It often happens that the name of a performer or musical group becomes for millions of people a symbol of the era they lived - it is so closely woven into their personal memories that it becomes an integral part of them. For many current Russians, and especially for those whose youth fell on the seventies and eighties, this is, of course, the Time Machine group. The composition, photo and description of the creative path of the legendary team will be the topic of our article.
It all started back in 1968, when the students of the Moscow school number 19 created a rock band called The Kids. Today's old people remember well that in those days it was rare to find a school that did not have its own vocal and instrumental ensemble. This fashion was a tribute to the general fascination with the songs of the then Western idols of the Beatles, and other inhabitants of the musical Olympus.
From English, the name of the group could be translated in different ways - “kids”, “guys” and even “goats”. So, the first line-up of these “goat kids” included: Andrei Makarevich, his friend Mikhail Yashin and two female vocalists - Larisa Kashpero and Nina Baranova. Imitating their idols, the group performed with the English-language repertoire at various school evenings and amateur concerts without much success. Looking ahead, it should be said that the composition of the Time Machine group will change many times over the years.
Fate gave them a chance when in the same year the professional VIA Atlanta performed at their school, and its leader A. Sikorsky communicated with young musicians on an equal footing and even played music with them during a break. This evening helped the guys to believe in themselves. The very next year they create a new team, which included their peers from the neighboring school number 20 - the same Beatles fans as they are. The path had begun.
The name of the group was taken, as in the first case, English - Time Machines, the prototype of the future "Time Machine", but in the plural. The first composition of the "Time Machine" was purely male. It included: Andrey Makarevich (guitar, vocals) - he will be a constant member of all subsequent bands, Igor Mazaev (bass guitar), (rhythm guitar), Sergey Kavagoe (keyboards), Pavel Rubin (bass guitar) and drummer Yuri Borzov. Of these, in the main, the future composition of the "Time Machine" will be formed.
Also in 1969, the first recording of Time Machines songs took place, performing mainly with a repertoire made up of cover versions of hits by American and English bands, supplemented by English-language compositions of their own composition. Only after some time he began to write lyrics in Russian. There is no doubt that during this period the musicians were influenced by the hippie movement, popular among Western and Soviet youth. This was reflected in their songs, and in the whole lifestyle.
The seventies begin for two members of the group, Andrei Makarevich and Yuri Borzov, with an important event - they enter the Moscow Architectural Institute, where, learning the secrets of architecture, they continue to study music. They also get acquainted with Alexei Romanov, who was soon to join the "Time Machine", and a little later - with A. Kutikov, who in 1971 was invited to the group to replace I. Mazaev, who had gone into the army.
At the beginning of the seventies, the team continued to be amateur, and its composition changed several times. During these years, Time Machines successfully performed in the beat club, then created in Moscow under the patronage of the Komsomol City Committee. It is curious that a year earlier they were not accepted there because of the “low performance level”. By the way, at the beginning of their career, the Beatles were denied recording songs for the same reason.
The Russian-language and familiar name of the group first officially appeared in 1973 and was forever assigned to the team. Until 1975, he went through a difficult period, performing on dance floors and occasional concerts. During this period, the composition of the "Time Machine" has changed several times. Fifteen musicians managed to visit this collective. Problems arose in the life of the leader of the group A. Makarevich. Due to a conflict with the leadership of the architectural institute, he was expelled under a formal pretext.
The group's popularity skyrocketed when, after meeting Boris Grebenshchikov at the Tallinn Festival in 1976, she was given the opportunity to frequently tour in Leningrad. In the city on the Neva, she enjoyed constant success. The beginning of experiments with sound belongs to the same period. The composition of the "Time Machine" in 1977 was replenished by saxophonist E. Legusov and trumpeter S. Velitsky. This gave the songs in their performance a new expressiveness.
In 1980, having finally become a professional group, the group receives official status at the Rosconcert. O. Melik-Pashaev is appointed its artistic director, and A. Makarevich is its musical director. This year, "Time Machine" was expected to be a great success at the festival in Tbilisi, where it won the main prize, and thanks to which the first album released by the "Melody" company appeared.
Those who spent their youth under socialism remember how the Soviet ideology, deceitful and hypocritical in its essence, filled all spheres of life, and mass art languished under its especially strict control. In order for the audience to see the new program, it had to be approved in various instances and artistic councils, where its fate was decided by people who knew nothing about art and took into account only compliance with the requirements of the current party line.
The success of "Time Machine" at the Tbilisi Festival is explained not only by the artistic merits of the performance of the compositions. This was, in fact, the first time that musicians appeared on the official Soviet stage, standing out sharply from the general faceless, but ideologically consistent mass. Not without reason, discouraged by their phenomenal success, the organizers of the concert took measures to ensure that the winning musicians left the festival before it ended.
In the 1980s, the group's popularity in Moscow and Leningrad reached unprecedented proportions. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the excitement at their tour concerts was comparable only to the madness of the Beatlemania era. The Palace of Sports, where the performances took place, was attacked by thousands of teenagers, and those who delivered the musicians were forced to resort to detour maneuvers in order to save the Time Machine from the enthusiastic crowd. 1980 was the beginning of their unprecedented rise.
In the early nineties, it is time to sum up the first results. Ideological censorship no longer exists, and Andrei Makarevich releases his book “Everything is very simple”, in which he talks about everything that the group has had to endure over the past twenty years. "Time Machine" is still among the most popular musical groups in the country. She takes part in many festivals and often travels with tour programs. Due to the fact that perestroika opened up the opportunity to freely travel abroad, the geography of their trips has expanded significantly, including many countries of the world.
The composition of the "Time Machine", by this time basically already established and time-tested, is periodically replenished with guest musicians, including Pavel Rubin, Alik Mazaev and a number of other names well-known to rock lovers. Without the participation of Andrei Makarevich and his team in the nineties, not a single New Year's program and not a single noticeable festival could do.
The group celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1994 with a grandiose concert on Red Square, in which many of the country's most popular musical groups took the stage with them. Their official position was largely strengthened due to the support that they provided to Boris Yeltsin, participating in the 1996 Vote or Lose campaign, which became part of his election campaign.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the composition of the Time Machine group was replenished with keyboardist Andrei Derzhavin. In their history, another stage begins, which included a lot of work related to the search for new forms of sound and the use of various audio effects. At the same time, the team does not stop concert activities and the release of discs, both in Russian studios and abroad. In particular, their albums are released by the famous English company Sintez Records, famous for producing Beatles records.
Makarevich begins the second decade of the 21st century with the release of three of his new books, which quickly became popular among music lovers of all ages. In 2012, a film dedicated to them, shot by M. Kapitanovsky, appeared at the box office. It was called "The Taymashin: The Birth of an Epoch" - this is a literal repetition of what was indicated in 1983 in the black list of ideologically unreliable musical groups "Time Machine".
The composition of the group has changed many times over the entire history of its existence. 2012 was no exception. At the end of June, E. Margulis left her, preferring the development of his own project. Soon his place was taken by Igor Khomich, who had previously collaborated with the Kalinov Most group. In 2014, the anniversary charity concert was held with great success on the site in front of the Luzhniki sports complex, in which the Time Machine group also performed. The line-up for 2014 has not changed, and on its 45th anniversary, the team performed the most popular hits.
In early February 2015, the group's admirers were alarmed by information that appeared in the press about a split that allegedly occurred within the group, related to the different positions of its members regarding the events in Ukraine. This information seemed quite plausible, since recently political issues have become an exciting topic of discussion for many people. Fortunately, this was soon followed by a refutation.
Finally, let's name the composition of the Time Machine group in 2015, which has remained unchanged to this day: Andrey Makarevich (guitar, vocals), (vocals, bass guitar), Valery Efimov (drums) and Andrey Derzhavin (keyboards, backing vocals).
Andrei Makarevich will celebrate his 55th birthday with the release of the collection of songs "55", which was prepared by his friend and colleague in the Time Machine group Alexander Kutikov.
The Soviet and Russian rock group from among the pioneers of rock music of the USSR "Time Machine" was founded by Andrei Makarevich in 1969.
Back in 1968, Andrei Makarevich in the Moscow special school No. 19, where he studied, created an ensemble with his classmates. The ensemble included two guitarists (Andrey Makarevich himself and Mikhail Yashin) and two vocalists (Larisa Kashperko and Nina Baranova). The ensemble performed Anglo-American folk songs. Then Yuri Borzov and Igor Mazaev came to the class in which Makarevich studied. They also became part of the ensemble.
Soon, on the basis of the ensemble, a group was formed, called "The Kids". It included Andrei Makarevich, Igor Mazaev, Yuri Borzov, Alexander Ivanov and Pavel Ruben. Another member of the group was Borzov's childhood friend Sergei Kavagoe, at whose insistence girls were excluded from The Kids. In 1969, the group began to be called "Time Machines", in 1973 the name of the group was changed to a single number - "Time Machine".
In 1971, Alexander Kutikov appeared in the group, under whose influence the group's repertoire was replenished with the songs "Seller of Happiness", "Soldier", etc.
At the same time, the first concert "Time Machine" took place on the stage of the Energetik House of Culture - the cradle of Moscow rock.
In the first years of the group's existence, the team was amateur, and its composition was unstable. In 1972, Igor Mazaev was drafted into the army, and soon Yuri Borzov, the drummer of "Machine", left. Kutikov brought Max Kapitanovsky to the group, but soon he was drafted into the army. Sergey Kavagoe became the drummer. Later, Igor Saulsky joined the line-up, who left the group several times and returned again.
In the spring of 1973, Kutikov left the Time Machine for the Leap Summer group. A year later he returned, and until the summer of 1975 the group played as part of Makarevich - Kutikov - Kavagoe - Alexei Romanov. In 1975, Romanov left the group, and Kutikov went to the Tula State Philharmonic.
At the same time, Evgeny Margulis appeared in the group, and a little later the violinist Nikolai Larin. For a year and a half, at least 15 musicians passed through the group, among whom were drummers Yuri Fokin and Mikhail Sokolov, guitarists Alex "White" Belov, Alexander Mikoyan and Igor Degtyaryuk, violinist Igor Saulsky and many others.
At the beginning of their concert activity, the group performed cover versions of The Beatles songs and their songs in English, written in imitation.
The group gained wide popularity and official recognition in 1976 after performing at the Tallinn Youth Songs 76 festival in Estonia, where it won the first prize.
In 1977, musicians playing wind instruments appeared in the group - Evgeny Legusov and Sergey Velitsky.
In 1978, the group recorded the debut album "It was so long ago ..." and the audio fairy tale "The Little Prince" based on the fairy tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
In the summer of 1979, the "Time Machine" broke up: Kavagoe and Margulis, having gathered old friends, formed the Resurrection group, and Makarevich in the fall of the same year brought a new composition of the MV to the stage: Alexander Kutikov - bass, vocals; Valery Efremov - drums, Peter Podgorodetsky - keyboards, vocals. They prepared a new repertoire, went to work at the Moscow Regional Comedy Theater, and in March 1980 became the main sensation and laureate of the All-Union Rock Festival "Spring Rhythms-80" in Tbilisi.
"Time Machine" gained all-Union fame, they began to invite her to television (the program "Musical Ring"), radio, the songs "Turn", "Candle", "Three Windows", written back in the 1970s, became popular.
The touring and concert association Rosconcert signed an agreement with the group, and in the early 1980s the rock group actively toured the cities of the USSR.
In the spring of 1982, a campaign was launched against the group, inspired by the article "Blue Bird Stew" in Komsomolskaya Pravda. The first album on Melodiya never came out, the MV program was corrected and revised several times by countless artistic councils. Pyotr Podgorodetsky left the Time Machine, joining the troupe of Joseph Kobzon. The place of Podgorodetsky was taken by Alexander Zaitsev.
In 1986, with a change in the entire cultural policy of the country, the group was able to work normally. New programs "Rivers and Bridges" and "In the Circle of the World" were prepared, which served as the basis for the records of the same name. A retrospective disc "10 years later" was also released, on which Makarevich tried to restore the sound and repertoire of the group in the mid-1970s.
In 1987 "Time Machine" made the first tour abroad.
In the summer of 1989, Alexander Zaitsev left the MV; Evgeny Margulis and Petr Podgorodetsky returned to the group. The MV repertoire again included songs from the "classical" repertoire of past years.
Alexander Kutikov, who created the recording company Sintez records, becomes the producer of the group, thanks to which the double album "It was so long ago ..." was released. In the 1990s, seven albums of the group were released, the most popular of which were Freelance Commander of the Earth, Breaking Away, Cardboard Wings of Love, and Hours and Signs. Among the most famous songs of this period is "One day the world will bend under us", the video for which was broadcast on Russian TV channels.
In 1999, "Time Machine" celebrated its 30th anniversary. The group was awarded the Order of Honor "for merits in the development of musical art"; in December 1999, a triumphal concert of MV took place in the Olimpiysky Sports Complex, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the team. The next day after the concert, there were changes in the group: keyboardist Pyotr Podgorodetsky was fired, and Andrei Derzhavin took his place.
In 2004, "Time Machine" celebrated its 35th anniversary. On May 30, the group's concert took place on Red Square. In the autumn of the same year, the Anthology "Time Machine" was released, which included 19 albums of the group for 35 years and a DVD collection of 22 clips, on November 25, 2004, the new album "Machinically" was released.
In 2005, the groups "Time Machine" and "Resurrection" prepared and showed the program "50 for two", in 2006 the two legendary Moscow groups returned to joint concerts and presented a new program "Handmade Music" at the State Kremlin Palace.
In 2007, the band's last album, Time Machine, was released, recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios.
The group "Time Machine" is dedicated to the documentary films "Rock cult", "Rock and fortune", "Six letters about a beat". The group itself took part in the soundtracks for many films, and in some the members of the group even starred themselves: "Soul" (1981), "Speed" (1983), "Start over" (1986), "Dancer" (2004), "Day elections" (2007), "Loser" (2007).
The current composition of the group includes: Andrey Makarevich - author, vocals, guitars, Alexander Kutikov - author of music, producer, bass guitar, vocals (1971‑1974, since 1979), Evgeny Margulis - author, guitars, bass guitar (1975‑ 1979, since 1989), Valery Efremov - drums, percussion (since 1979), Andrey Derzhavin - author, keyboards, vocals (since 1999).
1. The group began to form within the walls of the Moscow school No. 19 in 1968. Under the name The Kids, two guitarists - Andrei Makarevich, Mikhail Yashin and two vocalists - Larisa Kashperko, Nina Baranova performed with English folk songs at evenings of school amateur performances. Some of the recordings have survived to this day and were included in the Time Machine collection Unpublished.
2. One day, VIA Atlanty came to school No. 19, and during the break, the head of the ensemble allowed the members of The Kids to play some of their compositions on “professional” equipment and even played along on his bass guitar. The schoolchildren were greatly impressed by the performance and updated the composition of the group. Andrei Makarevich (guitar, vocals), Igor Mazaev (bass guitar), Yuri Borzov (drums), Alexander Ivanov (rhythm guitar), Pavel Ruben (bass guitar) and Sergey Kavagoe (keyboards) performed under a new name - Time Machines .
3. Previously, Makarevich saw the bass guitar only in photographs with McCartney and did not understand at all why it was needed. During the performance of the Atlantes, Makarevich heard the instrument “live” and set about trying to master it, but in those years the bass guitar was a rarity, it was almost impossible to find it. The young man bought an ordinary acoustic one and rearranged the strings from the cello on it. Then he found out that at one time McCartney secretly pulled bass strings from the school piano.
4. Time Machines after several concerts released their first magnetic album, which included 11 songs in English. The recording of the album took place in an ordinary apartment: in one of the rooms in the center there was a tape recorder with a microphone connected to it. The band members took turns approaching the tape recorder and performed their parts.
7. In 1974, the "machinists" were invited to shoot the film "Afonya" by Georgy Daneliya. The director wanted to show the usual "street" musicians of that time. In the final version of the film, almost all the shots with the group were cut out. "Time Machine" flashes in the frame for only a few seconds, performing the song "You or Me". The group "Araks" was filmed as a performing group on the stage. For filming, the "drivers" received the first official fee, which amounted to 600 rubles. It was immediately spent on the purchase of a tape recorder.
8. Having performed in 1976 at the Tallinn Songs of Youth festival in Estonia and received the first prize, Time Machine becomes popular.
9. A semi-legal good quality recording of most of the band's songs appeared in the summer of 1978. The recording of the record was carried out at night in the speech studio of GITIS. This record was the beginning of the fact that the group's work spread throughout the country. The album with these songs officially appeared only in 1992 and was called "It was a long time ago ...".
Group concerts canceled after "calls from above"
Manager of "Time Machine" Anton Chernin said in an interview with the Ukrainian edition that the group is going through a real split. Ukraine has become a bone of contention: some musicians support President Putin, others support the current Kyiv authorities. Some media took this information as news about the breakup of the group. However, Chernin hastened to reassure the fans.
"Andrey Derzhavin and group director Vladimir Sapunov signed a letter in support of the operation in Crimea and support the Putin side. And Alexander Kutikov (who shares the position of Makarevich and supports Ukraine) now has problems, his concerts in Russia are canceled or those who previously invited him simply stopped calling ", - Anton Chernin, the manager of "Machine", told the Ukrainian newspaper "Vesti".
The other day it became known that the group lost all the concerts in Russia, with the exception of the only show in Moscow that has not yet been canceled. "The group did not cancel their performances, the distributors refused them after calls from above, and there are no new invitations," Chernin said.
At the same time, he specified that Makarevich's tour of four cities of Ukraine in early March would be solo. "The initiative comes from the inviting party. For some reason, only Andrei Vadimovich is invited to Ukraine personally, but not the group," the manager said.
According to him, Kutikov is now engaged in a solo project and producing other artists, including Makarevich's solo projects. Derzhavin performs in retro hodgepodges with his "Stalker" from the old program. In addition, he writes a lot of music for films. What the drummer Valery Efremov does, Chernin does not know.
However, the fact that the group does not work in the studio and does not tour does not mean that it has broken up. "Everything is in order with The Time Machine, and the difference in the positions of the musicians in Crimea does not prevent them from working together," Chernin wrote in Facebook.
Makarevich's problems began after on August 12 last year he spoke in the Ukrainian city of Svyatogorsk in front of the children of refugees from Donetsk and Luhansk at the invitation of the Volunteer Fund of Ukraine. According to some reports, he also visited Slavyansk, which by that time had been abandoned by the militias and occupied by Ukrainian security forces. After that, some Russian public figures and politicians said that the rocker's actions were anti-Russian in nature, accusing him of "singing in front of the punishers."
Later, the musician turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin in an open letter, arranged recently in the state media, which dubbed the musician a "friend of the junta" and "an accomplice of the Nazis."
It is worth noting that earlier the musician said that he did not share the absolute jubilation about the entry of Crimea into the Russian Federation. “I believe that the annexation of Crimea is a big mistake, because the disadvantages that our country has received and will continue to receive are incommensurable with the advantages that they are now trying to draw to us,” Makarevich said in one of his interviews. There must certainly be pride in one's country, but one must "work honestly with the mass consciousness," the musician says, and not "with an ax, at the same time setting everyone up against internal enemies, who are very quickly found and created."
According to the leader of the group "Dancing Minus" Vyacheslav Petkun,. “For the fact that he sat with Putin at a Paul McCartney concert, for going to the Kremlin with other cultural figures, for having Smaki, orders, grants, and so on. The state believed that it had bought his loyalty "And Makarevich believed that his loyalty was not bought, but his creative merits were appreciated. This is the conflict. It is clear that not only Andrei Makarevich will fly in, I think it will come to everyone," he said in an interview with MK.
Group "Time Machine" year of creation - 1968. (Moscow city)
Brief biography :
It was organized in one of the Moscow schools. The founder of the well-known Andrey Makarevich. He performed a year earlier in the vocal-guitar quartet "The Kids" at school parties.
Often songs were sung in English. (Because of the desire to be like gr. "").
In the initial composition time machines» entered:
vocals, guitar - A. Makarevich;
guitar - Alexander Ivanov;
bass guitar - Pavel Rubin;
piano - Igor Mazaev;
drums - Yuri Borzov.
In connection with the need to improve the professional sound, changes were soon made in the team: Rubin, Ivanov and Mazaev were replaced by:
Alexander Kutikov (vocals, bass) and Sergey Kavagoe (keyboards). And a little later in 1970
Yu.Borzov was replaced by Maxim Kapitanovsky - a drummer (already known in Moscow). But after 2 years he leaves. And not finding a worthy replacement for him, the group breaks up.
For about a year, the fate of the MV team was intertwined with the Best Years group.
Having survived troubled times, in the autumn of 1973 Time Machine group makes itself felt again, performing on dance floors and southern resorts of the country, constantly changing the composition.
In 1975 Kutikov left the group.
By the beginning of 1975, the composition of the MV had stabilized: Makarevich, Kawagoe - sat down at the drums 
and Evgeny Margulis (bass, vocals). They performed music of different directions: blues, country, rock and roll.
In March 1976, the MV team performed very successfully at the Tallinn Days of Popular Music and later gave several concerts in Leningrad, after which they became mega-popular.
They even managed to light up in the film "Afonya", in which their hit "You or Me" from the album "Sunny Island" sounded. The composition of the MV was periodically updated.
In 1978, their first magnetic album "Birthday" was released.
Summer 1979 Internal disagreements lead to the repeated disintegration of the MV team. But in the fall of the same year, Makarevich enters the stage with a new line-up: A. Kutikov (bass, vocals), who returned; Peter Podgorodetsky (keyboards, vocals); Valeny Efremov (drums) And with a new repertoire in March 1980, they became the laureate of the All-Union Rock Festival Spring Rhythms. (Tbilisi-80).
The group received the recognition of many people, but in the spring of 1982, MV renews its ranks again. (Already thanks to countless artistic councils)
Makarevich himself starred in little-known films (together with the group). And in 1986, when the cultural policy of the country changed, the MV again begins to gain momentum and achieve creative success.
The most recognizable songs over all these years have become: "For those who are at sea", "Turn", "Blue Bird", "Our House", "Puppets".
In the 90s, 7 albums were released.
The most famous hits of that time and.
In 1993, MV celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert on Red Square.
In January 1999 - the group conducts the XXX Years of the Time Machine tour.
In 2000 - MV toured with. And since the same year, she has been a regular participant in the Wings rock festival.
In 2007, MV play 2 free concerts, in Moscow and St. Petersburg. And in 2008 - a free concert in Ryazan.
