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