HH: Can you explain how you originally came to the idea Ianva?
Mercy: IANVA was born from the meeting of some Genoese musicians whose background varied and was often extreme in its own way (from the so called dark sound of the ‘70s to black metal, from progressive to classical, from chanson to dark-ambient). The idea came to my mind three years ago, when Francesco La Rosa (who plays drums in Malombra the outfit I have been known for in the past years) and I started to create some experimental tracks working exclusively with samples taken from Italian mainstream songs and OST main themes of the ‘60s/’70s. We soon realized that the result was deep, something extremely powerful if organized and arranged into loops; it was lyrical, passionate, flamboyant and menacing at the same time. So we decided that a sound like that was worthy of being fully explored and played with real instruments. During the same period I was working with Argento who in his turn was recording some non-black metal tracks for a post-industrial compilation. The source of inspiration for that stuff was the Conquest of Fiume led by D’Annunzio, a subject we were both studying in depth (Argento for his university exams, and me just for personal pleasure). One night I was reading some strange and obscure memoirs of a lieutenant who had been in Fiume and witnessed incredible events during the Reggenza of D’Annunzio, with our vintage-martial tracks in the background: everything was so perfect! Suddenly the concept began to take shape and the following day we immediately started to work on it. The other guys joined the project shortly thereafter, but the band actually came to full fruition when Stefania agreed to join the party.
HH: Why did the band choose the name Ianva and what significance does it hold for the members?
ME: IANVA (pronounced “ianua”) is the ancient name of Genoa, our city (during the Roman age it was devoted to Janus, the two-faced God - one face toward the Past, the other one toward the Future, just like our concept of Art and Music; but Janus/IANVS was also the God who presided over the "Ianua", the Latin word for "Door" - meant in this context as a spiritual or existential passageway). Many centuries later during the 1st World War, IANVA was also the name of a well known detachment of Arditi (the so called "Divisione Ianua"), all coming from Genoa, of course.
HH: Who was involved in the initial formation of the band? Can you explain the musical background of each member of Ianva as well as their present role in the band?
ME: The project originated from a close circle of people... I, Mercy (voice, concept, music & lyrics) have been in the scene since the early 90’s with my projects Malombra, Il Segno Del Comando (both dark-prog combos following the path of great Italian outfits like Il Balletto Di Bronzo, Goblin and Biglietto Per L’Inferno - all cult bands for 70s dark-freaks) and Helden Rune (a mix between electro-coldwave and symphonic-goth deeply influenced by Kirlian Camera and Deine Lakaien, with Claudio Dondo of Runes Order in the line up). Francesco La Rosa (music, drums & percussions) is also a member of Malombra and Il Segno Del Comando in their recent line-ups. Argento and Azoth (music, guitars, and bass) are part of Italian top black metal sensation Spite Extreme Wing (and they were also part of cult band Antropofagus). Stefania D’Alterio (voice, lyrics) is a well known Apocalypse Culture writer in Italy and was also the front-woman of a weird band called Wagooba (a strange *censored*tail of old disco music, blaxploitation soundtracks, intoxicated garage-rock, and 60s lounge with explicit lyrics...); last but not least there is Fabio Gremo (guitars, music), a talented and classically trained musician who was already a member of prog band Daedalus. All these people formed the first inner and central group of IANVA, but we realized soon that our sound needed something more. We didn’t want to play as an average band, but rather as a small orchestra. It was Fabio who helped us to build and shape our ideal band, contacting Giuseppe Spanò (piano; Giuseppe was another talented member of Daedalus), then Riccardo Casazza (accordion) and Fabio Fabbri (our fabulous trumpet player!), the guys he had met at conservatoire who used to play in "high" and classical settings.
HH: Can you please name the current members of Ianva?
ME: Except for Riccardo, who recently moved to Canada where he is currently living and working and has been replaced by Davide La Rosa, the line-up is the same one listed above.
HH: Has it been challenging to incorporate musicians from such diverse backgrounds into a cohesive group?
ME: Of course, but keep in mind that in our city at the moment the scene is really poor and nothing interesting or new has been born in the last several years. We believe it is due to this reason it was possibly easier to convince some of the guys to join the band; keep in mind from the very beginning the whole project seemed intriguing and original when compared to the worn-out musical background of our city (made of nu-metal, ska, reggae and emo-core..)...
HH: What shared passion do you think unites the musicians of Ianva?
ME: We all share many things; there’s a lot of communication for sure. Most of IANVA’s members are too young to know some of the things Stefania and I have always loved, but when we suggested and proposed those ideas to them, they immediately grew fond of them. Many young people, especially if they’re particularly intelligent and talented, are almost bored to death by all the artificial and plastic music topping the charts and plaguing radio and TV; they’re more than willing to be seduced by other sounds, provided that someone shows them some hints. We often share suggestions and opinions on books and movies and we’re usually all distrustful, discouraged and disgusted by most the aesthetic aspects of our present times....
HH: All of the members of Ianva are Italian and the band has a specifically Italian identity. How did you come about deciding that the band and music would have a prominent ethnic Italian identity?
ME: From the very beginning we have stressed this thing. First of all we are an ITALIAN band (in the oldest meaning of this term – nothing to do with Italy of today, nor with politics or the crap topping Italian charts at the moment). Our Italy is “a place of the spirit”, a wonderful land crystallized on a period ranging from the first years of XX century to the Seventies where Fellini and Neorealismo, Pasolini and the so called Anni Di Piombo, the “poliziotteschi” and D’Annunzio meet. Our sources of inspiration are mostly Italian artists of the past. We gave birth to this project to listen to a sound nobody was doing anymore…
HH: On the Ianva website it discusses the bands desire to revitalize essential Italian values such as “passion,” “boldness” and “dignity” as well as preserving the Italian identity. Can you discuss this goal further and how it reflects the personal experience and feelings of the band?
ME: Actually, these are common values for all men, and not only an Italian peculiarity. But during the centuries every nation has been inclined to those values in different ways. Today the problem is that every nation is inclined to reject those values in different ways. We are facing a sort of cultural drift that heightens the concepts of private interest, of self-fulfillment; and all this obviously brought with it a growing level of cruelty and cowardice in the spirit of the Age. As a band we're trying to do our best to be loyal and honest the way all musicians should be: we don't promise anything more than we actually can do; but once done, we try to keep that promise at every cost. As human beings and individuals each member should speak for himself, but the whole thing would become much too long and boring. As for myself, Mercy, I'm an Italian who doesn't feel at home in his own country nowadays. I feel like a stranger, or worse, like an alien.
HH: Many bands within the post industrial music scene and particularly in neofolk and neoclassical music are turning to their ethnic and cultural roots for inspiration and as a source of creative identity. Can you discuss your feelings towards this underground trend?
ME: We think that today these subjects are the only ones truly standing in total opposition with the status-quo. The fact that they’re exclusive prerogative of a scene which is so small and closed it’s enough to explain many things. First: to all appearances in these years the show business has been allowing many unsuitable and politically incorrect subjects, but the only one which is totally rejected is the no-global attitude, especially from an ethno-cultural, national and sectionalist point of view. MTV itself, with its manifest policy, is not inclined to broadcast videos with strong and characteristic national elements or “too rooted in the territory of their artists”. To cut it short: a band shooting its video in Lisbona, Athens, Naples or Dubrovnik will be forced to do its best to look like a band from New York or Los Angeles. We wonder how people are so blind and don’t realize this frenzied cancellation and zeroing of all characteristics which have now overwhelmed all Media and communication fields. Unfortunately the scene we are talking about, though it’s not lacking of some talented artists we hold in great esteem, hasn’t been up to the task and most of all to the values it wanted to personify. If we may speak our mind, we can say that it lacks in maturity. Whereas on the one hand this scene keeps on flirting with a totalitarian imagery giving tons of arguments to people who denigrate it, and recalling landscapes nobody who is sane can still hope for; on the other hand it persists on ignoring the authentic national-popular appeal, preferring to play the safe card of isolationism. Posing as official spokesmen of indisputable values (again: the only ones that nowadays are really “against”) should need a more resolute, firm and clear behavior. Despite so many martial attitudes and poses, we noticed a frightened shyness… We hope that the number of creative people ready to prepare more effective, open and serious strategies will rise, to turn this scene into a real movement. Obviously the sound should also be renewed. It’s time to stop and put an end to limp things for limp people. Some subjects deserve better and important things…
HH: Do you think this return to ethnic and cultural identification may be related to Americanism and globalization?
ME: No doubt about that. The new point of the matter, a real sign of the times is that the easy way of communication typical of the Media Era is shaping and fixing out ideological landscapes that are still “in nuce”, but surely destined to manifest their selves in the next future in a form we can’t anticipate today. An example: thanks to the Web we got in contact with European and American friends, people who are intelligent, brilliant, honest, etc. Any theory regarding a total and visceral anti-americanism can’t stand compared to the clear thought that we, you, all the other people, those who live in the Southern part of the World, we are all under the same thumb. A dictatorship composed by entrepreneurs and great financial powers, that’s what our world is today. The fact that the USA (and their subjected-countries) are the “secular arm” of globalization doesn’t imply that the American people don’t suffer the consequences in their turns; but, talking about the fast social, anthropological, environmental and landscape changes the European people see parading before their own eyes, they have less terms of comparison. Here in our country people seem almost stupefied; the older ones can’t still believe it. It’s slowly raising the idea that Europe has become a sort of sheep whose only freedom is to choose the butcher who will slit its throat, but it’s very dangerous to express it clearly. In our very humble opinion this is totally wrong. The only chance is not in the rebirth of old-fashioned nationalisms which just brought havoc, but in the cross-party joining of all the “Awareness People” of the West, young and old, American or European, at last detoxified from all ideological remains of XX century, and in their ability to create a movement in opinion more and more vast and organized. You must start from the assumption that today the Democracy in the Western world is revocable at any moment, and that some relationship you make today could save your life tomorrow, and we’re not exaggerating….
HH: Some people identify and equate ethnic and cultural pride with nationalism and racism. Do you feel as if embracing your culture and ethnicity as musicians within the post industrial music scene makes you a target for the extreme left wing anti-fascist factions of the post industrial scene?
ME: In 1973 Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote: “Today there's a form of archeological fascism which is a good excuse to obtain a special ‘diploma’ of real anti-fascism. It’s an easy kind of anti-fascism whose target and main objective is an archaic fascism which doesn’t exist and won’t exist anymore”. More than 30 years later we’re still at the same point. There’s a majority made up of morons who need a “Pure and Absolute Evil Archetype” to hate and fight against, and a minority also made up of idiots who are more than happy to personify that archetype and all its morbid rituals. Both parts are completely anachronistic and don’t affect the real status-quo. With the difference being that, at least in our country, until these days this elementary anti-fascism has been useful enough to be automatically included into the category of those who are always right, of the “good and righteous ones”, of humanitarians, and it’s the pass cop-out to make a good career in the world of alternative/underground arts, culture and showbiz. According to those “enlightened” people IANVA are not technically considered fascist, yet deal with subjects and matters best not to be interested in. The main problem is that everything that deals with European History, Culture, Folklore and Customs and is not heavily mixed with other continents cultures, in these people’s minds is totally out and wrong. It is of no use explaining to them that there’s also a personal tastes sphere, an individual aesthetic sensibility that makes you like some things instead of other things with no hidden political agenda. This really gets on our nerves, because while these “enlightened” people are after some marginal questions (like some neofolk artists’ CDs, for example), their country is in the hands of a neo-con gang of miserable individuals who eliminated the rights of all workers, made the life of a whole generation totally precarious, and who destroyed the environment, the landscape and artistic legacy. These are disgusting individuals who, most of all, extirpated each glimmer of morality from civilized life and yet want to impose a new homo-phobic, racist and segregationist Puritanism. Considering that this is the situation at the moment, if these “enlightened” people think that the best way to be anti-fascist is making the post-industrial scene’s life a burden, well... We don’t foresee anything good on the horizon...
HH: Does your cultural and ethnic identification also entail a spiritual element or facet?
ME: Today people are fairly inclined to shudder with fear when they deal with subjects like “mystic of the race” or things like that, and they’re right. But one must say that European people have always been living together with the “eternalization” of their own Past performed by Arts, by Architecture, by landscapes, etc... Regarding these last things, there’s always been a hidden feeling of pride that often has reached near mystical values. A spirituality of “Works & Masterpieces,” so to speak. We think that the most recent generations are the first ones in the whole history of our continent to approach those heritages with indifference. One can judge the spiritual crisis of our civilization also by this aspect, not only by crisis of religious conversions or vocations. There’s also a secular spirituality that shows itself concern for the quality aspects of more abstract concepts like Freedom, Civilization, Law, Arts, etc... To be aware of one’s own responsibility regarding the preservation of an acceptable level of civilization is becoming the new frontier of Mysticism. Maybe because it’s been a long time since people have received any serious input from politics, culture and media.
HH: On the Ianva website is explains that the bands music has been inspired by Italian music of the last four decades. Can you discuss the bands roots in Italian music?
ME: The past projects we’ve been involved in were already fascinated by some typically Italian imagery. Stefania was specialized in gigs for gay audiences where she performed and sang cover versions of the most celebrated Italian Camp Divas (we must not forget that she can “boast” a special family tie with the Italo-French Diva Dalida). I, Mercy, was the front man of a couple of combos devoted to an “old school” Dark Sound (a kind of sound rooted in the ‘70s, with horrorific and gloomy “shades” – our sources of inspiration were Italian cult bands of the ‘70s into acid and mysterious soundtracks or very disturbing concept albums – see the aforementioned Goblin or Balletto Di Bronzo - a style that can be described as “demonic-vintage”: very cool stuff, if handled in the right way...). But in more recent times we felt the need to deal with different themes, something deserving more sober and literary manners. Because of that, we approached part of our national musical tradition with a respectful but also very free attitude. Just the opposite of what happens in the Italian mainstream of today, where artists don’t respect anything and are “free” as a battery chicken... We were born in a city with a great chansonniers and songwriters background whose style is very special and particular. A style made of melancholic mood, touching lyrics full of poetry, open criticism towards petty bourgeois, concern about the invisible and defeated men of all race and kind. It’s the celebrated “Genoese School” which gave birth to artists (or shall we say Poets) like Fabrizio De Andrè or Luigi Tenco. But we also deeply love the sound of the old orchestras of the ‘60s/’70s renowned for soundtracks and film scores; the kind of ensembles conducted by Maestros like Ennio Morricone or Bruno Nicolai, the De Angelis Brothers, Armando Trovajoli... The score and arrangements of these great composers influenced the international pop-culture more than one can believe, and also the avant-garde artists who have followed one another through the years. We thought that the time had come for an Italian band to show the peculiarity of this great heritage, and to leave all inferiority complexes behind and use some hints taken from Italian pop music of the ‘70s. Hits and songs that in those times were expressively made for the “people” (and NOT for “masses”), but that are much more worthy and beautiful than most of the pseudo-intellectual crap or “refined” tracks of today, listening without prejudices..
HH: The Ianva website discusses a range of music that has inspired Ianva from film score music to new wave music and Marc Almond. Can you discuss some of the bands musical interests and discuss some of the genres and artists which have influenced Ianva?
ME: We’d like to make clear that IANVA’s DNA is not only made up of “ Italy”. We also love and have been influenced by many subcultures and genres (American and British rock and German or French sound, to tell it all – see Brel, Gainsbourg, Ute Lemper, etc...). From the most decadent and sophisticated sides of Glam Era (with the superb Roxy Music on the top, and the late glam dandyism of John Foxx’s Ultravox as a consequence), to the “wiccan” acid-folk of Comus, Spyrogyra, Stone Angel, Cob, Fresh Maggots, etc, to the artists of the late Seventies’ pioneering new wave, to Kraut-rock (a genre that EVERYBODY in the “goth/dark scene” should rediscover to save themselves from the boredom of today and which could help inspire them to create some fresh stuff). Strange as it can be, we also like vintage black music and good old disco (the best one); we like some experimental stuff (see Magma’s Zeuhl Musique), some of us are still into black metal... You can find anything in our background... As for neofolk, that’s another matter; it gave us a few hints, and was the starting point to develop a style of our own. The neofolk milieu is a strange scene: it gave birth to very talented bands (Nature and Organisation, The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, Backworld, Orplid...), but people addressed their interest to other artists (most of the time the less talented ones...) who dragged the whole scene into a stagnant situation it will be very hard to get out of. We think that Death In June has been one of the most misunderstood projects in history of underground music but it doubtlessly had a great importance...We’d rather see DIJ concept & music as a “Querelle De Brest oriented” script set in a military background; and we also love the way Marc Almond has developed and used some of the very same themes/imagery throughout all these years... So fascinating, so misinterpreted…
HH: Ianva declines the title of neofolk music. The neofolk genre in Europe has been growing for the last decade quite successfully. What are Ianva’s feelings towards the neofolk “scene” and why does the band decline to be categorized as “neofolk”?
ME: Luckily, most of the neofolk “aficionados” understood quite well what we meant when we declined the title of “neofolk-related” band. We didn’t mean to be snobbish, but just honest: it could have been misleading to compare IANVA to pure neofolk outfits. Very few people even complained about our “Italianità”/“Italian Spirit” (whining about our sound and attitude, saying it was too “hot” for them, and not “neofolk” at all… On the contrary, many other people understood and appreciated what we were going to drive at… Think that a very few persons even complained about the fact that we usually play our tracks on stage with REAL instruments and that our whole band performs on the stage with all its 9 members!). Note that these few individuals could be the same people who claim they love Morricone or take old Italian figures (see for example the Arditi, who are the quintessence of passion and boldness) as their prime source of inspiration. There are tons of good northern bands for them… Well, we’re Italian, we were born in the South of Europe, not among northern fog; and frankly couldn’t understand the few ones who accused us “to be too passionate to be neofolk” and our tracks to be “too kitschy and orchestrated” to be ascribed to the neofolk genre (and then pretend to be Scott Walker fans…). We just play our music without caring for labels and genres.
HH: Ianva recently released the debut album Disobbedisco! When you began work on the album what did you see as being your primary audience?
ME: From the very beginning we conceived IANVA as an atypical project, which was able to move and act on all fronts, shifting from one position to another as a result of this. Nowadays there’s a minority audience, but very strong, linking up various souls of European and American audiences. People who are fed up with the leveling done by the current models of Media and showbiz; people who are more melancholy and thoughtful than the average person, but with a great surplus of emotional energy; people who feel nostalgia for worlds and times that have been left out too hastily and are waiting for the right soundtrack to their feelings. Today IANVA has an incredibly varied audience made up of people who in theory shouldn’t even coexist. Yet they found in our music something they shared, and thanks to our band, some of them even started to communicate in a friendly and cooperative way. This is the greatest result, something that goes beyond any number of copies sold.
HH: Disobbedisco! is slowly infiltrating the post industrial music audience with noticeable appreciation being shown by neofolk and neoclassical music fans. Was it your original intention that Disobbedisco! would reach a post industrial music audience?
ME: The ultimate purpose of our project is to materialize the sound and music we’d like to hear and that nobody has been playing or creating for a very long time. This had a side effect: it collected all the bored, disappointed and discontented people coming from the other scenes. There are many people who are fed up to the back of their throats with clichés. That’s it. The good feedback we’re getting actually gives some information about a “niche-trend” that is also valid for many more niches. There’s a large audience longing for strong and passionate concepts with an emotional musical background, and the scenes these people come from are not able to satisfy them anymore. Maybe some other bands will follow our approach in a short time, who knows?
HH: Disobbedisco! is Ianva’s debut album. The album tells the tale of a WWI Italian Arditi soldier who finds himself participating in a revolution at the end of the war. The tale is rife with espionage, seduction, love and tragedy. Can you please briefly recite the tale told on Disobbedisco! for readers who have not been introduced to the album?
ME: Well, the main theme of "Disobbedisco!" is a tragic love affair between a Major of the Arditi and a seducing chanteuse/spy; it’s set in Fiume during the months of the Free Republic proclaimed by D’Annunzio after the occupation of the city. The Poet and War Hero had led a mutiny of "elite troops" (the celebrated Arditi) who rose up against the territorial resolutions taken by the delegates of the victorious nations (in particular those of the President of the USA Wilson... It seems that the USA has always had this bad habit...) who underestimated the Italian contribution, and assigned to the Croatian jurisdiction lands whose population was primarily Italian. So D’Annunzio rose up against the Italian Government which was forced to ratify the treaty, of course... "Disobbedisco!" ("I Disobey!") is the only word written in the telegram sent by the Poet to the King of Italy who had ordered him to give up the idea of taking the contested city. And it’s just in Fiume that the two protagonists’ tragic fate springs and consumes. Renzi is a major in service for the “Impresa”, destroyed by war and by the following peace. Elettra is a chanteuse and a seductive spy under command of "certain dark authorities" sent to the city to discover and in this case, undermine potential developments of the Exploit unwelcome by her mysterious referents. It’s the story of an impossible love in the "City Of Life" as it was called.....
HH: How did Ianva come about settling upon the historic events of D’Annunzio’s Conquest Of Fiume as the premise for the narrative of ‘Disobbedisco!’? At the heart of the narrative is the love story between the Arditi soldier Major Renzi and an espionage spy named Elettra. Can you explain what inspired Ianva to include a tragic love story in the ‘Disobbedisco!’ narrative?
ME: As I already wrote, it all originated from a series odd, strange and almost magical coincidences: Argento’s university exams, and most of all a fascinating book of memoirs called “Mai Così Colmo Di Vita” (“So Overflowed With Life Like Never Before”) I found by chance on a bookshelf during an Antiques & Bric-a-brac fair here in Genoa. It was written by a certain Giovanni Laurago, who published the work at his own expense in 1965 or so; Laurago spent all 16 months of D’Annunzio’s Reggenza in Fiume as a Lieutenent and orderly for an officer in charge of Security and Counter-espionage called Cesare Renzi (I’m pretty sure this was an alias...) who is the real leading hero of the story. In the “City of Life” the young Lieutenent Laurago witnessed astonishing events and a heartbreaking love story: the tragic affair between his Major Renzi and a “sulfurous” Cafe-Chantant diva called Elettra Stavros (another alias...). As you can imagine, we were all immediately ravished and captured by this amazing and mysterious little book; it seemed that suddenly the protagonists of this story began speaking to us and we almost felt compelled to tell their story to everybody willing to listen and let themselves be dragged into that fabulous atmosphere... We’ve just been their voices. From time to time we still feel their presence, maybe at last now they rest in peace...
HH: How has this revolutionary period of Italian history inspired Ianva?
ME: As I said, I believe at the moment there are more and more people who are disgusted by the present times, and they’re right: it’s a blank and wretched age, incapable of dreaming on its own. Though every single personal status-quo is miserable, everyone spends his life trying to save it. We all fear losing something, even those who have nothing. A besieged existence here in the Western world: everyone at home. Personally speaking, I’m surprised to see how few we are who turn our attention towards more important subjects instead! When IANVA started to go into the memoir writings about the Conquest of Fiume, it was as if the earth split open and a rush of energy that didn’t belong to our times suddenly overwhelmed all of us. There are many books which analyze that period from a special and more probing point of view, highlighting its side of pure artistic-insurrectional performance. But the idea that the Impresa, child of the nietzschean Dyonisus to a great degree, should be celebrated in the Spirit of the Music has never left us until the work has been finished.
HH: D’Annunzio’s Conquest Of Fiume lasted for sixteen months and entailed the formation of a micro culture that thrived on freedom and bohemianism. Was Ianva inspired by the artistic culture that emerged during this romantic and revolutionary period?
ME: Of course. The artistic avant-garde, the social ferment, the impressive participation of the masses to the “acceleration” in progress, the construction of new poetic and literary languages, the rousing success of Arts which were completely new and fresh until then (cinema, experimental Futurist theater, the coming of Jazz...)... It was surely a dizzy historical period. Yet among all of this a traditional Italy almost partially intact, still survived with all its ancient cycles and its crystallized landscapes. Maybe it was a moment of unrepeatable equilibrium. Artists like De Chirico will fix this deepest but ephemeral grandeur on the canvas once and for all, giving birth to the Metaphysical School... Ordinary people obviously expected more concrete innovations; expectations which later on the Fascism itself, though in its reactionary essence, couldn’t get out of making itself responsible. But at that point the revolutionary energy of the 1918/1920 was only a faded dream, a wild thoroughbred somebody had put a bit and halter on...
HH: Does this historical event hold personal significance for the members of Ianva?
ME: Certainly, but in a different way for each member. Argento and I are the true History enthusiasts. Stefania has a predilection for the Custom and the biographies of incredible personalities who acted within the orbit of that world (see the celebrated Marchesa Casati, the beautiful and talented Lina Cavalieri, Anna Fougez...), coherently with her job. The other guys, being pure musicians, are intrigued by the opportunity of creating unusual musical “scenarios”. Making a sound which is in harmony with subjects so distant from our times; it is a wonderful challenge for musicians who compose and play purely for their own pleasure.
HH: The Italian Arditi has seen a resurgence of interest amidst neofolk and martial industrial artists. Many cite the Arditi as being the first “special forces” soldiers of the modern combat era. Was Ianva particularly inspired to tell the untold tale of an Arditi soldier?
ME: In many people’s opinion, the Ardito is an incredibly modern character. It’s a Faustian figure that’s risen from that individualistic compulsion which probably had already appeared years before the modern age. Possibly the lead hero of a counter-decadent movement. Anyway, the “Arditismo” is a phenomenon that ideally doesn’t set Decadentism aside, but just puts it away waiting for better times, when it can be drawn out and used for the sake of hedonism. The decadent imagery actually pervades a lot of circulating popular literature which is a good fellow traveler of the Ardito-model. But it lacks completely the “fin-de-siècle spleen”, the paralysis of doubt, the noble and sickly languor. In those days the lascivious and sombre subjects of extreme Decadentism joined the boastful brilliance and the hyperkinetic attitude of Futurist synthesis giving birth to an aesthetic crossbreed which put the whole world before the possibility of Action as a work of Art. The Faustism peculiar to the Ardito is also a considerable short-circuit compared to Romanticism, its original source. Once you set the esoteric inclination aside, a sort of collective Faustism comes out, which feeds on forces of a primordial nature though it seems to be cast in the future. From this point of view the Ardito is a perfect model of modernity in the strict sense of the word: he has the fast pace of the Hoplite in the dizzy acceleration of the first years of XX century, but he can’t exist in the contemporaneous world which has just left the modernity behind. Today the paroxysm of speed imposed by techno-science precedes every possibility, but a compulsory pursuit with one’s own heart in one’s mouth...
HH: Do you see it as a necessity that Ianva creates an emotionally engaging listening experience?
ME: It’s essential. Our work is based on pathos. Many people (in most cases persons very different from one another by age, tastes, cultural standard, class, languages, political views...), wrote us saying they almost broke down into tears listening to “Disobbedisco!”, and that it was hard to come to the last track of the album because they were so deeply moved. One could say that they caught a message coming from another time, living, hoping and rejoicing with our characters, and that they also shared their disillusion, the renouncing, and the impending chill of death.... It’s been a moving experience for all of us too; a pleasure and a satisfaction on a human level before an artistic level. Please don’t laugh if I tell you that we’d NEVER want to disappoint all those people. The mutual exchange between our listeners and us has been something extremely important to us.
HH: Disobbedisco! and the bands official website. Both the CD’s packaging and the website capture a nostalgic Italian aesthetic. Can you discuss the bands attraction to this aesthetic? How important do you see the artwork being in communicating the bands vision?
ME: Many bands give much more importance to the look, and to a special stage-attitude. From this point of view we are very simple, because after all artists are one thing and the work is another thing in its own. Only a few can turn their own lives into a pure work of Art, so we prefer to follow the perfect integration between sound and image, with particular reference to the product that reaches the audience, the CD itself. We love the figurative arts and the design of that period very much (in particular the Italian and Russian Avant-gardism, but also German Expressionism and the Cubism of Prague); we were totally fascinated by certain forms of popular, devotional and magical Art so typical of old Italys rural set-ups. There’s a mysterious nature, an unconscious link to an ancient collective soul which is sensual and frightening at the same time. But we also like the design of mid ‘60s / mid ‘70s, just to stress our modernist counterpart, the same one you can find in our sound. All of this is extremely important and is an integral part of our project.
HH: How involved is the band in the CD artwork and packaging and the design of the website?
ME: Massimo (our factotum and “manager”) is the man behind that beautiful artwork and our website’s design. He just followed our hints, and in the end collected all the ideas and created that little piece of art you see. We’re extremely proud of ‘Disobbedisco!’s packaging and artwork, though it was rather expensive. But the music, lyrics, concept and all the rest were worthy every euro we spent.
HH: To fully indulge in the music of Ianva a person has to conduct historical research in order to fully understand the concept of the album. Do you feel as if those listening to your music are motivated to learn more about the history involved in the narrative?
ME: We frequently get confirmations and feedback about this. Being emotionally involved and fascinated by the Conquest of Fiume, many people asked for hints on books and movies to go into the subject. This was a little bit frustrating in case of a foreign audience. Some American guys were extremely surprised and disappointed to find out that the English books on the subject were poor and insufficient and that the only available stuff was written in Italian language. So we tried to translate some extracts from books as far as we could, and we do it willingly most of the time. The philological preciseness we used in our work was noticed by some patriotic institutions, associations and renowned History scholars who sent messages to congratulate us, having seen that the subject was approached with full recognition of the facts...
HH: Can you explain some of the difficulties and pitfalls you have experienced during the course of recording your first album?
ME: To record a CD that in the end should have the sound of a small orchestra of some old Italian Saturday night TV show of the ‘60s/’70s having only some PC programs at our disposal is a risky business in itself. To capture the sound of authentic instruments with average microphones, and make digital sounds like those of the strings sound warm and natural… At one time to cut a record was a huge and painstaking task and many considerable professional and economical resources were employed. Today this is not possible. Even huge MTV type productions are inclined to invest heavy sums of money only on fashion, advertising and TV promotion, but the whole sound just sucks. All this mainstream hip-hop American music, the industry has infected the whole planet with this and has not only killed all people’s taste, but also cancelled a series of professional competences and figures (real musicians, arrangers, etc…) who in the past used to link the concept of Beauty to Pop music. Note that in the technical “construction” of our record we also clashed with the present age, with all the obstacles the job brought with it….
HH: How much of Ianva’s music is created with samples and electronic devices and how much of the music is recorded from acoustic instruments?
ME: The only samples used in “Disobbedisco!” (ie: the real voices of Gen. Caviglia, Gen. Diaz and Cpt. Vecchi) are original recordings taken from Italian Historical Archives you can easily find on the Net. We also used a “sound bank” to reproduce the strings and a Mellotron emulator to “strengthen” some background chorus. The rest is entirely acoustic instruments. As for the voices, we used an effect very similar to old analogical tape-delays...
HH: Can you discuss how a typical Ianva song is composed or created? What is the creative process like and who is involved?
ME: The process of composing was done mainly working in couples (most of the times I was always one of the two people involved). Some tracks were written and composed by Argento and me, other songs by Fabio Gremo and me, and some tracks by Francesco and me. On other tracks I helped with some marginal contribution (see “Colpo Di Maglio”; “Traditi” which was almost entirely composed and arranged by Francesco; “Amor Sola Lex” whose author is Fabio Gremo; or “Sangue Morlacco” composed by Argento). “Un Sogno D’Elettra” (an out-take included only in our opener mini-CD) was an old song written and composed by Stefania, but we chose to write some new lyrics together, good for the story of Renzi and Elettra. Same thing happened with “Tango Della Menade”, whose lyrics were written by Stefania and me. Obviously all IANVA members took part in the arrangement of the whole album, while the sound-engineering and mastering process has been Francesco’s thing (with a little help from Stefania and me). In the last months we finally found a good rehearsal room so we usually spend at least one night a week playing our tracks, so I’m sure that our next songs will be more than ever the fruit of a united team.
HH: How do you perceive Ianva as being received by the post industrial music audience right now?
ME: It seems that we’ve been well received. IANVA was welcomed like a fresh thing most of the people were in great need of, at least from the feedback and the reviews we got. Maybe some still consider us as “infiltrators”, since our band is very different from most of the scene’s outfits and artists. But the evolution lies just in making concrete today synergies that yesterday could have almost been inconceivable...
HH: What are the bands goals and aspirations?
ME: First of all today every band which is into self-production hopes to gain enough money for a next release. From this point of view our first goal was achieved (we don’t know how things go in your country, but in Italy this is good enough...). Second, we’d like to see other bands follow our path. We don’t want just to create a “genre”; but rather an alternative means to avant-garde.
HH: How has the music of Ianva been received in the bands homeland of Italy?
ME: Italy is a strange country. The Italian scene is very depressed; beside mainstream, hip-hop, indie, dance and MTV oriented rubbish theres almost nothing left. There’s also a prevailing xenomania: the most incompetent foreign bands are often worshipped and idolized, while some excellent Italian bands are mistreated and snobbed. A bitter paradox: you can see artists of unbelievable ineptitude who are considered as genius. As for Italian goth/neofolk/grey scene, well, it’s constantly torn apart by petty skirmishes, feuds and net-fights; and it’s a pity because if people would start to cooperate everybody could take advantage of that... We even live in a city that is far from all neofolk/goth trendy circles, in blissed seclution and never considered ourselves as part of “the scene”, to tell the truth, though there are some people we hold in esteem and are in good terms with (Marco Deplano, Tairy of AIT!, Sten of Spiritual Front...)... Anyway IANVA is getting very good feedback; and unlike other bands, we can count on a real cross-party audience (a vast audience of old people, gay people, black metallers, people who are not in “the scene”, etc...). We got the best feedback (something to be REALLY proud of, believe us...) from a couple of celebrated songwriters and mainstream artists who personally rang us up to congratulate, and many good reviews on the most important Italian magazines and zines... Nevertheless we also have a feeling that a few fellows in the scene still prefer to pass our name over in silence... No problem: we can go on without them the way they go on without us...
HH: Has Ianva played live? If so how does your music translate in a live concert?
ME: We’ve just had our baptism of fire on April the 15th with a headlining set in the Triumvirat Festival of Yverdon ( Switzerland). The audience’s feedback was very good! For the occasion all 9 members of IANVA were present on stage and actually played the whole debut album, giving an exact version of each track, though with a more passionate “live attitude”. At the moment we’re examining a couple of interesting proposals, but the problem is that the scene we’re a part of is rather small and there’s not much money, so it’s often really hard to set up a good situation where everything is suitable for a large band (club, stage, monitors, mixer, amps). With low returns and profits it’s not easy to move and put in action so many people, do a decent sound check, and find a sound-engineer who can get a clear sound. I can only hope that this scene will grow enough to allow at least the things I listed. We must not forget that a larger audience (a thing that many people could see as “treason”) also means more money, more equipment, more technicians, more concreteness... We’re open to any situation, as long as there’s no danger of giving a poor performance because of technical problems which are not due to the band itself.
HH: Is there any thing you would like to share with Heathen Harvest readers in parting?
ME: We just want to thank you for the huge space given to IANVA and of course all your readers for their patience in reading this long interview (and our friend Akhil who helped us with a good translation of our answers). We’ll try to do our best not to disappoint anyone..
