I am pleased to give you the debut EP and interview with ZAMBRA, a relatively new gloomy post hardcore band from the district of Florence, Italy. These guys trigger the recognition of some of your favorite post hardcore artists, yet there’s also a thick dark atmosphere that is similar to more post punk offerings and even some swinggin’ rock’n’roll twists to spice it up. ZAMBRA manage to craft an interesting sound that does a good job of getting their listeners excited for the full album album. Listen for yourself and scroll down to learn more about ZAMBRA!
Hey guys! I’m very pleased to welcome you here on IDIOTEQ! How are you?
We are fine and we are so pleased to get in touch with IDIOTEQ for our first interview as ZAMBRA. We are Lorenzo (drums), Emanuele (baritone and bass guitar), David (vocals) and Leopoldo (guitar).
ZAMBRA is a new swingin’, dark, progressive post hardcore product of Florence that meets the quality attributes necessary for international recognisability. What took you so long to release your debut EP? Please tell us about your background, the very beginnings of this project and other bands you’ve been involved in.
Leopoldo: We’ve been a part of underground scene in Florence since we were young. In the last fifteen years we used to be part of many different projects… here is a short summary: Lorenzo and me were members of MAY I REFUSE (emorock band of our young days). Lorenzo was the drummer of another band, a rock and roll – hardcore quartet called DISQUIETED BY, maybe one of the most important underground band in Florence area and David is the singer of that band. Emanuele is a member of a post rock band called VELVET SCORE, and for some years I was inside that project too.
We started ZAMBRA in late 2013 like a simple way to have fun, spend time together and for our musical need to explore a true hardcore sound. We started as an instrumental trio and it has been like this for some months, then David joined the band and we really started to find our sound.
Is starting new bands the kind of initiative that may revitalize your local punk scene? Does it even need to be strengthening? Tell us a bit about your local DIY network and environment for musicians.
Leopoldo: Put the music in the first place: that’s the formula to let the scene grow. There’s a lot of band in our local underground “scene” but the great part of these born and die in few months. It seems to be something far to make the music an artistic expression, it seems to be just a way to try out a specific lifestyle. The first thing that suffer for this lack of passion is the music itself… I think that the best way to let the scene grow is to take care of the quality of what you are doing.
Considering different subgenres and styles, what type of hardcore records and shows are you seeing more of as a listener, and what type of offerings do you wish you saw more of in your area?
Emanuele: Honestly we are not so involved in the hardcore scene right now. Of course when we were young we’ve listen to lots of hc shows and records, we love so much the Swedish label Burning Heart Records especially for REFUSED and BREACH. Last year we had to drive for 200 miles to see the only Italian gig of THE OLD WIND / TERRA TENEBROSA because the local promoters and audience are not interested in this stuff. Here in Florence some squat and underground club make shows with the local new bands but we’d like to have international artists too.
Your debut EP offers a very progressive approach, especially as for the general tag of post hardcore music you’re naturally labeled with. How did you compose these tracks? What was your writing and recording environment?
Emanuele: Starting from the last question, we have our rehearsal in a little room of a factory (of course in the night). The debut ep was recorded live in two days at Igloo Audio Factory by Andrea Sollo Sologni. About our progressive approach I think is the result of our different musical studies and open-minded listening, we love classical and early music for example. The idea when we started this project wasn’t to make a post hc band, we just wanted to do music. A dark, violent, damned and mystic music. Some riffs came to us; we only let them grow, searching for the possible improvement and variations.
Would you say that some specific moments of this record where you have included musical homages to other artists?
Emanuele: David (the singer) told me that the riff of Valdirose reminds him something from MASTODON… but I didn’t know this band at that time! If there’s an homage in the ep it’s an accidental one. But in the new songs we quote some early classical composers. We hope you could listen it as soon as possible!
Ok guys, so what’s in the future for ZAMBRA? Please provide us with a glimpse into your future touring and recording plans.
Emanuele: We are trying to find out some gigs out of our area, but it’s hard. One thing that I adore in ZAMBRA is that we are always inside the composition of new stuff. I think we are going to put the new songs on a record when we will be 100% satisfied of our work, so it will be take some time…
Lastly, both musically and privately, what do you do when you’re not putting your energy into this band?
Leopoldo is a guitar teacher, David is a woodsman, Lorenzo is an artisan and Emanuele is a sound engineer.
In this moment Leopoldo and Ema are inside an early music project, David in working on a concrete music album (where the instruments are chainsaws and engines) and Lorenzo collaborates as drummer with an experimental band called CLORINDE.
We love football, we are Fiorentina supporters (this year we have in our team the Polish player Blaszczykowski which is really good!).
Thanks so much for your time! Cheers from Warsaw and please let’s keep in touch!
Thank to you IDIOTEQ, for your help and your kindness, and we hope to be in beautiful Warsaw soon for a show!
