The Ome Brothers
In The Beat

I had seen the future of rock'n'roll, then I lost sight of it, now I've found it again, albeit in different forms; but I am not Jon Landau and the future of rock'n'roll is not Bruce Springsteen.

Much more modestly, it presented itself to me in the form of two brothers, teenagers, Edoardo and Sebastiano Omezzoli from Arco, Trento, Italy; and that already made the story a bit peculiar because Landau, Springsteen, and Asbury Park sounded decidedly better and were more likely to attract the spotlight; in fact, that's exactly how it went, and the Omezzoli brothers have wisely refrained from even dreaming of such lights and applauding crowds so far.

However, the two little brothers have something much better than common sense when it comes to rock'n'roll, which is a good ton of passion and a nice reserve of recklessness or madness or whatever you call that thing that makes you move even when common sense suggests that you might as well stay comfortably sprawled on your bed, who makes you get up, grab a guitar and play at being a rocker; recklessness, madness, or something like that, or perhaps the fact that your dad enjoyed playing the guitar, nothing serious, but that thing stays with you, and even if years pass, you still think that you might enjoy yourself that way too.

So, Edoardo and Sebastiano get hold of two acoustic guitars and start playing in their bedroom and, since these are times dedicated to socialization, they make some harmless videos, open a YouTube page, and place those videos there, so maybe they can show them to their girlfriends and the approach is easier because if in my old days I played the guitar face-to-face with the girl of the moment, crouched in front of the classic campfire, now almost everything works on Facebook and YouTube, maybe it works the same, but it's much less romantic, as a thing, but so be it; at the beginning, of course, they're just covers, the videos are what they are, homemade workmanship at its purest and the results are, they too, what they are, not even 50 views in a couple of years.

But here I'm talking about rock'n'roll, and likes on Facebook and views on YouTube are a different thing entirely and I'm setting them aside for now; instead, now I define the terms and, since I'm talking about rock'n'roll, what I called four lines above “homemade craftsmanship” I call for what it is, do-it-yourself attitude, wonderful stuff related to garage and punk, which are the most genuine face of rock'n'roll; stuff that Edoardo and Sebastiano have in industrial quantities, along with passion and recklessness or madness or whatever it's called, perhaps attitude; beyond attitude, Edoardo and Sebastiano also have something else that is very important, talent, and that's why they immediately drop the covers and start writing original pieces; and when you hear them, even just the sketched originals, you sense the talent.

Passion and recklessness (or madness or whatever it's called) in industrial quantities plus talent equals what it takes to make rock'n'roll.

However, industrial quantities can't remain confined in the cramped space of a teenage bedroom, they need space to explode, so Edoardo and Sebastiano borrow that space from grandma, who has a garage under her house, and it becomes the Nonna Carla Studio, and even if it doesn't have the same allure as the 914 Sound Studios and there is no Mike Appel and no record label and no budget, it's fine anyway, because if garage punk is called that way, there must be a reason; the talent, however, needs to be nurtured, invested in, so mom and dad make the sacrifice to support the two little sons, buy Edoardo an electric guitar complete with an amplifier and Sebastiano a drum set, and pay for music lessons for both, with the promise, however, that they keep studying seriously and don't let themselves get sidetracked by illusions of glory, and here a little common sense comes in handy, just the minimum; common sense is what I mentioned earlier, telling you that if you want to do things, then do them slowly, one step at a time, because only from one thing comes another.

The first thing is «In The Beat», year two thousand thirteen; Edoardo is fourteen, Sebastiano two years younger, and in their spare time, they retreat to the Nonna Carla Studio and, like superheroes, sheltered from prying eyes, transform into The Ome Brothers, with their instruments and a digital camera, one of those you can use to shoot videos; they play and record everything with the camera, then go home and convert those videos to mp3 and so «In The Beat» ends up on YouTube and also on Bandcamp; there are ten tracks, nine originals and a cover from the Beach Boys repertoire, considering the technique it's not a record and maybe even something less than a demo, but who cares about technique, if what comes out is a burst of enthusiasm like few within an “official” record, two teenagers who can't resist rock'n'roll, indeed roccherrolle, and who are there to testify how right Roger Daltrey was when, with purely roccherrolle arrogance indeed, sang about wanting to die young; because it's not a matter of dying young or living to a hundred, it's that rock'n'roll explodes in your head when young, and then it doesn't explode anymore, and maybe today when Daltrey still sings that little phrase maybe it's more pathetic than anything, someone calls it nostalgia, but rock'n'roll is not for nostalgics; the music that's inside «In The Beat» and emerges forcefully is the same as always, from the origins of rock'n'roll to punk of '77 passing through power pop, as it can be played by two kids, that is, in an approximate but fiery way, still always better than the Ramones in their first performance, if someone cares about technique more than heart and soul.

Three years ago, on the first issue of my beloved fanzine someone wrote four lines about the demo and how they fell in love with The Ome Brothers at first listen; I got curious, went looking, found the demo and fell in love at first listen with The Ome Brothers, besides seeing the future of rock'n'roll.

As one thing leads to another, the second thing is «Step by Step», which arrives the year after «In The Beat» and faithfully mirrors it like a transfer, only played and recorded a bit better, but only a bit; for the rest, nothing changes, fortunately, still a terrific burst of enthusiasm, tons of passion, heart, and soul that wildly propel the usual original rock'n'roll, power pop, and punk '77.

At this point, I lose track of The Ome Brothers.

Then, however, yesterday, I read luludia's editorial, which has nothing to do with The Ome Brothers but brings them back to my mind for who knows what reason and how, I read with interest and leave no comments because I wouldn't know what to comment on, and I dive into picking up the fanzine where they were mentioned and listen again to their demos and search for something about them online, until I stumble upon this blog where a nice interview appears and the news that The Ome Brothers no longer exist only because now they are called Horrible Snack and all of their discography is on Bandcamp practically for free; from there, diving in and purchasing everything blindly takes less than a nanosecond; last night, I started listening to Horrible Snack and they really seem like a great thing, even though very different from The Ome Brothers; the burst of enthusiasm catches me again and pushes me to write something about the story of these two brothers, teenagers, from Arco, Trento, Italy, who certainly are not Bruce Springsteen just as Arco isn't Asbury Park, but if the future of rock'n'roll is in their hands and those of many others like them, then it is in good hands.

With thanks, in order, also to Rccardo Frabetti of “Sottoterra”, luludia, and those of the Electric Duo Project blog.

And no rating because I would feel stupid rating something that is pure and simple passion and enthusiasm.

Goodbye and until next time.