supercaliffano

New Release A.C.I.D Compliant

This is the story about A.C.I.D Compliant, our new ‘ad interim’ EP.

We started recording this album at the end of 2019, like millions years ago, when the terms “wearing a mask” was only related to party and Halloween and Social Distancing was the protection against your garlic-eater friend.

While we were looking for a replacement drummer, we thought that would be nice to release something for our audience so we asked our friend Teo to record the Drum parts of songs that we played live for a while but never released.
The plan was to release it early January, so, on board of the DIY train, we spent a few good evenings in the studio and our Xmas Holidays to mix the whole thing.
We were really excited about the result, but when in January we found the new drummer and started writing tons of new songs, we decided to wait and keep the material for a full length.

Then the pandemic, the lockdown, and all the world went on standby. And we wrote our own spacey blues song over lyrics about this weird and continuous lucid dream.

Ok, then. One new song ‘remotely’ recorded, three songs ready since January, the artwork ready since October, and since we don’t know when will it be safe going into our studio again, let’s deliver the world our ep A.C.I.D Compliant.

So this is the story of how the album was put together. With this little gem, we managed to broaden the sound of our previous work by adding a stronger sci-fi vibe to both music and imagery. It’s a link between the past and the future. A bridge between what we were and what we will be.

Tracklist

1. Hangup My Boots
   A fast rock song about the day you wake up feeling like shit and what you want to do is just enter into your starship and leave the planet.
2. Porthole
   Finally away from everything. Looking for our inner demon...but who's the real demon?
3. A Lucid Dream (Lockdown Blues)
   When your life suddenly changes and all you see are empty towns, faces behind panes, the dreams are the brain fighting for your balance.
4. Everything is Terrible and the house is on fire (Dumb and Dumbest Theme)
   This is the extended version of Dumb and Dumbest Music Industry podcast intro/outro song.

Personell

Dan M - Guitar / Vocal / Synth
Basetta - Bass / Synth
Dan S - Drums

Drums on Hangup My Boots - Teo Ravelli https://www.facebook.com/kingbongofficial/

Mixed and Mastered by Daniele Murroni @ McCoy Cave.
Artwork by Poison Project (https://www.facebook.com/poison.project/)

by supercaliffano

Bandlife during Covid-19 – Part 2

Here is the second batch of bands who contacted us to tell their story about how this pandemic affected their plans. Things are moving fast and comparing to the last week UK is in full lockdown while the US is planning to close few states.

Hope everyone is staying safe and keeping the social distancing. We are doing it and we can say it's not easy living with human interactions for a long time.

Elepharmers

One of the bands I love the most, Elepharmers are a heavy fuzz trio from Sardinia. I've talked with El-Chino, one of the two guitarists of the band and main vocals, about their cancelled European tour. Here is what he says:

"We planned a tour to promote our latest album Lords of Galaxia, released in November 2019 for Electric Valley Records. The tour was organised with the help of the associations Monolithix and Agitoriu and included 10 shows between Northern Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Being in Italy, where the COVID hit first we had the feeling that our tour was jeopardised since mid-February and we started talking with the promoters and venues hosting the shows explaining what was going on in Italy, especially in Lombardia which was the region where we had few shows booked.
We believed it was too risky to start a tour in those times and just after agreeing with the Swiss and German promoters that the best option was to cancel the shows the Italian government decreed the health emergency and the lockdown of the whole country.

After months of hard work, after booking accommodations, transportations, our tour was cancelled. It would have been an opportunity to meet new audiences, play in cities never seen before and at the same time meet old friends and consolidate the work of the 2018 tour.

But we feel like our tour and concerts are the last concern. The whole world is in standby fighting the war against this invisible and deadly enemy. We hope this nightmare will end soon and everyone starts to live normally again."

Bandcamp: https://elepharmers.bandcamp.com/
Shop: https://elepharmers.bigcartel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elepharmers/

Almost Honest

Almost Honest are a funk doom rock band from New Cumberland, Pa. They wrote to me their story.
“We had a New England tour get cancelled and next month we were going to be heading to Canada for the first time. That's looking like it is going to get cancelled as well. We ordered merch and albums for the tour and now we have a surplus. Any help in any way would be much appreciated. Below are links to our website, Facebook and Bandcamp. We would greatly appreciate the help. Thank you so much”.

Website: https://www.almosthonestofficial.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlmostHonestOfficial/
Bandcamp: https://almosthonestpa.bandcamp.com/album/seiches-and-sirens-2

Hexum

Hexum is a Party Stoner Punk and Roll outfit from Canton, Ohio. Here what they say:
"The Corona Virus has cancelled out shows this weekend and next weekend and put a delay on our recording process do to some of our guys getting called into work on the days they had off.”

Bandcamp: https://hexum.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hexumband/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHDq92cQ8fo

Iron Kingdom

The Canadian Iron Kingdom were far away from home when the emergency put a stop on their tour. Here what Chris, the singer and one of the guitarists of the band, told us:
“We were on tour in Europe having out main festival cancel just days before our performance, we were relying on the show for much of our expenses, we will survive, but a little help will be appreciated”
They safely reached their hometown, but they had to stay isolated for 14 days due to the mandatory quarantine.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironkingdom
Website: https://www.iron-kingdom.com

Viridius

Ryan from the melodic death metal band Viridius reached out and tells his story:

“Fortunately, we were not hit as hard as other bands, but we have been taking a three-month hiatus to prepare new material and strengthen our live performances and were finally going to return to the stage on starting on the 6th of March.
Fortunately, that was unaffected by world events, but the shows that followed on the 17th of March, as well as a handful for April, have been cancelled due to the quarantine.

Of course, we support this decision and feel the quarantine/lockdown is the right approach to such a serious situation, but we have worked quite hard establishing the connections we've made to try and put the next batch of shows together and it is quite frustrating starting from the beginning again!”

You can find more about Viridius on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViridiusMDM
Bandcamp: https://viridius.bandcamp.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7wG3d29XzByqke0yRBDfqc?si=97yiZaxRTsqGsIM-kSHi9w

by supercaliffano

Bandlife during Covid-19 - Part 1

The past days have been intense for everyone. Due to the Pandemic emergency, everyone’s activities met a stop sign. This is for the safety of everyone and we understand that.

I chatted with a couple of bands whose tour and gigs or other music-related activities have been cancelled due to this worldwide state of emergency.  For small bands, gigs and tours are the most significant sources of income so I ask you to show your support if you can: like their pages, subscribe to their newsletter, buy some music or merch, drop them a message. Anything can help.

Here is the first batch. Here are their stories.

Imaginary Dreamers

Imaginary dreamers are a Heavy / Grunge trio based in London. We are friends and we shared stages several times. I knew they were excited about their European weekender tour planned for the end of March. After reading that it has been cancelled, I've contacted them and here is their story.

“Imaginary Dreamers was supposed to play a long weekend of shows in the Netherlands and Belgium in the last weekend of March 2020. 

As the virus started spreading over multiple countries, the band was keeping a close eye on the latest news and developments in not the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.K.

But when the Coronavirus reached the European continent, the band found themselves in an uncertain position and when the Netherlands and Belgium went into isolation and travel restrictions were put into place, the shows got into troubled water. 

Not long after that, the first show cancellation in Wormerveer (NL) got confirmed.

Putting extra thought into the current worldwide situation, the band acted quickly on cancelling the other 2 shows to reschedule them to a later time this year. One day after the cancellation, both the Netherlands and Belgium announced forced the closing of all bars and restaurants.

Having spent a big amount of money on the ferry crossing from Harwich (UK) to Hoek van Holland (NL) the band wasn’t sure if they would be allowed a refund. A few days ago the band received confirmation from the ferry company that the band is allowed rescheduling, but only once, free of charge.

A new date has been confirmed for the show in Wormerveer on 25th September. The other 2 venues are being contacted, and hopefully, they can be booked for the same weekend. 

These are difficult times for all performers, but in the end, the health and well-being of humanity is priority number 1. The band has currently gone into writing mode. 

When the situation improves, Imaginary Dreamers will be ready to bring new material to the stage”.

Bandcamp: https://imaginarydreamers.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imaginarydreamersofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imaginarydreamersofficial/

Grave Next Door

The Doom/Sludge Band from Grand Rapid, Michigan started their tour in Texas on the 13th of March. As the days went on and the emergency grew, they found them playing in empty venues,  which means no merch sales. Also, one of their unofficial SXSW festivals was cancelled.

You can read their tour diary on http://www.alternativecontrolct.com/

Buy their music and merc on Bandcamp: https://gravenextdoor.bandcamp.com/

Psyclops

Guerd from Psyclops - a rock/metal act based out of Portland, Oregon reports that the recent cancellations of events due to Coronavirus have been pretty devastating for their band. He’s what it says:

“Our story is that we have spent the last 6 months to record, polish, promote, and schedule events for our debut record titled 'Amalgam' (planned release on April 4th, 2020) and, as a result of all that is going on, have not only had to cancel the release show that we spent a ton of time and energy into planning but also a mini-tour we were planning to help promote.

This record is very personal to us because it represents a major milestone in our journey together as musicians and having our plans fall apart like this means we're not only suffering from a financial impact but feeling pretty low and could use all the help we can get.

We want to treat our fans and help lift spirits by releasing our record early THIS FRIDAY (March 20th) exclusively on Bandcamp (https://www.psyclopspdx.bandcamp.com) as pay what you want”

Torn Away

Bass player Joe from the Flint, Michigan based melodic groove metal band Torn away, wrote to me to tell me what’s happening there. 

“The scene in Flint is kind of small, but we are very supportive of each other. There are about 5 places to play here that will allow heavy, original music. As of now. 4 of them are closed down. The governor has put our county into a state of emergency and also banned gatherings of more than 250 people. We are hoping we can play then. When times are tough, people need music more than ever!

We are actually in the process of recording our debut album, so if we could have people go to our Facebook page and connect with us, that would be great. It's located at http://www.facebook.com/tornawayofficial”

The Stone Eye

Stephen from The Philadelphia based band Stone Eye reports: “Just today (16th of March) we had to cancel the remainder of our March tour which was in support of our latest record, Ventura, which had been released only two weeks prior”

Bandcamp: https://thestonedeye.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestoneeyeband/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheStoneEye/

by supercaliffano

Everything is Terrible and The House is on Fire

Hope you are good and safe. We are self-isolating but we are fine for now.
Almost one year ago we wrote a theme song for the music industry podcast "Dumb and Dumbest"  hosted by Matt Bacon, Curtis Dewar and Keith Chachkes on Ghost Cult Magazine.

The short song "Everything is Terrible and the House is on Fire" is so cool that we decided to release it on Bandcamp in free download.  Of course, you can name your price and give us some quids in exchange which will go 100% to us as Bandcamp is waiving all the revenue sales today, March 20, from midnight to midnight PST

by supercaliffano

We've got a new drummer!

We’re stoked to introduce you to the New Gramma Vedetta Drummer, Daniele.

Previously a member of Black Elephant (Small Stone Records) and Motorcycle Beast (Astilleros records), his loud and colourful drumming style is the one we needed to boost our engines.

BOOM!

by supercaliffano

In the News: Proof of Concept reviews

It's been a while since the last post, we've been very busy working on exciting projects for 2019 so beware of big news coming up soon.

But now it's time to sum up what 2018 has brought us so far, so here is our review of the reviews we got from the press about our debut EP "Proof of Concept". The album has been released on the 29th October and it's available on our bandcamp profile for purchase on digital download or on a very scrumptious and tangible Digipack format. Feeling lazy? Just ask Alexa to play it for you on Spotify.

Sounds good? Bad? Are we going anywhere? Let's see..

"Proof of Concept" received a prime position on Blessed Altar Zine webzine. We were thrilled and thankful to have been given the premiere for the album, which gave us space for a detailed interview and an awesome review.
Thanks guys, you made our day! Your coverage gave the album such a big boost.

"Highly recommended to fans of power trios across ages, from Cream to Motörhead, and from The Police to Silverchair, as well as to seekers of fresh, new sounds and vibes in rock & metal. 9/10 Emil/UHF"

Distorted sound Magazine gave us a respectful 6 out of 10 pointing out that, despite our music core is solid, we let our music influences take over at times. Not all is lost because they noted that "The stand out songs on this record, however, take a less heavy-handed approach to paying respect to other musicians and really let the core of this specific band shine". Thanks guys, we appreciate the constructive criticism. We have grown a lot since we started and in our journey of self discovery we became an increasingly solid unit. We are sure that you will appreciate our next work and that our uniqueness will come out strongly!

Ops! Guess what?  Indy Metal Vault had a very different opinion and thinks that we did pretty well! The blog gave the album a fantastic B+ and highlighted that, for a band who presented itself as grunge, we managed to incorporate so many ideas in our songs which gave the album an almost a proggy vibe.
We totally agree if you see Prog as a blend of styles as opposed to the usual odd time signature on 20minutes length songs. We start from a grunge feel and then we go where our inspiration takes us. This is our take of 'Seattle in London' and of the 90s twenty years later (and we are over 27 years old lolnotlol).

"For such a short release, they pack a lot into it. Once all of the musical density is squeezed out, you can still find fun little moments that reflect radio rock and vocal harmony, so it’s not super hard to get behind"  Thanks Nichalas for your words.

Third Eye Cinema somewhat agreed with Indie Metal Vault. They gave us a nice small review referring to our stoner side: "[..]t’s a bit all over the place, particularly for a band that most closely appends to stoner rock. But just like last time [in reference to a previous review of the single Address Unknown] It’s pretty good". So definitely a CD that goes in the player, not under your mug or a wobbly table!

Positive review from Merchant of Air who nailed the underlying funny vibe of our songs. Yes we are heavy, we can go slow or fast, but most importantly are definitely having fun. "This EP is loaded with energy, fun and rock 'n roll.[..]. So grab a beer and join me in the pit!". Cheers mate!

We also got an awesome paper review on Power Play Magazine, issue 215. You can read the full review by getting your copy on their website or your local newsagent.
"For a small band, member wise, they certainly produce a big sound. To be able to incorporate various styles as well as keeping their own genre shows great progression. 'Proof of Concept' equals proof of promise".
Thanks Claire for your awesome words about the album.

What we think: Not bad at all for this set of songs written on the first few months we've been playing together. We started in a good way.

Lesson learned: when doing a press release, try to reduce references to your music influences to a minimum and try to be generic over your music genre -  This will certainly avoid biases! LOL

And you, what do you think about the album? Listen to "Proof of Concept" on bandcamp or spotify and let us know!

by supercaliffano

Proof of Concept EP on pre-order on bandcamp

It's finally happening!

Following the one-track Pirate Session demo and the well-received release of three singles, we are finally releasing our long awaited debut EP Proof of Concept, much to the excitement of ourselves and our fans.

The album will be out on the 29th of October and released in digital and digipack. Preorder it on Bandcamp

The album was recorderd between August 2017 and December 2017 using different studios in London and Italy.

Proof of Concept contains four new unreleased song alongside the previously release singles Taranto Train to Toronto Town, Behind the Blinds and Address Unknown

Tracklist

1. Behind the Blinds
2. The Glitch
3. Taranto Train to Toronto Town
4. The Other Side
5. She (Has a Plan)
6. Address Unknown
7. Oxygen

Credits

All song by Gramma Vedetta

Mixed and mastered in Spain by Guillermo 'Will' Maya except "Oxygen" mixed and mastered by Dan

Artwork by Gramma Vedetta

Photos by Alicedionis

by supercaliffano

In the press - June 18

Hello there,

If you landed on this page probably you're interested in music. Especially our music. Or maybe you just clicked a link by mistake.

Whatever the weather, the following sentence has been written only with the purpose of make this blog post indexed better. Don't be shy and discover The 10 secrets to boost your band presence online and build your fan base.

Ok, going back on track. Things are starting moving.

We are very glad every time someone shows interest in our band, either asking for an interview or including one of our song in their playlist.

Gramma Vedetta world domination is starting with the right foot.

Said so, the following is a collection of what has been said on the internet about Gramma Vedetta during the few last months.

Interviews

Dan's interview on XsRock
Gramma favourite things on Glacially Musical
Gramma on Pete's rock news and views.
Gramma on Nine Circles

Reviews

Third Eye Cinema Our first Review ever (This is a looooong page so press CTRL+F and then type Gramma)
Metalzone.gr (Greek Language)

Playlists

Playlistobscura with Behind the Blinds
Playlistobscura with Address Unknown

The Shrieks from below
https://theshrieksfrombelow.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-shrieks-from-below-podcast-show.html (Address Unknown Ep. 105)

The Sludgelord
https://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2018/06/track-premiere-gramma-vedetta-deliver.html (Address Uknown premiere)

Fuzz Heavy
http://www.fuzzheavy.com/podcast/fuzzheavy-podcast-episode-108-new-release-friday/ (Behind the Blinds first play )

Last but not least, thanks to Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR for the good job done!

Please contact us if you find other content that we missed.

Gramma Vedetta

by supercaliffano

New single: Address Unknown

We're going to release a new single on the 15th of June. We're very proud of this piece 'cause it's a great example of Gramma Vedetta teamwork.
It has been written just a couple of weeks before entering the studio to record it.

We've built Address Unknown starting from a bluesy jam over two alternating chords while our zoom recorder was capturing everything we were playing.

Thanks to the drop C tuning  and the Big Muff most of the guitar parts have Down/Corrosion of Conformity flavour, the bass seems having Geezer Butler and John Paul Jones as Godfathers and a sober Ozzy Osbourne echoes in the vocal lines.

The lyrics are in first person. There's someone trying to heal someone else's mind. A mind that is too messy that catches the listener in a vortex of bad thoughts. This is what we painted in the instrumental section.

The Cover

While thinking about the cover art for this single, Dan was impressed by the works of Terry Palamara . She's a London based prolific author of collages and painting and a professional working on the video industry.

One of her works was reflecting exactly the feeling expressed by the sounds and lyrics of Address Unknown. It's beautiful, it's gloomy, it's damaged.

Thanks to let us using your work!

The Lyrics

Address Unknown

I want to talk to you.
I need to talk to you.
I know about your secret.

Tell me, what’s the deal?
You seem trapped between wheels..
and there’s no chance for you to leave

You should reset your brain
And focus on your dreams
I’m sure you’ll be fine again.

No one put a spell on you
You just let things go out of hands.
I’m happy to be here to give you help

You’ve got everything but you lost yourself
Don’t feel ashamed to cry for help

Do you want to defuse my brain? I'll give you this warning:
Avoid any short circuit, I’m triggered this morning.

Behind the scene footage.

by supercaliffano

Who's hiding Behind the Blinds

This second single, "Behind the Blinds" is quite different in structure and sound from the previous one "Taranto Train to Toronto Town".

We really enjoyed writing and arranging it and its a pleasure playing it on our shows.

Dan wrote "Behind the Blinds"  as an acoustic blues. (N.d.a: The original title was Gramma Vedetta - the band didn't existed yet - but then we changed to Behind the Blinds because having a song with the same name of the band is too lame ).

This explains why the verses and the chorus melodies can be sung while taking a shower.

We jammed a lot around the original version and what we've got is a solid song  built on heavy blues riffs and some prog time signature (Rush anyone?). The song still maintain the original bluesy groove.

The guitar solo, which is one of the two contained in the whole set of song we recorded, is split in two parts: the first one is a psychedelic trip where two guitars on acid fights on each side of the stereo image, supported by an odd signature bass and drum groove.

The second part of the solo is a tribute to Alex Lifeson and Jimmy Page, both in the choice of notes and in the guitar sound. A classic rock solo introducing the third and final chorus.

Yes, thanks, but what are the lyrics about?

This is a controversial topic among the band, but it looks like Dan wrote about some sort of big brother (or better big sister).  From the lyrics we understand that the differences from 1984 character is that the main character of "Behind the Blinds" is a benevolent entity.

Dan doesn't give us more details about the song, which leave space for interpretation.

Who do you think is hiding Behind the Blinds?

Behind the Blinds

by supercaliffano