recsoftheflesh
current members:
MASSIMO USAI { vocals, guitars, signals } founded the band in 2004
SARA MELIS { dst keys, harmonies } joined in late 2007
PETR STUDIHRAD { drums, hits, fills } joined in spring 2010
FEDERICO LOCHE { bass, buzz } joined in summer 2010
January 2004, Sardinia (ITALY): with the pulse of a striking fever in the back of his head, and a worn copy of W. S. Burroughs’ THE SOFT MACHINE resting upon his floor, MASSIMO USAI (guitars, vocals, signals) felt the moment slipping through his hands. A sense of immediacy, an urgency to capture the moment led him to contemplate RECORDINGS OF THE FLESH.
Later in 2005, he found a cohort in MATTEO PIRAS (guitars) and began to sculpt that living noise within a number of improv sessions. With the aid of ALESSIO ERRANTE (drums), the group subsequently released a demo cd,INTRODUCING APOPHENIA, during the Summer of 2006. MySpace feedback followed, and as quickly as the music came and went, so did the cast of musicians involved. Securing a new line-up with GIAME LOI on bass and EDOARDO VITTORI on drums, they were able to put out a second demo cd, CIGARETTE SECRETS, in February of 2007. A series of live gigs followed and reactions from the audience instigated further experimenting, inspiring the quartet to reach for more. It was then that, while browsing for a record label and well on the way to releasing a full length album, the band suddenly imploded.
Left with little or no explanation at all, USAI was given no other choice but to resume what he had always done, and started to write all new songs with help from SARA MELIS (dst keyboards, harmonies). With a consistent number of new tracks penned and deciding to go for a full length release, the duo was granted recording support by longtime friend JUSTIN “CHOUT” WOOD on bass (half of the Minnesota rock duo SMALL WHITE), and XAVIER “XEVIFOO” DILME on drums (the Catalan owner of Spain’s most viewed YouTube channel in 2007). The four indulged in a serious pre-production process and when summer of 2008 kicked in, it took just 10 crazed days for this oddly assembled group to record, mix and master the final result: ILLUSORY FIELDS OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS, the band’s debut, garnered attention from the international press and brought comparisons to the likes of KILLING JOKE, SONIC YOUTH, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE and PLACEBO.
As 2009 approached, MELIS and USAI kept writing new songs while simultaneously finding out the impossibility of continuous interaction with DILME and WOOD. The discovery led them to find alternate ways of collaboration with local musicians, only to reach the decision to try and find a new path. After being handpicked by Tommy Victor to remix an extra track for PRONG’s POWER OF THE DAMN MIXXXER, and with new tunes about to reach completion, the duo left Italy in search of uncharted territories.
THE PRESENT:
January 2010, Prague (CZECH REPUBLIC): with a worn copy of BILL GIBSON’s SOUND ADVICE ON MIXING resting on his desk, and the urge to snap pictures at the local surroundings, USAI is sitting next to DEREK SAXENMAYER as JAZ COLEMAN is tracking vocals down for the new KILLING JOKE album, down in the depths of FAUST RECORDS. After asking and being granted an internship of sorts in the studios, he is living along with MELIS in the same building where PAUL VINCENT RAVEN spent most of 2005 and 2006 right before joining MINISTRY. The incredible atmosphere inspires the two during the creation of new songs, as the creative environment provides them with a number of chance meetings: one among many being PETR STUDIHRAD (drums, hits, fills), who is helping Czech punk legends VISACÍ ZÁMEK record their upcoming release. Highly impressed by his rock-solid beats, USAI submits the drummer with the new demos and in a matter of hours receives total approval and full-time committment.
The trio spends the summer between FAUST and SYPE STUDIOS to complete pre-production, and finally enter the “basements of hell” in late September to lay down drums with the help of SAXENMAYER. The band then returns to Sardinia to carefully craft bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals at THE CRIMSON DOME, and finalizes mixing and mastering under USAI’s direction within early November of 2010. THE THREAT REMAINS AND IS VERY REAL, the band’s sophomore effort, is comprised of 12 new tracks which display a larger emotive spectre and champion feelings previously unexplored, while retaining the haunting aural quality of the outfit’s sonic experimentations.
As of now, USAI, MELIS and STUDIHRAD have been joined by FEDERICO LOCHE (bass, buzz) and are getting ready to support the album’s release (set for January 21, 2011) with a number of live dates, while currently putting finishing touches to the documentary video which will accompany the new set of songs to be disclosed on JANUARY 2011.
