RUPTURE flyers

The blog is almost one year old and I've noticed that I haven't posted enough about the best band ever: the almighty Rupture. Here's some of my fave flyers from their early days, stolen from Rohan/Extortion blog. Visit it for more!

LA PIOVRA interview 2006

Interview conducted via email with guitar player Marco during dec. '06. Originally featured in PM#5.

Perro: Since you've never answered to the LADM interview I sent you a couple of years ago, now you are forced to let me know why the hell did you break up so early? You were supposed to release a full length, touring etc...damn it, I still consider LADM one of the best italian bands from the '00s!! Is there any chance to bring it back to life?

Marco: No way...we are all busy with many other projects, we live in different places and now we have also different ideas...

Perro: Well, at least there's La Piovra now that seems to follow more or less the same direction...do you see any kind of connection between them?

Marco: I hope you are the last person that asks me that question!! The biggest connection is that both Alberto and I, we used to play in LADM and Marco had played with us in the last days just before we broke up. Some La Piovra tunes I wrote were rehearsed also by LADM and were supposed to be in the lp. I think La Piovra has a more punk rock feeling, less direct and simple and also less influenced by old school hc comparred to LADM.

Perro: La Piovra (which means "The Octopus") is definitely an original and weird name for a punk/hc band. How did you come up with it? Does it have something to do with mafia?

Marco: We came up with the name while we were having a break during rehearsal...we wanted an italian word followed by "boys", so it was "la piovra boys"...then it simply turned into "La Piovra". Of course we are involved with mafia but also with la piovra as an animal. Not to mention that the octopus is always the classic sea monster used in adventure/ pirates movies that we all love so much...

Perro: In your early days you described La Piovra as a mix of Life's Halt and Elvis Presley. After hearing a few samples I can only agree with that brilliant description since there's more than a r'n'r vibe in your dc fueled hc. How would you describe it today?

Marco: Let's call it hc/punk dressed with a good dose of rock, sometimes it's more 60s' garage and the others 70s' hard rock.

Perro: If I remember well, you had a serious car accident while you were on the way for recording your first studio session...

Marco: Yes, during our first long studio session our car was hitten in the back by another car. Half of the instruments were destroyed, as well as our necks. Luckily we got some money from it. Anyhow, that session was endless! Thanx to the car crash, a lost DAT and various health problems, we were thinking to stop La Piovra...

Perro: Your first release is going to be a one sided 12" on Youth Attack! How did you get in touch with them? You told me it's going to be a very deluxe release...

Marco: The 12" officially came out during early november. I simply sent the tracks to Mr. McCoy who immediately wrote back and offered us to put something out. In the classic Youth Attack tradition, it's a very deluxe edition: 4 colours artwork, no labels on the lp and one side is screen printed. First press on tan wax with gold ink, second press on clear wax with black ink. Both drawings are tentacles, of course.

Perro: There's also a 7" on Punk Before Profits...

Marco: The 7" has just been released for the american tour we just did during december, 1000 copies pressed. There's a limited tour edition as well as a mailorder one.

Perro: You just did a US tour during december. How was it?

Marco: The tour was great, even better than I expected. Our 12" was released just a month before we arrived, so a lot of people didn't know us but lot of people came to see us and bought the 12" and the new 7". We played with tons of excellent bands, including Government Warning, Cloak Dagger, Double Negative and Dustheads. We also played a couple of time with xBrainiax, we already met their drummer Lucas during the Ohuzaru tour (he was in Threatener). Awesome band, and nice people as well! We've been lucky even with the weather: we avoided snow and the 20th of Dicember I was in New York wearing a jeans jacket! If I could, I'll go on another tour tomorrow, ehehehe!

 
Perro: Talking about your other band Ohuzaru, are you still active or is dead again?

Marco: Now Ohuzaru aren't my main goal since La Piovra has maximum priority at this moment and it would be hard to keep both active. Anyhow, Ohuzaru are not dead but just have gone on hybernation...

Perro: We first got in touch thanks to the passion that we share about japanese hc, which is not something very popular here. Is there any cool new jap band that you would suggest us?

Marco: well...to tell the truth lately I've put aside my passion for japanese hardcore, there are not so many good bands around...I'm still a big fan of Jellyroll Rockheads, early Razor's Edge, Sprouts and some old bands like Gauze and Deathside but I'm not into new bands that are doing the old school thing (except for Crude, Etae and few others).

Perro: I know you have a huge records collection. Do you have any super rare records that everyone want to steal from your collection? What are your all time fave lps and 7"s?

Marco: The best 7" ever is Koro "700 club" without any doubt , I'll never be tired of it. Unfortunately I don't own the original, I have only the bootleg and the official reprint on Sorry State. I own lots of records but I don't consider myself a true collectionist, I don't think I've payed more than 60 € for a rare record that I love...

Perro: Sometimes I'm scared when I think that almost all punks think and look in the same way and have all the same ideas ect...I mean, isn't it just becoming another subculture with its own rules where people just conform with passivity to  the "punk law" without thinking too much about it? Don't you think a bit more of individuality would be welcomed?

Marco: I think you are right, it seems that a lot of people don't have enough time to think and choose by themselves what's wrong and what's right, they simply let their punk friend condition them. Just think how many vegetarian/ vegan we have in the scene and how many stop to be in that way when they drop out.

Perro: What's your worst nightmare?

Marco: Being buried alive...I dream it frequently and I'm quite disturbed by this...

Perro: What are you doing in your daily routine apart from music?

Marco: I'm a supply teacher in the elementary school and during summertime I work for Biennale di Venezia. These are the only jobs that allow me to go on tour a couple of times a year! Bigli is a joiner, Fede is still studying, Mattia is an electrician and -marco is always working in different factories.

Perro: Other plans for the future?

Marco: Doing a lp and playing around as much as we can! There are lots of places to visit all around the globe and tons of great people to meet.

Perro: Thanx for your time Marco, hope you've enjoyed answering my boring questions. Conclude with some words of wisdom.

Marco: Thanx Raffa for the interview, this time we did it! See ya around. To get in touch: slyactions@hotmail.com or www.myspace.com/lapiovra

Creation And Destroy

Haven't been to a gig for almost a year. These days I do not enjoy going to gigs that much but this one seems to be an unmissable one. D Clone are touring Europe in october and it seems like I'll have to drive 300 km south to catch the only italian date...I just hope they won't fill the gig with countless useless boring opening bands or, even worse, they put them as headliner of a bloody endless festival!! Oh yeah, I was forgetting to mention that they will also release their first full lenght on Agipunk in september...

Your Freaks Now Too...

You might have noticed that this year I've almost posted only about old records. Maybe it has something to do with getting too old and perhaps too jaded to pay attention to all the new bands around, but I must admit that I'd rather spend my hard earned cash in old records, being them originals or represses, than invest on new lame bands that mean nothing to me. That being said, along with the few decent aussie bands around, japan seems to be the only place that still unleash new bands that I want to check out. To make a long story short, here's a bunch of new japanese shit worth your money: 

Let's start with Tsuyama's Massgrave "your freaks now too..." ep that Detonate Records just put out. Originally released a couple of years ago by Hardcore Survives on tape (lamest format ever), now it has been finally repressed (with a couple of bonus tracks) on a more proper format for such a brillant release. C'mon, you can't ask more to a japanese band than Sore Throat rip-off, a cheesy artwork with a rotten crucified corpse and broken engrish titles!! If you've enjoyed bands like Death Dust Extractor or Asocial Terror Fabrication, you'll love this!! Limited to 250 copies only, act fast of cry later. Last stuff released by Detonate was so ridiculosly limited that I've missed most of them, but thanx buddha this time I've been fast enough to secure a couple of its last outputs.

The other one I've got is the super elusive "Part II" of a series of three 7"s by Sendai weirdest noise punk band ever, Exit Hippies. Limited to 100 copies only. Too bad 'coz this is one of their best releases and more people deserve to listen to it. Pretty minimalistic layout, plain black labels and just the small piece of paper you see as a cover. No insert, no information at all. What you see in the picture above is exactly all you get. Musically, side A starts with a nice Flux Of Pink Indians cover followed by one of their typical unique noisecore excellent tune. No shitty sound this time like on their "Record and Fantasy". It's bloody noisy of course, but you can still enjoy the music. Side B has a long techno/electronic track. I don't know shit about electronic music and I hate techno but I've enjoyed this mix of repetitive drum beats and street noise samples. If you want to get rid of your copy of "Part I", please keep in mind that I'll happily pay a fair amount for it. 

Last but definitely not least, the bloody Damaging Noise "Instant Death Noise Attack" ep that Noise Punk Records outta UK put out a few months ago. I've used the adjective "bloody" 'cos I've had to order it twice since the first time I've tried it has been lost in the postal limbo. Thanx Visnù, this time it landed safely in my mailbox. If you're even remotely familiar with 80s' Kyushu noisecore bands, you should have already understood from band's name and the font on the labels that you should expect nothing but blatant Gai/Swankys rip off. So yeah, you got clean bass driven tunes, repetitive simple drumming, buzzsaw guitars and high pitched crazy vocals. Fans of this sub-genre will definitely appreciate Damaging Noise accuracy when it comes to reproducing Swankys style. Of course nothing new but if you're a fan of the aforementioned bands, you shouldn't give a damn fuck about innovations! While in the picture I've done it looks red, I assure you this is on wonderful transparent purple wax. Limited as well to 320 copies only.

No Al Sistema

It has been exactly 30 years since this ep was originally released. Straight forward to three decades later, the most sought after and definitely most iconic italian hardcore record ever has finally been bootleged. And it was about time if you consider that way less important records have been already repressed a long time ago! From now on, you won't have anymore to shell out 8oo bucks or more to own the almighty Wretched Indigesti split ep on vinyl. It's an almost perfect replica of the original: it has the three inserts and it comes with a simple white dust sleeve with both bands logo printed on it (in the original version they were stamped). The only consistent difference are the label colours: instead of black and white, they're red and white. Oh yeah, I was forgetting to mention that on both sides, for some unexplainable reason, tracks order has been totally altered which is quite annoying but, honestly, I can survive with it.  

Now you're all going to hate me but, as I've already said other times, Wretched is one of those bands that everyone but me seems to love. I've tried to get into them many times in different periods but it never worked. The music is just ok, good hardcore tunes but way far from having the same urgency and hysterical approach of bands like Underage or Upset Noise, just to mention a couple of names that start with "U". My main problem is Gianmario's voice. I can't stand it. I've always found it irritating. Add that I've always found their lyrics pretentious, melodramatic and too militant/dogmatic (like most italian bands of that era), et voilà: that's why I don't like Wretched. That being said, I think this is their best material and there are definitely way worse bands from the '80s that now are unexplainably revered as gods. Just think at the whole NYHC thing, with the notable exception of Urban Waste, Nihilistics and Antidote, ALL the rest is just utter crap.

At this point you should have been asking to yourselves "so why did you buy it, you douchebag?". Good point, sir. For the Indigesti side, of course! I was introduced to classic italian hardcore around mid 90s', when Cripple Bastards used to cover quite often "Mass Media". To this day, Indigesti is still my favourite band from that era and no doubt the material contained here is their best stuff ever. These six brief tunes are indeed the best explanation ever of the wild and frantic sound that became the trademark of the hardcore/punk unleashed from this bloody boot-shaped penisula. Also, lyrically, I've always found them more sincere and genuine than that band on the other side...plus Rudy vocals are simply insane! I guess that not being from a city like Milano helped, too. I've always found bands from small and isolated cities way more interesting than the ones from big, fancy and trendy places...

ZYANOSE interview 2006

I was supposed to write something about a bunch of south american records that I got last month but it's too hot and wet for spending too much time in front of my pc, I've been too busy/lazy, add your favourite lame excuse for not posting too much lately. So I've opted for a quick post. A scan of the Zyanose interview that was originally featured in Warning 'zine vol. IV that came out sometimes around 2006/07. Insane noise raid!

Mas Alla Del No Futuro

This time I'll talk about a dvd. More specifically, a nice documentary about the rise of the Medellin punk scene titled "Mas Alla Del No Futuro". Assembled by José Posada, a guy who used to play in bands like IxRxAx and Dexkoncierto, names that should mean something to you if you're even only vaguely into south american hardcore.

The documentary itself is not that long so you modern dumb punx with a low attention span cannot complain at all. It lasts indeed only 40 minutes and it hasn't been shot and edited that well. It's all about interviews with people who were there back in the day and they were all interviewed in dark spots or outdoor by night. Nonetheless, this is absolutely a must see if you know what I mean.

While most of us were living our oh, so rebellious years in the comfort and safety of a western country, some guys in Colombia were facing death every day. Medellin, between '88 and '92, was in the middle of an extremely violent drug war between the Pablo Escobar's drug cartel and illegal paramilitar army hired by the government. Becaming a sicario (hitman) was an easy choice to make good money for teens who lived in hopeless slums. Here José show us that a bunch of pissed off, scared and bored kids decided to use their anger and energy in a smarter way, starting their own punk/hardcore scene out of literaly nothing to survive the hopeless and extremely violent environment that surrounded them. After hearing what these guys (well, the ones who survived) had gone through, you'll immediately stop idealizing all the boring bullshit about how punk was dangerous back in the '80s in USA, Japan or Europe. Just check the trailer to get an idea:

While being mainly focused on interviews, there are a lot of great live footages from the incredible bands that sprouted from this extremely poor city. After seeing it, you'll beg for the entire BSN, Crimen Impune or Imagen live sets. Indeed, even if the balance between interviews and live footage is quite equilibrated, my only real complain about this dvd is that the clips are definitely not enough, I want more!!!!!

You can still get a copy for quite cheap directly from the director's blog. Definitely not a rip-off, but please keep in mind that he's quite slow when it comes to shipping (my copy took 9 months to be sent out!!). Anyway, I know at least 4 people who ordered it directly from him and, sooner or later, everyone got his copy in the end. Absolutely worth the waiting, in my opinion....