European Ghost - Darkwave ghosts are roaming across Europe

We met with Bolognese band European Ghost, a notable exponent of the new contemporary post-punk/darkwave wave. During the interview, we talked about the scene and its rebirth at an international level, about European history, and about the various cultural references - not only musical ones - underpinning the band's aesthetic.  

European Ghost came together almost by chance - we kept running into each other on the fringes of gigs, and somehow recognized something in one another. From there came the idea of trying to sing over some tracks Giuseppe had recorded one hot Bolognese July, without too many expectations, just for the sake of experimentation.

Members of the band also play in other “historic” names from the Bolognese wave scene: Giuseppe in Two Moons, and Mario in Black Veils.

Can you tell us something about the band's name?

The choice that identifies the group came from wanting to find a name that was evocative, fragile and solid at once - a signifier that wouldn't box in the listener's imagination but let it drift above a temporal haze. Naturally, there's also a melancholic fascination with certain Italian fantastic/gothic fiction from the late 19th and 20th centuries (Bontempelli, Vigolo, Buzzati) and iconic pictorial scenarios (Caspar David Friedrich, Arnold Böcklin)

Your first album, “Pale And Sick”, was a kind of concept record about European events between the First and Second World Wars. To what extent has European history been, and still is, a source of inspiration for you?

European history represents an endless collective psychoanalysis session; the horrors of war have left guilt, fears, aggression and Oedipal complexes settled in our unconscious, still unresolved to this day. In a sense, the sick aesthetic of European warfare has shaped our sonic and emotional landscapes, translated into a raw, pulsing expressionism.

I get the impression that the new Italian post-punk/darkwave wave moves with an international outlook without forgetting its own place of origin and its own roots. Perhaps today there's a new awareness, a refusal to remain subordinate to the usual American and British models - or am I wrong?

We're glad that so many Italian bands have been experiencing a new resurgence in recent years - it was probably a coincidence, since each of us was already pursuing our own path to begin with. There's certainly been a different aesthetic approach, one that got us noticed abroad first. We believe what unites us is careful attention to sound and arrangement, combined with a great capacity for synthesis - many tracks have become genuine "hits" within this new underground fabric. All of this has drawn the interest of industry specialists, giving us the chance to play and distribute our music across Europe and other parts of the world.

I really appreciated that in the press release for your latest album, “Collection Of Shadows”, you cited Leopardi's nihilism and Pascoli's dark melancholy. I've noticed several literary echoes in your lyrics. Is there a writer who particularly inspires you today?

(Cristiano) For me, fiction is essential as an intimate moment of self-awareness and as a way to heighten one's emotional perception of reality. Among contemporary writers, I'd recommend Mircea Cărtărescu and Michel Houellebecq, and among Italians, Giuseppe Genna and Raul Montanari.

Purely on the musical side, which Italian and international artists do you feel closest to?

The influences are manifold, from the seminal post-punk of the early Eighties to dreamy gothic sounds, all the way to a certain derailed, nihilistic strain of industrial electronics.

On the Italian side, we like: One Dimensional Man, Uzeda, early Diaframma, Limbo, Neon, Cccp, Csi, early Litfiba. Among foreign bands, we love: Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Smiths, Sound, Tuxedomoon, Massive Attack, Collection D'Arnell Andrea, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Swans, Dead Can Dance, Lycia, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Daf, Suicide, Godspeed You! Black Emperor!, Depeche Mode, Black Heart Procession, Cure, Pan Sonic, Aphex Twin, Orbital, Htrk, Raime etc.

I've noticed that electronics play an absolutely central role live too, especially in tracks from your first album. I particularly appreciated your ability to build claustrophobic tension and dark-hued textures that manage to hold together kraut, drone music and electro-darkwave. Beyond post-punk, what are your favorite listens in the industrial, post-industrial and related areas?

Starting from Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Kraftwerk, all the way to the more experimental output of Virgin Prunes, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, Clock Dva, Coil, Ministry, Laibach, Crash Course in Science, Contagious Orgasm, Esplendor Geométrico, Andy Stott and Alva Noto. We're also interested in acts like Kollaps, Herz Jühning, The Horrorist, Alles, Schwefelgelb, Kill Memory Crash; the techno of Codex Empire, Ancient Methods, Phase Fatale. Obviously, we also follow the new darkwave scene: Soft Moon, Drab Majesty, Boy Harsher, Tropic of Cancer etc.

As for your studio and live gear, could you tell us what you usually use?

If European Ghost were born with one defining trait, it was precisely an unconventional approach to using equipment. We really enjoy creating new samples, we use sequencers and synthesizers, and above all we've found it very interesting to cross digital instruments and effects with analog ones - it opened up a world without limits for us.

All three of you live in Bologna, if I'm not mistaken. How is the Bologna scene doing these days? Are there any bands or venues you'd particularly recommend?

The Bologna scene is alive, pulsing, underground. Among the historic venues for gigs there's Freakout, where concerts happen daily, plus Lokomotiv, Il Covo, Tpo, Link, Estragon, Mikasa, and the darkwave-postpunk-EBM nights at Atmosphere and Decadence.

Bologna's bands are countless and very supportive of one another: Caron Dimonio, Be Strass, Black Veils, Two Moons, Emil Moonstone and the Anomalies, Tying Tiffany, Dish Is Nein, Ofeliadorme, Stromboli, Deflowered, Oblomov…

I know you often play abroad. What differences (if any) have you noticed compared to playing in Italy?

We haven't found any substantial differences. We've had the pleasure of meeting people who put a lot of professionalism and passion into what they do. Maybe what fascinates us about the foreign dates is the reverent, cathartic silence that envelops the crowd, ready to explode at the end of every song, in a dialogue that breaks down borders and language barriers.

Plans for the immediate future? A new album on the horizon?

The new album is taking shape, but without any rush - we're doing research both on sounds and on a "concept" that can serve as a link between the two previous albums. A kind of trilogy, so to speak. Coming up, we'll be playing in Italy and at a few German mini-festivals: we're really excited.

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