- I would start from the cover, very beautiful and certainly not trivial. Who made it, and what input did the band give?
Damned in black made it following our directions, although of course his touch and his style are in it too.
- How does the artwork connect to the concept, or at least to the lyrics of the album?
A world shaken by violence, contradictions and tensions of every kind. That, for us, was the world of Anno Zero. A world that speaks a steampunk language - a fitting code, the only fitting one for us, because it contaminates present and past. What we see in today's world is the repetition of the horrors of the twentieth century, of the ideologies, of the conflicts... We wanted to contaminate images such as the zeppelin, typical of the rise of National Socialism, with visions of the future, of a negative future that unfortunately seems about to come true.
- What themes have you tackled with 'Anno Zero'?
As I was saying, already in the artwork you can see how somehow political elements merge with poetic, human, personal symbols - the flower in the foreground, for example. So what we show is the interaction between big history, the history of politics, and small history, personal and private, which is often the only one we have been given to live...
- 'Anno Zero' is a sort of statement drawing a deep line between you and the past. Is there anything from previous years that you disown, or some mistake you wish you had not made?
Honestly, no. We disown nothing, also because whatever we have written we have always written with full conviction and awareness, never reckoning with anything but our inspiration and what we felt at each moment.
- Bloody Mary were born at the dawn of the last decade. How much have your approach to composition and your goals changed since then?
Look, for us only one thing counts. Being able to create and compose... Having a booking agency or touring was never a priority for us (even if those things did happen to us), nor was getting rich with music (and that did not happen to us). Playing is our way of expressing ourselves, of cultivating values and in some way of giving meaning to our lives... And that is much more important than a guaranteed seat on a tour bus or being in the charts...
- What did you want to change compared with 'Party Music For Graveyards'?
'Anno Zero' was meant to be a more played, more spontaneous record, more rock in a way - in short, less cerebral and convoluted than 'Party Music For Graveyards', with which we tried to explore the expressive codes we use to their full technical and arranging extent (there are choirs with as many as 20 voices, there are complicated solos, there is a tension in the arrangements always aimed at surprising); with Anno Zero we tried to concentrate on the essence of the feelings rock arouses...
- How much time did it take to write and record the new album?
Look, this time we wrote a song and then recorded it, and so on. As soon as a song was finished we recorded it straight away. We recorded the vocals afterwards.
- Where did you record it? What kind of sound did you want to achieve this time?
Twilight studios in Senago - it is the studio of Dave, our guitarist, so we were at home, playing on home ground... We spent wonderful afternoons with a thousand beers and the sole aim of finding the best possible solutions.
- In the review we pointed out that 'Anno Zero' is an album fully able to compete with what comes out abroad in the gothic field. In your view, what are the most interesting releases in that area over the last two or three years?
We absolutely hate people who act snobbish or show off, but in all sincerity I cannot answer you. All of us have loved the great classics of the genre and above all the founders like Joy Division etc.; honestly, we are not very up to date with the new releases...
- Compared with the past, the vocals have been given even more room. Was that a precise choice, or did it come from writing a certain kind of song?
True, but you will have noticed that on this record the double vocals and overdubs have been cut by at least fifty per cent. This time we concentrated on the purity of Aldebran's unique timbre.
- Which songs on 'Anno Zero' best represent the new course of Bloody Mary?
Let posterity judge...
- What is your relationship with electronics and machines in general?
Complex. We think that sometimes it is useful and can enrich a band's style, while other times it is redundant, superfluous and even annoying. As for us, we used it more heavily on the previous record, while on this one we relied more on the, so to speak, traditional means of rock...
- How hard is it to balance the electronic component so as not to make the whole instrumental fabric sound plastic and then compromise how the songs work live?
Well, look, by now electronics can be taken on stage and rendered live too. The problem is that electronics is often used to mask the absolute and embarrassing compositional poverty of the bands that use it.
- Where did you buy the uniforms you wear in the promotional photos?
Many of them around our tours. Every time we go to Germany or England we bring back something interesting...
- How important is the look for the band?
Fundamental. You have to express yourself with every means at your disposal; bands are not only heard. They are also seen, and so they must be able to convey meanings visually too.
First published in Italian; in English here. Where it appeared ↗