Interview with Marco from Zanzara

A little talk with Marco Palumbo-Rodrigues / Zanzara, a new oi!/punk band from London!

A band from London who sing in Italian. They came out in 2021 with the LP “Gli Occhi Dello Stato” (literally “The Eyes Of The State”) through the Catalan “Common People Records”, a record that gathered a lot of success and praise from the fans of oi! punk, but also post-punk/new wave. There’s not a lot of info on this project online, which is why we are particularly excited to present to you this small chat with Zanzara, in hopes of getting to know better a really interesting band!

Radio Punk: Hi! We’re very happy to have you on our pages. As I touched on in the introduction, there’s very little info on you around and a lot of people in Italy are asking themselves who Zanzara are, so we’ll start with a classic question. Tell us about you: who are you, when and where you started the band, and what prompted you to start a project with this interesting mix of oi! and post-punk?

Marco: Hey! My name is Marco Palumbo-Rodrigues…the concept of Zanzara started a few years ago in Salerno, Italy when a couple of song ideas were written and some basic recording was done but then it fell to the side as other projects progressed. It was during the first 2020 lockdown that it was revisited and the album completed. Initially there were 2 of us in Zanzara when we wrote some demos; I am currently writing the second album so that one will hopefully be recorded as a band that we can then play live with. I am a huge fan of Camera Silens who, in my opinion, have a great mix of Oi! and post-punk as well as Blitz so these were a strong influence in writing for Zanzara, I find it impossible to space the post-punk thing! It seems to rear it’s head in everything I write in every band I am in…there seems to inevitably be a sting post-punk element in there.

Radio Punk: Do you have any experiences in other bands or projects, in the past or in the present?

Marco: Yes, I am in a bunch of bands, I sing / have sung in La Rabbia, Miscalculations, Sanguisuga, Illegal Leather, Cold Callers, Stalin Video, Disco Lepers, Zuletzt, Vacuum, The Gaggers, Violent Streaks and a bunch more!

Radio Punk: How’s the DIY scene in your neck of the woods? Are the various scenes open to each other or there’s not much support between skin, punx, crust, anarcho-punk, punk rocker, and so on?

Marco: The London scene is pretty small but it’s nicely mixed with all types of punk, Oi!, Hardcore, post-punk etc cohabiting in harmony! That’s kind of how London is in general…it’s a real melting pot of cultures and backgrounds so it has a great balance. There are many shows here that have very diverse styles on the same bill.

Radio Punk: How do you feel about the Italian scene where you live?

Marco: I think that at the moment Italy is producing some really killer punk and hardcore – I really like some current Italian bands like Lucta, Kobra, Lingua Serpente, Golpe, Impulso, Sloi, Tuono, Idiota Civilizzato, Testa Dura, Iradei…there’s a lot of really good stuff coming out of Italy recently. 

Radio Punk: You are all the rage in Italy, thanks definitely to your unique but at the same time explosive sound. Are you experiencing success in other countries too? Which ones? And how was the reception for “Gli Occhi Dello Stato” in your area?

Marco: The reception has been great all over which I’m over the moon about. There have been reviews and feedback from all over Europe, Australia, Japan and the US…all very complimentary and the LP is about to go into a second press so it’s been really great.

Radio Punk: Why the choice to sing in Italian while having headquarters in London? Is it something that you feel might have penalized you a bit, or on the contrary, this was really welcomed in England? Are you going to continue down this path or we can expect some changes in the future?

Marco: I was born in London and have lived here my whole life but both of my parents are Italian. I have spoken Italian since birth and always wanted to do an Italian-language project. The first time I sung in Italian was with an early band of mine called Blacklist Brigade, we did some songs that had Italian lyrics and then we even did an Italian version of our second album which was never released. I then started La Rabbia which is a hardcore punk band where I sing in English and Italian. My first all-Italian project was Sanguisuga which is 100% Italian. The debut album came out a couple of years ago on Wanda records and was received really well. That was the first real time that I dedictaed myself to composing completely in Italian. I absolutely love native-tongue punk from all over the world so I really wanted to do a foregin-language band and all of the bands that I sing in Italian have been totally welcomed here in London. I love bands from all over…Rata Negra, Kohti Tuhoa, Inyeccion, Kolla Kestaa, Impotentie, Hekate, Golpe, Masshysteri, Oblaka, Cadenaxo, Muro, Knugen Faller, Eppu Normaali…loads of killers! Zanzara will always be 100% Italian!

Radio Punk: How do you feel about politics, meaning values such as anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-sexism, and DIY? In Italy, the punk and skin scene, while not necessarily being militant, is luckily clearheaded in the vast majority of cases and doesn’t have anything to do with Nazis, Racists, and all-around weirdos. Basically, there’s a strong stance on those topics, likely due to the fact that this subculture originated and evolved in social spaces. Is it the same way in London and England?

Marco: Those negative mindsets and not tolerated here in London at all. We are very lucky that the punk scene is not infected with this. Again, it may be due to the fact that London is such a cosmopolitan, progressive and free-thinking city that the scene is just a mirror of that. I can’t speak for other cities in England as I don’t know if these issues exist there…I have personally never experienced it. When I write lyrics, for any of my bands, they often have a strong political, social or psychological theme but I write from a very open and layered perspective so it’s never too obvious exactly what each song is about to the listener and I think that’s important. To me, a song is like a painting – not too much should be given away, people need to work out their own reactions and emotions to it. There should be no true definition of a song or piece of art in my opinion. 

Radio Punk: Searching a bit for info, we’ve noticed that you’re pretty much non-existent as a band on social media. Is it a personal choice dictated by an old-school mentality? Broadly speaking, how do you feel about socials and platforms like Spotify and other similar ones? Do you think the punk scene should avoid all of these places and get back to its more DIY roots, or we should accept and just learn to use them to our advantage?

Marco: I think there is a certain value in keeping a low-profile on social media. Not to be invisible but to be reachable by those that want to find you. I have no issue at all with social / music platforms and I use many myself. I’ll always be a vinyl guy but I often listen to on-line music, podcasts and radio shows. I have run No Front Teeth Records for 20 years and we decided not to get involved with the digital side of the releases we put out. We are strictly all about the physical product and especially the 7” record. We have absolutely no issue at all with bands who we release putting their music online digitally, in fact we have super-happy for them to do so and encourage it. Bands should make revenue from wherever possible. Platforms like Bandcamp are amazing for this and super-important. I think the DIY ethic is fundamental but I think things like Bandcamp can be totally DIY as well as things like podcasts on Spotify and internet radio shows…the underground can still use mainstream methods to spread their message.

Radio Punk: We’ve reached the end, we want to thank you a lot again and leave you to your favorites!

Thank you!

Zanzara favorites:
Favourite Record: Very tough…there are so many! A definite pick for me would be D.O.A. ‘Something Better Change’
Favourite Book: ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ by Tom Stoppard
Favourite Movie: Another tough one…maybe ‘The Grandmother’ by David Lynch
Favourite Projects:  Radio Shows: Rock ‘n’ Roll Manifesto, Let’s Go / Blackwax, Cat Nouveau, Maximum Rocknroll Radio, Losin’ it with Luscious. Zines: Razorblades & Aspirin, Ox, Razorcake