Black Light are relatively new band from the Italian scene that manages to mix hardcore with their metalic roots and thus playing modern hardcore sounding good, aggressive and fresh. This is the interview I did with the guys for this webzine. It is a premiere interview in Croatia for the guys in the band, so enjoy!

FOR A START, PLEASE PRESENT IN A COUPLE OF WORDS BLACK LIGHT TO THE READERS OF THIS ZINE.

Of course. We are a metalcore band which was formed in 2012. by brothers Nicholas Casarin (guitar) and Mattia Casarin (drums). The band started from a hardrock style, then passed through a thrash metal phase, before turning to metalcore in 2015 . Our main inspirations are bands like Asking Alexandria, Miss May I and Architects.

YOU RECENTLY RELEASED THE NEW SINGLE FROM THE NEW E.P. TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE NEW RECORD, THE RECORDING PROCESS, THE SONGS, THE LYRIC THEMES. DO YOU HAVE A LABEL SUPPORTING YOU OR ARE YOU STRICTLY BELIEVING IN THE DIY ETHICS?

Yeah, so, our forthcoming EP “Set Yourself Ablaze” was recorded at Golden Factory Studio, it took four months to write it. We all were far from each other when we did, except for the brothers, of course! We released “Map Of truth” with the idea to make our audience taste the EP, which is very united and has a main core which could be heard in every song. The lyrical theme is kinda rebellious. It talks about disillusion, about the rejection you could feel when you start to understand how the world works. We are now signed to label Sliptrick Records and moved to their headquarters in Liepāja, Latvia, to work on our musical future with them.

YOU PLAY METALCORE USING BRUTAL AND MELODIC VOCALS, WHAT IS CLOSER TO YOUR HEARTS, METAL OR HARDCORE? DON` T YOU THINK THAT METALCORE SOMEHOW BECAME POPULAR A WHILE AGO AND EVERY BAND TRIED TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON PLAYING THIS STYLE?

Maybe some did, but not everyone of them. You can find many variations in this kind of music, starting from the melody/heaviness balance change between deathcore, metalcore and post-hardcore. By the way we don’t think it’s the first metal style to  feature melody and heaviness together. Before it, alternative metal and nu metal were doing it as well. We just think metal innovates itself because of the musical culture every generation brings to it.

DO YOU GUYS TOUR? DO YOU HAVE ANY MERCH? WHAT ARE YOUR EXPERIENCES PLAYING LIVE IN ITALY COMPARED TO THE OTHER COUNTRIES IF YOU PLAYED OUTSIDE ITALY? 

We’re preparing a tour which will start in the next months. We’ll start from Tapper Club, Tallinn, where we’ll warm the crowd up for Betraying The Martyrs on August 3rd. We can’t wait for that!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RISE OF RIGHT WING AND FASCIST TENDENCIES IN EU AND THE WORLD? IS POLITICS IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIVES? WHAT DO YOU DO FOR LIVING? HOW IS LIFE IN YOUR PART OF ITALY?

We think that people who have this kind of beliefs should really have experienced fascism. They probably wouldn’t think the same way now. Politicians in Italy are really fucked up and corrupted, and when it comes that way, people look for extremes because they think it’s a “radical change to establish order”. But it’s an illusion. And it’s exactly what gave to guys like Hitler and Mussolini the tools to access power and manipulate everyone in the past. A part of people just repeat the same mistakes over and over. That’s what we think. Besides that, we don’t really care about politics. Like, every one of us does in his personal way, but we’re not a political band and don’t talk about it in our lyrics.

HOW IS THE SCENE IN YOUR AREA? ANY GOOD BANDS AND VENUES AND ZINES? IS THERE MANY ARGUING, QUARRELING IN THE ITALIAN SCENE BETWEEN BANDS? DID YOU BELIEVE IN SCENE UNITY MYTH WHEN YOU WERE KIDS?

We recently worked with Italian webzines like Metallized and Italia Di Metallo, and we recommend them to everyone who wants to read good stuff about metal music. A big venue we performed at was Circolo Colony in Brescia, which unfortunately closed, but was was at its times by hosting bands like Testament, but also metalcore ones like Veil Of Maya, and Betraying the Martyrs. The biggest Italian venue you could find is probably Legend Club, but we’ve never performed there. By the way, I think that, except if you’re a huge band, or if you’re well-know in your town, Italian metal scene is too small to create quarrels between bands. The audience is not big enough for that. What people like to see live there are hardrock classics like Ac/Dc, or their beloved Italian singers like Vasco Rossi, Zucchero and Ligabue. This makes cover bands have way more success compared to newborn or growing ones, and to metal bands in general.

SINGIN IN ITALIAN VS SINGING IN ENGLISH, WHAT IS BETTER?

English, of course! I personally love this language, I find it very expressive, even if Italian is too! but if you wanna go international and make your music accessible to the whole world, English is always the best choice.

HAVE YOU EVER DONE SOMETHING THAT YOU REGRET UNTIL THIS DAY? HAVE YOU EVER BEEN VIOLENT AND BEAT UP SOMEBODY OR HARASSED SOMEONE FOR NO REASON?

Never for no reason. We’ve all done stuff that we regret, I think that’s kinda normal. But we always had a reason. It probably wasn’t justified every time but when you bump into a situation without expecting it, you instinct and emotions try to solve the problem as fast as they can. It’s hard to always think about the best reaction to have when stuff just hits you in the face.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Honestly I don’t know about when my bandmates did. But personally, the last time I cried was when I had to let go someone I’m really close to. I think that as a musician, and someone who will move a lot, it’s gonna be my every-day life, but I’m not used to this yet.

THAT IS IT FOR THE FIRST TIME, DO YOU KNOW ANY CROATIAN BANDS OR HAVE YOU PLAYED WITH ANY? THANK YOU!

Honestly we don’t know any, but if you have some good ones, we would be glad to listen to them! We’re always up to discover new music from every country in the world!