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| Rise Above Dead |
During my short tenure here at The Sludgelord, I was contacted by Matteo Sala, guitarist from Rise Above Dead. Matteo had taken the opportunity to contact me to see if I would be interested to write a review for their new record, Stellar Filth. The rest, as they say, is history. Matteo sent me the record and the review was duly completed, of which you can read here.
I always had the thought of interviewing the guys, given that the record was genuinely well received by the readers of the blog and also from feedback from the FB page too. Therefore, when the opportunity presented itself to get these guys to answer some questions, I promptly contacted the band and what we have here is the result of that correspondence. I am a huge fan of their record Stellar Filth, therefore it is with a sense of pride that I present this interview to you.
Here is what happened when I spoke with Stefano, guitarist with Rise Above Dead and presented him with my 20 Questions. So as ever. Enjoy.
Q) Hi Stefano. How
are you? First question, what made Rise Above Dead contact me at The Sludgelord to review
your new record? Do you know/read the blog?
A) Yeah we all enjoy
reading the Sludgelord quite sometimes and we thought it would be cool to tell
you guys to give a listen to our new stuff.
Q)
For those people who are unfamiliar with your music, can you tell me a little
bit about your history? Where you're from, when Rise Above Dead first formed?
Current band members?
A)
Rise Above Dead were formed in Milan, Italy in 2009. Besides some of us living
in the UK today, that’s where we all are from. Since day one, our main goal has
always been to play something different from the rest of the metal and hardcore
bands living in our area. Actually we never wanted to be part of a certain
“scene”, so we never felt like we wanted to be associated with something
already existing.
Q) How would you
describe Rise Above Dead's sound? Has it evolved?
A) Sure it did
evolved through the years. Back in the day when we started, our songs were all pretty
fast and short, with more of a punk hardcore attitude.Now there are a lot of
down-tempos and the songs are way longer, with many different parts and
influences.
Q) Is there a
rock/metal scene like in Italy?
A) Yes there are rock
and metal bands pretty much everywhere in the Italian territory and I can tell
a lot of them are really amazing. Sometimes the real problem is that most of
them lives in the country or just in the middle of nowhere, so it gets harder
for them to become popular.
Q) What made you start
the band?
A) Honestly, I guess
its just because we all belong to the music and playing/writing our music is
the only thing we can do.
Q) Were you in a band
before Rise Above Dead?
A) We all had our
past experience in different bands, when most of us was playing even different
kind of music.
Q) Are you a full
time musician? Or do you work too?
A) Oh man we all wish we could be full time
musicians but unfortunately the truth is we all have bills to pay and stuff
like that, so we all have a “regular” full time job.
Q) Why should people
buy your new record?
A) We worked our
asses off to make the best record we could and what we got at the end of the
recordings was something that went even beyond our expectations. Just recently
I just got the best compliment from a guy who got the record when he said that
“Stellar Filth” has all the standards the people want to hear but in the same
time it sounds very original.
Q) What you say your
sound has progressed since your debut EP, Human Disintegration?
A) Absolutely. Like I
said, we started out with a strong punk/hardcore attitude, then we discovered
the experimental vein, which is now the most important thing in our music.
Q) You were unsigned
at the time i reviewed you record, how did you manage to secure a deal and was
it a struggle?
A) Not really. Shove
Records supported us since our first EP came out, so the whole process of
releasing the full length with them has probably been the most logical choice.
Things just happened really really fast. One day we weren’t singed and the day
after we had these three great labels ready to release our record.
Q) What's it like
being in an underground metal band? Is it a struggle?
A) There is no
struggle for use being a DIY band. We enjoy it instead!
Q) What are your
influences musically and artistically?
A) Everyone in the
band has his own background and most of the times is different from different
from the other members. When I was younger I was more into punk and metal, then
when I grown up I started to develop my interest for classic rock and blues,
which are my biggest influences today.
![Image of Stellar Filth [VINYL]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uI31FvdR6PqpwozeJCohljjSAVP1YpLzxP2KL6A7qGTHvNJpH0zRDWyFmipV9qGg8AD2xbns7nutzr1eBDuwPESP_1oJeWoDz3LSHYQuoDuFaqWuS1DIhEXOI36SW2=s0-d) |
| Stellar Filth LP |
Q) Do you write your
songs as a band and does everybody contribute?
A) I write a lot
riffs and some of the arrangements when I’m home, but you can see the song
start coming really together only during rehearsals. Its just when everyone in
the band has contributed that we can consider a song finished.
Q) What's your career
highlight so far? What your aspirations for the future?
A) We have been
fortunate enough to have the chance to open for a bunch of international bands
that we worship and respect like Napalm Death, Eyehategod, Kylesa, Darkest
Hour, etc... I think we all consider
this as our highlight so far. The biggest aspiration for the future would be a
UK tour and we are working hard to make it
happen very soon.
Q)
You got any interesting stories from your tours?
A)
Every single show we ever played has at least one interesting story to tell an
this is for sure one of the best thing when a band is on the road.
Q) Are you in writing music all of the time?
A)
I’ve been writing new riffs and arranging new ideas in the last few weeks. I
think we will use the the rest of the 2012 to write enough material to have a
new record ready for the next year.
Q) What you think of
people downloading music for free? Would you consider releasing your album for
free to get more people listening to your music?
A) I think it’s a
very smart move to do if you play in an underground or young band that is
looking forward to become more popular. Maybe we will do something like this
with the next records, we will see...
Q) Any plans to tour?
Any chance you're coming to the UK?
A) We recently played
some shows in Czech Republic, Germany and Poland and right now we are looking
forward to hit the UK very very soon.
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| Live 2012 |
Q) Last question,
have you got anything you would like to say to your fans?
A) We just wanna thank all the people that
believed in us and purchased our new record “Stellar Filth”. Another special
thank you goes to Sludgelord for showing interest in us!
Well, I hope you enjoyed another dose of 20 Questions. Rise Above Dead are genuinely nice dudes and I hope you dig their music, as much as I do. Please check the links below for more info on the band. I'll leave the last word to the band“ Rise Above Dead is planning a UK tour for early next year. If you’re interested or know someone who may help us in booking some gigs, please get in touch with: Matt and ERbooking: carvedout@gmail.com”
