Interview by Erwan, Sans Tambour Ni Trompette
A lot of questions in one : Your age, from which social condition you
come... Can you talk about the way you create WALLACE RECORDS... can you talk
about the idea behind the title.
I'm a completely standard "alternative" guy...I'm 28, I have a job
(for a big company) which give me money to run wallace records during my nights....I
live near Milan, which is a bad city. Wallace records born in 99 with the
idea of a compilation and nothing else ....then it continue 'till now in the
same way : 3 years and 28 records...I don't know what will be the future of
a wallace, and I really don't care, I have no ambitions except producing music
I like and have good friends. The name "wallace" ise dedicated toi
marcellus wallace, the black gangster in the movie pulp fiction, and he's
also the logo. I love pulp fiction (as probably all the world) and before
the label I promoted a band (called Jinx) with an fake name : Mr.Wolf (another
Pulp Fiction guest), 'cause lots of people was calling me to "solve problems"
as Mr. Wolf do in the movie. That's all, it's a stupid reason, but I don't
care too much, it's just a name.
Is usually influenced with "rock" & so on... and people
who will read this interview will be certainly influenced by Noisy Guitare
etc ... How could you describe WALLACE & convince them to hear stuffs
on it ?
Because I'm influenced with "rock" and Noisy Guitar too. I listen
lots of punkrock and hardcore (I love Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Husker Du,
Misfits, Ramones, Minor Threath) an then lots of noise (Cows, Unsane) and
the I felt on love with the post rock scene (slint, tortoise, june of 44).
Shellac is my favourity band ever, I'm a big Albini fan. But....in last year
it's hard to find "rock" band who convince me...I think that The
Strokes are not a good alternative to the rock I like...so ...in last years
I've been into some of the most experimental, jazzy, free and minimalist electronic
music...usually crossed with rock, and I found there something (not at all)
new and interesting for me. I defintely am always a punkrocker.
You talk about the music you listened to as a child & the way you
listen to it nowadays ?
As a child? : Cartoons music :))....I listened lots of commercial shit, I
was a big fan of Madonna when I was 13 (I still like Madonna). I guess that
the exact moment in which I understood what I wanted to be in my life was
seeing a Nirvana video (Smells L T S...)....this one of the few reason to
have a television and to accept that a major label exists. Probably Nirvana
changes life to many people, as Ramones did 15 years before. I still love
Nirvana, and also lots of grunge album released in early 90' (Alice in chains,
Soundgarden....Mudhoney!!) but I don't like what these bands did after their
success...
What do you think about the italian indie music ?
There's no a special way to meet them...I know lots of them because I go to
see shows from years and years and then I meet people, I see bands I like
and when they have a new album to be released they send it to me...If I like
it and have money and time do it : ok, it's a new wallace release I last time
there are no new bands no label, that's beacause I'm working wit h 8/10 active
bands, and that's enough for a night-time job..... Band usually think that
the best way is to send a promo CD : this way work only for bigger labels...i
work with a band only after speak with them and like people. In Italy there
good bands....very good bands, so I think the situation it's good. There are
some good labels too. The problem is : we are few people,and usually we are
at the same time : label, artist, journalist and we buy lots of indie records.
So there's no way to sell a good quantity of records...outside the specialized
scene, there are only people who listen shit.
Can you talk about the distribution in ITALY ? Do you meet difficulties
to distribute Wallace's records ? Are you distributed in other countries ?
I have a good independent distributor : AUDIOGLOBE. They do a good job and
they're also nice people, but they suffer the same problem as me : too many
bands and too many labels to distribute for few people who buy records, so
they can't distribute everybody. I'm very happy to work with them, I think
they're the best distributor. I also exchange records with other labels, in
order to have severals titles when we do merchandise..but I'm speaking of
5 or 10 copies.....I'm not distributed in others countries...I suppose that
to be italian is not very good for indie music outisde Italy, I met lots of
strangers very surprised to see that in Italy we play a very good quality
of indie music...but the main problem to distribute outside my country is
that I should need promotion...and promotions means 50 free Cds for magazines,
radio and zines, with the probality to sell 10. If you think that I should
do that for at least 5 european countries, you can understand that this is
impossible to do. I should print 2000 copies for every release, send 500 for
promotion, send 1000 to distributors waiting that they sell some copies, give
300 copies for free to bands... It' ll remain just 1 copy for me.:))I send
Cd outside Italy, but I can't say this is promotion, it's just because I found
some people I like and I want they listen my releases...in France this happen
for STNT, POSITIVE RAGE, ABUS DANGEREUX or with some labels as PANDEMONIUM,
SONORE, AMANITA and RECTANGLE.....my goal it's that some labels in France,
Germany, Uk, Holland, Us, Japan etc....think my records interestings and they
want to release it on their label....so bands could be distribuited and tour
others countries. The only distro I have ouside italy are:
USA - K records for OLD TIME RELIJUN 7"
GERMANY - WEST BERLIN for A Short Apnea and Uzrujan
EAST EUROPE - TAMIZDAT for A Short Apnea and Uzrujan
How does this tie in to your opinion of improvised and composed music
? What does 'free music' mean to you?
What degree does improvisation play in your life ?
I don't understand nothing about technic in music, so the only thing I care
it's the sound coming out from the hi-fi. As I told you, I love rock music...so
I can enjoy every music just where I can hear rock, then it doesn't matter
which instrument (or object) produce it. I can listen some very free and impovised
stuff and have lots of fun, much more than a standar guitar band, but the
limit between "what I like" and "what I consider useless"
in improvised music is probably tracked by the situation (in a club or in
my room) from the feelling in that moment (drunken or not) and many others
parameters. In this way you can also understand what degree improvisation
play in my life....90%, more or less.
What do you think of the cultural politic of BERLUSCONI ? Which changes
do you see since his election...
Berlusconi simply don't have a cultural politic. His world is only done by
money, where you should buy everything : school, healt, culture. More or less
like USA, where there are 45% of population is near limits of survivor. I
think he's very dangerous for democracy, and I think EVERY way is good to
stop him, and his alliance at Italian govern (done by fascists, new-fascist
and racists). I obviously are for left political opinion, but I can say we
don't have a left party in Italy, except Communist Party, the rest is done
by small people unable to say something smart. Things are changing ...have
you seen on TV what happen at G8 in Genova? It seemed to be in a south-american
state in 70s.....police beating evreybody, just for the pleasure to beat.
And the hopeness to kill. I saw last week what happened in France....I always
tought that in France there is a big culture about politic and social feeling,
there's a strong democracy and I people really care. And right parties are
very different from Italians...more serious, I suppose that there's no way
for a pig like Berlusconi to be elected in France. Le Pen is a pig too....I've
been ready to come in France for manifestation in case of his elections....
What are the ambitions & the projects for WALLACE in the future ?
Relax. Relax...and then I want to find the time to be relaxed. I'm working
a lot, for my job too. To be relaxed I need to release less records. So this
autumn there "only" 4 news : MADRIGALI MAGRI new Cd and MiniCD,
ANATROFOBIA new CD, A GOURGEOUS APNEA (which a studio band with all members
of A SHORT APNEA and GORGE TRIO playing togheter), ARRINGTON DE DYONISO QUARTET
CD and VHS, and the new R.U.N.I. The ambition is arrive at the ned of this
year and be excited as usual for a new album.