Well,Friends of Aristocracy!
Line UP:
Francesco Foschini on Voice
Matteo Grigioni on Bass
Guitar Daniele Ticconi on Guitar
Angelo Del Rosso on Drums
Guest:
Guitar Solo on "Io, Brucio" by Davide Rosati
We talk about our newsroom again!Where, in a little while, we will begin in all your emotions, the interview 113 of the Aristocracy.This time, we turn our attention to an Italian band that mixes Hardcore, the extreme side and evil forces in a way never seen or heard before.I'm referring to the band I Maiali.Cruel, mean. But, who launches his second work titled as Cenere\ CENERE. Being that it has already been done, one carried out in 2019 and call CVLTO.Out of respect, we mentioned above its members and we thank the band for the work and the evident interview. Other thanks are on account of the page on Wordpress THE HEADBANGING MOOSE.We met you there. Let's have a song and then the beginning of this spectacular chat. Thank you, listen and be afraid, because without fear, you don't listen to them in the necessary and fundamental way.
A1:Talking about the composition work in Cenere?
I Maiali:It’s really difficult to sum up three years of work in a few lines; after the recording of the first album we immediately started composing new tracks. The first one was “Parassita”, which can be considered the song that defined the intention of “cenere/CENERE”. Then we came up with many ideas and we chose the best fitting to the album we wanted to make; the final result is the work of 4 people plus 2 playing music together day after day, week after week, month after month.
A2:Not that a hardcore band can't have a horde aura. But, how was that defined?
I Maiali:We decided to include our fascination for the darkest side of the World since we started to play this genre of music; that's caused by our love for all kind of artists that include these atmospheres in their creations, for example: H. R. Giger, with his paintings and sculptures, Mary Shelley and her "Frankestein" or more generally, the horror movies.
A3:What shades of psychedelia inspire this work?
I Maiali:The shades that you can see with the help of those tiny little truffles that you can find if you know the right people or if you go to the right places.
A4:Besides the bible, do other books or movies inspire the band?
I Maiali:Every member of the band has a different background and taste, so we have inputs from various sources. A part from the Bible, maybe the most influential works for this album are "Frankenstein" not the romance but the 1931's movie and George Orwell's "1984".Francesco:My main font of inspiration is the story of Darby Crash, narrated in the book "Lexicon Devil" and in the movie "What we do is a secret". His self-destructive attitude and his planning mind were very inspirational for me.
A5:Why the band have this name?
I Maiali:At the beginning we chose “I MAIALI” (“THE PIGS” in italian) because in Italy it’s associated with blasphemous insults and it was the right choice to be sacrilegious from every point of view. Now, the pig is our spirit animal and it guides us in the making of our music.
A6:I understand perfectly the reason for singing in Italian. But would singing in English take away the essence of I Maiali?
I Maiali:Probably if we gave up writing texts in Italian we would limit ourselves to translate what comes naturally to us to pull out of the meanders of our brain; it is a dimension which allows us to have a direct impact on what we compose and produce. It was one of the first agreements between the band’s members and it still remains.
A7:I saw this and explain to me what you mean by wicked music?
I Maiali:With these words we mean sacred music unstructured and then led to the extreme. Our tracks are noisy litanies that we use to exercise our inner demons.
A8:Why Messi∀ Isn't it very dear to critics? Time to rebut criticism is now! I Maiali:"MessiV" is an experiment; in fact, it's almost an improvised noise track which we wanted to record because it's part of the concept behind the album. "MessiV" is a noisy monologue and it's the 7th chapter of an ideal movie called "cenere/CENERE". We know it could be misunderstood and we know it may not please everyone, but for us it's a very important track.
A9:Fortunately, you have personal influences similar to mine as Zombie. But when did you see that Black Metal was part of your respective brains, minds and hearts?
I Maiali:First allow us to make a premise: black metal is not our favorite genre and it’s absolutely not our main inspiration. For this release we chose to add some blackish harmonies due to Francesco’s raw vocal style and his passion for the genre.
(Francesco): In fact, black metal for me was an epiphany: I have listened and I have seen a group of teens who led their artistic attitude to the extreme, even if they did horrible things. This kind of music changed my life and my knowledge, so I’m really happy that it has been one of the influences behind the new album.
A10:How come emerged the invite to Davide Rosati?
I Maiali:As for Davide, it was a shared choice, motivated by our need to move away from the sounds of the first job, which we don't like to this date, to undertake something totally different: we have seen in his figure a producer who has a varied background and who has always respected deeply the intentions of the bands he recorded in every album he produced.
A11:How band arrive to Overdub Recordings?
I Maiali:We met Marcello Venditti (chief of OverDub Recordings) through friends of friends.
A12:It's okay, it's no strings attached, but is there any reason for the songs to have short durations?
I Maiali:We don’t use a timer during the compositions: maybe it’s our most natural way to express ourselves. In fact, analyzing “cenere/CENERE”, the shortest track has a length of 1:29 and the longest lasts almost six minutes.(Matteo): I could say that it’s mainly due to my very low attention span and the tendency to concentrate a productive neurosis in a few minutes; probably if we decide to lengthen the songs we would become a sort of progressive band.
A13:This album is conceptual?
I Maiali:Yes, “cenere/CENERE” is a concept album: it narrates the story of our own Messiah, which is a circular and never ending story that begins with his being ashes and it ends with his returning to ashes. His birth, his growth, the battle with his God and creator and his death are all described in the songs.
A14:Sorry, but football lives on in the lives of Brazilians and Italians. Are there Lazio or Roma fans in the band or neither of the two mentioned here?
I Maiali:Luckily, we’re all four supporters of A.S. Roma.
A15:We are happy that it is not the first work. But, differences can be pointed out between them?
I Maiali:The main difference between the two albums is the awareness of what we want to achieve. Besides, Marcello introduced us to Davide Rosati of Acme Recording Studio who understood perfectly our ideas: he found the best fitting sound to our album and he also helped us work on new ideas once we started recording it.
A16:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?
I Maiali:As said before, one of the main influences for the new album is the movie Frankenstein directed by James Whale. The creation, the rejection, the violence, there are many themes we discuss in the new album that we can find also in Whale’s movie. So we decided to take as inspiration for the front cover a scene of the movie; Coito Negato, our favorite illustrator, did all the rest with his horrific and unique style.
A17:How to make the same impact caused by the first work?
I Maiali:We don’t want to have the same impact, we want to have a greater impact with this new album; now we have the sound and the attitude we wanted to have, and we hope it can lead us better to the listeners of this extreme music. Greetings,I MAIALI !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtwaoeKiXBw