Code of Ethics (group)

In 1989, Pavel Zhagun decided to create a musical group whose sound style would combine rock, jazz, punk and funk at the same time, and the lyrics would be both witty and philosophical. In the fall of 1989, Zhagun recruited the first line-up of musicians, including Nikolai Devlet-Kildeev , former Scandal guitarist, Alexander Solich , former Tsvet flowers bass player, and Igor Romashev, drummer. Roman Ivasko was initially invited to the role of the vocalist of the group, but soon Sergey Mazaev , an ex-member of the Autograph group, took his place.

Initially, the newly-minted group of venerable musicians was called the “Diamond Hand”, but soon Sergey Mazaev gave his team a more harmonious name - “Code of Ethics”. In 1989, the group began active rehearsals; at the end of the year, one of the first songs of the Moral Codex collective was recorded - “Why Do Tears Flow” (later this song was translated into Russian and was called “I Love You”).

In the spring of 1990, the group included a young keyboard player Konstantin Smirnov, who at that time worked at the SNC studio, where the musicians of the Moral Code recorded their first album. On July 11, 1990, on the air of the Morning Mail program, the premiere of the debut music video of the Moral Codex group took place - for the song “I Love You”. The director of the video was M. Makarenkov. This video went down in the history of Soviet music as one of the first clips with three-dimensional graphics and as one of the first music videos in principle.

In December 1990, the second clip of the “Code of Morality” was broadcast - “Goodbye, Mom!” (Directed by F. Bondarchuk ), soon the nation’s popularity came to the group. In August 1991, the Moral Codex musicians performed opposite the Humpback Bridge with the song “Goodbye, Mom!” In honor of the victory over the putsch. Soon the Morale Codex debut album, Concussion, is coming out. The first version of the album was replicated only on vinyl records. On December 1, 1991, the Moral Codex group took part in a large concert “Against Speed”, held by VID in the Olympic Stadium. At the beginning of 1992, the band began recording the second album - in a short time, songs such as “Counting”, “I'm Going”, “No one's looking out” were recorded. Soon the drummer Igor Romashov leaves the group, Yury Kistenev , the most experienced musician with whom the band members quickly find a common language, becomes the new drummer of the “Code of Moral Code”.

In the period 1992-1993, the second album of the group was recorded, the single “Moral CodeX” was released in Switzerland in a small edition, the group toured Europe. In 1993, the team members radically changed their image - Sergey Mazaev, Nikolai Devlet-Kildeev and Alexander Solich shortly cut their long hair and take off their sunglasses, which have become a kind of hallmark of the music of the Code of Ethics. A video clip for the song “Shukuyu Tebe” is released on the screens; new songs of the “Code of Ethics” are increasingly appearing on the air. But for some reason, the release of the second album is very delayed. In May 1995, the Moral Codex group took part in the first Maxidrom festival, where the legendary saxophonist Igor Butman joined the guys onstage.

In 1996 , after three years of waiting, the band’s second album, Flexible Camp, was released. In 1996, Yuri Kistenev and Nikolai Devlet-Kildeev left the group for a while. Sergey Mazaev takes part in the filming of "New Adventures of Pinocchio"; the drummer of the Code of Ethics is Dmitry Slansky . Then one of the most advanced music videos of the mid-1990s appeared on the screens - a video for the song “I'm Going”.

In 1997, the group released their third album, “I Choose You,” which was half composed of materials recorded during the work on Flexible Mill. The album is becoming very popular, the songs “I choose you”, “Night whim”, “I feel good with you”, “Lost paradise”, “You are far away” are in constant rotation on the radio. However, soon for the group are not the best of times. In 1999, Oleg Salkhov , the permanent sound engineer of the Moral Codex group, died of heart failure .

In the period 1998-2000, musicians record their next studio album with long breaks, a demo version of the song “Midnight Comes in Moscow” appears on the Internet. In 2000, Yuri Kistenev returned to the group, and in February 2001, the fourth album of the Moral Code, Good News , was released on the Real Records label. Then in the group begins a mess with drummers.

In 2002, a compilation of the best songs of the "Code of Morality" - "The Best". In 2003, the group collaborated with musicians from the Disco Crash collective, and as a result, in the summer of 2003, their collaboration was released - the single “SKY” (the song uses losses from the hit “Moral Code” “First Snow”). In 2004, American drummer Zack Sullivan joined the band. Gradual work begins on the next album of the Code of Ethics, which will be released in the fall of 2007 . This album is called "Slavic Dances." In March 2008, Yuri "Khen" Kistenev again became the drummer of the group.

In November 2008, a collection of the best songs “Where are you?” Was released. On which the hit was first published, which gave the name to the collection - the composition “Where are you?”.

In February 2014, the sixth studio album of the group "Winter" was released.

• Sergey Mazaev - vocals , saxophone, guitar.
• Nikolay Devlet-Kildeev - guitar , composer, author of most songs of the group.
• Alexander Solich - bass .
• Konstantin Smirnov - keyboards , synthesizer.
• Yuri Kistenev - drums .
• Pavel Zhagun - Poet, musician, media artist; author of the idea and creative art producer of the Moral Codex group.

Sergey Mazaev also plays the saxophone, guitar (in clips), flute and trumpet. Alexander Solich also plays the viola and piano, and the guitarist on the balalaika.

Former members

• Roman Ivasko - vocals (1989)
• Igor Romashov - drums (1989-1992)
• Dmitry Slansky - drums (1995-2000, 2002-2003)
• Zach Sullivan - drums (2004-2008)

• 1991 - Concussion
• 1996 - Flexible mill
• 1997 - I choose you
• 2001 - Good News
• 2007 - Slavic dances
• 2008 - Where are you? (collection)
• 2014 - Winter

• Alekseev A.S. Who is who in Russian rock music . - M .: AST: Astrel: Harvest, 2009 .-- S. 318, 319. - ISBN 978-5-17-048654-0 (AST). - ISBN 978-5-271-24160-4 (Astrel). - ISBN 978-985-16-7343-4 (Harvest).

• Group website
• The history of the group, photographs. (inaccessible link)