The biggest lesson from Subhuman

Hello Matteo, how are ya today dude? Firstly, congratulations on the new CD brother, its an absolute belter! It took me by surprise as I've never heard of you. Tell me a little about you guys and how you came to be?
Ciao Connor!!! I’m fine, thanx, and I’m really glad you enjoyed our album!
Well, Subhuman was born in 2001 as a Thrash Metal cover band: nothing but a fun project at first, but after a couple of years we began to write our own music and in 2005 we published our demo “Delirio n°1” (you can download it from our myspace). The demo had an astonishing success and permitted us to have a constant live activity in every part of Italy. In the next years we had a lot of line up changes and finally, some months ago we published our first full lenght “Profondo Rozzo” through the canadian label Maple Metal Records.

What are your influences as a band? Are there any influences from outside the metal scene?
No influences from outside metal scene, Subhuman’s music come from Bay Area Thrash Metal and american Death Metal: Slayer, Testament, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Pantera, Dark Angel are our main influences, together with modern bands such as Nevermore and Meshuggah...

Tell me a little about your hometown in Italy. Whats the scene like where you are? Are you still based in Italy? Are you guys playing alotta shows in your area?
Yeah, we’re based in Tuscany. The scene is good: there are a lot of good bands and some good venues, so every weekend you can see some metal concert, it’s good... And we too can play many shows in our area. We like to play here because a lot of friends come to see the concert and every time is a party!

I noticed you guys released the album yourselves but aquired distribution through Relapse? Why did you opt to release yourself as opposed to a label? Congratulations on the Relapse distro deal man thats real cool!
That’s not correct. We self-financed the album recording and then, without publishing it, we sent it to some labels worldwide to find the right one. Maple Metal Records proposed us a good deal, so we decided to release “Profondo Rozzo” through it. Then John Belrose (label’s owner) made a deal with Relapse to have some distribution. That’s it...

Since aquiring the Relapse distro deal, has it opened doors for you guys? Bringing you to a bigger audience perhaps?
Nothing remarkable by now, but I think it’s too early. Let’s wait and see what happens.

I notice you sing in your mother tongue of italian any particular reason for this?
Yeah, we sing in italian since our first song. Zula (our singer) had this idea but we were a little bit disappointed with it... but after we listened at him screaming in italian on “Estinto Naturale” we all were persuaded: Subhuman were going to play Thrash/Death Metal the italian way! It sounds great and contribute to distinguish Subhuman from other bands.

The album is released on Maple Metal Recs owned by John Belrose. Did you wanted the sound of "Heavy Metal Maniac"?
Ehehehehe no, we just want a honest label with passionate people working for Subhuman. And John was our man!

When "Heavy Metal Maniac" came out in 1983, you were 5 years old. So you can't remember when it came out but when did you discover it?
I discovered Exciter in the middle of the nineties, reading an article on a magazine about the fundamental albums for the birth and the evolution Speed/Thrash Metal. It made me curious, so I purchased “Heavy Metal Maniac” few days later. Killer album!

When you started you were inspired by Bay Area legends. Did you wish you were older so you lived the thrash era?
I NEVER wished to be older... AHAHAHAHA! Fortunately albums remain, so I could listen to them years after their release.



I take it you guys got big tour plans for the album? Where are you touring so folk can go check you out? Any chance of an Irish gig?
We have a lot of gigs in Italy but unfortunately we never player abroad. If some reader is interested to organize some concert/tour, I invite him to contact us: we can’t wait to kick some fuckin’ foreign ass!

Why is my review not posted in your blog section on MySpace?
Ops, we forgot it, sorry. But there’s a link on our page and we posted it through facebook... is it enough?

What's your greatest achievement you have gotten as a band?
The best sensation ever is to see people singing your songs as you play live. This is the best achievement ever...

What would you like to achieve in 5 years?
More gigs, more fans, better music. And a world tour together with Slayer. AHAHAHAH!

What's the worst thing that's happened to you as a band? Did you learn something from this?
I think the worst thing happened is to play for years with people who consider Subhuman as a common hobby. I kept them in the band just for friendship but it was a great mistake because they restrained our activity with their inertia. Now that they’re out they’re still great friends, but I learned that friendship must not influence the band activity: every member of must have the same goals. If not, a line up change is absolutely necessary.

Do you guys like to party on tour or do like to keep fairly sober on the road? Any party animals amongst you? Which party do you remember the most? Any evidence for that?
In the early Subhuman days we got drunk before each gig, but after some months we learned that if you go on stage sober you play better and entertain yourself more. So we began to get drunk after the concerts... AHAHAHAHA! Our screamer Zula is the party animal of the band, but I remember an after-concert in Milan where we all were drunk and, believe me, we gave life to incredible scenes in the backstage!!! Pictures speaks clearly about that night, but i prefer to keep them for me ehehehe...

And who is getting the groupies?
We have a lot of groupies, but Elia gets everyone of them... He’s only a filthy swine!!!

There is a new video ready called "Nata Troia", translated in Natural Born Whore. But when I watch the video I see a girl in a red dress, which whore is she? And why didn't she walked naked in the clip?
If the actress looked like a porn star, it would be obvious that she was a whore. She’s more discrete but whore as well, as Zula reminds it screaming “TROIAAAA” (= whore) in her face... this is a metaphor to say that every woman is a whore, despite of the look. Cool, isn’t it?

You guys seem a very tight unit for sure, do you practice alot in the week? And in doing so, do you do alot of your writing whilst practicing or does someone do the writing in the band or what way do you guys work the writing?
We practice all together just once a week: we can’t do more because of work and logistics problems, but it’s enough if everyone work at home by himself too. The songwriting process is very simple: I compose music by myself, record demo versions of the songs and then I send them to my band mates who, if necessary, modify their parts. We don’t compose all together. Sometimes we can speak about some arrangements, nothing more.

Anything you would like add that has not been asked? Say what you wanna say without censorship.
Yes, our album “Profondo Rozzo” is a masterpiece. AHAHAHA!

Last rites?
I invite all the metal-heads out there to visit our page www.myspace.com/subhumanweb and listen to our music. If you like it, give us some feedback, we will really appreciate it!

Thanks for your time Matteo, congratulations once again on the CD, its a stomper! Cheers for the interview on behalf of BRUTALISM, I appreciate it \m/
Thank you for your opportunity bro, BRUTALISM.com really kicks ass... THRASH ON!