Their Mixtape: Awesome
My Awesome Mixtape were reviewed on ANBAD to fairly rapturous acclaim back in November.
I was so taken with their delightful song, I quickly collared them (virtually, of course – they’re based in Bologna) for an interview. Which I then promptly forgot about.
Here it is then, charming pigeon-English intact, a couple* of months late. It turns out they are not only purveyors of lovely, multi-faceted pop songs, but wholeheartedly nice people to boot. Nice people, who, hopefully, will forgive my forgetful indiscretion…
Hi My Awesome Mixtape! How are you? Where are you in the world right now? What you see? And what is good about that place?
Hey mate! Here’s all fine, right now we are spending our coldy winter in Bologna, our hometown, the city that has seen us growing up and getting older and older!
In my review, I was surprised at your sound: an unusual blend of Indie-Pop shyness, disco beats and Pop luxury. How did the band arrive at such an interesting combination of sounds?
My Awesome Mixtape // Me And The Washing Machine
Actually, we are not so concious about the sounds we create, mainly because the My Awesome Mixtape‘s aim in making music is the most natural and spontaneous one.
The only thing I could say is that we are 5 guys coming from different musical backgrounds. The results in mood could be explained as a perfect mixture between the different musical tastes we have.
Why are you called My Awesome Mixtape? Mixtapes are seen as a kind of old idea now, in the era of Spotify and iTunes – what do you like so much about mixtapes?
Actually the name was caught in a “Boogie Night” film frame. In that scene was framed an audiocassete titled “My Awesome Mixtape n° 6”. We found the term “My Awesome Mixtape” so damned catchy that we decide to take it as the band name…
There is no link between the ancient art of making mixtapes and the band name; but personally speaking I think that most of the time old objects such as vinyl, audiocassettes, cds were definitely preferable.
How has the experience of being a new band been?
We feel ourselves really lucky! It is not so common to travel the world with a van and see so many places, visit so many cities all over Europe, and know tons of people getting in contact with an enormous variety of cultures…that’s probably the most exciting thing I could ever experienced.
What about the Italian music scene? I was in Bologna a couple of months ago: it was a wonderful place – traditional and beautiful but youthful too. However, I wasn’t there for long enough to get a real grip on the music scene – what is it like?
Bologna is mostly famous for the university ( apart from Spaghetti Bolognese and the ham), that’s why you found it youthful! Cultural and musical life here is commonly widespread all over the youngest inhabitants, in fact here in Bologna there are a lot of wonderful bands: Blake/e/e/e, Settlefish, A Classic Education, Buzz Aldrin, Nervous Kid, and many, many more.
What is the Italian Indie music scene like? What is good about it? What is bad? Is it big or small – do you or bands like you get a lot of exposure in the media? And how do you fit into the music scene?
Italy, as you know, is a really small country, so the musical scene is small too! All the bands know each other and most of the time there is a “brotherhood” mood among them…
Of course there are problems, Italy is probably one of the worst European country in terms of politics and cultural broadcasting…that means that most of the Italian music remains unknown even at Italians too!
Basically, our aim is to reach the most distant place from our home, play there and have fun!
And finally: If you could meet any musical hero, who would it be,
what one question would you ask them, and what drink would you buy them?
Probably Ian Mackaye, after offering him a Chinotto (a typical Italian soda) I would ask him what does he think about the nowadays musical scene
*or three**
**OK, four