From the very first listens we completely fell in love with Béton Armé, a band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2018. Their Oi! sound is inspired by the Italian scene of the 1980s and the more recent French wave, also enriched with hardcore punk influences that give everything the right extra push. The result is a direct, raw, and savage sound that’s truly unique. In 2025 they released Renaissance via La Vida Es Un Mus, which we immediately included among our favorite records of the year!

• Radio Punk: Hi and thanks so much for being here on our webzine! Let’s start with the basics: we know you formed in 2018 and over the years you’ve consolidated the project through several splits and two releases. Where do Béton Armé come from? Do you have – or have you had – other projects besides this one (bands, collectives, anything else…)?

Béton Armé: Hi ! First, thanks for having us. It’s always great to contribute to zines from all over the world. It’s a really important part of the subculture and we’re always honored to be included in them. 

The idea of the band coalesced at the end of 2017 and we really started playing together in early 2018. It started when I (Oli, guitar) came back from France, after spending a year in Paris where I hung out with friends there while the scene was at its peak and really wanted to get back to playing music since it had been on the back burner for years because of perpetual back and forth between Canada and France which didn’t allow me to be in a band in any serious way. At the same time Dan (vocal) and Fabio (bass) had the idea to start a band with similar influences so we got introduced by a mutual friend and we went from there. We asked Remi (drums) to join because we had seen him play with other bands and thought the energy he brought was exactly what we needed. He realistically is the only one who already was in a band worth mentioning (haha). He indeed was already playing with Faze, a hardcore band from Montreal which solidified its status as one of the best in the city even more in recent years. As for the rest of us we all had punk and hardcore bands, but nothing anyone outside of our local scene would have ever heard of. 

• Radio Punk: Your latest record Renaissance, released by La Vida Es Un Mus, is a real gem. We know you draw inspiration both from French bands like Rixe and from Italian Oi! bands of the ’80s, and this really comes through on the record! We’re curious: what are your favorite Italian records? 

Béton Armé: That answer is really easy and quite straight forward. Nabat is obviously the one that comes to mind immediately and is one of the main influences for the band. We also really like Rough from Turin. It’s a classic for us, especially for Fabio. We also fuck with Basta. All great bands with the sort of energy we wanted to infuse our music with since the beginning. 

• Radio Punk: Can you share some cool details, curiosities, or anecdotes about the record? And more generally, is there something you’d like to say about the album or about yourselves that nobody has asked you yet?

Béton Armé: Here’s a fun fact : as Dan is often saying, we’re a dance band from Montreal. The idea is to get people moving and in order to do that some of our songs are heavily influenced (if not totally ripped off) by 90’s euro dance hits. I’ll let the readers figure out which ones! 

• Radio Punk: In Europe, and especially in Italy, the punk and skin scenes are closely connected to social and political struggles and themes such as antifascism, anticapitalism, and transfeminism. Is it the same within the Canadian scene?

Béton Armé: Yes. In Montreal especially, punk and oi! Scenes are very much intertwined and heavily leaning on the left. We try our best to keep it that way and that’s where our politics stand. 

• Radio Punk: You’re from Canada, specifically Montreal, and in an interview from some time ago (with Matt from Creases Like Knives) you talked about how gentrification is destroying your city – something we’re unfortunately seeing in many Italian cities as well. How do the punk and skin scenes resist all this? Are there any “free zones” or places, venues, squats that try to slow down the inevitable slide toward a yuppie-dominated world?

Béton Armé: It is very hard. DIY spaces are opening and closing all the time. People try to organize and build alternative communities, but the general phenomenon is hitting our scenes very directly. One such example is the death of LoudHouse, which was one of the most long standing DIY venue/squat in North America a few years ago. We have yet to find a new alternative to replace it and it’s becoming quite difficult. Katacombes also had to shut down. It was a venue co-owned and run by punks and it got tore apart to build condos. I guess the only glimmer of hope is the neighborhood I live in, Hochelaga, where a lot of the punks live. It always has been a left leaning/working classe part of the city and a lot of community based initiatives work together to fight – or at least slow down- the aggressive gentrification of our city. It works to an extent, but rent is still increasing and it is a never ending uphill battle.

• Radio Punk: You’ve played a lot and in many different countries – the USA, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Germany, France… so when are you coming to Italy?! Jokes aside, with bands that tour as much as you do, we always like to ask for some trashy or grotesque tour anecdotes. Make us laugh!

Béton Armé: We’re gonna play at least a show in Italy in September. It’ll be announced soon. And obviously we would like to do more. It’s definitely coming in the next years.

As for anecdotes, I guess this one is our classic one : one member of the band – who shall remain nameless- had too much to drink one night in Milwaukee and ended up so drunk he pissed his pants… with his brand new passport in his pockets. This document has been nicknamed de PISSport ever since. And I might had that to cover our tracks, another member of the band left an empty bottle of beer on the couch where the deed happened to cover our tracks and the next time we saw the owner of the house he instantly came to us saying : “Nice try covering the stain on the couch, but don’t worry it’s not the first time someone pisses on it.’”

• Radio Punk: You’re a band that receives a lot of support, both live and online, and you’ve had a great response from the public – something we imagine makes you very happy! We also know that in your lyrics you really care about spreading the idea of unity within the scene, mutual support, and personal growth. How can these great values be put into practice in everyday life? And speaking of the scene, is there unity among the different subcultures where you’re from?

Béton Armé: There is obvious unity in Montreal. The support we got from every underground subcultures has been great. Even the more “mainstream” scene is starting to see us and support what we are doing, which is great. We try to practice what we preach, book new bands, support our friends and always be stoked for other bands’ success. We understand now the amount of work required to be in a touring band and it’s important for us to give back whenever possible. 

• Radio Punk: We’re at the end – thanks so much for answering our questions. We’ll close with one last, extra-spicy question: who are you in everyday life? What are your jobs and hobbies outside of music? Cheers!

Béton Armé: No worries, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for having us! And as for our everyday lives, I am a historian, I did research and taught history at Unii for a while. Remi and Fabio work construction/renovation jobs and Dan is an electrician by trade. But at this point we’re on tour so much that we don’t really do any of this very often. Remi is a great skater and it’s a big part of his life. Personally I mostly like to read and watch football. And most of us like hockey because… you can’t escape that in Montreal haha. 

First photograph by Jesse Ramirez

L'articolo  Interview with Béton Armé proviene da Radio Punk.

On November 14th the Stiglitz released their new album titled “Quando Tutto Tace”, available on LP, CD, and digital. You can listen to it for free on Bandcamp and YouTube. The record was co-produced by us at Radio Punk, Flamingo Records, and Rumagna Sgroza, and features collaborations with Fabrizio Barile and Stefania Carbonara on the visual side, as well as Toni Cocks and Fabrizio Sferrazza on two tracks. Without further delay, let’s get to know the Genoese band better and dive into this new release.

• Radio Punk: Hi guys and thanks a lot for being here! We know that before being a band you’re a group of friends, people who’ve shared a lot together beyond music. Tell us how this musical project came about and how it’s evolved over the years.

Stiglitz: Oi Kids! First of all, thanks to you for the space you’re giving us and for the great questions!
So: the Stiglitz were born inside the rehearsal room of the occupied space L.S.O.A. BURIDDA in Genoa, toward the end of 2018 — a place that unfortunately no longer exists physically, but that thankfully still lives on in the everyday lives of all of us who passed through it. Right — the Stiglitz came out of a context that was definitely parallel to (and inside) what was going on in the whole network of squats and occupations in the Ligurian capital. But at some point you still need to find a common point, some kind of glue that holds everyone together. And that, clearly, was our scene: putting on shows, and wanting to put our backs into it, for the scene and within it.
That’s it. That’s the recipe for how the Stiglitz came together: five guys who run into each other at gigs, who already come from that world, and who feel the right spark between them to do something good together — for themselves, but above all for their community, the one that lives in “the city underneath,” far away from all the supposed spotlight glare. Add a whole lot of proletarian anger coming from all our personal stories, the desire to be able to say one day, “fuck it, at least we actually did something instead of just complaining on social media,” and there you have it: literally five Kids playing Oi!

You can listen to the new album below. To order a copy of the vinyl or CD, please email us at info@radiopunk.it

• Radio Punk: On November 14th your latest LP “Quando Tutto Tace” came out, presented live with a show at Zapata in Genoa. Tell us some juicy curiosities about this insane record!

Stiglitz: Heheheh, alright, let’s get into the juicy stuff then! First off, this record really marks a turning point for us as a band. It includes songs we’ve been playing in the practice room for at least two years now, so in a way this album feels like a sort of summary of the time that’s passed since our previous release (Deja Vu came out in 2022) up to today.
Looking back, it’s clear we’ve come a long way — from tracks like “Non Affonda” and “Garassino,” all the way to all the people, stories, and places that we’ve passed through, and that have passed through us. What matters most to us, though, is that all these “traces” of our passage are still there, even if with a few bruises and aches along the way (because hardcore punk is also that). You can see them in the way we do things, in the thoughts of the people who shared this path with us, and in the grooves of this latest record. So yeah, this record saw us grow, and it saw grow the people who’ve been listening to us since day one. Our hope is that it leaves something behind even for those who’ve just discovered us. It wasn’t an easy record to make — this time there were a lot of emotions and stories that needed to come out.
Gian (the singer) lived in Bologna for almost the entire writing phase and came down when he could; the rest of us were in Genoa, all with other projects and a thousand hassles (without getting into our personal lives, which like everyone else’s are there and wonderfully complicated). And let’s not forget we’re human beings: we mess up, we lose our house keys, and sometimes we don’t find them again. So yes, making music like this, in this way, isn’t easy — but refusing to compromise definitely helped keep us together.
All our love goes to the people who’ve always been there behind the scenes. From Fabrizio “Fritz” Barile, whose photos managed to shape the imagery we’ve always had in mind when writing our songs (curiosity no. 1: every Stiglitz release has a Fritz photo on the cover!), to the Flaminghi crew — Emi, Albe, and Maso (curiosity no. 2: without them, Genoa, the underground, and more simply our music wouldn’t be what they are). Stefania Carbonara, who is basically the entire scaffolding holding up the layout of this record, and who’s a truly special person to us. And then there’s Sferrazza (curiosity no. 3: Fabri played sax on “SENZA CHIODI”; he was the saxophonist for Meganoidi, and for those of us born in Genoa and raised in certain circles, he’s a solid point of reference). To wrap it up: the Radio Punk crew and Rumagna Sgroza (curiosities no. 4 and 5 — you guys are our heart Ginis, and Rumagna Sgroza are without a doubt a driving force behind self-production and the Romagna underground), the whole turbo Oi! family (curiosity no. 6: the track S.T.O. was written by Lobo of TIGRE, who gets our devoted wishes for a truly respectable turbo Oi!), and Anto from COCKS (curiosity no. 7: he’s the photonic voice you hear in the second verse of “MA SE CI PENSO”), a real piece of our hearts and an irreplaceable “fifth” Stiglitz.

• Radio Punk: Genoa is a city with a strong personality, and it’s easy to see why for Genoese people it’s a fundamental part of their identity — almost an obsession, something that comes through strongly on your latest record.

Stiglitz: We’ll answer this one with a piece of advice. Come to Genoa in December. At Caricamento, take the number One bus, around 3:00 pm — that way you can chase the sunset heading west. Sit on the side by the window facing the sea, look straight out toward the horizon over the port, and really take it all in. Get lost between the concrete and the lives painted in people’s eyes in Sampierdarena, and in the reflections off the piers in Prá. Then, once you reach the Voltri terminus around 4:00 pm, walk down to Villa Azzurra beach. When you’re there, watching the sun die behind Savona, tell us if you don’t feel like writing a record about this city.

• Radio Punk: Your lyrics are introspective but also very direct — they get inside the listener and hit deep. What or who inspires you? (books, writers, bands, films…) What do you want people to feel when they listen to you?

Stiglitz: Honestly, we’re inspired by the days as they go by. We look for something in the stories of the people around us, in the everyday reality of our lives, that we can use collectively as an antibody against the nothingness that keeps advancing around us. For us, writing songs is a big responsibility. Being able to give space to lived stories, experiences, traumas, joys, and pain is a huge privilege. And probably one of the main gears driving the Stiglitz machine is knowing that what we write, people actually live — they see themselves in it, and they feel it as their own. We believe there’s only one real rule when writing a song: don’t lie to the Kids. A song might come to you while you’re hopping on a scooter, or in twenty minutes on a train ride home after years. That’s the magical part of this world. As long as you respect that rule, everything else works.

PS: and obviously, smiling and having fun — belin — life’s already a mess. If after eight hours of work you still have to get pissed off, it just makes no sense.

• Radio Punk: Besides Stiglitz, have you been or are you part of other bands or collectives? In some cities we’ve seen a strong generational shift and a lot of energy from younger people. Is something happening in Genoa? (bands, music collectives, political collectives)

Stiglitz: So, yeah — all of us have passed through pretty much every social center in Genoa, some more deeply than others, sometimes as part of the collective itself. As for other bands, the Stiglitz come from a lot of different experiences. Only Gian is on his first band; technically, though, Stiglitz includes members of COCKS, PIOVONO PIETRE, L.E.I.S.F.A., GOONIES, RISACCA, GAZED, SATANIC YOUTH, MEGADRIVE, and so on. Tying back to earlier questions, the way we write probably comes straight from all those genres we’ve played — and that we still play.

THANK GOD YES, IN GENOA THINGS ARE MOVING — BIG TIME.

The city and the nights are slowly filling back up with Kids, capable people taking their first steps toward DIY and self-management, organizing themselves and self-determining their paths. Even outside the music world, in political activity too, there’s a solid movement growing. We’ve seen it across Italy as well. We hope the long-awaited generational shift is really happening — who knows, maybe we’ll be back to fly-posting with bucket and glue at 11 at night. Better to say it quietly, though, for luck.

Radio Punk: With this record out, do you already have live shows planned or maybe a mini tour abroad? Spam the upcoming dates!

Stiglitz: Alright!! heheheh
Here are the dates confirmed so far — come find us:

24 gennaio – Bertinoro (IT)
21 febbraio – Imperia (IT)
7 marzo – Torino (IT)
13 marzo – Marsiglia (FR)
28 marzo – Treviso (IT)
2 maggio – Locarno (CH)
6 giugno – Modena (IT)

We’re also working on a bunch of shows outside Italy. One step at a time — posters in hand, we’ll keep you posted, definitely also through the Radio Punk website (curiosity no. who knows: GO CHECK THEIR SITE, THEY’RE INCREDIBLE, TALENTED, AND BEAUTIFUL).

• Radio Punk: Alright, we’ve known each other for a while now — tell the readers who the Stiglitz are in everyday life.

Stiglitz: Honestly, we’re really simple people. We like dark beer and doing Turbo Oi!

L'articolo Interview with Stiglitz proviene da Radio Punk.

Shortly after seeing them on stage at Sottotetto in Bologna this past February, the French band released their new album, Evermore. The live show was incredible, and we loved the record so much that we included it among our favourites of the month. So, we decided to get in touch with the band and ask them a few questions—happy reading!

• Radio Punk: Hey guys, welcome to our ‘zine! Let’s start from the beginning: how, when, and where did Lion’s Law form as a band?

Lion’s Law: We started the band in 2012 in Paris, let’s say with members of Street Kids and Maraboots. Both bands were singing in French, and we wanted to do something in English. We asked Thomoï, Legendary drummer of Komintern Sect, and when he surprisingly said yes, it all started!!! 

• Radio Punk: We know that you are very active in the music scene, not only as musicians. Could you give us an overview of your past and present bands, as well as any other side projects related to music?

Lion’s Law: Uffff I don’t know if I can even remember all the bands we all played in, but let’s try: Komintern Sect, Teep’n’teepatix, Burning Heads, Maraboots, Street Kids, Hard Times, Metal Urbain, Al Kapott, Hoax, DIG, Mowol, Faction S, Rixe, Atlantes.. Haha, it’s mental but yes, we all make tons of music and as you said, other projects, I (Wattie) have been booking shows under the name BSC for about 15 years now in Paris. I also run a web radio airing 24/7 called Droogies Radio! 

• Radio Punk: Many European cities, such as Bologna, where we’re writing from, are rapidly gentrifying and selling out to mass tourism. You live in one of the most tourist-heavy cities in the world. How do you experience this situation? Are there squats, social centers, venues, and other places where skins and punks gather?

Lion’s Law: These places are mostly gone now, compared to when we were kids, it’s totally différent, I feel like they wanna turn our city into a museum or like something only désigned for tourism, Airbnb’s and expensive groceries are the only thing you’ll find! But there’s a little community of punks trying to keep the alternative alive! We mostly gather in the streets or in pubs, we don’t really have our own space. 

• Radio Punk: Watching the Sewer Rats video, we noticed imagery that conveys unity between punks and skins. What is the general state of the Parisian punk Oi! scene?

Lion’s Law: We’ve always been shaved-head punks, what we call skinheads! We grew up tight, and there’s no real border between punks and skins here. Big up to my boys in Breakout!

• Radio Punk: Speaking of Evermore, would you like to share some curiosities and anecdotes about this amazing new album? What are the main innovations and differences compared to your previous work?

Lion’s Law: Well, this album is a new page for the band and for us a big, uncertain step. Our main composer and guitar player, Louis, left the band before we started writing this album. So we didn’t know and we feared that we couldn’t step up and write songs as good as he did !! But I like that now it’s more of a common process of writing… if we did it, you tell us! 

• Radio Punk: You just wrapped up an incredible European tour with Mess and Claimed Choice. Which places do you remember most fondly? And what were the craziest and most bizarre moments you experienced over the past few weeks?

Lion’s Law: It’s not just because you guys are Italians, but we had a great time in Bologna, that’s for sure! We played 21 shows around Europe with this crazy team, because let’s be honest, we all party hard every night !!! And it’s good to catch up with old friends in every city! I gotta say Berlin is still on top of Europe! 

• Radio Punk: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us! To wrap up the interview, tell us: who are the members of Lion’s Law in everyday life? (Hobbies, jobs, passions, guilty pleasures?)

Lion’s Law: Lion’s Law in 2025: 
Drums – Thomoï, punx since 1980 and biggest pothead on earth 
Guitar – Daick, Ex Straight Edge lord, broke up his edge on tour with Lion’s Law and now enjoys a warm 8°6 beer. 
Guitar – Vovott, InFamous 80’s punk guitar hero, please listen to Al Kapott.
Bass – Swann, the secret hidden kid of Matt Freeman and Beyoncé. 
Vocals – Wattie, not much to say about him.

Photo by Nina Galdino

L'articolo Interview with Lion’s Law proviene da Radio Punk.

In 2025, Bologna-based Oi! band Zeman celebrate ten years of activity. On 17 March, they released their new album, Ancor Non M’Abbandona. Following their previous full-length records, Attitudine Offensiva and Sunday Boys, as well as a split with Coru & Figau, the new release features 11 fresh tracks and is available on vinyl. It’s a co-production between Hellnation, Tough Ain’t Enough, Relax-O-Matic Vibrator, and Rusty Knife. To mark the occasion, we caught up with the band.

• Radio Punk: Hello there, and welcome to our zine! Although we’ve known each other for years, we’ve never had the chance to interview you as Zeman – though you lot have already been featured here with other projects like Cesoia and C4. Let’s start from the beginning: tell us the story of Zeman.

Zeman: It’s mostly a story of getting through, one way or another – hoping your liver holds up, surviving monotonous, underpaid jobs, scraping by in rented rooms, staying on your feet for the last drink, the last pointless scrap at five in the morning. Music had little to do with it. Especially in the beginning.

We were relentless. Sleeping two or three to a room, with no money to even get into bars or pubs, so we’d buy Lidl whisky for seven euros and drink at home on Via della Liberazione, playing cards. We’d get through at least two bottles of awful bourbon a week, but rarely straight – it was undrinkable. We’d cut it with Coke or just ice. The rest of our money went on canned beer and vodka stuffed under our jackets.

Bologna was different then – an open-air eatery, a playground for cash-flush Americans and Germans. Kebab prices have doubled since. Mauro was living in a student housing shoebox, and I was paying just over a hundred euros for a 1-bedroom flat that turned into a 2-bedroom flat whenever a mate needed a place to crash. Temporary contracts came and went like cockroaches on the floor.

We used to go to nights run by collectives, but only to nick booze and cause chaos. The autonomists kicked me out of their parties in Via Zamboni more than once – we were too working-class for the bourgeois offspring sent to Bologna for their political holiday in the cradle of ’77 [The so-called ‘movement of 1977’ was a spontaneist, mostly student-based ultraleft movement in Italy, reaching its peak in 1977, with Bologna as one of its strongholds – Translator]

I come from a working-class neighbourhood of twenty thousand blokes who do manual labour, warehouse work, or drink away what’s left in dimly lit social clubs – between addiction treatment centre queues for methadone and bottles of Ichnusa beer at eight in the morning.

The line-up has changed over time – Gaber was on bass until he moved to Barcelona, Norby played drums before heading back to where he came from, though he still plays with us, and Vinc from Gruppo Erotico Barletta was on guitar, but living far away makes it tough to piece everything together.

But we keep going – what else would we do? Spend Saturday nights in pizzerias or binge-watch TV series on the sofa, ordering junk food? Fighting is the only thing that keeps us alive. An uneven fight against fate. And since none of us has won the lottery, we’ve got no choice but to keep going.

The only thing I own is a Moto Guzzi V7, 750cc, made in Mandello del Lario, bought on instalments with my dad’s pension as collateral. The exhaust sounds like a distorted bass hammering against a snare drum. It goes from 0 to 100 in five seconds flat – like our new songs ‘Bardana’ and ‘Disciplina’.

• Radio Punk: Let’s talk about the new record. What do you feel you’ve brought to your discography with this album compared to the previous ones? What subject matter do you tackle?

Zeman: Lately, we’ve been hearing too much soft stuff – melodic guitars and polished vocals pandering to the audience, clean punk rock being passed off as Oi! or whatever. That’s not what we want. With this album, we’ve aimed for the sound of 1980s Italy – Nabat, raw, hard, uncompromising, lo-fi recordings that spit out pain and venom. We drew inspiration from recent French, Spanish, Catalan, and Basque releases like Beton Arme, Squelette, Brux, Aresi, Ultra Razzia, Rixe, and Reconquesta.

We entrusted the mixing and post-production to Alex from IENA. We wanted a record that captured what we lived and felt – drums pounding like a hammer on a metal bench, solos scraping at a garage door, vocals reverberating from beneath a stadium underpass. All that mattered was that it sounded real and raw, stripped back, sometimes dissonant – like a machine gun, like a Futurist poem. Zang Tumb Tumb.

As for the themes, we’ve tried to step away from the typical rhetoric of old, which now feels distant to us. ‘Bardana’ is about a crime in 19th-century Sardinia, where bands of armed horsemen raided the homes of the wealthy, killing everyone in their path. ‘Incorruttibile’ is about Robespierre, one of history’s greatest revolutionaries. Then there’s the nocturnal atmosphere of ‘Rasoi’, Sunday mornings heading to the stadium, the wake-ups, and our city in ‘Aspettando solo un goal’ and ‘Una vita intera’. The most identity-driven tracks like ‘Teste Rasate’ and ‘Ancor Non M’Abbandona’ tell our origins – we came from nothing, immigrants, and no one ever gave us anything (the album title comes from a line in Dante’s Inferno). ‘Fenomeno’ is about people who think they’re someone special, mostly online – it’s easier today: two posed photos, a bit of nonsense, and you’re set. Finally, ‘No One Likes Us’, our rework of the track by The Business, adapted to the streets of San Donato and our own terraces. Better Millwall than West Ham.

• Radio Punk: Can you tell us about the team behind the sound, artwork, photos, and the labels that helped release the album? We’re not just looking for a list of names – give us some behind-the-scenes insight.

Zeman: After ten years, we can confidently say that we all contributed fairly equally to the music on this record – riffs, melodies, rhythms, and sounds. We recorded in our bunker, Il Vecchio Son, at Sonhouse Studio with sound engineer Grug. The gang vocals session was legendary – there were at least ten of us, polishing off a bottle of whisky and a couple of crates of beer. The chants you hear at the end of the songs were all spontaneous – we actually had to cut some bits because things got out of hand. As mentioned earlier, Alex from IENA took care of the mixing. We wanted a raw, obsessive, clanking, anti-commercial sound – something that stands apart from most of today’s Italian releases. The mastering was done at a studio in Florence recommended by Alex.

The artwork was created by Tommy, a long-time mate. The photos and video for the album’s release were done by Camilla, who was incredibly patient, considering that we’re not exactly natural-born models, don’t look great in photos, and have no idea what to do in front of a camera. Before the full album, we recorded a promo and sent it to labels we respect, mostly French, Spanish, and Basque, alongside Hellnation – the indestructible hub of quality Oi! In the end, the record was co-produced by Tough Ain’t Enough (Spain), Rusty Knife, and Relax-O-Matic Vibrator (from Marseille, where we’ve played before), and, of course, Roberto from Hellnation.

• Radio Punk: Your bio and flyers say you’re from Bologna, but none of you are actually from here. What’s your relationship with Bologna and its stadium? What are the hangout spots for the kids, aside from the ‘Bar dei Ragazzi’ [a bar in the San Donato immortalised in a Zeman song on the previous album – Translator]?

Zeman: It’s all about the red and blue, basically. Those are the colours of my hometown, Sassari, the city where we formed, and of Cagliari, which I hate, but Mauro and Norby support, even though Vinc’s Barletta team has the colours red and white – but that’s another story.

The first time we ever rehearsed was at Vecchio Son in Bologna – the rehearsal space that Steno from Nabat runs. Steno had never seen us before, nobody had, and that’s where we chose our band name and wrote songs like ‘No Fair Play’, ‘Attitudine Offensiva’, and ‘Disciplina’. So, what else are we supposed to put in our biography, if not Bologna? Besides, we’re not Lega [Italian far-right party] supporters – the whole Jus Sanguinis thing [‘right of blood’ = nationality determined by descent] is a thing of the past, like something spouted by Calderoli [Roberto Calderoli, an Italian far-right politician known for his racist remarks – Translator].

The places we hang out at, and have always hung out at, are basically the ones where you spend less. I’ve never been into political gathering spots, those trendy places where people chat – it’s just not my thing. The national average beer consumption in Sardinia is the highest in Italy, on par with Munich, and I’m not about to spend eight euros on a pint or some overpriced craft beer. So, you’ll often find us in San Donato: Bar dei Ragazzi, Sardocinese, Bar Kantelli, and Bar Texas.

As for Oi!, we should mention Bologna City Rockers, the Sottotetto venue, and what used to be the Skeggia – a place run by Bologna’s Forever Ultras. It was all about long nights, ultras scarves, Campari and gin, all crammed between the bar and the wall, with stage diving from the door. But now they say they’re rebuilding the stadium, with parking lots, fast food joints, and balloons for kids. We’ll patiently wait for another venue, and if there isn’t one… well, we’ll figure something out. We even wrote a book about the Skeggia – me and the guys from Bologna City Rockers: skinheads, punks, and hooligans. It’s a true self-production, all done by us, no profit, no booking.

• Radio Punk: You’re a band that’s openly skinhead and anti-fascist, and you make that clear in the lyrics of this album, such as in ‘Nemico’. What struggles are closest to your hearts, and in general, what’s your take on the current geopolitical situation?

Zeman: With this album, we didn’t feel the need to repeat that we’re an anti-fascist band. We’ve been playing for over ten years, and people already know where we stand, so we focused on expressing other aspects of our lives. We’ve been involved in many anti-fascist struggles in the city, from street demonstrations to scuffles outside gigs, kicking Nazis out or stopping them from getting in. That’s what matters to me – being real, all the way.
That said, there’s one song we felt compelled to write in light of recent international events and ongoing wars: ‘Nemico’ [enemy]. Why? Because the democratic West has already decided who the new enemies of the established order, common morals, and civilisation are. It’s a holy war against anyone who doesn’t conform. The enemy is the Palestinian, the enemy is the Russian, and we, who have long memories and have studied history, know you can never trust the Americans.

• Radio Punk: Since the album is a collaboration between Italian, French, and Spanish labels, do you have plans for a European tour or something similar? And in general, what’s in store for Zeman in the future?

Zeman: There will be a promotional tour, starting with dates in Italy and Sardinia, and possibly later expanding to Europe. But don’t expect a three-week tour in France and Spain – we all work during the week, and we’re only free on Sundays and, when we’re lucky, Saturdays. As for the bands that do big tours in South America, the US, Poland, and so on… What kind of jobs do they have?

• Radio Punk: Ten years of playing is no small feat, especially since you’ve always stayed active in the truest sense of the word. You’ve seen and been through a lot. Do you think the skinhead scene in Bologna and Italy has changed over the years? What do you like about it, and what would you like to improve? After this philosophical question, we’ll thank you, say goodbye, and raise a toast to you. Oi!

Zeman: Everything changes, nothing stays the same. Panta rei. The scene is no different. The average age has definitely gone up, especially at live shows – you don’t see many young bands anymore, and that’s the case across Italy. In France, Spain, and Euskadi, though, the scene seems livelier. In Bologna, there’s still some movement, I think. Bands like Oltre La Linea, who are a bunch of solid lads from nearby Porretta. We won’t mention Cesoia, or else people will say we’re biased. Then there are all the bands we’re always happy to share a stage with: Nabat, Diario di Bordo, Zona Popolare, Rude, and Ghetto 84.

A lot of it comes down to venues. There aren’t many self-managed spaces left, so more shows are happening in clubs. This isn’t bad in some ways, like for the acoustics, organisation, and beer in glass bottles. But I think we lose some spontaneity, opposition, anger, avant-garde spirit, and contrast. Oi! needs vitality, people who come from nothing, from the provinces and outskirts. Eight-euro tickets, nine-euro drinks, six-hundred-euro rents for a studio flat – these things take away the magic.

We’re still the invincible ranks with black flames on our lapels [a reference to ‘Fiamme nere’, a marching song of Arditi del Popolo, Italy’s first paramilitary anti-fascist organisation, founded by ex-WWI combatants in 1921 – Translator]. I hope a new generation of kids will rise up – stealing wristbands to sneak into gigs, grabbing bottles from behind the bar, and getting kicked out, just like we did. Who knows, maybe they’ll make music that challenges our certainties, waking us from the suffocating numbness of gig photos, likes, shares, and petty arguments on social media. We’re trying to resist. And if you don’t like it, well, No one likes us, we don’t care.

Translation by Matt Zurowski
Credit photo: Cami Cristo

L'articolo Interview with Zeman proviene da Radio Punk.

Cesoia – made up of Gerry on vocals, Davide on guitar, Matt on bass, and Mauro on drums – haven’t been around for long, but they’ve already played a decent number of gigs and released a debut album at the end of 2024. So, let’s get to know Cesoia and their skinhead rock ’n’ roll!

Radio Punk: Hello lads – welcome to our zine! Tell us a little bit about how, where, and when Cesoia got started, and which other projects, bands, or collectives you have been or are currently involved in…

Gerry: Hi there! Me, Davide and Mauro have known each other for over 15 years – we all moved to Bologna from distant places in Italy. Then a few years ago, we met Matt, and after a many chats over many beers and shots, Robert Johnson appeared to us and we realised we should probably drink less and start a band that mixes the energy of rock ‘n’ roll with the rage of Oi!

Mauro and Davide come from Sardinia, where they played in various punk bands before moving to Bologna for university. It was not long before they formed Zeman. I sang in a few punk bands in Naples before moving to Bologna. It was here that I started Misfatt with Vinc from the local Oi! band Zeman during the lockdown period – a demented Misfits-style band singing in the Neapolitan language. We never played live, but we had a blast. Matt, on the other hand, has lived in a several different countries and, ages ago, played in garage bands such as Mod Fuck Explosion.

Radio Punk: Your themes and style are unmistakably working-class and skinhead. Tell us a bit about your lyrics and the messages you want to convey to your audience.

Cesoia: We live every word in our lyrics, and our lyrics are us – from laughter to rage, from social injustice to workplace strife, from class struggle to everyday battles, from drunken nights to late-night odysseys in search of the last open bar. In short, it’s music of the people, for the people. And to those who listen to us – great choice, keep it up, Oi!

Cesoia – S/T

Radio Punk: Let’s move to a topic that’s very important to us. What role does politics play in your lives? And what’s your take on those who identify as apolitical skins?

Cesoia: The members of the band have different political leanings, but we’re all anti-capitalist and anti-fascist. For us the real threat is not from below but from above, from control at all costs to the standardisation of entertainment. We’re all politically conscious – being apolitical is not for us. Politics is part of our lives and taking a stand on certain issues is a must.

Radio Punk: You’ve been around for quite a few years, despite the band’s relatively young age. How have you seen the punk and skinhead subcultures change over the years? Do you think there’s a new generation coming through, or are we heading towards the end of subcultures? If it’s the latter, what can be done to turn things around?

Cesoia: Subcultures have obviously changed along with society, but we still believe that those who gravitate towards skinhead and punk circles hold the same values as they did in the beginning. Of course, there will always be a few idiots trying their best to make you think otherwise, but the trick is to ignore them. The real enemies are elsewhere – it’s not about whether some kid is ‘inadequate’ because he doesn’t have the right clothes or whatever. As The Business said, ‘Fight the real enemy’.

For us it is about our friends and keeping the scene alive. The generational change in Bologna has slowed down – mainly because fewer self-run spaces, community-run centres and so on, mean fewer places for people to come together. For example, we recently played at the CPA community centre in Florence, and there were a lot of young people there who made the space their own.

Radio Punk: What bands are your main musical influences? Recommend some must-listen Oi! and rock ’n’ roll bands to our readers… And on the other hand, what are your guilty pleasures when it comes to music?

Cesoia: Apart from ’80s Oi! and ’70s glam/bovver rock, we’d mention what we call ‘punk with a Harrington jacket’ – bands like Slaughter and the Dogs, The Ruts, and 999, so bootboys, pub rockers, and glam rockers who somehow ended up in punk. We also love stadium glam like Slade, delta blues, country & western, Aussie rock, and first-generation rock ’n’ roll legends like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.

Guilty pleasures? Sabrina Salerno and Amanda Lear.

Bands we recommend: The Reapers, No Time, Claimed Choice, Mess, Siekiera, Tchernobyl, Miners, Rose Tattoo, and of course, Nabat and The Business… but we could go on forever.

Radio Punk: What’s your connection with the city you live in and its scene? What do you love most about Bologna, and what would you change if you could?

Cesoia: We all come from different places, so more than us having a connection with Bologna, Bologna is what connects us – this is where we met. The scene here has always been very varied, from the skinhead world to the punk scene. There were and still are very important venues like Atlantide, XM24, A Skeggia, Vecchio Son, and the Bologna City Rockers collective, which organises all the best gigs.

Nowadays, with pedestrianised zones, restrictive regulations, and sky-high rents, the city is turning into an open-air shopping mall, where those who create non-mainstream meeting places are seen as a problem to be eradicated. Evictions, lawsuits, bans and restrictions make things difficult, but there are still people who fight for these spaces with passion. That’s the beauty of the city.

Radio Punk: What’s in the pipeline for Cesoia? Will there be a tour or any gigs to promote this record? Will it be released in a physical format too? And in general, what’s next for Cesoia?

Cesoia: Gigs are coming up as we go along and we’ll add them to our Facebook page as they happen. We have decided to make our debut album available for free on all platforms. We’re planning to record another album in about a year, and this time we’ll release it in a physical format. As for the future – the future not what it used to be, so we’ll see how things go.

Radio Punk: We’ll wrap things up here – thank you very much! We’ve known you for years, but some of our readers may not. Who are Gerry, Mauro, Davide and Matt in normal life? What are their jobs, hobbies and passions? And finally, if you had to choose – whisky or borghetti? Thanks again and see you next time – Oi!

Gerry: Right, so I work as a stagehand for concerts and theatres, Mauro is a healthcare assistant, Matt is a translator, and Davide is a precarious teacher. We spend our time listening to music, watching ’70s and ’80s horror and exploitation movies, reading, hanging out in the dodgiest bars in town, and disturbing the peace.

Whisky or Borghetti? Why choose?

Thanks to you lot – see you around!

Credit photo: Francesca Chiari
Translation by Matt Zurowski

L'articolo Interview with Cesoia proviene da Radio Punk.

Collettivo Cannibale has been active in the crust, grindcore, sludge and generally into the extreme music scene for some time now, they also organize many movie showing and solidarity and mutual aid’s initiatives. Well-established in Bologna – in Bolognina’s area, to be precise – They have promoted countless events in different places, often touching other cities such as Imola and Modena. In the latter, the first Extreme Condition Festival will take place on 27 and 28 September 2024, in the historic occupied social center La Scintilla. In the following interview we’ll discover more about the collective and this new festival!

• Radio Punk: Hello, welcome to our ‘zine! Let’s start from the end, introduce us to the first edition of Extreme Condition Fest and tell us what we can’t miss during this two-day event.

Collettivo Cannibale: Hello Radio Punk! “Thanks for the opportunity to be featured. Throughout the year, our collective tries to connect, with our limited possibilities, with the different DIY, subcultural and countercultural realities of our area and to those who are involved in the different fronts of the social and political struggle of our time and local context. The way we have chosen is the one that belongs most to us as a collective, that is, in the most extreme, noisy and visually repulsive or disturbing way, like a truck on the wrong side of the gentrification highway. This first edition of the Extreme Condition Fest is nothing more than an attempt to represent and share what we are and what we hold dear.

While the music is certainly the main vehicle we rely on (and it goes without saying how important it is not to miss a single barred note or shouted word from any of the bands taking part), what is equally important to not miss is the multitude of stuff you will find within the fest.

On Saturday the 28th, a collective talk will start at 13.00. There will be the participation of some collectives that are active in the struggle against some of the worst cages that we see in this dark present: from prisons to detention centers for repatriation for immigrants, to those for non-human animals, struggles that are linked in a historical context in which the cage is an emblem of our society, starting with the mental cages that we too often allow ourselves to impose and in which we allow ourselves to be locked up, suffering alienation in a daily life in which it is less and less possible to be sentient, non-autonomous beings, bolts in the gears of ‘the capital’. We want this festival of ours to be not only a musical/subcultural event for its own sake, but possibly also a moment of encounter and confrontation, to recognise affinities and perhaps unite intentions and forces.

In the distro area, which we hope will be full of stalls, there will be the chance to get in touch with some of the many participants to the DIY and self-production scene, a theme dear to us and indispensable for an affirmation of ourselves outside the logic of the market.

The all-day/night DJ set in the garden will feature friends and comrades from Rome’s cultural underworld (Lady Crime and T8tino), the Bad Taste collective represented by Bitti and his vinyls, and selecter/DJ Zen Zero, a member and integral part of Collettivo Cannibale.

On Friday, we are happy to recommend the presentations of two interesting contemporary projects: the new fantasy-dystopian novel ‘Turno di Notte’ by Scaglie di Rumore (who will also talk to us about the independent publishing house Agenzia Z and some other related projects) and the deathzine ‘Unholy’, one of the best current examples of dedication to the rottenest meanders of extreme music. Last but not least, the advice is to experience La Scintilla: get to know it, recognise it, discover it, rediscover it, take care of it together and connect with the place that not only hosts this first edition of the festival, but that since 1986 has an history of radical self-organization that we hope will continue for a long time to come.

• Radio Punk: This is the first edition of E.C. Fest, but you already have a long list of concerts and initiatives behind you, including the last edition of the historic September To Dismember. Tell us a bit about yourselves and your history!

Collettivo Cannibale: Although some of us had already taken part in the organization of other DIY festivals (without sponsors, without institutional recognition, without beggin’ for permission…), as a collective the last edition of September to Dismember was our first ‘big’ experience in that sense, with all that this implies in order to be called a festival and not just a ‘long concert’. It is no secret that from the very beginning of our adventure as Collettivo Cannibale there was a great desire to revive a certain type of ‘scene’ that, two years ago, in our area seemed to be gradually dying out. Thanks to the drive of young comrades and the participation of friends who were already navigating the underground circuit of Bologna, the creation of September to Dismember was at the same time a challenge, a tribute and, above all, a satisfaction. It could be said that it was like calling for a continuity with a past that is dear to us, which should be continued, but not necessarily idealized and retraced. 

The tribe of our collective was born almost two years ago in the context of the Bologna scene, in the backyard of an occupied social center, with the desire to create – or re-create –  an ‘extreme’ nucleus that would expose to living flesh all that we do not want to be claimed, rendered harmless and cleansed from the hands of this truly cannibalistic society: extreme non-music (from grindcore to sludge, from crust to harsh noise and in general the less commercial derivatives of punk and metal and what we affectionately call ‘noise’), cinema in its aesthetic metastasis (from B-movie splatter to the mad experiments of the early 20th century, from the masterpieces of Fulci and Bava to the sewers of the worst exploitation films). Here is a quote: “extreme conditions demand extreme responses”. In a world that is increasingly falling in the deepest shit, it is necessary, almost a duty, that forms of expression such as ours support and are in complicity with the opposition to the present that is being sold to us violently and expensively as ‘normality’. This is why most of what we do has as its ultimate goal solidarity with the political and social struggle in an anarchist and revolutionary direction, to which we give our support through performances, forms of communication that take place on and under the stages and in the spaces that we manage to take over and infest, and, as you do, through the printed page.

Beyond individual choices, as a collective we choose to don’t collaborate with venues, booking agencies, associations and organizations that are born for profit or conform to the dictates of the music/culture business, but within and with organizations that are collectively managed, politically charged and/or not for profit. Extreme Condition Fest was born out of this kind of awareness. We are Collettivo Cannibale and this is OUR festival, created from nothing with the hope that this will be just a claw in the flesh of a future full of noise, especially when the future is being taken away from us and screaming is the least we can do.

Everything was necessary to get to where we are now. In this sense: we acknowledge with gratitude that without previous DIY festivals as September to Dismember, Anti-MTV DAY, Rovina Hardcore, Carovan Chaos, Bologna Brucia, Frigo-Fest and all the experiences of festivals and self-organised counter-festivals that preceded us in our territory, the historical memory of our tribe would probably be poorer today and we would not be what we are today. But the future is yet to be written, everything is yet to happen. We, like you, are trying to do our part. It is now up to those reading these words to ask themselves if and how they can do their part, by participating in a countercultural history and relentless search for an alternative to the decaying capitalist ‘realism’ that we want to continue for as long as it will be needed.

(The countercultural history and search for an alternative, not capitalism, of course eheh).

• Radio Punk: An obvious characteristic of yours is a strong attachment to self-managed situations and places. What struggles and political ideas do you support as a collective?

Collettivo Cannibale: As we wrote before, almost everything we do is in the direction of supporting the struggle against this deadly societal setting and supporting the alternatives to it that we manage/can manage to create. Not only through benefits shows, but for example also self-financing the activities we carry out in this regard, representing an alternative to “normalization”, choosing to do our stuff in certain politically charged contexts and not in others. The list could go on. Our collective is made of many different identities, but what we have in common is a rejection of the logic of the capitalist market and how it normalize itself within both: music and our own lives. It follows that our common positioning and direction has to be anarchist, anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist in its nature, in opposition to an increasingly repressive, suffocating and often depressing present.

• Radio Punk: Besides the musical-political side, you also emphasize many other aspects: visual arts, stands, self-productions and more. What is the origin of this choice? How much do you bring your individual passions into your collective?

When we think about an event or an initiative, we always pay special attention to those who, like us, in various ways, orbit around the concept of self-production and DIY. From cinema to fine arts to comix, to other stuff. People in the Italian and international underground, who are part of that vast universe that includes the various forms of extra-musical expression that are part of the macro-universe of self-production, of which we are happy to be a part.

• Radio Punk: Make us laugh, tell us the most grotesque thing that happened at one of your concerts!

Collettivo Cannibale: You should make us laugh! Let’s see what happens at this year’s festival!

Reality is that we could tell too many grotesque episodes and there would not be enough space in this format. Visit us at the festival entrance or at our stand. We will certainly have been drinking for a while. There will be no shortage of anecdotes.

• Radio Punk: How does one of your initiatives/concerts come about? Do you chug a load of Peronis until someone else comes up with an enlightening idea, are you contacted and try to give space to all suggestions or do you decide by cooptation?

Collettivo Cannibale: Given our affinity with practices of self-organization and our subjective experiences in the various autonomous places in which we’ve had grown up as persons, it is natural for us to confront ourselves in horizontal assemblies, where each of us proposes ideas and/or reports requests from the many bands or individuals who contact us, or where we report information and/or needs from the contexts of struggle in our territory, from which we create, for example, a benefit concert for political prisoners. We try to be available to the collectives and the bands that are looking for a space or a date and that contact us to organize concerts and initiatives. Of course, Peroni and any other brand of cheap alcohol is never missing in any of the steps described above. We are what we are. If you want to contact us and propose any kind of event, concert or collaboration, you can do so by talking to us in person or through our Facebook and Instagram pages (yes, in this respect we have surrendered to ‘normality’ for the sake of convenience, but we would like to remind you that the underground lives and spreads mainly outside the now normalised forms and media. If you’d like to talk to us face to face, sampling our undead breath, we’d be delighted), or via our email, which is: collettivocannibale@mortemale.org

• Radio Punk: Which band do you dream of calling and which one would you like to call but it would be impossible?

Collettivo Cannibale: The bands we dream of collaborating with are so many, with some we already have contacts. The past year we tried to call Axegrinder, a band we would have loved to bring to Italy, as we hope to do someday with Swordwielder or Dopethrone, as examples. But there are so many examples. A band we would have loved to have included in our festival was the German band Instinct Of Survival, but for their personal reasons beyond our control we have had to accept that this will now be impossible.

• Radio Punk: Thank you, we leave you one last free space to give you the chance to add what you want to communicate to those who will read!

Collettivo Cannibale: Thank you Radio Punk! What you have asked us has already drained us and perhaps made more sense to us than to those who will read. It’s hard to think of what to add in an interview, but we look forward to doing so in real life, at the festival and at all our future events, together with you and those who want to be there.

In conclusion, we would like to remind you that what we are doing is nothing that makes us special compared to other subjects, individuals and collectives. The beauty of DIY is that it is up to those doing it and those who wish to participate to decide whether and how to practice it. The invitation to readers is to remember that you can do it too. If you feel like a participant and not just a user and payer, if you like the idea of creating something that unites like-minded people as much as possible and shows that we don’t really need the dictates of a society in which we can’t be ourself, if you believe or want to believe in the possibility of grass roots organization: do your part, do it your way! Life is ours. Your life is yours. Take it back! Live, fight, destroy, build, hate, love!

L'articolo Interview with Collettivo Cannibale: EXTREME CONDITION FEST VOL. 1 feature proviene da Radio Punk.

In 2022 they put out a crazy album ‘Death Driven‘, one of the best of the year, and in 2024 they return with ‘Traces Towards Oblivion‘, a new mini-LP released by Agipunk (which we really liked and talked about here). We are about to interview Berlin-based Terminal Filth, a band that as the name suggests takes inspiration from the legendary Deviated Instinct. Let’s give the word, then, to this band that is making so much noise thanks to their devastating prowess both live and in the studio.

• Radio Punk: Hello! We welcome you to our ‘zine. Tell us a bit about yourselves: the genesis of Terminal Filth, if you had other bands before, if you are or were part of other projects…

Terminal Filth: Thank you very much for your questions and for allowing us to speak a little bit about Terminal Filth. The band was born shortly before the beginning of the pandemics. We started practicing around October 2019: the idea was originally to play a noisy sort of d-beat raw punk a la Napalm Raid, but after a few rehearsal-sessions we realized that our common efforts were taking us elsewhere… from there onward, we let ourselves be surprised by the outcome and by the reception of the music.

Yes, indeed, we all were part of other bands before: three of us played together in a Berlin based punk band called Pestchords for a few years, Christian played guitar and bass in many German bands (Karbeat, Kotzkrampf, just to name a couple) at least since the late nineties, early 2000. Isa was part of Nocturnal Scum, an international crust punk act from Berlin, and of Kriminal, a furious d-beat assault (both bands are not active anymore). Some of us are also currently involved in other bands, such as Speedkobra, and the newborn Sewerrage… All in all, although each of us has been or is involved in different projects (parallel or not), Terminal Filth has remained our focus for the last few years.

• Radio Punk: How did you meet in Berlin and what is it like being a crust punk band in this city? From the outside it looks like a very active city both musically and politically, is that really the case? Are there a lot of spaces to play and does it allow you to be connected and play a lot outside the capital?

Terminal Filth: Berlin is a city with a very lively scene, and it is surely an awesome place to start a band and to begin moving around in the diy underground. Many collectives throughout the city are relentlessly organizing gigs, events, demonstrations, putting a lot of energy and sweat to keep alive places and venues. Sometimes one wonders how this shithole of a city can live up to its own reputation – and sometimes it’s indeed just a matter of perception. It’s all but an ideal place to be sure, and arguably one (and to mention just one) of the issues connected with such a vibrant scene is that one risks being stuck in a bubble of apparent security that doesn’t represent the complexity of the surrounding reality at all. Therefore, it is important for us to critically question the “scene” we come from, without being forgetful of how much we owe to people, places, crews – not least because that allowed us to meet us. (Which by the way happened as it always does: something clicks among people, a strong friendship develops almost instantly, consolidating through time into a kinship.) It is important to add that Germany has a lot to offer also elsewhere, and not only in cities such as Leipzig, Dresden, Hamburg, but also in smaller, countryside areas, where the seeds of sedition are no less fertile and ready to explode.

• Radio Punk: Your new work is impressive, about 20 minutes deflagrating and imperious. What we ask is for you to tell us about its composition, its themes (since you mentioned astronomer Carl Sagan) and what you wanted to add or how you wanted to differ from previous works.

Terminal Filth: We can hardly say anything about the composition process, mostly because it’s something unknown to ourselves, or rather that happens unbeknownst to ourselves – there where the unconscious meets magic. Someone comes with an idea, a melody stuck in the mind, an obsessive thought, and by working together, attempt after attempt, repetition after repetition, or by sheer wonder, something happens. In retrospect, we can surely identify a few moments in which we realized something was happening in front of our eyes. “Through extinction”, for instance, came together in just an afternoon while we were jamming together in a torrid summer afternoon in Hadmersleben (close to Magdeburg)… Also, in retrospect, we can see a thematic and stylistic pattern developing from the two releases (actually three, if we count the demo) we published: with this last record, I guess we tried to give form to a soundscape, to a vision of the Earth from the border of the solar system, and to manifest through sounds a form of anguish and devastation by imagining the planet in total ruins and abandoned. That’s of course one possible explanation. The music is out there for the others to be heard and received; we don’t feel too comfortable with the idea of imposing an interpretative pattern. To answer your point regarding Carl Sagan: he was indisputably an important inspiration. His writings have no doubt nourished the vision and its manifestation, but what we tried to do is to take a step forward towards the catastrophe, the oblivion, and beyond, to see new things with the eyes of music and to touch them with its finger.

• Radio Punk: The artwork of your works is incredible, would you like to tell us a little about their meaning and your relationship with Stiv who created them?

Terminal Filth: Stiv has far more merits than he would be willing to personally admit, even under torture! But since he’s a close friend and we don’t want him to kick our asses, we will keep it short and on point. His incredible artwork is no less than a part of our music, materialized and made visible after the music itself. With his pen he could give visual texture to what we were trying to say without images, to that nightmarish void murmuring in the abyss. The collaboration with him started as we were developing the artwork for the “Death Driven” LP, and so far, it has been absolutely enriching for us. As a matter of fact, we couldn’t help but drawing further inspiration from his own work!

Also, we would like to add that other great artists entrusted us with their creations and with their time. Our friend Csaba realized an incredible subject visible on our backpatches, a nightmarish vision of a death-driven-messiah populating our lyrics, a prophet of death looking straight into us with empty eyes! Furthermore, our friend Rebecca (drummer of the furious Electric Masochist) realized the first artwork for our demo-tape, literally baptizing Terminal Filth in ink and blood with a chimeric image of anguish.

• Radio Punk: Still on the album theme, how did you get in touch with Agipunk and what is it like working with this label?

Terminal Filth: Koppa is another person that, just as Stiv, made our adventure possible. If I remember correctly, I reached out to him in the first months of 2022, asking if he was interested in publishing our record. It was a long shot, we were basically a newborn, unknown band, and we remember being very unsure whether he could like it or not… but as it turns out. We couldn’t have been more excited as we read that Koppa was interested in publishing “Death Driven” through Agipunk. In addition to that, he also provided great suggestions to give the final touch to the artwork and to the music. After such a good, productive experience, we were quite thrilled at idea of pursuing our path together.

• Radio Punk: Stepping out of the musical dimension a bit, tell us a bit about yourselves: who are Terminal Filth outside the band, in everyday life? What are your passions, hobbies, jobs, etc.?

Terminal Filth: Ah, in that case there is not much we would like to say, in many respects we are four unexceptional persons blessed with the exceptional gift of friendship and with the chance of playing music. We all take part in the daily struggle from a very, very privileged perspective, and sometimes we forget what a luxury it is to be able to play music, to perform and to travel to do so! Next one!

• Radio Punk: You have played in different contexts and in different cities, what are the experiences you remember most fondly? Are you planning any more tours, maybe outside Europe? And more generally, what’s in your future?

Terminal Filth: Many fond memories, every concert is an event per se for us, regardless of the outcome! From the first one in the distant September 2020 – a small gig in Poland organized for a few friends during a motorbike ride-out – to the last tour with Fractured: we’ve been blessed with tons of fun and with great friendships! Surely the highlights of our journey have been the first tour with Motron from Italy, and the tour with Fractured. The bond we created with these crews is simply incredible – although very hard to express through words…

We are currently planning a tour in north America for the next fall, and we will share more details asap.

• Radio Punk: Back to the music part, nerdy question: given the dark, high-impact sounds, we ask what instrumentation and setup do you use?

Terminal Filth: I’m sorry to disappoint you again but also from that point of view, not really much can be said. We have a very instinctive and untechnical approach to music, and we tend to keep what we like, without being too cerebral. Distortion pedals, voice effects, choruses, amplifiers, there is nothing really out of the ordinary. We allow ourselves to take as much inspiration as we want from bands we love and admire (Stormcrow, Skaven, Deviated Instict, Bolt Thrower, Black Curse, and many more) and try to hide it by reinventing old, great ideas with our own twist – which is basically the chemistry that we share in the practice room and out of it. The sound that you may hear on the records is also the result of a very experienced (and patient) sound engineer, our friend Benno, who recorded both our full-lengths, and of Jack Control, who impeccably mastered them. The rest is sheer luck and trial-and-error fun. We like to think that, as it is naturally part of the game, we don’t really have much control on what we are doing ‘soundwise,’ and that is also a great deal of fun, especially when the result turns out to be good!

• Radio Punk: On a political level, is there anything you would particularly like to communicate? Is there any struggle you care most about? Do you believe that we can actually change this world or that it’s too late and we’ll end up cursing ourselves like the final scene of Planet of the Apes?

Terminal Filth: We like to think that we have our own take to political issues. That doesn’t mean at all that we are “apolitical,” of course, but rather that we try to address political issues through a “politics of the subject,” in other words, through an existential perspective, without losing ourselves too much in slogans and ready-made easy solutions. Perhaps there is too much confidence in the idea that there are easy ways to deal with and solve complex problems. That is a mere illusion, it means to reduce the complexity of the human being to a plan. Complex problems and conflicts require a critical position and it’s impossible to find an answer to political issues without understanding the veritable complex context in which they express themselves.

• Radio Punk: Given Germany’s past and given the anti-German ‘movement’, how is the situation in Berlin and the whole country regarding the Palestinian issue? And what do you think about it?

Terminal Filth: We see the reality of the situation surrounding us, to be sure. And the situation is dramatic, to say the least. Regardless of what people say, however, the issue is indeed very complex. Once the slogans are shouted and the flags are raised, the question remains: “how can we practically solve the conflict?”

Here in Germany the question is ridiculously polarized and divided. The Antideutsche movement is a parody, a signal of a paternalistic blindness and incapability of criticizing a government. The German government is, on its own, silencing any form of protest and critical thinking, of support and solidarity. This is not the signal of a healthy society – if there has ever been any such a thing – or of a collective seriously confronting itself with the issue. On top of that, too often people try to be “right” against a counterpart in what seems to be a giant and sterile talk show, rather than staying on the side of humanity and of the victims. In front of this level of barbarity and blindness, we need to consider new productive ways to break the circle of violence and destruction.

• Radio Punk: After this roundup of serious questions, we close by asking if you can tell us about a grotesque and absurd event that happened to you in your concert experience. Thanks for answering our questions, see you soon!

Terminal Filth: I think one of the most grotesque and yet funny situations we ever experienced was in a concert in a Wagenplatz in Hannover, towards the end of summer 2023: suddenly, just like 20 minutes before the beginning of our gig, our singer started feeling sick, nauseating, and with a bad diarrhea. Conflicted whether the band should cancel or try notwithstanding to play the set, we were able to persuade our singer to ingurgitate a mix of pills provided by nearby standing friends, in the hope that the result would be catastrophic… With great disappointment of all the other members of the band, who were just hoping to see the singer shitting himself and puking everywhere on the stage, the mix turned out to work well, and the singer, that bastard, didn’t spill a drop of shit, ruining the show for everyone. 

Credit photo (b/w): Tanya

L'articolo Interview with Terminal Filth proviene da Radio Punk.

With their queercore full of rage and passion, London trio Shooting Daggers recently released their album ‘Love & Rage’ (which we really liked and talked about here). A mix of punk, post-hardcore, grunge, shoegaze and a thousand other influences. They tackle political and social issues that are fundamental to us at Radio Punk, such as transfeminism, the fight against patriarchy and the DIY ethic, all on a skateboard!

• Radio Punk: Hi and thanks for being here! After listening to your album ‘Love & Rage’ we got in love with it and immediately thought of interviewing you! Briefly introduce yourselves to the reader, when and where you started playing together.

Shooting Daggers:
Sal (she/they): Guitar and Vocals
Bea (they/them): Bass and Bvs
Raquel (she/her) : Drums
We’ve been playing with this line-up since the end of 2020. We (Sal and Bea) met in late 2018 and started the band in 2019 with another drummer Godinha. We played our very first shows with him but unfortunately, he had to move back to Galicia during lockdown. After the pandemic, we were looking for a new drummer and we found Raquel through mutual friends in the London punk scene. (Godinha now plays in 2 Hardcore bands; OuttaSpite and Unexist. Shout out!) 

• Radio Punk: Since we have a thousand things to ask you, let’s go in order and start with the first track of your latest album. “Dare” is about Do It Yourself, the ethic that guides our personal lives and which we also transfer here to the webzine. What does DIY mean to you? How do you try to apply it in your everyday life and in your band?

Shooting Daggers: D(o) I(t) Y(ourself) to us means creating opportunities that we would very likely never have otherwise. It’s freedom of speech without censorship. You can spread a message that would likely not be seen/heard on national television through art, leaflets, zines, lyrics. DIY can start from yourself alone but then followed by the help of a community, building a better environment for people who don’t have a voice.
It’s about taking the power in our hands when we disagree or when we have something to say. More specifically for people of colour, women, queer people, working-class people, people with disabilities, and marginalised people in general. We must create a life for ourselves in which we can express ourselves and live without waiting for some cisgender white men to give it to us. (because it’s likely not going to happen).
That’s why we love punk and the punk/hardcore/alternative scene. DIY is the essence of these communities. We apply it in our everyday life as a band in many ways: creating art, contacting promoters, organising our tours. We put our own shows sometimes with the lineup we want, we write all our music ourselves and conceptualise videos and artwork. As a punk band, it is also important to participate in fundraisers and charity gigs and promote like-minded bands as much as possible. We try our best to help the punk community which also helped us so much. 

• Radio Punk: As we’ve said several times before, your album ‘Love & Rage’ blew us away on all levels: music, themes, general concept, musical influences and even the artwork is a blast! How did this album come about? Who did you work with on the more technical aspects like recording, production and cover artwork? Tell us a little bit about…

Shooting Daggers: Love & Rage is an album that came pretty naturally. Once we had a bunch of songs written we realised that if we put them in a certain order, they created a coherent message. It’s not something we thought ahead. We wrote these songs just within a few months. At the time we felt inspired by our queercore community. We wanted to spread a message of sorority unlike our previous EP ‘Athames” which felt more spiteful, although we kept the anger in this one too. We channeled our rage into something more positive and constructive to spread “love” for our community, hence the title. We went to the studio 3 times to finish this album as we were super busy playing shows, but this allowed us to take our time to add details & rethink some of our songs to polish them. We worked with Wayne Adam at Bear Bites Horse Studio in Haggerston London, who helped us complete our work with a modern yet still raw sound.  The Album’s artwork is designed by the amazing Greta Bungle, a Spanish artist who works with mixed media and collage. She also created our “Athames” EP cover, and we liked it so much that we decided to work with her again. 

• Radio Punk: Your project is characterised by a strong focus on transfeminism. Many people approach music first and then political content, but there are also those who decide to make music out of a sense of urgency, using it as a amplifier for socio-political activism. What has been your journey (both personally and as a band)?

Shooting Daggers:  Us three people are political and with a clear mindset. For us, it’s always been natural to include our ethos and political stance into our music and it’s something we probably will never stop doing. Some people seem to think that when you’re a teenager you’re more angry at society and once you grow up you will start being more moderate, but that’s not how we feel. The more we grow as people the more we learn and solidify our political beliefs and we get even more enraged when we don’t see things changing. 
We think that it’s not mandatory to be political in your music, and we have also created some music that is more introspective and about our own life experiences sometimes. At the end of the day, Shooting Daggers has been and will always be a band that was born out of a strong necessity for representation in the punk hardcore scene and we will keep fighting for women and queer people to have a voice and power on stage.

• Radio Punk: In Italy, within the punk subculture, we still haven’t stopped fighting to make the spaces we frequent safe places where queer people and girls can feel comfortable. What about the situation in the London scene? How active are queer people and girls there?

Shooting Daggers: There is definitely a growing queercore scene in London and the UK in general and we’re very pleased to see that. However, it is still too limited to the underground scene and we think that what we need now is more queer and girls in the actual business. More promoters, sound engineers, producers, agents, more queer and women musicians, and not just vocalists (with all due respect to all the amazing front women and queer people in bands that are doing the hard work). It is still a hard life for women and queers to navigate the music industry which is 90% run by cis men. So, big yes to all the awesome queercore bands that are coming out every day in the UK, but we can’t wait to see a radical change in the biz because that’s how you can ensure real safe spaces. Without all these cis men promoters who keep booking dodgy bands with abusers in them and without producers and sound engineers who mansplain you and make you feel less of a professional just because you’re not a man. Unfortunately, we experience systemic oppression and we’re putting in the work to make it stop.

• Radio Punk: Let’s lighten up the chat a bit by asking: which Daria character reflects you most?

Shooting Daggers: We know exactly how to answer this one as we dressed up as them last Halloween! Raquel is Daria, Bea is Jane, Sal is Quinn.  And then we’re all a little bit of a Trent. 

• Radio Punk: Back to music, what are your favourite queercore bands? What other genres of music do you listen to (besides punk)? Recommend us some music!

Shooting Daggers: Limp Wrists, G.L.O.S.S., Dicks, The HIIRS collective, Tribe 8,  Against Me!, SeeYouSpaceCowboy , Slutbomb. From our friends’ scene, The Menstrual Cramps, Death Goals, Gender Warfare, Uncertainty, Throlz, Caution Elderly People, Liv Wynter, Es, Traidora, Deadname 

Bea: I listen to screamo mainly, I can recommend Dreamwell who’s also fronted by a trans woman and Blind Girls who are some of my most recent discoveries. Besides alternative music I listen to EDM a lot. An artist I love is TR/ST who does some very cool dark wave, synth-pop or Bou who’s my favourite drum n bass producer at the minute. 

Sal: I listen to a bit of everything, I know it’s a boring answer and I know that saying “it’s a boring answer” has been said a million times. I don’t listen to Hardcore as much anymore and I find myself enjoying it less and less at live shows. My fav music is the one that moves me and generally, it has a feminist message or something I relate to. Anyway, I’m really digging Kathleen Hanna’s playlist for her book Rebel Girl lately. I’m also absolutely loving the new Amyl and the Sniffers singles.

Raquel: Bands I’ve been listening to a bunch recently are Mannequin Pussy, Gouge away, One step closer,  we just played a few dates with them and got their new songs stuck in my head! Also I’m listening to La dispute and tummyache a lot lately with whom I’m also super excited to play in a couple of weeks!  

• Radio Punk: You have a sound full of influences and peculiarities, let’s ask you a nerdy question that will interest the insiders: what kind of instrumentation and setup do you use?

Bea: I play with a 5-string Fender Jazz. My pedal set up is: BOSS chorus, Deluxe Bass Big Muff, Bass Preacher compressor and tuner. My amp is an Orange Terror Bass. 

Sal: I use a Mexican fender stratocaster (with double pickups). I play in E standard and drop D.I have a pretty big pedalboard: I have a Strymon deco to split my sound into 2amps, a little Lelhe to switch from one amp to the other. I also have: a fat metal distortion, a small clone chorus, an MXR delay pedal (which is useless, idk why I left it on my pedalboard) a Boss-20 for my vocal effects, and a boss tuner.

Raquel: My current set up consists of a 3 piece drum kit, I use a Mapex black panther 14×6.5 Ash Burl Coffee Burst Ltd edition snare, Tama Iron Cobra 600 single pedal, Istanbul Agop Xist cymbals (14” H-Hats, 16” and 18” Crashes & 20” Ride), a low pitch blast block and a Roland SPD SX 

• Radio Punk: You recently released the video for the song Wipe Out, which is made up of a lot of clips of girls on rollerblades and skates that you collected through a call on social media. How cool is that! Are they all skateboarders? Board or quad? How many ramp bruises do you have at the moment?

Shooting Daggers: Yes! We posted a few stories on Instagram to collect videos of queer and women skating. It was so cool to see skateboarders and roller skaters from all around the world submit their clips.

Sal: I’m actually the only one who skates in the band (skateboarding). Bea used to ride longboards and roller skates a few years ago. I must admit that I don’t have many ramp bruises atm cos I’m not comfortable with ramps (yet! I can learn anything, it’s all about mental). It’s more that I don’t usually skate ramps and I don’t have many tricks on ramps except drop-in, axle stall, and if I’m lucky rock n roll &, fakie rock. Rock to fakie is supposed to be an easy beginner trick but I think they’re absolutely terrifying and they will f you up too. I haven’t skated properly in a long time, maybe 2years but I really want to get back to it. We just came back from a 3 days tour with One Step Closer and most of them were skaters. We only had a little sess at the end of the show but they made me want to skate every day again (love to these guys). 

• Radio Punk: You’re playing a lot in the UK these days and we really want to see you live. Have you ever played in Italy? What kind of relationship do you have with the Italian DIY punk scene? Are there any bands from the past or present that you particularly appreciate or are inspired by?

Shooting Daggers: We would love to play in Italy! Bea is Italian so it’s definitely on our bucket list. 

Bea: I’ve been in bands in the Venezia area before moving to the UK but I wasn’t super involved in the scene. I always loved going to Venezia Hardcore Fest and that’s definitely somewhere I’d love to play with Shooting Daggers one day.  We have a few connections with people from the hc scene, like people in Stormo and Golpe who are incredible bands and they put on shows in Bologna and Milano. The bands I am most inspired by are the og hardcore Skruigners, the screamo kings Raein and the post punk legends Sick Tamburo. Also, last but not least, we all share a deep love for Raffaella Carrà among the band! 

Sal: I’ve been to Venezia hardcore and it was really fckng cool. Super political, sick bands were put on and it felt like a real DIY punk community. I love Shoki from Milan but I’m not sure if they’re playing still. If they are, I hope we will play with them one day.

• Radio Punk: Unfortunately, as we know, even our small niche reflects society’s discrimination, have you ever felt uncomfortable as queer people and/or girls in the punk scene? And as a queercore band have you ever experienced discriminatory situations? What advice would you give to girls and people from the Lgbtqia+ community who want to be an active part of the punkSubculture?

Shooting Daggers:  Oh yes, it happened way too many times, unfortunately. We had situations where promoters gave info to our male driver instead of us at the venue, and others where we had to drop a few events to avoid playing with dodgy people who didn’t take abuse seriously enough. We told some festival promoters that we didn’t feel comfortable playing on the same bill as some bands because some members were accused of horrible things (that our friends testified and/or have experienced). We have been minimised, ignored, and mansplained by bands, producers, or sound engineers who even told us how to play our instruments…the list could go on. 
Keep being the professional musician that you are and always speak up! Seek comfort and a safe space with people you trust and cherish. Start your band and just have fun! At the end of the day, it’s worth it when one girl or one queer person in the crowd feels seen and heard and feels like they too, can do whatever they want.

Sal: I still feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed in Hardcore & Punk scenes. I feel a little less ‘preyed’ in the crowd cos I’m not 18 anymore. I even wonder sometimes if we will ever be fully part of the punk/hardcore scene, to me it’s easier to build a new scene in which we can express ourselves.
My advice would be: have the confidence of a cis man because from the inside you quickly notice that a lot of musicians are not that talented or skilled and that it’s not the only thing that matters to have a good band. We tend to put bands on a pedestal when in reality, they are just little weirdos practising in their bedroom, music lovers, lyrics writers, nerds, who decide to form a band. They just do it because they want to, until they get really good at what they do with the power of collaboration. It’s as simple as that. So, just do it yourself, break your mental barriers, do whatever makes you happy. In a male-dominated scene it’s gonna be less welcoming but you will find your own scene and your group of friends. 

• Radio Punk: We found some of your interviews online. Ask yourself a question you would have liked to have been asked, but no one has ever asked you, and give yourself an answer!

Shooting Daggers: We thought about it and that’s a tricky one. We’re all vegan and have been working in almost every vegan place in London if you combine the 3 of us. We could talk for hours about anything vegan-food-related. 

So maybe: What’s your favourite vegan food/vegan place/vegan recipe?

Sal: I’m an expert in vegan mac n cheese, I can’t make them for shit but I love them and I could probably make a UK map on where to find the best ones. I also love any vegan pepperoni frozen pizza with a good old Encoda Carolina Reaper hot sauce to dip your slice in (if like me you love a spicy kick). That sauce with vegan nuggets is also proper mint.

Bea: there’s so much amazing vegan food in London, it’s hard to choose but I would say my top 3 are Vegan Planet (Chinese), Purezza (Pizza) and LD’S Kitchen (Diner style food). Best vegan recipe is simple for me: pasta and its infinite ways of cooking it in a vegan way, pasta al pesto is my ultimate comfort food. 

Raquel: As B already say, we are spoiled by choice in the UK and especially in London. I’m gonna be the boring one here and say I’m a sucker for a good salad! Love them with loads of grilled veggies and all kinds of toppings. 

• Radio Punk: We’ve come to the end, so we’ve gained the right confidence for the last, personal question. Who are you in life? What are your passions? Are you in any other bands and/or projects? What jobs do you have? Thank you very much for taking part in our webzine and we hope to see you soon in Italy!

Bea: I am a freelancer so I do a bit of everything to survive, I do translations, tutoring, I write for a music magazine and I am a vegan chef. I have a huge passion for languages, especially Mandarin Chinese, which is what I studied at uni. I love animals and I am a very proud cat parent and a big advocate for animal rights and veganism (as we all are in the band). I crave a good old day rotting in bed when I can. I enjoy watching wrestling with my partner and I love queer nights and drag. I don’t have any other bands at the moment but I would love to start producing electronic music in the future or have a screamo project. 

Sal: I’m going through hectic times at the moment. I’m moving out, and trying to find a sustainable career & environment. So let’s say that I’m living day by day. On a better note, though, I’m launching a Zine workshop at the Greenwich Library Centre in June and I’m super excited about it. I have another band called Deathchops, we’re y2k punk and we should be recording soon and I’ll be recording, mixing and mastering everything. I’m a vegan chef but I’m not thriving so I’m considering pursuing studies, it’s all a bit blurred atm. I need to make some serious decisions about my life now. 

Raquel: I just play in one band at the moment, weird reading that back as I’ve been playing in a lot of bands at once for a really long time, but we are so busy that I choose to just focus all my energy with shooting daggers and it’s what it feels right at this time of my life.  I’m also a promoter, I’m part of a DIY non profit collective called South London Scum and we organise gigs monthly. My day job is being a barista in a little cafe not far from my house. When I’m not working, playing music, putting on gigs or practising. I do love spending my free time creating/experimenting with visual arts, I’m currently trying to learn how to animate and learning a bit more of graphic design and music production. I also love reading, crocheting and going to the movies.

Credit Photo: Martyna Bannister IG: @gingerdope

L'articolo Interview with the band Shooting Daggers proviene da Radio Punk.

In today’s interview we get to know a little better the metal punk band with members scattered between Berlin and Emilia. They have recently released their second album titled “Sell Me Lies” in 12″ colored vinyl format, thanks to a DIY conspiracy involving our label!

• Radio Punk: Hi guys and welcome to our ‘zine. Tell us a little bit about yourselves, how and where did you meet since some of you are based in Italy, in Emilia more precisely and others in Berlin? How did you come up with the idea of starting a band with so much geographical distance?

Bobson Dugnutt: Bobson Dugnutt formed between 2017/2018 in Correggio. When we started writing we didn’t have a singer, so we wrote most of the songs without the voice, it was basically an instrumental band. In Fall 2018 Jack moved to Berlin and we paused  the project to understand how to manage it. In a few weeks he met David and they listened to our music. David enjoys the music a lot and asks if he can sing on it. There were some weeks where we talked about if it was possible to run a band this way. In the end we were all convinced after hearing David’s demo of our first 2 songs. I remember it was the end of October when we all met in Berlin, and really began to work together on this. Ok we didn’t work 12h a day as you think, we rather get wasted every day and the workflow just came naturally between us. In December 2018 we spent the Christmas holiday recording our first EP “Be The Change (Or Whatever)”. 

• Radio Punk: Let’s start by saying that we hate asking this question, but we haven’t found any great answers out there, so perhaps those who read us will also be interested in knowing the answer to this question: who or what is Bobson Dugnutt and why the choice of this name?

Bobson Dugnutt: Bobson Dugnutt is a fictional character based on various known assholes and our collective worst qualities. A stupid, vulgar, mean person that will do all sorts of cheap tricks and use low cunning to achieve his base desires. That  is the channel in which we deal with our themes, through the eye of the monster, so to speak. The name came from a meme that made us laugh a lot, about the “American” names of some of the baseball players in an 80s Japanese baseball video game. Bobson Dugnutt was the funniest name there so we chose that.

• Radio Punk: We were just saying that one of your peculiarities is this scattering between Berlin and Emilia. How do you practically carry on a band, compose, record and organize gigs while being so far away?

Bobson Dugnutt: Let’s start by saying that the strength of Bobson is to play live. We consider ourselves a live band that gives 110 % on a stage, and of course we enjoy spending time together. So most of the organization goes into touring and gigs. Composing and recording process is harder of course but we developed some skills to deal with it. We record demos in our rehearsal rooms, sometimes in Berlin sometimes in Italy, with MIDI drums if needed, and then work on it until the song is finished. To start a band with these premises is really hard. We really miss sometimes the rehearsal room, hanging out together and all the other band related activities that we should do. We had 8 or 10  rehearsals all together in 5 years. There are songs that we played for the first time together on stage. But hey… As long as we have fun we actually don’t give Shieeet! 

• Radio Punk: Tell us a little about your latest album “Sell Me Lies” in general. Both on a musical level but also tell us what themes you tackle, who created and what the splendid artwork represents and also tell us about all the people and realities involved behind this work…

Bobson Dugnutt: Sell Me Lies was recorded in Nebiolo Record Studio, a fabulous DIY reality right in our rehearsal room in Italy. About sound we can say that it’s much brighter than our previous EP and we defined better the way we want to compose, blending Metal and Hardcore both fast and slow, always trying to find the nastiest riffs mixed with some peculiar vocal lines. This contributed to create our Motto: Heavy, Fast, Rock’n’Roll. 
About the lyrics we deal a lot with toxicity, hero worship, ignorance, and all of these good stuff, but I think a major connecting thread is the lack of capacity to self-reflect and how poisonous that could be. We  really enjoyed trying to write all the lyrics from the perspective of the person who is absolutely wrong about the issue. And of course, vulgar childish humor. 

• Radio Punk: Do you plan to take this album far and wide with tours around the world? And more generally what do you have in the works?

Bobson Dugnutt: The Goal is to play as much as possible as long as the album is available for buying, when it will be sold out we will retire to waste all the money until the next album will be out. Do you have any suggestions on where we should go? 

• Radio Punk: Tell us a little about yourselves outside the band: hobbies, passions, jobs…

Bobson Dugnutt: BD Love: to deal with computers, hack programs, shooting videos of something we actually don’t care, running in the city, seaside, oriental food, Secret of the Sphinx, painting trains, small province bars, rehearsal rooms afterparty, gardening, floor stages, house party, horror movies, being drunk in public, cartoons, Twin Peaks, painting canvas, building stuff DIY, to curse every god, big stages, Cold Beers, Hot Beers, free train rides, Backstreet Boys, being drunk at home, steal in the highway station (Autogrill <3), Italian comedy movies, Lino Banfi, Sandwich AFTER the gig, grappa, graffiti Tags, B-side Movies, take the Shit BEFORE the gig, hiking, mountains, Tony Montana.  But the thing we love the most is weed. 
BD hate: Jobs, nazis, punk police

• Radio Punk: You have played in different places and cities, in which situations do you feel most comfortable and which are the concerts that you remember with most pleasure?

Bobson Dugnutt: We are the most comfortable when we can sleep on a mattress and pee in a toilet.
There were a lot of unforgettable moments in these 5 years playing together, but if we have to pick two, I would say Monteparadiso 2023 and a gig we had in Barocchio Squat in Torino. Those were extremely wild shows. 

• Radio Punk: Still remaining in the field of cities and places, what is the scene like in the different cities where you live? What differences do you find between them?

Bobson Dugnutt: We are not the kind of band that cares much about the “Scene” and actually most of the time we don’t see it. We see friends and people we love to spend time with and create something together or have mutual help.
The only significant difference between Germany and Italy is the amount of places where to play and organization of the people inside these places whether these are clubs or squats. 

• Radio Punk: How important are DIY ethics and the political aspect understood as values ​​such as anti-fascism, anti-sexism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-militarism and so on to you?

Bobson Dugnutt: Very important, I mean, that’s what our audience likes to hear!
Jokes aside, we can say DIY ethic is very important to us both for growing ourselves as a person and both to connect with people that share the same feeling of fulfillment by building something on your own. We think that Bobson is proof of this and we’re proud of it.  For sure is important to us to create a better world, and we try to  do it in our everyday life and we totally stand for everything you mentioned.  
But we don’t want to just repeat what everyone else is already saying, we like to deal with more granular, class related, personal-is-political subjects, rather than general concept like “bad thing is bad”.

• Radio Punk: What future do you foresee for our scene? Unfortunately there is little generational turnover and there is a constant increase in repression, which reduces aggregative situations to the bone and takes away physical places. What can be done to reverse the trend?

Bobson Dugnutt: Even if these genres of music, and i’m referring to punk metal hardcore etc, don’t seem to attract the next generation i was pleased to notice, in these last two years after the pandemic, a little increase of young people at gigs and some young crews organizing also in some squats so this is nice. But at the same time as you said there are always less places and situations where extreme music can be done, not enough for the amount of bands that the “scene” has to offer at least, and I honestly don’t know how to reverse this trend. 
In order to survive punk and hardcore need to adapt and evolve, and i don’t know if it can. 

• Radio Punk: We thank you for the chat and we leave you a free space to say what you like! Bye, friends!

Bobson Dugnutt: We’d like to thank our families, all the promoters that organized us a gig and all that didn’t until now, the labels that believed in us and that made possible releasing “Sell Me lies”, and of course all our friends and all the bands that shared the stage and partied with us, you know you are. See you in the pit! 

Heavy, Fast, Rock’n’Roll. FY

L'articolo Interview with Bobson Dugnutt proviene da Radio Punk.

Formed in 2014, the Spanish band released last December the album ‘Bailando a la muerte’. We liked this album a lot, so much that we included it in our favorites of 2023 and decided to interview Transmisión N to get to know them better. Let’s see what they told us.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW IN SPANISH | ENTREVISTA ESP

Radio Punk: Hello and welcome to our ‘zine. Tell us a little bit about yourselves, who are you, how and when did you meet, how did you decide to form a band, what other bands have you played in before Transmisión N?

Transmisión N: We are Mark, vocals and guitar, Willi, vocals and guitar, Txetxu, bass and back vocals and Ivan, drums and back vocals.

Well, the history of the band starts in Turin back in 2014 when Mark was still living in Italy. When he came back to Spain the name was translated (at first the band was called The Night Transmission). After some time playing gigs with different line-ups, Willi joined on guitar, then Ivan and Txetxu, and the band took the current form.

Some of us have played in other bands like Walpurgis, Jake Mate, Trastienda RC, Malamadre or Ániva Vudú.

Radio Punk: Tell us about your new album, ‘Bailando a la muerte’. How did it come about? What are the main topics it deals with? How does it differ from your previous works?

Transmisión N: This album has taken quite a lot of shape in the rehearsal room. Someone brought an idea and together we gave it shape. We were not looking for anything in particular, just that we liked what we were doing and that it sounded like Transmisión N.

As for the songs, they are about daily life, about what happens to us or around us. We don’t want to be a group with empty lyrics.

As for the difference with other albums, this is the second one recorded with this line-up and it shows. With “Día a día” the difference could already be noticed, but in this one, the experience has been quite evident.

Radio Punk: Madrid is the protagonist of many of your songs, from which a visceral love-hate relationship with this city emerges. What does it mean to be punk in Madrid? What is the situation of the scene like? Are there many squats, clubs where to meet and play music?

Transmisión N: The situation in Madrid has changed a lot. There are still squats that continue to resist like La Atalaya in Vallekas or La Casika in Móstoles, but it is true that the “scene” has fallen quite a lot, especially in terms of venues. Now it is difficult to find a space. Being punk or skin in Madrid is a constant struggle against extinction. It’s not that we consider ourselves punk as it has always been known. We are influenced by many cultures or countercultures that have made us who we are, both as a group and personally.

Radio Punk: You lived in Italy for a while and you still keep a close relationship with our country. The new album includes two emotional acoustic versions of ‘Il fuoco non si è spento’ by Bull Brigade, one in Spanish and one in Italian. And it’s not the first time you sing in our language, congratulations for your perfect pronunciation! What is the best memory you have of Italy? What do you think are the main differences compared to Spain?

Transmisión N: The best thing about that time was the scene that was going on. The scene and the concerts in Turin at that time were really cool. It gave a different point of view to the music compared to what I would have had in Spain.

The main difference is the food of course hahahaha.

Radio Punk: At the beginning, the band was called The Night Transmission and the first songs were written in English. How did the decision to switch to Spanish come about? What do you think are the pros and cons of singing in your native language or in English?

Transmisión N: When Mark returned to Spain he decided to translate the name, without losing its essence and start singing in Spanish, because here it is more common than singing in English for example. Singing in English maybe you will have more chances internationally, but in Spain maybe it makes things a little difficult for you, I don’t know.

Radio Punk: What are your favorite bands or artists and what do you usually listen to at home, in the car or on your headphones? What other bands have you collaborated with or would you like to collaborate with?

Transmisión N: We are a band with very different tastes which sometimes makes things difficult, but also shapes our own sound. Our tastes range from Social Distortion or the most classic punk, oi! like Kaos Urbano or Non servium, Bull Brigade for example is a band that maybe we all like or even some of us are very metal and hardcore.

There are a lot of collaborations in our albums with friendly bands like Sin Propina, Non Servium, Desvariados, etc. And some of us have also collaborated on albums of other bands.

Radio Punk: How important are values like anti-fascism, anti-racism, anti-sexism and anti-capitalism to you? Are there issues and struggles that you feel most connected to? And how important is the DIY ethic to you?

Transmisión N: We have always operated on our own and have not received anything from anyone. We managed everything ourselves. Now that the band has grown we have Pin Producciones to give us a hand.

It is true that there have always been people who have been by our side who have helped us with merchandising, recordings or if we wanted to improve something.

First of all we consider ourselves anti-fascists, there is no need to say it all the time. For us, the struggle is in what we do every day with our comrades, with the people who live in our neighborhoods, etc.

And as for capitalism, what are we going to say that you don’t already know?

Radio Punk: Tell us a little bit about yourselves outside of the band, do you have other jobs, what other hobbies and passions do you have besides music?

Transmisión N: Yes of course, at the moment we don’t live off this, so we each have our jobs that we combine with this. One of us is a teacher, the other one works in a truck workshop, one is a milling lathe operator and another one works for the management of a hotel.

We all have things apart from music, some of us sports, reading, movies… party!

Radio Punk: Let’s finish with a classic question in our interviews: can you tell us about a funny or grotesque moment in the history of the band?

Transmisión N: There have been many things in the short time that the four of us have been together, but the band has had many since its beginnings. From playing for nobody and playing for the waiter only, to playing for people who had nothing to do with us. Some fainting at a concert… the normal thing in a band that spends hours together and travels a lot.

Radio Punk: We thank you for this interview and we leave you some free space to say what you want to those who read us. See you soon, and we hope to see you in concert on the stages of our country!

Transmisión N: Thank you very much for giving us a space, for supporting our music and maybe soon we can go there and see each other’s faces. Cheers and Punk Rock!

Photos by Irene Del Real

L'articolo Interview with Transmisión N proviene da Radio Punk.