The Italian punk scene has given us many great bands over the past decades, and Turin based BULL BRIGADE are definitely a firm part of the testament to their national mighty musical legacy. Bringing 15 years of DIY shows-tested songs and street experience and credibility, the band is celebrating the milestone with their third LP “Il Fuoco Non si Spento”, teased in our recent feature HERE, and finally available for your listening pleasure in its entirety! To give it a nod, we recently spoke with the band and asked them about their legacy, the recent pandemic struggles, and plans for the future.
“Il Fuoco Non Si e Spento” (The Flame Still Burns, out now on Demons Run Amok label) marks the band’s third full length and is laced with a political and antifascist undercurrent, with personal and football related lyrics.
For fans of: Cock Sparrer, The Old Firm Casuals, Klasse Kriminale, Blitz, Wisdom in Chains, The Oppressed, Angelic Upstarts
Hey there guys! First off, thanks so much for your time and checking in on IDIOTEQ! I’m sorry we couldn’t sit down with you prior to the release of your new album, but nevertheless, it’s great we have the opportunity. “Il Fuoco Non Si e Spento” is out now via Demons Run Amok Entertainment and it serves as a perfect treat for fans of melodic street punk rock! Congrats on the final effect! How’s it going? How does it feel to have it finally out?
Thank you IDIOTEQ for having us! It‘s a pleasure. We are very happy you like the final effect.
We were looking for release this album, we waited for a long time, we postponed the release date by one year, we pass throught this crazy time(like everyone else), we worked hard for this project, we putted on it all our strenght and passion, so we can say yes, we feel damned good to have it finally out.
The past months and years leading up to this moment were indeed tough. The COVID pandemic hit Italy big time (we covered it early at this location), and it became something to be truly worried about, globally, touching many different aspects of our lives. Please give us some background to your previous release you manage to put out in early 2020 and how was the situation from your personal perspective?
Italy was the first European country to be involved in this pandemic, at begin I was not very worried, I thought it was not so dangerous and I thought it was a typical media alarm, after few weeks I changed early idea, because the situation was not so light, someone of us lost relatives for this, someone of us got really sick because of this virus.. the situation was soon dramatic.
We released two EPs in English between the end of 2019 and the begin of 2020, the eps are in english and we never played one of these songs alive. At that time we were also writing the new album that we keep on writing stuck at home because of the pandemic. It was strange, usually we pass a long time in rehearsal room to play together making new songs. From march to june of 2020 we make the songs from our houses sending eachother our music lines of every song, in some way it helped us to work in every single details of every track…
How did you spend the rest of 2020?
From the beginning of summer 2020 we started working with Fabio Valente, the producer of „Il Fuoco Non si è Spento“, we were no longer in lockdown so we went to his studio every week, for about one year…we concentrated all our energies to finish the record.
How did your experiences from the past 12 months impact this new record?
The past 12 months impacted a lot this new record, first of all because we changed the way to write the songs during te lockdown. Moreover it was the first time we worked with a producer, it meant to give our songs to someone else who changed them..for us those songs were already perfect..After a long time we play wasn‘t easy to do something like that, but it was worth it, new record is great, Fabio is a friend of us and we worked very well together.
Can you share some more details about the topics your touched in you lyrics?
The topics are various we sing about friendship, love, time that is running fast and we are getting old…we talked about death in a couple of songs..we sang about feelings in “Ansia” for example(it means Anxiety), we talked about stadium and our city that’s a recurring topic in our song…all the lyrics are written by Eugenio, all the stories he tells are real life stories. I suggest to read the lyrics (we translated them in english on the album booklet) to catch the real essence of the meaning of these tracks.
What inspired this amazing cover art?
On the cover there is San Giovanni Battista he is the saint protector of Torino, our hometown, in this cover he is rappresented in a skeleton version. The saint is a symbol of our city, and this is our version.
Back to the issue of COVID pandemic, how did it affect your habits?
I‘ve been stuck at home for a long time, even after the lockdown because I could work by my place, I could go out just to go to market and super market, I read a lot of books, I listened a lot of music, I played more than usual, I watched a lot of movies..It was boring, I felt depressed..Luckly we were working on the new album, I think it helped me a lot to pass this time. Now we are returning at a kind of normal life.
How is the rebirth of live events in your area? How would you compare the volume and the quality of live shows to the pre-pandemic era? Are there a lot of international bands coming to your country?
Unlucky there are not a lot of international band yet, a lot of sows have been moved to the next year..there were for sure more concerts before the pandemic, we played an acoustic tour during the summer, it was very good, we had the chairs in front of the stage and this was weird..anyway, I think here in Italy we have less shows than others european country, maybe because we have still a lor of restrictions.
Ok guys, so this year marks the 15th year of your existence. How do you look back at your early days as BULL BRIGADE and your experience with previous bands?
We always we look back with a strong „respect“ for our past experiences, because without our old band, withour our early punk days and without our teenage in the punk scene, we wouldn‘t be here now!
In 15 years many things have changed, the band has grown, we have grown, we are not the same of 15 years ago, everything has run its course, sometimes we miss the old days, the „angy days“ but above all we are glad with our current days.
What have you learned about the world or yourself thanks to your time spent in this band?
Hard question, all of us we spent most of our lives in bands, I think we learned a lot, we learned how to manage our time, how to share your life with your bandmates, how to behave in some situations and so many other things.
We have met many people from all over the world, I have learned many things about other cultures, I have seen many different countries and different ways of living..when you travel to play, and not as a tourist, you can see a real part of the other country and meet many people to share some experiences with.
So what’s next to expect from BULL BRIGADE?
First of all the “il fuoco non si è spento“ tour, we are looking to play the new album live, we are really excited about it. The first shows will be in early 2022.
Great! Thanks so much guys! Cheers for your time. Feel free to share your final words and take care! Stay healthy, safe and have a great rest of the year!
Thank you so much IDIOTEQ, it was a pleasure chat with you, hope to see you soon under some stage of some punk rock show!
Ciao!
