Instructions for disobedience: The history of Church of Violence

Special about Church of Violence, a punk hardcore band from Turin of the ’90s

I crossed my path with them something like ten years ago. Got a fanzine at the time, that I decided to kill and resuscitate as a blog. It lasted for a while, now it’s dead and buried. I was constantly searching for new bands, records and albums to listen to and – eventually – to review ad share with the small bunch of nerds that used to read the crap that I used to write at the time. Fun as things never really change, uh?! Yeah, I mean “new” music even if it’s not literally new. You know, if it’s new to me that’s enough. I don’t think that music got any expiring date, same as movies, books, comics or whatever it is. People and bands are born, live and die, but I think that their works are way more long-lived than this hysterical digital era would ever suggest us. I was right in the middle of one of my periods of ‘staring-the-void-and-dissociate’ that weren’t so rare during my long and mediocre college years. The title I read was “In Puttanate 6 Speciale”, that is the Italian way to say that you’re only good at useless bullshit. That fitted perfectly to me. Fun as things never really change. I don’t know if this record has been the right one in the worst period or if it’s just my own vision that makes it so awesome, but it has been love at first listening. I think the best way to find it out is to find it out by yourself and actually listen to it instead of reading all the crap that I can write about it. But I’m having fun, so if you want to keep on reading I would appreciate it, even if we don’t know personally.

Birth and first demo:

Church of Violence were a band born and based – literally, really, really based – in Turin, in the northwestern side of Italy, sometimes between the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties. Near to the French border, for all you dummies out there who don’t know geography. I’m from Padua, on the northeastern side, I’ve never lived in Turin and I’ve never lived personally that years, so don’t expect “you weren’t there, those were the days” rhetoric or shit like that. I can only write and report the things that I read, learnt and listened to. Turin has always been an important crossroad for the Italian underground scene, thanks to multiple squats that were the real powerhouse in that years for all the independent musicians and those involved in the fellow countercultures. A mutual contamination trend that started in the early eighties surrounded this prolific background and was – ad is – still going strong. Punk, hardcore and extreme metal were breeding mutant inbreds for almost a decade, and new sound and musical forms of expression soon started to pop out, like rap and hip-hop and so on. In 1990 a seven track demo tape began to circulate, the very first band effort, named “Drogati e Carcerati” (literally “Jailed Junkies” n.d.a). Four songs from that tape will be later rearranged and reissued on other records.

The demo tape is not on YouTube, so get this alternate download and stream link.
 Church of Violence – Drogati e Carcerati Demo:

1992: first album:

Soon after this tape came out, Church of Violence reached what it will become their classic line-up, with Tino Paratore on drums, vocals by Gigio Bonizio, Max Bellarosa at the guitar and Cisco Amedeo at bass. Less than two years after the first demo tape, Church of Violence released the record that made me fell in love with them, “In Puttanate 6 Speciale”. 1992, first time on LP, 100% D.I.Y. effort in conspiracy with the El Paso Squat. A bizarre and weird world made of shocking colors, weed, sweat and bruised knees. Or at least, this is what occurs in my mind, remembering the first times I constantly listened to it on the bus and during my timeless hours of nothing. At the time I learnt it by heart in a couple of weeks, listening to a lousy mp3 file, I just got the real record years after then. It just has its own balance, a weird spicy cocktail made of Negazione, Nerorgasmo, Bad Brains thunders and a solid ‘don’t-care-fuck-you’ attitude. Church of Violence always surprised me for their unique way to play hardcore, fast, frenzy and at the same time absofuckin’ fun. You got reflective and spontaneous lyrics like “Istruzione alla Disobbedienza” and “Rabbia Claustrofobica” that were already on their first demo tape, reggae fueled downtempo like “Sorrisi nell’Universo”, and even some southern Italian gibber nursery rhyme on “Face Friddu”. After all these years, I’m still not surprised on the great influence that this particular record got on my 20 year old mind, and it’s still one of my favorite Italian records ever. Mandatory!

Church of Violence – In Puttanate 6 Speciale:

1994: second album “The Hertzie Prophets”:

Two years later, in 1994, Church of Violence released their second LP album “The Hertzie Prophets”, still self-produced, sticking to their strong D.I.Y. attitude. With this new album, the band’s personal style gets even more solid and unique, constantly swinging between weirdness and self-consciousness. As a rollercoaster ride from the stop-and-go anthems like “Traccia” e “Rincorrendo” to the more dub-esque tracks like “Roipnol2” and “Bhang”, all summed up in the almighty hymn “Sandrinkemall”. Pure fun, speed and hallucination, a joint of hardcore, reggae, irony, weed and DIY attitude, that the band named simply “hashish-core”. This particular way to play and write will be a great influence for the future bands of Turin, especially for Bellicosi, a band that will leave another fundamental mark in the history of underground Italian music. As the previous album, this record got a hand designed cover and booklet with all the lyrics and some stories that will surely help you to get in the hashish-core mood. All the images are scans made from my own records. I think they’re ultra rad, so enjoy and share.

Chruch of Violence – The Hertzie Prophets:

Final period and last two works

The last and final phase of the Church of Violence discography sees two shorter Eps. The first one “Prophets Meet the Bongo” is nothing more than an ode to the bong, so just because of this is a great record. A personal joint, released by Circus records, a spin-off label of Blu Bus records, with an highly dose of weed fueled Italian hardcore mixed with experimental and dub sounds, maybe slightly more introspective and personal than the previous records. The second EP of this final era of the band is a singular double 7inch Ep, a split with the fellow Turin hardcore/noise rock band Distruzione, called “The Eternal Struggle – Storie dalla Grande Pera”. Church of Violence delivers us one more time an healthy dose of pure Italian hardcore madness, adding two personal and previously unreleased covers of Nerorgasmo’s “Banchetto di lusso” and a semi-unrecognizable version of “La tipa della casa occupata” by I Fichissimi.

Church of Violence – Prophets meet the bongo 7” EP:

I haven’t find the direct YouTube or streaming link for this record, so you have to manage it the old way, search it and buy it. Get in touch with your nearest D.I.Y. distro or get it on discogs here.

Band split, reunion and last album:

The band keeps playing and making gigs all around Italy and Europe, until they decide to call it quits and split to their various personal project at the end of the nineties. Nevertheless, they kept in touch during the years, even playing some isolated reunited show, until 2013, when they decided to make an Italian mini tour. At the end of this new experience, they decided to record a brand new album, that came out two years later on CD as “I Giovani di una volta” for the independent Turin label INRI Torino. Surely more mature and reflective, even preserving the classic Church of Violence vibe, immediately recognizable since the very first listening, the record closing track “Acqua e cenere” is a hardcore-rap crossover with the roman hip-hop pioneer Chef Ragoo.

Same here. Buy the fucking records.

See ya in the shit.
Rash.

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