Dan: For our readers who aren`t familiar with Ufomammut, please tell us where you are from, who is in the band and what their role in the band is?
Ufo: Hi everybody! Ufomammut is a space monster who has landed on Planet Earth in 1999. His four clergymen comb his fur and wash his tusks everyday trying to keep him calm... Those four guys come from a Land called Italy and they are Alien (Korg sinth), Poia (guitars), Urlo (bass and vocals-?-:-)) and Vita (drumset).
Dan: What is the scene like there? Do you get many people turning out to your gigs when you play live?
Ufo: What scene?... Something seems to move. We`ve played at a rock festival in may and there was a cool audience. The problem here is that local bands are not supported by people, expecially by the music promoters and managers. It`s like they`re focused only on american and english bands. They`re not completely wrong cause the italian music is linked to a terrible kind of "easy pop"... (do You know SANREMO? or better: do You know Ramazzotti? He is the real Antichrist!!!) But there are cool and sincere bands here in the underground scene, like That`s all Folks (we love them!!!) and Kaic`kul for example. So, we hope one day the Underground will become the overground!!!
Dan: Ufomammut is a strange name for a band.. What does it mean and how exactly is it pronounced?
Ufo: It`s simply a translation for UFO MAMMOTH, for writing it in a wrong way, as it`s been written by a prehistoric man... We don`t know how it`s pronunced... maybe RAMAZZOTTI?
Dan: Your new album "Godlike Snake" is excellent! It feels like a concept album to me, like you had a specific purpose and specific goals to achieve with the album. Is this the case?
Ufo: When we started in composing the songs we had no idea of what we were doing. Now, listening to Godlike Snake, everything becomes clear to us: it`s our personal present to the female sex, the center of the Universe. It`s the sun of the world, the death of mankind, it`s the beginning and the end. The big bang and the big crunch together. So, as You can notice from the cover through the verses of the songs, all spins around that like a cosmic journey in our brains!
Dan: How long did the album take to record? and are there any interesting stories to tell of the recording process?
Ufo: It`s been like being pregnant... Lots of months! We`ve done all by ourselves. Everything You listen to is Us. We`ve recorded all the songs at SINDALONA, a place in the Universe, not far from nowhere. We`ve used an analog 8 tape tracks, fossil microphones, a 16 channel mixer and the precepts of our Soundlord Hendrix R.! It`s been very difficult cause we`ven`t professional knowledge of recording processes, we`ve only 8 ears ...but at the end we`re really proud of the final sound. When the premix has been completed (which means all the voices, sounds and effects were in the songs) we have done a final mix with Hendrix R. and we`ve pump so much the sound that we`ve reached our goal! Well... if You listen to the album carefully, maybe You should listen to some roosters... we were in the country... in the space country...:-) ...for example, in PEACE OF MIND (for the Blue Cheer`s tribute out for Black Widow recs), recorded at the same place, You can hear birds singing...
Dan: Urlo and Poia from Ufomammut are also the artists behind the Graphic Studio called Malleus. You seem to be doing "never ending" creative projects with Ufomammut and Malleus! How do you guys find the time and don`t you ever feel burnt out? Like you just don`t feel like being creative today?
Ufo: No problem... we`ve just created the DILATIME machine! With this device every hour last like a day! It`s a dream... We`re really super busy! But we believe in what we`re doing. We wanna create something new every day for giving a part of us to this Planet before we`ll leave it onboard of UFOMAMMUT! So we`ve to work a lot and a lot! Hey Dan... do You really think we`re creative? Oh... thanks a lot! Thus...it`s not that we`re everyday ready to create! Sometimes we`re like snailbrains...
Dan: What inspires you to get up every morning and `create` your music and art?
Ufo: It`s obvious... We have to power up our muscles and become like HULK HOGAN! Yeah! We`ll rule the world with our tonic pectorals! :-) Stop with silly things! What moves our hopes is the dream of coming there to meet You all and play for You a supergig for stun You all!
Dan: What do you all do in your spare time, when you aren`t playing in the band or creating fantasic artwork as Malleus?
Ufo: Sometimes, in the night, when we sleep we conquer girls with our mustaches! :-) We think that this "job" is our spare time cause we really love what we do.
Dan: What do the other two members of Ufomammut do when they`re not playing with the band?
Ufo: Alien is studying at University and Vita is a goldsmith (he prepares models for jewels). He`s our hope in becoming rich...
Dan: You recently did a mini-tour with "That`s All Folks" - how did those shows go, anything exciting to report?
Ufo: The most exciting thing has been to meet That`s all folks! They`re really fantastic persons and great musicians. We were like school children on journey! It`s been a little amusing tour! At the last date, at the end of the concert (we`ve played with Vortice Cremisi and Exp too) people didn`t know who was That`s all folks and who Ufomammut cause TAF presented themselves as UFO and vica versa! We`re preparing a new tour with them in september.
Dan: Do you plan to tour in support of "Godlike Snake".. Any plans to (ever) tour in North America?
Ufo: We`ll try to play as much as we can. We hope that the album will run in the better way and that our dreams will come true. Everything is possible!
Dan: At the end of the 23 minute long song called "Mammut" at the very end of the CD there is a loud hissing/buzzing sound that is very abrasive and annoying.. Is it meant to be there or is my CD screwed up? If so, why did you record such an annoying sound?
Ufo: It`s the effect we wanted to reach... like everything is dissolving in interstellar powder. It`s like the UFOMAMMUT is crossing the spacetime barrier and what remains is only an echo of chaos...Or maybe your stereo is really broken... :-)
Dan: What are the members of Ufomammut listening to recently?
Ufo: Beatles and High on Fire are our favourite cds in this period while Vita is always under the wheels of Motorhead... Alien is listening a lot to the last Radiohead.
Dan: And finally, what`s next for Ufomammut? Any plans for the future?
Ufo: We hope a second album on the way of Ramazzotti for becoming rich... then we`ll be satisfied and we`ll wear fantastic Swiss trousers full of chocolate and we`ll comb our hair like Lenin. Well... the future for us is UFOMAMMUT! |
