Strana Officina
22 febbraio 2014, Colony, Brescia

For a variety of reasons, the chances to see Strana Officina live are quite slim, and for some time now, the Livorno-based group has preferred to perform only on very specific occasions.

The "excuse" for this mini-tour is the release of a commemorative box set containing the historical repertoire of the Tuscan ensemble, a box set that indeed makes Strana's early records available once again; to be clear, those were the records featuring the irreplaceably mourned Cappanera brothers. The whole package is, of course, enriched with bonus material, including demos and live tracks that enhance a release that will delight fans of golden-era Italian metal. A similar project was actually proposed some years ago for the box set "La Storia," but in that case, it was vinyl records, which by nature limited its audience to a fairly niche market, while these CD reissues can meet the needs of those who don't (yet) own a turntable at home.

The event took place at the Colony in Brescia, a venue that in recent months has become a true reference point for hard rock enthusiasts in northern Italy, with a rich program that, for once, gives plenty of space to bands making original music rather than the now omnipresent (and dreadful) tribute bands. The previous incarnation of the venue, back when it was located in Travagliato, did not have much luck, apparently due to not very farsighted municipal administrations: let's hope things go better this time. Unlike previous concerts, this Metal Man Tour has the advantage of presenting a highly reworked setlist, offering the rare opportunity to finally hear many of Strana Officina's early tracks live in their Italian versions.

Indeed, between the late Seventies and the first half of the Eighties, the lyrics were in Italian, which was later replaced by English in hopes of expanding their market abroad, which ultimately did not happen. Many of the tracks released on vinyl in English were nothing more than new versions of songs originally conceived in the mother tongue and remained, at least in those embryonic stages, at demo level. All this material was finally unearthed in 2008 for the previous vinyl box set and has now arrived on CD, so the tour's setlist naturally focused on these tracks which, despite their value, not just historically, have never enjoyed good promotion. The tracks from the more recent "Rising to the Call," an album that four years ago effectively formalized the current path of the Livorno band, were therefore excluded from the evening's setlist, just as little space was given to English tracks in general. It's pointless to reiterate once more that Strana Officina live is a war machine, boasting some of the most skilled musicians around.

The rhythm section of Enzo Mascolo and Rolando Cappanera sets the pace over which Dario Cappanera lays his solos, or rather, masterfully recreates those that thirty years ago belonged to his uncle Fabio. As for Bud Ancillotti, he's a stage animal, also currently releasing the debut album of another creation of his, Ancillotti, with which he continues to churn out blasts of heavy metal today as he did twenty-five years ago. The classics keep coming without interruption for two straight hours and, as usual, it's disappointing to see that bands like this should have enjoyed much greater fame. But, considering the means of Italian metal in the Eighties, the fact that today a band like Strana Officina is still around is almost a small miracle.

Thinking back, it doesn't feel real, but since that night at Gods of Metal in the now distant 2006, which was supposed to be a unique event marking the definitive end of Strana's career, eight years have already passed, and today we find ourselves once again under a stage, up and down Northern Italy, with the same desire, the same emotions, horns in the air, as if we were still fourteen years old. Then someone points out that the years have now doubled, but at least for those two hours, you don't even notice much, and in the end, that's fine. Bands like Strana Officina, if they didn't exist, would need to be invented, meanwhile, as long as they're around, the advice remains the same: if they come to your area, don't miss them. 

Strana Officina: 

Bud Ancillotti, vocals

Dario Cappanera, guitars

Enzo Mascolo, bass

Rolando Cappanera, drums

 

Setlist: 

1- Profumo di Puttana2- Vai Vai3- Sole Mare Cuore4- King Troll5- War Games6- The Kiss of Death7- Soldato/ Falling Star8- Guerra Triste9- Non Sei Normale10- Luna Nera – Piccolo Uccello Bianco11- Metal Brigade12- Autostrada dei Sogni13- Viaggio In Inghilterra14- Officina