Denovo - In Search of the Lost Album

Thirty years ago came out an Ep titled “Niente insetti su Wilma” by a band destined to become an institution of Italian alternative rock, Denovo. Today we meet one of the group's founders, Luca Madonia, who has since gone on to a fruitful career as a singer-songwriter. He tells us about a new, unexpected return of the historic outfit, with the album “Kamikaze bohemien”, released in May 2014.

How did this album come about?

Something strange happened, and it really struck us. After thirty years we found some tapes with our earliest recordings, dating back to 1980-'83, meant for an album that was supposed to come out back then and then, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, was never released. Our longtime manager, Francesco Fracassi, found these tapes – back then everything was analog – in a cellar in Venice. A very rock'n'roll story, really, and you can imagine what might have happened to them in there, between the damp and the rats... But instead the tapes were in perfect condition, nothing had been erased. We tracked down the machines we'd used back in those days, since that was the only way to figure out what had actually been recorded onto the tapes, and then we transferred everything to digital without adding or changing a thing. There are twelve tracks: three already released, in other versions too, and nine that are completely unreleased. It has the whole spirit of the early Denovo in it: the soul of the rehearsal cellars, the soul of being twenty years old, the drive to do something new...

Will this project remain a one-off, or is it a taste of a real Denovo reunion?

We eased our way into this project slowly. The Denovo decade was magical, and none of us wants to spoil it — whenever there's talk of bringing the band back to life, we always get a bit scared, afraid of the nostalgia effect. That said, I have to admit we're getting more and more drawn into it: we've done some presentations and we'll keep doing more. But we're always playing acoustic. We haven't decided to head out on an electric tour, maybe out of a kind of modesty and respect for a beautiful story. Still, I hope something interesting can happen, because we're getting more and more involved, and even if we don't say it openly, something's brewing...

In these acoustic shows, do you also play tracks from the new album?

No, because those should be done electrically — those songs carry the energy of a totally rock band from that era. Right now we're playing our warhorses, the best-known songs, which can also be played with just guitars and various percussion.

In 1984, when you first appeared on the scene, you were like aliens, maybe because the Italian public at large wasn't very used to seeing Anglo-Saxon sounds — post-punk, new wave — mixed with the Mediterranean tradition that was also part of your sound...

Those were the years of Italian post-punk and dark wave, everyone was gloomy, dressed in black or sporting mohawks... we were definitely more sun-drenched. Our models were Xtc, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Police and of course the Beatles, the fathers of us all. So we were maybe a bit out of step with the fashion of the moment, but that paid off for us over time, because we never let ourselves be swayed by trends — we always just did what interested us.

Back then, Italian music was going through a golden age, with so many important bands (Litfiba, Diaframma, Cccp/Csi, Gaznevada, etc.). What do you think was the secret of that incredibly rich period, and why does today's Italian scene struggle so much by comparison?

It was a moment of generational turnover, under the influence of English punk: it helped shake things up a bit. Back then we were pioneers, everything was harder, even though there was a huge amount of gigging going on, because — unlike today — there were tons of circuits, and a much greater appetite for discovering new things. We started out with vinyl, and on top of that from Catania, which back then was the far edge of the world. To record an album you had to travel, it was complicated. But by meeting other bands, and playing the second Bologna Rock Festival in 1982, we realized that pretty much all these provincial scenes were suffering from the same insecurity. We were convinced that everything was better up North, while Litfiba thought we were much better than them — and that brought us back to the real, beautiful essence of music. There were plenty of tours done together, a great hunger for renewal and exploration — we really were pioneers. Today the focus is much more on television and instant success.

Speaking of television, I remember you as regular guests on Renzo Arbore's Doc, another pioneering project of that era: how did he discover you?

Arbore saw us in Catania in a really bizarre situation, told us about the new show he was putting together and invited us to come on. We were convinced it would never actually happen, but he really did call us, he kept his word, and that's how our experience on Doc began.

Do you think a show like that could work again today on Italian TV?

It was a great show — you played live on television, in a real studio. It was wonderful because artists could express their creativity authentically, sweat and all, right there on screen. But I don't know if there are people around today suited to making shows like that. Everything today is a bit more plastic. Arbore's special gift was being a great talent scout — he had brilliant instincts in every field, music, film, theatre — and he always managed to sense what was in the air before anyone else.

Speaking of another great artist and talent scout from your hometown, Franco Battiato, you took part alongside other friends and colleagues in the tribute project "Battiato non Battiato", performing his "Summer On A Solitary Beach", and then you were with him at Sanremo in 2011 with "L'alieno". You were both aliens on that stage... (we laugh)

Yes, absolutely! He came on as a backing vocalist, as he himself put it... Franco is an enormous artist, one of the greatest of all. He has his own whole world, a reality apart — that's really his true strength. We met him in 1989, and he produced our last album, "Venuti dalle Madonie a cercar carbone", in Catania. For us it was a homecoming, and for him too, in a way — after twenty years in Milan, he was moving back to live in Catania. It gave all of us fresh energy. And ever since then we've kept in close touch, we've become真正的 friends. So when Morandi invited me to take part in Sanremo, he also mentioned the possibility of bringing Battiato in. I was quite skeptical, but Franco, who's always unpredictable and does his own thing regardless of expectations, said yes right away. "Why not, it could be fun, I like the song," he told me. And for me, knowing I'd be up there on that stage with Battiato was as good as it gets. That's how that strange appearance at the Festival came about.

So good luck with the new album, and who knows, maybe we'll see you together again, you, Mario Venuti and the others…

Thanks, and who knows, we'll see how things go with Denovo.

(20/07/2014 – Extended version of an interview published in “Leggo”)

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