Interview with A.I.D.S.

Our chat with A.I.D.S. from Pordenone 

Here we are with A.i.d.s (“Amici inseparabili di sempre” “the inseparable friends ever”). This new band from the province of Pordenone has just published its first album “Spazi Aperti, Muri Ovunque”, after having performed several concerts during the last year. So, let’s see what the inseparable friends ever tell us!Here we are with A.i.d.s (“Amici inseparabili di sempre” “the inseparable friends ever”). This new band from the province of Pordenone has just published its first album, after having performed several concerts during the last year. So, let’s see what the inseparable friends ever tell us!

Radio Punk: Hi friends, and welcome! According to tradition, introduce yourselves in complete freedom to the ones who don’t know you… 
Aids: The idea of starting a band occurred to Sbando (bassist) and GG (singer). Our ideal sound was early 80s hardcore, and GG always wanted to join a band in which he could only sing without tending to the guitar. So, in the Chinese pub we created this project!

RP: Explain us, how did you conceive the band name and what does it mean to you?
A: The name was devised by Dezo (drummer), who wanted a powerful name that reflected the sarcasm we treat ourselves with, as you can see in our lyrics too. The acronym came out in an absolutely carefree way. Giving a deeper meaning to it, AIDS is a illness created by the mankind, and this reflects a lot the modern society, which is particularly intended to self-destruction.

RP: Your first album “Spazi Aperti, Muri Ovunque” has just came out, presented at the great-Eddy’s Bar XXIV di Fiaschetti in Caneva (Pordenone). What do you recount about it to us?
A: This album is… simply what we are: brief, aimed, intense, and non-stop. Short songs without frills that were arose quickly and brought out easily. As soon as we had some songs ready, we live recorded them at Vendra (guitarist)’s Dirty House thanks to Serpico’s technical support. We also thank Alan for creating our logo and Elia for the artwork. Sounds are authentic and shows how we play live, that is essential for us.

RP: Which contents do you deal with in your lyrics?
A: Our lyrics borrow from all that we face nowadays, that is being addicted to technology and social networks, having become so narcissistic and more generally how we tend to overrate ourselves as human beings. We should be humbler and see ourselves how we really are. The peculiar thing, that we like, is that the lyrics are written by all of us, to some extent. Initially we used the cut-up technique: each one of us wrote a few words which were disconnected from the previous sentence, that couldn’t be seen. Then GG took and summarized them, doing a puzzle and giving a logical meaning. The result is an open text with different interpretation.

RP: Which are the bands and artists that influenced you most? And how important was your experience in other bands?
A: We’re influenced by 80s hardcore punk, as said before, with a little bit of post-punk too, and regarding the bands we’d like to mention G.L.O.S.S., a transfeminine queercore band. We were fascinated by the fact that Epitaph Records offered them a contract, but they told the label to fuck off, and they even split up.The previous bands helped us to achieve a bond between us and be quicker in composing and coordinating, as well as putting limits and needs that maybe we couldn’t satisfy in the other bands.

RP: How is your live act going? What feedback did you obtain? Have you already planned a tour?
A: So far we got a really good feedback, we have been even contacted blindly due to our experiences in other bands. We’re really happy to have played and going to play shows outside the Pordenone area: this was a little bit difficult for us before, since we come from a not so bustling scene. Now things can only get worse! Hahaha!

RP: How do you see the current punk state? What are the differences you find compared to when you took your first steps in the music field?
A: In Pordenone there are far fewer bands, but there are many around Italy. There are a lot of active scenes and so I may say that it’s in good health. More than the music genre is the attitude, the punk mentality that still lives on, because there are a lot of subgenres, variations, development. Maybe sometimes we don’t support much each other, but there are a lot of groups. Many times it happens that there are three or more events in the same night. Then, more regions are more active than others. 

RP: Which value and role do you assign to the DIY aspect? And to the cultural, social and political ones?
A: DIY is the basis. We did things following the DIY ethics even before we knew what it meant! It wouldn’t be punk without DIY. For example, we recorded our album here by us, and this is really satisfying for us, as well as morally fair.Even though we didn’t start this band to be political activists (we don’t care about it), we are not completely indifferent to political matter, and you can guess this by some lyrics like the ones of “La Prova Dello Specchio” or “L’Imbarazzo Della Scienza”, in which we criticize also Lega Nord party fascist supporters. In conclusion, we are against this present situation for sure, and we play in social centres and support them actively, too.

RP: Looking at some videos and reading some lyrics by you, we noticed an ironic, comic and trash part. How come you chose to include this elements?
A: Surely to lampoon. Irony is the key to spread some messages without pointing your finger at somebody and without giving others a talking-to or instruct them. As a genre, punk has to bother, go against the grain. Trash and goliardery are sides of irony.

RP: What are your future projects and long-cherished dreams that you hope will come true? 
A: The world peace! Hahaha. There’s nothing to hope. Hahaha! We just have to work hard, play as much as possible, everywhere, and create the more relationships we can. After all, we make music just for passion, without any expectations, taking what we get!

RP: Well, it’s time for greetings, thank you all for this interview, now we leave you the usual free space where you can say whatever you want to our readers! Thanks, until next time!
A: Goddammit! What you want us to say… Realize the fucking world you live in! Pay taxes and our pension, and thanks a lot Radio Punk!