First off, just want to thank you for participating in this edition of Infidel Interviews. Could you start off by giving a little information about you to the audience? Whatever you feel comfortable with, but name, age, and where you live would be pretty standard?
The Fool’s Stone is a brand new project we’ve started two years ago, but that is finally getting released now. The name comes from a painting of Flemish painter Bruegel who painted the surgery in which people with mental diseases got their forehead open in order to find a small stone that was believed to make them fool. We all have longtime solo projects: Max and Mauro are Hard Ton, a queer acid house project, Gaia is a known performer in Italy, and Adriano Canzian is also a producer more focused on EBM, techno-industrial music.
How do you enjoy where you live? Is there a vibrant music community where you are? Would you say you find that your local scene influences your attitude and/or creativity?
Except from Max who lives in Venice, we all live in Bologna, a city that hosts the oldest university of Europe, which makes the city devoted to new cultural movements but still with a foot in the past. Having said so, we feel mostly like world’s citizens… it’s the global village, darling.
What do you see in the near, and far, future for your creative output?
We’ve just released an EP for David Carretta’s label, it’s called Futura. Another single is scheduled for around July and a full length album will follow. Pretty excited to get all this music out!
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What would you say are your biggest influences when it comes to art and music? Are there any bands that you would say struck you with the chord that inspired you to peruse your current path of musical aspirations?
This could end up with a very long list, actually. We’ve got quite a broad spectrum of influences: from body art to surrealism, from avant-guard pop to acid house, from fashion to pop culture.
What are your thoughts on genres in general? Do you find them creatively helpful as a template to work with? Or do you find them restricting? Or possibly somewhere in between? Now that the internet has caused so much crossover in music, would you even say genre labels are relevant any more?
We think that the most interesting stuff in art comes from the dark zones between genres. We are ourselves a crossover of genders, different influences, artistic dystopias, and DIY experimental attitude.
So much has been said, and it sometimes feel that every word combination has every been taken. As a lyricist myself I know the pain of how hard it can be to articulate something in a way that is both engaging to the audience and uniquely artist. How do you find inspiration for your lyrical poetry?
Usually we always start with an idea, a concept that we want to develop, a topic that we want to talk about. This might come from a painting seen in a exhibition or… from a nightmare.
When it comes to composing music, do you approach things with a clear vision in mind, or do you prefer to let songs feel themselves out? Do you have any particular techniques or tricks you use to keep yourself creative and consistent?
Our approach is quite spontaneous. Our tracks are part analogue and part digital, but we mostly start creating noise with the machines. It can be a TB303 or MS 20 or a Prophet V or whatever. We always try to keep a random approach in order to get something unexpected, we like to focus on what it might sound like an error, than trying to create a good melody from there. Let’s say that we take the scraps and turn them into noise.
Would you say that your choice to pursue music has changed your life since you started? Would you say that creativity has evolved you spiritually, emotionally, or logically?
Creativity is one of the biggest hard on’s ever. It’s exciting, it turns you on, but then it also make you feel empty and needy for more.
Would you consider yourself to be an overall political or spiritual individual? If so, if how what would you say are your strongest/most important views and/or causes?
We think that what we do have a political side, even thought we don’t mean to be political on purpose. Our bodies, our stage personas, the queerness, the lyrics… everything is political.
Have you had any particular moment(s) that you would like to share, that you would consider to be a crowning achievement in your musical career so far, or moments that you would say truly continue to inspire you to pursue your artistic path?
We are a new project, made with 4 people with a past. We think that debuting at Berghain to preview our first single ever a couple of years ago was the best start we could ever imagined.
Playing live shows, recording new tracks, attempting to go live the life that gives you the experiences that inspires it all... it can be difficult to balance the time. Do you have any particular methods that you use to keep yourself focused or balanced in your direction?
It is hard indeed since all our solo projects are still on. But we don’t have a rule at all, we just try to make everything happen.
For fans who have not seen you yet, when it comes to your live show, how would you describe yourself thematically and visually? Are you an energy and audience driven band in the live atmosphere? Or would you consider yourself to be more thematic or presentation oriented?
Out show is more close to a rock show than a proper techno set. There’s action, performance, sexiness. We like the crowd to feel our bodies and smell our sweat.
When it comes to performing, what are your favorite sort of venues to play in, and what are your favorite areas to tour? If you could tour with any other band in the world who would it be and why?
Queer mixed places are always a lot of fun. We’d love to play in museums and galleries too. If we could choose to open for someone, that would be Aphex Twin.
Do you have any other musical projects that you are involved with, or do you have any other musicians or artists that you collaborate with in some capacity? If you could collaborate with any musician or artist, dead or alive, who would it be? And what in particular draws you to want to collaborate with them?
We are four and it already feels like being in a big band for all of us! If we could make a wish, we’d say David Bowie and Bjork, for being always creative, innovative, and proud to be different.
Promotion can be one of the most difficult things in the music industry. Do you have an agent that helps book shows and manage your online presence, or have you decided to trek it out without and mantle the reigns of the social media apparatus yourself? Is it difficult engaging the online world consistently and originally, or do you find it easy?
Even though it may sound naive, we’d prefer to focus on the music. We and the label will push more energies in promoting the album, since it’s the main goal we want to achieve.
In an industry that is driven by sales, and consumerism, what are your thoughts on digital downloads (legal and illegal)? Do you feel that streaming and digital download stores aid the accessibility of music? How about music piracy? It obviously hurts sales in some regards, but it also boosts the access and distribution of the release which could lead to potential fans who do come to shows, buy physical copies of music, and get merchandise? Do you feel there would be enough turn around in that sort of system or are you firmly against file sharing?
People just got used to the idea that music and entertainment in general has to be free, regardless of the simple fact that artists need to earn their living, and regardless of the poor quality of the music they listen to. There’s a sort of non-sense in buying expensive headphones to listen to crappy MP3’s downloaded from a Russian illegal digital outlet, don’t you think?
When it comes to non-musical media, what do you find yourself most inspired by, and what about it draws you to it as a source of inspiration? Do you participate in the gaming world? Avid reader perhaps? Maybe cinema fan? Combination of some lol?
We often start producing a track having an imagine in mind. So art is the main field we look at when it comes about fining an inspiration. Exhibitions, art books, but also fashion books can be utterly inspiring.
Thank you so much for participating in this episode of Infidel Interview. Any parting words for your fans, or my audience?
Always be infidel if you wanna find the light.
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