Interview with Hobos

It’s hard label these guys who belong to the VENEZIA HARDCORE scene with a genre. We can try, but I believe it will more interesting to learn about it with this interview. We’re talking about the Hobos, a quartet that gives it all as if there was no tomorrow. Enough with chit-chat, let’s start this and hear what they have to say!

Line up:
Hobo Fabione: Vocals
Hobo Rizla: Guitar
Hobo Bonsio: Bass
Hobo Pecchia/Hobo Barney: Drums

R: Radio Punk
H: Hobos

-R: Hi guys! Welcome to Radio Punk! Feel free to present yourselves…
-H: UH!

-R: A real brain-teaser: the style of your concert posters is always different, so how can you define your genre? Or you just don’t care at all and let others decide?
-H: To find a place in this world, we defined our genre as street-metal due to the fact that, sound-wise, we owe a lot to Swedish death-metal, but our attitude is not as well-defined and we like to play different styles such as rock’n’roll, hardcore punk and grind. We don’t like to focus on just one sound and each and everyone of us listens to different kinds of music. This is why we feel that we don’t belong to a single genre plus we don’t like to be defined or labeled even though it’s nice to know how other people hear us: sometimes it’s satisfactory and sometimes we just laugh about it.

-R: You playing around Italy and with important bands, which concert did you like the best?
-H: We’re very happy about the concerts and we have to thank all the people that supported us, because they gave great satisfactions. Last year, Dezo and Samall gave us the opportunity to share the stage with bands such as Obituary, Negative Approach and Tragedy, but we can’t forget the people that helped us in smaller realities such as the Undermount Festival in Lorenzago in which location, organization, audience and party levels were above everything…maybe because of the alcohol?! We’re not here to judge.

-R: Future projects? Merchandising, albums, live-shows,…
-H: On the 31st of January we’ll be in Pordenone presenting the split with our brothers, Spavaldery. Later on there will be the split with Border Bastard, a super-band from Trieste. We have a couple of shows scheduled for this year, but we’ll try to visit many different cities just to see where you live the worst.

-R: How come the name Hobos? And where does this passion for the street-life come from?
-H: The Hobos project is a complete regression of the Outsider, music and words for who feels discomfort and can’t conform, for the who like us that plays non-standard music and is treated like a misfit. We try to express ourselves but we’re constantly judged for what we do and it’s hard feel good. All we have are moments in which we don’t feel oppressed. To not get attached to stuff and to learn about ourselves, we decided to turn our lives from imposed expectations to find a way to really live. This is the philosophy behind the hobos.

-R: Lyrics and graphics are really cool. Explain to our readers the subjects and what inspires you…
-H: We try to create images congruent with the project: discomfort, unease and the problems that affect the society seen from the eyes of a hobo-by-choice in modern days.

-R: The scene where you come from, Venezia HC, is growing. Why don’t you talk about your scene and others…
-H: Veneto was always full of bands and people who enjoyed playing, but there never was a common spirit that formed a real group. In the last few years, thanks to the willingness and the effort of people coming from the Venetian hardcore scene or who were just interested, a group was formed and it cooperates to organize concerts in this area. In a time in which djs and private parties done for profit rule, for us musicians and for the audience this was a breath of fresh air. It’s not easy to put together a lot of people and to create a scene, but continuing with this positive spirit that brought us together, we at least hope to leave something good.

-R: I could stay here for hours, but at that point it would become a normal chat. Here we end the interview and this is the moment in which you can freely say what you want (insults, menaces, thoughts,…). Thank you and we’ll see you next time!
-H: Thank you for the space! This is the first sober interview done with the Hobos…eheheh. We’d like to thank all the people that made sure that our efforts wouldn’t go wasted: hobo-fans that are always present, Trivel and Venezia Hardcore, Assurd Records from Modena that gave us the possibility to see our music on a vinyl and all the promoters from around Italy that made us feel like successful hobos for at least one day.

Interview by T.S.