SULLA LINEA DE LA VITA

Marcovaldo

Why people make music?

Is it for themselves, is it for others, is it against politics, is it to show anger or sadness, is it to travel, is it to meet people, is it to avoid the past, or live one present moment?

I was touring in Italia last 2 weeks with my solo project MILES OLIVER, and I discovered so many bands and people that Guillaume from Le dictionnaire de l’emo asked me to write some lines about it.

For the last 10 years, I’ve been listening and loving bands like RAEIN, LA QUIETE, THE DEATH OF ANNA KARINA, an answering soul to french screamo’s dead body.

New bands like OJNE, NOYE came to my ears, as well as post hardcore bands from Sicily who looked for shows in Paris, or really good italian death metal, noise or crust bands seen live.

One day, I listened to BE FOREST, the shoegaze trio from Pesaro, a small city from the Adriatic sea’s coast. The river-flowing guitar riffs, high haunting voices and woody drums amazed me in this band. A good friend organized a show for them, and i spent a unforgettable lovely time with them last year in their own town.

The city can look boring with beaches and a golden pomodoro (tomato) but is full of musicians or DIY lovers, like ANGELO SAVA who released a amazing tape on COWARD RECORDS. He’s a solo noise shoegaze songwriting in Italian.

Angelo Sava

Angelo Sava makes you think about MY BLOODY VALENTINE with a wall of guitars reverbing his lonely melancholy in love with cats.

COWARD RECORDS is a A to Z label from Pesaro. They engrave their own Flexi vinyls, copy and cut their tapes, create their own covers/layouts/packaging, have a distro where you can buy Maximum R'n'Roll !! They once organized a matinee show on a Sunday morning with bands like SOVIET SOVIET and you could have a cup of caffè listening to bands live! One of their friend, SCRAPE Screenprinting is also doing beautiful screenprinting at home as well as good pastas :-)

COWARD RECORDS will soon release their tenth project: a new HAVAH ep. The object is just a bliss for ears and eyes: a masterpiece of collage and montage.

Havah's flexi disc

HAVAH plays kinda cold wave from Forli: A dark voice in a dancing rhythm and a flowing bass. Check them!! A new album is coming in September

Coward Records also released a magnificient debut from LUCY ANN COMB, recorded at the label's HQ. I had the honor to play a houseshow with him in Pesaro. The 19 year old singer and painter delivers an organic folk with a velvet voice and astonishingly maturity. 

The label is run by two music lovers: Luca and Nicola. Luca plays in LANTERN, an emoviolence band from Rimini, who knows how to breathe between violence and silence.

Nicola is the guitarist of BE FOREST and BROTHERS IN LAW. BROTHERS IN LAW is an indie rock trio from Pesaro, with a touch of The Velvet Underground, Soviet Soviet and a bit of surf rock touch. 

I had the chance to play at DIY Fest in Rimini's self organized Grotta Rossa with bands like ZEUS, HAVAH, MARCOVALDO, LABRADORS, CRTVR. Bands that French people barely know.

A friend gave me MARCOVALDO's last CD and told me: "You have to listen to them". Ok, right, the cover is super cool, I'm tired of listening to the same cd's or phone's library when you drive 4 hours a day on tour.

And then... Do you know many bands that gives you a slap in a face within 10 seconds? That's how I reacted when I first listened to their last E.P. and for the next 20 times I listened to it and I shared it with my friends. A mix of emo/screamo with amazing guitar riffs, melancholic driving bass and astonishing drums. Wow!!!

Bologna was a city I wished to come back. Last year, Luca from Laboratorio L'isola, a DIY place away from the center, invited me to play at their spring opening outdoor show with many bands and a very cool electro afterparty. Luca is the singer from post hardcore band STORM {O}: loud bass, screaming voice, and tricky guitars for old school Cave In/early Converge/Drowningman lovers...

Between Rimini and Bologna is Forli, city of RAEIN, LA QUIETE, and also SERIMAL who are doing DIY screenprinting with true love. No need to present RAEIN but here is one of their albums.

In Milano, I enjoyed playing a show in the soon closing shop: SLAY. A second hand and home made jewelry shop where Camilla, the lovely owner, made everything disappear to let us play.

Miles Oliver at Slay

My old friend, Francesco, was there to host us. He's the new bass player of LEUTE's new line up. What is LEUTE? I would say post emo. Why? Because, they tend to play emo stuff with charming guitars and italian multiple voices. They will be soon on tour in France and are currently looking for missing dates.

During a Milano dinner with pizza/risotto, I met Pamela from emo punk's trio THE SMUDJAS. I always loved SLEATER KINNEY, but think about them mixed with SPORT and PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES... And you got THE SMUDJAS...

Crema is a small town 1h from Milan where Frank is organizing shows with passion. On a Sunday afternoon, I discovered 2 pop punk solo projects from Crema and Milan: NOMAD BY FATE and I LIKE ALLIE. If you like CHUCK RAGAN and TEXAS IS THE REASON.

Then Torino was next. Alessio from TUTTI IL COLORI DEL BUIO arranged a show in Da Emilia, a nice café concert in the center. TUTTI IL COLORI DEL BUIO plays punk hardcore with singing guitars. Alessio also runs a comic book shop, BELLEVILLE COMICS, in Torino, with his fiancee LUCIA BIAGI. She draws and writes colourful and powerful comics under her name.

That night I will play with Endi, whose solo band is called STARVING PETS. No song available on the web. Ok. The gig's poster is beautiful: good sign! Endi tells me he played in many bands before... Let's see tonight! After a few drinks on the Po River, he started his show after a 5mn soundcheck. How can you sound like THE NOTWIST/IRON AND WINE with just one guitar and one voice? That's what he did for 30 mn...

Still waiting for links to listen to STARVING PETS but here is his former band: FARMER SEA.

It was already time to leave Italy, but a day off allowed us to last our italian trip in Aosta Valley. We randomly stopped in the mountains (1500mn alt), and knocked at a door, to finally play a show for a couple who were preparing their hostel for summer. I saw the P.A. and asked them for a night sleep in exchange of a show just for them. We embraced fresh air, joy, food and wine with them and woke up staring at the Alpes beauty with a good caffè.

Les Alpes

I play music for these moments.




Miles Oliver