Kieran Webber
Director and Founder of CLUNK Magazine, CLUNK Events, and other CLUNK affiliate businesses. You’ll probably find me tucked away somewhere sending emails, listening to music, and creating content.
Hailing from Milano, Italy The Backlash discuss their new single ‘As Real’, how the band met, and much more
Of recent years Italy has had a wave of psychedelic bands coming from its ancient soil. In fact, last year we witnessed this first hand at the Italian Music Showcase at SXSW. Artists such as Big Mountain County showcased the countries belting new wave of psychedelia. However, today we are here to talk about The Backlash, the band from Milano who fuses a classic brit-pop sound with elements of garage rock and psychedelia, imagine The Stone Roses but with that bit extra.
Recently, they shared the thumping new track ‘As Real’, a song that showcases the bands visceral energy. it was after hearing this we had to find out more about this rising Italian band, so we caught with Francesco, guitarist and vocalist to chat about how the band formed, new music, and much more.
Kieran: Hey, thanks for chatting with us! How have you been?
Francesco: Thanks for having us! We’ve been good, and it’s a pleasure to chat with CLUNK Magazine.
Kieran: How has the summer been treating you so far? Any highlights?
Francesco: The summer has been great so far! We’ve been enjoying our time in the rehearsal studio, finishing up the arrangements for our new music. We’re about to start recording very soon, and we can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Kieran: So, how did you all meet and at what point did you decide to start making music together?
Francesco: Alessio (singer) and I have been here since day one, and actually even before that since we’ve known each other since we were kids and have been playing music together since then. Last year, Corrado (bass) and Peppe (drums) joined the band as the new rhythm section. I knew both of them personally, and when The Backlash urgently needed a new drummer and bassist, they responded to my invitation for a series of dates we had across Italy, France, and Germany. After we got back from that mini-tour, they decided to stay with us. Since then, we’ve become a very united family, a proper clan. I think their arrival has been very artistically stimulating because they have such strong musical personalities, and it has transformed the band into something different and, if you ask me, even better.
Kieran: What bands, artists, or people have inspired your vintage psychedelia sound?
Francesco: If we’re talking about the more vintage psychedelia aspect of our sound, I’d definitely say The Brian Jonestown Massacre and some elements of The Dandy Warhols. However, overall, one of our most important influences has to be the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Kieran: You recently dropped your new single ‘As Real…’, can you talk us through this release and what it means to you?
Francesco: After an initial phase where the new members had to get up to speed with our older material, we felt the need to start writing new stuff. ‘As Real’ is the first track we arranged with the new lineup. We have a studio that allows us to seamlessly transition from rehearsing, jamming, and composing to recording, so ‘As Real’ was quickly recorded and mixed by me at RBS Studio. The mastering was done by James Aparicio (Spiritualized, Mogwai), and then we released it. We felt an urgency to put out the first piece under the band’s current state. It’s a fun song to play live, quite direct. It seemed like a great way to announce ourselves and say to the world, ‘we’re here, and we’re coming back with lots of new stuff.
Listen to ‘As Real’ here:
Kieran: What does the creative process look like when you craft your songs? How does it work?
Francesco: I’ve been writing songs since I was 15. Often, when I write something that I think would work well for The Backlash in terms of melody, I share it with the others, and that becomes the starting point for the arrangement, which we do the old-fashioned way—in the rehearsal room, not in front of a DAW. However, recently, it’s been happening more and more often that we start from improvisations in the studio, which really showcases how well we click and how much I enjoy what everyone brings to the table. Sometimes we play continuous jams that flow instinctively, and thanks to the strong, almost magical connection we’ve developed in a relatively short time, we can capture something special. When we hit on something we like, we quickly record it instrumentally. Afterward, I work on building a melody for the song. This final touch from me perhaps provides a slight continuity between what we play now and what we played a few years ago. Overall, though, from what I hear, we always sound a bit different from what we used to play.
Kieran: What’s a common misconception that people have about bands from Italy?
Francesco: I’m not exactly sure what common misconceptions there might be, but I’m glad to see that, especially in our niche of alternative bands, many Italian bands are well-regarded abroad. They play at major psych festivals and are part of important labels for the genre. They earn their respect!
However, I think I speak for my bandmates when I say that the idea of belonging to the family of Italian bands (or to hypothetical ‘Italian music scenes’) has never really excited us. We love Italy for a thousand reasons, but we’d be hypocritical to say that we care particularly about being considered an Italian band because, musically, we don’t have strong ties to our country. In fact, we have none at all.
Kieran: Lastly, what else can we expect from you in 2024?
Francesco: We have a single coming out right after the summer. I can tell you that it’s called ‘Hands,’ and it’s a psychedelic ride that ends in one of the most stoner-like pieces we’ve ever produced. In the meantime, we’re finishing up work on our new album, which will definitely be ready by the end of 2024. While we release new singles and await the announcement of the LP release date, we hope to play some shows both in Italy and abroad.