Interview with Onoda

Here we are with our interview with the italian punk band ONODA. The band is very active in the scene, so let’s find out what they have to say!

C: Canthc (vocals)
R: Radio Punk

R: Hi Guys! Describe your style…

C: Hi! First of all, thanks for your support. This question is very easy for us, we play punk, but we let our listeners label us. We play the same 4 chords and we have a punk attitude. Not much more to say, we are a punk band.

R: Why did you choose the name ONODA?

C: Onoda is the surname of Hiroo Onoda, a ghost soldier from Japan who continued to fight alone in the Philippine jungle after the end of World War I because his task was to never surrender. I’m against militarism but the dedication of this soldier impressed me. Like Hiroo Onoda we don’t give up and we continue to be in the punk scene even though we are in our thirties!

R: Good job, never give up! What would you say about your recent European Tour?

C: Last April we played in Europe with “Four Season One Day”, a punk band from Palermo,Italy. It was an incredible experience and we received an amazing support! We covered great distances, we slept in a van or on the floor, we made new fans and we had great parties every night!

R: Future Projects, Demos, Live shows or other initiatives?

C: Between August and September we’ll play in Italy. It’ll be a sort of Italian tour with Dutch punk band Antillectual. Soon we’ll release a split in vinyl format with Dear Dust, Low Serive and Malamute Kid, which will contain an unpublished project and a cover from all 4 bands. In september Salad Days Magazine will release a compilation in cassette format which will contain one of our unpublished works. We are also organizing an overseas tour…We are very busy!

R: I know that you come from different places in Italy (where in specific?). How can you succeed in your projects and how do you create your songs?

C: As i say in every live show: “Hi! We are Onoda and we didn’t come from a particular place”. In fact I come from Rimini but I study in Urbino, Turi(drums) comes from Palermo but he lives in Milan, Zed(guitars) and Stanga (bass) come from Bologna. Usually we meet few hours before the live shows and we play together. Naturally we write our songs at home and at rehearsals we play them to understand if our ideas are good. For now, this way of doing worked out…but I never actually had doubts about it!!

R: Which topics do you talk about in your lyrics?

C: I write the lyrics and the topics aren’t cheerful. In our lyrics I show my dark side talking about personal experiences, solitude, journeys, defeats, anger, misanthropy and nihilism. These topics are typical of the black metal genre. In fact I don’t listen only to punk music, I also listen to black metal. Sometimes people ask me why I don’t write about social issues and I reply that I must understand how to save myself before saving the world…But I’m sure that I’m not the savior!!

R: So we are at the end of our interview. Thank you very much for being here on Radio Punk! Something you want to say to our readers?

C: Yes, we want to say that the destiny of punk rock depends on all of you. Try to organize concerts with punk bands from other cities or countries and support your local scene. No one will thank you but it’s stupid to complain because there’s nothing to do! Assist your local scene and one day you’ll understand that it was worthwhile.
So, thanks for your support and follow us on our facebook page:
www.facebook.com/onodapunk