"We encourage you to rethink your preconceived notions, question authority and create other methods for survival"
This is our motto taken from a sleeve of a record. We are here to spread the word and to learn the world, join us in the celebration of new and not so new bands, join us in the celebration of music.
Though their taut, driving motoric music might scream of
70’s West Germany, Sei Still are, in fact, a five-piece band hailing
from Mexico City. Their machine-like sonic experimentations emerging not
out acid-fuelled jam sessions in some underground communal space tucked
away in this or that German city but, instead, three friends taking a
random trip to desolate Mexican woodland to work on a couple of songs
that would end up leading them to start a fully-fledged band. Now, said
band are signing to London-based label Fuzz Club to put out their self
titled debut album, due for release April 10th
.
It
was Lucas Martin (Guitar/Vocals), Mateo Sanchez (Guitar/Vocals) and
Andres Lupone (Bass/Vocals) that would embark on that formative woodland
excursion but, now fleshed out into a full band, they’re also joined by
Sebastian Rojas (Synth/Organ) and Jeronimo Martin (Drums). The record
itself also bolstered by the production of Hugo Quezada, who they
describe as “an icon from the Mexican underground scene and a true
synthesizer aficionado.” As well as the given indebtedness to bands like
Can, NEU! and the minimalism movement, together, Sei Still say that the
album also take great inspiration from “Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’, ‘Easy
Rider’ (the concept of the road has always been a present image of our
collective imaginary) and the aesthetics of Spanish new-wave bands like
Aviador Dro and Décima Víctima.”
Sesiones con Martin Delgado 105.3FM - Sei Still
Though delivered
with Sei Still’s own distorted touch, the album’s eponymous
opening-track ‘Blumenkriege’ recalls Stereolab at their most Kraut; the
unrelenting motorik instrumentation overlaid with lush ethereal vocals
courtesy of close friend Mabe Fratti and swirling analogue synths. ‘El
Camino’, which they say “represents the group’s idea of movement,
something that’s never static and is always changing, like life itself”
is a driving
NEU!-esque wig-out, propelled by a sharp
repetitive bassline so tight you can physically feel the tension
building and building, never letting loose for a second. That propulsive
energy is carried through to ‘Emision’ and paired with menacing
feedback-heavy guitars and ominous atmospherics.
In
the album’s second half, songs like ‘Fortuna’ and ‘Television’ fuse
those motorik sensibilities with eerie spoken-word vocals, hypnotic
synths and phaser-heavy guitars that drag the bands sound into more
psychedelic territory. The album then wrapping up with the penultimate
‘Ladron’–a piece of dark manipulated drone a la Spacemen 3–and the
sprawling 10-minute album-closer ‘Tácticas de Guerrilla Urbana’ which
stretches the Sei Still sound to its outermost limits, in the most
gloriously trance-inducing way.
Now signed to
European label Fuzz Club and ready to transmit their angular Krautrock
to a trans-Atlantic audience, Sei Still have spent the last few years
cultivating a notorious reputation in their native Mexico, sharing the
stage with the likes of Stereolab, Kikagaku Moyo, Holy Wave, Institute,
New Candys, 10 000 Russos and Lorelle Meets the Obsolete.
Os
Psilocibina estão em tour. São uma banda relativamente recente e com um
nome bastante sugestivo para quem gosta do género a que se
dedicam, daí que o inicio deste texto seja exactamente o paragrafo do dicionário que nos informa por alto do que estamos a falar. Tomei conhecimento dos Psilocibina através dos Samsara Blues Experiment, (Christian Peters vive actualmente no Brasil), com quem os Psilocibina viriam a fazer uma tour durante o ano passado. Não passaram despercebidos e se normalmente o não passar despercebido se relaciona com a "originalidade" de cada banda, aqui passa também pela qualidade e pela capacidade de se distinguirem dos demais ao não hesitar em dar um cunho muito brasileiro às suas músicas. Nos riffs e ritmos sentem-se essas mesmas raízes com novas roupagens mas sem se demitirem desse mesmo legado e isso é visivél nos nomes que escolheram para as suas músicas (Trópicos, Na Selva Densa). Esta noite vão estar no Sabotage Club para uma noite de riffs quentes e jams infinitas).
Psilocibina - 2069
Songs
to Nowhere - Como se conheceram e como chegaram até este momento com
esta formação?
Psilocibina
- Olá! Nos conhecemos pois éramos todos da mesma cidade
(Niterói, Rio de Janeiro). Eu (Alex Sheeny, guitarrista) já
conhecia o baixista Rodrigo Toscano desde pequeno por ser muito amigo
e ter estudado com seu irmão mais velho, assim começamos a tocar em
casa juntos como amigos. Um pouco depois morei um tempo fora do Rio e
nessa época o Rodrigo teve uma banda com o baterista Lucas Loureiro.
Algum tempo depois nos reunimos para fazer jams e acabou formando uma
banda.
STN - O nome da banda é extremamente sugestivo, por isso tenho
de vos perguntar o porquê desta escolha, é uma sugestão ou uma
declaração?
Psilocibina
- O nome da banda tem a ver com o período em que formamos a
banda, em que tivemos durante um tempo experiências com a
psilocibina. Mas para nós o nome está relacionado diretamente com
conceito de unidade entre o ser humano e a natureza, que acreditamos
ser a mensagem mais importante dessa experiência. Não temos
pretensão de sugerir nada, mas vemos essa ligação como algo
importante e que buscamos traduzir em nossa música.
STN - O vosso primeiro disco foi editado em 2018 e dele saíram
canções como LSD ou 2069, podem falar
um
pouco do processo de composição dessas duas músicas?
Psilocibina
- O processo de composição muitas vezes parte de uma ideia
(como um riff ou uma progressão) e os arranjos são definidos muitas
vezes a partir de jams. Temos hábito de gravar nossos ensaios e
então quando conseguimos captar algo que consideramos expressivo
normalmente damos prosseguimento.
STN - Foram sempre uma banda instrumental ou seja foi este o
vosso projecto desde o inicio ou foi algo que aconteceu e nem se
deram conta?
Psilocibina
- Nós sempre fomos uma banda instrumental mas não estamos
limitados a isso, talvez no próximo disco a gente experimente
algumas inserções com voz nas músicas.
STN - Como funciona o vosso processo criativo?
Psilocibina
- Como
falei anteriormente: O
processo de composição muitas vezes parte de uma ideia (como um
riff ou uma progressão) e os arranjos são definidos muitas vezes a
partir de jams. Temos hábito de gravar nossos ensaios e então
quando conseguimos captar algo que consideramos expressivo
normalmente damos prosseguimento.
STN - Quais as vossas maiores influências artísticas?
Psilocibina
- Bom, temos um gosto musical bem abrangente, então seria um
pouco limitador citar nomes. Mas o que nos influência e nossa
formula é a fusão da música brasileira, jazz, rock e psicodelia.
STN - Quem produz a arte dos vossos discos e merchandising?
Psilocibina
- As artes foram feitas por mim (Alex Sheeny, guitarrista) e a
arte da turnê europeia (a da raposa) foi feita por mim e pelo
baixista Rodrigo Toscano em parceria.
STN - Quais as vossas expectativas para esta primeira tour
europeia?
Psilocibina
- Sinceramente não sabíamos muito bem o que esperar, mas hoje
estamos já chegando praticamente no meio de nossa turnê e todas
nossas expectativas foram superadas. O retorno do público foi
surpreendente e muito positivo. Estamos muito felizes com essa
oportunidade e estamos dando tudo de si em todas as noites.
Songs
to Nowhere - Que disco ou banda vos surpreendeu mais nos últimos
tempos?
Psilocibina
- Preferia pular esta pergunta pois diversos artistas em diversos
estilos de música nos surpreendem quase que diariamente, então não
seria justo nomear somente um.
STN- Tem outra ocupação para lá dos Psilocibina?
Psilocibina
- Sim, todos nós temos outras ocupações. Infelizmente ainda é
impossível para nós sobreviver somente de música e pagar contas ao
mesmo tempo.
STN - Tem formação musical ou são auto didatas?
Psilocibina
- Somos todos autodidatas.
STN - Qual a vossa opinião sobre as mudanças que a internet
impôs ao mercado da música?
Psilocibina
- Bom, são mudanças inevitáveis e acredito que essas mudanças
tem lados positivos e negativos. Acho que não cabe a nós fazer um
juízo de valor se essas mudanças são boas ou ruins pois seria
somente perda de tempo. Estamos mais focados em aproveitar as novas
possibilidades e sempre nos adaptar a realidade.
STN - Já passou um ano desde a saída de Psilocibina,
ultrapassou as vossas expectativas? É que entretanto já abriram
concertos para bandas como os Samsara Blues Experiment entre outros
pesos pesadas da cena stoner e psicadélica actual….
Psilocibina
- Sim, com certeza. O disco ultrapassou totalmente nossas
expectativas pois de início não esperávamos nada. Gravamos e
produzimos o disco de forma independente e até o próprio lançamento
do nosso LP na Europa foi uma grande surpresa. Agora com a turnê
está sendo surpreendente ver de perto aonde nosso trabalho chegou e
como tocou algumas pessoas.
No
entanto gostaríamos de ressaltar que nada disso seria possível sem
o apoio do nosso selo no Brasil – Abraxas Records, comandado pelo
irmão do Rodrigo, o Felipe Toscano. E também com o apoio do selo
alemão Electric Magic Records (comandado pelo Christian Peters,
Samsara Blues Experiment) que lançou nosso discos na Europa.
Psilocibina Supernova 3333
STN - Esta pergunta é quase sempre inevitável. Para quando
um novo álbum?
Psilocibina
- Estamos planejando um novo lançamento para o ano que vem.
Nessa turnê já estamos tocando algumas músicas novas que estarão
no próximo disco.
STN - Qual a vossa opinião e de que forma vos afecta a actual
situação política no Brasil?
Psilocibina
- Bom, somos totalmente opostos ao governo atual. Nos afeta pois
além de ser um governo que que vai totalmente contra as liberdades
individuais acreditamos ser a pior fase política que o país já
passou.
STN - Se pudessem viajar no tempo com quem gostariam de
partilhar o palco ou que concerto gostariam de ver?
Psilocibina
- Se pudéssemos viajar no tempo seria para o futuro, então
ficaria difícil nomear alguém para partilhar o palco. 2069!
STN - A última palavra é vossa!
Psilocibina
- Gostaríamos de agradecer a todos que tem ido aos nossos shows
e nos dado suporte seja comparecendo aos shows, comprando nossos
discos ou nosso merchandise e também a nossas famílias e amigos que
nos apoiam. Fazer música é uma tarefa ingrata mas ao mesmo tempo é
um ideal de vida. Por isso nunca deixem de acreditar nos seus sonhos.
É a única mensagem possível. Obrigado!
This is the fifth chapter of a series of interviews dedicated to italians bands currently creating and performing on very high levels of quality. I was introduced to The Gluts most probably through Fuzz Club releases or any other youtube channel I follow and I liked it almost immediately, but like most of the bands for whom I develop some kind of admiration, besides liking what they're producing, what has fascinated me is the way they present themselves to a live audience.
They played in Portugal in 2017 at Reverence Santarém.
2019 is the year of Dengue Hypnotic Fever, an album almost as strong and raw as they're live performances. At Eindhoven Fuzz Club the word was that they signed one of the best shows there, and for the looks of videos on youtube, I'm almost inclined to agree.
Showing a great deal of noise since the release of Warsaw in 2014 were you can find songs like Bad Man, Enemies or darker ones like Don't Tease Me Please or Vietnam, we can also identify this certain darkness that I mostly relate to a new interpretation of eighties post-punk that has spread all over europe and from wich The Gluts were one the first bands emerging. Listen to Estasi, released in 2017, or watch the Fuzz Club Sessions with the Gluts from 2018. And if you're still having second thoughts on these four italians listen to Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip as loud as you can handle it! For all said before here's the interview with the Milanese band The Gluts, to give us a broader picture of what is happening in Italy, and more specifically with them!
Songs
to Nowhere – When and how did you met and began playing together?
The Gluts - The Gluts were born in 2013 when Marco and Nicolò - who
are a peaceful version of Gallagher brothers, respectively the
guitarist and the frontman met Claudia. She was asked if she had
known any bassist available around, she replied “That’s me” and
the band was built up. Three years later, after two drummers, Dario
joined the band after being “stalked” by Nicolò since the
beginning.
The Gluts - Come To Fire
STN
– Why did you call
yourselves The Gluts?
The
Gluts -
The name comes from the artistic series made by Robert
Rauschenberg,who
worked with and displayed several abandoned and industrial final
goods that weren’t sold because the offer was much higher than
demand. The reason behind the choice was bound to the will to express
a kind of excess, a noisy excess.
STN
– Were there any differences between the making of Dengue Fever
Hypnotic Trip and your previous works? The Gluts - Maybe the main difference is that we had the
opportunity to work with a producer for the very first time. We chose
Bob De Wit and he chose us, it was a mutual pick, or bet, and it did
go very well: he helped us with some new fresh ideas during the
recording sessions. He’s the best we could have ever asked.
STN
- How did you got acquainted with your current label?
The
Gluts - Claudia was brave enough to write directly a message
to Casper by Facebook Messenger. He listened to us, he liked us and
sent us the contract the day after. A kind of a magic.
STN
– Last year Fuzz Club released a Fuzz Club Session of The
Gluts, how did you choose the songs to feature on it, what was the
criteria?
The
Gluts - That was quiete simple: we had a new album out and
we were touring around Europe, so we picked up a bunch of the songs
we were performing, preferring the ones that could better return
multiple shades of our sounds.
The Gluts - Fuzz Club Sessions - That's Me
STN
– Can you talk a bit about some of your songs and how they came up;
I would like to suggest E. The Real Punk Rocker, Come To Fire
and Don’t Believe in Fairy Tales... The Gluts - Well, regarding the lyrics and the title of E. The
Real Punk Rocker are a kind of a joke and tribute to a very famous
italian songwriter, whose real name is Edoardo. He has nothing to
share with the punk music scene, but we don’t usually listen to
him, unless when we find ourselves stocked in the van for hours.
Concerning Come To Fire, we wanted to experiment with drum machine
and the song came out almost immediately.
STN
- In your own terms how would you describe your music? The Gluts - It’s not as easy as it seems. Probably it would be
appropriate saying that it is a dark, obscure and angry energy that
resides in our deeper and inner selves, which is given an external,
noisy and punk musical shape.
The Gluts - E. The Real Punk Rocker
STN
- How would you describe your individual parts on the creation
process of your songs?
The
Gluts - The individual parts are almost every time the
preliminary work: it never happened that we found ourselves play an
entire song entirely written from the beginning to the end by only
one of us. It’s a collective work that could require a month for a
song or just one night session.
STN
- Who looks after your artwork?
The
Gluts - We can barely draw a line, so the artwork is
always looked after by a special guy, really creative and versatile.
His name is Paolo Proserpio, who worked with Alessandro Comotti for
the DFHT’s artwork.
STN
- Your first release was a really DYI thing, do you still do things
like that or you step into another level? The
Gluts -We did
believe in our record, we received proposals from several record
labels which were simply crazy, so we decided to produce and print it
by ourselves. It was a reckless decision but the right one in the
end. By the time of second press, things had changed we got a
reasonable deal with German label Nasoni Records.
The Gluts - Enemies
STN
- Where did you all learn to play? Did you have lessons
or anything like that?
The
Gluts - Do
we really know how to play properly?
STN
- Did you had previous experiences before The Gluts? The
Gluts - All
of us. Claudia had two musical experiences before entering The Gluts:
a all-female band called “The Cocos” and a power trio called
“TSO”, meanwhile Dario played in a band with a fake French name,
“gouton rouge”.In
his 20’s Marco had played as guitarist and main vocalist for
several years in “Gasnervino”, a pure punk rock band. About
Nico’s experiences, well, it’s much better not to say anything
more.
STN
- How did you buy your first gear?
The
Gluts - Working
hard and grabbing from our dads’s gear. We are lucky enough to have
all our fathers still playing in their own bands too!
The Gluts - Fuzz Club Session - Ponytail
STN
- Can you tell us how was your first rehearsal?
The
Gluts -Our
first rehearsal with Dario on drums was really hot and exciting. It
sounds like we matched on Tinder and went out for a date, it was
awesome, but in the middle of the hottest week of that summer.
STN
- How was it your first tour in Italy? The Gluts - We simply don’t tour in Italy, We’re interested in
playing sometimes around, but it never happened that we played three
days in a row in Italy. We do not fit very well in the Italian scene.
STN- How the local music scene for you? Are
there venues that were anyway crucial for you? The Gluts - Narrowing the field to Milan, there are few good places
for live music, it depends on your musical tastes, but unfortunately
there’s still no crucial Italian venue for us.
STN
- What about internet and new technologies impact on music? What’s
your opinion our ideas about what has changed in these last 15/20
years in music, was it for the best? The Gluts - This is a question that would need an essay to be given a
proper answer, but our opinion is that internet and social media did
and does really help bands to emerge, naturally not always, and
create new social and musical bonds around the globe. The
“music-scapes” is not local anymore, not only at least, but
everything could be lasting less because there’s always something
new that is eager to come out.
STN- How’s the interaction between bands?
The Gluts - Mutual respect, admiration and affection, mostly by
social medial and in the backstages.
STN- What
Italian bands most influenced you?
The
Gluts - CCCP is by far the italian band that influenced us
as individuals and musicians.
STN - What other musicians or artists influenced or influence you? The Gluts - Maybe too many to recall all of them and write their
names down, but we can confess you that during the last months
interpersonal relations in the band were somehow heavily influenced
by the fictional characters and dynamics of GOT.
STN
- How are the radio and press in Italy? I mean regarding the
underground scene…
The
Gluts - We can name you four radio stations that push for
emergent bands: Lifegate Radio, Never Was Radio, Radio Popolare,
Radio Raheem and Radio Kaos Italy. Some friends of us work in all of
them except in the first one, and they always give their best to let
the listeners discover some new good music. We can also name you
Radiophonic programs that we listen to sometimes, like Tropical Pizza
on Radio Deejay and Babylon on Radio Rai2, which are two of the most
important radio stations in Italy.
At
the end, none of them can broadcast our songs, kind of too heavy
stuff in Italy.
The Gluts - Fuzz Club Sessions - Squirrel
STN
- Are you connected to other musical projects or do you have other
occupations other than music?
The
Gluts - Actually no, we do not have other musical projects.
STN
- Could do us a short resume for dummies of Italian music?
The
Gluts - (From the 60’s and so on, Luigi Tenco,
Fabrizio De André, Lucio Battisti, Ivan Graziani, Franco Battiato,
only speaking about the song singer-writer current. The latest one is
definitely the most experimental italian popular composer and singer.
Apart from it, there’s too much to say. Hope you don’t mind if we
skip it.)
STN
– “Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip” was out in April. What
are your expectations for it in the long term?
The
Gluts - We want it to be considered for what it is, the
greatest record of 2019 ;)
The Gluts - Bad Man
STN –
If
you could time travel, were would you like to go see a show or play?
The
Gluts -
If we had only one individual occasion Dario and Claudia would agree
and probably they would catch up at Nirvana’s performances at
Reading Festival or at the Paramount Theater. Marco would go for Jimi
Hendrix, just to hear in person the fuzz effects he used to play,
while Nicolò instead, would likely go for Sex Pistols in the 70’s.
On the other hand, if we had to make a colegial decision we would opt
for Joy Division, without any shadow of a doubt. STN
–
When
can we expect a show from The Gluts in Portugal?
The
Gluts - Actually,
we played in Portugal, two years ago. It was our experience in
another part of Europe but Italy.We’d
like to come back, but nothing on the horizon right now, sorry.
The Gluts at Fuzz Club Eindhoven'19
STN
– Name the last song or band that completely blew your
minds!
The
Gluts - Well, lately we are all listening to “tunic”. Really
like their attitude.
STN
– The last word is yours!
The Gluts - Thanks for the interview Isabel Maria! For those who
spend their time to read too. Listen to us, follow us on FB and IG
and see you around, maybe in Eindhoven. (FCB19)
Os
SerVo estrearam-se em Portugal no inicio deste verão. Esta estreia
foi proporcionada por uma excelente parceria entre o Sabotage Club e
a Fuzz Club que traria várias bandas portuguesas e também
internacionais ao palco do Cais do Sodré em duas noites. Uma
sucessão de desaires e coisas menos boas levou a que o festival se
viesse a resumir a uma noite onde actuaram os SerVo, Pretty Lightning
e os portugueses 10 000 Russos. Apesar de tudo foi uma noite
fantástica e a estreia dos SerVo não deixou nada ao acaso nem o
crédito por mãos alheias, desde as luzes preparadas pela banda à
projecção que se via quer no fundo do palco, quer outra mais
pequena projectada apenas no amplificador de um dos músicos. A sua
sonoridade que se pode situar nos meandros da nova vaga de post punk
atinge o seu máximo potencial ao vivo, e se por agora, foi difícil
encontrar alguma matéria sobre a banda, é seguro dizer que muito
provavelmente daqui a um ano não será bem assim. O próximo disco
já está perto de ser editado e a expectativa é alta.
Songs
to Nowhere – How did you got acquainted and began to play?
SerVo
- Louis (bass) and Arthur (guitar) know each other since
they’re born. They began to play music together in high school.
Hugo (drums) joined the band a bit later.
STN
– What does it mean SeRvo?
SerVo
-It is
the name of a song from the BJM. I think, at the beginning, we just
liked the way the word sounds. It’s
quite difficult to find an adequate band name and we thought this one
was not completely bad.
STN
– How would you describe the music you do?
SerVo
-It's
hard to tell. We sometimes say “psych / cold”, but it doesn't
really mean anything. Some people call us “postpunk” or
“shoegaze”. The thing is that we use a lot of reverb, delay and
fuzz but still try to avoid the “psych” stereotypes.We
like to describe it as ambient, mechanical and violent.
STN
– Could you disclose us a bit about your song Love#2 or anyother
you would like to talk about?
SerVo
- It's
all about love and being ready to love.
STN
– Where did you all learn to play? Did you have lessons or anything
like that?
SerVo
-We
mostly learned by ourselves. Our drummer used to learn the clarinet
when he was a child, but it is not something that's really usefull
for the band.
STN
– Can you tell us how was your first rehearsal?
SerVo
-We
don't really remember the first rehearsal, but we're almost sure it
sounded awfull.
STN – How was it your first
tour?
SerVo
-For
our first tour, we were with another band called Greyfell, we went to
the east of France and Switzerland. It was mostly in squats and
self-managed venues. It was cold and there were as many dogs as
people during the shows, but we had fun.
STN
– How the local music scene for you? Are there venues that were
anyway crucial for you?
SerVo
-We
live in Rouen, which is not a very big city, there is not many venues
but we've been supported by Le 106, a local venue where we can
rehearse too, and the people who work there are really helping all
the local bands. The other venue is Le 3 Pièces, which is a bar with
a small scene in the cellar. We have to confess we spend a lot of
time there. But there is actually a lot of bands in Rouen, and the
scene starts to be really interesting. We created a collective with
some friends that is called SOZA. It is meant to gather bands we like
in Rouen.
STN –
Which bands most influenced you?
SerVo
–To
name a few ones : -
Black lips, A Place to Bury Strangers, Metz, Holograms, Dead
Skeleton, Scrap Dealers and especially the opening song of Pokemon ..
STN
– Could do us a short resume for dummies of French musical scene?
SerVo
-There
is a lot of bands, and some of them are actually really good. One of
our favorite french band is Korto, you definitely should listen to
their album.
STN
– If you could time travel, were would you like to go see a show or
play?
SerVo
-In
the future. Or maybe for dinosaurs.
STN –
“The Lair of Gods ” was out in 2016. When can we expect a new
álbum?
SerVo
-We
already recorded the new album. We're currently working on the mix,
and we'd like to release it by the end of the year.
STN
– You’re playing in Portugal in the last week of June, can you
disclose what’s to be expected in your shows here?