Faust'o - Faust'o - A Pact with Torment

A few years ago an article came out, “An Open Letter to Fausto Rossi” (by Stefania D’Alterio, published in Ritual in 2003), in which the author lamented your absence and wondered what had become of you. Did you ever happen to read it? What have you been doing all these years? Had you lost interest in the world of music?

It's unlikely I could have read it, since I had… disappeared for a number of years. Music has always been an important part of my life, but there's more to it than that. Since the release of “Exit” I've felt the need to reflect on a series of things about myself: Do I exist? What am I doing? What do I think I am? It seemed to me that certain answers could only be found within certain “situations” of introspection. It's difficult but also stimulating to talk about these things. So it's been eight years of inner “journey”: what I wanted to see, I've seen, and now I'm satisfied… more or less. It's been eight years of work on myself, of a great deal of solitude. Years in which I nonetheless tried to live as fully as possible. Now the journey is over. I want to reconnect with my audience, both those who remember me and those who discovered my records afterwards. I'm especially glad that young people are getting into my records.

Now that you're back, what should we expect from Fausto Rossi? Tell us about the new album.

This new album is different from “Exit”, a record where I felt a strong urgency to say certain things. The new songs are more introspective, though there's no shortage of references to what's around me, which I keep observing and judging. I'm also experimenting with various forms of communication: besides the record, a book of various writings should come out in spring, with different authors for different forms of expression. I'd also like to keep doing readings. And of course… play live. Actually, three new albums are already finished: two in English and one in Italian. We're hoping to release them by spring. After so much silence, it felt right to record a good amount of new material. They'll come out online: I find the internet very interesting. Record labels are currently in pieces and are no longer of any use. The internet is therefore an excellent promotional and distribution vehicle for an artist. My fear is that within a few years the majors will reclaim the web, and I don't see a way to stop them. My fear is that after so much digital freedom we'll be forced to start all over again in terms of telecommunications. The internet, which began as an escape route for free thought, could turn out to be an even bigger cultural trap.

What was it like getting back on stage? The Rome concert in particular, your first in eight years — what emotions did it bring up for you?

It didn't go all that well. The organization was efficient, but we had some technical problems, mostly my fault. Still, there were far more people than either I or the venue's management could have imagined. I was also pleased with the interview on a Rome radio station (Radio Città Futura, ed.) and the one with Rai International. We're hoping to post those recordings on my website.

Let's talk a bit about Faust'O. Can you tell us about your performance at Festivalbar with an apple in your hand? Legend or truth? That performance was considered by one music journalist to be the turning point between Faust'O's possible pop career and the experimental turn that followed.

I think it was called “Rockstar”, at the Arena di Verona. Massarini was hosting.

I showed up with an apple in my hand, refusing to lip-sync “Hotel Plaza”.

They were furious as hell. My pop career had actually already ended with the release of “Love Story”. From that moment on I started working on contemporary musical research, and a summary of those experiments can be found on “Cambiano Le Cose”. Pop music interested me less and less, and in any case I see it as a gamble: a single doesn't always translate into a hit. It's much more honest to follow your own musical instinct, write good songs, and only afterwards figure out which tracks might work commercially.

A few years ago a conference was held in Rome on the topic “Italian rock music sung in Italian”. Emidio Clementi (Massimo Volume), Federico Fiumani (Diaframma), and Andrea Chimenti (Moda) were all present. All three named you as a source of inspiration. What do you think about that?

Such recognition is flattering to me. In particular, I had the chance to work alongside Clementi during the recording of “Along the Edges“, the second album by Massimo Volume. I was really sorry not to also handle the final mix: we'd done great work on the drums, and I was also pushing Emidio towards a new way of singing, reworking his characteristic spoken-word delivery. Maybe the time wasn't right yet. Still, it was a great experience all the same.

* With the invaluable collaboration of caina.splinder.com

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