Labradors - Melodies screamed in "maybe"

Imagine you run into an old friend after a long time. They ask what you do for a living, you tell them you play music, and they ask you to play them a song. Which one would you play, and why?

We'd play them “Mario” because, if they're an old friend, they already know we're musicians, and this is the track they'd probably least expect from us.

Since we started making music together we've never tried to fit into a particular trend, but have always aimed, quite naturally, for something coherent with our influences. I guess that makes us a bit old-fashioned to the ears of people who are more used to radical experimentalism. That said, since we listen to tons of different records every day, some less obvious or expected influences can creep in. For instance, it might not come through clearly in the songs, but we're heavily influenced by rap! There have been moments when we deliberately tried to change direction, but in the end we always came back to what feels most natural to us. We can't feel out of place because we've never pretended to sound like something we're not.

One thing I'd like to know, after taking in “The Great Maybe”: US or UK?

In our sound I think the US/UK dualism is pretty balanced. In the backbone of our songwriting traces of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Xtc happily coexist alongside Superchunk, Husker Du and Weezer, so it's really hard for us to pick a side! Although the myth of the Midwest is very strong...

To make it a bit easier for you, why don't you tell me your dream label (after To Lose La Track, of course) — the one you'd want distributing “The Great Maybe” outside Italy.

The collaboration with To Lose La Track is something we really pursued, simply because on the Italian scene it's the label we've always loved most for the ethical and human approach it stands for, as well as the musical one. A lot of what they put out is among the most interesting stuff around. If we had the chance to pick a foreign label, we'd go all in on Merge!

It's a very particular dualism that comes through in your record, which we could crudely sum up as: Teenage Fanclub versus Foo Fighters. Can you give me a top 3 of records for both?

The truth about Foo Fighters is that they're not such a conscious influence for us, even though a lot of reviews point it out. As far as I'm concerned, there's no single top record of theirs, in the sense that I'd have to lump all their great songs together into a kind of best of. Fabrizio is more of a fan, and this is his top 3: 1) “The Colour And The Shape”; 2) “Wasting Light”; 3) “One By One”.

Teenage Fanclub are one of our favorite bands and, quite bizarrely, you're one of the few people to have spotted that influence! Here's the top 3: 1) “Grand Prix”; 2) “Bandwagonesque”; 3) “Thirteen”.

“The Great Maybe” opens with a track arranged in a way that's fairly new for you: acoustic, violin, another track that feels out of its own time, perfect for the finale of a "Dawson's Creek" episode from twenty years ago by now. A shift toward "lighter" sounds compared to 90s alternative rock has also marked other artists, and accompanied the rise of the American singer-songwriter scene in the early 2000s. Do you see yourselves making an acoustic record, maybe not the next one?

We like to shuffle the deck on our records and put together tracklists that throw people off a bit. The song that opens “The Great Maybe” was originally meant to be the closing track; but while we were in the studio someone suggested putting it at the start, a move reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins' “Pisces Iscariot”. Some people advised us against it, but for us that song means a great deal and we're proud we put it at the top. Also because we'd already done the killer opener thing on the previous record. That said, I think there'll still be room for quiet, singer-songwriter moments in our future work, but maybe right after that a hardcore song will kick in, who knows.

On that note, the Italian emo-etc. scene is one of the most thriving around. Even you, despite making somewhat different music, clearly come from that scene. For a while now there's been an international nineties revival, and it seems to me that we arrive at it as if no time had passed at all. Is that another sign of provincialism, of chronic delay, in your view, or are there deeper roots in the relationship between this scene and the Italian audience?

The Italian emo and screamo scene has always produced gems that had almost nothing to envy from American bands — I'm thinking especially of Eversor/The Miles Apart and Raein/La Quiete. Even now there are bands from that scene that we love, like Riviera, Dags! and And So Your Life is Ruined. I think a bit of healthy provincialism helps keep the essence of a lot of our bands intact, although I also think many of the bands "affected" by the nineties revivalism are also mirroring what's happening in America. I'm thinking of the return of a certain 90s indie-rock sound from bands like Speedy Ortiz or Waxahatchee, which has been picked up — and very well — by Any Other, for example. 

Either way I have to thank you, because it had been years since I last felt like blasting an album into my ears at high volume. I thought I was just too old for it. Do you also get the feeling, as listeners, that not many records like this get made anymore? Tell me the most recent album (by release year) that you've worn out listening to at high volume through headphones.

What can we say, thank you so much! As far as we're concerned, the last albums we've blasted at full volume are “Carrie and Lowell” by Sufjan Stevens (Fabrizio), “Vega Intl. Night School” by Neon Indian (Pilli) and “It’s Album Time” by Todd Terje (Filippo)

Where and when can we catch you playing live this year?

We'll be trying to bring this record on the road as much as we can, so keep an eye on our Facebook page for dates. In March we'll be in Novara at the Big Lebowski with Minnie's (on the 5th) and at Free Ride in Perugia (on the 19th) with Rami.

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