Naumov grew up listening to bootleg records of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and at age 8 decided to become a rock guitarist.

In 1978, while playing in a school-band, he met the future members of Kalinov Most, one of Russia's most influential indie-rock bands, also one of the creators of what is called Russian blues.

In January 1983 Naumov formed a band named Prokhodnoy Dvor, the line-up of which also included Vladimir Zotov (drums) and Oleg Kurokhtin (guitars).

Soon, after a bootleg released by the band became popular in the USSR, KGB forced Naumov to leave Novosibirsk Medical University for "promulgation of decadent western values," and he sought safety first in Leningrad and later in Moscow.

Naumov plays a unique 9-string guitar custom-built for him by famous violin maker Sergei Nozdrin in the 1980s.