Quattro chiacchiere con Federico Fiumani
Ligera, Milano, 12.10.12

After a tour that started almost a year ago, the recent "Confidenziale" concert by Federico Fiumani at the Ligera in Milan was an opportunity to exchange a few words about the underground, self-productions, and future projects of his Diaframma.

RR: If you had to define yourself today, what definition would you give? Are there any artistic milestones you feel you haven't achieved yet? FF: No, I'm fine this way. Continuing, still surprising myself, experiencing emotions, making music in general, which is the only thing I know how to do, writing songs. I'm comfortable with the current band, there's a good feeling between us. It's a circuit I've created over the years that suits me very well; it fits my characteristics. Making records and concerts, being a musician...creating good songs, I hope to continue for a few more years, I'm fine like this. RR: Recently you won the MEI Award for Best Self-Production (for the album "Niente di serio"): considering the crisis in the music market, how important is it for an artist to self-produce? I mean the ability to play the music you want without having a label behind you… FF: In my case, it started as a necessity in '98 when, during the Nineties, I realized that if I wanted to pursue this career, I had to self-manage. The money was so scarce that if I started sharing it with a record label or concert management, it would become impossible for me to live off it, so I invented this jack-of-all-trades musician job, which I had already considered at the end of the Eighties... RR: Total self-management, then… FF: Yes, with Diaframma Records, gradually involving people who seemed suitable, involved, friends...I invented a bit of a job for myself, one where I had to self-manage without forgetting that it was still a profession to be done as well as possible; concerts had to be done well, records needed to be made in the best possible way. In '98, when I signed a licensing contract with Self, I realized that I could make a living from this profession, and so I've continued for fourteen years now, licensing the masters to them… RR: So it works? FF: Yes, the records can be found in stores, more or less, with good independent distribution, handling concerts by myself…I discovered a magazine called Music Club, which had the addresses of all the venues in Italy, so I started calling everywhere, and many more concerts came in than with the agencies. With the advent of the internet, I found that many musicians...the trend now is to manage themselves. What used to be almost a "conditio sine qua non," namely the majors for doing concerts and this profession, is now almost a hindrance. I realized this earlier, and now I'm comfortable; it's a situation that works and one I'm familiar with, moving in a familiar environment, then the internet has facilitated many relationships, they call you directly, you can manage the concert aspect directly without major problems… RR: Do you think it still makes sense to talk about "underground" today? FF: Absolutely yes… RR: If you consider many realities, between Myspace and Facebook, it's no longer like the Eighties, where you needed a fanzine to get known, more or less everyone can get known, but on the other hand, it's still hard to reach large numbers... FF: I agree. The thing is this: unlike many others, I already had a name, a historical and recognized one, so if you propose a band like Diaframma, more or less everyone knows it if you play underground rock, you have a history... I was facilitated..."facilitated" because I earned it, I already had my own dimension, an identity, and this helped me. It's a way of interpreting this work in a fairly agile way, but I repeat, I feel comfortable with it, it's music tailored to me, and I’m happy with it… RR: Speaking of the themes in your lyrics, you've always talked about personal matters, never about politics... Could it be that people follow you because by talking about your personal life, you might end up talking a bit about theirs too? Even when it comes to more particular songs, like "Mi sento un mostro," which is a bit whimsical, different from the others... FF: I think that one should do what's innate to them, meaning if someone leans towards social issues, they should talk about social issues; if someone leans more towards personal matters, they should talk about whatever they want, then what matters is the quality. If you make a good song, you can talk about anything, and the message will get through. If you don't make a good song, you can talk about public matters, private, politics, be right-wing, left-wing, and people won't care. I think the most important thing is to make good music, then you can put anything else in it, the ingredients don't matter, as long as the result is good. RR: Always speaking about Facebook, which you've already mentioned, on one hand, it certainly facilitates relationships at the level of concert diffusion, relationships with organizers, but on the other hand, do you think it takes away that kind of distance that should be between the artist and their audience? "Artist" in the somewhat classical sense of the term, seen as a mythical figure, like the Rolling Stones of the situation… FF: A bit detached from reality… RR: Yes, a bit detached from reality, while the fact that you can talk and interact more easily with them takes away that dimension... FF: Well, I could say this: every artist lives in their era. Maybe in an era like the Rolling Stones, the sixties-seventies, when more or less the artist was also a bit protected, so they had managers, agencies...they were a bit shielded from the situation... today these barriers no longer exist, so everyone makes music in the period they live in, even a traditionally reserved figure in Italy like De Gregori, for example, sometimes goes online and responds directly and personally... maybe he also gets bored... I mean, in an era dominated by the internet, it's perfectly useless to be mysterious because… RR: Wouldn't that be a bit anachronistic? FF: ...it doesn't make sense, you have to play on equal terms with the market because somehow you want to sell records, if you hold concerts, you want people to come and see you… RR: It's useless to hide… FF: Yes, we're in the era of global communication, so you have to compromise a bit, you have to be a child of your time, then I also have fun on the internet… RR: Thinking back to the situation in Florence in the 1980s, there was a scene that suddenly emerged, in previous decades there hadn't been much... FF: ..no..like any other city… RR: ...there wasn't a big scene, but you sometimes mention places like Lecce when talking about today's scenes, how do you think it was possible for a scene to emerge in Florence seemingly out of nowhere, one that emerged within a couple of years...several bands came out even though there wasn't anything at a city level before...how do you think such a phenomenon that characterized a time was possible, and it wasn't an ephemeral scene… FF: Well, the thing is, more or less, first rock music isn't really an Italian product, it doesn’t originate from Italy… RR: …it's very imported… FF: …but you always look abroad, mainly England and America... before the Florence scene, there was the Bologna scene in the early 1980s, Gaznevada, Confusional Quartet, things like that, they were very much related to the No Wave scene in New York, America, and the groups that were the best at being inspired by that scene. Then the New Wave, post-punk, Joy Division came along, and it happened that the bands in Florence, Litfiba, Diaframma, Neon, Punkow were those that were better at drawing inspiration from that style. Each added something original...with "Siberia," we openly referred to certain distinctly Anglo-Saxon sounds, Joy Division, New Wave in general, but we had our own personality that was recognized...so let's say it was a series of coincidences...then in Florence, there were good venues, good managers, good record labels, and excellent record shops, and so a bit of luck, some good groups...put it all together, and the Florence scene emerged, which lasted a few years... RR: ...yes, it lasted those seven to eight years… FF: ..Seven to eight? Three to four, five... in terms of driving force, three to four... RR: Usually, what are your relationships like with various ex-members of the band? For example, I read in "Brindando coi Demoni" that there's mention of Gianni Cicchi (the original drummer), who is a figure you sometimes mention, also with Miro (Sassolini, the band's second singer), it seems like, more or less, you stayed on good terms... FF: The point is this: in the end, everyone went their own way... in reality, the relationships no longer exist, meaning that I now focus on my present, managing the band by myself for twenty-three years now, with musicians I get along with very well...so I tell you, I don't look too much at the past in this sense because things have worked out well for me; I’m content with myself; I don't have ongoing relationships with others...and then, the things Miro does now are very different; I find them very distant from me, things very, very far… in this, I admire his courage... RR: ...of wanting to do something different?... FF: …yes, to have detached himself... RR: What difference do you find between writing a book and writing a song? FF: A book and a song? Well, a huge difference, at most the parallel would be between writing a poem and a song; a book takes at least four months, you pour all of yourself into it, and then you write it once in a lifetime, a book...hopefully... a song is an experience to repeat, I hope, for a long time still...but my art, so to speak, what I think I know how to do is music; it's the thing that interests me the most, writing good texts and good songs... RR: Have you ever thought of writing something "heavier" in terms of a book, not just a book of poems but a novel, a short story?... FF: No, everyone should do what they know; I don't know how to do that, but I enjoy reading those of others... RR: Just out of curiosity: for album covers, I assume you are the one who chooses them... FF: …more or less, yes...I never know what to put on the cover, in the end, I decide at the last moment, a painting, a photo...like, to Lorenzo, the drummer, who does the graphics, "Lorenzo, see what you can sort out a bit..." RR: For example, "Il ritorno dei desideri" and "Difficile da trovare"… did the covers want to have some significance? FF: Yes, "Il ritorno dei desideri" was the idea of the truck, that big desires come delivered by a lorry... RR: ...with the words "flammable"… FF: …with "flammable" written on it, right, and then the azure colors were very beautiful... "Difficile da trovare," I really liked the covers of a label called SST, American, from the Nineties, which had indie rock covers, very minimal, very raw, but I liked them... RR: ...and I had noticed that on the cover of "Difficile da trovare," there were references to your passions, which are the Ramones and Moravia… FF: …why not, there was also that... RR: Artistically, what do you think were your best moments? FF: Definitely "Siberia," the Eighties, I'd say '84... RR: ...in easy phases of your life or relatively difficult ones? FF: ...well, easy phases, maybe it would be easier to say this one, anyway things are going very well, I'm writing a bunch of new songs, the new album will definitely come out next year... the "Siberia" period was a good period, we had a lot of fun...also "Anni Luce," because many remember it, in '92, early Nineties, and even now, I feel quite good, it’s not bad, passable... RR: How does a song of yours usually come about? Do you first write the lyrics and then add the music, do you do the two things separately and see how to bring them together... FF: Let's say it’s been a while that it starts with a simple or not-so-simple guitar riff to which it becomes natural to sing something, maybe in fake English, or perhaps a single phrase in Italian, which, however, seems strong to me… RR: An English from the rehearsal room... FF: Yes, or a phrase in Italian that I like. At that point, I build the text from that phrase. There’s a before, an after, and a during. There’s a guitar riff I like, a phrase or a verse that seems strong to me, and from there, the text also comes.