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Gimme 5
Igor Piattesi
Vicolo Inferno
Mailinterview
19.05.14
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 Igor, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! It isn't our first interview with you – welcome to “Round 2” ;-) This time we want to talk about the theme „Tour“. Here we go:
In March you played with your band Vicolo Inferno six concerts in England, to promote your album Hourglass. From the musician's point of view, could you please tell me: what were the most important experiences and impressions for you on this tour?
 An uplifting experience it was to bear our own smells... as wild hogs on the road… ahahah. Seriously, I think that a mini-tour like this can be a pressure-test for a band under several aspects, not least the close coexistence among band-mates, that can strengthen friendship or destroy it.
After the tour we are still saluting each other, so I can say it all went well under this aspect. With our heads we’re still to rockin' in the UK!!! Under a pure musical point of view, driving for 6000 kilometers, play every night and be credible, it was the toughest challenge for me; coming back at the end of the tour with the conviction that we hit the center improving our live performance... well, let me say, it makes me proud!!!
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What are the exciting and positive aspects of a tour for you, and what do you don´t like at it?
English breakfast, stable weather, to drive left... ahaha... everything is exciting in an experience like that, we were like kids in toy land… I mean that we have always tried to have fun in any situation, every day in a different city, venue, stage… biting and escaping, isn’t this the essence of R’n’R ??!!! We hadn’t negative aspects, … but we experienced different dynamics and circumstances, different from the ones we are used in our country.
The important thing you should always remember is that when an underground band goes out from its fence it’s a perfect stranger… so I was not expecting to be treated as the new UK Rock messiah, where there you can find a wide proposal of bands every night of the week…
What's coming up in the next weeks/months - in how many countries are concerts planned until now, and do we have a chance to find Germany listed in this tour-schedule, too?
We’ll continue throughout the summer to hammer the promotion of the album, then we will look for the right concentration in autumn to write new material. We have some plans / negotiations to tour again outside Italy, but from the moment we have nothing fixed… I can’t reveal more for superstition… anyway as I already told you, we crave for a long time to play a few dates in Germany and then we'll try. ;)
If you would have the freedom to choose: in which city, in which location and in front of/on which place of interest - worldwide seen - you would like to play a gig sometime?
… umm… personally I would like to do a gig in Kentucky opening for Black Stone Cherry or in Canada for Monster Truck, so I told you even which band I would love to share the stage with (… leaving out the Monsters of Rock).
Could you please tell us a little bit about the concerts in England, such as: how'd it go, were you satisfied with the reactions of the crowd, di you have nice experiences resp. small mishaps, too... ?
Marion, I could answer giving you an accurate and boring report about how many people were at the gigs, how many were listening, how many came to congratulate with us at the end of the show, how many were drunk under the stage… or I could tell you about the strange things that have happened during the tour... let's see, … what could be more fun for the readers??! …ehehehehe ;)… I think that a short day by day report can be more fun…
Day 0 - Sunday 23/03/2014
After many shots of mechanical lubricant and robust shoulder hits we managed to remove the third row of the Van’s seats just to make the needed room we need to load in all of our stuff, Igor’s elastics “help” to keep it all packed up and then we finally added the missing piece of our “Tetris”… the one that made it all crumble… a Chianti’s Flask.
Day 1 - Monday 24/03/2014
After an endless journey through France, we embarked on the ferry boat in Calais at 18:30… the moment we passed the borders check was full of tension… will they arrest Neb (our drummer)? The agents scoured through our documents, maybe we were too handsome in real person to believe we were the real ones in the pictures, but everything proceeded smoothly… Nobody got to spend the night in jail and so we took the ferry boat, and in front of us there was an hour and a half ride with on board dinner offering “Lasagne Bolognaise” with French fries, soothed by the ship’s rolling which somewhat helped with the digestion of the “precious” meal. We arrived safe and sound in Dover, and we watered our throats with some beers at the local pub “White Horse” after the old lady of the B&B told us that was one of the best places in town. The English people gave us a warm welcome, and while we were drinking and talking, the bartender decided to play our track Hanging On The Blade via YouTube… fuck yeah!!
Day 2 - Tuesday 25/03/2014
Marco with his “Full Metal Jacket” style “Go! Go! Go!!!” gave us a “nice and cozy” wake up call, after that we strolled downstairs in the B&B to enjoy the first of many English breakfasts that we had during our stay… Marco couldn’t stand to lose the chance to crush a chair (and that wasn’t the only thing he broke); we performed that night at the “Axe & Cleaver” in Boston, the “Doghouse” (our place for the night) was recently flooded through a hole in the roof and the walls were filled with some, to say the least, “politically incorrect” sentences, explicit sexual propositions and virtuous cursing… to be brief, it smelled like Rock’n’Roll and disease… Neb yelled: “This place reeks like death!”.
Day 3 - Wednesday 26/03/2014
While Marco “lends” a box to store some bottles, Fala gazes at the strings of his bass, just to discover one of them got a little “fatter” during the “dry” night in the “Doghouse” and bravely decides to take on a personal challenge… to finish eating the lamb kebab that Igor left on the table the previous night... after 3 bites at the “least than good” meal, he kinda gave up… We arrived in Northampton and there, after the load in at the “King Billy”, began one of our bravest journeys: where would we sit our ass for the night? The odyssey headlined Marco and some Travelodge worker (“I am here, you are here, I have cash, is this a good service or not?”) or the old lady in the B&B yelling out “I don’t know who you are, who are you? Go away!!”, shutting the door on Marco’s face.
Day 4 - Thursday 27/03/2014
First thing in the morning we started a marathon to load all of our stuff back in the Van, while doing this, the housekeeper gazed at us, obviously disappointed and always demanding: “Is this the last one? Oh my...”, maybe she wanted for us to stay… or not (“they’re not scared of you, but of what you represent… Freedom! When they see a free man, that’s when they’re scared” cit. “Easy Rider”). I think I lost my shower coat on the sideway while, being mad at Marco and Neb, I was reorganizing the terrible “Tetris” they were doing with our back line on the Van. ”Where do you want to go without my elastic cables? Pilgrims!!!”, Fala was probably already smoking the 10th cigarette of the day.
Day 5 - Friday 28/03/2014
After the night at the “Snooty Fox”, and having slept in a very furnished coach outside of the venue (cool but frozen) we arrived in Wales… and against all odds it turned out to be the most exciting night of the tour, along with Gerard and the Bride, Stuka Berg (some Jägermeister rip-off) and Famous Grouse. It was wonderful explaining to the locals our very own Neb’s pronunciation of the word “everybody” (which sounds something like “evrybadayaaaa”). We fell asleep on the couches of the venue with empty beer bottles on the table and dirt on the floor, a perfect portrait of the decadent night we just had.
Day 6 - Saturday 29/03/2014
We had a pit stop in Tintern Abbey, wonderful Gothic abbey where Iron Maiden shoot the video for Can I Play With Madness?… it was breathtaking! After a sandwich with turkey and marmalade we head off to Telford, and at the “Haygate” we gave in to our disco attitude, on stage first and then during the DJ set where we showed off all of our moves and some gym activities in order to cauterize the hormones levels… for me the usual cold fish and chips after the gig in the parking lot… the hard life of the singer.
Day 7 - Sunday 30/03/2014
I wake up sweating at the usual “go go go!!!” by Marco that in the parking lot of the guest house hangs on to an iron bar and breaks it (remember the chair in Dover?)… we leave for London… after the live at the “Dublin Castle” at 11 PM, not following the “Underground Musician Bro-Code”, we step on stage while another band was playing to take Fala’s Bass head, and then we left the city skyline behind us to head for Dover, where the charming old lady of the B&B of the first night waited for us to make us sleep for just a few hours… lovely!
Day 8 - Monday 31/04/2014
After 4 hours asleep, we embarked on the ship at 7, we saluted the White Cliffs at dawn, such a wonderful view… when we arrived in Calais we started driving back on the RIGHT side of the road, and furthermore with distances in Km, not Miles! Though the substance didn’t change… the trip back felt like a lifelong journey with continuous shots of coffee and salami’s cuts; there was a stop at a French Autogrill which was very noteworthy: we asked to the barmaid to fill our coffee thermos, and she gazed at us asking if we would have paid for it… perhaps our homeless attitude took over, and seeing us wander like stray dogs through the shelves made them doubt… who knows… the French, right?
Thanks for this interview. We wish you and your band mates all the best and much success!
Thanks so much for your attention and support that you always show us |,,/_
Photos: No. 1 ©2013 by Igor Piattesi / No. 2 & 3 ©2014 by Annelie Rosencrantz / No. 4-5-6 ©2014 by Marco Campoli
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