Interview with Italian death metal band ZORA.
- answered Tat0 and GLK .
translated by Markéta, thank you!
Ave ZORA! You have
released your new album „Scream your hate“ on October. How do you feel about
it, now after a while? And what about
the fans? How about the critics?
Tat0 - Ave to you Jakub! And thanks for the space on Deadly Storm! Of course, our new Scream Your Hate is out, nine songs of 35 minutes of contempt and brutal hate death metal. We are very satisfied with the final result of this new work. Maybe it is soon for any criticisms considering that the album has been out for only one month but it seems that some guys and zines has welcomed the new album with pleasure, and we hope not to disappoint those who must listen to it.
The new album is your
second long-played album. Which is not that many considering you have been
playing since 2003. Why is that? Was there a lack of time or money?
Tat0 - It’s true, we
didn´t released any new music for a while. From 2003 till today, we have
published one demo, one mcd, one split, two full albums and two singles. There
are some difficulties because of some line-up changes during the years. But
fundamentally, the real motive was that we prefer to work when we really feel
to work, we have to have the right stimulus and proper moment. And we don´t
like when somebody races us. We can only work with serenity.
The lyrics in death
metal are sometimes overlooked. You sing about darkness, death. What are the
lyrics on the new album about? Who is the author of those lyrics? Do you want
to share some message with your lyrics?
Tat0 - Well, in Zora
lyrics are fundamental, they bring the message that we want to launch in every
work. For us the music is communication, therefore it must bring a concrete
message with itself, not senseless messages with impromptu texts and used by
contour to the music. Our texts are written by me, but could have been written
by any of us considering that the treated topics mirror a common spirit,
founded upon internal reflections regarding as it turns the world, a charge and
an outburst at the same time, without taking a political stand. The only colour
is the colour of shit that submerges the world.
How ZORA compose and
make new material? How the whole process works when you compose new material?
Who is the author of your music?
Tat0 - The songs are born
from a base line worked and completed together with the band. It doesn't matter
who of us forms the skeleton of the song, it must be played as a Zora song.
That's the important thing - instinctive, without planned cliché and in total
liberty of expression.
GLK - Fundamentally it
is Tat0 who builds the skeleton of the songs. Then I meet with him and we do
riffs of the song. Then we elaborate all of it with and Giampiero do changes of
the pattern for drums. It’s a slow construction work, but it brings results. This
working method is obviously a child of the logistic situation of the band.
Who is the author of
your new album´s “Scream your hate” author? I really like the work. How did you
choose the motive for the cover?
Tat0 - We are really grateful
that you appreciate this work. This artwork is by Alessio D’amico BlackOwl Art,
an artist who has been doing design and graphic representations for a long time.
He had already made some artwork for us, Slave
Of Mind (single 2001) and for Brutality
Is The Only Way he did the T-shirts.
It’s a person who immediately understands the intentions. We just have to tell
him what we want to express and he puts it into graphics. We are indeed satisfied
with him, because the artwork represents all of what the single songs contain.
The whole sound of
your new album is great. It is dark, cold and sharp at the same time. What
album did you choose for work? Did you talk about the final sound and
mastering?
Tat0 - The person who is
responsible for the sound is Glk. He is not only our guitarist but he takes
care of every aspect of mixing and mastering in his SoundFarm. Thanks to this we are always proud of each of
our albums…we have recorded everything at Valkar Studio in Sardinia except from
the drums (our drummer Giampiero Serra lives there). Every albums sincerely
refers our taste and liking.
GLK - Thank you for appreciating
the sound. I have worked hard to get a wall without compromises, trying to also
respect demands from the singer because he doesn't like voices which are too
out and too mixed!
The new album was
released by your own. Why exactly? Did you talk with any labels? Correct me if
I am wrong but the last album was released by Bloodred Horizon Records.
Tat0 - We published our first
demo by Eyes of Dead Production (Italy), the second work U.V.A. mcd was published
by Malicious Intent Records ( U.S.A. ) and the first full length Gore was published
by Bloodred Horizon Records ( AU). But when we publish our products, we don´t
wait for anything and anybody. Our purpose is to make the music circulate and to
bring the message through every channel which is self-promotion. If some labels are interested to reprint our
work, it’s ok. The labels which we worked with have been indeed serious and
professional. They haven´t want anything from us. But in general, we don't
think that labels change the course of the history of a band, because today
everyone can have a contract, we think that today the purposes of labels are
changed. There are some exceptions, considering the labels which still work seriously.
They don´t invest money on the band anymore, but they directly ask the band for
money, which completely eliminates the reality worth of a band. The labels
don´t have any interest to invest in bands because they already earn money from
the bands. We refuse this kind of cooperation. Therefore we self-publish all
our stuff, also appraising the proposals that come to us.
You band´s history
starts at 2003. How did you even get the idea of playing death metal? Who was
your inspiration? Your main idol? Please tell us the history of your band! How
is it to be death metal band in Italy?
Tat0 - The band was born
in 2003, we had some riffs that we played with the ex-drummer. So the band was
born. The name Zora came out from the name of our dear friend´s pitbull, the
same guy who drawn our logo. This dog was fierce because of the treatments
received by the previous owners, so it seemed as the most proper name for the
band that we were forming … musically we come from a death metal school, but we
like everything what refers to extreme music, from thrash to black metal; we
are not particularly inspired by some but we are inevitably influenced by the
genre. To play death metal in Italy means that you should have any expectations
of success because it is absolutely not a big genre in our country. It means that
you have to play for pure passion, something that you like and you should have
fun. You are trying to beat the ignorance of the majority of people who still
thinks that it is diabolic and who tries to avoid metal music…
GLK - I think that a lot
of inspiration, especially in the initial phase of the band, was due to a
certain type of US death metal, but always brutalized to the extreme, in fact a
lot of parts and many pattern they are in classical Grind style … I am talking
about the period in which I was not in the band yet, however having seen it to
be born and to grow, I can testify that it has been the evolution of the band.
Nowadays a lot of
people download music online and they use only digital music. What do you think
about this problem? I would like to know your opinion as a musician.
Tat0 - We just published
the album and immediately put it on our YouTube page. I think that the discourse
changes from level to level. We are an underground band, it is useless to recite the role of rock stars
- not publishing our work in attended that is produced or bought by someone, we
prefer to make our work available using every possibility. Naturally, we also
have print some physical CDs for the people who still want to have the copies,
but we believe that today is limitative, in a underground level as ours, to not
use every way to do circular and to make to listen own music, both digital and
physical format. Nowadays if a musician want to live from music he needs to
exploit his music online.
GLK – Of course, downloading music is damaging for a lot of people on the market. If I look at the collectors groups on the Internet, I see continuously new releases, reprints in formed extra luxury, bonus, and wooden bow. In the end I think the internet seems helping a rebirth of the market, but it might be just my wrong impression.
In the Czech Republic
not a lot of people go to see death metal concerts. How about in Italy? Do fans
support you? Do they buy CDs, merchandise?
Tat0 - I believe that the
situation is the same everywhere. In Italy if we speak about contexts as small
club the turnout is around hundred people. A different discourse is about
festivals, there are two different contexts, and there are big and beautiful
festivals … however the people that go to live concerts buy the stuff from the bands
much more than online.
GLK - Exactly, and
sometime if we go to look at some bigger live shows there is more people than on
underground live concerts, the live situations and the turnout has always been
anomalous.
Are there any albums
which caught your attention recently?
Tat0 - Our attention is
surely turned towards the underground scene, because it still introduces so
many fresh and sincere ideas, there would be a lot of bands and album to list.
Remaining in the Italian context the bands worthy of note they are surely Schizo - Dr.Gore - Ultimo mondo cannibale - Corpsefucking Arts – Vulvectomy - Devangelic – Antropofagus – Electrocution and many more. Some
of these also historical for Italy.
GLK –The last Warfect, Infernal War, The Wretched End
Do you know and listen some Czech bands?
Tat0 - Sure, Fleshless - Malignant Tumor and much more bands. I think that you have a big beautiful reality in growth more and more, and you among the greatest festivals of the sector.
What are ZORA´s plans
for the next few months?
Tat0 - To promote the new
album through internet with webpages as much as possible. We don´t have a program
at the moment, we have some proposals for production to appraise and to define,
and surely to keep on playing new stuff.
GLK - To keep on writing
brutal music without an instant of breath!
Thank you for the
interview and I wish you a lot of sold CDs, hundreds crazy fans and tons great
ideas.
Tat0 - We thank you for
the space that you gave us, we are very happy to have exchanged few words with
you, and we hope to hear from you again soon with some great news, keep in
touch bro \m/!
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