Cyborgs - The humanoids of boogie-blues

Known only as 0 and 1, The Cyborgs landed on our planet in 2009, their faces hidden behind welding masks. In 2011, Turin label INRI released their self-titled debut album, which shook up the Italian blues scene with a furious, futuristic take on alternative-boogie. Two years later, the two-man band opened for Bruce Springsteen at Rome's Ippodromo delle Capannelle, and put out their new album "Electric Chair". In 2015, "Extreme Boogie" was an album played at supersonic speed, like an acceleration of the devil's music right before the change, three years later, with the arrival of the new humanoid Cyborg 0X, taking the place of 0. After moving to Bloos Records for the album "Generation X", The Cyborgs returned in 2021 to their original lineup to mark the tenth anniversary of their debut album's release, announcing a new round of shows following the forced stop caused by the global pandemic.

The answers to the following interview were sent via the web and translated from binary code into a comprehensible language. Speaking is cyborg-1 (bass and drums of The Cyborgs)

On YouTube, someone wrote in a comment addressed to us: "It's great to know that things like this still exist in Italy! Great Cyborgs!". What's our country's problem with the blues?

Basically, in Italy the blues might be the least of our problems. At every level there are plenty of musicians and fans keeping the faith alive. Until not so long ago, countless cities and small towns in every region had a blues festival where Italian and foreign artists could perform. Today, unfortunately, we're seeing an ever-sharper decline in these blues-related activities, and the problem, as is so often the case, is bureaucratic and organizational, undoubtedly tied to shrinking and increasingly ineffective investment in culture. So, perhaps, the real problem is political.

Can you tell us what life is like on your planet? Who are the musicians you listen to most often, the ones who convinced you to land on Earth's stages?

It's hard to sum up everything that influenced us in just a few names. Our attention has always been drawn to the more alternative side of blues, but just as much to roots blues. So we can mention names like Charlie Patton, Son House, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, moving on to artists like Tom Waits, R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Bob Log III, and others who are much less well known.

One of my favorite little moments captured on record is when 0 answers what I think is an intercom and is invited up to the 20th floor. It's 2011, and the Turin-based independent label INRI releases your self-titled debut album, which takes the elevator up a scale of futuristic blues. How did the record come about, and above all, why did you decide to take this path through the devil's music?

What you're describing happens on our first, self-titled album, “The Cyborgs”, from 2011. That was indeed our first work, and it came together very spontaneously and quickly at the time. Both Cyborg-0 and I had an innate passion for the blues and for all the nuances this language can offer. Back then, after years of gigs and experiences, we decided to team up and give this language a bit of a dusting off, since it's too often left un-renewed and risks stagnating. That's how this record was born, and that's how we started touring Europe.

Let's jump forward. It's 2013, July 11th to be exact. The Cyborgs open for Bruce Springsteen at the Ippodromo Capannelle in Rome. Some would even say it should have been the other way around. How did it go with the Boss?

It was undoubtedly an unforgettable experience. Tens of thousands of people, an absolute sea of them. We were amazed that the Boss had agreed to have our show open for his concert. It was the first time anyone had opened a Bruce Springsteen show in Italy, which made it even more thrilling and incredible. We played for 30 minutes, and then he came on with his whole band. He played for four and a half hours, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately we had a flight to England shortly after, so we couldn't stay until the end of the concert.

Deep Purple, Iggy & The Stooges, Jeff Beck, John Mayall. Some of the biggest names on planet Earth have chosen The Cyborgs to open their shows. Beyond the obvious question of how much you enjoyed all this, I'd love to know if you can share at least one episode that surfaces from the collective memory of your countless live shows.

There would be so much, so much to tell. Every one of these artists we've opened for has left us with something. Let me tell you an anecdote about an artist you didn't mention, Johnny Winter, who passed away a few years ago now. We were with him for an entire Italian tour, though I don't remember exactly how many dates. One day after soundcheck he invited us onto his huge camper van. He wanted to meet us and understand what it felt like to play the blues wearing a welder's mask. That's when, quite moved, I picked up my mask and had him put it on. He kept it on for a while, then suddenly raised his middle finger, as if to tell us to f*** off. Aside from that little anecdote, Johnny really left us with so much. It was a huge thrill to share the stage with an absolute all-time legend of the blues.

Going back to 2013, that's also the year of your second work for INRI, “Electric Chair“. It contains some of your most ferocious boogie tracks and a gorgeous “Following Blues” that sounds like it rose straight out of Louisiana dust. Then, at the end, the unexpected, metal-tinged cover of “My Sharona”. What was the sonic step from The Cyborgs to “Electric Chair”?

To be honest, after releasing our first record, we started a long stretch of touring that took up almost all our time, leaving us no room to do much else. The only moments when we found ourselves experimenting and playing new things were the very soundchecks before shows. That's where “Electric Chair” comes from. It's nothing more than the result of dozens and dozens of soundchecks between 2011 and 2013. Strange but true.

“BIOS”, or rather “8105”, is instead a work made up of covers of genre greats, a sort of journey through time to rediscover the roots of the devil's music. How did the collaboration with the pen of Andrea “Tsuna” Tommassini come about, and what did you see in the light of the blues?

BIOS was a project we wanted and planned out, recorded entirely to tape. A tribute to roots blues, to our idols, to the masters of the blues. We thought we'd gather traditional blues and revisit it our own way… through that, we wanted to tell our own story, with a comic book tied to the record. Andrea Tomassini was flawless in turning the story into images. A great talent who added a great deal to our work.

Then comes 2015, and you release, again on INRI, “Extreme Boogie”, which is perhaps my favorite album of yours because it carves in stone what some have called “alternative boogie-blues”. A work that is, as they say, hard and pure: played relentlessly, with the gorgeous “I’m Just A Cyborg And I Don’t Believe in God” and what I'd like to describe as your own “Surfin’ Bird”, “Ain’t Easy”. How does this crazy album fit into your discography?

This album is probably, of all of them, the most thought-out and deliberate one. It doesn't have the freshness and spontaneity of the previous albums, but on the other hand it represents, for us, an arrival point, a moment of maturity. It's the synthesis and the consequence of the earlier albums, and in any case it marks for us a moment of rupture and change.

If I were an alien creature who'd just arrived on Earth today, wanting to approach the blues for the first time, which essential artists should I listen to?

Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, Junior Kimbrough…

Three years later, in 2018, comes a big change - actually two: The Cyborgs release their new album "Generation X" on the Rome-based label Bloos Records. But above all, we learn that "Cyborg-0 (vocals and guitar) has gone back to the future, and in his place a new humanoid equipped with a guitar and programmed to play the blues has already been sent. His name is Cyborg-0X." The record is perhaps less violent than "Extreme Boogie", and probably more faithful to the devil's own sonic roots. Do you agree, or is that just my ears playing tricks on me?

Certainly. "Generation X" is a transitional album, where the new guitarist and singer brings a significant change to the sound. It's also a moment where we wink at more traditional blues.

Let's get to the end: in 2019 "Bootleg – Live in Studio" (Bloos Records) comes out, and then the pandemic hits. I read on your Facebook page that Cyborg 1 and Cyborg 0 will be back on stage to celebrate 10 years since the first record. In another post, Cyborg 1 writes: "Over these years everything has changed. Music, the world, humans. The leaden future we carried in our songs and onstage seems to have come true. Maybe we were right. Us, of all people, who were already wearing the mask, with no premonition of a pandemic." What should we expect, after more than a year with practically no live music in our lives?

Clearly nobody could have expected the world to grind to a halt for a year and more. We all found ourselves unprepared. But with hindsight, I can say it was, in its own way, a fantastic year and a half. Music stopped, the hands of musicians and artists stopped, but on the other hand the mind took flight, and a lot of things actually happened. Things that may see the light of day in the coming months or years. After all, if The Cyborgs got back together, it's probably precisely thanks to this dark period.

Thank you, humanoids, just one last question: what were your real earthling names, anyway?

…

Ok, I tried. In blues we trust!

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