Interview with Smashsound Collective!

Today we are here with the guys from Smashsound Collective to learn more about this new reality that on September 29th will present its first fest at CSA Next Emerson in Florence. Enjoy reading!

-Radio Punk: Hi guys, welcome to Radio Punk. Would you like to introduce yourselves to our readers?
-Smashsound Collective: Hi guys, thank you for this opportunity! We are a collective of young people who want to organize events to support the local (and not local) scene…. of course our roots are anti-fascism and anti-racism since, unfortunately, nowadays the society in which we live is increasingly detaching from such ideals!

RP: How did you choose your name and what does it mean for you?
S.C.: Let’s say that at the beginning the name didn’t make sense, in fact we chose it because it was a bit cool, then afterwards we found the meaning “SMASH SOUND”: with a nice punk tone it means “destroy the sound”. For us it means breaking a classic sound that has unfortunately dominated the “underground”, that is the fashion of the moment… and supporting groups/projects that still believe in the word attitude as it could be the spirit of the 80s/90s.

RP: We know that your first fest will take place soon, what can you tell us about it?
S.C.: Well, it’s hard to call it a fest, let’s say it’s a normal concert like the others (because honestly we don’t see any difference in the events we organize, for us they’re all important in the same way) we can say that, both behind the organization and during the actual event there’s a big effort… But in our opinion it will be amazing! (let’s touch wood)

RP: We have seen that the proceeds of the fest will be in support of the collective “Da Rifredi ad Afrin”. How does this collaboration come about?
S.C.: As we have already said, we are a collective with strong Antiracist and Antifascist ideals, in fact we have organized on several occasions charity events / dinners and even in this case it seemed fair to support a collective of the Florentine reality. We know that almost no one knows what Afrin is… we are not really joking, we found ourselves explaining what happens in Afrin to adult people. So it seems useful to us to organize charity events to support something we believe in and to make people understand what happens in Afrin, Kurdistan.

RP: As far as the musical part is concerned, instead, tell us a bit about the bands that will play at the fest…
S.C.: There will be two Oi! groups from Leipzig: Spartanics and Sharp X Cut that we caught on tour, then we have Iena, a new Oi/punk 82 project from Florence formed by dear friends of ours, in fact we are happy to have them at the fest as they are going on a nice tour! Then there are Equin Sterk that are an old-fashioned punk band directly from Rosignano Solvay! Finally after the live shows there will be the dj set by Emerson (ska, reggae, 2 tone etc.)!

RP: You were born recently, but you have all our support, because as we read from your manifesto, you also want to support and spread the punk, hardcore, oi, metal, rap countercultures. Can you explain to our readers what music represents for you and how it fits in with a political stance?
S.C.: For us music is everything and without it we couldn’t be in this world that, slowly, is falling into ruin. In several lyrics we see our lives told in music (from the desire to change this society, to the unbearable work that exploits our time in an incredible way, etc.). Thanks to these genres with which we grew up, we managed to have our own mentality and we do not want that the awful characters who can be considered “apolitical” or “fascist / Nazi” can take hand or speculate on one of the few things that we really care about… THE SCENE! We also have a motto that represents all this: “let’s smash all prejudice, let’s support underground sound, it’s our life!

RP: What role do self-productions play for you and what will be your future projects?
SC: Self-productions are an essential thing for our collective. We have tried to make a fanzine that will soon be brought in paper form. For the future we have very little in mind… or maybe not? Support us and you’ll see!

RP: We’re here to greet you, thank you and invite our readers to participate in the “Smashsound Fest Vol.1” and support this young collective! That said, we leave you the free space where you can conclude this interview as you like!
SC: We want to thank you very much and we hope that your project can go on for a long time, you’re great, guys!
We would like to greet two groups, Die Kelleraten from Dresden and Scarfold from Canada!
We have met them in our path and we really consider them brothers, but unfortunately they live many miles away, even if we don’t perceive this distance thanks to our brotherhood.
And of course a big thank you to all the places that gave us the opportunity to make our events and finally to the Nuovi Rumori Collective, our brothers!
See you on September 29th at Next Emerson for a bit of a party! 😀