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The Devils are certainly one of the most fierce and wild realities of the Italian alternative scene.
The Neapolitan duo composed of Erica Toraldo and Gianni Pregadio has just finished 'Iron Butt', the second studio LP set to be released on December 15th on Voodoo Rhythm Records, produced by Jim Diamond, former Dirtbombs member and also producer for the White Stripes and the producer of the band's first album ('Sin, You Sinners') which you can find reviewed here: https://www.debaser.it/the-devils/sin-you-sinners/recensione
The group is currently also engaged in the promotional tour of the album, which started on December 7th in Rome and will keep them busy until March.
Irreverent and always over the top, I personally thank and on behalf of the entire debaserian community, our favorite Devils for kindly agreeing to answer some questions that I wanted to ask them about the new album and in general their activity as musicians.
Enjoy the read.
1. Hi guys. Let's start from the beginning if you don't mind. That is, how and when did the project The Devils come about? I know conceptually that the group’s name is a clear reference to Ken Russell's 1971 film inspired by a novel by Aldous Huxley. Do you want to tell us something more about the general concept on which the project is based and if it aims to launch a specific message?
The Devils. The group was born in 2015, we both came from tragicomic experiences with other bands and we found ourselves playing together discovering we had the same perversions and the same passion for rock'n'roll.
We took the name from the '71 film inspired by Huxley's '52 novel that narrates real events from 1634, it is such a damn current movie that you wonder how nothing has changed in 400 years. It struck us because it's decidedly realistic; even today a third of the world's population is manipulated by a sovereign state of 605 inhabitants using a scarecrow called Satan to hold everyone by the balls and manage their power.
Being atheists and despising Catholic education after seeing it, we couldn't help but get hugely excited.
In our music, you find this vision of the devil as part of every human being, and not as a spirit or creature of fairy tales that our dear priests love to tell. We are the monsters, that's how we feel and consequently, we express that in our musical delusions.
Our message is to abandon ourselves to our nature, that is, to what everyone calls 'Sin,' which is too human to be tolerated. Science fiction and moralism bore us to death.
2. What are your main musical influences? Obviously, anyone considering a duo composed of a guitarist and a female drummer immediately thinks of the White Stripes. Maybe there's some affinity for a certain garage fury and some blues undertones. But listening to you, it seems clear to me that you have gone beyond that. Can we still consider them among your influences? What do you listen to in general?
The Devils. What influenced us about the White Stripes is the way Meg plays. Even if she isn't considered technically skilled or perfect, she is unique in the world, there are no other drummers like her; in fact, her music changed the world.
Many people believe that to play you need to be a virtuoso of the instrument, all bullshit!
The blues is a fundamental component of our music; Magic Sam is among our heroes, as are Hound Dog Taylor and even the Guadalupe Plata, a more recent Spanish band that really gets us going.
Even furious garage is among our influences, both from the early days (Monks) and the psychedelic revival of the 80s (Spaceman3) and the 90s (Gories), but we are not lovers of classic trendy garage.
Then there are the rock n roll classics which are like the oxygen we breathe: Cramps, Link Wray, ZZTop.
Instead, the bands we love to listen to live the most, for their energy and power, are the Monsters and Thee Oh Sees.
Finally, there are the bands we listen to when we're in the car during tours, like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Guitar Wolf, Reverend Beatman, Fugazi, and we'll stop here otherwise we won't finish.
3. Jim Diamond, former Dirtbombs member and also the producer of the White Stripes, worked with you on both your LPs. Can you tell us how this meeting came about? How did working with him help you grow and influence you?
The Devils. The meeting with Jim happened thanks to a mutual friendship we had with Danny Kroha from the Gories.
Danny had just finished recording an album with him and told us that Jim no longer lived in Detroit and that his legendary Ghetto Records no longer existed, but he had moved to France, specifically to Montpellier. So, we rushed there and after bribing him with a couple of bottles of wine, he gave in to wanting to collaborate with us. Working with him was magnificent, besides being a great professional in what he does, he's also a great man and indeed a beautiful friendship was born between us. He positively influenced us and understood us immediately, it was never necessary to explain our ideas to him, he was able to bring out a sound from us that we didn't believe we had and above all, he supported and believed in us. He helped us grow just by being with him in the studio, listening to him while he recounted anecdotes about other bands he worked with.
4. Let's talk about the album, which is titled 'Iron Butt' and is coming out on December 15th on Voodoo Rhythm. From the title, we can already infer what I consider a desecrating and let’s say 'politically incorrect' orientation. Some songs on the album sound like real rituals, taking certain gospel traditions in an ironic and provocative key. The whole thing is clearly immersed in an obsessive dimension. What did you want to propose to your listeners? I mean: did this album come naturally, or was there some planning work for the content? Are you satisfied with the result?
The Devils. Thank you for noticing, some ideas are inspired precisely by prayers listened to on Radio Maria.
Nowadays, it's very difficult to cause scandal with everything the priests do, we'll never be able to equal them, and frankly, it's not our intention to do so. If someone feels scandalized, it means they are moralists. People might think we are a parody and that our songs about religion and sex are just a joke; exaggeration or obsession is just our way of intensifying the truth, but we are very serious when it comes to music. We can say we are satisfied with this second album, but it's tougher to play live compared to the first, also because we don't do drugs.
5. Last question. Practically even if we don't know each other, we are from the same city (Ndr. Naples.). We probably are also more or less the same age. Since I consider myself a great listener of music in general (besides being a musician myself) I wanted to know your opinion on what is the reality of rock and alternative music in our city. Do you feel somehow tied to a hypothetical scene or not for instance? The feeling, looking around and listening to your records, is like listening to something 'alien' and that it has only been able to emerge by detaching from realities and typical mechanisms of this city. Can I know what you think about this?
The Devils. What can we say? You've already said it all thoroughly.
We can only add that we are two lone wolves, we've never been interested in being part of a scene, it's something that doesn't stimulate us either musically or personally, we find it limiting.
Naples is definitely a rock'n'roll city, maybe it has never been musically but it is more than one might think in spirit.
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