Distruggi La Bassa 2018: such a blast!

Here we are finally telling you about the Distruggi La Bassa Fest 2018. We warn you that it will be a long article, because we have a lot of words to spend for this experience; we hope you’ll read it all. Let’s get started!
We are for the third year as Radio Punk at this unmissable event of the Ferrara scene that, in addition to being a special edition, given its almost entirely local line-up (Jenny Woo the only exception), was also an important stage in our history as a collective dealing with punk and self-productions. For the first time, we put ourselves into serious play, in fact, we have placed our distro, recently started, for the duration of the festival.
Bear in mind that we struggled to be present at the two-day event, between shift changes and prayers to Saint Christopher, protector of motorists, so that he would give strength to our 90’s punk-mobile to arrive at Ferrara (and take us back home). All this because for years we have been supporting this crew made up of fantastic people and friends and because at every event they have organized we have always had a lot of fun! In short, expectations were high and they have certainly not been disappointed.
We leave in the direction of Ferrara equipped with tent, distro, inevitable Invicta backpack and barrels of Autan (given the colossal size of the mosquitoes, which compete with the dinosaur of our logo!). As soon as we arrive we are welcomed by our friends Monta and Ciro from Distruggi La Bassa and discover the location of this year, which is to be precise at the Lago Valle Azzurra of Alberlungo/Migliarino, where the crew has set up two stages and a very large space for distros, all surrounded by greenery.
Before starting with the description of the first day, let’s open a parenthesis about the distros. Since our arrival we have been able to meet old friends and new people. Undoubtedly a special greeting and hug goes to Christian from Anfibio Records, our neighbour and “spiritual” guide, both for his great conversations and for his precious advice. We also affectionately greet Andrea from Istinto Screenprinting, another neighbour that everyone would like to have, with whom we laughed, joked and talked about self-productions. Congratulations again for the fest t-shirt and his passion! We were pleased to meet Emiliano, with the distro of La Scintilla, with whom we shared political and punk conversations, and cheap beer! Nice and creative the guys from Lo sbrillificio, dedicated to some great self-productions! Get to know them and we hope you’ll catch them in some fest. We also thank Francesco from Punti Scena Records, for the chat and because thanks to him we now have in our hands “Tornare Ai Resti” by Contrasto, a record we had been looking for for ages! Other very cool distros were those of Janz, AgriPunk (self-produced drinks and more) and Hellnation Store. Hoping we haven’t forgotten any of those with whom we had the pleasure of spending time, we congratulate all the distros, because the more we are to do things the better it is!

Turning to the live part, given the 25 bands, we decided to make a list; we hope not to bore you with our “shopping list”.

DAY 1
The Vasto: The band, founded in 2013, today plays at home, since it is from the province of Ferrara. Excellent performance, 25 minutes of hc punk filled with metallic veins. To follow!

Shenanigans: the stage change is quick, thanks to the presence of two stages and so we lose the first minutes of the group from Parma. Despite this, we can congratulate these guys who are dedicated to a thrash metal that abounds with hardcore influences.

Cani dei Portici : the guys from Bologna give us an instrumental performance, where the noise and punk influences are a pleasure for the ears. Excellent to warm up for the evening!

Reset Clan: already seen on other occasions, we couldn’t wait to see them again on stage, where they gave another good performance! They know how to keep up a live show, thanks to both an excellent technique of the musicians and a singer always in great shape. Old style punk hardcore: fast, direct and with engaged lyrics.

Antares: they too seen long ago, they are an old acquaintance. Their speed rock n roll, energetic and with a lot of punk influences moved the souls of those present under the open stage. An absolutely must-see band!

Rebelde: the five, or rather almost six on stage (congratulations and compliments to Simona who played being pregnant) are in great shape. Their concert, at the end of the two days, will be one of our favorites, given the great character and athletic shape of the singer Enrico and given the great feeling among the excellent musicians. War machines, oi! mixed with hardcore and amazing sympathy with the audience!

Call The Cops: we go back to the open stage, where it’s the turn of Call The Cops from Bologna, a band we’re literally in love with. A concert to remember, where politics and music are always, firmly together, in the foreground; in fact, the band never escapes making speeches from the stage, a choice that we fully share. Well, we are talking about punk! A dynamic show, thanks also to the continuous role exchanges between singer and guitarist. Never trivial with their hardcore with crust and street influences, which is powerful and impactful and causes the chaos under the stage.

Overdrive Banzai: the group comes full of energy and immediately makes it clear what they are made of. Extremely personal hardcore, it is very close to the American scene one. I didn’t know much about them, I’ll definitely go into the subject!

Turn Against: Ciro’s little brothers (DLB crew) put their hearts and souls into a 40-minute fiery live show, where their hardcore punk with strong post-hc influences made us sweat a lot! Excellent presence of the singer and music made with feeling and anger. Devastating!

Le Iene: Here we want to applaud those who chose to put this ska/punk band from Ferrara in the after show, as it allowed to extend the party by making the survivors dance and sing, after hours of deadly jumping. Worthy of note is the cover of the theme song from the cartoon “Oggy and the Cockroaches”!

The evening ends and we go to sleep tired, happy and with the gravel in the lungs (damn open stage!), ready to regenerate for day 2, even richer in bands! We thank Ziro and Sanso for their company, for the adventure and for the “treasure hunt” on board their grandmother’s Panda!

 

DAY 2:
We arrive in the area concerts very early, bypassing the bodies of punks coming off the previous evening and between chatting and beer we do not even notice that on stage there is already someone …

Menagramo: the acoustic duo from Brianza with guitar, voice and washboard gives us the best start in a soft way, given the time, and helps to project us into the mood of this musical day.

Arabian Tower: punk rock group from Rome with very catchy riffs. I didn’t know them before and unfortunately I must admit that we missed most of their performance. We will try to make up for this, but certainly from the little we have heard, they are interesting and need to be explored.

First Brawl: a group from Emilia, dedicated to a violent and without compromises hardcore, influenced above all by the American scene. Thanks to a charismatic singer and an unquestionable feeling among them they helped to create the first moshpit of the day. Listen to their album “Turning Point” and get ready to make the room shake. Superb!

Neid: grindcore band coming directly from Viterbo, founded in 2007. We had never seen them live, so we were very curious. We were pleasantly shocked by the devastating impact and surgical precision of the 5 who did not miss a beat. It is really difficult to describe the shock they gave to the audience. Chapeau!

Path & Jenny Woo: great idea to break the mad rhythm of the two previous bands with this concert in acoustic, with the sound of Canadian singer-songwriter Jenny Woo and Pat Atho from Lazio. Their ballads in oi /working class style relaxed and at the same time boosted us!

Choke Wire: it’s up to Choke Wire from Rome. The quintet performed very well, with members of historical bands of the Roman scene, we could not but expect this! Aggressive hardcore and great energy!

The Unborn: We go back to the booze stage, i.e. inside the bar, where the band dress up and perform their simple and effective street punk. Horror, science fiction, noir and thriller movie subjects go hand in hand with their particular style. It was the last concert of The Fog, and we wish him the best!

Hobos: This is a band with a capital “B”. Old acquaintances and friends. Hobos literally set fire to the air with their metal punk or punkish metal (it’s up to you), starting the massacre under stage and raising a dust of sand. An incredible concert, phenomenal musicians and an innate charisma, that of Fabione, that combined with an amazing feeling with the audience made this half an hour unforgettable.

TuNonna: Silvia Sicks comes with two other musicians for their fully acoustic set, where between catchy melodies and witty lyrics, the beer flows, especially on the notes of “Vogliamo Bevere”!

Raw: A group from Cagliari that we have seen again with great pleasure and that never ceases to amaze. Kambo enters the scene, as usual, sadomasochist-style (un)dressed, ready to boost the audience. We love this band madly because their provocation is not sterile and only visual, but aimed at a political criticism of issues such as homophobia and paedophilia in society and in the church. There are also speeches against fascism and racism. A raw and direct punk group, absolutely to see!

CosaNostra: don’t call them a cover band, the band from Bologna manages to dust off in a very personal way classics of the Italian oi, punk and hardcore panorama. Little to say, we enjoyed them a lot!

Slander: to see them among the most awaited names of a fest like this is undoubtedly a pleasure, if we think that many years ago, after seeing them in one of their first performances, we immediately thought that they would make their way. Their relationship with the audience is phenomenal, in fact with their well-studied proposal of hardcore punk mixed with death/thrash metal riffs can immediately involve even the most timid!

Contrasto: the historic hardcore punk band from Cesena was among the most eagerly awaited at the fest. Maybe because their new LP “Politico Personale” here reviewed has just been released, maybe because their songs are hardcore milestones. We jumped so madly that one of us literally flew above the punks on “Tornare Ai Resti” and we sang like crazy until we lost our voices. A sublime set, which starts, as always, with a political speech by Max that you can listen to in the video below. Soon after, “Come il soffitto di una chiesa bombardata” and other historical songs such as “Mai più senza fucile”, “Più di mille parole”, “Democrazia (Un cappio al collo)”, “Labile istante di vuoto”, mixed with songs from their latest album. A big hug to this band made up of fantastic people. You have no idea how much we love you, for your music, words and deeds.

DSA Commando: a great performance by the rappers from Savona. They keep the stage like few others and although the genre is quite different from the rest of the line-up, they can keep people glued to the stage and make people sing and dance!

Tear Me Down: to close the evening it’s up to one of our favourite groups, the historic Tear Me Down, scattered all over Europe and gathered here for the kids and the hardcore punk counterculture. Their concert starts with a necessary introduction by Massimo made on behalf of the group, in which he condemns all macho behavior, followed by “Tu hai perso il mio rispetto”, which in a few seconds causes the moshpit under the stage. From there on, we no longer understand a thing. We sang and jumped to every song. This is because we fully agree with their political thinking, which translates into a powerful punk hc, which gets “in your head, arms and eyes”. Technically all five of them are great musicians, Massimo keeps the stage impeccably and Caciotta… Caciotta you’re great. Super people making up an amazing group!

Distruggi la bassa fest 2018 ends here between alcohol and the last chatter. It was a unique experience made of authentic sociality and great music. Writing this report was not at all easy. We hope to have conveyed to you what we have experienced and to have made you want to continue or start supporting the hardcore punk, which is not only a genre, but it is life!

And now, tops and flops, as always in random order!

Top 4:
1. Zavaglio: this new dialect word, heard several times during the fest, has now entered the vocabulary of Radio Punk! What does that mean? Ask your friend in Emilia about it.
2. Menagramo and the travelling concert: after the concerts, Luca from Saetta Autoproduzioni convinced the duo to play and walk around in the fest among the crowd, creating a bunch of punks that followed them equipped with beer. Absolutely folkloric!
3. Congratulations and a thousand thousand thousand thanks to Distruggi la bassa crew, especially Monta, Bonda, Seddy, Ciro, Formi and… We hope we have not forgotten anyone! The atmosphere was wonderful, with everyone laughing, joking and partying, in the midst of nature and with a thousand thoughts of freedom!
Now everyone to the closing party on July 27th.
4. Pizza-man Beppe: great pizzas and great friendliness!

Flop 2:
1. mosquitoes: maybe they were fewer than in the past years, but they were very bad. I think I saw a couple of them training on a boxing ring…
2. Booze Stage: certainly logistical requirements have imposed this choice, but I would think back twice before putting a stage inside a venue, in July and at a punk concert. The cool thing is that we were all close, but it was too hot! In short, we do not get too paranoid, for the DLB we would also go to a concert in a foundry, but it is a friendly suggestion!

See you next time, folks!

Live report by Zoe and Tom.
Translation by Elvira Cuomo