1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the musical project these days?
- We are currently touring around Italy to promote Discordia, the new album, and we are working to book european gigs in fall and winter. We are also starting to think about the next work, that could be something different from what we did until now, but maybe it’s a little bit easily to talk about it.
2.Recently you have released a new album,how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
- The new album is the natural consequence of what I did during the last decade. I started from a sort of instrumental cyber-grind with very short songs and the sound slowly evolved with the addiction of string instruments (I’m a violinist, so it was natural to me to do it). Now the songs are a little bit longer and the strings are a very important part of the sound of the project. The big difference between Discordia and the previous releases is about the recordings, because most of the instruments are played by real musicians instead the machines.
3.What are some of the concepts and images, you bring out with your musical sound?
- I always tried to create a sort of musical storytelling about human beings or, better, about the bad side of them. I used the structures of shockumentaries to do it, putting together very different atmospheres trying to shock the listeners. I used also weird track names to create different and fanciful images of what I wanted to express with music. The second-last album titled Uno Bianca is a sort of soundtrack of what happened in Italy between eighties and nineties, when a criminal gang (with some policemen in it) did more than hundred crimes, killing twenty-four people and wounding more than a hundred. The last album, instead, is about the stupid and continuing arguing between people for silly things.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name ‘Bologna Violenta’?
- The first inspiration was the city where I lived for about ten years (Bologna). It was a heavy period of my life and that city was a big part of the thing. I was also highly inspired by italian police movies of the seventies that were often titled with the name of a city followed by the word “violenta”. I thought it was a good idea to recreate with music that violent atmospheres that have been really inspirational for some movie directors like Quentin Tarantino and others.
5.Currently this project is solo, are you open to working with a full band?
- The project has been a one-man-band until one year ago, when I decided to work with Alessandro Vagnoni, a very talented drummer and multi-instrumentalist who helped me to write, record and mix the last album and the previous split Ep. My dream is to work in the future with a real band, maybe with a string quartet, but I think that it could be too difficult for so many reasons. Now we are a due and I’m really happy about it in this way.
6.On the new album you had a few guests, can you tell us a little bit more about who they are and their contributions to the recording?
- First of all there is Monique Honeybird Mizrahi, a charango player from Los Angeles (now living in NYC) who wrote the song Colonialismo and recorded the charango parts of it. Then there’s the brass section of Ottone Pesante, a metal trio with trumpet, trombone and drums. The album starts with the piano recorded by an old friend of mine, Paolo Polon, who plays at the Fecnice Theatre in Venice. There are also vocals contributions of Fabio Reeks Recchia, a crazy producer from Rome (who plays with Surgical Beat Bros and Germanotta Youth).
7.The new album was released on Overdrive Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
- Overdrive records is a young independent label from Milan. The three guys who owns it are very passionate about music and honest people. They also owns a vinyl factory in Italy (Phono Press International), so they have the full control of what they produce and release. In this way, it’s a sort of DIY label, and I love to work with people who believe in a so deep way in what they release.
They has just released the last Fall Of Minerva album and they’re going to re-release some old soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore, underground and experimental music?
- I can tell you that I always had good feedbacks from people who listened to my music. I can tell that I’m not really loved by true-metal fans, but I also had some very good feedbacks from international bands like Napalm Death (I recorded an album with Mitch Harris, the former guitarist, under the name of Menace), Godflesh and Agoraphobic Nosebleed. My previous albums have been released also by Grindcore Karaoke, the label of J. Randall (the singer of ANB) who recorded vocals for You’re enough, a song included in my third album, titled Utopie e piccole soddisfazioni.
9.Where do you see yourself heading into musically during the future?
- I think I’ll continue producing experimental and extreme music, instead working as a producer, violinist and arranger for other bands and musical projects. I can’t think about my life without music…
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
- I always loved the italian hardcore from the eighties (Negazione, Indigesti, Raw Power), but I also listened to many other genres. I grew up studying classical music and I can tell that one of my biggest influences is Bach and the russian composers of the late 1800. I love also extreme stuff like grindcore, cybergrind and harshnoise, but I listen also to something easier to listen like songwriters or post-rock bands. What I’m listening nowadays? I don’t really know… lot of different stuff. For the tour I choose everytime different Cds (now I’m listening the Drive Like Jesu discography and Fluxus, a noise italian band). In this moment I’m listening the Firebird Suite of Stravinsky.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
- I like travelling, strolling with my dogs, watching movies and reading books, also if it isn’t so easy to do it because most of the time I’m touring with BV or other bands.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
- I just want the people to support the underground music and arts. It’s maybe the best way to improve the world and knowledge is the
way to stop wars and fightings between human beings themselves and also between human race and the world who guests it.
You can be always updated on BV projects and tours here:
facebook.com/bolognaviolenta
www.bolognaviolenta.com
Thanks a lot for the interest in this project!!!
Nicola
