Altrove

Hey Men! Yesterday we sucked... but WE GOT PICTURES :D :D :D

Go Head NOW!

Not falling in love with some bands is just impossible. So it came with a sweden one called "LaCrosse" (can't see why but we're gettin attention from all non English speaking bands in the world, from Norway to Argentina, you can easely wonder why).

Their avatar has a pig and donkey puppet one in front of the other, and then it happened I asked them if they were kissing or fighting. The brilliant reply was:"They do are kissing! But, you know, sometimes love can turn into fight and so the opposite". It was love (maybe also because the name of the singer is Nina)

The band asked us to do a cover of one of their tracks, as they will do the same. I choosed "Go Ego Go", and you can see here the results after a cloudy sunday spent at home recording it. I changed some chords and added some extra lines. The aim was to try to came out with a new sound totally different from the one of the band, so I found myself with this electro-samba-pop trying to melt Cornelius, Beck, Pet Shop Boys and Holly Johnson in the same pot! Guess I still got work to do...

"Go Ego Go" - LaCrosse
"Go Ego Go" - Mark Zonda

Goodnight

Revolution#2 {Lyrics}

You say "live your life in peace
hold it tight, let them be
You now love and understanding will come easy waiting still
Sun will rise once agai
what you gain in being mad
is a treasure with no jewels when you already sold the map
there's no use in being found
once you lose your way out
running helpless undercover could endanger the whole crowd"

But motor bike can't help it if
you don't burn gasoline

It's not a solution
to live an illusion
it's my revolution#2
It's not too officious
to break your position
it's my revolution
#2

Standing in the rain
will not bring you anyway
let's kick out the traffic jam
before it gets too late
(do something good for you)

Twisting with our faith
it's not fairy anyway
Shaking down to big bros bull
Should burst the class to laugh
(New teacher's rules: be schooled)

How many times will you stay back
sitting down like a pet to get some slacks
swing your tail when they play bells
while it's life on the line and it calls for self respect

It's not a solution
to live and illusion
it's my revolution#2
It's not to officious
to break your position
it's my revolution#2

You say: "live your life in peace
hold it tight, let them be"
you know out there's smoothing more
than the room that you adore
grab that chair and hit the sky
won't take much to realize
I'd say leave that life a piece
of my revolution #2

Revolution#2

The point is that we have:
a) Revolution (The Single)
b) Revolution #1
c) Revolution #9

... so why non trying to filling the gaps and wonder what's the point in having a revolution 40 years after a band called LesBeat started it all. You know. When you're young every single thing is a new discovery, even when we're dealing with concepts as old as humanity is. So it happened that in my youngster era I came into a Franco Battiato tv that really impressed me. Franco Battiato is an Italian artist more close to a philosopher than a songwriter. He had his point in the interview saying that he didn't believe in violent mass revolutions, because our memory is very poor and history is a never ending repetition of human mistakes. He concluded saying that the only true revolution that can redeem humanity is a inner change in the behaviour and consciousness of us all. That's why a song is more powerful than your guns. But have you ever tried to stop bullets with a guitar? Maybe only Pantera knows...

Ginger Genie {Lyrics}

She's some kind of evil sent to Earth to bring you pain
No wonder she's offensive 'cause you drove her out of grace
Her mind somewhere up in the clouds through thunderbolts and flames
she's lighting up a cigarette while cats and dogs sweat rain
Don't worry 'bout the picture
can't you see that you got framed
She's with another devil you can stay or go to hell

Isn't
a bit meany
Ginger Genie
She knows how to play
Beat Dizzy
Ginger Genie
Won't stop or delay
Isn't
hot Steamy
Ginger Genie
She wants you to play
Beat Freakie
Ginger Genie
It's hard to obey

Wish number one: you're so divine, dance with me until the end of time
Wish two: I wish you would turn me on before you got me blue
Hold back that number three. Yes' I'm coming to town and you gotta be free

But you don't even listen nor pretend of being there
While you need her sweet assistance she's forgetting all your spells
There is no magic word my dear to bring her back to shells
She's sparkling all her freckles while she smiles away from friends
Don't worry about the silence and the smell of what remains
It's cinnamon and sulphur from that girl you sent to hell.

Isn't
a bit meany...

Gentlemen take polaroids

Since yesterday rehearsals there are few things that we didn't had before:
1) A reggae bridge on "The Psychopath At The Club"
2) International Groupies

Manuel has shown us what a skilful bass player he is too.
That bass guitar is so f*cking steam-punk men.

Ginger Genie

Of course it all started as a mock of Jean Genie, but musically heading for the most Elvish Paul McCartney meeting Nancy Sinatra. Naturally it ended in something more similar to Aerosmith and Dead Cab For Cutie than else (as not planned).

Lyrics are dealing with a nasty cutie red haired girl doing nothing but rebelling to all of your wishes. Some say that she's actually the red girl portrayed on the temporary cover of our forthcoming album. Nice girl, isn't she?

Girls From Ronta {Lyrics}

How can you do all the things that you do
Feeling lost in country church-yards?
How can you say all the things that you say
You must be a girl from Ronta

Spending all my money
buying music for My Honey
we will sing awaiting sunrise
Spending all my time
giving shape to my desire
from a picture in a postcard
You must be a girl from Ronta

How can you do all the things that you do
With your sneakers on your shoulders
How can you say all the things that you say
You must be a girl from Ronta
How can you do all the things that you do
When your lift is out of order
How can you say all the things that you say
You must be a girl from Ronta

Always landing safe on your feet
Always landing safe on your feet
Always landing safe on your feet
Keep on falling

...

MyTape

Seems like we're in this nice mix-tape with a Zonda demo. Can't wonder why...
You can downoad it for free. (we're with good friends of us :) )

Girls from Ronta

Another task was to compose an appealing indie song. That's when I pushed myself gathering my concentration trying to build up the most stupid silly tune of ever: "Girls from Ronta". I mean... it all started with "I'm from Barcelona", then the world of unsigned music was all filled up with "Men from Argentina", "Trains to Brazil", "Postcards from Italy" and whatever an exotic souvenir could bring in your mind. So I thought: "we had -Girls from Mars-, we had -Country Girl-... why not a -Girl from Ronta-?"

I started to thing about tunes and words for the chorus every moment of those days, tuning in some kind of brain-station of mine bringing to mind what would suite a coca-cola spot and a tape English language lesson for beginners too. So I came out with that silly "How do you do... all the things that you do...", fitting the melody in a perfect way. Moreover it was all so catchy that I didn't even had the urge to write it down or record it because it was so worm-hearing that it was impossible to get it out of my head! That-fucking-worked!


Since I hate stupid things I tried to fill the rest of the songs with indie hints and quotes and battles of words on this icon of Country Girl trying to fit in the cool world of the trendy urban youth without a point, unconscious that her real appeal is brought by her belonging to a genuine and honest tiny world.

Tiny Trains {Lyrics}

Canone#1:

Let's take a train and let's go
Just pick a track and let flow
Parallel lines
Beating the time
as long there's steel in your eyes

Canone#2:

Trees go by on ceramic floors
See the station near the close door
Locomotive put aside
heedless daddy doesn’t mind
we'll never reach the station

Chours#1:

Have you ever wondered
'bout animals?
Standing still on plastic hills
they wouldn't move
they cannot tell nor talk
Seems like they forgot the words
when they realized
that noting worth the toils.
Freedom just a state of mind
takes away
your logic for a ride

Chours#2

Have you ever wondered
'bout artefacts
standing by beside the clock
they wouldn't cry
they cannot tell nor talk
seems like men forbade them words
when they realized
they only would annoy
Freedom just a state of mind
running wild
on tiny trains to ride

Tiny Trains

This is my second attempt do a song inspired to the movie "Love & Pop".

The director of the movie (Hideaki Anno) frequently uses to point out the childish behaviour of "otaku-generation" adults in his works. This time Anno handles model-trains not to repeat himself with animations and cartoons references and icons. So that the little tiny trains become a metaphor of a secure world build upon our wishes and imagination.

This is for the inspiration, what for the music?

That was the attempt to compose a track divided in two parts, the first of wich should have been a slow j-pop tune with a canon and a choir half between Oasis and Pink Floyd. Obviously the demo had his way in its own direction.

The Chorus wonders on a strange idea I had one day while dinning a about evolution and devolution, watching two friends of mine arguing for silly things. What if animals millions and millions of years ago did known how to speak, but words becomes so useless that they had given up to communicate concepts? Maybe animals have got a superior acknowledge of themselves inside the universe that mankind hasn't reached yet.

Still we live our lives like the parallel tracks of a train, living together for a lifetime and never even try to have a contact with each other even once.

L'angolo del tastierista

Proficua giornata spesa in sala prove. Divertente e gagliarda; ancora una volta il nostro eroe Mark Zonda l'ha fatta da padrone.

Si sa ormai dell'imminente uscita di una raccolta di inediti, demo e frattaglie di Elliot Smith, eppure una di queste pagine d'autore, colpita da una folata di vento, deve aver attraversato l'oceano Atlantico, sorvolato la Francia, attraversato le Alpi, per approdare infine nella solatia Romagna. Rotta definitiva ? Lo zerbino di casa Zonda. Altrimenti non si può spiegare ciò che è avvenuto sotto gli occhi attoniti e stupiti dei Tiny Tide:

quella gran "puttana pop" di Zonda ha partorito l'ennesimo figlio bastardo, un colpo di genio assoluto ... A Song for EMI, una canzone alla Elliot Smith, dove i giri armonici e gli accordi hanno l'impronta innegabile del maestro americano. Immancabile il contro canto, dove spunta fuori la voce di Porlock. Ahhh Porlock ! stavolta ti sei cacciato veramente nei guai ...

Giovanni si dimostra padrone incontrastato dell'architettura ritmica dei brani. La sua comprensione assoluta della struttura dei pezzi gli consente di suggerire ed elaborare a getto continuo, pause, crescendi, stacchi, break, e tutto il resto. Un vero pilastro, una chiave di volta.

Non avendo a disposizione due camalli di Portofino per traghettare il mio pesantissimo ultra-tecnologico piano digitale (in figura). La tastiera "muletto" è stata benevolmente fornita da Zonda. Tastierina indolente e pigra, appena sveglia ha bisogno di fare colazione con calma, un po' di esercizio fisico, due flessioni, dopodiché è finalmente operativa. Insomma cinque minuti buoni per avviarsi.

Io che faccio il figo con tastiere semi-pesate e meccaniche a martelli, penso ingenuamente di poter domare facilmente questo giocattolo con manie di grandezza. ERRORE ! La tastierina indolente e pigra mostra un cuore da leone e vuole essere domata, è sufficiente aumentare di poco il peso del tocco e la dinamica del suono impazzisce. Mi hai sfidato, maledetta tastierina nevrotica, ma hai trovato pane per i tuoi denti !

Il climax sale vertiginosamente e Zonda posseduto dal poltergeist di Jimi Hendrix rompe una corda per la troppa foga. Non importa, non ha bisogno di chitarre Lui. Si continua senza.

Attento a te Mark Zonda ! D'ora in avanti da vera "Queen Bitch" sarai costretto ad esibirti in lustrini e payette.

... ma si sa che tanto Zonda cade sempre in piedi.

Tales From The Studio

Bello uscire dalla sala prove e sentirsi dire: "Senti un po'... ma voi che genere di musica fate?"
"Boh! Se vuoi ti lascio la demo. Ma sono le versioni fatte solo da me..."

E anche questa volta una corda della Fendy ci ha lasciato il pennino...

Bello anche incrociare il gruppo che provava dopo di noi... e scoprire che erano I RED SKA!
(commento da petofilo bavos: carina la biondina!)

Mi ha meravigliato Porlock con la facilita' con cui siamo riusciti ad arrangiare "A Song For EMI". anche i cori sono meno peggio di quanto pensassi. Avanti cosi'.

The Psychopath At The Club {Lyrics}

Dance and roll
do you recall
when life was sweet
and I was yours
God knows
we were unstoppable
So drunk
and irresistible

Clap your hands
and shout out loud
here comes the night
can't live without
you pray
to get invisible
can't see
he's so insensible

Follow the path
Follow the psychopath
at the club

Find the way
and lose my badge
How does it feel
to be so lame
Jane knows
she seems unstoppable
she'll dance
as cool as possible

Cracking up
to twist and shout
you hope this night
you'll kill the doubt
Was life a maze by Dedalo?
If so
who cares which way to go

Follow the path
Follow the psychopath
at the club

Are you in to burn that disco
please give me a call
Got no time to hang that dj
Seek me to the core

Follow the path
Follow the fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
at the club
Follow the path
Follow the psychopath
at the club

The Psychopath At The Club

This song starts clearly with a mock of "The Kids At The Club", an indie anthem by Comet Gain, that me and some friends of mine used as a title for our monthly indie nights as djs. After spending 2 years djsetting, partying, seeing gigs, we came to consider that maybe "The Psychopath At The Club" would have been a more suitable title for that nights, looking around for a sane person or situation and finding none.

So I started playing with words, and in particular for that fucking "path" in the end of the world, and tried to get a little Morrisseian for one in a while. I ended to be Pulp in disguise, and I guess that Bowie and Brett Anderson would find themselves comfortable in that song to...

The lyrics are a ensemble of suggestions and quotes from band names and songs lyrics, and I tried to have it a little musical too adding the reference on Dedalo, that I guess it's probably "Dedalus" in English. But it wouldn't have rhymed with "go" anyway :)

Fabio Benni from Le Man Avec Le Lunettes had a listen to that song... and he enjoyed the demo so much that proposed to add choirs in it. He did a marvellous job, with extreme pro and care, giving the song a kind of Zooropesque touch.

Thanks Fabio... we're waiting for the whole production :P

Needful Things {lyrics}

Sally stood still
unable to move
reading it back and again
jealous and angry
sensing the groove
capital words on her head

"OUR NIGHT SO BRAVE
YOU WERE A BAD GUY, BABE
BRING NEEDFUL THINGS
THEY START A FIRE
INSIDE OF ME

TAKE THIS PICTURE
IT'S A MEMORY OF ME"
Holy Writings
yet blasphemies to read
"HAVE IT ALL MY LOVE
IT'S A MEMORY OF ME"
"Kiss my Bible".
That's what she thinks she means.

She took the sheets
made them a ball
throwing her bad thoughts away
Then she turned back
Changing her mind
levelling folds into plains

"OUR NIGHT SO BRAVE ...

Needful Things

Simona one day asked me if I could record a song in a Kate Bush style for her. I suddenly thought of "Wurthering Heights". In a similar way I tried to put my mind into a 80's mood and take a book as main vein of inspiration for the song. So I thought: why not Stephen King instead of a classic! Which book is more 80's than "It"? (Well... actually "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking, but that's not really exciting).

I think that the song ended up to be more Mark Zonda than Kate Bush, and that Simona lost interest in it. But what a nice song anyway! That's why you hear me on falsetto in the double track of the demo (ok, stop asking me for dates, that female voice is me).

The song basically deals with "Sally" - a very religious character - finding a letter with the proof of a liaison between his husband and a friend. The bridge and the choirs are basically the body of that letter. Sally read it in the first part and decide to read it once again in the second recovering the letter from the trash. The lines "Kiss my bible" was supposed to be "Kiss my nipples", but I guess It spoiled the mood of the song. I don't know. Maybe I'll get to change my mind from time to time during lives :)

The second demo of the song was edited once again by Wild Heart, who also played a marvellous piano and rebuilt the bass line.

A song for EMI

(Pic taken from Mojo Magazine)

Life is strange. Strange indeed. Quite as double strange as Internet is. The fact is that a "friend of mine", Amy, was hill a few days ago, and asked for me to write her a song to cheer her up.

Of course I never met Ami in all my life, and I "know" her as well since about a week. Of course again: who am I not doing a favour for a friend? :)

And so I started to wonder about a sweet lullaby for Amy very soon teased by the tiny difference that between name Amy and Emi, mutating the song in a bitter surreal invective on the notorious music label and money/rights related matters between the corporation and - guess who - The Beatles :)

So, dear Amy, I hope you're fine by now and you're happy with the song (the first part is at 90% for you in a true way) and that Mariah Carey will give a smirk at it if she'll ever stumble on that one. Or Whoever is in charge of EMI Music Corp right now.

These are the lyrics of the song:

"Everytime that you're feeling down
look up for wings to be found
Since your smile's been fed up with lies
It's true, it's trust you would try
When you're weak, heart can't make a sound
be quiet, behold the new loud

by and by
let by, Emi will be fine

And they sang not to let them down
but you just left London Town
Since their words have been trade up with rights
what's left are scruffs on advertise
Now they're done, but they still got rhymes
Beware, we're the next in line

by and by
say goodbye
Emi will be fine"

Here you can listen to my demo of the song, just played by myself and recorded on a quiet sunday:

"A song for EMI"

Let us know...

February {Lyrics}

February
Music and Lyrics by Mark Zonda © 2007
picture from "Love&Pop" promotional poster by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

"The Water / Still water / is now in control/
My body / still floating / and gone for a stroll /
You drive / my life / I guess I'll let go/

It's shining / how funny / I'm facing the floor/
The body / of water / it's keeping my soul/
All right / I dived / Sour load with no store

February/ with all my life gone /Heavenly /
Your love was but a fiction book /To trash/

I'm steering / at celing / avoiding the lights /
and checking / my fingers / dismissing my eyes /
to wave / goodbyes / They're holding so far.../

...for February / with all my life gone /Heavenly /
Your love was but a fiction book /
it's not a news / let's have a look / and sight"

February

"February Sessions" (t.b.d.) is my second attempt to work on an album with english songs, giving the World the marvellous chance to get in touch with my oughful E. pronunciation. The first experiment was called "Feel The Blank" (1999), and it was my naif attampt to celebrate youth in a concept lo-fi scenario where a foreign guest (Yuriko) came out of the blue visiting the town of Uranopoly (Life).

When I started working on the new album it was actually January 2007. I wanted to talk of the most inspiring thing I was through in that period... and that thing was a japanese movie by Hideaki Anno called "Love and Pop". I found the movie partucularry enancing because of the catchy photography... and the lack of subtitles!
And I tought:"... wouldn't it be nice having a proper sountrack for that nice movie?"

So I started with "February", basically a song divided in two part dealing with a girl apparently drowning in a pool and the very moment before this tragic situation and a chour that is an hymn to... TOMMY FEBRUARY6!

The name behind Tommy is Tomoko Kawase, leader of the former Japanese band "The Brilliant Green", one of my beloved bands of ever. She not only decide to have a 80's pop sinth alter ego instead of being a former popoular dj leading one of the most famous brit-jap-pop band of the land, but she actually killed that new persona to incarnate the brand new "Tommy Heavenly6", id est Avril Lavigne meets GreenDays. Tomoko chosed the name Heavenly to stand between a joyful adjective of peaceful happines and... well... death.

I was in the middle of the writing of that" melodically plane" (that means "boring" for my taste) composition when I tought:"Mmmm... February/Heavenly... what a nice ryme...". And the hell of a ringtone-tune came out!

The first demo of "February" took almost three full days of recording, including programming the drums, the female voice of the sinth in the very start of the song, sampling sounds from the movie "Love & Pop", playing guitar, harmonica, glockenspiel, keyboards and doing singing and choir. In the end what came out was a baroque melange with a hell of Smithian pizzicato (that was supposed to recall "Lullabay" from Cure in the very beginning) and soft spaced melody in a "The G., The B. & The Q." mood. A shamed that that version was horribly mixed, and the voice vanish behing all these sounds.

Simona teach how to sing properly in some kind of private accademy. She use to give me singing lessions. I asked her opinion on the song, and she tought the sung would have been better if raised of half a toned. She wanted me to try to sing it right away while showing me how the song was supposed to be sang. Gee! That was something. Our eyes met after few seconds and we probably tought at the same thing: our voices was matching perfectly. So, with the help of Wild Heart (who mixed, rearranged and played the new version), we got the second version of the "February" demo, in wich the voice of Simona appears.

Of course Tiny Tide version is so far better, had an hell of a piano intro and it blows away the earlier versions. I guess we look something like "Dire Straits" meet "Coldplay" with Costello on volcals. At least in my immagination :)

hello

ciao a tutti
il primo blog della mia vita
solo che non so cosa scrivere
mi mandate un pò di foto?
si come prima cosa può andare
ciao

Well good evening to all my friends

I think it goes to show that the more you get, the more yougot, the more you want some more!
nU

Mic Check

Ah - Ah - Ah - Ah - Ah -

Mic Check Mic Check