Satellite Voices

Rome

Zu

March 28, 2011

The veteran local heroes of Rome's independent music scene

• Text by Flavia Ferrucci

This Rome-based trio is not at all what one would expect to come out of the Italian music scene. A saxophone, distorted bass and drums build the most original and genre-breaking sounds that Rome has ever seen. For the past decade Zu have been the most interesting and internationally-appreciated band from Rome. They have also collaborated with the likes of Steve Albini and Mike Patton, who also signed them to his record label, Ipecac Recordings. Satellite Voices spoke with Luca Mai (Zu's sax player) about their projects.

Satellite Voices: How and when did Zu start?
Luca Mai: Zu were born in Rome in 1997. When we decided to dedicate ourselves only to music, our world became our rehearsal space, where we would spend six or seven hours a day, every day. When we played our first show in Rome, people (our friends included) would laugh at us wondering what we wanted to achieve with ‘that’ music.

SV: You have various notable collaborations to your credit, from Mike Patton to Joe Lally, Steve Albini and Matt Gustaffson. Who would you like to collaborate with next?
Luca Mai: We’d love to collaborate with the 'witch; Diamanda Galas. We’ll see if she’s open to a collaboration in the near future. Right now we’re collaborating with David Tibet, the lead singer of Current 93 and we’re recording some songs with him and we’ll tour Europe next.

SV: It’s almost impossible to define your sound. Is there something from Rome or Italy that influenced you?
Luca Mai: Sound comes out naturally when you’ve got something to say. Otherwise it would fall flat on what’s already been done. Not letting our music and ourselves make any progression. Our influences aren’t only musical. There are a large number of things that inspire us. Even a day spent in the van driving to a new show and listening to the random and useless music that radios play can be the inspiration for a good concert. Like Fabrizio de Andrè said: 'Dalla merda nascono i fiori' (flowers come from shit).

SV: How do you see the current Roman music scene?
Luca Mai: There are a lot of interesting and valid bands but I don’t want to name names because time’s been taking its toll my memory! I can say that many local bands are way better than the more emblazoned foreign bands. Unfortunately, in most cases, our main flaw is our constant subjection to the Anglo-Saxon world, and this flattens both the band’s sounds and the local music press.