Maxim Udalov

Shoulder-length black hair, grey eyes, small nose, 173 cm tall, fit build, 20 years old. Maxim is a friendly and fairly calm person, but a little impulsive and touchy, can talk a lot about certain things and is generally unlikely to leave the interlocutor bored. He is the youngest in the group and can be active, but most often in the role of a shy observer of the others, especially often hangs around with Vitaly Dubinin (bassist) and Sergey Mavrin (guitarist).

"Before him we had listened to quite a few drummers, but then a lively boy appeared, more like a teenager, and he started playing! He was crazy about trash, and according to rumors he even tried to do something with Gaina. In a word, Udalov simply swept away all the other possible candidates!"

Nobody invited me to Aria the first time, I kind of asked for it. Sergey Mavrin and I played in Black Coffee, and when we returned from our first trip – a six-month tour of Kazakhstan – the whole group dispersed. I came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do now was to jump into another good band. And I found out about Aria quite late. At that time, there was a conflict in the Cruise group, and I was recommended to take the place of Sergey Efimov, who had left. I had already started rehearsing with Valery Gaina, but I understood that coming to play after Efimov was madness. I called Mavrin and found out that he was in Aria. It was the end of 1986, I had heard something about Aria, but I hadn’t heard the music itself. They were already auditioning someone for the drummer’s position, but they still called me to show what I could do. And while I was rehearsing with Gaina, I really pulled myself together. I got to the rehearsal, and we immediately started to analyze fresh material, which later turned into the song "1100". This is the so-called first time. And then everything turned out as it did. Sometimes people ask me if I regret it. No, I don't regret anything."

This is all explained by my background. My father was involved in music, played the accordion at the level of an accompanist. But, alas, one day he injured his right hand, there were no injuries, but a nerve was affected. He had to part with his career as a musician, and he began to prepare to enter a university. Having learned to write with his left hand, he soon entered the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where he later met my mother, and I ended up in the project. I think I got some flexibility from him in terms of learning. I just turned on Led Zeppelin records on the tape recorder and played along with them. I felt my involvement with them, but at the same time, of course, I was aware that I was sitting at home and playing to a tape recorder. When I started listening to Led Zeppelin, I was primarily interested in the music,
For some reason, my family thought that my music lessons could not lead to good results... It didn't work out with the institute. I didn't want to go there. And in order not to ask my parents for money, I went to work - I managed to work in a laboratory at the Research Institute of Precision Technologies, where my father and mother worked. It was interesting to work, but I didn't want to sit in this mailbox with access all my life. And there was less time and energy left for music, although I always played in different ensembles, but when I went to work, I realized that I had to study even better, so that I could only play the drums and not work at any other jobs. There were two paths. The first was a restaurant or, more simply, a pub. But musician friends said that I didn't need a pub, otherwise I would become a cynic, I would think only about money and how to unpack the client. But at that time you could earn so much there that no variety show could earn. The second path, in fact, is variety show. I understood that I had to mobilize my forces, learn to play better and get into a strong ensemble. There was a third way - to create my own group, but I clearly lacked the substance for critical mass, so it doesn't count.

Born in Moscow on June 16, 1966, into a family of engineers. At the age of six, the family moved to Zelenograd.
He made his first drums himself, remaking ordinary pioneer ones. He began to learn on his own, listening to Led Zeppelin recordings.
He began his professional career in 1985 in the group "Black Coffee", where he was invited to conduct a tour of Kazakhstan. After the end of the six-month tour in the spring of 1986, all the musicians of "Black Coffee" dispersed, leaving Dmitry Varshavsky with his name and the opportunity to find other musicians
In 1986 he became a drummer in guitarist Sergei Mavrin’s band “Metallakkord”.
At the end of 1986, Udalov was invited to replace Igor Molchanov, who left the group "Aria". In 1987, he recorded the album "Hero of Asphalt" with "Aria".