The Stems
From The Vault

I firmly believe - and after all, scientific evidence proves it - that the ways to the garage are infinite and that, indeed, all roads lead to the garage.

Along the paths, one encounters so much and such varied humanity, and it is this that fascinates, about the journey.

It also happens to cross paths with people who might share the journey with you only because they have lost their way.

Take musician Dom Mariani, one who has covered a lot of ground and even swum the oceans, if it's true as it is that his ancestors moved from rocky Abruzzo to allow him to see the light at the antipodes of Oz.

I met Dom purely by chance in Perth, intent on showing miracles to the sparse followers of the powerpop sect, in the act of desecrating the Profane Trinity of the genre.

Because, if we talk about powerpop, then there's no escape: there's «Shake Some Action», there's «Thirteen» (or El Goodo's ballad, depending on the mood), and «At First Sight» closes the triangle. Dom Mariani is responsible for «At First Sight», and that's enough.

Just to say, if powerpop is still being talked about thirty years later, it’s thanks to Mariani. I throw out three names: Stems, Someloves, DM3; translated, Dom Mariani in the Stems, Dom Mariani in the Someloves, and guess who in the DM3? Exactly.

And as if that weren't enough, there's even Dom Mariani solo and Dom Mariani preacher of the powerpop word for the benefit of dozens of groups around the globe, including the Italian garage glory Sick Rose.

In short, to make a bold statement, he’s someone who is worth Rob Younger, just to remain within the realm of Oz; for some, he’s even worth more.

Okay, but what about the garage we rambled about at the beginning? A little patience and I’ll get to the point.

«At First Sight» dates back to 1987 and I, unknowingly, get hold of the single (b/w «Grooviest Girl In Town»); shortly after, the track opens the nearly eponymous lp «At First Sight Violets Are Blue», and blessed is he who grabs it, as for me I’m still waiting for the reissue; the band dissolves immediately and reforms many years later, also releasing a new lp «Heads Up»; meanwhile, Dom Mariani does everything; in 2010, the Roman label Teen Sound circulates «From The Vault» and I grab it, knowingly, to revel in crystalline melodies, carbohydrate-rich guitars, bittersweet love songs, and all the arsenal of the genre.

And here lies the surprising enigma, because the Stems before «At First Sight» are a garage band that grinds the guts. Nothing to do, you can say «I've grown up, now I listen to jazz, the second concerto of Rachmaninoff» all you want, but the garage always comes back to lay down the law, when you least expect it, and then you realize how much Chuck Berry has to sell when he urges rolling over Ludwig.

Now I'll tell you about «From The Vault».

Point one. It is a bewildering album, for the reasons stated above.

It's like someone gets excited with the Clash of «Cut The Crap» and decides to buy all the CDs they made before (someone who falls in love with the Clash thanks to «Cut The Crap» cannot have the vinyls, I'll bet my life on it): what is this 'stuff of «Polissendtivs»?

Point two. It is an exciting album.

What are these garage-punk "very sixties oriented" masterpieces (in execution order): «She's A Monster», «Make You Mine», «Tears Me In Two», «Just Ain't Enough», «Don't Let Me», «All You Want Me For», «On & On»? Only a group crazy about Chocolate Watchband and Electric Prunes, caught at the dawn of the '80s, and who doesn’t get tangled up in mental jerking, brooding that it’s out-to-date music, that the budgets are in the red and such output does not guarantee break-even. Garage is played, not discussed, all you need is a fuzz-guitar, a Farfisa, a bass, and drums, nothing else. Just like punk, music made of passion and ardor (the famous attitude).

Point three. It is a surprising album.

Because the most incisive notes aren't those blasted out of an amplifier with the distortion cranked up, but those where the garage ferocity subsides and the approaching «At First Sight» becomes visible in the distance.

Because «Love Will Grow», and here I’ll make an even bolder statement, might actually be more beautiful than «At First Sight»; because «Under Your Mushroom» is a hallucinogenic mushroom like those not chewed on since the Sixties; and also because «Spaceship» seems like a slow-motion cross between the Flying Burrito and Eddie Cochran shaped by a modern doctor Frankenstein under the influence of potent opiates.

Point four. «From The Vault» is a collection of singles, EPs, and assorted rarities played by the Stems in the five-year period from 1983-1987.

Point five. I firmly believe - and after all, scientific evidence proves it - that whoever messes with nuns sooner or later ends up singing mass.

And so the circle is closed.