Interviews
The Coventry, a post-punk act of coldness, darkness and passion | Interview
An Italian dark wave, post punk band with the power of a destroyer ship. The Coventry.
The Coventry is one of this gems you sometimes come upon and you are certain that it is going to shine even more and for a long time.
Post punk, dark wave expressing sadness and depression with a unique way, either using their electro influences of the previous decades or even playing with heaviest guitar riffs and melodic arrangements. All these elements build the coldness of their music.
The Coventry formed in 2017 in Italy and consists of three members inspired by 80's sonorities but born in the 90's. Three guys that decided to express their ideas through music. With their melodies, drum machines and cold vocals manage to create a dimension where the listener dives "in which hopes and changes are virtues that came from the acceptance of failure and desperation".
Having their debut album "The Art of Survival" released in October 2018 and after a great feedback from the media, The Coventry return with their second album, "Deep Detachment", released on October 8th, 2019. Based on the main lines of their debut they add some new elemnts, experimenting and growing their sound.
I am very happy to present you this really promising band, The Coventry. We had an interesting Q&A these days about their music and the future. Go on and read these lines and make sure you listen to their new album, "Deep Detachment".
ES: Hi guys. Thank you for this interview. New album coming up. Before going into details for "Deep Detachment", would you like to introduce yourselves and the band to our readers?
TC: Hello there, thanks a lot to you. We are Mario (voice and songwriting) , Valerio (composer, guitars and producer) and Adriana (keyboards and arts).
ES: How did The Coventry members come up together and why did you choose that name, the name of a battleship?
TC: It was almost a casualty, we (Valerio and Mario) had different projects, one day we met in a pub and we were quite drunk. He (Mario) was wearing a "The Smiths" t-shirt and I (Valerio) had a "Simple Minds" one, I looked him suspiciously for a second and I was just like " is this really happening?" He (Mario) introduced me his former mate, which played guitars on our first album "The Art Of Survival", Giammarco with which Mario had a post punk project called "The Resonance", and I introduced him Adriana my former mate from my previous EBM project "Terminal Front".
We choose the name Coventry because we are really into the history that rarely is told or taught in the school, but still important, In its details you can find many aspects of the human beings behavior, for example the concept of duality. War represents the worst side of a human being, then in the downside you see how feelings like proud, nostalgia and survival instinct are stronger than ever. We despite wars and militarism but we use them as a metaphor for define the life in itself: entering into comprises with choose you're forced to take.
ES: I would like to go, rather quick, to the new album, coming out on October 8th, from Swiss Dark Nights and titled "Deep Detachment". Could you tell us some words about this release?
TC: We wanted to experiment without losing the street we marked with "The Art Of Survival", so you will hear different influences and unusual sounds, but at the same time we wanted to make people feel the growth in relation to "The Art Of Survival".
ES: What should the listener expect while listening to "Deep Detachment"? What is the concept idea behind the new album?
TC: It can be perceived both as a detached idea and as a concept album: the psychic odyssey of someone who thinks to be better than the others than he loses himself and he became unable to take any choose.
ES: The Coventry's music and vocals creates a dark and cold ambience, affecting the listener. Lyrics is a great factor in building this atmosphere. Where do you get your inspiration from, while writing the lyrics for "Deep Detachment"? Are there any personal experiences or other facts that inspire you?
TC: As regards the lyrics, usually I'm the one who writes them (Mario) but there also are songs wrote by Valerio, and you can spot Valerios lyrics because they're more intimistic and romantic sometimes, while mine are completely changed from the first record. in "The Art Of Survival" lyrics were very personal and I used them to express my true inner thoughts, while in "Deep Detachement" are much more detached (once again) and they can mean anything or nothing, the decision it's up to the listener. regarding the inspiration, my (Mario) favourite lyricist and singers are Morrissey, Nick Cave and Brian Molko but everything can inspire me.
ES: Which are the stimulus that influenced you music-wise? Which bands affected you the most?
Mario: I realy love almost everything from the 80s, so I'm influeced by bands like Bauhaus, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Birthday Party and Depeche Mode but I'm also a huge fan of the 90s alternative, glam and dance scene so I realy like Placebo, Garbage and the 90s elctronic era of Love And Rockets, but my favorite band is The Smiths, I'm a true Mozzerian (a hard core Morrissey fan).
Valerio: Mmmh New Order and Simple Minds (from the 80s famous scene), then I'm a big fan of Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Ministry , Front 242 , Parade Ground. But my real musical God is Alan Wilder.
Adriana: I like a lot of different genres so I love a lot of bands and artists like The cure, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Soft Cell, Eurythmics, Spandau Ballet, Enigma, David Bowie, The Sound and Dive.
ES: Which, would you say, are the differences between the first full-length album "The Art of Survival" and the new album, "Deep Detachment"? Music, lyric-wise or even in writing and production phase?
TC: Deep Detachment is more accurate, it's my second work as producer and I'm trying to improve my skills (Valerio).
ES: "Deep Detachment" will be out on October 8th. Have you planned any promotional events after the release date? Any concerts?
TC: We're trying our best to organize live shows but it's quite difficult in this scene. Many bands today play post punk and dark wave music and clubs can't host everybody. By the way we're moving our first steps in local Italian scene.
ES: Which are the future plans for the band in general? Where would you like to see The Coventry after some years?
TC: We just hope we'll be playing much more abroad, and spread our music properly. But we don't have any certain clue about next works, just hope to keep on being labeled by Swiss Dark Nights.
ES: We've already said some things about music influences. I could say that apart from the dark, post-punk influences, I could listen to other elements in your music as well. If you should label your music in some way, how would you characterize it? What genre do you think would fit best to The Coventry's music?
TC: Our label let us free to play and produce what we want but;
Mario: I realy look for not be characterised at all honestly, but for the future I would like to experiment many different sounds, from alternative rock and "acid" guitars to electro-dance and similar.
Valerio: I'd like to give more industrial influences, as I made when I ruled the Terminal Front project.
Adriana: I think it would be nice to experiment some trip hop stuff but I'd like to use more industrial sounds as well.
ES: We've seen a lot of new, really good post-punk bands, releasing some great albums lately. Which would you say are the main facts that led to this evolution of new post-punk wave?
Valerio: I don't know, technology gave a lot of opportunities to revolutionize the sound. Then we have the social and political conditions in which the world stepped. We have more cold people, caring only about what's beneath their eyes, disinterested to the Inland parts of humanity. This pushes band like us to not ignore that reaction that becomes rage, frustration or distress that is mainly found in that kind of music. We think that this revival post punk is the best reaction to the evolution of decay we're all facing.
ES: Any last words? Would you like to share something else with our readers and dark music fans?
TC: In the 80s/90s, many bands had the chance to get their space to be shown. We've seen a lot of strange band on TV shows : The Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten (ecc), then we had pop bands like Depeche Mode, Simple Minds. They had the chance to become something that today is still alive and kicking. Today many bands are just in front of a rubbery wall that impede them to be known to a larger audience. This condition causes a lot of distress and discouragement sometimes and all we can hope is just " keep your eyes wide open on the darkness that this kind of music can offer" it's our only way for us all to survive.
Thank you very much. I wish you all the best in your life and in your music. Looking forward to hear from you again, listen to the new album and to see you perform live!
TC: Thanks to you for the interest and the support, hope we can talk again soon!
Info:
https://www.facebook.com/Thecoventry/
