The next stage in the band’s creative journey was the two-part album “Happy Because She’s Pregnant” (released via Soyuz). According to the original concept, the second disc of the series was supposed to be released nine months after the first. The first part, “Happy Because She’s Pregnant: The Blue Album” came out in 1997 and featured new tracks, two of which — “Lilliputian Love” and “Moscow Romance” — were turned into music videos by Art Pictures Group. The second part of the album was recorded in 1998 and released the following year as “Happy Because She’s Pregnant: The Green Album” (via Monolith). To promote The Green Album, directors Fedor Torstensen and Anatoly Bersenyev shot a video for the song “Birthday,” which premiered shortly after the launch of MTV Russia. “Birthday” went into heavy rotation on MTV Russia, embodying much of the network’s aesthetic in the late 1990s. Soon afterward, the same directors created a video for “SOS in the Ass,” which also received strong rotation on MTV.
In 1998, Nogu Svelo! appeared as a guest at Alla Pugacheva’s traditional Christmas concerts (filmed December 19–21, 1997), performing “Moscow Romance” and “Christmas Lullaby.”
Shortly before that, the band took part in Pugacheva’s birthday celebration (“Surprise for Alla”), performing their reinterpretation of her song “Na Tikhoretskuyu.” In its original version, the track had been performed by Pugacheva in Eldar Ryazanov’s cult film “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” The band’s arrangement at Pugacheva’s birthday party transformed her from a spectator into a participant — unable to resist, she jumped on stage and joined the rock band.
In 1997, as part of the NTV and Leonid Parfyonov project “10 Songs About Moscow,” dedicated to Moscow’s 850th anniversary, the band recorded their own version of the Soviet-era hit “Walking the Streets of Moscow” from the film of the same name. The music video for this track was directed by Dzhanik Fayziyev.
During this period, the band also composed music for a show directed by renowned circus director Valentin Gneushev, staged at the Moscow Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Although the show never premiered in its original form, Nogu Svelo!’s music continued to accompany various circus acts worldwide for many years, including the famous elephant act “Around the World” by the Kornilov family.
In 1999, to celebrate their tenth anniversary, the band released their seventh album, “Kally” (Calla Lilies), a compilation of previously unreleased early tracks and a new song, “Doll.” By the end of the year, “Doll” had made it onto the annual Chartova Duzhina (“The Dozen”) chart by Nashe Radio. Kally was released by Snegiri Records, a label founded by Oleg Nesterov, leader of the Moscow band Megapolis.
The band’s eighth album marked their first studio project recorded abroad. Although all tracks were recorded at the Mosfilm sound studio, the mixing was handled by producer Brigitte Angerhausen at Skyline Studio (Düsseldorf), giving the album a completely new sound that the band still considers unique to this day.
The album “Box” was recorded and mixed in 1999 and premiered on September 22, 2000, at the Moscow club Udar. The event reflected the album’s boxing theme: journalists and guest musicians were invited into the ring for bouts. Max Pokrovsky even underwent special training under Andrey Stepurko, head coach and First Vice President of the Russian Kickboxing Federation, for this occasion.
Videos for “The Last Tango” (directed by Bersenyev & Torstensen) and “Seven Planets” were filmed to promote the album, followed by the now-iconic “Klyazma” video, a collaboration with In Art. While these works met with moderate success, they did not go unnoticed. At the time, Russian rock’s aesthetics, which dominated Russia and the CIS, were far removed from Nogu Svelo!’s preference for Western-inspired sounds. Combined with serious management issues, this led the band members to consider Box their most creatively accomplished but commercially unsuccessful album. Pokrovsky views this as one of many paradoxes in the band’s history.
The band entered a major downturn, and Pokrovsky would spend the next several years addressing its consequences.
In mid-December 2000, Mystery of Sound released the controversial single “Matnaya Pesnya” (“The Swearing Song”), in which Russia’s most infamous swear word is repeated 51 times. At first glance, its cover art appears to be a collage of 120 photos of the band performing the track in a Moscow club; viewed from a distance, however, it reveals the song’s explicit title. In addition to the main track, the single featured four remixes, a karaoke version, the track “Applause” (composed entirely of spit sounds), and the full lyrics of the song.
By late 1999, the band had launched their own website and fully embraced the emerging digital landscape, becoming one of the decade’s most dynamic, unpredictable, and consistently active groups.
At the same time, Max Pokrovsky began successfully branching out into other areas of creativity. In 2001, he made his theatrical debut, performing in Sarah Kane’s Cleansed directed by Zhu Montvilaite.
After the relative commercial failure of Box, Pokrovsky decided to personally address the band’s management issues and successfully negotiated a deal with Kvadradisk, which released the album In the Dark in 2002, along with a separate single, Benzin (Gasoline).
To support the album, director Mikhail Segal created a music video for “Our Young, Funny Voices”, in which the band members are buried alive. Beyond the song’s profound lyrics and striking visuals, the video is connected to a tragic story: the day after filming, several members of the production crew traveled to the Karmadon Gorge with actor Sergey Bodrov Jr., where they were killed in the catastrophic Kolka Glacier collapse. Deeply affected by this tragedy, Pokrovsky reflected on the moral boundaries an artist should never cross. The video has since become iconic—a tribute to the memory of young and talented lives lost—earning a level of admiration from fans comparable to Haru Mamburu.
Segal later directed another video for From Alma-Ata. Additionally, Lullaby Song became a major radio hit on Nashe Radio. Collectively, In the Dark marked the band’s emergence from its crisis.
Further events fueled a new wave of popularity.
In 2003, Pokrovsky participated in The Last Hero, the Russian adaptation of Survivor, produced by Channel One Russia and VID Television Company. Upon returning from the shoot, he wrote I’m Not the Last Hero, which appeared in an episode of the season. Producer Sergey Kushnerev later edited a music video for the track using footage from the show. In 2004, VID launched another season, SuperGame, and again invited Pokrovsky, one of the show’s most memorable contestants. Before heading to the island, Pokrovsky wrote a new version of the lyrics, recorded with a fresh arrangement, reflecting his genuine emotional connection to the show rather than strategic songwriting. His time on the island even inspired an additional verse. Remixes named after the islands where filming took place were later produced and included on the 2004 single, released by Kvadradisk. Several years later, The Last Hero returned in a revamped format, and Max was invited back to the island as a celebrity guest, spending several days with contestants.
Another TV adventure for Pokrovsky was Fort Boyard, in which he participated in the 2003, 2004, and 2006 seasons. It was there, in 2004, that he wrote the song Prisons, performed only once—inside the fort’s dungeon.
To mark the band’s 15th anniversary, Kvadradisk released Candid Photos, a compilation of the group’s best songs from the past 15 years. Some tracks were included in live or demo versions to add variety. The album also featured a soundtrack from the animated short Clara and Dora: The Crazy Grannies and previously unreleased photos. Pokrovsky’s book Children’s Drawings, containing his complete lyrics and illustrations, rounded out the anniversary celebrations.
On April 20, 2004, Nogu Svelo! celebrated its 15th anniversary with a theatrical concert at the Moscow Estrada Theatre, later broadcast on TVC and repeatedly aired on MTV Russia. Directed by Zhu Montvilaite, the conceptual performance featured the band playing inside large translucent cubes with video projections, including animations of Pokrovsky’s original drawings. The televised version was directed by Sergey Antipov and recorded by sound engineer Andrey Pasternak, with whom the band had a long-standing partnership through Programma “A”.
Following its television premiere, the concert was released on DVD and presented at the Fitil Cinema, hosted by director Igor Ugolnikov. The event also featured several songs performed in a stripped-down format, which later inspired the album The Other Side of Nogu.
In 2004, the band launched the experimental project Advertising Space for Rent. The CD single not only included the song itself but also its instrumental parts, allowing listeners to create their own remixes—a concept well ahead of its time, as most of the audience lacked the tools to fully participate. Although a video was produced, the single remained one of the band’s most “obscure” projects, serving as a testament to their willingness to experiment outside mainstream media trends.
That same year, Pokrovsky composed the soundtrack for the five-episode film Time is Money (directed by Yevgeny Lungin), in which the band also appeared as themselves. Inspired by the film, a collection of instrumental tracks was released, featuring the song Moscow-Shawarma, which was turned into a music video. Officially, Moscow-Shawarma is considered a Max Pokrovsky solo release.
In early 2005, Pokrovsky was commissioned by Channel One Russia to write the song “Heading East!” for the film Turkish Gambit (directed by Dzhanik Fayziyev) based on the novel by Boris Akunin. The proposal came from Anatoly Maksimov, head of Channel One’s film division. Shortly before production on Turkish Gambit began, the channel had filmed Azazel, another adaptation of an Akunin novel, for which Nogu Svelo! recorded a version of the classic romance “Do Not Wake Her at Dawn.” Although the track was not included in the film, it appeared on the accompanying album. Maksimov used this track as a reference when inviting Pokrovsky to write the song for Turkish Gambit. After the final version of Heading East! was approved by Channel One’s head Konstantin Ernst, a decision was made to shoot a music video directed by Mikhail Segal, who had previously filmed two videos for the band. The video combined scenes from the movie with original footage.
The track quickly went into heavy rotation on major FM radio stations, while the video aired extensively on Channel One. In 2006, Go East! won Best Soundtrack at the MTV Russia Movie Awards.
Nogu Svelo! had always maintained close ties with Channel One. In addition to The Last Hero and Turkish Gambit, the band participated in numerous talk shows, themed programs, and special projects on the channel. While the record label Real Records was a Channel One subsidiary, Nogu Svelo! had not previously collaborated with it. The success of Heading East! prompted the band and Real Records to release their next album together. The self-titled album was released in 2005.
On June 16, 2005, the band organized a press conference and album presentation with a unique twist: they rented a train from Russian Railways, which arrived at Moscow’s Rizhsky Station with the musicians performing on an open locomotive platform. Journalists were invited aboard the dining car for the press conference as the train traveled.
Around the same time, in May 2005, the band filmed the concert special Lost Train, marking the end of Pokrovsky’s collaboration-heavy period with Channel One (The Last Hero and Turkish Gambit). Pokrovsky invited Kirill Pukhonto to direct and Sergey Ivanov to serve as art director, both of whom he had worked with on The Last Hero. The show was filmed in a Moscow Metro warehouse, with the stage constructed from massive industrial reels. The band was brought to the venue on a real train car mounted on a platform. Loyal fans were invited to attend the filming. Audio was engineered by Andrey Pasternak, who had previously achieved remarkable results recording the band with a symphony orchestra for Programma “A.” This time, he surpassed himself by making it possible for the band to perform first on a moving train platform and then transition seamlessly to the main stage.
Lost Train was later released on DVD, which also included a behind-the-scenes film about the band’s life titled Music Video of Fate, shot entirely by Pokrovsky during touring.
The DVD premiere took place at Moscow’s 16 Tons Club, where the concert was screened live. Interestingly, the broadcast was not supported by Channel One, which showed no interest in the project. Instead, Pokrovsky secured support from the TNT TV channel, then headed by longtime fan Nikolai Senkevich.
In the fall of 2005, Pokrovsky played Gorynych in the Hollywood film Treasure Raiders (directed by Brent Huff), alongside stars such as David Carradine, Sherilyn Fenn, William Shockley, Andrew Divoff, Steven Brand, and others. The lead role was played by Pokrovsky’s friend Alexander Nevsky.
In 2006, Pokrovsky participated in another season of Fort Boyard, where he became close friends with the show’s producer, Vasily Grigoriev. Shortly before that, he appeared in several episodes of Grigoriev’s detective series Kulagin and Partners.
That same year, Pokrovsky acted alongside Natalia Oreiro in the TV series In the Rhythm of Tango (directed by Alexander Pavlovsky), featuring Nogu Svelo! songs and appearances by the entire band.
Beginning in 2007, the band entered what is often described as a “quiet period,” though this applied only to their public image. Behind the scenes, the group was undergoing significant internal changes. While Nogu Svelo! had maintained remarkable lineup stability, this came at the cost of postponing solutions to long-standing issues.
Years of back-to-back collaborations with Channel One took a toll on Pokrovsky’s energy, both emotionally and physically. At the same time, he became increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the Russian rock scene. Pokrovsky decided to focus on a long-held dream: producing solo music in Russia and abroad. He also developed a keen interest in electronic music and immersed himself in it fully for a time. Throughout this period, Nogu Svelo! continued to perform live.
In 2007, the band performed in London at the 3rd annual Russian Winter Festival, where they filmed a live video for “Siberian Love.” A few months later, they participated in Moscow Motion, a concert held as part of the Russian Economic Forum, which was hosted annually in London at the time.
These trips strongly influenced Pokrovsky’s decision to begin experimenting musically in England.
In the fall of 2007, the band appeared in the film Radio Day. That same year, drummer Anton Yakomulsky left the band and was replaced by Dmitry Krichevsky. In 2008, keyboardist Viktor Medvedev departed, with Alexander Volkov taking his place.
In 2009, Pokrovsky recorded his solo single Shopping, produced by Anton Belyaev, who would later become the frontman of Therr Maitz. The music video, directed by Vlad Razgulin, was filmed at the St. Petersburg club XXXX.
On January 11, 2010, Nogu Svelo! was humorously renamed “Voice of the Universe” for the filming of the “Martian Waltz” music video, directed by Mikhail Segal, who had previously shot three videos for the band.
Pokrovsky then began actively working under the name Max Inc. in the UK, where he recorded several new tracks and fully immersed himself in electronic music.
The English version of Shopping was produced by Stephen Hague. The track was later remixed and entered the MusicWeek Upfront Club Chart. The song 5 Kilometers followed a similar path: produced in Russia by Belyaev, it was reworked into the English-language Infinite Highway by Hague, with a remix by Tony English reaching No. 8 on the UK Upfront Chart.
Pokrovsky also collaborated in the UK with producer Martyn Ware, co-founder of Heaven 17 and The Human League. Their track Eat My Heart (originally Съешь мое сердце) was shelved for some time but would later be revisited in California, where it became the title track of a future album.
During this period, Pokrovsky worked with globally recognized DJs, including DJ StoneBridge, DJ Ripper, and Digital Dog.
Despite his creative experiments in the UK, work in Russia continued. In December 2011, the band released The Other Side of Nogu, an album built on the idea that most of Nogu Svelo!’s songs are inherently melodic, but their adventurous arrangements often placed melody in the background. The goal was to present these tracks in a fresh, softer light. The concept was inspired years earlier by the band’s participation in Russian TV’s Two Pianos project, where they performed songs with piano accompaniment. While The Other Side of Nogu didn’t strictly follow that concept, the tracks sound drastically different from their originals, emphasizing warmth and simplicity.
Pokrovsky also appeared as himself in the film To Baikal and wrote two songs for the project: To Baikal and Angara. He personally mixed Angara, combining live instrumentation recorded by the band with elements of his electronic experiments.
Another milestone from this period was Pokrovsky’s collaboration with poet Mikhail Gutseriev as a composer. Together, they created several songs, some of which were turned into music videos.
On June 22, 2014, Pokrovsky and Nogu Svelo! presented four music videos co-created with Gutseriev at Moscow’s Icon Club. Pokrovsky greeted guests from atop a crane, megaphone in hand. Each video’s theme was brought to life at the event:
For Asia-80 (dir. Dmitry Fix), a retro 1980s Eastern bazaar was built, complete with live rooster fights.
For Eyes of Love (dir. Craig Fanning), a real lawn was installed where a genuinely in-love couple lounged.
For Yellow Glasses (dir. Dmitry Fix), a rare motorcycle from a museum was brought in, and all guests received yellow-tinted glasses as gifts.
For Moscow Traffic Jams (dir. A. Mikhalev), custom keychains shaped like beer bottle caps with “Moscow Traffic Jam” branding were handed out.
The show also featured the I.F. Stravinsky Children’s Art School Choir, led by Galina Dvornikova, who performed Yellow Glasses with the band. The presentation included a charity fundraiser for the Podari Zhizn (Gift of Life) Foundation.
Mikhail Gutseriev founded Gutseriev Media and expanded his activities by working with top Russian pop and chanson artists. He persuaded Max Pokrovsky to try his hand as a composer writing music to Gutseriev’s lyrics for other performers. Their songs were performed by stars such as Alla Pugacheva (“The Heart Reaches Out”), Natasha Koroleva (“I’m Tired”), Natali (“You’re All I Have”), Iosif Kobzon (“A Woman’s Fate, A Man’s Will”), Alexander Marshal (“Mad Nights”), and many others.
Several songs co-written by Pokrovsky and Gutseriev won the annual Pesnya Goda (Song of the Year) award organized by the ARS company: “The Heart Reaches Out” (2016) and “You’re All I Have” (2017) earned this title, while “Moscow Traffic Jams,” performed by Pokrovsky himself, had won it years earlier.
Starting in 2012, Pokrovsky shifted his musical experiments to the United States, working in Los Angeles with producers Howard Benson, Sean Gould, and Michael Carey. Nine English-language tracks were recorded and released on his solo album Fast Food Kids. Two tracks — “Have a Nice Flight” and “My Name is Dick” — were turned into music videos in both all-English and mixed English-Russian versions. Although Pokrovsky considered this work a musical experiment, parts of it, including the videos, were presented in Russia. However, worsening political relations between Russia and the U.S. limited its reach.
Sean Gould and Pokrovsky later reworked Eat My Heart (Съешь моё сердце), a track originally started in the UK. Only the background vocals, recorded years earlier in London under the guidance of Martyn Ware (producer of Erasure’s Say, Say), were retained. The final version of Eat My Heart was aimed solely at the Russian market and became the title track of an album. Both this and the following Russian-language albums featured some material recorded in the U.S.
The album Eat My Heart was preceded by the single Fabergé Eggs. The album, released in 2014, had cover art similar to Fast Food Kids, leading many to believe it was the English version of the band’s latest studio work, though the overlap in tracks was only partial. The design similarity reflected that both albums were created during the same creative period.
The Russian release of Eat My Heart was celebrated with a lavish event in Moscow on February 11, 2016, aboard the yacht-restaurant Chaika. The provocative show, inspired by the video for the title track (dir. Mikhail Veksel), featured a staged police raid: officers handcuffed Pokrovsky and the band, forcing them face-down on the floor, leaving guests stunned before realizing it was a prank.
Two videos directed by Veksel — Oil and Eat My Heart — supported the album. The first was a full live performance video, while the second combined narrative and concert footage. Some fans were surprised by the experimental sound of tracks like Eat My Heart, while songs such as Fabergé Eggs, delivered in a more traditional Russian rock style, delighted audiences and sustained the band’s success.
Despite shifting audience tastes that increasingly favored a traditional “homegrown” rock sound, Pokrovsky balanced popular expectations with his own artistic vision through tracks like Instagram. The song was so successful that it was released as a standalone single and intentionally left off the next album to preserve a sense of freshness.
In spring 2015, the band performed at the Echo-2015 Festival of Russian Rock and Singer-Songwriter Music near New York.
On October 29, 2015, Nogu Svelo! headlined a charity music marathon in support of the Be Human foundation, raising over 1 million rubles to fund medical treatment for children in need.
In November 2015, the band embarked on a U.S. tour, performing successfully in New York, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Francisco, and Seattle.
On May 6, 2016, the mischievous single Russian Alphabet premiered on Nashe Radio. Listeners responded positively to its sarcasm, and the band planned to shoot a music video. Unexpectedly, on May 27, 2016, an unofficial fan video appeared online, using real internet footage to highlight increasing violence in Russian schools — a message that unfortunately went largely unheard at the time.
That summer, the band performed the single at the Nashestvie Festival.
On September 16, 2016, Nogu Svelo! released the romantic single “Playing with Fire” in collaboration with Nashe Radio. The song immediately entered the station’s Chartova Duzhina (“The Dozen”) chart. Encouraged by this success, the band decided to begin work on a new album.
However, several additional tracks were needed to complete it. This time, Pokrovsky finished all ongoing recording sessions in New York City. Part of the Playing with Fire music video was also shot there, reflecting Pokrovsky’s life in recent years as he traveled frequently between continents. The second part of the video was filmed at a Moscow concert, with Mikhail Veksel serving as editor. The video premiered on June 19, 2017.
On April 20, 2017, the humorous single “Back and Forth” premiered on Yandex.Music, followed by the dance single “Ding-Ding” on May 29.
On September 8, 2017, the band released a music video for their new single “Sudak” (dir. Yevgeniy K’banchik), a track that paired upbeat, positive music with deep and meaningful lyrics. Later, a hip-hop version featuring rapper MusicSnake was created, with new verses written by Frea King and original choruses by Pokrovsky. Frea King directed the accompanying video based on Pokrovsky’s concept.
At the same time, the band launched SUDACK TV on YouTube, a vlog featuring glimpses of Pokrovsky’s daily life, tour footage, rehearsals, and concert clips.
On September 25, 2017, Nogu Svelo! premiered a music video for the single “Vatrushki” (dir. Mikhail Veksel), described as “a song about a crazy world and a deep love for it, about a strange yet fascinated view of what surrounds us all.” The following day, the band performed the track on one of Russia’s highest-rated TV shows, Evening Urgant (Channel One).
The new album Continents of My Planet, featuring 13 original tracks, was released on October 13, 2017, followed by a large-scale tour across Russia and the CIS.
The video for the title track premiered on January 22, 2018, on Dozhd TV. Directed by Pokrovsky himself, the video was filmed in August 2017 on Fire Island, NY, USA.
Throughout 2016–2017, the band regularly performed at major summer festivals in Russia and beyond, including Nashestvie, VK Fest, Chernozem, Altaifest, Rock on the Barricades, and Kubana. They also appeared on popular music TV shows such as Sol’ and Kvartirnik u Margulisa.
Festivals.
From its earliest days, Nogu Svelo! earned a reputation as a powerful live act and became a frequent guest at Russia’s largest music festivals. In 1998 and 1999, the band performed at Maxidrom, organized by Radio Maximum at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium. In 1999, they invited pop diva Natalia Vetlitskaya to perform “Rivers” with them. Despite the traditional divide between pop and rock cultures, this collaboration was warmly received by the audience, and a concert video was later produced.
Beginning in 2001, Nogu Svelo! became an annual guest at Nashestvie, organized by Nashe Radio. Although the venue changed over the years, the festival was always held outdoors in the summer. Each of the band’s appearances was accompanied by a spectacular show:
2001: The band commissioned a 4-meter theatrical prop — a giant phallus — from a Moscow stage props factory. Delivered to the festival grounds in a Gazelle van, it was used during their performance of “Dck”*.
2002: A theatrical military-themed show featuring a massive inflatable woman.
In 2003, the festival was held at the Ramenskoye Hippodrome, and Max Pokrovsky, who was deeply involved in horseback riding at the time, came up with the idea of performing the waltz “Wolves” on horseback. Even though the calmest horse was chosen, the task was incredibly difficult — no one could predict how the animal would react to the massive crowd, loud music, and flashing cameras. Nevertheless, the performance was a success: Pokrovsky managed to spur the horse into a gallop and sing the entire song while riding at full speed.
In 2004, the band’s set featured a pool on stage, complete with bathing girls.
