Hate & Merda Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Unn1: We are a psychotic duo from Firenze. Two friends that had need to spit out all the discomfort and rage of the last year. We play with a black socks on our head. It’s not necessary to see the face of the musicians. It’s not important to be protagonist in this shitty life. Especially you, who are watching the show.

Unn2: Hi, we're Hate&Merda, a sonor terroristic duo.

2.How would you describe your musical sound?

Unn1: It’s hard to describe in words what you are doing in another form. I think we sold our soul to various demons living in our minds and blood. That’s the sound of the band.

Unn2: I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it certainly tastes like sludge, hardcore, blues, noise, industrial and ambient. We play in some different projects that are more defined than this one. HM is absolutely our free dimension where we burn our dirtiest ideas. Everyone associates our sound to a lot of different bands, some of them I've never even listened to. Personally I guess I've been influenced by Concrete, Cursed, Old Man Gloom, Converge, as well as Robert Johnson, Massimo Volume, Ovo or Neil Young Dead Man soundtrack.
As you could say, nothing and everything.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Unn1: The lyrics speaks about how terrible life can be if you feel it differently compared to some others. How terrible is to walk in a fucking hot summer down to your house’s street. How many scars and blood rain over you after that summer. How terrible it is to find that there is no love, there is only compassion.

Unn2: I think it's important to say first that we've chosen italian language because we wanted to be totally and immediately understood by our people. Our lyrics reflect the attitude and the motivation of the project, they don't have a secret message, it's all rough and ruthless. Each song is a different story, but they all have the same nihilistic point of view. People, love, dreams, loneliness and death, all seen in our sick and distorted way. So tired of everything. So disenchanted.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hate & Merda'?

Unn1:  We were out of the famous store “H&M”. I remember that I’ve told to Unn2: “mmm, if we form a band together we should call it Hate & Merda. (“merda” means “shit” in Italian). I think it’s a name that you could remember easily and it scalps in your mind.

Unn2: We know each other from a long time but we started working together in the underground scene only few years ago, long before playing together as a band. The very first year we started organizing concerts, festivals and events together we got a lot of criticisms from our city, just because we were doing our own things in our personal way. That's a typical florence behaviour. You have to complain and do nothing, if you try to change this system you're an egomaniac and you deserve to be defamed. So, in this sense, we got a lot of hate and shit from our city, so now we're just turning back the favour. But it's also true that the first time we came up with this name we were just coming home after buying some underpants at H&M.

5.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?

Unn1: We want to remain a duo, but we would like to have some guests on records and why not, to play  together on stage too. I think there are no holes in our sound, and it’s like a bomb especially on stage.

Unn2: We wanted this band to be absolute essential. We didn't start as a duo because we didn't have a bass player, it's all about the feeling we have playing together due to the same feeling we have against our lives and our city. We're friends, we collaborate, so it was predictable we would end up playing together, and we understand each other at the time when we improvise. I really think it's a fact of attitude. We appreciate friends featurings, but the two of us is HM, and that's it.

6.Has the band done any live shows or is this strictly a studio project?

Unn1: Live show it’s the real dimension of our band. We were born to play live. Our band was born like a totally impro performance for an opening concert. So we are playing some dates, and we still want to do it.

Unn2: The band started with a live show, we totally improvised everything and it came out really good and strong, and some things you hear on our record are ideas born that night with no changes at all. Then we rehearsed just few times and then immediately record what became L'Anno Dell'Odio (The Year Of Hate). After that we started playing live the most we can, a bunch of shows around Florence, we opened for ?Also from Ovo, Carla Bozulich, Orannsi Pazuzu, Marnero, we went on tour with our friends La Cuenta, we played secret shows, a festival in a very small town in middle of mountains and fog, a birthday party..really everywhere. And now that the album is out we're taking the road again and planning some other tours.

7.The album was released on Toten Schwan Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Unn1: Marco of Toten Schwan saw our first live (the totally impro ones). He came to meet us after the show and told us that we were fantastic and we need to fix this music on an album. And of course, he could help us. It sound like an 80’s classic story about fortune, gold, glory and happy ending. So Marco was the first person who trusted in our band, even before us. There are also two label involved in this release: UTU Conspiracy and Dio Drone, that are really close to us.

Unn2: We met Marco of Toten Schwan the first time we played live, and he trusted in our project immediately, even before we started to consider it seriously. He insisted to put our noise on a record, we talked a couple of times and he really seemed to understand our thing. But mostly, we felt him and Davide to be simply two like us, so we joined this brotherhood. They truly care of what their label promote, and it's not a fact of money or simple support. They really believe in it, like we do.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your album by fans of underground music?

Unn1: The album is having a extraordinary positive feedbacks. We did not expect it, because we've played in other underground bands for years.

Unn2: When you choose a name like Hate&Merda (hate and shit) you don't expect to be taken seriously. Truth is that we didn't expect anything at all, this project started as an exorcism and this was enough. But surprisely L'Anno Dell'Odio is having a great feedback. We had very good reviews from CVLT Nation (Usa), The New Noise (IT), Metalitalia (IT) and several european zines. We're really stunned and thankful for this support. Everything we get is always a gift.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Unn1: I think it’s important for us to be free to do what we want to do. So we don’t want chains about genres, our sets or instruments. It’s important the act, the sound, the scratch. So: who knows?

Unn2: We have to go deeper and deeper, until the surface is no longer visible. Exploring our own limits and our most extreme edges. But nothing's written and there's no rule. No plans, just the truth. You know, '..you have to put your own dick in the middle of the story..destroy the ego and tell the truth..'. Just this.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Unn1: I think I've not been influenced by particular bands. I’ve only tried to add the drums beat on the Unn2’s guitars and screams. Some bands cross my mind and probably they are connected to my band: Ministry, Scorn, Swans for exemple, I’m thinking about them. Nowadays I’m listening Chelsea Wolfe, King Dude, Indians, Coil, Marnero, Si Non Sedes Is.

Unn2: We obviously like heavy stuff, and it was clear from the beginning that HM should be strong and evil. But we're into a lot of different kind of sounds, even ambient, blues or witchouse, things that to me don't minimize the sense of the word 'heavy'. If you want me to say which influences I hear in our music I could say Black Flag, Motorpsycho of Demon Box, Birthday Party, Concrete, Eyehategod, Ovo, Code Orange, Zu, Illogo, as well as the Neurot family and the Church Of Ra.
Actually I'm listening to King Dude, Corrections House, Si Non Sedes Is, Ovo and the new Amenra acoustic stuff.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Unn1: Drinking and depress myself. Ah, I was forgiving: watching mockumentaries and found footages films in the night.

Unn2: Music fills our lives on a lot of different levels but I love movies and books as well, everything that has the strength to take you somewhere else. But my main interest is to stay away from people for the most of my time.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Unn1: Thank you for your interest in our music. I hope you will hear some others albums in the future.

Unn2: Thanks for this talk. See you in your city, soon or later.