The Van Pelt + Fargo Reunion Tour

May 2012. It's a warm Sunday afternoon in Williamsburg, New York and I'm in a bar, drinking a beer - it's likely to be a San Miguel - and catching up with a friend I haven't seen for a very long time because of an ocean dividing us.

"Don't you think it's time for the Van Pelt to reunite? I know for a fact people in Europe would go crazy if you toured the Old Continent"
" Well yes, maybe at some point ...we have been kind of asked already... but I am not sure people even know who we are nowadays".
"You kidding??? Do it and you won't be disappointed" I replied, but we cut it short as I had the certainty he was just pandering me and there's nothing worse than bothering someone about their former disbanded band.

Unexpectedly, two years after that conversation, The Van Pelt released what would have been their third album back in the late 90's and announced a few summer shows in Europe: Italy, London and Spain.

The news itself was already enough to make my heart beat like a speeding train, but they all come at once, and I soon learned that Fargo, our local heros from Pordenone, would have reunited and played as well with The Van Pelt on their 2 Italian gigs.

The choice was hard to make but I've been waiting [for] you for hours and hours and hours, so despite being a dirty job I had to do it: pack my stuff and fly back to Italy was the only possible option to me.
Because We Are 98.

The Italian shows have just happened and, as if I were teenager again, I can now only feel the nostalgia for the days just gone.
Until the next one.


Below some videos I recorded in Conegliano and Marina di Ravenna.

The Van Pelt

Baggy Fargo

Skinny Fargo

[O tempora, O mores!]

FARGO.
Pastel Drawing
@ Apartamento Hoffman, Conegliano.




FARGO.
Me And My Half
@ Apartamento Hoffman, Conegliano.




FARGO.
I Won't Be Back
@ Hana-Bi, Marina di Ravenna





THE VAN PELT
Yamato (Where People Really Die)
@ Apartamento Hoffman, Conegliano.





THE VAN PELT
The Threat
@ Apartamento Hoffman, Conegliano.




THE VAN PELT
The Betrayal
@ Apartamento Hoffman, Conegliano.





THE VAN PELT
My Bouts With Pouncing
@ Hana-Bi, Marina di Ravenna





THE VAN PELT
His Saxophone Is My Guitar
@ Hana-Bi, Marina di Ravenna

Stellina. Live in Pordenone, 1997.

Forgotten and obscure videotapes sometimes arise from dusty shelves like precious relics.

In the last paragraph of this old post I mentioned a secret-ish Stellina show (and a few other local bands) in their reharsal room, back in 1997.
During that cold night, what was somehow supposed to be an intimate private gig, turned into the Saturday night event for all the youngsters in town. Maybe that's why we all remember it so well.

Over a year ago, during one of my periodic homecoming, my friend Ivan informed me there was actually someone holding a videotape of that night.
The mission was going to be difficult, although not impossible: retrieve the VHS, borrow it from the owner, and digitize it.
When you have such idea in mind, and you actually live in two different countries and you also have to involve other people to do the dirty job, it could take years and years to reach your aim.
Sure enough, almost two years have gone and only part of the VHS has been correctly transformed in a digital format.

For the time being enjoy Stellina full set, more or less 15 mins of 90's emocore.


Many thanks go to Ivan and to Giorgio who kindly lent the VHS.

Oliver, live @ Better Days Are Gone festival. August 2000

Work in progress...

Pordenone series n° 2: TODIEFOR live

June 2001 @ Drugstore*
Lignano, Friuli, Italy.
Not one Word and To Die for played a killer show.

This is To Die For's full set.

This is just what used to happen at any TDF gig.

Thanks to Fabietto.


* Date and venue in the video are not correct. Lots of witnesses confirm.

Pordenone series: Amon + Members Of Parliament

Put Pordenone on the map. This little piece of land: close to the mountains, close to the sea, close to Venice, any foreigner could think of it as an ideal place to live.

What an undeniable truth when you are in the age of retirement!

However, I am admittedly glad I grew up in that town rather than in any other city or village of the far north-eastern area of Italy: in fact, compared to the collective sadness that distinguishes the surroundings, Pordenone had several blooming seasons, especially in the decades 1980 and 1990.

I have already posted about Stellina, and I feel 2 other bands can be associated to them: Amon and the Members Of Parliament.Not only the same hometown is the reason for such linkage, but also the sharing of some members, and some sort of continuity between the three bands, as if each one were the natural prosecution of the previous one.The same short-existance and obscurity can be mentioned at last.

1997: While Stellina was about to disband, one of their members, Davide and 3 other friends, gave birth to Amon, a four-piece band influenced by Maximillian Colby, Sleepytime Trio, Four Hundred Years, Shotmaker, The Hal Al Shedad.Despite a couple of line-up changes along the years, they recorded a demo tape - never released and lost in someone's house - in summer 1998, and their self titled cd with Azzali (Burning Defeat's bass player) in 1999, released on Otto Records.

Amon, 2000

In the meantime new listenings were influencing their sound: Slint, Don Caballero, Hoover and Tortoise among many, and, according to this transformation, in 2000 they were ready to compose some new songs.Which would have sounded pretty much like this track.

Recordings though, were always deleterious for Amon and in 2001 their adventure together was over.

Band: Amon
Title: s/t
Label: Otto Rec.
Year: 1999
Genre: old school emo/ post rock
Location: Pordenone, Friuli
Related bands: Members Of Parliament, Stellina, Pain, Dejligt, Olek, Circlesouth

1. Nemesis
2. 10th September
3. While You Watch All The Keys Are Guaranteed
4. Different Frequences
5. ***
6. Sequencer

Amon.rar

A new chapter for three of them, had already started in 1999/2000: signed up Baloo (already drummer in With Love and Stellina, and now Smart Cops' singer) on the mic, they bought a stock of black clothes and, riding the wave of the surf-ish punk hc along the lines of the GSL sound, became the (official) five Members Of Parliament.The album was recorded in 2002 and was meant to be released on Heroine Records as a split with To The Ansaphone.Due to unclear reasons, such as a significant line-up change and some label's issues, the album was never released.An appearance at the Dance Of Days Festival in 2002 gave them national notoriety, even though they soon disappeared at the same speed that brought them to be much talked about.

Band: Members Of Parliament
Title: n/a
Label: unreleased
Year: 2002
Genre: surf synth punk
Location: Pordenone, Friuli
Related bands: Stellina, Amon, Olek, With Love, Smart Cops, Man On Wire

Members Of Parliament.rar

Not One Word, Daybreak 7"

When you grow up in a dead-end seaside town in the upper Adriatic Sea, which in summertime is completely invaded by low class turists (the definition of low class is as follows: young people of the nearby areas whose main activity is working 500 hours a week in order to spend 7 days a year in the mentioned village, doing pretty much nothing; families and aged tourists from Germanic countries) whilst in wintertime the population is wiped out and the few locals find themselves living in a deserted place, miles away from any hint of civilization, only two options occur to you, young man.

1. Spending your nights and days at the only open bar, drinking (good and cheap) red wine, while embracing a future of alcoholism.

2. Drinking flavoured orangeades in a rehearsal room and playing fast hardcore.

If a Straight Edge scene developed in Lignano, the said uncomfortable area, it's no surprise, or maybe this is just a romantic interpretation of some incidental occurrences.

'Each day we dare to express our potentiality by staying drug free, we take a stand against what has got the power to reduce this youth's will to slavery and so I'll show you that there is more than just an X on the back of my hand. '

Until 1998-1999 there was just a band in Lignano called Silen playing some sort of new school hardcore ala Unbroken and Chokehold, then the firestorm spread, originating two music waves within the same circle of friends: the hardcore metal mosh wing (From The Dying Sky, that later will become The Secret abandoning the xedgex in a forgotten drawer) and pursuing a more drastic vegansxe attitude, and the smoother but still politically committed old school hc wing (Best Of Times).

Not One Word was born in 2000 from the ashes of Best Of Times when Nicola from To Die For joined the band.

They had some line up changes and released a 7" in 2002 on Head X On Rec, worth to circumnavigate the whole peninsula from east to west and to reach the civilized hinterland, before calling it quits in 2003.

Fond of Magnum, P.I. (the last song on the B side, Aloha State, is a revisited cover of its theme song), their splitting up featured an anecdote worthy of their favourite detective tv show.

"The day we decided to split up, Fede, Nasty and I [Pier] met up to talk about the actual state of the band. It was a dark and foggy evening and we were hanging around along the docks in Lignano. All of a sudden we heard a thud, something fell down the water, and straight after a woman screamed: a man slipped in the sea while trying to take his previously-fallen-into-the-sea dog back. We run there and saved the guy by grabbing him with a makeshift rope, whilst the dog managed to get out the water by itself. The woman never stopped screaming, it was a pleasant background noise during our heroic act."

Band: Not One Word

Title: Daybreak 7"

Label: Head X On Rec.

Year: 2002

Genre: Hardcore Old School

Location: Lignano (Udine), Friuli

Related bands: To Die For, From The Dying Sky, The Secret, Slowmotion Apocalypse, The Guilt Show

1. Face The Music

2. Never Been So Clear

3. Your Ruin - There's No Discovery

4. Shall We Point The Way

5. Against The Sun

6. Aloha State

7. Outrun [demo track]

Not One Word, Daybreak 7".zip

Roccu and The Pop Anarchist

I am at my parents' these days, the Christmas routine is getting underway: old records are waiting to be played again and compulsory yearly steps can't be skipped!

A white cd-rom wrapped up in a red home printed cover is found hidden on a shelf: Roccu and the Pop Anarchist, and it's a flashback of about 10 years.

I suddenly find myself in a little village called Moglia in Emilia Romagna at the second (or third?) edition of the DanceOfDays festival organized by one of the most emo kids of all times: Simone from Modena, also known as Scrimo.

As the story goes once Scrimo had listened over the telephone a song played by A Couple, a side (electronic) project formed by Rocco Rampino and Luca Fontaneto, and got so excited that he decided to make them play the upcoming festival.

Their main official and/or former bands were La Quiete and The Death Of Anna Karina (Rocco) and One Fine Day (Luca) but their friendship and artistic esteem were so big that they shared several other short-lived projects together, such as The Diamond Sea (an all star band with members of La Quiete, By All Means, The Death Of Anna Karina and other unforgettable personalities - Hey Arash! Hey Boris!- of those times), the above mentioned A Couple, and last but not least the side-side electronic project called Roccu and The Pop Anarchist which came to life and died with that very super diy record.

So A Couple performed at DanceOfDays Fest that day and for the occasion 50 copies of this cd were recorded and printed to be given to friends for free.

'That music never went out of our bedrooms, we never performed live' explains Luca.

'I totally forgot I made that record. Well now I do remember, but it's something which slipped my mind' says Rocco "If I am not wrong my track was recorded at my parents' in Lecce (Puglia, South of Italy) during Christmas holidays, then masterized at Luca's. In the early Noughties I moved up north (Forlì/Bologna) to go to uni, so I was obliged to record my stuff all in once, anytime I had the chance to go back to my hometown: at that time I did not even own a personal computer!

I downloaded a software which I still use nowadays to make music, Reaktor, and I recorded anything that came out at my first attempt. I don't remember much more about that record, I think Luca convinced me to release it on the occasion of the DanceOfDays festival and give it away for free...(At that time) We used to play together in The Diamond Sea, and this was meant to be a side project but then anything seemed like a side project in my eyes and just the fact that Luca was involved into it meant huge excitement and a short life ---> Roccu and the Pop Anarchist= 1 record. A couple= 1 show. The Diamond Sea= 1 track recorded and 5 shows.'

'Hey side projects are short-lived by definition!' replies Luca.

Okay Luca, do not take it personally, that way you passed into legend!

Band: Roccu + The Pop Anarchist

Title: s/t

Label: self released

Year: 2002

Genre: electronic / Warp

Location: Forlì (Emilia Romagna) + Novara (Piemonte)

Related Bands: La Quiete, One Fine Day, The Death Of Anna Karina, The Diamond Sea, A Couple, Le Ceneri, Hot Gossip, A Fog In The Shell, Mouth, Congorock

1. Why Do Children Die? (Roccu)

2.Cheetah Chrome Mutherfuckers (TPA)

3.Heading Down South (TPA)

4.Will You Ever Date Me? (TPA)

Roccu and The Pop Anarchist. rar

Solo Per I Tuoi Occhi - mid 90's HC videotape compilation

It spread out along the web today at the speed of light: it's a piece of history, memories, nostalgia.

You can't miss it if you lived those years, if you always wanted to live those years or if you are just a music geek.

This video compilation, dated 1995, contains footages recorded in 3 different italian squats in Veneto and Emilia Romagna, the most relevant areas during the mid/late 90's in terms of bands and gigs.

You will have the pleasure to watch, in order:

Snowfall (Vicenza)

Lifetime (Usa)

MOURN (Guastalla)

Omaha (USA)

Bluid (Treviso)

Konfettura (Cesena)

Concrete (Rome)

Metroschifter (Usa)

X gocce nel mare X (Vicenza)

Antisgammo (Padova)

Burning Defeat (Alessandria)

Ivory Cage (Bologna)

Gilda (Verona)

Bruma (Roma)

With Love (Vittorio Veneto - Treviso)

Peace Of Mind (n/a)

Geyser (Padova)

Daniele Brusaschetto Project Band (n/a)

Dalston's Creek zine

I haven't updated this blog recently for two different reasons:

firstly, I have been waiting for someone to send me some good material and anecdotes about a couple of old bands I wanted to write about and, unfortunately, still waiting, but finally they are maybe on their own way.

Secondly and mostly, I have been really busy in writing and publishing a paper zine together with my friend Elena

It is intended for an italian audience, as focused on London and on our adventures in this city and called Dalston's Creek.

Dalston's Creek will be out tomorrow, hopefully, but it will be officially launched this Saturday, 17th September at (the last) Anti Mtv Day Fest 10 which will take place in Bologna, Italy.

If you are italian and you read this blog you already know anything you need to know about this fest.

If you are a foreigner you can have a look at the flier to find out what bands will play and you can copy and paste this on google translator to find out what it is all about.

No need to add that meeting tons of people from all around the country you haven't seen for a while will be the best part of it.

However Dalston's Creek zine has page DalstonsCreekZine and you can click on LIKE and tell your friends.

A press release follows.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dalston’s creek zine sta raggiungendo il suo agognato traguardo: essere pubblicata.

Dopo mesi di futili preparativi e tempistiche sballate, questo pezzo unico della letteratura italiana - quantitativamente e qualitativamente parlando - potrá raggiungere le vostre scrivanie in ufficio, i vostri comodini, lo scaffale accanto al WC, il bidone del reciclabile.

Dalston’s Creek é una fanzine di carta che nasce nelle fredde lande d’Albione e di questa terra cerca di offrirvi uno spaccato permeato di affetto ed ironia, impertinenza ed entusiasmo.

Con contenuti impegnati tanto quanto una column su Heartattack, il suo lancio ufficiale dovrebbe avvenire in occasione dell’ultimo Antimtvday a Bologna il 17 settembre.

Prenotate la vostra copia, la potrete ottenere ad un ragionevolissimo prezzo ancora da fissare, che tuttavia ci permetterá di ripagare i nostri debiti con la vita oltre che la manovra finanziaria.

Scriveteci a questo indirizzo per comunicazioni di ogni sorta dalstonscreekzine@gmail.com

ed intanto PIACETECI su facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/DalstonsCreekZine

Grazie per l’attenzione.

Sara e Elena

Dalston’s Creek team.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding this blog, I will be back very soon. I promise.

Two Days Fest in Padova, 2001. Bellicosi, Encore Fou, Ohuzaru, Product.

Friday Night Fever is really uncool.

On a positive note, this wrecked Friday night has been saved by the finding of this shooting of a Two-days-fest which happened in Padova exactly 10 years ago. "Summer of 2001, June 10th" to quote Des Ark. It seems like it was yesterday.

It includes footages of Bellicosi, Encoure Fou, Product, and Ohuzaru.

Epic.

AFRAID!

Ok, nostalgia often gets the upper hand but sometimes there's no need to go that far back in the days, when there are bands that EVEN in the Noughties made such good music.

Afraid! is a five-piece band from Verona. A band that, for a certain period of time, I had to follow anywhere they play.

Their line up and sound have changed a lot through the years.

Just straight after their birth, years 2002- 2003, they sounded like The Get Up Kids (do not mention it to them, please!), then they went through that San Diego screamo phase which lasted for the majority of their years of activity, and then end up with a new-wawish touch in their last record Megalöklift released in 2009.

Now I tend to talk about Afraid! with the past tense due to the fact their last appearance happened long time ago but Afraid! are still in their rehearsal room, working on some new tunes which - according to their own opinion - many people won't like as much as the previous albums.

If you want to have a written definition of what you are going to listen through these pages, think to a somehow poppish and danceable version of the Crimson Curse, and there you go...you will have only a very far idea of what Afraid! sounds like. Definitions suck. The use of your own ears wins.

Afraid! - s/t EP

Band: Afraid!

Title: s/t, Ep

Label: self released

Year: 2004

Genre: San Diego wave

Location: Verona - Veneto

Artwork: ericailcane

1. Knock, Please

2. Kissing Joey Tempest

3. Red Refrain

4. Under Coppers Of The Chestnut Tree

5. Chicken Winged Angels

6. The Filthy Adultery

Afraid! Self Titled. rar

A Flower Kollapsed, Afraid! split cd

Band: Afraid! + A Flower Kollapsed

Title: -

Label: Error! Rec. + Holidays Rec.

Year: 2007

Genre: San Diego Wave + Math-core

Location: Verona - Veneto + Conegliano (Treviso) - Veneto.

Artwork: Tommaso Gorla

1. A Flower Kollapsed: Blank Picture is Cool.

2. A Flower Kollapsed: Chrocodile Two Meters Long, Three Three Meters.

3. Afraid!: Varenne, Varenne

4. Afraid!: Songoffedcka

A Flower Kollapsed, Afraid! split cd . rar

Afraid!, s/t, 7"

Band: Afraid!

Title: s/t

Label: Holidays Rec

Year: 2008

Genre: San Diego wave

Location: Verona - Veneto

Artwork: Canedicoda

1. The Aim Generator

2. Whenever Yo Go Dancing, There Always Be Someone Who Does The Robot

3. Sweaty Jesus After The Miracle

Afraid!, s/t 7" .rar

Emily

Another revolutionary act on my personal music life.

September 1996.

It's the beginning of a new scholastic year and, you know, a new year at school means always a new year in perspectives and lifestyle, especially when you are so young.

The first years of my teenage had been confused, as much as anyone else's I guess: switching seamlessly from a Faith No More Cd to a East17 one, while passing through Guns n' Roses and TLC. Some good hints mixed with embarrassing ones, where no criteria was the only criterion. (and I - kind of - esteem this type of attitude now, compared to that closed-minded stance of the following punk years for which the more obscure and unknown band, the better.. We were young though, can we be blamed for it?)

However, it was a Saturday evening and my brother asked me to go with him and see this band called Emily, which he had already run across a few days before.

He said I might have liked it too.

Only God knows why he had this thought as I was still uninitiated to the world of punk rock: evidently he saw some potentiality on me and yeah he was right.

A small music festival with local random bands was on in this nearby small village at the feet of the mountain. Honestly, nothing to go crazy about. Just lots of people and curious with nothing better to do on a still warm late summer weekend: a pleasant evening.

When Emily went on stage my perception of the whole thing changed drastically. I mean, apart from the music, which was captivating and mind-blowing, the atmosphere had something peculiar I couldn't describe. Those 3 guys were playing and singing and their friends were around there, singing and having fun with them. And there was no distinction between performers and audience. The only thing you could clearly distinguish were their colorful hair (oh yes, the 90's!) and their skateboards.

I fell in love with this scene.

At the end of the show I went by the merchandise stall to buy their tape: "Let us know what you think of it" it's what I was told by the guys behind the distro.

SERIOUSLY? I had no courage to show my astonishment but...do you really care about what I think? This was something really new to me.

I guess this was my first engagement with D.I.Y

Emily had been active from 1995 to 1997.

They were about 17 years old at that time and they sang and made a point about love life issues, homosexual relationships, squats, idol worship, nuclear testing/environmental exploitation.

After this experience Enrico, Manuel and Marco had several other bands.

Worth to mention that Alain from To Die For had been the only 4th member for a short period of time.

They are now the less nostalgic thirty-year-old guys I have ever met though, so I don't think we will ever be able to have any further news about this band, nor a reunion. R.I.P.

Band: Emily

Title: s/t

Label: Scufiòt

Year: 1996

Genre: punk rock

Location: Maniago (Pordenone), Friuli.

Related bands: Oliver, Oslo, To Die For, Ulan Bator, Man On Wire.

1. Strong Man

2. Waiting For Me

3. Peaceful Holiday

4. Mary's Got A Garden

5. A Book

6. Picture's Room

7. Love Your Love

Emily .rar

Handrail, Fossil (Unreleased)

When I was at the High School/Secondary School (or whatever it is called, I'll never learn) back in the 90's, there were 3 different papers, which for some reasons I constantly looked through more than anything else:

° the Italian vocabulary

° the atlas

° the Greenrecords mailorder catalogue, year 1999

The latter, according to universal awareness, was something more than a simple catalogue.

To me it has been the abc of the hc, the ancestor wikipedia of punk, my personal trainer into the world of indipendent music and most of all the best means to discover new bands and make safe purchases. (Not true: I have to admit that without a sneak preview of a record - read: the Internet- was very easy to waste your money in something which you hoped was better).

However the reviews were short and brief, with no annoying stately language, no circumlocutions, just a simple and handy definition with links to similar bands. Sometimes those writings were so sincere that they seemed to question any laws of marketing.

And so was in there that I spent days and days just by reading it, studying it, and then highlighting with three different colours the records that I might have liked the most, in order to make a savvy and sensible choice. Then after the final decision, the letter was ready to be sent via ordinary mail and after weeks of eager waiting finally the parcel was able to reach your house.

There was one record in that catalogue which I had waited with hope and anxiety for years. It was advertised as a coming new release for Green Rec and it featured members of my beloved Burning Defeat playing some kind of (old school) emo: Handrail.

After postponing the releasing date tons of times, eventually the record never came out.

Those 8 tracks can finally see the light.

click to enlarge

This is a short biography written by Andrea X Ferraris (long life to him!) one of its members, as well as of Burning Defeat.

Handrail had been active since 1998 to 1999 and after several line-up changes the only permanent members were me on guitar/vocals and Tony on drums. Fossil was recorded by Daniele Giordana at One Voice Studio in Chivasso, the final line-up was Tony on drums, Fulvio (from Permanent Scar/Jilted) on bass (who replaced Ilo), Daria on guitar and me on guitar/vocals. This recording should have been released by Green Rec/Genet Rec, but we called it quits right after the recording because I was more absorbed by OneFineDay and Tony was deeply involved with his medical studies to become a doctor.

Karate, Idaho and The Van Pelt were our cup of tea back in the days...

Band: Handrail
Title: Fossil
Label: Unreleased (Supposedly Green Records / Genet Records)
Year: 1998
Genre: Indie/emocore
Location: Alessandria- Piemonte
Related Bands: Burning Defeat, One Fine Day, Deep End and many more

1. Russian Roulette With A Bon Bon
2. Sleeping Bag
3. Fossil
4. Fader
5. End Of A Season
6. Supernova Burner
7. Glory Box
8. Ilo

Handrail, Fossil (unreleased) . zip

Negazione - Sempre In Bilico

Elder brothers have several different functions in the family context. Elements of comparison, bad babysitters, perpetrators of your psycological abuse, playmates and so on. If you are lucky enough though they might own a few records which, actively o passively you are keen on/compelled to listen to.

I spent years and years of my childhood being forced to listen to those James Brown's 300db shrieks (forgive me, King of Soul, this is what a white 8 year-old-girl can think of you if put through an extended and unwanted listening of your music. I will later understand), or heavy metal tunes I didnt want to know (exasperated eventually even my father once was obliged to admit he didn't mind the Slayer. Hilarious). Some other times things went better and I ended up, ages later, finding out that I loved bands I couldnt think I would have loved. The power of passive listening.

In other words the access to your brothers' record collection can be a considerable victory if you bump into a Negazione lp in the very moment you are discovering the joy(s) of punk.

That's what actually happened a few years ago (15? a few? uh?) when someone living under my same roof told me to listen to Sempre in Bilico 7" from Negazione.

Given for granted that everybody knows them and they don't need any further introduction.

Straight from Torino in the 80's they are literally a piece of history of (the middle age of) italian punk.

Band: Negazione
Title: Sempre in Bilico
Label: We Bite Rec.
Year: 1989
Genre: punk
Location: Torino - Piemonte

1. Sempre in bilico
2. La nostra vita

Negazione - Sempre In Bilico 7"

Verme - Vai Verme Vai.

All star band featuring members of: Fine Before You Came, Dummo, Agatha, Hot Gossip.

Someone claimed the '98 is back.

Someone else swore to have seen teenagers and youngsters-wannabe in their thirties tearing their hair out at their shows.

How would you define this, if not a proper phenomenon of collective delirium? Does anyone feel to blame whoever is involved in it though? I personally would not. At least for two simple reasons:

The lyrics are short and forceful, with a slight hint of humor.

Tornando a casa mi son dimenticato di comprare il latte, non arrabbiarti, facciamo che hai ragione tu, son sempre il solito coglione .

Going back home I forgot to buy milk, don't get upset, let's say you are right and i'm always the same dickhead.

The sounds remind me a lot of -obviously- Fine Before You Came, - or let's better say the voice imprint is unamistakable -

The bass lines and guitar's arpeggios give goosebumps and each song goes straight to the point -or straight to the core.

Nostalgic genuine punk. That's it.

Vai Verme Vai is the second Ep, which is also downloadable, like the first one, from Verme's blog/ website.

Band: Verme

Title: Vai Verme Vai

Label: self-released (?)

Year: 2010

Genre: punk, emo '98

Location: Milano

Related Bands: Agatha, Fine Before You Came, Dummo, Hot Gossip

1. Coglione

2. Figlio

3. Gatto Gatto Gatto

4. Risse Risse Risse

Verme- Vai Verme Vai

What we do is secret, but...

I've got few more stuff ready to be posted here.

It takes a certain amount of time to make sure everything is ok, the mp3s are tagged, covers and pictures fit the layout and something which makes sense has been written, etc etc.

It's not an easy job, surely more tough than what I thought when I decided to open this blog.

and so sometimes I find myself wondering - with no consistent answers - why I'm still doing this: it's not source of earnings of any kind (and I've never thought it might/should have been so), and majority of people in the world couldn't care less about a small indipendent punk scene developed in Italy. to sum up it's in most occasions a waste of time.

"Do other people think the same?"

(Positive) feedback is not just welcome, it is essential, because what we do is secret yes it is, but what we do and what has been done with sweat, blood, efforts, pride and joy should be preserved and handed down through the years without the risk of being forgotten.

Feel free to write me, then. Oh by the way, my name is Sara and my address is on the right side of this page.

In the meanwhile I added a few more Stellina's pics here:

and a Burning Defeat's live video shooted in 1 9 9 4 here.

Enjoy.

Now playing Rites Of Spring, s/t

Scena, 8 Punti.

With such a name (=The Scene) it couldn't be anything else than a band composed by well-known scenesters.

Death Before Work!, Mastic, Pipistrelli, Contrasto, La Quiete, Raein, Havah, Skruigners, Cusack, just to list some of the current bands its memebers play with.

The End Of Six Thousand Years and Roid not to forget (some of) their former ones, plus sporadic apparitions as guests in To Kill, Smart Cops, Vague Angels is what makes Filippo "Doner", Michele "Morone" Camorani, Carlo and Tadzio being considered part of an all-stars combo.

Does this Milano-based band, born in 2008, sound to your ears so self-referential and conceited? Yes, it might, or they just seems to have a well developed self-irony to some watchful eyes.

I guess the option which want them not to be taken too seriosuly is the right one.

Even though a minimun amount of referentiality is necessary if your lyrics are all about "the same old bands which always play at the same shows, copycats, the dinner break on a one day- festival, black t-shirts, the cute girl on the first row which you fall in love with", and so on.

Inspired by real life in the punk/hc scene, each acts correspond to a score (punto) which makes you step up (or step down) into the punk ranking.

La Scena has here gained 8 punti, each for every track and they can now be officially proclaimed the VIP of the punk/hc scene.

If I were you I would listen carefully to those 8 tracks of classic hardcore and would stay tuned cause they are going to release 6/7 new songs (hopefully) soon: look out because they might bitching about you too in their lyrics!

Band: Scena

Title: 8 Punti

Lable: Dance Tonight + Don't Need Recs

Year: 2009

Genre: Hardcore

Location: Milan (+ Forlì and Berlin)

Related bands: too many (read the post!)

1. Punto 1

2. Punto 2

3. Punto 3

4. Punto 4

5. Punto 5

6. Punto 6

7. Punto 7

8. Punto 8

Scena, 8 Punti.rar

WITH LOVE / MINDLESS COLLISION

A long duration break it is worth when you end up getting one of the few italian emo 90's masterpieces (for what it represents, at least).

Released in 1996, the 2 songs on the A side are the only -officially known- relics for Mindless Collision, a band from Guastalla (the same small village in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, that gave birth to Mourn), playing a "slow, gloomy & desperate hardcore screamo with a metallic touch, like acme, uranus, or systral" (Op. Cit). Nothing I have ever gone mad for, anyway.

Bontà by With Love on the B side instead has been the most buzzed about: both sound and lyrics, - if today they seem to be out-of-date - in the good old mid Nineties were considered partly innovative and politically committed and partly appalling by the anti-emo squads.

Seriously speaking, Bontà's lyrics (find the english translation in the inlay) and the concepts' explanation sound today so naive or taken for granted, and the music old fashioned and stereotyped. Don't forget the context though: Italy, 1996: a certainty that With Love has always been some sort of forerunner for a certain type of sound.

Band: Midless Collision + With Love

Title: s/t

Label: I Think Rec

Year: 1996

Genre: Screamo / Hardcore

1. Meninos Da Rua + Ricordi (Mindless Collision)

2. Bontà (With Love)

With Love - Mindless Collision, Split 7" .zip

THE RITUALS

From : saretti@gmail.com
To : iacopo@sonsofvesta.it

Subject : Re:

Date : Wed, 19 May 2010 11:14:31 +0200

..by the way...

I am puzzled.

And I'm going to tell you why.

I was supposed to publish on my own blog The Rituals' full-lenghts, introducing them with something that sounded more or less like:

"I used to listen to punkrock when I was 15/16.

Then you grow up, you change your music tastes, your habits, you think you got over a period of your life and a certain kind of music too...

One day though, when you have already turned 25, a record called The Past Twelve Months comes out, upsetting all you certainties about your life and making you re-discover a deep love for (what I personally call) punkrock"

This happened last night.

This morning instead, I was surfing through the SOV website, when, by mistake, I found this review, written by you:

THE RITUALS. there are moments in your life in which your musical taste drastically changes. bands, genres you were used to listen to daily, instantly start to sound boring, annoying or even disgusting, and you have to try something fresher, newer, and totally different. i've personally never been that much into punk rock music (which actually andrea loves), i always have been more into screamo/emo violence stuff, post-hardcore oriented metalheads band or sorta. later on i've focused more into grungy stuff, postpunk, postrock, new wave/dark music and eventually, some punkrock.

the rituals is a band that took me in the fabulous world of punkrock music, and i will never be thankful enough to these guys for this.

So, what should I do now? Deleting everything? I don't want people thinking I copied and pasted your words!

argh!

Sara

x

From : iacopo@sonsofvesta.it

To : saretti@gmail.com

Subject : Re:

Date : Wed, 19 May 2010 19:28 +0200

...You know what?

In my opinion you should keep the email you sent me, translate it and using it as introduction in your blog.

That's awesome. I mean, finding out you have written the same things someone else did, either about a band or a record, means that they're working. And they are doing really good.

xo

Well said.

Any further comment will be just pointless.

THE RITUALS - THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS

Band: Rituals

Title: The Past Twelve Months

Label: Wynona Rec

Year: 2006

Genre: punk rock, melodic hc

Geographic Location: Verona - Veneto

1. Not a Tear

2. Leave This Town In Flames

3. An Inept Need For The Backups

4. Back In the Days

5. Song Formerly Known As "Love Song"

6. 100 Razors

7. Clean

8. What You'll Pay For

9. The Knife, The Hand And The Stab

10. Tolerant

11. The Brootherhood

12. Button Shaped Eyes

The Rituals, The Past Twelve Months. rar

THE RITUALS, CELEBRATE LIFE.

Band: Rituals

Title: Celebrate Life

Label: Sons Of Vesta

Year: 2009

Genre: punk rock

Geographic Location: Verona - Veneto

1. Night...

2. ...And the New Born Poets' Mouths Full Of Cutlery

3. Remembering Herostratus ( The Temple Of Ephesus)

4. Naked ( In The woods)

5. Chronicles Of A Van-Tastic Journey!

6. The Migrants

7. Moving Like Wolves At Night

8. A Beard And Its Shadow

9. Votre Cerveu Trompe Vos Yeux!

10. No Organs

11. Naked ( Underneath Blankets)

12. Polite And Clean

13: Harvester

14. Romeo Of All Romeos

The Rituals, Celebrate Life.rar