Folk Metal Jacket are hailing from mighty Italian underground scene, the area of the town called Modena. When I first heard the music that they play I immediately fell in love with their art. So, it was about time to interview them for this webzine.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE FOLK METAL JACKET TO THE READERS OF THIS ZINE THAT DID NOT HEAR YOU GUYS YET?
Folk Metal has been all about the past for too many years, we need bands to research the sound of future folk. That’s what FMJ does.
THE NEW MATERIAL IS OUT. IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE OR SOMETHING THAT YOU TRIED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEW SONGS COMPARED TO THE OLD MATERIAL?
First of all we conceded ourselves more record time, which allows for more variations. These variations include more clean vocals and choir and a more atmospheric music overall. The result might sound less extreme, but it is definitely more inspiring.
WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION FROM FOR YOUR SONGS? DESCRIBE A PROCESS OF THE SONGWRITING FROM THE IDEA TO THE FINISHED SONG?
Inspiration comes in a wide variety of ways, sometimes you just sit down and decide what kind of song you want, sometimes music just explodes from within. Once the early-alpha version of a song is shared by the author, we have a lot of talks and write different versions then decide which one works best.
HOW IS LIFE IN MODENA AND IN ITALY IN GENERAL? DO YOU HAVE A SCENE IN YOUR HOMETOWN, CONCERT VENUES, BANDS, PEOPLE WHO ORGANISE GIGS ETC?
Modena is a very industrial city, it doesn’t have any private venues and most of live music is played in pubs or restaurants. Since you don’t want a loud metal band in these contexts, we almost never play in our hometown. It’s great for jazz and acoustic pop, but definitely not metal-friendly.
HOW DID YOU COME IN CONTACT WITH THE UNDERGROUND SCENE? WHO WERE YOUR FIRST BANDS THAT YOU LISTENED TO, YOUR FIRST GIGS THAT YOU SAW ETC?
The first reason for starting the band was to play with our friends in pubs, we had a
couple places to go and all the bands in this “crew” had 3-4 concerts per year in every pub.
Then our demo was recorded by the guitarist of an awesome death metal band called Ever-Frost, we are still big fans of them. Another band we had a lot of gigs with are Kalevala HMS, their performances have been a great source of inspiration.
We have never been huge fans of the underground scene, but we really enjoyed some less known bands like Metsatöll, Tracedawn, Dornenreich…
WHAT HAS UNTIL NOW BEEN THE BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT FOR FOLK METAL JACKET?
We had some very cool gigs, but the biggest achievement is the family feeling you get after playing together for almost 10 years. The memories and the feeling of being home when you go on stage are the best achievement a musician will ever need.
DO YOU HAVE A LABEL OR DO YOU WORK EVERYTHING TOTALY DIY?
We had a label in the past but with digital distribution a band can find good deals without sharing the incomes with anyone else.
TELL US SOME FUNNY ANEGDOTE FROM YOUR GIGS, OR SOMETHING THAT MADE YOU ANGRY, SAD AND IT HAPPENED DURING YOUR GIG OR TOUR?
In 2014 we played at the Pollege Fest in Carrara, it’s a huge fest with lots of different bands and one of our fans was working there so he had us scheduled to play.
We were told to arrive at 3pm, but since the service was late we didn’t get to soundcheck. We spent 8 hours on the beach or in the backstage, then we got to play 3 songs before they cut the volumes off and told us to leave because the show was too late.
Our singer had to say goodbye to the fans without the mic.
After, we got drunk with our fans and “slept” in sleeping bags on the beach.
The morning after, a garbage collector tried to throw our drummer in the bin because he thought he was a trash bag!
TYPICAL FANZINE QUESTION:NAME THE FIVE ALBUMS THAT YOU WOULD TAKE WITH YOU ON A DESERTED ISLAND?
We have very different tastes, but the whole band would agree on:
Voice of Wilderness by Korpiklaani;
Iron by Ensiferum;
Are you Kidding me? No by Destrage;
Fragile by Yes;
Selling England by the Pound by Genesis.
THIS IS FINAL QUESTION. THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW-NOW, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY AND I DID NOT ASK?
Thank you Davor for your clever questions, webzines are a fundamental way to let everyone know the real perspective of a band.
Plus, if an interviewer manages entertaining questions it’s guaranteed fun to read. We have definitely become your fans as well, keep up the good work!
First Brawl is another representative of the mighty Italian hardcore scene from Bologna/Modena area and the guys have been around for a while. This is their new record for Indelirium Records and I listened it and reviewed it for this webzine.
The record contains intro plus five songs of modern aggressive hardcore. Although this is modern hardcore with breaks, fast aggressive drumming and some metalish hooks in the song structures, the guys also give respect to the old school and punkrock influences so for me this band sounds like a crossbreed between Madball, SOIA and modern bands like Terror and Hatebreed, but they managed to remain fresh and energetic without losing the hardcore force and touch that flows through me while listening to this record. Of course there are a lot gang back vocals just made for singalong at the gigs and I am sure that these guys sound awesome live. This is good hardcore record! The best song on the record in my opinion is “New Page”.
This is Core is proud to Present 1957, new single from Sunset Radio.
“1957” is the first extract from Sunset Radio upcoming album. The song shifts the band’s playing from 90’s punk rock to a more mature sound, closer to modern pop punk.
“The song’s about the importance of friendships, especially in dark and unhappy moments” says guitarist Matteo Rossi.
The video for the new single was shoot in Ravenna, the band’s hometown, and will come out on may 17th for Italian label “This is Core” and Japanese Far Channel Records.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 