Category Archives: PRclosed

PR: CHRONICS

11/29/2022 Monica Melissano

Chronics are a cult band and almost a legend in the garage rock world.

In 1999 they released their debut single on US Rip Off Records.
Their debut 7 inches consists of two songs, “Go on” and “First time, best time”. Maximum Rocknroll labelled it “power pop with fangs” and the single entered several Maximum Rocknroll playlists.

Between 2002 and 2004 Chronics put out two albums on Belgian label Demolition Derby.

In 2003 they played at Flippaut festival in Bologna, along with the White Stripes and the Queens of the Stone Age.
They continued playing until 2009, then they split up until their return in 2014.

In 2014 and 2015 Chronics put out a series of split 7 inches with Mike Watt, former Minutemen and Stooges bass player, and with Barrence Whitfield & the Savages.

The first Mike Watt/Chronics split single was released on Asian Man Records featuring 2 covers by The Last and The Urinals. Then Easy Action Records released a Chronics/Barrence Whitfield & the Savages split featuring Captain Beefheart’s “Zig Zag Wanderer” and The 13th Floor Elevators’ “I’ve Got Levitation”.
Finally Mike Watt & the Secondmen and Chronics covered each other’s songs for a new split on Org Music.

Aside from mainstay Stefano Toma (singer-songwriter, guitarist), the group had numerous line-up changes. After many years as a trio, currently, the band consists of Stefano Toma, Marco Turci (drummer), Michele Rizzoli (bass player), Giuliano Guerrini (guitarist, backing vocals).

“Do You Love the Sun?” is Chronics’ new full lenght, on California Puke’n’Vomit Records.
It’s Buddy Holly, Pretty Things, Real Kids and Ramones, all rolled into a ball of powerful garage music. A Must have Power Pop LP.
The album was released in June 22 on vinyl only, with the digital release on December 02nd, 2022.

The Chronics | Discography | Discogs

Albums

It’s too late, LP, Nitro, Belgium 2002
Suggested for Mature Audiences, LP/cd, Nitro, Belgium, 2004
Do You Love The Sun?, LP, Puke’n’vomit records, USA, 2022

Singles

First Time, Best Time / Go On ‎(7″, S/Sided), Rip Off Records, USA, 1999
Chronics / Mike Watt & The Secondmen – From Ciro’s To Starwood ‎(7″, Split Single), Asian Man Records, USA, 2014
Chronics / Barrence Whitfield And The Savages – Zig Zag Wanderer / I’ve Got Levitation ‎(7″, Split Single), Easy Action records, UK, 2015
Chronics / Mike Watt & The Secondmen – Back In The Microwave ‎(7″, Split Single), ORG Music, USA, 2015

Compilations

Late, Lit Up & Lewd ‎(CD, Comp) Hate Records, Italy, 2003
On Tape It Sounds Different ‎(Cass, Comp), Mooster Records, USA, 2013

Radio Interviews
Melody Box
Radio Casotto
By Greg Lowery
Neu Radio / Poptones

Artist: Chronics
Hometown: Bologna, Italy
Genres: Garage R’n’R, Punk, Surf
Title: Do You Love the Sun?
Release Date Digital: Dec. 02nd, 2022
Label: Puke’n’Vomit (USA)
Artwork by Alex Vargiu
Mixed by Giuliano Guerrini
Mastered by Pietro Benini

Facebook // YouTube // Bandcamp

MEDIA LINKS

Vive Le Rock (UK) – album première
Rumore Mag (IT) – album première
Underdog (DE)
Sélection Sorties (FR)
The Alternative Frequencies / Radio Leyland (UK)
Luminous Dash (BE)

“ L’Italia non è un Paese per chi suona r’n’r ai margini di scene e conventicole varie. A 23 anni dall’esordio e 18 dal secondo album, esce il nuovo vinile a 33 giri ancora una volta per un’etichetta californiana. Alla guida sempre il cantante e chitarrista Stefano Toma. Un songwriter affine a John Felice, Chris Bailey, Paul Westerberg. Un piccolo grande songwriter che ha saputo modulare la grazia di Alex Chilton e l’irruenza di Johnny Thunders anche in questi dieci pezzi che hanno il sapore dei classici stropicciati.” Rumore Mag

“In “Do You Love The Sun?” la band di Stefano Toma gira come sempre a meraviglia, declinando dieci brani autografi vivaci e accattivanti che nulla hanno da invidiare, tanto nella scrittura quanto nello sviluppo, a quelli di tante più celebrate formazioni estere.” Blow UP

“Se c’è un nome che torna in mente all’ascolto di questi dieci brani è quello dei Real Kids di John Felice. Proprio come la formazione di Boston anche i Chronics sono bravissimi nel saper miscelare alla perfezione grinta chitarristica e melodia per distillare canzoni che ti accendono la giornata e ti si appiccicano addosso al primo ascolto” Freak Out

PRclosed

PR : LEVI

06/27/2022 Monica Melissano

Artists: Levi
Title: Synthesis
Format: album
Release date: June 14th, 2022
Label: Black Marmalade
File under: electronica, experimental,

PR Territories: worldwide except Italy

Facebook // Instagram // Bandcamp // Soundcloud

Levi is the solo project of Damiano Simoncini, italian musician from Pesaro already known in the international scene in the past decade as drummer and songwriter with the post-punk bands Damien* and Versailles.

Released on June 14th, 2022 by Black Marmalade Records, Synthesis follows the EP Aquarius (2019) and Liquida (2020).

Inspired by the visionary movies of Lynch, Bergman and Lang, akin to the sound ventures of contemporary composers as Oneothrix Point Never and Steve Auschildt, in love with the orchestral arrangements of the Maestro Ennio Morricone, Synthesis is the breed of the pressures and emergencies gripping both our inner and outside worlds, all related.
Heavy electronics creates almost hypnagogic states of mind, in a journey through different sub-genres looking for impossible answers about the near future.
Synthesis could be the playlist for a ghost radio station floating in deep, dark interstellar space: six tracks, less than 30 minutes, to focus the listening experience on our subjective perception of electronic-generated soundwaves.

Eurasia, like the whole album, was born during the first lockdown, in a state of global disturbance, at the same time adrenaline-charged.
In Levi’s case, this digitally shared loneliness was exacerbated by the unexpected deaths of two close friends: Andrea Guagneli (of the band’s Brothers in Law), dear friend and companion of many adventures and projects, and Mirko Bertuccioli, another musician killed by Covid-19, who’d been for many years the most active and enthusiast aggregator for the local music scene.
In this chaos of pain, anguish, melancholy and fear it came a sort of “epiphany”: the feeling that the world-as-we-knew-it changed, radically, and not just for health reasons .
“I clearly perceived the ‘collision’ between two different worlds, in some ways antithetical and incommunicable, and I sounded this feeling of ‘end of epoch’ and the beginning of another, more uncertain, darker, for sure unstable and fated to a sort of final confrontation. East versus West. Europe (and the West) against Asia (and the East). Hence the name Eurasia, seeking in the semantic crasis to show how stupid and useless divisions are, and how deleterious and devastating they can become. “
Eurasia sounds menacingly apocalyptic, with heavy drones building up to a psych-trance climax, with waves of sounds opening our perception, an attitude dear to musicians like The Telescopes, Sonic Boom, Dreamweapon.
The video is the recording of the live visual of the song created by Gabriele Ottino, a video artist from Turin and a member of Niagara, with whom Levi has been collaborating for years.

MEDIA LINKS
Luminous Dash (BE)
Da Music (BE)
Sélection Sortie (FR)
El Santo del Rock (MEX)
Radio U (FR)
Radio U – Spotify playlist
It’s Psychedelic Baby Mag – Lotus premiere

PRclosed

PR: THE BACKLASH – Rise

06/22/2022 Monica Melissano

Artist: The Backlash
Format: digital single
Release date: November 16th, 2021
Distribution: Artist1
Genres: shoegaze, garage rock, indie

Website / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram / Bandcamp

The Backlash formed in Milan during Spring 2013. Being the winners in a new bands music contest, they got immediately the chance to play big stages like Tunnel and Alcatraz, establishing themselves as a solid name in Milan’s underground music scene. Spotted by “Dj Henry” (aka Enrico Lezzeri, a well known name for Italian Northern Soul and Mod fans), they got signed by his own RocketMan Records.
“3rd Generation”, their first EP, was a collection of six tracks already popular with live audiences. It got rave reviews, and earned to The Backlash several live dates, in Italy, Spain, France and the UK, enclosing a support for The KVB.
In August 2016 the band decided to take a break from touring, to record their debut full-lenght “Mindtrap”, released in 2018, and promoted with support slots in Milan for We Are Scientists and The Academic, plus several appearances at In A State Of Flux, the leading itinerant festival for italian shoegaze scene. Wanting to be more in control of their schedule, and to reduce the timeframe between recordings and release, The Backlash then concentrated on building their own space and studio, named “Right Bright Side” (RBS), that’s where they recorded a new EP, “Passing By”, released early 2020. The EP features 4 tracks which are shiny jewels, speaking loud to the hearts and ears of everybody who is or has been in love with this ’90s British Sounds.“Everybody But Me”, the single, has been mastered by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order, Oasis, Primal Scream, Blur, The Charlatans…) at Abbey Road Studios in London.
“Right Bright Side” is a line from one of their songs, but it’s also a manifesto, pointing at where their sound belongs: luminous reverberations, vocals hovering above textured and coarse guitar chords, technicolor laser rays and spirals. The Verve’s A Northern Soul, early Oasis, the La’s, Ride’s Nowhere.

Unfortunately pandemic and lockdown made impossible to promote the release live, in spite of all the positive reviews and airplay The Backlash were getting.
After a first reaction of despair and frustration, the band concentrated on writing new songs, now at the stage of final mixing and mastering. The single “Rise” was released on November 16th, 2021.
The Backlash are ready to play finally live, and to label-scout for a due proper release in 2022.

La storia di The Backlash inizia nella primavera del 2013, a partire dal loro primo concerto, la partecipazione a un concorso per band emergenti che dà loro l’opportunità di debuttare live su palchi del calibro del Tunnel e dell’Alcatraz di Milano.
Da allora, l’interesse dei The Backlash è stato quello di affermarsi come una realtà consolidata all’interno del panorama underground milanese. Proprio durante un concerto a Milano, Enrico Lazzeri “Dj Henry” (storico dj della scena Northern Soul e Mod milanese, critico musicale e talent scout) propone ai The Backlash di entrare a far parte del roster di RocketMan Records e registrare un primo EP, prodotto da Ettore “Ette” Gilardoni.
Il primo lavoro discografico, dal titolo “3rd Generation”, raccoglieva sei dei pezzi arrangiati dalla band nel suo primo periodo di attività. Il lavoro ottiene ottime recensioni, ne vengono estratti tre singoli e viene promosso attraverso live in Italia (tra cui le aperture a Gazebo Penguins e The KVB) e all’estero (Austria, Spagna, Francia e UK), con due date allo storico Cavern Club di Liverpool.
Nell’Agosto 2016, con le ultime due date a Pescara e nella natìa Lecce, la band chiude ufficialmente la promozione di “3rd Generation” per dedicarsi all’arrangiamento e alla registrazione degli undici pezzi inediti che andranno a comporre il primo LP, “Mindtrap”. Tra il 2018 e il 2019 escono quattro singoli, e continua l’attività live: in particolare, i The Backlash aprono le date milanesi di We Are Scientists e The Academic e vengono accolti dalla scena shoegaze Italiana, partecipando a diverse edizioni del festival itinerante In A State Of Flux. In parallelo, la band continua a lavorare su nuovo materiale.
L’esigenza di ridurre i tempi tra la creazione di nuova musica e la sua diffusione porta i The Backlash a costruire ed attrezzare un proprio studio di registrazione: un covo, rifugio e fucina che diventa – appunto e finalmente – the Right Bright Side.”Passing By”, l’EP uscito a inizio 2020, contiene 4 brani che sono un gioiello, che vanno dritti al cuore e alle orecchie di chi questo sound, northern british e popolare, ce l’ha dentro da sempre. “Everybody But Me”, il singolo, è stato masterizzato da Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order, Oasis, Primal Scream, Blur, The Charlatans…) presso gli Abbey Road Studios di Londra.
Dopo il forzato stop dovuto alla pandemia, The Backlash hanno pronto nuovo materiale, fra cui un nuovo singolo programmaticamente intitolato “Rise”, pubblicato, con un nuovo video, a Novembre 2021.

PASSING BY PRESS QUOTES

Melodici, sonici, incalzanti e capaci anche di dilatare spazi e tempi. Applausi. Rockerilla
I quattro pezzi del disco suonano una psichedelia che contagia anima e corpo in egual misura. Blow Up
4 brani, curati al massimo e mai banali per un lavoro ben definito e che fa di questo Ep un piccolo gioiello. RockIt
Sonorità a volte scure, puri mantra sonori e cavalcate chitarristiche poderose. Shoegazin’ Your Waves
Accattivanti visioni shoegaze bruciano soniche. Indie for Bunnies
I Backlash sono un gruppo vero che ha le idee chiare su dove vuole arrivare con la propria musica. Shoegaze Blog
Quattro brani che sono un piacere per le orecchie, un amalgama perfetto di chitarre ruvide e atmosfere, che a volte virano verso la psichedelia. 10/10 Offtopicmag
4 chansons, 4 tubes Indie pour 2020!!!! Joie! Bonheur! La Voix de Garage Grenoble

Rise is one of the 5 new songs The Backlash managed to write and record during the lockdown, and is for sure the one in which the garage rock influences of the shoegazers from Milan are more highlighted.
Two guitars, a riff reminiscent of Interpol, grave psych chords of BJM’s school, a tight drumming and distorted bass, compelling and simple lyrics perfect for sing-a-longs and indie clubs. Everything was recorded and mixed by the band itself, and then mastered by Frank Arkwright (The Smiths, Oasis, The Charlatans, Blur, Joy Division, New Order) at Abbey Road Studios.
Rise wasn’t born out of thoughts, but from a sudden feeling: “it’s like when you’re driving alone, playing loud music and totally lost in your own mind, away from the real world so that you cannot even remember your route. And you have a revelation, all at once you’re conscious of yourself, of where you are and how you reach that point of your life. It’s about feeling suddenly alive (again), willing to rise above all the mud.”
The video clip was made by Andrea Conti, drummer for Clustersun, who also directed the latest clips for the psych trio from Sicily.
He wanted to visually fix the feeling of “getting lost while looking for ourselves. A physical and mind trip taken without knowing the goal and the final destination. Are we escaping our past or are we chasing the future?“