LORA is a new post hardcore / indie / screamo band from Torino, Italy. They have recently released their debut music video for the song “Cerchi Tre La Punte”, the title-track from their upcoming record. The band sat down with us to answer some questions regarding their existence, their local scene (see the list of amazing bands they recommend) and plans for the future. Check out our quick chat below, you might find something you like.
Press the pay button and give these boys a chance.
Hey, guys! There’s so little about you online. Let’s change that. Shoot us a quick introduction about yourselves. Who are you, where do you come from and do you come in peace? [laughs]
Hi guys! You’re right, there’s not much online at the moment because LORA is a brand new project. We started effectively in Sept 2012, without a precise idea of what direction we would have taken. We all come from different bands and have very different musical backgrounds, so a first period of experimentation has been necessary before starting to produce something interesting. I can’t tell you how many songs did we trash already! But I think every band in the world knows what I’m talking about [laughs]. We are based in Italy in a city called Turin in the North West, a place that has been home for very good underground, hardcore and alternative realities in the past.
Do we come in peace?? Absolutely [laughs]. We think there’s too much stress and antagonism in this living society, so we try not to be a part of this. In our debut single “Cerchi tra le punte” we talk exactly about that [smiles].
Oh yeah. I like the song very much. It has this natural vibe and feeling. I instantly has this feeling and the ultimate proof that you’re alive and this music is teeming with life. How have you developed this style? How would call it if somebody threatened you to kill you unless you give label yourself and name the genre you perform? [laughs]
We’re very happy you liked our music. We hope that the meaning of our songs can get to the listener even if we don’t share the same language . After several experiences with English, we decided that singing in Italian was the best choice for the band, as it gives a very definite and different vibe to the sound. This was a crucial point for us, as we try to be as authentic as we can possibly be. If I was forced to label our style I’d say we play a mix between punk-hardcore and screamo. However we all share a massive passion about post rock with bands like SIGUR ROS, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY and THIS WILL DESTROY YOU. Recently we all have been really into the all No Sleep, Topshelf and Deathwish records scene, with bands like TOUCHE AMORE, TITLE FIGHT and BASEMENT. And obviously we all love the great Italian and French screamo scene. Anyways, I hope i managed to give a clear image of our influences and backgrounds, and hopefully didn’t just confuse you even more, [laughs].
Had your past projects been following the same genre path?
It’s the first time that the four of us play together.
Each member of the band played in different bands with different music genres like
Fabio: KOISHA (metalcore) (ITA) and CLINTH (stoner-rock) (ITA); Andrea: ERODES (post-rock) (ITA); Marco: ERODES (post-rock genre) (ITA), SKY TURNED RED (metalcore ) (ITA) and DIMENTICO (Italian-screamo)(ITA); Francesco: CRASHING FOREIGN CARS (progressive rock / mathrock) (UK) and NIGHTMARE (crust-hardcore punk) (CR).
After several years of playing in different bands , we decided to get together and start this new project called LORA.
Wow, sounds like lots of different adventures, right? Have you played some gigs together as LORA so far?
Yeah, different people, different bands, different music life is good!
Not yet, but we are working on it already, for now all of them are in venues around Turin metro area. Hope we can set it up all of them.
Mid 2013 we will come with new music and so much more including gigs and why not maybe a tour [smiles].
Oh yeah. So how many songs do you have written already?
Now we have 4 songs “music and lyrics” completely done and another 4-5 songs almost ready.
We hope to get into the recording studio in a couple of months, be able to choose 5-6 tracks, then start recording our first EP!
So exited!
Cool. So where did the idea of releasing a video so soon come from?
Well, a random boring day, Fabio proposed to the rest of the band to make a video then after a couple of week we met all together again and we started to talk about the story of video step by step we started to say ideas. Write and edit. We all worked together for the realization of the video, but the greatest work was done by Fabio (guitar) and his girlfriend Carla.
You mentioned the story behind the song. Tell us more about your lyrics and the issues you touch in your songs.
Every song we wrote until now has very immediate and significant lyrics. At least we try doing this [laughs]. It’s our purpose, as we say before, to be direct and at the same time to touch aspects that are very important for us. In this historic period, you know, it’s very difficult to be an Italian, especially a young one. I cannot say that LORA is a “social” or “revolutionary” band, but I can say that the first EP is birthing on the base of a common sense of not belonging to this kind of society we see every single day. We live LORA as a sort of “golden door” through which escape from a routine that this world imposes on you, but that we don’t recognize as ours. “Cerchi tra le punte” means “Circles between creeps”. If you are a circle in a world of creeps, you’ll be always a little lonely. But if you search with attention, you can still find someone like you..
How do you guys fit with this kind of music in your local music scene. Is Turin comprehensive in variety of heavy music styles?
Turin has always been a fertile ground for underground music. In the past it was a sort of capital of Italian hardcore, but there are really a lot of bands playing quite all genre of music. So the atmosphere is very hot for musicians. Anyway, to be honest the Italian scene is not always generous with small bands. Ordinary people doesn’t follow very much underground music, and so it is difficult.
For a new born band to emerge. Clubs are all struggling nowadays and the result being giving less space to smaller bands, it has become very difficult to get out your local scene and play in front of bigger crowds. This is the main reason why we’ll try to tour outside of Italy as much as possible!! So… how’s the weather from you?? [laughs]
We would love to come and play in Poland if you guys give us a chance! [smiles]
Yeah, man. I’ll spread the word here and there [smiles]. So, please shoot us some cool local names worth checking out.
Where about? All around Italy or just here in Turin?
Let’s focus on Turin and the area around the city.
Venues here in Turin: Hiroshima mon amour: ska-reagge-folk-alternative; United Club: Punk-hard core-metal; Spazio 211 : indie rock-alternative-shoegaze-folk-post rock; Lavanderie Ramone: rock-post rock-alternative-new wave; Astoria: britpop-eletro-new wave-post punk- alternative-indie; Blah Blah – indie-alternative-rock
One of United club or Lavanderie Ramone would be perfect to make the realize party of our first EP. We’re looking forward to it.
And what about the bands? Would you like to shout out for certain bands?
We’ve got a lot of friends here in Turin, so quoting someone is always an injury for all the good bands we could forget. And since we have a very bad memory, we prefer not nominate local bands. But you really should navigate in our facebook profile and get a view through our friends. You could get some cool surprises.
In Italy we know bands that we respect as musicians and one day we’d like to share a stage together. I’m talking about bands like: LANTERN, I LIKE YOU OK, LA QUIETE, SHIZUNE, IL BUIO, THE DEATH OF ANNA KARINA, OJNE, RAEIN, HEISENBERG, CHAMBERS, ORNAMENTS, THE MEMORY, LA PROSPETTIVA, VERME, FINE BEFORE YOU CAME, BROSSA, VALERIAN SWING, INFARTO, GERDA, REBELDE, LE TORMENTA and many others!
Ok. Do you feel that we have covered everything we should know about you guys at the moment? Tell us what would you like to accomplish as a band this year. Also, feel free to add anything you want.
We are ok for now [smiles] , at this point we don’t have much more to tell you. It’s a new band, we hope for the next months when our first EP is done, we could talk much more about our new experiences about the band and stuff like that. We’re thinking about to start a tour to promote the EP & merch!.
It was a pleasure to us talk with Karol and Piotrek at IDIOTEQ, we hope we can meet again. We send you a big hug from Turin, Italy. We are so happy about our new friends from Poland.
