NoGuru - Chronicles of Past Times and New Rage

Listening to “Milano Original Soundtrack”, I got the feeling of a fresh, free and angry band. Was it enough to just change your name to unleash your creativity, was it the arrival of new members, or did other factors come into play too?

We really wanted to be free to express who we are today, and the album is definitely an honest snapshot of that. Xabier and Bruno undoubtedly gave us a lot, but there was also a long period where we experimented, searched for new sounds and, above all, a style that would represent us - more nervous and syncopated. Each of us tried to develop new forms of expression on our own instrument... one thing was clear in our minds from the start: we didn't want to be a cover band of ourselves!

Is what you're singing and playing really a resurrection? What do you carry with you from Ritmo Tribale? Resentment, anger, weariness, exasperation, or just a well-deserved urge to play?

No anger or exasperation - Ritmo Tribale was the most significant artistic and human experience of our lives. After years spent away from the perverse world of Italian music, we felt a growing urge to pick up our instruments again and express our true nature as musicians in a freer, more anarchic way than in the past, with no logical or commercial threads to follow.

The lyrics convey a mature kind of rage (I pick up on it especially in “Il deserto degli dei”, but it seems to run through the whole record): it's as if you've become the unlikely spokespeople for a generation that's 90 percent slicked-back and rotted through by habit. What kind of atmospheres do the album's lyrics come from? Concretely, how do you go about writing them?

Scaglia should really be the one answering this question, since they're all his… what I can tell you is that they all came together in a rush, right after we'd already recorded all the backing tracks in just two days. Andrea was on fire; his goal was to give voice to our sound as it is now, with lyrics that are more direct and explicit than in the past, personal and evocative of his current state of mind, aiming to use images that could be tied to Milan and to the schizophrenic life we all lead. We love every single word he wrote, they're like a punch that goes straight to the listener's face and heart.

Musically, the sonic impact is striking. The arrangements are colorful, meticulous and thought-through. At the same time, though, you can feel moments that are completely free, irrational. Which side do you feel more at home in?

That's a great question, and a hard one to answer. I don't think we've figured it out ourselves yet: on one hand our nature pushes us to polish and perfectly define the structure of a song, on the other we're also driven to improvise and cook up crazy alchemies, as if we were standing in the middle of an intersection full of honking horns and screaming. Xabier and Bruno are definitely masters of improvisation, so we'll keep exploring that path.

What's behind this record? The Joy Division reference would seem to point toward new wave, but what I hear is much more pure, raw rock, hardcore, and at times even prog. The sax, then, is a wonderful detour into free-jazz territory, or into experiments akin to Morphine and the like. Did you actually have specific reference points in mind, or is this just the unconscious gesture of a free-flowing creative process?

I think it's a free flow that ties together our hardcore attitude, the 80s we unconsciously carry inside us in the form of post-punk and art-rock, and maybe a bit of prog too, but it's one big jumble where no single ingredient dominates the others… we wanted to bring Chet Baker together with the Dead Kennedys! I think all the artists who've influenced us share the same approach to life: living, not just surviving.

With Ritmo Tribale you told the story of the Italian Nineties. In NoGuru the Nineties are still very much there, but in a sense updated to 2010 (in the bpm and in the sounds). What's left in your project of that old “feeling”?

I think everything we lived through in the 90s is what still gives us enough life force today to keep observing and telling the story of 2010 in our own way, perhaps more disenchanted but definitely freer. We're like five trees that, over the years, and above all thanks to healthy soil, have put down ever deeper roots.

Ever since the Ritmo Tribale days you've been one of the emblems of the Milan scene. What differences do you see, socially and artistically, between your early years of activity and today? Is there movement, novelty, quality?

Honestly, I don't see much novelty or movement right now. The artistic and social commitment that defined Milan in the 80s and early 90s was a direct consequence of a whole network of political realities and bands that shared values, hopes for change, anger, and musical exploration. We created our own chances to play, we didn't wait around for some venue to hand us a favor. For us playing was a necessity, not a commercial investment. Today there are still musicians with real quality, and festivals that try to showcase them, but young people's general interest has faded. Very few people actually listen to and buy music, and almost nobody cares about a band's identity anymore, only about the hook of the single.

Probably, since real artists never let themselves be bent by market logic, I believe before long we'll see a return of self-released records, fanzines and illegal posters plastered on street corners.

Some say that, musically, almost nothing happened in the 2000s. That obviously refers to the lack of a movement with strong social overtones, the way it was with new wave, punk, and grunge. Do you agree? What could the “new thing” be in the next decade?

I absolutely agree, as far as I'm concerned nothing new has happened. But that's no surprise: something new only happens when there's both the need and the ability to change what no longer represents you. Today people accept what happens without asking themselves why it happens; being a user and being an artist are two completely different ways of living. In Italy, moreover, music has always experienced the great waves of musical innovation coming from abroad only second-hand, as a reflection. I think music should be given a different weight in schools, starting from childhood, so people don't reach the age of twenty already lobotomized by Mtv.

Anyone who holds Ritmo Tribale dear must have come close to a heart attack these past two years: two beautiful albums have come out, yours and Edda's, proving how much you all still have to say. Of the years spent together, what do you remember most: the hardships or the rewards? You often describe yourselves as a “family”, despite the time, the goodbyes, the different paths taken. Today few bands can claim such a visceral, brotherly bond. Was it really like that? Did it help you through the hard times, or did it complicate things?

We've always been a tribe, we know each other inside out after so many years on the road together. When I saw the first videos of Edda going around on Youtube I was as happy as a child… we were always friends before we were musicians, and I think that chemistry came through to everyone who followed us then and who still follows us today.

What I remember most is the satisfaction of the stages and streets all over Europe for at least 15 years – maybe I'll write a book about it one day... Friendship may have negatively affected only a few professional choices, in the sense that we had such strong bonds with each other that we were sometimes wary of outsiders, to the point of turning down many offers that might have helped us in terms of popularity. Anyway, no regrets.

The album just came out, and you're on tour. Have you already thought about what comes next? Will there be more albums? Does NoGuru get pulled into countless other commitments and projects, or does it take up all your time these days? In short: what will you do when you grow up?

We don't want to think or plan anything; what we definitely want is to make a second album, maybe recording it in New York. NoGuru is a project open to many collaborations between free, independent minds, and it doesn't take up all our time, since the five of us are different personalities, perpetually busy with different passions.

Ride the wave of great music

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