Sergey Mavrin
mavrick.ru
Notable instruments
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Sergey Konstantinovich Mavrin ( ), nicknamed ‘Mavrick’ () (born February 28, 1963) is a Russian musician and composer, who is credited as one of the best guitarists of Russian metal scene. His music style combines heavy metal, progressive metal and hard rock, and often dubbed “MavRock”.
Sergey had been a member of Aria, Kipelov, Chorny Kofe, Metallachord and Nazad v Budusheye, and founded a band ‘Mavrik’ (not to be confused with Maverick), though it is considered Mavrin’s solo project since its latest albums are released with “Sergey Mavrin”, not “Mavrik” title on the covers.
Since 2000, Sergey has his own radio show Iron Curtain on ‘Yunost’ radio channel. It is dedicated to rock music.
Contents
1 Early life
2 In Aria
3 Foundation of Mavrik
4 In Kipelov
5 Back to Mavrik
6 Discography
6.1 Mavrik/Sergey Mavrin
6.2 Aria
6.3 Kipelov
7 Lineup
8 Lineup changes through the years
9 External links
//
Early life
Sergey was born in Kazan and has been a fan of rock music since his childhood. He mentions Led Zeppelin, Nazareth and Deep Purple as his early favorites. Mavrin studied to play piano and electric guitar, though he never received formal music education. After military service, in 1985 Sergey participated in ‘Chorny Kofe’ (Black Coffee), one of the first Soviet metal bands, and then joined ‘Metallachord’.
In Aria
After the breakup of Aria’s original lineup in 1987, Mavrin was invited to replace Andrej Bolshakov. He participated in three of the band’s albums: Geroy Asfalta, Igra s Ogn’om and Krov za Krov, which are considered Aria’s ‘classical era’. Though Sergey wrote a very few songs for Aria, his guitar solos were one of band’s dignities.
After a tour of Germany the band nearly broke up when their vocalist Valery Kipelov tried to quit (Kipelov had to return because of his contract with Moroz Records, though). Protesting against it, Mavrin moved on to record an album with Alexey Bulgakov on vocals and left the band. He was replaced by Sergey Terentyev. Mavrin and Kipelov tried to start a band ‘Nazad v Budusheye’ (Back to the Future), but this project remained active only for two months. So as not to remain jobless, in 1996 Sergey played in concert troup of pop artist Dmitry Malikov.
Foundation of Mavrik
In 1997, Sergey offered to Kipelov (who was back in Aria) to record together the combined album, which might include their songs which were refused by Aria or did not fit into Aria’s style. In 1997 they released the LP entitled Kipelov and Mavrin – Smutnoye Vremia (Time of Troubles), which included 10 tracks.
Songs from this album became the main concert material for Sergey’s new project: a band he started in 1998, which was entitled “Mavrik” due to his familiar nickname. Arthur Berkut (ex-Autograph) joined “Mavrik” as vocalist on its first album Skitaletz (Wanderer), where Mavrin played guitars, bass and keyboards. The genre of the album was progressive/heavy metal. Vladimir Holstinin was a guest guitarist on ‘Skitaletz’. Shortly after the album’s release and subsequent touring, Berkut left the band, to be replaced by classically trained vocalist Stas Vytart.
In 2000, the band released Neformat-1, which took the hard rock sound of Skitaletz in a more experimental direction, while displaying some hints of heavier guitar sound on tracks such as “Staya” (“The Pack”), “Ei Chelovek” (“Hey Man”), and “V Dikom Pole” (“In the Wild Field”). However, Vytart’s stage presence did not seem to fit with Mavrin’s concept of the band’s live show, and shortly after the album’s release he was replaced by Berkut, who returned to the band and played assorted shows in support of the album.
During the recording of the third album, Himichesky Son (Chemical Sleep, 2001), Artur Berkut often failed to show up in studio, and finally, Sergey had to fire him. When Berkut once was asked why did he left Mavrik, he replied: “You’d better ask Lena Mavrina about it” (meaning Sergey’s wife). Artem Styrov was hired as the new vocalist. The album displayed a much heavier, guitar-oriented sound that was firmly within the heavy metal genre. Some of the songs are still live staples of Mavrin’s set as of this writing. Since Chemical Sleep, all following albums are released as by artist ‘Sergey Mavrin’, not ‘Mavrik’. This was done after consulting the IronD record label, which recommended them to take a more serious title.
In Kipelov
After the ‘Judgement Day’ breakup of Aria in 2002, Valery Kipelov, Sergey Terentyev and Alexander Maniakin formed the band ‘Kipelov’ and Sergey decided to join it. Mavrik’s bassist Alexey Harkov also merged into the new band. Mavrin participated in Kipelov’s tour and in recording the ‘Put Naverh’ live album and then the ‘Babylon’ single. But seeing Kipelov not hurrying up to record a new album, he departed in the summer of 2004. A song ‘Prorok’ (Prophet) by Mavrin was included to Kipelov’s “Rivers of Time” and Kipelov was given a permission to play some of Mavrin’s songs.
Mavrin: ‘There were artistic differences. This is normally, a common situation for any band, here or in other countries. We were misunderstanding each other. I couldn’t understand what he wants, he couldn’t understnand why do I compose the songs, what I do. Artistic differences reached the boiling point and led personal relations to a dead end. We could have just been touring and still playing Aria’s songs, taking care to nothing. But I longed for creativity. I wished it had been changed anyway. But it happened as it had to happen.”
Back to Mavrik
In 2004 Sergey Mavrin reunited his own band. Artem Styrov decided to come back, though Harkov stood with Kipelov. Alexander Shwetz from Russian band Nephilim became the new bass player. The same year Zapreshennaya Realnost (Forbidden Reality) was released, which became the most commercially successful album for Mavrin. The band started touring all over Russia with the new material. In 2005 Styrov was dimissed due to his health problems – he struggled to sing the long 2-hour gigs. His successor was 18-year-old Andrey Lefler. Mavrin and his band participated in Aria’s twentieth anniversary gig and the bands toured together in Ukraine in the winter of 2005. After it, Mavrin released a new album Otkrovenie (Revelation).
Discography
Mavrik/Sergey Mavrin
Skitaletz (Wanderer, 1998)
Neformat (Non-format, 2000)
Himichesky Son (Chemical Sleep, 2001)
Odinochestvo (Loneliness, 2002)
Zapreshennaya Realnost (Forbidden Reality, 2004)
Obratnaya Storona Realnosti (Other Side of Reality, 2005)
Otkrovenie (Revelation, 2006)
Live (2007)
Fortuna (Fortune, 2007)
Neformat 2 (Non-format 2, 2010)
Aria
Geroy Asfalta (Hero of Asphalt, 1987)
Igra s Ogneom (Playing with Fire, 1989)
Krov za Krov (Blood for Blood, 1991)
Kipelov
Smutnoye Vremia (Time of Troubles, 1997)
Put Naverh (Way to the Top, 2003)
Vavilon (Babylon, 2003)
Lineup
Current:
Sergey Mavrin (guitar)
Ilja Lemur (vocals)
Yuri Alexeyev (guitar)
Leonid Maksimov (bass)
Pavel Elkind (drums)
Former members include:
Arthur Berkut (vocals)
Andrey Lefler (vocals)
Alexey Kharkov (bass)
Artem Styrov (vocals)
Stanislav Vitart (vocals)
Alexander Mosinian (bass)
Pavel Chinekov (drums)
Alexander Schwetz (bass)
Pavel Pazon (drums)
Alexander Karpukhin (drums)
Rinat Mukhametjanov (drums)
Lineup changes through the years
I: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, bass, keyboards), Arthur Berkut (vocals), Pavel Chinyakov (drums). This line-up recorded the Skitaletz album.
Ia: Sergey Mavrin (guitar), Arthur Berkut (vocals), Alexander Mosinian (bass), Pavel Chinyakov (drums), Gennadiy Matveyev (keyboards). This was the line-up of the very first Mavrik gig which took place on February 20, 1999. They played some amount of club gigs that year.
II: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Stanislav Vitart (vocals), Alexander Mosinian (bass), Pavel Chinyakov (drums). Berkut left the band somewhere in late 1999, during rehearsals of what ultimately became “Neformat”. Stanislav Vitart was brought in to record vocals (it’s said that for audition he recorded Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in full, including all choir sections). Berkut is still credited on Neformat as the co-writer of one song.
Ib: Sergey Mavrin (guitar), Arthur Berkut (vocals), Alexander Mosinian (bass), Pavel Chinyakov (drums). Vitart quit after playing just two gigs, saying that “it wasn’t really his cup of tea”. Shortly after that, Berkut returns. Somewhere during 2000, Yuri Alexeev also joined the band, and the 5-piece format was never changed afterwards.
III: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Artem Styrov (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexey Kharkov (bass), Alexander Karpukhin (drums). In the late 2000, during the early sessions of Himicheskiy son, Berkut quit again, taking Mosinian and Chinyakov with him to form the self-titled band, Berkut. Mavrin recruited two young students of Sergey Zadora School, Kharkov and Karpukhin, to fill the rhythm section slot, and started auditioning vocalists. According to various sources, when Artem Styrov first sent his demo, Mavrin said it was awful, but Mavrin’s wife Elena persuaded Mavrin to invite Styrov down to his studio for an audition. Styrov did a good job there, and Mavrin hired him.
IV: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Artem Styrov (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexey Kharkov (bass), Rinat Mukhametjanov (drums). After completion of Himicheskiy son in late 2001, Alexander Karpukhin quit Mavrik (the band changed its legal name to “Sergey Mavrin” by then, but everyone kept calling it by its initial informal name) and joined another prominent Russian metal group Master. Rinat Mukhametjanov replaced him. The band did a bit of touring in support of the album, and in 2002 they released Odinochestvo – a compilation of ballads and slow tracks from previous Mavrik and Sergey Mavrin albums, with instruments partially re-recorded by the current line-up.
V: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Artem Styrov (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexey Kharkov (bass), Pavel Elkind (drums). Mukhametjanov was replaced with Elkind around Spring 2003, and Elkind made his debut on 31 May, 2003. That gig was also significant due to the very first performance of the material from the upcoming album Zapreschennaya realnost.
Va (band inactive): Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexey Kharkov (bass), Pavel Elkind (drums). The fifth line-up lasted only for two gigs due to Mavrin and Kharkov’s commitments with Kipelov. Soon after the second one (31 January, 2004) Artem Styrov was fired from the band, and an open audition for a vocalist was declared. The applicants should have had recorded a difficult track Poka bogi spyat (While Gods Are Asleep) from the new album Zapreschennaya realnost and send the recording to the band. Little else was happening – Mavrin and Kharkov were still very heavily engaged with Kipelov’s band.
VI: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Artem Styrov (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexander Schwetz (bass), Pavel Elkind (drums). In the Fall 2004 Mavrin parted ways with Kipelov and soon after announced the new lineup of his own band: Alexey Kharkov (who preferred to stay with Kipelov) was replaced by another Zadora student Alexander Schwetz, and, apparently dissatisfied with the demos sent to him, Mavrin invited Styrov to come back. This line-up recorded an EP Obratnaya storona realnosti and toured relatively extensively in early 2005.
VII: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Andrey Lefler (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Alexander Schwetz (bass), Pavel Elkind (drums). The change of vocalists was surrounded with much secrecy. Unhappy with Styrov’s form, Mavrin again thought of replacing him. Accidentally finding an old audition tape from 2004, Mavrin gave it a listen, thought it was good and contacted the singer – then 18 years old Andrey Lefler. They rehearsed several times in secret, and Lefler got the job. Styrov apparently was formally fired somewhere in early August, right before the Nashestviye open air festival. This line-up was the only one that released more than one album: Otkroveniye and Live, and it’s overall the longest lasting line-up of the band (more than two years, from 9 August 2005 to 5 January 2008). The band mounted some very intensive Russian and Ukrainian tours during that time.
VIII: Sergey Mavrin (guitar, keyboards), Andrey Lefler (vocals), Yuri Alexeyev (guitar), Leonid Maximov (bass), Pavel Pazon (drums). On 5 January 2008, Schwetz and Elkind unexpectedly quit the band (and soon joined the instrumental project Jin). Mavrin had to cancel a planned festival where he was going to headline, and had to seek replacements once again. His choice fell on Leonid Maximov and Pavel Pazon, two young aspiring musicians.
On June 10, 2008, Pavel Pazon announced that he’s no longer the member of Mavrik. Pavl Elkind returned to the band.
External links
Official website (Russian)
Categories: 1963 births | Living people | Heavy metal guitarists | Russian rock guitarists | Aria members | People from KazanHidden categories: Articles containing Russian language text
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