Rise After Defeat are five guys from Italy and they’ve just released their debut album on Strikedown Records. With a desire to play true music from the heart, they made spreading a hardcore ethics and integrity one of their top priorities. I thought it would be cool to get in touch with them and find out closer what they’re about and what is the scene like in their area.
Rise After Defeat are five guys from Italy and they’ve just released their debut album on Strikedown Records. With a desire to play true music from the heart, they made spreading a hardcore ethics and integrity one of their top priorities. I thought it would be cool to get in touch with them and find out closer what they’re about and what is the scene like in their area.
What's up with Rise After Defeat? How has 2009 been for you so far?
Hello Dloogi, I'm Carlo we're doing pretty good. 2009 for us it was a rough year, but it was also full of personal satisfaction. We can say that we have grown a lot since we started to play.
You guys recently dropped your new album, how has that been? What can we be expecting from it?
Yes, our first full length album was released just last Thursday . The album was released by StrikeDown Records, my new label.We recorded it in the end of September 2009. The album contains 10 tracks. 30 minutes. Hate, rage, pain, life and many sacrifices characterize this album. Nearly 200 copies have already been given to the DISTRO for the worldwide distribution.This is a great satisfaction !!
How would you describe your style of hardcore?
In a word? TRUE....for those who don't know us I can say that our Hc is for fans of Sick Of It All, Terror, and Death Before Dishonor. We take lots of inspiration from these bands and from everything we listen to.
Italy was famous for its strong hardcore/punk scene back in the 80’. Did bands like Wretched of Raw Power have any effect on you?
RawPower and Negazione, were two of the biggest italian hardcore band of all time. They were the first to turn around Europe and the States. They are a part of the hardcore history.
What's inspiring you to write your lyrics? Is there any running message for the album?
Almost all lyrics are written by me, I love songwriting, it's something that allow me to spit out my rage, and to express what I think of the situations I live. I don't like to talk about something I don't know. I'd rather talk about the situations that I live day by day, that I feel on my skin. Basically, I'd like to give people the opportunity to understand what we want to say, and give their own meaning to it. The situations we live are ours and no one else's, but there are lots of people that can make their own our message. The album has no specific message, it's just to let the people know what is like to live here.
Okay, so let's take it back. How did the group come about?
Matteo and me had a band in the past, but we didn't do anything good. This until Matteo called to tell me that he found three new members (Michele, Christian and our former bass-player),then we started playng,a little bit hesitating at first,but whit more and more passion as we went on.
When did your interests in hardcore start personally? What did you find most appealing about it?
I became interested in hardcore when I was about 12. I was a skater who listened to punk music. I went skating with Nicola and Andre of GOLD-KIDS,who at the time were members of TRUTH IN MY HANDS (the best Cagliari hardcore band of all time,IMHO). One day, Nicola gave me a tape with H2O and STRIKE ANYWHERE albums, I loved this music from the first moment I heard it, THAT was the music for me..Slowly I started to know more and more bands and to recognize myself in that life-philosophy, and I became, naturally as breathing, a hardcore-kid.
What has been the proudest moment with this band so far?
We think that our proudest moments were our first shows, the awareness of finally getting out of the rehearsal room and show what we are capable of. We still are very proud, and the release of our first album just the past week has enlarged our ego a lot!we're still humble,though...
What was the most stupid thing that happened to you on stage?
Once when we played in a show, I gave a kick in the air, but I lost balance and fell off... LOL...another time, Michele screwed up three times the starting of a song, and it took a while for him to recover from his paralysis and remember which song was to play..LOL.. well,shit happens.
What are your favorite current hardcore bands?
I like very much bands such, Terror, Sick of it all, Strife, No Turning Back, Death before dishonor and much more bands, Roby: Raised fist, Sottopressione, Terror etc etc, Matteo: Sick of it all, Hatebreed, Raised Fist etc etc..Cry : Terror / Black Flag, Minor Threat and many oldschool american hc bands etc etc.. Michele: Hatebreed / Terror / First Blood and many hardcore-metal bands.
What would you say to people who bitch that beatdown and breakdowns is not what hardcore is all about?
We love the breakdown parts, but the hardcore ain't just a 2-step and mosh-parts, it's something more. We aren't Toughguys or emocore-guys..we're a hardcore-kids, breakdown music parts are cool, but if you don't have the hc attidude or you don't have anything to say, you cannot say that you play hardcore music...hc is about playing kick ass music at its utmost, and spitting your hate as well.
"We're isolated from everything, that you could call "scene". We dont have a real hardcore scene, and there are no places to play, there's nothing here for us......" What do you think of hardcore scene in your area? Are things really that bad?
Sardinia is a small island, under the Corsica..isolated from everything and dominated by monotony and hypocrisy, all that was now is dead..The few hardcore bands who live in it , with many passion and sacrifices ,try to escape from this cage "called home", but this is not easy, such as playing in Italy, they're forced to cross the sea, and this is very expensive. Here, there are no places to play, only a few pubs for drunkards, and many clubs for trendy dudes. The clubs often don't pay, and there's not a movement that can be called hardcore scene..Most hc-bands are jealous of each other, and this doesn't lead to anything.. We are on good terms with the best bands in the Sardinian landscape, such as GoldKids (myspace.com/goldkids), Ashes of Betrayal (myspace.com/ashesofbetrayal), My own Prison (myspace.com/myownprisonhc), Curse This Ocean (myspace.com/cursethisocean) and Paintrue (myspace.com/paintrue)..With these bands we shared the stage and experience, they are our friends, between us there's support, help and many advices..this union gives us strength..
Your singer Carlo works at "Free Mind Tattoo" in Quartu S.Elena. Does everybody in the band got tattoos and what are some you’re most proud of?
MICHELE: just carlo and roberto are tattooed,but we other RADs would like them as well.We're just waiting for inspiration. Carlo is particularly proud about the "Sick Of It All" dragon in his leg and the "Overcome" writing(a terror song) on his knuckles.
What are your plans with the band for 2010? What goals would you still like to achieve?
We'd like people to know and enjoy our music, 'cause there's nothing more satisfying than a person who knows your songs and sings them along with you.We are looking forward for a tour in Italy and Europe
Any final comments?
Thanks to HARDBOILED WebZine for being interested in us. I hope one day all of you reading this interview can see us performing..if anyone of you is interested in helping us for shows or any other thing, you can e-mail us at riseafterdefeat@ymail.com or strikedownrecords@ymail.com....in the meanwhile, take a look at our web pages : myspace.com/riseafterdefeat - twitter.com/riseafterdefeat - riseafterdefeat.blogspot.com - myspace.com/strikedownrec......MORE STAGE DIVES!!!! Carlo Articolo
