Klimt 1918 - Biography
Biography
Klimt 1918 waa born from the ashes of Another Day, unlucky act from Rome, Italy, which many of you out there will certainly remember, since authors of the brilliant début demo "Youth (the castle of illusions)", tape that obtained favourable opinions on a good part of the specialized musical magazines of that period. It was 1996 and the band proposed a fairly good death-doom merely of English school, with strong references to bands such as My Dying Bride and the early Anathema.
In 1997 Another Day sign for the label 'Gardens of Grief Rec.' and prepare to unleash their mini debut mini-Cd, "Fireworks Outside (Black butterflies over the petals of the sun)" which, due to several problems with the phantom label above-mentioned, unfortunately will never see the light... of the day.
A year later, after having brought some changes into the line-up (above all the entrance at drums of Paolo Soellner, former-guitarist Marco's brother), Another Day record a new promo entitled "Be nothing but a bit of cold" but in October 1999, after some months of agony, the band splits up.
The reasons of the split are several. First of all the conflict born about the musical path to follow. Bass-player Adriano Neri doesn't particularly like the progressive softening of the new compositions: he's the member of the band much more devoted to the artistic proposal of the first hour and namely technical and complex death metal, very long songs and growling vocals. The idea of music for Marco couldn't be farther than what proposed in the debut demo instead. In addition to Katatonia, Opeth, October Tide, Anathema and Beyond Dawn, all bands belonging to the metal sphere, has already started listening to different material sincetime, asbolutely distant from the heavy sonorities of the past. He discovers Beatles, immortal songs as 'While my guitar gently weeps', 'Something', 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamond', 'Eleonor Rigby', which make him understand how possible can be expressing a lot even writing a song containing a few verses, a few riffs and a central refrain. He remains ravished by that old style approach, always efficient and expressionist of making music and everything considered thinks that, except some rare example (Katatonia and some songs of Anathema), the bands that he listens don't apply to that form song, concetrating themselves on the construction of complicated riffs, marvellously harmonius, but of course after all not much involving. Therefore his first aim, once the adventure of Another Day is over, is creating a new musical project able to sum up the musical suggestions of avantgarde, Scandinavian & English doom metal with the immediacy of pop.
Another essential band for Marco's musical & compositive growth are The Cure of Robert Smith. In December 1999, exactly 10 years after its official release, he buys "Disintegration", an immense album for him, that probably made him discover one of the greatest bands of the last 20 years. Since 1998 he had already bought and assimilated many cds of other glorious bands of the past, such as Bauhaus ( 'She's in Parties', 'Dark Entries', the cover of 'Ziggy Stardust' are real must), Joy Division, Tears For Fears (those of "Songs from the Big Chair"), Siouxie and the Banshees, Talk Talk ('Such a Shame', 'It's my life'), Duran Duran, The Smiths and New Order, but however nothing comparable to the band of Robert Smith. The melodies of The Cure, as well as the all consuming poetics of their lyrics, immediately conquer him. And thus, put aside death metal, he gets lost in 'Apart', 'Plainsong', 'Doing the unstuck', 'Charlotte sometimes', 'The kiss', The drowning man', 'Just like heaven', all songs which become his fixed listenings. The more appreciated thing of The Cure is the ability that their songs have to blend melancholy and joy of living, something of absolutely faraway from the restless and redundant celebrations of a great part of gothic metal bands (see the discouraged lyrics of Katatonia and those irremediably sugary of H.I.M. and good company; opinion that personally I don't share at all - Mery's note). So he thinks that if he wanted to create a band, he had to at least be able to equal The Cure in this.
In November 1999, vocalist/guitarist of Another Day, Fabio Brienza, leaves for the U.S.A. and meanwhile even the bass-player Adriano Neri isn't of the party anymore. The well known Novembre, after the premature abandonment of Alessandro Niola, the historical bassist who played on the album "Classica", urgently need a session-bass player and Adriano seems to exactly be the right person for them, so that a few weeks later Novembre leave with him for the European Tour.
Marco and his brother Paolo remain all alone. Marco says that for some a certain period they're the only two guys rehearsing in the room, that is terribly empty, and the vibe isn't very encouraging. Marco thinks many times that, although the idea of arranging new songs is exciting, the step which separate them from the definitive end is very brief.
They just don't give up instead and contact Francesco Tumbarello, a friend of Adriano's, as well as old acquaintance of Another Day themselves and very valid guitarist, and so decide to make some rehearsals together. The first songs arranged are 'Schmerzwerk 1976' and 'Fever', two songs on which the band had already started working with the previous line-up. They add some harmonizing of guitar and Marco writes some new vocal melodies. Our guys immediately feel fine together and decide to continue like this.
The new monicker of the band is Klimt 1918, a name that had already come into Marco's head since some time. Loving the Austrian painter and all the other artists of the Secession, he thinks it's a brilliant idea. The music of Klimt 1918, as the pictures of Klimt and Schiele, is half-way between Expressionism and Decorativism and this represents the link between essentiality of the new wave and the grand electric complexity of metal.
He adds the final 1918 after having read the famous historical-anthropological essay entitled "The Short Century" by Hobsbavn (hope this is the correct English translation!), who asserts that the 20th century was officially born in 1918, when the First World War finished, and came to and end in 1989, with the fall of the communism and the wall of Berlin. A short century exactly, that begins the same year in which Gustav Klimt himself dies.
Marco finds all this very evocative. He likes thinking about the music of Klimt 1918 as a sign of connection & break among different periods. The final 1918 perfectly incarnates this suggestion and, for certain aspects, marks like the beginning of a new day.
Besides, the date postponed to the name also wants to be his own personal homage to Bauhaus: the band of Peter Murphy formed in 1979 with the monicker of Bauhaus 1919, but then their producer chose for the shorter form which nowadays everyone knows.
In December 1999, Klimt 1918 decide to replace Adriano Neri at bass. In that period Marco also played guitar with the Romans brutal-deathsters Corpse Fucking Art and it's their leader Andrea Cipolla who gives him the phone number of a certain Davide Pesola, ex-member of the brutal act above-mentioned whom, at that time, played bass in a band from Anzio that reminded of My Dying Bride/Katatonia.
The week after Davide accepts to try playing with Klimt 1918, with whom immediately feels at ease, learning 'Schmerzwerk 1976' and 'Fever' in a very short time.
With this line-up, and for about four months, Klimt 1918 write, arrange and prepare the 5 songs which will make up the forthcoming Promo-Cd. Further to the two songs already aforesaid, it's the turn of 'Passive', 'April' and 'Swallow's Supremacy' (this last one a new edition of an old song of Another Day).
The recording sessions of "Secession makes post-modern music" officially begin the 9th of May 2000; the night before The Cure play in Rome during their farewell tour (so to say...).
The Promo-Cd is recorded at the Outer Sound Studios belonging to Giuseppe Orlando, drummer of Novembre (who, among other things, will also record some vocal lines together with his brother Carmelo Orlando, for the track "Swallow's Supremacy"), where the band spends about ten days. Although it's not so much time, the final result is definitively good (excellent I'd say!byMery): sounds remind of those of Novembre themselves, "Classica" period; the sharp and powerful production remembers some typical things of Swedish Unisound stamp and the band is undoubtedly very satisfied.
In October of the same year the Promo is mixed and at the end of December is finally completed. "Secession makes post-modern music" is sent to several Italian magz and to many international record labels and in short the band tries to promote it as best possible as they can.
Critical opinions are immediately very favourable, since the band becomes 'Demo of the month' on the italian magazine Psycho! and the track 'Schmerzwerk 1976' is included in the compilation Psychosonic! enclosed to the mag. above-mentioned itself, the web-zine Metal.it votes the Promo-Cd as 'Top Demo' and many other web-zines still spend wonderful words about Klimt 1918 and their work.
More problematic are instead the responses of the labels. Except 'My Kingdom Music', new label founded by Francesco Palumbo of the historical Italian fanzine 'Vampiria', unfortunately none seems to be really interested in the music of Klimt 1918. Therefore the band decides to sign for the new-born label above-mentioned, which offers them an advantageous deal for the release of 2 Cds. It's December 2001, exactly one year after the release of the Promo-Cd.
Klimt 1918 spend the following months for the preparation of the forthcoming debut album "Undressed Momento". During the first months of 2002 there are 7 songs ready: 'Pale Song', 'That Girl', 'Naif Watercolour', 'Fieldswalking' (excluded from the final track-list of the full-lenght debut album afterwards), 'Stalingrad Theme', 'Parquet' (that would've then become the title-track 'Undressed Momento') and 'If Only You could see me now', this last one recorded as kind of a trial during summer 2001 at the Serenity Studios of Massimiliano Pagliuso, guitarist of Novembre.
In April 2002, owing to personal problems, the guitarist Francesco Tumbarello leaves Klimt 1918. This damps the band's enthusiasm, since the recording-sessions scheduled for July are getting near and a lot of guitar parts must be completed yet. To replace him however arrives Alessandro Pace, leader and guitarist of Remembrance (in which also played Davide Pesola, bassist himself of Klimt 1918), and of Spiritual Front, well-known Neo-Folk from Rome, skilled and complete musician. His musical likings are perfectly in line with those of the band and immediately proves himself to be a very good buy. Between May and July Alessandro takes personally care of the pre-production of "Undressed Momento", recording trials of the songs which will appear on the album.
The official recording-sessions of the debut-Cd begin the 27th of July 2002, once again at the Outer Sound Studios of Giuseppe Orlando/Novembre. For one week Paolo records the tracks drums of the album; the rest (guitars, bass, vocals and mixing) is recorded during the whole month of September.
The 2nd of October, after many sacrifices, "Undressed Momento" was released in April of 2003.
Bio taken from the fanpage http://www.klimt1918-fever.net
In 1997 Another Day sign for the label 'Gardens of Grief Rec.' and prepare to unleash their mini debut mini-Cd, "Fireworks Outside (Black butterflies over the petals of the sun)" which, due to several problems with the phantom label above-mentioned, unfortunately will never see the light... of the day.
A year later, after having brought some changes into the line-up (above all the entrance at drums of Paolo Soellner, former-guitarist Marco's brother), Another Day record a new promo entitled "Be nothing but a bit of cold" but in October 1999, after some months of agony, the band splits up.
The reasons of the split are several. First of all the conflict born about the musical path to follow. Bass-player Adriano Neri doesn't particularly like the progressive softening of the new compositions: he's the member of the band much more devoted to the artistic proposal of the first hour and namely technical and complex death metal, very long songs and growling vocals. The idea of music for Marco couldn't be farther than what proposed in the debut demo instead. In addition to Katatonia, Opeth, October Tide, Anathema and Beyond Dawn, all bands belonging to the metal sphere, has already started listening to different material sincetime, asbolutely distant from the heavy sonorities of the past. He discovers Beatles, immortal songs as 'While my guitar gently weeps', 'Something', 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamond', 'Eleonor Rigby', which make him understand how possible can be expressing a lot even writing a song containing a few verses, a few riffs and a central refrain. He remains ravished by that old style approach, always efficient and expressionist of making music and everything considered thinks that, except some rare example (Katatonia and some songs of Anathema), the bands that he listens don't apply to that form song, concetrating themselves on the construction of complicated riffs, marvellously harmonius, but of course after all not much involving. Therefore his first aim, once the adventure of Another Day is over, is creating a new musical project able to sum up the musical suggestions of avantgarde, Scandinavian & English doom metal with the immediacy of pop.
Another essential band for Marco's musical & compositive growth are The Cure of Robert Smith. In December 1999, exactly 10 years after its official release, he buys "Disintegration", an immense album for him, that probably made him discover one of the greatest bands of the last 20 years. Since 1998 he had already bought and assimilated many cds of other glorious bands of the past, such as Bauhaus ( 'She's in Parties', 'Dark Entries', the cover of 'Ziggy Stardust' are real must), Joy Division, Tears For Fears (those of "Songs from the Big Chair"), Siouxie and the Banshees, Talk Talk ('Such a Shame', 'It's my life'), Duran Duran, The Smiths and New Order, but however nothing comparable to the band of Robert Smith. The melodies of The Cure, as well as the all consuming poetics of their lyrics, immediately conquer him. And thus, put aside death metal, he gets lost in 'Apart', 'Plainsong', 'Doing the unstuck', 'Charlotte sometimes', 'The kiss', The drowning man', 'Just like heaven', all songs which become his fixed listenings. The more appreciated thing of The Cure is the ability that their songs have to blend melancholy and joy of living, something of absolutely faraway from the restless and redundant celebrations of a great part of gothic metal bands (see the discouraged lyrics of Katatonia and those irremediably sugary of H.I.M. and good company; opinion that personally I don't share at all - Mery's note). So he thinks that if he wanted to create a band, he had to at least be able to equal The Cure in this.
In November 1999, vocalist/guitarist of Another Day, Fabio Brienza, leaves for the U.S.A. and meanwhile even the bass-player Adriano Neri isn't of the party anymore. The well known Novembre, after the premature abandonment of Alessandro Niola, the historical bassist who played on the album "Classica", urgently need a session-bass player and Adriano seems to exactly be the right person for them, so that a few weeks later Novembre leave with him for the European Tour.
Marco and his brother Paolo remain all alone. Marco says that for some a certain period they're the only two guys rehearsing in the room, that is terribly empty, and the vibe isn't very encouraging. Marco thinks many times that, although the idea of arranging new songs is exciting, the step which separate them from the definitive end is very brief.
They just don't give up instead and contact Francesco Tumbarello, a friend of Adriano's, as well as old acquaintance of Another Day themselves and very valid guitarist, and so decide to make some rehearsals together. The first songs arranged are 'Schmerzwerk 1976' and 'Fever', two songs on which the band had already started working with the previous line-up. They add some harmonizing of guitar and Marco writes some new vocal melodies. Our guys immediately feel fine together and decide to continue like this.
The new monicker of the band is Klimt 1918, a name that had already come into Marco's head since some time. Loving the Austrian painter and all the other artists of the Secession, he thinks it's a brilliant idea. The music of Klimt 1918, as the pictures of Klimt and Schiele, is half-way between Expressionism and Decorativism and this represents the link between essentiality of the new wave and the grand electric complexity of metal.
He adds the final 1918 after having read the famous historical-anthropological essay entitled "The Short Century" by Hobsbavn (hope this is the correct English translation!), who asserts that the 20th century was officially born in 1918, when the First World War finished, and came to and end in 1989, with the fall of the communism and the wall of Berlin. A short century exactly, that begins the same year in which Gustav Klimt himself dies.
Marco finds all this very evocative. He likes thinking about the music of Klimt 1918 as a sign of connection & break among different periods. The final 1918 perfectly incarnates this suggestion and, for certain aspects, marks like the beginning of a new day.
Besides, the date postponed to the name also wants to be his own personal homage to Bauhaus: the band of Peter Murphy formed in 1979 with the monicker of Bauhaus 1919, but then their producer chose for the shorter form which nowadays everyone knows.
In December 1999, Klimt 1918 decide to replace Adriano Neri at bass. In that period Marco also played guitar with the Romans brutal-deathsters Corpse Fucking Art and it's their leader Andrea Cipolla who gives him the phone number of a certain Davide Pesola, ex-member of the brutal act above-mentioned whom, at that time, played bass in a band from Anzio that reminded of My Dying Bride/Katatonia.
The week after Davide accepts to try playing with Klimt 1918, with whom immediately feels at ease, learning 'Schmerzwerk 1976' and 'Fever' in a very short time.
With this line-up, and for about four months, Klimt 1918 write, arrange and prepare the 5 songs which will make up the forthcoming Promo-Cd. Further to the two songs already aforesaid, it's the turn of 'Passive', 'April' and 'Swallow's Supremacy' (this last one a new edition of an old song of Another Day).
The recording sessions of "Secession makes post-modern music" officially begin the 9th of May 2000; the night before The Cure play in Rome during their farewell tour (so to say...).
The Promo-Cd is recorded at the Outer Sound Studios belonging to Giuseppe Orlando, drummer of Novembre (who, among other things, will also record some vocal lines together with his brother Carmelo Orlando, for the track "Swallow's Supremacy"), where the band spends about ten days. Although it's not so much time, the final result is definitively good (excellent I'd say!byMery): sounds remind of those of Novembre themselves, "Classica" period; the sharp and powerful production remembers some typical things of Swedish Unisound stamp and the band is undoubtedly very satisfied.
In October of the same year the Promo is mixed and at the end of December is finally completed. "Secession makes post-modern music" is sent to several Italian magz and to many international record labels and in short the band tries to promote it as best possible as they can.
Critical opinions are immediately very favourable, since the band becomes 'Demo of the month' on the italian magazine Psycho! and the track 'Schmerzwerk 1976' is included in the compilation Psychosonic! enclosed to the mag. above-mentioned itself, the web-zine Metal.it votes the Promo-Cd as 'Top Demo' and many other web-zines still spend wonderful words about Klimt 1918 and their work.
More problematic are instead the responses of the labels. Except 'My Kingdom Music', new label founded by Francesco Palumbo of the historical Italian fanzine 'Vampiria', unfortunately none seems to be really interested in the music of Klimt 1918. Therefore the band decides to sign for the new-born label above-mentioned, which offers them an advantageous deal for the release of 2 Cds. It's December 2001, exactly one year after the release of the Promo-Cd.
Klimt 1918 spend the following months for the preparation of the forthcoming debut album "Undressed Momento". During the first months of 2002 there are 7 songs ready: 'Pale Song', 'That Girl', 'Naif Watercolour', 'Fieldswalking' (excluded from the final track-list of the full-lenght debut album afterwards), 'Stalingrad Theme', 'Parquet' (that would've then become the title-track 'Undressed Momento') and 'If Only You could see me now', this last one recorded as kind of a trial during summer 2001 at the Serenity Studios of Massimiliano Pagliuso, guitarist of Novembre.
In April 2002, owing to personal problems, the guitarist Francesco Tumbarello leaves Klimt 1918. This damps the band's enthusiasm, since the recording-sessions scheduled for July are getting near and a lot of guitar parts must be completed yet. To replace him however arrives Alessandro Pace, leader and guitarist of Remembrance (in which also played Davide Pesola, bassist himself of Klimt 1918), and of Spiritual Front, well-known Neo-Folk from Rome, skilled and complete musician. His musical likings are perfectly in line with those of the band and immediately proves himself to be a very good buy. Between May and July Alessandro takes personally care of the pre-production of "Undressed Momento", recording trials of the songs which will appear on the album.
The official recording-sessions of the debut-Cd begin the 27th of July 2002, once again at the Outer Sound Studios of Giuseppe Orlando/Novembre. For one week Paolo records the tracks drums of the album; the rest (guitars, bass, vocals and mixing) is recorded during the whole month of September.
The 2nd of October, after many sacrifices, "Undressed Momento" was released in April of 2003.
Bio taken from the fanpage http://www.klimt1918-fever.net