Shores Of Null - Interview

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Published on Saturday, 17 September 2022 18:47

Italian blackened gothic/doom outfit, Shores Of Null, is a striking presence within the metal underground. The band formed in 2013 - as a new project with members of Zippo, The Orange Man Theory, Noumeno, Il Grande Scisma d'Oriente, and Mens Phrenetica - and released three full-lengths, Quiescence (2014), Black Drapes For Tomorrow (2017), and Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) in November 2020, and, in 2021, a live unplugged selection of songs, Quiet Whispers - Unplugged At Traffic Garden, while the fourth full-length is waiting to be released at the beginning of next year, right before the bend heads on a European tour. Shores Of Null latest offering, Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying), is a 38-minute-long song/album - an outstanding epic work of dark/doom/gothic metal art which took the glory in many reviews; one is right HERE. And - not even a click away - is the interview with three Shores Of Null members: vocalist Davide Straccione and two guitarists, Gabriele Giaccari and Raffaele Colace. Be prepared for one of the longest, if not the longest, Terra Relicta interviews and the most unusually conducted too; namely, the five of us were sitting on pebbles of the confluence of Soca and Tolminka rivers' shore on a hot summer evening and drinking beer, of course. You don't want to miss it...

Interview with: Davide, Gabriele and Raffaele  
Conducted by: Tomaz and Jerneja
Edited by: Jerneja

Jerneja: Hello Davide, Gabriele and Raffaele, thank you for coming. So, we are conducting this interview in quite an unusual way (though fitting your band's name) - sitting on pebbles of the confluence of Soca and Tolminka rivers' shore, drinking beer... Could it be any better?... Today is the last day of Metaldays 2022, and Shores Of Null concluded its performance (which we, unfortunately, missed) on the second alias Bosko Bursac stage about two hours ago. Was it the first time Shores Of Null performed in Slovenia?
Davide: Not the first time. We played in Ljubljana, in the club Gromka. And once on Winter Days Of Metal festival.

Tomaz: And, how do you like it here, in Tolmin?
Davide: It's amazing. I was here as a visitor once, in 2019. I really like the place. We were scheduled for 2020 and re-scheduled twice. So, finally, we got to play at this amazing festival.
Raffaele: This is like a metal paradise to me. The first time for me to be here. And playing so close to these rivers and the mountains is just super cool.

Jerneja: You probably know it's the last time of the Metaldays as we know it. Namely, from 2023 only festivals for less than 5000 people will be possible in Tolmin, and Sotocje (Main Beach) will no longer be a part of the festival area.
Davide: Yeah, we were so lucky. After the re-schedules, we were afraid it wouldn't happen to us. Now at least, we got to play at this place.

Tomaz: Your last album, Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying), released in 2020, only consists of one song. Do you consider it a proper album anyway?
Gabriele: Well, it is a proper album to me - it's almost 40 minutes long. So, more or less is like the other albums. And, it's a very important album to us since it features a lot of emotions and moods. It came in a weird period - released during the Covid and written in a period hard for the band.
Davide: The funny thing is that we, at the same time, recorded the next album, Quiet Whispers - Unplugged At Traffic Garden. We entered the studio with two albums to record. And then we didn't know whether to release the album with old tracks or this one-song album, which was an experiment, but we wanted a different album. We decided to go with the one-track album since it was perfect timing, with no live shows. At the time, we didn't even know if we would ever play it live. So, now we are happy to be able to play it live after almost two years.
Raffaele: I want to add that this experimental album started as a joke, like, hey, guys, let's play some "bad shit" with slow chords. And so we created this album.

Tomaz: The album is all about death, mourning, grief... - well, it's subtitled "On Death And Dying"...
Davide: We first had the music done, and then mostly Gabo and I talked about the lyrics. We thought they had to be about something very, very deep. We came across this psychology book by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death And Dying. The book is based on interviews with dying people or terminally ill patients, and it's all about how we approach dying. When writing the lyrics, we had these people's experiences in mind - in the way the person is talking about his/her condition, from the moment he/she finds out about it to the moment he/she is about to experience his/her own death. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross formulated five stages of grief, with acceptance as the last one. With the album, we went with these five stages and released it in five different vinyl colours - one for each stage.

Jerneja: I thought there were seven stages of grief...
Davide: Yes, but in her model of grief, there were only five. Also, the stages aren't sequential, and they can be mixed, as well, one can only experience two or three. When our inspirational book, On Death And Dying, was written in 1969, there were five stages, so I guess, in the future, when they have studied more on the subject, the theory evolved.

Tomaz: The album also features three special guests: Thomas Jensen from Saturnus, Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow The Sun, and Elisabetta Marchetti from Inno. How was working with such renowned names, and how much do you think they added to the "soul" of the album and its promotion?
Gabriele: We had more special guests, to be precise. We had another female vocalist, Martina Lesley McLean, director and video editor at Sanda Movies, doing some screaming, and Paolo Campitelli from Kaledon on the piano. There were also some additional guests on violin and cello. But returning to  Mikko and Thomas - it was a great experience working with them since they come from the two bands we most appreciate. They came to Italy to record the album; together, we spent time in the studio and outside it in Rome, eating and drinking. We've already known Tomas because we had toured a couple of times together and played in Italy and at a festival in Spain, as well. We came in touch with Mikko thanks to our friend, and next year we are touring with Swallow The Sun. And Elisabetta is our friend and the wife of our producer at Kick Recording Studio, Marco "Cinghio" Mastrobuono. She has a beautiful voice, so we chose her to add this emotional component.
Davide: The fact that it's so different from our previous albums made us think of it as a collaborative album. Being almost 40 minutes long song, we wanted more souls in it, not only ours. When I first listened to the demos, I thought that part was perfect for Mikko and that one for Thomas. So, we contacted them, sent them the song, and they accepted. They came to Rome, and we spent a couple of days with them, not at the same time, because they came on separate weekends. It was great - having them in the studio - not just as guests but as a part of the record.

Jerneja: Since it's a one-song album, how did you prepare for recording it?
Davide: They all knew which part they were to sing, and they came more or less prepared with the idea in their minds. Yeah, their parts were quite long, but it all went pretty smooth.

Jerneja: Many doom and sludge bands make long songs which tend to be monotone and repetitive. Yours is none of this, but were you considering this issue when composing it?
Gabriele: Well, the first idea was to make a shitty song, very monotone, only to give up with our previous label. But when writing it, we felt something good was breaking. So, we continued to work on harmonies. We wanted to create something evolving from one mood to another. While writing the riffs, we started to think about the idea of the five stages of grief. So, one song, but with a lot of different moods.

Tomaz: You mentioned before that your last two albums got recorded at the same time... Well, the fourth is yet to be released...
Davide: Regarding the composition, the upcoming album was composed before Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying), but then we recorded them together to use the same studio time.

Tomaz: Are they somehow connected?
Gabriele: Not really. The songs from the upcoming album were written over a long period, while Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) only took us two or three days, well, the main riffs. Somehow they are connected, but the new songs are not as slow as Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying). They are more varied, like the ones from our previous albums. With Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying), we wanted to do something very different from the music we've done. That is why everything is different; even the title, Beyond The Shores, indicates that we wanted to do something else than we usually do. And even the stages of grief are like an acceptance of the change.
Raffaele: And the vocal part is different too. There were many times that I had to say something like, "Gabo, stop. No, Gabo".
Gabriele: Yeah, we usually put a lot of double-kick, double voices and melodies but not this time.
Davide: The idea with Beyond The Shores was to be more simple, to be raw, in a way, to go only with the essential. And I think we nailed it.

Tomaz: Can you reveal more about the upcoming album, the title, release date, and perhaps when can we expect the first single from it?
Davide: The album's title is a part of Beyond The Shores' lyrics; this is all I can say about it for now. And the album will be released somewhere in 2023, I think in March.
Gabriele: Definitely before we go on the tour with Swallow The Sun since the tour will be a presentation of the album.
Raffaele: I, for the first time, composed some parts on the piano, and there is a song dedicated to my son. It is why the album is even more important to me.

Jerneja: Did you also write the lyrics for this song?
Raffaele: This one has no lyrics. It's instrumental, more or less piano, and it's in the middle of the album.

Jerneja: Will there also be special guests on the new album?
Davide: There is a singer from one Italian band, but no big names this time. We kept it local.

Tomaz: When composing music, what usually comes first, music or lyrics?
Gabriele: Music comes first - by Raffaele and me. We usually do some riffs, then we together arrange and mix them. When we have a demo, we go to Dave for lyrics, which sometimes change the structure of the tracks. Then our bassist Matteo and drummer Emiliano arrange their parts. Of course, everybody can change something, but usually, the first riffs come from Raffaele and me.

Tomaz: Now, one general question. How did you come up with the name Shores Of Null, and what does it mean?
Davide: It has somehow interpretative meaning. First of all, I was looking for something that didn't exist. Many bands name their bands after something, like a movie, that already exists. So, when you google it, you get tons of results, and we didn't want that; we wanted only our band's name to be there. And, the name compound of more words fits better for us. We also wanted it to have something to do with water because water means a lot to us, it is life, and we all are very connected to it since we all grew up by or close to the sea. Shores Of Null had to be evocative but with no specified meaning. To me, it means a place where you can start from scratch since "null" means zero.

Tomaz: It sounds somehow nihilistic...
Davide: It's actually about hope. When we started the band, we all came from other projects. So, again, starting from zero.
Raffaele: Gabo and I are software engineers, and in binary code, zero (also) represents a void.
Gabriele: And the opening track of our debut album Quiescence is entitled "0x0000", which is, in software engineering, the value for zero. Besides, at the time, I was reading the book Nothing by Danish writer Janne Teller. I really liked it, so I proposed the concept of nothing.
Davide: Also, two lyrics of the first album, "The Heap Of Meaning" and "Kings Of Null",  were inspired by this book. So, null, nothing - not in a pessimistic way, but rather to look beyond. As well, Shores Of Null is composed of two different languages. Null is German for zero and pronounced as written. We pronounce null as an English word.
Gabriele: In computer science, null is less than zero; zero is a value, at least, while null has no value.
Davide: The last thing, before I came up with this name, was the statue of zero, Zero kilometre stone, which I encountered when on vacation in Budapest, and from which all the distances in Budapest are counted. And there was the Danube river near, and it's how the association Shores Of Null appeared to me. It was just too many "coincidences". And, again, when you google Shores Of Null, you get our bend right away. I think this is very important since I was in a band called Zippo, like a lighter, and it was impossible to find us. I made that mistake once and didn't want to repeat it. In the metal archives, there are sometimes 20 bands with the same name. Especially nowadays is very important to be unique, and with only one word for the band's name, is even harder, unless the word is a neologism.

Tomaz: Beyond The Shores is the first album released via Spikerot Records. What happened regarding your previous label Candlelight Records?
Gabriele: Candlelight was our first label; it was like a dream come true because it was a big label, but we only released our debut album directly through it, since it then bankrupted and was acquired by the Finnish label Spinefarm Records, which is now under Universal Music Group. So it was just too big for us; they didn't even care about us. The promotion of the second album was super difficult because of copyright issues. After the release of the second album, we decided to split with them,  but they wanted the third album. And, as already mentioned, our first idea was to make a shitty song only to split with the label. But it was good, and we released it through Spikerot Records, owned by Dave and two other guys.
Davide: Yeah, it's my label. We wanted to be more self-sufficient.
Gabriele: Everything was easier, of course. Beyond The Shores was the best album, also regarding sales.

Jerneja: You also had a good promotion...
Gabriele: Yes, because we took care of everything by ourselves. We've been blocked many times with previous albums because the songs were not ours; they belonged to the label. But this time, they were ours. So, fuck the labels.

Tomaz: So you think a metal band can be self-sufficient regarding releases, promotion, management,...?
Gabriele: Yes, I do. Nowadays, there are many possibilities, like the internet and stuff. So you can release your album using a TuneCore account or other digital distribution.
Davide: Though, it's not simple at all. You have to work a lot; we had weekly meetings discussing what to do next. It is usually the label's job. But they tend to forget about you once the album is released. And here we got to be our own managers.

Jerneja: We are familiar with the problem since we get to talk with musicians, and many of them are far from being satisfied with their labels...
Gabriele: Many underground bands complain over their labels for not doing much for them. And they can't do much by themselves because of the copyrights.

Tomaz: But the problem is also because they have to pay the label, no matter how small one...
Gabriele: Yeah, this is also a problem. I mean, when I pay for something, I want to have some control. I like to consider my payment an investment; I don't want to be only paying for I don't know what. Therefore, having our own label suits us better, but not every band can afford it.
Davide: But you have to be focused. I wouldn't suggest it to any band because it takes a lot of work, especially if having daily jobs and kids. Raffaele has kids, and we all have jobs, but we somehow manage to do it. It's a struggle; you have to do something for the band every day, and you shouldn't forget to post on social media for too long.

Jerneja: What about regarding financial investments?
Davide: Since I have my own label, I guarantee the promotion. And since we want a better promotion, not just a regular one, we hired some PRs. We have a guy covering only Italy, another covering Europe and one covering the USA. Many small labels can't even afford one PR, let alone three. It's a lot of money, but if you want your name appearing in magazines, you need some PR because otherwise, the moment your album is out is already old. You have to start months before, by sending promos and making magazines and webzines aware of you; well, you know how it works. Most self-releasing bands are just happy when the album is out, and it's then after over for them.
Gabriele: We did a lot of promotion ourselves also when we were still with the label, especially with live shows and social media.
Davide: We presented ourselves through live shows in 2013, even before the debut album release. We trusted the label but wanted to do something more. Well, we were lucky because we had experiences with our previous bands, although more underground ones.

Tomaz: Next year, you are heading on tour with Swallow The Sun. What kind of invitation would you like to apply to your fans and others yet to become ones?  
Gabriele: Well, we will present the new album, play a lot of new songs, but also the old stuff, of course.
Davide: Not Beyond The Shores, of course, because we'll only have 40 minutes.
Gabriele: This tour is very important to us, and the new album is something we really believe in. That is why we didn't want to release it during Covid since it would be too hard to promote. So, I hope you'll like it.

Jerneja: How did you approach the promotion of the Beyond The Shores album being one long song?
Davide: We did three excerpts of four to five minutes that came with videos even before the album was released. One of them is still ultra-played on Spotify. That wouldn't happen with a 40-minute song.

Tomaz: I hear influences of the British three in Shores Of Null music, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema. And Amorphis, especially on the first album. What do you say?
Davide: Well, I am a big fan of the British three. I think we are at the crossroad between the British doom scene and Scandinavian, especially Finnish, melancholic rock/metal. But since Gabriele and Raffaele compose music and riffs, they should speak about it.
Gabriele: I'm a fan of Opeth, at least until 2010, when playing black/death. It's my favourite band of all time. And I'm also a fan of Insomnium and Amorphis.
Raffaele: I love Amorphis, Katatonia, and Kauan, perhaps not that known Russian band. But it's very good; Shores Of Null is inspired by it also. You have to listen to it. The last album is great.

Jerneja: Putting music aside, what else occupies and/or interests you?
Raffaele: We enjoy life; it's not as sad as our music. But the most important thing to me is being a father.
Gabriele: I'm also a promoter. I like to organise shows and contribute to the underground scene. Raffaele and I own a software engineering company, and the three of us work there. This kind of job for a living suits us since you can do it anywhere, even on tours. All you need is a laptop.
Davide: Yeah, I also work in their company, and, I'm a bartender in a local nightclub. I don't live in Rome; I live in Pescara, about two hours from Rome, so I'm the only outsider. And I have a label; sometimes I work at records fairs or festivals, selling records. I'm also a local promoter, I organize smaller shows in Pescara and a Frantic Fest in August.

Jerneja: It's been a long, though, pleasant interview with some aside chatting also. And, since at ease, we now give the stage to you to conclude it...
Gabriele: Thanks a lot for doing this interview. We are happy that you have an interest in Shores Of Null and support us. Every band need such support, so thank you from the heart. And, doing it in this beautiful location is like super cool.
Davide: people can not see it, but we are next to the river... We bathed in it twice today, before and after the show. It's cold, though.
Gabriele: We love it here. Metaldays is one of the best festivals in Europe, with great surroundings. We are happy to get this opportunity. I hope we'll meet soon.

Tomaz: Most likely, as early as next year on your tour...
Davide: It will be a month and a half-long tour, so I appeal to your readers to come and see us. We'll be playing in almost all European countries, close to 40 shows with almost no days off, the biggest thing we've ever done. It will be super hard but a blast.
Raffaele: It will be a very long tour... That's for sure.
Gabriele: Yeah, if we survive... Thank you again for this long interview. Good luck writing it down!

Shores Of Null - discography:
- Quiescence (2014)
- Black Drapes For Tomorrow (2017)      
- Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) (2020)     
- Quiet Whispers - Unplugged At Traffic Garden (2021)

Shores Of Null links: Official website, Facebook, Bandcamp

 

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