On the release of their latest album "Party Music For Graveyards" we caught up with Milan's Bloody Mary for an all-round chat about everything surrounding their musical universe. Enjoy the read!
- Would you introduce your new album "Party Music For Graveyards"? Was it born in significantly different circumstances from your previous records?
Aldebran: This time, compared with the past, the work was particularly complex and intense, guided by the concept that inspired us at every stage of the writing. We dreamed and lived this story viscerally, and it was that very dream, which enriched the story, that inspired us.
- The Ramones' "Pet Sematary" is a song you care about a lot, since you have put it on this record too, as well as on the EP "Dig Up For The Party". Why do you care so much about it? Do you want it to be a bit your own "Wicked Game"? (yes, I mean HIM's cover, which by now is practically identified with them as a song, not with Chris Isaak)
Aldebran: Absolutely not. When we decide to play a song, considerations of that kind are certainly not what guides us. We love the Ramones and consider them one of the most inspired bands of recent decades. And the "Pet Sematary" video corresponds surprisingly well to the imagery of the album… the cover, the grotesque…
- Horror, I must say, is an influence felt everywhere in your music, even in the titles of your records. Why is horror so important to you? Which horror works are you most attached to?
Aldebran: I wouldn't really speak of horror, at least in the film forms that have captivated the mainstream audience over the last 20 years. There are atmospheres in some nineteenth-century novelists that probably have something in common with horror films: Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley and others — if anything, it is they who inspired us… On the cinema side, in its horrific form, we are tied rather to the early-century works of Dreyer, for example, or of Murnau and Whale.
- It's also true that, combined with this strong sense of horror, there is a certain irony and a strong romanticism in your lyrics, and this reminds me of the work of, for example, Jyrki 69 and his 69 Eyes. How does it work for you? How do you find the keystone that creates this balance?
Stranger: The fundamental component of everything we do is grotesque humour, the real inspiration not only of our music but of our way of life. Haven't you ever found yourself at the tram stop at 8 in the morning after a very "particular" night out? How would you define the scene before your eyes? Tragedy?! Comedy?! A sense of the ridiculous?! That is the mix of feelings that marks our times. Hate and love. Unease. Bloody Mary.
- I must say your musical style is decidedly far from the typical Italian offering — you are decidedly more Finnish. And you present yourselves with a strong international cut, so I ask you: what do you think of the current Italian music scene?
G_Drone: We see a lot of energy in the emerging bands. However, the scene is stifled by the downturn of the international record industry. Too many bands think only about results and not about expressing what they really feel. They write after doing market research and sector studies. That is ridiculous, especially looking at the results.
- In your music I also find a certain whiff of the '80s, which many bands share today — I mean the rediscovery of the spirit that governed the music of 20 years ago. Why do you think that is? Is it that nothing new can be created any more, so for many all that is left is to re-propose what was done in the past?
Stranger: Not at all. Simply, our age meant that the first sounds we took in date back to the period you mention. So it's natural that what comes out of our souls takes listeners back to the voices that guided our first steps in the crazy world of music. Personally I love The Cult as much as Guns 'n' Roses or Joy Division or Hardcore Superstar. Influences are relative, though: each of us brings something of his own, and all together it becomes something different again, very personal in the band's sound. In my opinion Bloody Mary have a rather recognisable sound compared with the mass.
- Your identities are hidden behind nicknames. Why this choice? Is there a criterion by which you choose your different nicknames?
Aldebran: When we were born, we did not choose our names. When we were reborn, we did.
- A curiosity about your name: was it chosen in honour of the famous cocktail, or of the witch of Nordic folklore who appears in mirrors if her name is spoken more than three times?
Aldebran: It has no link with any of the things you mention. In New York slang our name simply means "fucking Mary".
- …And after the release of your new record, what adventures await Bloody Mary?
G_Drone: Taking part in the first colonisation expedition to Mars and staging the first interplanetary live show.
- Well guys, that's all from me! I leave you this space for a message to our readers.
Aldebran: Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatus nunc.
First published in Italian; in English here. Where it appeared ↗