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The Italian independent post punk scene in the 80’s was greatly influenced by the uk maestro joy division, bauhaus & cure amongst the others. Two cities specifically provided bands to the new scene: Turin with Carmody, Defear & Monuments and Florence, the very true center of the new born italian cold wave movement. Diaframma started in the city of Arno as an idea of Federico Fiumani. The band grew up around his magnetic figure of composer/guitarist/poet and his inspirate, violent and visionary attitude. It'a out of any doubt that they had a great impact on the young italian independent scene in the early eighties. In addition, unlike their town mates Litfiba, they were more influenced by decadent and romantic artist as well punk rock and new wave. As a matter of fact, when they released their first single "Pioggia" on Italian records (it was 1981 I guess...), they stood like a sore thumb within the italian lazy scene, having already developed some sort of a personal style, heavly influenced by english bands but in some way devoted to italian artistic idols of the seventies, the so called "Cantautori" scene. Their first recordings , all sung in italian, raised great interest locally, including radios and labels, especially in the Florence area where Contempo Records was just moving its first steps. They were exactly the kinfd of band that all the italian new wavers (those kind of dark dressed boy were called "nerini") dreamed to be a part of. Then other great singles came after, the wonderful Altrove ep for example, and finally the long awaited debut album at the end of 1984. "Siberia" is still considered the italian new wave masterpiece and no matters what happened the years after: Diaframma will be always be identified with that cold wave sound they first created in Siberia. The story tells us that in spite of the enthusiastic response of the few post punk fans and the efforts of and passion of journalists and producers like Alberto Campo, Federico Guglielmi and Claudio Sorge, Diaframma were virtually ignorated by the most important italian media and the band was suffering from what they thought was an unmerited lack of consideration. Only Federico survived these troubled years. But soon they reached the status of cult band they will never leave! Today Federico is still singing with this moniker Diaframma and notoriously, he more than once turned down very lucrative major labels' deals in order to preserve his artistic independence and maintain band's integrity. Listening to his latest album, I don't know exacly what kind of integrity he's still talking about but his attitude surely makes him a sort of a hero in the underground Italian scene.
Well, we were the Eric's (famous Liverpool club) band and everyone hated us because we were dead cocky and dead mouthy. If you walked into Eric's, there was a little platform, and that was our table. Obviously like all our mates we'd come from gay clubs. Before Eric's opened, gay clubs were the only ones that would let us in, because of the way we looked. We'd kind of been into dance music in gay clubs, so we brought that with us, and it was a very bitchy scene. People like Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope were quite young in terms, they're only the same age as Holly and Paul (Rutherford), but we'd been very isolated from our working class background, whereas they'd come straight from it; we were probably a little bit more sophisticated in the way we were looking at life. We were all cynical, we'd been around more, we'd all left home at 14 and kind of got into the same books and the same records. We'd already been well into Warhol and Lou Reed, and we'd sort of got into the New York alternative subculture, and modelled our little scene on that, really. So it separated us a bit from the others, also because all the boys in our gang were gay. So they all really hated us and they formed an anti-Big in Japan society. They got a petition together, and when they had 2,000 names on it we had to split up. Then they got t-shirts with my face printed on them, so they'd all walk around in t-shirts with my face on them, getting everyone to sign these petitions, which we all signed because we were into it you know. "He's got my face on his chest, he fuckin' hates me, I love it!" (laughs) So it was very antagonistic. They were into things like Jack Kerouac, quite dry things. We were just into "camping out" and having a laugh. It was two separate scenes, and then they started to play instruments and wanted to be in bands, which is why they hated us so much to begin with, because we were doing it and they were sort of just coming up. You know I have said that when I saw the first Bunnymen gig at Eric's, when they just had a drum machine, it was the best thing I'd ever seen. You know I did think they were brilliant. In later years we became friends, but it was very antagonistic in the beginning. All through the 80's, Ian and Julian would slag me in the music papers at every opportunity, because that's what they felt they had to do. It was the most competitive I've ever seen in the Liverpool music scene at that time, and it was quite odd because I was the only girl really there at that time, there weren't that many girls around doing things at that point... We miss your music and your creativity Jayne!
Coming from Udine, a city in the northeast of Italy, Detonazione formed in the land of frozen winters and desolate summers. They started as a sextet with great jazzy influences, just like some years before them Area's Demetrio Stratos, a radical anti-system group they wre in some kind devoted to. In their first gigs they had an original unique approach that remid me of the later well known CCCP style, and Detonazione were considered soon one of the best example of the so called art wave in Italy. They had immediately a single out in 1983, thanks to their fan Marco Pandin, a Rockerilla journalist with a genuine passion for alternative punk. And this was their masterpiece, "Sorvegliare e Punire", a title taken from a Foucalt book. The record still sounds like a fist in your face, an ensemble of angular sounds and difficult rythms. Someone called them "politically uncorrect songs for an utopistic punk adventure". Detonazione were close to the young italian hardcore scene but they founded hard to identify them with that style or to have musical connection with, since they did not sound punk at all! So, these sort of Italian Scritti Politti did not have lot of fortune and visibility, as you can easily argue, although they sold more than 2.000 copies of the single, stll one of the most rare and appreciated item for the italian post punk collectors. The great difficulties of the independent circuit caused them lot of problems to whom they could'nt survive a lot. No gigs, no radio airplay, no record contract and finally...no future. In 1984 the new born Tunnel records realised their musical testament, the mini album "Riflessi conseguenti", a bunch of unfinished and incomplete intentions, but still a good one. There were also appereances in compilations and a posthumous record called "Ultimi pezzi" but the time expired very very fast for them.... Don't forget them anyway, because a good attitude is sometime much more better than a good song!
..."The question here is not whether the group has talent, but what it intends to do with its obvious skill. This Athens, Georgia-based quartet has a sharp, unfailing grasp on `60s garage rock-anyone with a fondness for the form can sink into the atmospheric, 12-string strums and Merseybeat harmonies with a relieved sigh of familiarity and give thanks that the style is alive and well. As with other young undiscovered (by the masses) but appreciated (by the critics) bands like the Fleshtones and the Bongos, R.E.M. holds tight to a tradition of mid-tempo, slightly psychedelic songs that would feel equally at home in another Nuggets or pop/rock collection, and the production stresses that simple, almost tinny sound that `60s rock vets grew up on. So what next? The lyrics only drift through in fragments, so it’s hard to tell if R.E.M. is using the classic mode to say anything new. Only time-and perhaps a lyric sheet-will tell. For the moment, however, these 1980-81 demos cassette is well worth it for anyone who thinks great rock died with the coming of the 16-track studio"...
For years I hoped to find another band just like the Smiths, perfectly knowing that it was a kind of illusion. Amongst the best groups that sounded alike, I like to remember Ian H. band called "Bradford", coming from Blackburn (!?). They had great singles out in the beginning ("Gatlin' gun" & In Liverpool" were my favourites!) and an interesting compilation album on Midnite Records France. Later they began recording for Stephen Street's Foundation Label but the magic of the first years seemed soon to be lost. Morrissey himself loved the band and he also recorded his own version of "Skin Storm" as a bside. ".... Ian H, once Bradford’s frontman, says that the reason the band folded had nothing to do with Morrissey. “In a word, the reason was ‘Madchester’. Bradford, in some respects, were Britpop five or so years too early. We were five Northern working-class lads with skinhead crops, the odd Fred Perry, Docs, Harrington, Levi 501s and red tab jackets in the wardrobe, singing about a Greed And Pleasant (sic) Land etc. All completely out of step with the baggy/dancey/ravey Manchester which, of course, became legendary. We had lots of press, but while we scraped into the indie Top 10 on several occasions, we didn’t (to use the bean-counting parlance of the modern record companies) ‘shift enough units’. Sire dropped us in America and that’s you, mate – three years of indie fun then back on the dole. Did Morrissey help? A resounding yes. We’ll be forever grateful and flattered by the attention. I still have ‘silly notes’ he sent me and postcards, plus the accolade of a major icon recording Skin Storm, a song I wrote. However, I never received a penny in royalties from record sales or publishing for the substantial sales of this track. So if anyone can help out with this on a no-win, no-fee basis, get in touch (ianhodgson@123mail.org).” Ian H, now with a band called Acoustic Uprising, adds that he still has contact with other Bradford members. “Cherry Red were planning the re-release of a 20-year-old album of ours in April and we were all at bass-player Jos’s house discussing it. Some virtual jousting commenced but legal/ownership issues put the kibosh on things.” From MOJO # 189, August 2009
Formed in early 1984 in Manchester... separated in late 1986. Played all the venues - The Boardwalk, The Venue, Corbières, The Polytechnic, The University, The Gallery, The International. Had a good following and some really positive reviews in NME, City Life. Released a single, had interest from Virgin and London Records... but the Warehouse Party and Rave age were just beginning.... and Manchester was soon to become Madchester... Influences? is too easily confused with "what music i listen too and like" - it shouldn't be. Martin Tivnan, songwriter, always spoke of Ian McCulloch as a major influence - in terms of melody and song structure. BAWL were big on melody and creating an easy to listen to sound, without falling into a MOTR category. Being in Manchester in the 70s and 80s there were lots of bands citing the same names (doors, velvet underground, joy division, the fall....).... but BAWL were perhaps more influenced by the Cabaret sound (Frank Sinatra,Vic Damone) and the pop sound of Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice. A big band sound without the big band set-up. One reviewer wrote "The Blow Monkeys meets Frank Sinatra" - almost right..!! You can make up your own mind!
Back in the days of the first italian wave Bologna was the centre of the world, you can ask the Scritti Politti for further informations. Around the university, underground culture and alternative music rised just in front of the barricades where the students fighted for their rights.. New sounds came out from the frequence of Radio Alice, the first true Free Radio in Italy. The "toosoonforgotten" Roberto's Terzani Windopen were one of the best bands around at the time, too polite for the harpo's underground aspirations, too punkish for the major labels that wished they could go soon to the Sanremo Festival. "We were idealistic idiots" said Roberto some years ago in a letter he wrote to his old fans... don't know if they could have been bigger than the Beatles (or the Pooh, here in Italy...) but they remained a great example of musical integrity, real "...street rockers, with their anthem “Sei in banana dura” and the sleazy “La testa”... Windopen founder Roberto Terzani later joined Litfiba as a bass player when Gianni Maroccolo left the band, in 1990 and he still have a great site where you can have details about his own personal history with the band. In other case, no doubt that Windopen were a real classic of the first italian wave as you can hear in their wonderful anthem "Windopen Rock" or in their outrageos "Strazzami i Maroni". Enjoy to their sound and please, send me a digital recording of their first harpo's tape because mine is damaged!!!
