Even more than 10 years ago actually... I had forgotten about it to be honest. We had recorded those songs between '94 and '99 but at the time I was 15 years old and I didn't have the money to release it properly as a CD album, so they were pretty much shelved (except for a super short run demo tape). Last year I found the masters and listened to them and I thought they weren't bad, so I sent them to Nick to see what he thought and then I played it to a couple of friends, one of whom was Jason Schizoid of D-Trash records, who showed interest in releasing it on his label. Even if they are not 100% representative of what I musically do today, I think that releasing them 10 years later is still better than not releasing them at all. I am glad they are out there for fans of the electro-industrial-metal genre to listen to and a lot of people thought that they stood the test of time pretty well, so they will work for modern listeners as well as nostalgic ones ;-)
What was the point to restart the M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab?
M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab wasn't quite restarted. M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab also never officially ended. Life took over and I moved from Italy to the United States so it was hard to keep the project going, although I have used the name for a thing or two here and there in the last 10 years.
You worked with another person, Nicola Curri. Are you still in contact?
Absolutely. I would not have released it without Nick's approval. We saw each other last summer in Italy. He's a very in-demand fresco restoration artist and does a lot of other visual art. Check out his myspace at myspace.com/ilvecchionick
Did you say to Nicola, that you want to reanimate the old songs?
Absolutely, like I said, I had his blessing. He would have liked to redo the vocals but unfortunately I didn't have the multi-track so what you hear is exactly what we recorded 10 or more years ago, except I remastered it in my NY studio this year.
When you listenend to these old tracks, what were the feelings?
Good question. Hard one to answer. It just brought back a lot of memories, you know? It got me thinking of the days when we would pack all our gear in a car and go play in some remote location. We did some cool concerts too... We opened for Contropotere/CP01, who were a pretty well known cyberpunk band in those years in Italy. It just made me think about those times again. Life was different then. My friend Diego Loporcaro from Kebabtraume (another band of those years) seems to have a better memory than I do about certain things so he helped me bring back to mind even more details...
I can imagine, that most musicians have problems to release old stuff because it sounds “unfinished” or just bad. How about you? Are there some parts that you would change?
Of course I might change some things if I could. Most artists are unhappy with what they did last month, you can imagine when something is this old. I would have loved to change a couple of things here and there, however, in a twisted way, I liked the limitation and the commitment requirement that came from not being able to do so. In terms of recording quality the stuff wasn't that bad actually because back then I was already working as an audio engineer and I had a good recording studio set up. In musical terms both me and Nick would have liked to alter some of the more naive approaches we had and intervene in other ways but I had no access to the multitrack, like I said, so it is what it is, which is what you hear. However we considered these tracks finished at the time so we present them this way. We have one more track that we did not put on the record and we will release as a web bonus at some point.
You won three times the grammy-award, you work with famous artists such as Laurie Anderson, Sting and Eric Clapton – somehow a complete other direction than your Memory Sound…
I love good music in general and I have always been into a lot of different genres. I grew up listening to rock and electronic music so if you think about it, there's a lot of that in the M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab sound, it's just all mixed together! Today I still listen to a lot of different things from rock and metal to electronics and industrial, from jazz and blues to experimental, free jazz and avantgarde...
This album is very remarkable, as these sounds you created anticipate the underground-indsutrial-scene as it is known today. Where did you get your inspiration at that time?
Thank you for your kind and flattering words. If indeed we were ahead of the times, it was a result of our common experiences. Nick was in a black metal band called Funeral Oration (along with Aborym founder Fabban, who also played in the live sets of M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab) and I had been playing in several bands, including my cross over group The General Store (with the famous italian guitarist Vincenzo Pastano). In other words the sum of our experiences was even more eclectic than our already diversified listening experiences. Maybe the fact that we were so open to different things and the fact that new genres are usually created by mixing existing ones together, made us very in tune with what was about to come.
To mix structures of Metal and Electronic seems very daring in the mid-90s. Were there also some people who criticized you?
Oh yeah! There are a lot of stories I could tell you about that... Because we were mixing these sounds and because we had a foot in both scenes (I too played in Funeral Oration with Nick) we got to play in some electronic music festivals and in some metal festivals... Italy didn't have a big electronic music scene so having sampled guitars maybe helped us in a weird way, but at the metal festivals there were purists who couldn't stand the idea of a band without drums and guitars on the stage... In particular I remember one metal fest near Bari where half the people in the audience got really upset and the other half was really enjoying our show. The two halves eventually broke out in a fight and I think we just kept playing... When I think back about that today I find it funny and it makes me smile with a smirk ;-)
How do people react today when they hear the “old stuff”?
People seem to like it. I think a lot of people are surprised by how current the old stuff still sounds... It doesn't sound like something that is 10-15 years old... It could have been made this year and I think that blows people away! We've got one or two negative reviews but the large majority of the reviews have been positive. If you go to the band's website at www.memorylab.net I posted all the reviews, good and bad, and you can read what people think.
Do you also follow whats happen in the industrial and underground scene?
Yes I do. In 1994 I started a music magazine called D.L.K. which today still exists online. It is called Chain D.L.K. (www.chaindlk.com) and I run it together with my partner Maurizio Pustianaz from Italy (some might remember his musical moniker Gerstein). Basically this means that since the mid nineties I have always had a foot in the industrial scene and I still receive dozens of CDs a month. Although these days I have less time to listen to as much stuff as I'd like and as I used to, I am still very much in touch with the scene, especially thanks to chaindlk.com
You now live in the United States. Are you feeling homesick sometimes?
Not really. I do miss some things, like my friends or the good food, but I like NY's lifestyle much better than Italy's. Italy is too slow, corrupt, static and stagnant for people with ideas and ambitions. I can take Italy in little pills, a few weeks a year, that's it. I go visit my family once a year and that's good but I usually get the itch around the third week...
As you compare Europe and the US: Are there some differences in working as a musician?
Huge differences. Although this might be becoming true in the US as well, in Italy 'working musician' is and has always been an oxymoron! You basically can't make a living as a musician even if you try really hard. Here in the US you have a chance. It's tough but it's possible, in Italy it's practically impossible! I count the number of people that I know doing that without having another day job on one hand! I am not sure about the rest of Europe because I am not as familiar with other countries as I am with Italy.
Can we expect a new M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab album?
Everything is possible. If there is enough interest and if I can find the time I certainly wouldn't mind doing some stuff with Nick again, but the reality is that we are both very busy and I've been trying to work on new music for a while with the above mentioned guitarist Vincenzo Pastano, and releasing that is a priority right now. I do plan to make more music in the future so nothing is excluded! Never say never! ;-)
Thanks for the interview and all the best!
Thank you!
Homepage Band: the M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab
Homepage Label: D-Trash records
(Interview geführt von Nuuc)
