VERDENA
– interview –

As a result of about 4 years of creative sessions, Verdena have just come out with the latest album, “Wow”, a collection of 27 songs, floating from alternative rock to psychedelic essence, from the authoral italian tradition in pop-rock to extremely innovative experimentations in sounds and visionary lyrics.
Roberta Sammarelli, the female bassist of the italian band, explains us about the evolution of the band, the italian background in art-scene and that kind of nihilism lost from the past productions (“Requiem”, “Il Suicidio del Samurai”, “Verdena” and “Solo Un Grande Sasso”) to give space to some kind of positiveness and artistic consciousness.

– Four years after “Requiem”, here you are with the latest “Wow”: why so many time from one album to another and how have you worked since 2007 to 2011?
RS: At the end of the “Requiem Tour”, 4 years ago, we locked ourselves in the studio in order to create the very new songs for the new album, not having any other new track yet. We took time, a lot of time. I have to confess that after about two years, and so 2 years ago, we had composed about 14 songs, so we should have released the new album, but Alberto was not satisfied about the aim of the album in only these 14 songs. So we continued, arriving in the last months to 27 songs, the ones you can listen to in “Wow”: we were not able to skimmed some tracks, beacuse each one has its meaning and importance in the structure of the album.

– You’ve collaborated in different side-project, in these 4 years…
RS: Yes, so many, and I think they’ve contribuited to the evolution in and the creation of “Wow”. First of all Betoschi. It’s been a very sperimental project, and so “Wow” has been influenced in the evolution too, from the choice of the instruments to the different kind of music song by song. Also the fact that Alberto and Luca have played, last years, with our friend Jennifer Gentle (www.myspace.com/jennifergentle) has changed our way of creating. Alberto played the bass and Luca, of course, the drums, with them, and they’ve absorbed lots of their music.


– Concerning the album, what about the songs? They seem to be less nihilist and more “sunny” than in the past…
RS:  Evolution in art is compulsory. Only thinking about some kind of “Requiem 2” would have been impossibile for us. Every time we create an album and, then, have the tour, we are filled with that kind of music we’ve made and played, so we need to create something different. It doesn’t matter if some fans won’t like this changing: we’ve always do that. We need upcoming art, to grow.

– What about the first single, “Razzi Arpia Inferno e Fiamme”?:
RS: It’s been the first song created in the working sessions, so we thought it’d be appropriate  t o give it as the first single. It’s like a genesis of the entire album, I think.
( the videoclip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrxmstNVFtg )

– What kind of music have you listened to in the last years and also books you’ve read and movies you’ve seen, for being influenced in such smart sounds we can notice in “Wow”?
RS: I can say that, expecially Alberto, locked in the studio for about 14 hours a day, it has been so difficult for us, in working to “Wow”, to study, under stand and also discover different artistic movements, from books to cinema. About me, in the last months, I’ve followed, and so listened to, so many things coming from the old Beach Boys production, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney and the Flaming Lips. And I also know that Alberto literally felt in love with Lucio Battisti’s songs, and that kind of singing and writing in them have influenced his writing.

– Let’s talk about the indepentent music scene in Italy: you’ve been, with heroes like Afterhours and Marlene Kuntz, maybe one of the last band in the underground scene of our country, pride and realt to be mentioned as alternative. What’s changed?
RS: The italian alternative music scene is full of bands, from different kinds and areas of our country, from the best known like Il Teatro degli Orrori, to the more underground too. The problem is to car them, I think. We love to go to little alternative gigs, in little locations, for examples, of not famous bands, because they have lots of great ideas in new sounds, mostly. If the all alternative scene of Italy is like our city’s one, we cannot complain!
All we have to do, maybe, is to have the possibility to tour a little more to discover everything.

– “Razzi Arpia Inferno e Fiamme” have also a special videoclip…
RS: I think too. It’s directed by Ivana, a new director coming from cinema’s studies, who’s asked me, some months ago, to feature one of her short movies, acting. I had to accept because I love new challenges. The short movie was amazing, so when, about 2 months ago, we had to think about the videoclip of our new single hit, we did not have so many time to think, and we asked her if she’d loved to released it for us. She’s done a great work, very srange, coloured and simple too.
In the future we’d love to release our videoclips. Maybe, one day…

– Electronic and piano, from “Requiem” to “Wow”…
RS: They are part of the evolution of our sound I was speaking about before. Alberto felt in love with piano’s melodies, and Luca, in his pauses during the recording sessions, played in creating loops and electro tricks with synth. They’ve become the  bases for lots of “Wow” songs.
New things, first of all!

www.verdena.com

by Ilaria Rebecchi

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