandon the most difficult option - to perform as street musicians. It turned out that for foreigners this is legally difficult and costly. As a result, we decided to record the record in an open space, quite far from people. There were no global difficulties here, rather routine ones: we spent seven days in Japan and did not rest a single day: every day we got up at five in the morning and worked until late in the evening. I couldn't even go for a walk. It’s good that now I’ve stopped showing off and when I travel I get up when I need to. Previously, my rider said exactly that: “I won’t get up early.”

You were born in Magadan, right?

Yes, but at the age of 16 or 17 he left there for Khabarovsk. Mom practically kicked me out of the house. I am an ambitious guy, and at that age I had an extremely, ahem, peculiar vision of the world. From the age of 12 to 16, a boy has such a surge of hormones that he becomes absolutely unbearable. I created complete hell around me, I was a real scumbag. Everyone around me suffered.

But wait, you went to music school from the age of five. How did you combine it?

Yes, I’ve been in music school since I was five, but I managed to live on two fronts. Because you're leaving the music room and you're hit in the head. So I decided that the only way out was to be worse than them, angrier. Over time, I even formed a whole gang. Thank God, I didn’t cross any very strict boundaries, but we fought a lot. However, I tried to somehow ennoble my surroundings at that time: I gathered them at home, played the piano - and for some time became a superstar for them. Imagine: a punk sits and, holding his breath, listens to Mozart or, at worst, Robert Miles.

Are you communicating with any of those comrades now?

With practically no one, I know nothing about their fates. I hear something about two or three, and not much. In general, I’m glad that all that trash, after which you either disappear or your brain stops forever right place, happened to me before I was twenty. I remember there were moments when I would do something crazy - and at that very moment I would stand and think: what the hell are you doing?! I’m glad that I understood what to do and what not to do then, and not later.

Do you think a person is born with an understanding of what is right and what is wrong?

I think not. I'm even sure of this. Only education. My family was fashionable, very progressive at that time. Parents are educated educated people. Mom is a software engineer, and dad is a geologist. My mother and I went to the theater every week. She also did yoga with me. This is in Magadan, in the eighties! I was probably the only child in all of Magadan who was treated for a cold with yoga poses. In general, a person needs to be educated.

Do you have children?

No, not yet. The time will come.

Who do you want? Boy or girl?

I don't care. I am the kind of person who can adjust the world to them, and not them to the world. This is my position.

What role did Khabarovsk play in your destiny?

Huge. I have a lot of friends there and I love them very much, but it's a very hostile place to be a musician. Yes, my final attitude towards things was formed there. And what I am now is all from Khabarovsk. But this city doesn't like music at all. This is a bureaucratic city. Maximum - you become a local star. You endlessly do something, but in the end no one needs it.

But does it toughen you up?

Oh yes! It’s easier in Moscow, of course, after Khabarovsk. When I arrived in Moscow with money, I thought: now I’ll sit in a skyscraper, contemplate the sky and create. Not a damn thing, of course. As a result, I ended up on Ryazansky Prospekt and made arrangements for the wives of various foresters and in general for everyone who, as they say, was not too lazy to stop by. But we had to be patient. Now everything is different. Now the audience and quantity are important to me. We just returned from the Sziget festival, there was a funny story there. We did not perform at the most big stage, but still quite healthy. And in front of us, rather sad guys played, and three people danced to them. This means that there are fifteen minutes left before we leave, and there is no one in the hall. Because in Budapest no one cares about Therr Maitz, not like in Moscow. Before the show, I was walking around the festival all day and two people came up to me to take photos. I felt like zero. So, for one song we managed to gather about a thousand people! A lot happened there: the managers productively ran through the crowd, and the Russian core tightened up, and we lit up. There was an understanding that from the position of “nobody” we could put on a strong performance. This didn't happen before.

Aren't you afraid of becoming a star?

The biggest mistake is believing that you are the best. This cannot be done at all. Believe me, you can immediately go into the sunset. We must always improve, strive forward, and not stop there. I am clearly aware that I have improved my skills, but I am far from super. Here important point The fact is that I am unsuitable for professional work in any other field, I don’t know how to do anything else. Therefore, you need to give your all in music. There are no options. And I like it!

Do you ever have thoughts like “that’s it, I don’t want to do music anymore, I can’t stand it”?

No, this has never happened. And I can’t say that everything is going smoothly for me. Even now. But I approach work this way: I don’t say that I did something if I didn’t do everything possible for it. Music should be made only with the belief that someone needs it. Otherwise, you will be left with an apartment outside the Moscow Ring Road, problems with a kindergarten, and you will sit in one place for ten years. You need to put your soul into your work.
Because of this attitude, I have eternal confrontations with society. I don't like many of my colleagues because of their mediocre attitude towards work. And I can rarely hide my irritation. I’m a polite guy, but I’m not a friend to everyone, I analyze everyone and myself all the time. The guys from Therr Maitz and I have been together for five years now, but I still haven’t given up trying to figure them out. Because everything is growing: turnover, responsibility, risks, people have to be burdened. When the situation is risky, when you are spending your last money on the next breakthrough, you need reliable people nearby.

The next breakthrough is new clip, For example?

For example, yes. This is our first funny video for the song My Love is Like. Before this, our videos were never particularly viewer-friendly: you just watch some nice video with music. The new video is different. Vika is filming there, she is from our group. She's a beauty, by the way. We love her very much. The clip is about the struggle of a person who does not get into the system. He has to survive, live with the constant feeling that he is different, “wrong.” A person breaks out of the system and lives as he is, enjoys life - that’s what the story is about. And in November we will have two big ones solo concerts, the audience will see us in a slightly new light. November 11 - in Moscow, on the 4th - in St. Petersburg.

I always wanted to know: what kind of name is the band - Therr Maitz?

Yes, we had a blast with him! It doesn't mean anything. It's just weird and complicated. I had an idea to change it, I consulted with my colleagues, and everyone unanimously said: “A fool, or what? Leave it as it is!” This is a test, a filter: whoever can pronounce and remember is our man.