Luminal
I had heard of long before I got to see or meet them: it was only in October
2011 that I finally got to see them live at the opening night of Heroes at Le
Mura in San Lorenzo. Even then, I don’t think we spoke until a future event. So
it goes. It happens.
The
band was formed in 2005 and was originally a five-piece group, but has been a
three-piece since 2011 losing its original drummer and bassist. In the original
line-up they toured a great deal around Italy clocking up an impressive number
of gigs each year. “Performing live is what makes a band!” says Carlo (vocals
and guitar) “Albums have lost their meaning – low quality mp3s listened to on
cheap headphones or computer speakers. Hardly anybody either wants or has time
to listen to an album so the quality of recording has also dropped. It’s
depressing and quite different from what we dreamed about when we first started
playing. Live performance is the last frontier to remain intact. It’s always
been the most pure and real way to convey your ideas – face to face with 1000s
of watts – what else could be better?” I couldn’t agree more.
Carlo
tells me that their live gigs in Rome tend to be the most attended, being their
home territory – and often some mad people in the crowd will be singing along.
Outside of Rome they encounter many different reactions from the public: “Until
you know the scene outside of your own city, anything can happen – for better
or worse. One of the most exciting things of going on tour is you never know
how it’s going to go or even if you’ll return home! It’s an absolute blast!
Over the years we’ve played to a minimum of five people – including the club
owner, and a maximum of two thousand at a spectacular festival. A crazy bunch
of twenty people in a small country pub can be worth three-hundred distracted
individuals in a city club. We’ve slept in pubs, country houses, inviting
B&Bs with caring owners, eaten cold pizza for lunch and dinner – we’re
still waiting for someone to organise a banquet of oysters and caviar for our
arrival at a club!”
I
imagine that playing in Germany last year was very different for an Italian
band but so far, Carlo explains, the band haven’t really performed that much outside
of Italy to make the comparison. However, he believes that there is more
interest in live music in other countries with more polite and attentive
audiences. “The average reaction was much stronger in Germany than in Italy” he
says “even though we sing in Italian, which is odd considering that nobody has
a clue what we’re singing.” The experience was one of discovery, an
extraordinary adventure he tells me and recommends that all bands should do it
“It’s not as difficult as it seems” he explains “and there are plenty of
surprises in store, in a positive sense.“
The
band has produced two albums: “Canzoni di Tattica e disciplina” [Songs of
Tactics and Discipline] (2008 Action Directe, produced by Cristiano Santini)
and “Io non Credo” [I don’t Believe] (May 2011, Action Directe, Cristiano
Santini). The second album is focused
around the theme of Italian unity – after six years in Italy, I have come to
realise that, at least in my opinion, Italy does not exist, nor Italians, Carlo
agrees: “Travelling extensively in Italy to promote our first album, we saw
this country from one extreme of the peninsula to the other. There is a
complete lack of national unity, unknown in the rest of Europe and in our
opinion it is this that underlies the profound problems of this country. If
these are not tackled from a common base, there’s no way to communicate and if
you don’t communicate well without common goals, it’s difficult to achieve
success. The failure of successive generations has resulted in an insecure
nation ready to jump on the bandwagon of a winner and destroy, without pity,
any attempt at rebellion. We’re cynics because we are alone. We don’t believe
in disunity, but it is the reality of our country. Nobody has been able to ‘make’
Italians – as D’Azeglio said, but they would exist if we had a little more
courage.”
Earlier
I mentioned Heroes, a common subject of discussion for Happy Mondays: Luminal
helped to create this project. “Heroes has become like our second home,” says
Carlo, “and we want it to be like that for anyone who likes rock in Rome. We
think it’s important because making music is a struggle even for those of
limitless talent. Rock risks going the same way as jazz, becoming something for
the privileged few, or infinite desperate: we are trying to make it viable and
accessible to everyone.” Inevitably, the concept of Heroes had divided opinions
– “Some people don’t believe in or don’t see the advantage of collaboration
with other musicians, and others simply can’t wait to be part of it.” The
evenings themselves have, however, been a success and more and more people come
to the concerts – “each one is better than the last.”
Sanremo
is a music festival in Italy which was, apparently, the inspiration for the
European Song Contest. Having said that, I need say no more about my opinion,
however I ask Carlo about it: “It’s the incarnation of our country” he says “We
are a country of old, ignorant people with bad taste and Sanremo is training
the next generation in the same way. The future is black indeed – perhaps the
internet can save us, in the sense that it’s easier to discover that elsewhere
life is different and that there are other things happening, even in your own
country away from RAI.” [RAI is one of the Italian TV companies]. “I watch it up to the point that I manage not
to vomit” continues Carlo “because it’s an experience of horror – and I expect
millions do in the same spirit, even if unconsciously. It’s one big massacring joke
in which the shortcomings of an entire people are exorcised. The songs are
unimportant, it’s more important to see if the presenters make a mistake with a
name or fall down the stairs. There is the constant anticipation to see if the
illusion of perfection that the festival tries to create will collapse.”
In spite of all this Carlo doesn’t believe that Sanremo itself ruins the music scene – “it’s a minimal disaster in comparison to the tragedy of a nation of zombies. We who have a better culture – including good concerts, albums, and books – unite to feel less alone, but we forget about the rest of the country – our parents, uncles and aunts – watching television, who in the meantime are drowning in an abyss of ignorance.” We also talk about X-Factor – the mind boggling disaster of a programme – which we both agree is even worse: “It creates monsters in a short time thanks to the promotion guaranteed by the TV, but when these kids are no longer a novelty or cannot stand on their own two feet they are abandoned. Sanremo is a romantic popular nationalistic ritual passed down over time but which has lost its original meaning and has become a ridiculous parade. X-Factor, on the other hand, is the personification of evil with respect to talented musicians in Italy. It means that nobody will invest in you and it condemns us all, in theory, to be indie – if it wasn’t for the fact that those with more money than you are “more indie” than you because they can afford press agents. In this way an unbridgeable divide is being created between these worlds: talent, indie rock corresponding to the old world of the big names – only that you need money in your pocket, and the melting pot of so many amazing artists – poor and/or incapable of self promotion. And then, thanks to the internet, there are the mediocre amateurs who are born and die each day clogging up everything and making it almost impossible to emerge. The situation, if you have not already understood, is very cheerful!”
Luminal are: Alessandra Perna (vocal and guitar on albums, vocals and bass live), Carlo Martinelli (vocals and guitar), and Alessandro Commisso (drums).
Contacts details and links for the Luminal:
Facebook www.facebook.com/weareluminal
Myspace www.myspace.com/quellocheresta
Soundcloud
www.soundcloud.com/luminal_band
Website www.luminalband.it
Contact address
bookingluminal@gmail.com
Luminal recommend these videos:
Alessandra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4byn2CIwec0
Perfect!
Carlo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJyvTNa960
If you have never seen it, or even if you've already seen it: Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. And in return, pass me a link to The Who's tommy, I cannot find it online!
If you have never seen it, or even if you've already seen it: Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. And in return, pass me a link to The Who's tommy, I cannot find it online!
Endless reasons!
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