Hi
Paolo. Congrats on “Dopoguerra”. We have chosen it as the surprise album of
April on Grande Rock.com!
P: Hi Thanos and all the Grande Rock.com’s readers and followers. Thanx for your support and compliments too. No words to describe it!!
Since is the first time we talk, can you give me a small bio of the band?
P: Well, everything starter when me and my brother Marco formed Klimt 1918 in Rome at the end of 1999 from the ashes of Another Day, an Italian act dedicated to melodic death/progressive/wave metal. On May 2000 Klimt 1918’s first release “Secession Makes Post Modern Music” was recorded, a 5 songs release that keeped together scandinavian/english avantgarde sonorities and ‘80 new wave. Thanks to it we signed a record deal with the label My Kingdom Music, recording under them our first release “Undressed Momento”. Good feedbacks both from critics and audience let us sign a new and more favourable record deal with the cult german label Prophecy Productions. On September 2004 we have recorded our second release “Dopoguerra” (Postwar) that released on April 25th. That’s the story so far...
As you told me above, you were playing in a prog death metal band in the past. How about this change of style? I mean Klimt 1918 has nothing to do with that kind of music.
P: Another Day have never been a death metal band properly, the sound’s always been contaminated by different musical shades especially in the last period previous Klimt 1918. During the time, we become acquainted with other kinds of music that we tried to combine to metal sonorities and our background ‘80 wave who never leaves us. Also thanks to bands like Anathema and Katatonia for example, we learned in the past to mix metal with other sounds that could be wed together… Currently our music still keeps metal-elements that we absolutely don’t want to neglect, even in the future. Anyway without Another Day, Klimt1918 wouldn’t be possible for sure.
Before we talk about “Dopoguerra” can you tell me why did you call the band Klimt 1918? I know that Klimt he was an artist and died in 1918 but why did you decide to honor him in such way?
P: Gustav Klimt wasn’t just an artist but a famous painter the maximun exponent of Wien Secession. It’s not a musical homage to him, we just like his figure and the period in which he lived, worked and died. He represented most of all, the epocal passage between decorativism and espressionism, he was the symbol of liberty-style, the point of conjunction between ‘800 and ‘900 art. He died in 1918 when the first world war finished and the belle epoque ended. That year represents elegy for the dying “old” and the excitement for the “new” that comes out. It’s period of renovation for art, people and the world wide history, full of hope and vitality. The moment of convalescence for millions of people to start again. The music of Klimt 1918 moves through all these suggestions.
Ok, so let’s talk about your new album. Why did you title it “Dopoguerra”?
P: Well, “Dopoguerra” means literally “postwar period”, the period just after the end of a conflict but it doesn’t refer only to war properly, it decribes an intense cultural period as a moment of reconstruction and convalescence as 1918 has been. It’s an important year because it represents the start of a new age, just the wanting to start again for milions of people; “Dopoguerra” is a hymn to convalescence. Convalescence from illness and abandonment. Convalescence from modern age that at one point collapsed, asking us to rebuild using the same stones, the same rubbles. Our music embodies all these suggestions and Dopoguerra is the right title to underline this concept.
Can you tell me a few words about each one of the songs?
P: “Intro + They Were Wed By The Sea”: This song epitomizes the heartening and warm feeling of convalescence. It’s the hope returning to bedew earth, making it more bearable. Starting from the strong feelings that the intro, reproducing the 1945 radio announcement of the end of Second World War, expresses: joy and the wish to run to the beach and being “wed by the vitality of the sea” after years and years of efforts and war. It’s a liberating song, melodic, happy and in the same time dramatic.
“Snow Of ‘85”: It’s a nostalgic song, related to the famous 1985 snowfall in Rome. Me and my brother were kids and that event seemed outstanding to us. That memory, almost twenty years later, is sweet and unmerciful, just like all most precious remembrances.
“Rachel”: This song is dedicated to Rachel Corrie, International Solidarity Movement militant from U.S.A, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while she was trying to oppose the demolition of Palestinian settlements in the Gaza Strip. She gave her life for the rights of an occupied land as it’s Palestine; her story moves us so much to write a song that could describe it.
“Nightdriver”:Nightdriving it’s a nice feeling. Streets are empty, air is cleaner and the minds ride far away towards memories. The city fits with this flow and becomes an ensemble of lights and apparitions. In these moments, one rejoins with himself and the grief of a loss turns into elegy. Driving is therapeutic: in its way, refers to the idea of post war as the overcoming of pain and as convalescence. Maybe it’s the reason because sometimes we desire to stretch out the journey and keep suspense intact…
“Because Of You, Tonight”: It’s a song about the fleet of youth and the most beautiful and melancholic sides of adolescent love. Stylistically, it’s one of the most instant songs in the record: power pop, little riffs and harmonized vocals.
“Dopoguerra”: A song full of hope: Rome portrayed by the survivors of bombings, the repopulating of the streets, the will to come out into the open and have a sunshower after the long months besieged, the brave necessity to put aside the past e focus on every day’s life.
“La Tregua”: The continuance to “Dopoguerra”. In fact, they are connected. It’s less positive, much more nostalgic then the previous and portraits the most unpleasant aspects of convalescence. The crescendo of the ending erupts in a post rock tasted cavalcade.
“Lomo”: During cold war, Lomo was the camera that KGB used to equip its agents with. Afterwards, it has become a cult device because its peculiarities allow snapping photographs with singular colours and in situations where lighting is prohibitive. Lomographers use it to document their lives and eternalize every day’s life. The song describes the moments in life of a common person, exactly as a lomography.
“Sleepwalk In Rome”: The lyrics of this song have been written just after the great blackout, on 27th September 2003. More than a million people were lost in the streets without a chance to come back home. Ironically enough, a storm raged in the city. We went through a very long way through downtown by feet in a fanciful feel. Seemed like a sleepwalker’s delirium but it was utterly real.
Can you tell me which are your favorite songs from the album and why?
P: I can’t stop myself from listening the whole album from beginning to end!! I love all the tracks. That’s the first time it happens to me. However “Snow of ‘85” and “Nightdriver” are my favorite songs for sure. A sweet mix of joy and melancholy. Everytime I tune them, I feel myself as they always would be the songs I would have intentional to write. They are my perfect songs. The real compromise between this album and the previous one.
Here we have a not so usual but yet a successful mix. I mean that you have combined rock music with new wave adding also some metal elements and the result is just Klimt 1918. Is that something that you planned to do or it came out natural?
P: The current sound simply reflects our way to compose and see music today. Combining various influences like post rock, indie, wave and rock/metal, the sound becomes richer, a place where every single instrument can be played following different suggestions. I can simply define our music as an overlapping of layers: to every layer belongs a sound. Sometimes drum is heavy and powerful while the guitars are post-rock like and the voice sounds pop. Every song becomes an event in whole CD. During the time, we become acquainted with other sonorities, that’s the reason why our music evolves continuously. Our aim is to find an identity following our “post-modern” way to see, play and compose music. Many influences are mixed, adding many sounds from many kinds of music, creating an hybrid that has keeped together through our personality and our own ideas.
By the way how you could characterize the music style of your band?
P: Post-rock/metal/rock/indie/wave/80’s music!!!
Although you have been influenced by many bands, you managed to create an original sound and I believe that this would be clearer on your next releases. What do you think about that?
P: There are tons of great new bands who all seem to be inspired by rockmusic,80’s new-wave and indie-bands, and transform those influences into the future by adding their very own ideas. That’s very interesting because right now we have the same idea of “derivative” music that also those bands have. They try to create an own identity learning from the past and mixing it with the present. For that reason we love them and their attitude as bands which have walked the same way that now we are trying to do. De-contextualize and hybridize are the mottos of this “movement” that should be nice to belong.Are we children of the post-modern eclecticism? Just look at Interpol’s sound as an hybrid. For that reason we don’t consider them an influence but as a band who has done the same way of us. They are sons of post-modernism as Klimt1918, their music is a mixture of past and present. Anyway our current influences are anyway: Beatles, Cure, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, U2, Police, Explosions In The Sky, Dredg, Interpol, Katatonia, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Smiths, Sophia, Death In Vegas, Anathema and metal music.
Who made the production of the album? Are you completely satisfied with it?
P: We worked hard on the album’s production with Giuseppe Orlando at the Outer Sound Studios here in Rome, as the two previous Klimt1918’s releases He produced with us this album, working to find a good sound that could be 100% Klimt 1918. We make no secret that we try to combine together different influences. To every influence, related to each instrument, belongs an exact sound that has been studied and recorded as better as possible. The last step has been the mastering at Finnvox Stidios in Finland, that gave to all the songs the right volume and their own identity. Certainly we are completely satisfied of it.
Which are those things that you would change if you had the chance again?
P: If you mean in the album I say nothing.
How far do you think that you can go with Klimt 1918?
P: I hope more far as possible but I think it depends by other factors we can’t control. However we can’t complain and we are satisfied by the goals we have just reached.
I totally believe that you are, at least to my ears, the big surprise of 2005 to date. I was never thought that a new band could surprise me in 2005. but you made it!! What are the comments that you usually hear about the new album considering that it was released lately?
P: First of all thanks for your compliments, it’s always nice to get them!!! So, we received very good feedbacks so far and that surprised us a lot ‘cause we wonder if the difference between this album and the last one was too evident. But everyone, journalist or a normal listeners, who have listened the new record, was simply shocked by our sound. They focused their attention to the strange hybrid of the songs that drove them to millions of influences and musical suggestions. They find metal, pop, indie,rock, wave mixed together with our identity and it surprised them a lot.
What are the expectations from this album and your future plans?
P: That’s an ambitious question but I want to answer it by saying that we just want to move people with our music as much as possible and probably don’t pass unnoticed to the listeners. That’s the first goal we want to reach. Obviously we hope the band could go far, I don’t know when, I don’t know where but it should be nice to have success in various musical fields as in the indie/wave/postrock, not only the metal and gothic one. Heterogeneous music for heterogeneous people!! Is it too far?
Are there any details about the album that you would like to share? Funny stuff, way of recording it?
P: All the way to finished the album, from the music to the artwork, has been very very hard, I think much more than we expected. It’s been so full of events that we need a year to list them all, anyway most of them are keeped, as a small diary, in the multimedia track inside the album. Check it out!!
Are
you totally satisfied with Prophecy Productions? I’m considering you as the
ace of the sleeve of the label. do they?
P: Prophecy Productions showed its interest to Klimt 1918, when few months later the release of our previous album, we started to search a new record deal for the future. We are so grateful to them to having chosen us and for their amazing work they are making for our new album. All the staff and its boss Martin, are very nice persons and very professional figures. They are concentrating their efforts on us as we are doing to them. It’s a good collaboration, we hope it could go on in the future. Anyway the new Prophecy outputs are getting even more heterogeneous with new bands including ourselves, it’s an amazing place to grow up and work. We look forward to have a long cooperation with them.
Big, early success usually blinds young musicians leading them to false movements in the future (see Angra). Again, sometimes, after a glorious first or second album, record companies start pressing for more and more releases, leading the bands to the trap of repetition. Are you ready to face these challenges?
P: I hope not to fall in this vortex but we are sure to do well also in the future in spite of the possibile pressing from the label. We have a lot of stuff ready to be recorded, we compose and write new songs continuously. We are ready to face these challenges.
Are you planning to release a single in order to promote the album in a better way or a video clip?
P: Nothing is planned ‘till know, but we look forward to shot a video, we are working to do it in the future.
Do you prefer to play on stage or to record in the studio most and why?
P: Nowadays playing live is one of the most important way to promote an album for each kind of music and if you are famous or not. Some bands express themselves better live than in a record. Some bands like both things, like us. Playing live, you reveal yourself and the essential of your music. Your music is yourself... and simply I think that having a tour is the most rewarding feeling that a musician can feel... anyway personally I think that the new songs they may have a huge impact to the listeners in fact we are looking forward to play new songs live.
And some weird Questions to relax somehow!!! If U2, The Police and Anathema invited you to support them on a tour. which one of those three bands would you choose to support and why?
P: Obviously U2! They cover my entire life from childhood ‘till now. It’s more than a influence, it could represent a dream that comes true. Then U2 always do amazing shows all over the world, full of visuals and special effects that make all the concerts a special event.
What would you tell to someone to convince him to buy your album instead of hundreds others that are being released every month?
P: I would say that music is something that evolve itself continuously and this is its beauty. I would say that we are in a post-modern period where millions of kinds of music are mixed together and this is the face of the sounds. Probably we belong to this area and it could be interesting for the listeners to have a listen and check it out.
What would you do, if you had supernatural power?
P: I would solve all the world’s problems and that’s not a joke.
Which band do you consider that can take a leading part in rock music in the future?
P: I don’t know. I hope Dredg could take a leading part in rock music scene in the future. It’s a band we like a lot for its way to be so original and to be between differents styles, from post-rock to emo-core, from pop to metal.
And which band do you consider that can take a leading part in metal music?
P: One of my favorite bands: Opeth. It’s the only one that it’s steel able to differ in the metal scene.
I think a big issue of the today’s music industry is all the CD copies people do with their computers or the music they can download from the Internet. What do you think about this issue?
P: At the end, after hundreds and hundreds of words spent about this topic, people don’t understand that the bands are the first figures damaged by this situation. They lost their contracts, they are forced to work three times more to face to the market requests. I don’t know where we’ll arrive.
Which are the things that piss you off from today's music industry?
P: All.
Do you believe that is so easy for a band to differ in today's music industry than in the past?
P: No. We reached a point of no return for me but there are always a small number of new proposals that differ in today’s music industry . I hope all the best for the bands that are going to pop up in the future and I’am sure they’ll do a very good muisc, but since the last few years it’s hard to find newcomer realities that could get out from the music scene. I hope to contradict myself very soon!!! In the past there were less bands in the music market. Nowadays the labels put on the street too much bands without a reason in order just to make money.
If you were a God’s messenger what would you tell Him to do for the good of humanity?
P: To delete all the figures who are making all of their best to destroy it.
If you could go back in time and see any band live in their prime & open for them who would it be and why?
P: The Cure, without doubt. It would be a dream that comes true that never leave me since I was a child. They still are one of our biggest influences and will be also in the future.
Which is the most overrated band today?
P: I can’t find from myself the most overrated band today. Certainly I have my choice about some bands, but if they are where they are, it means that tones of people is hot for their music and appreciate their work till now. That’s the point.
Imagine that your girlfriend is selling your whole album-collection just to buy for herself an expensive ring. How would you react?
P: Are you sure that she’s my girfriend? Ahah…
Well Paolo thx for taking the time to answer my questions. Leave a message to Grande Rock readers for the end.
P: Thanx to you Thanos and for your time spent for Klimt1918. I just wanna say that if after reading to those answers you feel yourself close to our way of seeing and playing music, please listen to “Dopoguerra”!!!
by Thanos Aggelakis