This amazing Sardinia-based four piece screamo band have recently unveiled their debut EP called “Fin” and offered it for free! IL MARE DI ROSS have certainly outdone themselves on this debut outing. They’ve filled it up with amazing guitar work, intense energy and deep lyrics, available in English since last Tuesday. It’s a must to listen, mark my words. Miss The Stars magazine made no mistake calling them “wonderful parceled intensely and well-played screamo”.
Play the EP and check out my interview with the band below.
Hey, buddies! It’s so good to have another Italian punk band on my pages. What’s up? How are you? How’s summer so far? :)
Hey! Thanks for you time!
We’re fine, we’ve just released our first EP “Fin”. The summer is too hot for us, ahah! We like the winter!
So I’ve heard! :) Yeah, there are lots of updates on your facebook, but you seem to undervalue your popularity and write in Italian only! :) Tell me a little bit about your early days and how things were before you were formed?
We write in Italian so that our message is as straightforward as possible to the people who follow us (99% of them are italian). We are not saying that we will never write in English , we wouldn’t be here doing the interview otherwise! Haha. To be fair we’d love to be heard by as many “ears” as possible and we’re always up for confrontation, chatting and constructive criticism from all over the world. The band was born during the winter of 2012 after the end of a previous project where Francesco and Alberto used to play; Andrea and Michele joined the band a few months later, we locked ourselves in our rehearsals room and we wrote music. We played some gigs and here we are finally, with “Fin”, our first EP.
Shoot me some names of these previous projects. Do you have some of them still running?
The band where Alberto and Francesco used to play was called HADAM, a post-rock/screamo project. Andrea also plays in a grindcore band called DOWN THE LINE and Michele plays in several bands of our zone.
All based in Cagliari? I conducted an interview with Strikedown Recs and CURSE THIS OEAN and wonder what other local bands you have friends in?
Yes, all based in Cagliari. We know Carlo from Strikedown and CURSE THIS OCEAN, we also played few months ago with MY OWN PRISON, that if I remember correctly have been on IDIOTEQ as well. aside from the bands we have played shows with, anyway, we are friends with many of the guys in bands from the punk and hardcore scene such as ALZHEIMER etc.
Ok… So how does it feel to finally have your debut out. Tell me more about the work you’ve put into this undertaking.
We’re happy that we got so much positive feedback so far, so many people are trying to support us as they can by spreading our Youtube/bandcamp links around.
Although it was a completely DIY, we are very satisfied of the overall outcome.
And we haven’t even put out tapes yet!
Anyway we’re ready to release something more and we are writing new material as well.
Are those tapes the only physical format planned for Fin?
No, we did also 35 cd for those who were interested. We’ll send them for free as soon as possible. We decided to to this because we want to be really, really near to our fans (But we hate the word “fan”, ahaha!)
What’s that beach on the cover of the album? :)
The beach on the cover of the album is “Piscinas”. A dear friend of us (Fabrizio Ara, an amazing photographer) took a picture of this. We really like it. It represents perfectly the atmosphere of the songs: desolated and cold.
Tell me more about this new material you’re ready to work on. Do you have some new songs already?
We’re working on new material for a split with two amazing band: APERTURE and WE AVOID. We like a lot the cooperation between the bands. They are also good friend. It doesn’t matter how we are far from them: the hearts reign.
Oh, the negative youth! ;) I interviewed those guys, too :) A three-way split, you say… very cool. Any idea when it will be released?
Yes, the negative youth! (To live alone / To die alone: amazing). It will be released during this autumn.
Ok, so tell me more about the message you are spreading via your lyrics. “Open hearts bleeding out” I read in one of the reviews… What do you bleed for?
Without wasting too many metaphors and words, making screamo means being emotional. We don’t know anybody who hasn’t suffered at least once because of loss, be it for someone close, a love lost or anyone else or loss in general.
We put all of these feelings in our music without questioning ourselves too much about whether its right or not, too sweet or harsh. We like to think of it as an open heart that speaks as loud as it can all those words that were never said and that couldn’t be said in any different way than this. Yes, we sing of love lost and never forgotten, and yes we are obsessed with the past, yes the most of present disgusts us and finally yes, Francesco sings about his ex, yes to all of the things that people try to hide because they make them sad or it makes them appear weak.
Being emo means doing emo, huh? :) You’ve just summed it up qite well, right?
Ahaha, yes, yes. It’s right!
Most people confuses “the real screamo” with so many different subgenres, ranging from any kind of music that has screaming in it to modern melodic post hardcore / rock bands such as SILVERSTEIN (!). Does it bother you? :) Do you think screamo has any chance to be revived to its 90s glory?
Oh, that is really a good question! I (Andrea) think the point about screamo (and emo in general) is mostly about substance, so the form is a secondary issue. So a band can be emo without screaming, as well as the fact there are screaming in it does not make a band a screamo band. Bands like the one you said are definitely neither emo nor screamo, the right word to define them is mainstream pop though.
And yes: it bothers me. A lot. About 90s glory I’m very happy to realize how many young people that discover bands of that period respond to that stuff and I think there are a lot of new bands that keep on making music with the same attitude of the band in the 90s. The glory of the 90s was singing, whispering an screaming out thoughts in front of a small audience sweating, laughing and criyng together in a collective catharsis, so until we are able to do this there is a chance for revive it. Making a list of bands that are still doing this would be too long.
And what about some examples of real pioneers, bands that were more progressive and outstanding than the average scream / post hardcore band?
I would make a short list of some of my favourite bands: PORTRAITS OF PAST, ORCHID, UNIVERAL ORDER OF ARMAGEDDON, SAETIA from U.S., ALCATRAZ, MIHAI EDRISCH (and all the bands that came out from their splits up) from France, ENCORE FOU, MOURN, CONCRETE from Italy are the first that come to my mind now. But there are a lot of others that would fit the description.
How important is playing live for you guys? How many gigs have you played as IL MARE DI ROSS so far?
It’s very important for us to play live. We like to have a contact with the public, it’s awesome. We played only a few gigs because the band is “recent”. During this period we’re planning some new shows with awesome bands!
Any details on these upcoming gigs?
We’re gonna play 3 shows with other local bands in july and august. We’re gonna play Strikedown hardcore fest vol.1 with RISE AFTER DEFEAT, CHAMBERS, HIEROPHANT and many others. We’ve also been asked to play a show in Slovenia in October or November. We’re stoked.
Alright, buddies. What can we expect in the future from IL MARE DI ROSS?
Play as much as possible and record new stuff. Pretty much what any other band wants to do, ahah! :)
Alright, before I let you go, you need to tell me about some of the best beaches and places to see in Italy. Since I’m heading there in a couple of weeks, it would be super cool to know where to go on my quest to find some wide sandy beaches and tourist-free places :)
Alright Karol, in addition to the well known Rome, Florence and Venice, I’d recommend the southern beaches of our island, like Masua, Plage Mesu, they’re about one hour from Cagliari. You should also check out small towns like Buggerru that are located on the seaside as well.
Thanks! And what about YOUR plans for the summer?
You’re welcome! We’ll hit the studio in august and then we’ll wait the end of the summer to embrace the wet days of September/October.
Isn’t it the best time to compose? Maybe you should wait with the recording? :)
Ahahaha, right! Maybe :)
Ok. So what shall I wish you guys for the upcoming months? Any dreams you’d like to come true?
Alberto (our guitarist) would say “share the stage with SAETIA”. However, we’re not dreamers so we don’t dream about fame and everything else about that. We would to play gigs as much we can. We would like to see the world trough the eyes of the music. Anyone can have a journey, it’s easy but it’s very different and intense to travel to share your music.
Damn right! Travel as much as you can, guys!
Ok, so I guess that’s about it, right? Any last words?
Thank you so much Karol for your time and for your interest. We really appreciate it. I’ts a pleasure to know people like you!
Live pics by Fabrizio Ara.
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