Cool debut album called "What's Wrong With You, People?" (Unhip Records - see reviews for details) and forthcoming tour through Germany/Europe. Two reasons for not making too many words and for just introducing the band to you. This is an interview we did with Jacopo Borazzo by email.
Disco Drive formed in the summer of 2002 from the ashes of other bands we were playing in. We played our first show in november of the same year. Released our first single in may 2003. Toured Europe for the first time in the summer of 2003 together with The Cassettes (from Washington DC and featuring former members of Frodus, Dead Meadow, Weird War). The german label Bachelor released a split 7" between us and them in july 2003, just in time for the tour. Then we played Europe again in december together with Black Eyes (Washington DC, Dischord) and The Thermals (Portland, Sub Pop). In 2004 we spent a considerable amount of time recording, producing, mixing and mastering our first album. It took almost a year to get the whole thing done and just by the end of the year we made it to Europe once again. We released the record in april in Italy and toured extensively the country, which we never really did before the album release. We went far south to Sicily and played over 50 shows. Now we're getting ready to tour Europe once again, this fall.
The style of music you're playing is kinda huge these days. How often do you hear comparisons to other bands (just like Radio 4, Q And Not U etc.), and what do you think how justified they are?
Yeah, we were kind of concerned about that when we were recording the album, as by that time Franz Ferdinand, !!!, The Rapture and all those bands were getting really popular and we felt like things were turning out good for our future:-)). But then it took a whole year for our album to see the light of day so we felt like being "late" even if we actually weren't... anyway it's weird 'cause comparisons change from country to country and actually from magazine to magazine, according to what's popular here and there. Like, we've been constantly compared to Radio 4 in Germany, where I believe they're pretty popular, while we've never been compared to them in Italy, where they're more obscure... I think we surely share the same influences with most of these bands (mostly Gang Of Four), but we're certainly not directly influenced by these bands.
It seems like there are not so many bands from Italy that gain some recognition outside of their home country. You've been touring through Europe constantly in the past, so from your view, how do the people react on you as an italian band?
It's an interesting point. We have lots of good bands here in Italy but they don't seem to get that much attention abroad. It's partly because they're not really focused on that and partly because Italy has a bad reputation concerning good rock music to export, so probably people in Germany or England don't really pay attention to what's happening over here. I think we sometimes felt curiosity in people attending our shows in foreign countries. Sometimes we had sons of italian immigrants at our shows (especially in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium) and that was intriguing. Luckily we never felt ostracized or discriminated because of that. We don't really look and "sound" italian, anyway. And I think that helps avoiding stereotyping. Just for the hell of it, here's a hint of the coolest italian "exportable" bands: our labelmates and good friends Settlefish first of all, the wave-rockers Redworms' Farm, the arty punk band With Love (who recently signed to GSL).
I think your band name really suits the sound of your music. But there's also a song called "disco drive" on Les Savy Fav's album "go forth". Did you choose your band name because of this song? And if so, is there something with this band that you feel a rapport with or did you just like the sound of it?
Yeah, the name is actually taken from that song but it's not supposed to sound like an homage to Les Savy Fav. I mean, we all really like Les Savy Fav but we didn't chose the name to "pay a tribute" to them. We just really liked it. It could mean different things, or different aspects of the same thing and we like it. And it sounds really nice!!
"What's wrong with you, people?" is your debut album. how did it come into being and what do you think about it?
As I said before, it was a long process. We started writing the songs that ended on the record in the summer of 2003. Then we got into a pre-production phase together with this guy Max Casacci who's guitarist and producer of the italian most selling alternative band ever, Subsonica, in march/april 2004. We were supposed to also record the record with him at first, but then we changed the plan and switched to his mate Rockin' Rudy and got into the actual recording by the end of may. Then we mixed the songs in the summer and finally mastered the record while we were on tour in Berlin in november. I think it came out pretty good. Both musically and lirically. It sounds kind of "old" to us as those songs were written a long time ago, but they also changed in the process so it was like refreshing them. People who saw us live says that the record it's kind of "clean" and "polite" while live we're more "raw" and "aggressive", but we like it anyway. Studio and live are two separate things and you express yourself and your music in two different ways so it's ok. Also, we like it more when you like a record and then you see the band live and it's different, and better than when you really adore a record and then you see the band live and they're just as on record, or slower or boring!!!
Visit www.discodrive.org
interview done by christian
...