Milan – ‘Gunshot’, ‘Disco labyrinth’, ‘All my mistakes’, ‘Enchanting’, ‘Confetti at Christmas’, ‘Rapid clouds’, ‘New obsession’, ‘Free for all’, ‘Porcupine’. Subsonic they are part of the life of millions of Italians. And then 28 year career they continue to do so. This evening the singer Samuelthe producer and guitarist Max Casaccithe keyboard player Boosta and the bass player Fabulous they will be in Legnano on the Rugby Sound stage for the ‘La Bolla Tour’.
Max Casacci, after 28 years of activity are you aware of being a true monument of Italian music?
“We have been awarded some certificates of importance in Italian music. It’s nice, they give you the feeling of having built something. But it all ends there, if you linger too long in your past you risk putting an expiration date on your future. We always put ourselves on the line, also in consideration of the changing public.”
Your new album, ‘Augmented Reality’ has some surprising sounds. Just think of the songs ‘Pugno di sand’ and ‘Scoppia la bubble’. Or the rework of ‘Mattino di luce’ with LIM released yesterday. What need is behind this album?
“‘Fist of sand’ is the first single of this latest album, which is a bit like a band rediscovering itself. It was also an important record for finding a bit of complicity between us. This is a song that talks about the past, it’s a way of evaluating the past and considering the risk that it will never pass. All the music we made together from 1996 onwards was perceived by some as difficult to digest. When that bell rings, it’s a good sign say that we are doing something new and interesting. This record we have made music together again, and in that way one’s mistake becomes the other’s idea sort of Afro root. We had never done it and with ‘Scoppia la bubble’ this light-hearted song with Afrobeat rhythms was born. Usually the music is born first and then Samuel and I write the lyrics. We like the idea of not knowing where to go, of not having a predefined direction. This is also part of the creative journey.”
In these 28 years what have been the best moments?
“Many. Especially in the first years of our career everything happened very quickly and this continued to grow. The audience grew up with us a bit.”
The ugliest ones?
“After the Sanremo Festival (in 2000 with ‘Tutti my mistakes’, ed.) we moved on to the phase in which we began to fill the arenas. We realized that the world around us was beginning to ask us for something different. When they started to have expectations around us, we realized that all this wasn’t for us. In the early 2000s, music got a little lost. For us, the album was the vehicle being able to go and play on stage, we didn’t care how many records we were selling. But we survived, we made ourselves even more independent by focusing above all on the live dimension.”
What advice would you give to young people who want to start making music?
“You make music out of necessity, you have to respect the pact with yourself. If the public doesn’t recognize an act of freedom in what you’re doing, they don’t choose you. Music is a sort of spark of freedom. The only numbers that have a value durable and healthy are linked to the sustainability of your concerts”.
What should those who attend a Subsonica live expect?
“Ours is a flow more similar to a sort of DJ set, we pay close attention to the energetic concatenation of how one song enters another. Better to keep your cell phones in your pockets because you find yourself physically involved. It’s also a whirlwind of emotions: we laugh, we cry, we sing.”
What do you wish for your band?
“We calculate longevity based on the duration of the same lineup. We are 28 years old but in reality 27, the only group with the same lineup that has lasted longer is Pooh with 35. I hope that Subsonica can manage to beat this record” .
