Stinky Rats (Italy)

 

Stinky Rats: "odio"

Stinky Rats: "giorni"

 

Une super interview de Giampo chanteur du groupe punk, hardcore italien du début des années 80 à écouter ci-dessus! STINKY RATS!

Un grand merci à Giampo pour cette interview et ces documents!                       Un grande grazie Giampo!!!

 

 

Could you introduce your band Stinky Rats? Who are you? Where are you from? Wich kind of music? ...

TURIN 1983/84 in a meeting center in the south of the city the Stinky Rats are born with Spartaco guitar, Massimino drum, Giampo voice, Andrea bass With this line-up the band creates a completely self-produced tape entitled "Urla di rabbia". The cassette includes the folding cover that acts as an information flyer with the group's texts and thoughts, a sticker and a mini poster always folded inside, with graphics drawings made by Giampo. The recording was made in the basement of the Hotel Nazionale in Turin, the rehearsal place of the band. After various concerts around the city, in March 1985 they played at the Vanchiglia meeting center, a reference point for Punk concerts in Turin. The cassette and the concert gives the band the launch to make themselves known more closely in the Turin and other Punk reality. 1985 Ivo enters the Stinky Rats as second voice, the band puts together all the pieces to be sung with two voices and of course new songs are also composed.

Before the tour in Germany and Holland in 1986 there were some changes, the INDIGESTI needed a drummer because their original drummer Massimone wanted to have other experiences, so they asked our drummer if he wanted to play with them, it was something that at the time was he was a drummer, bassist or guitarist he could play in two or three groups, only the INDIGESTI had to leave for a tour in the united states, and the problem was that we had to do the tour in europe ... but we solved immediately, since their drummer wanted to have new experiences he joined us and so there was an exchange of drummers. Later after the tour the second singer Ivo had already warned us that after the tour he would go to play in a metal group and leave us, and later he also played percussion in a big band in Turin, while Massimino our first drummer continued in the INDIGESTI, and to follow for a period in the NEGAZIONE, and then in the ANGELI band from Turin formed together with Tax guitarist of the Negazione, and the Stinky Rats? ... After the Stinky european tour the original bassist Andrea disbanded after a few years he totally changed his life giving himself even to religion, Spartacus a chess lover continued his way in that mental world becoming national champion chess, and later playing the drums in a Grunge band. .. also because in reality he is a drummer. March 2020 STINKY RATS return with the first original single-voice formation but with the new bass player Nunzio the sound of STINKY RATS is very particular because we mixed all the punk sound that the band listened to, starting from English and American punk sound of course as for sure Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Germs etc etc ..., but then we discover various hardcore groups Americans! and then our ears filled with new sounds, Minor threat! Suicidal Tendencies, JFA, Misfits and all the others. in particular the detail of our sound was given by our guitarist who, passionate about Dead Kennedys and all the English New wawe of that period, created a very particular sound that merged "hardcore with the New Wave" we didn't realize it but for the time we had a very particular sound compared to the other groups, the song maybe started Hardcore and ended with a garage surf sound like in the song "BISOGNO" or in the song "ODIO" where there is a solo surf.

About your releases, which are your labels ?

The first demo-tape "Urla di Rabbia" was completely self-produced by us in 30 copies. 1985 the mini LP "Vergognati" is a Co.production of Blu Bus (Aosta), Chaos-Produzioni (Milan), and Mungo -Declino (Turin) the disc is printed in 500 copies, cover in black and white, inside glossy sheet printed in A3 double-sided with photos and texts, plus photocopied flyer with English texts for copies that went abroad.
The demo-tape "Urla di rabbia" and the mini-LP "Vergognati" plus some tracks that appeared on Italian and Scandinavian punk compilations, were reissued in 2009 on CD and vinyl by "F.O.A.D records".

 

 

Could you describe the italian d.i.y punk, hardcore scene in the 80’s in Italy ?

The Punk Hardcore scene in Italy at the time was very active, we were all very busy. There was no internet, but everything was in motion, we contacted each other via telephone, handwritten letters, with soap-coated stamps that were recycled, there was an incredible chain of contacts, we were all very close, and being at a concert was almost like an act of faith, there was the VIRUS squatt of Milan, an important reference point for Italian punk, the GDHC Gran.Ducato. HardCore in Tuscany, in Turin there was a meeting center called "Vanchiglia" where more or less once a month a punk concert was organized, I saw them in 1984 the MDC. When there was a concert in Turin people came from all over Italy and they were very united. Then with the North European tour of the Negazione and Declino the Italian punk hardcore sound passed the Alps, and thanks to them we too did our tour in Germany and Holland. But I would like to remind you that the 80s as they now describe them as "wonderful" ... fuck you !!! they were years of shit !!! there was a lot of heroin that made all the revolutionary movements of the late 60s and 70s zombies.                                                                   In 1982 Turin was a dormitory city, and the police stopped you every day, the anger I had inside and the punk ideology kept me going, and so it was throughout Italy there was a lot of repression, now that I see people with bleached hair, piercings etc etc and it's all normal, at the time people used to beat you, and then the police continued ... being a punk was not a game and not a fashion ... even if for many it was , but you immediately realized who was playing and who really believed in it.

 

 

In your memories, there were women in the 80’s italian punk scene ? (In bands, audiance, …)

Yes there were! and many also very active, in turin various bands had the female singer Declino before they were called so they were called WARGASM and the singer was Lia (RIP) immediately after they were called DECLINO she still sing for a few months and then she went away, same period in turin there were the OBIEZIONE with Giulia at the voice, the CONTRAZIONE with Mara and Sergio at the voice, or the ANTIGENESI of milan who were all women. Laura and Monica of RAF-PUNK and Giampi already transgender HELENA-VELENA for years, and many other activists, especially in Milan and Bologna.

 

Stinky rats live in Emma squat, Amsterdam, 1986

 

Were there squats ? Did you play there ?

In the 80s the most famous was the VIRUS in Milan, which had different addresses, the first in Via Correggio, then Viale Piave, and the last in Piazza Bonomelli where I played with the STINKY RATS. and also in Milan COX18. In Bari in southern Italy there was "La Giungla" cleared not even by the police, but by the criminals, the TUVAT in the Emilia Romagna region, FORTE PRENESTINO in Rome, the VICTOR CHARLIE in Pisa so called because in Pisa it is full of American military bases, and behind the stage he had a huge Viet-Cong flag, that was the landmark of the GDHC but it was not occupied it was a club, then in 1987 in Turin the occupation of "EL PASO" which still exists. however many of these listed still exist others do not, but only in Milan there were an infinite number and also in Turin we say that the first was the VIRUS in Milan and then from there there was contamination ... ha! ha! ha!

 

Was there a punk scene in Torino ? And what about today?

For me punk in Turin made sense when I started shooting in 1982 and up to the mid-80s, then slowly things started to change, I think that as a thought the un is always current, it is a way of thinking, When in 1986 I toured with the Stinky Rats in addition to the punk bands I listened to a lot of psychedelia and beat, garage, also because in those years there was a strong revival of the 60s, and being the youngest of a sister and an older brother I am always been linked to the movement of the 60s, but in 1981/82 it was time to change and punk was something I felt inside, it was my moment of revolution. Today the punk movement is linked to anarcho-Squat situations, but it is not the same thing as it was in those times, it has evolved in another way yet ...

Each period has its own vibration and sensation, and movement that is difficult to replicate or maintain. Because it is given by the time you live and by the energy that bursts in that precise moment given by a social situation you live in that precise.

 

 

Giampo, did you play in other bands ?

Yes after STINKY RATS in 1987 I sang only for a month in the "Double Deck Five" psych-garage band from Turin, then in 1988 I formed "The Bastard Angels and the Astazou Power" And I was the singer, we did Grebo-Rock following the sound of Gaye Bikers on Acid, Zodiac Mindwarp, the band lasted a year and a half, and then in 1990 I formed AMANITAS QUASAR where singer and player of old analog synthesizers, psychedelic sound and space rock, we played for a few years with various components, doing shows in turin and milan complete with scenography, smoke fog, liquid light show, and naked dancer completely painted in psychedelic color following the Hawkwind style. with this band the spaceship leaves for a few years, then parks, and then starts again, I must say that we never stopped we are always experimenting but the most intense period was from 1990 to 1994 Nunzio the new bassist of STINKY RATS comes from the Amanitas Quasar. I want to clarify that with my official bands the songs and lyrics are all ours, no cover band!

 

You’re a singer but I know that you’re creative motorfreaker punk!
What are your other artistic passions ?

I have to say that I have many passions including custom motorcycles, choppers, I have a 1978 BMW motorcycle totally modified by me, custom cars including a custom 1964 Ford 17-M called UFO, and always a 1974 Ford taunus station wagon called Psych-out Wagon, I design posters in psychedelic style, and not, it depends on what bands and what genres they do, I love the sixties from design to graphics, I find it the most creative period, I organized a psychedelic style party since 1989 called Psych-out party and on its 25th birthday I turned it into a festival, last year it turned 30 and it seemed right to finish it at thirty ... it seems like a good number.

Now, I collaborate with a biannual magazine of art, graphics, and underground culture, called Friscospeaks, I have a column called "In the Orbit of Giampo Coppa". I do sixties-style light shows with colored oils and projectors as they did in the sixites, in short, I'm always busy, sometimes I feel like doing nothing. However a part of my works can be seen on giampocoppa.blogspot.com

 

Do you have future plans with Stinky Rats ?

We reformed just before this fucking epidemic broke out! But as the first line up with me alone on vocals, and the new bassist Nunzio who learned all the pieces, with the bassist I also have a Psychedelic Space Rock band called Amanitas Quasar. The second singer is gone, he has other projects ... But we love him all the same. We did a test to figure out what could be done and it was crazy because it seemed like there had been a short period since we stopped in 1986 ... as soon as we started making the first piece of the record it was all quiet ... charo the sound was a bit rusty, and slowly the engine started again. obviously I didn't have a voice at the second song. Now we have been trying it for 4 months and I would say that the engine is running at full speed!
New projects for sure ... When this plague shit is over the idea and to do a mega concert here in Turin for Radio Black-out which is a free radio that is supported only with concerts or activities in Squatt or social centers, in follow a mini tour in the historical places Squats and alternative situations in Italy ... maybe even outside Italy., but for now it would be enough for us, and then let's see what happens ... Clearly it is not our intention to continue with a certain speech as all epoch, we lived the punk period in that moment that made sense in Italy it would be pathetic to continue now ... But there is a short return ... and then maybe we continue in another way or with another name, or it just ends.

 

Stinky Rats today 2020!

 

♥♥♥