Ilya Knabengoff, whose photo has appeared on concert posters more than once since the mid-1990s, was born on August 2, 1972 in Leningrad. His mother was from Volga Germans, his great-grandfather traded shoes in Germany, then moved to Russia. The musician’s mother played the piano, his father, an architect by education, painted and gave them to friends. In his own words, Ilya dreamed of becoming a pilot, but his vision was not suitable for this profession.
Biography
The future musician graduated from eight classes of high school and entered the Leningrad Film School (now this is St. Petersburg College), where he studied for film mechanics. As Ilya says in an interview, he wanted to be closer to the world of art and realize his vision of the world. In those years, he talked with metalworkers. Then his pseudonym “Damn” appeared. Ilya Knabengoff himself recalled that he took it in honor of his friend, who had the same nickname. He died early, and our hero promised himself to take his pseudonym. The first musical group, where Ilya Knabengof began his career, was called “Exhumator”. The young man played in her guitarist for about two years. In 1989, the musician was invited to another band - "Aggressor", in which he spent another two years. In 1989, Ilya became a drummer in the band “The Scoundrels”, which played punk rock, and stayed in this band until 1992. During this time, “Scoundrels” released one album. Frequent tours left little time for study, and Ilya left the third year of technical school. In 1990, the musician entered the Leningrad Architectural College, but soon left him. In his spare time from music, Ilya worked as a janitor, a seller at a kiosk, a loader driver at a cold storage plant, and a groom at a St. Petersburg zoo. In 1991, Ilya was invited by the vocalist to the AL.EX band, which lasted until the end of 1994. The group's songs were in English, and the musicians sought to gain recognition in the West. Once Ilya decided to respond to the announcement of the young group Surfing stone. Our hero and guitarist Aleksey Alfeev performed at the audition of this group, made contact with Roman Chuikov and Vitaly Belozerov. In December 1994, AL.EX, where Ilya Knabengoff played, teamed up with Surfing stone. The new group is called Military Jane.
The collective, where Ilya Knabengof is now playing, has released two albums. They still performed songs in English, which the musician wrote journalist Roman Danzis. In 1996, Military Jane applied for the festival “Fill the Sky with Kindness”. One of the conditions for participation was the performance of songs in Russian. Then the musicians decided to use the work that Ilya wrote for a while on the table. The songs of the group were liked by the organizer of the festival, Yuri Shevchuk, and the collective performed five of his works there.
War
At the very beginning of 1997, the group was transformed into a “Pilot”. The former Military Jane musicians were included there: vocalist Ilya “Damn” Knabengoff, Roman Chuikov, bass player Stanislav Markov, drummer Viktor Kuzmichev. Over time, the composition of the team changed. From now on, the group performed Russian-language songs. During the first year of the collective’s existence, they recorded an album called “War”. In subsequent years, the Pilot group actively participated in concerts in St. Petersburg and Russia as a whole: “Fill the sky with kindness”, “Baltic Coast” and others.
Authorship
Since the beginning of 2000, Ilya and his comrades have been helping young musicians by organizing the release of songs as part of the “Rock from the Gateway” contest, which were recorded on disks. Most of the works for the group are created by Ilya. But he loves to sing songs of friends. For example, musicians play the works of clergyman Nikolai Kokurin.
Fish and mole
Currently, the group “Pilot” has released fourteen discs. Critics praised the band’s seventh album, Fish, Mole, and Pig. One of the critics compared it to the classic Alice for the younger generation. In March of this year the 14th album of the collective - “Cuckoo” - was released. The group leader himself sought to fill him with ethnic motifs. In addition to creativity in "Pilot", Ilya Knabengof released four solo albums. In addition to music, he is engaged in art. Four books of prose came out. "The Tale of the Jumper and the Moving" Ilya became the basis for the second musical album "Pilot". Between songs, the musicians read out fragments from the work. And in 2014, the team "Theatrical Games" from Krasnodar put this tale on stage.
Personal life
Around the mid-nineties, the musician married a woman who already had a child. He raised his stepdaughter for seven years, until her adulthood. Ilya Knabengof divorced his wife in 2012. Soon he began to meet with Maria Chernova, and they had a baby. What is the name of the daughter of Ilya Knabengoff media became known in the fall of 2013. The girl was born in October 2013, and her parents named her Aya. In 2016, our hero and Maria got married by signing in the registry office of the city of Kronstadt.
Interesting Facts
Among those who helped Ilya at the beginning of his career, he names Yuri Shevchuk,
Mariyana Tsoi and Alexander Rikoshet. Mention that he is the protégé of the leader of the DDT group, he calls stupidity, which someone invented. Ilya himself filmed a video clip for the song "Tramway". In a 20-degree frost, he lay on the rails and recorded on the camera what was needed for the video. Since 2003, the musician has been actively supporting organizations such as WWF and Greenpeace. He participates in rallies and various promotions. The Pilot group repeatedly gave concerts on the territory of prisons. Ilya often played in rehabilitation centers and orphanages. He also helped such young performers as Cat Sashka, Julia Kotelnikova, Vasily K, the group “Sounds of Reformers” and others.