No Forgiveness
Interviewer, writer: akfgfanBand Members: Holy Smoke (Vocals/Synth), Celesh (Guitar/Synth), Desy (Bass/Mixing)
When one generally thinks of Italy, one thinks of pasta, romance, and art. Well, one band is pushing to change that assumption. Emerging from the shadows is the industrial metal band, No Forgiveness. Industrial metal in Italy? Caught your attention yet? I thought so ;)No Forgiveness first formed in 2001 with Holy Smoke and Celesh. By 2003, the band was rocking away at music competitions like Pagella Rock and even released their first major album Masquerade! Since then, their fanbase has grown immensely and they have had the opportunity to play in other countries. On June 6, 2006 the band released their latest album titled Deja-Vu. J-Music Ignited was lucky enough to get an interview with this new band about their latest release.
How did you come up with the title of your new album, Deja-Vu?
HS: Basically "Deja-Vu" means "already seen". This release is a sort of greatest hits for us: we re-recorded some of the best No Forgiveness songs taken from our previous CDs and gave the opportunity to some of the best Industrial / Electro bands to make a remix of these songs. And there are also 2 covers that we made, "Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode and "Here Comes The Rain Again" by Eurithmics. It’s a sort of deja-vu for an "old" No Forgiveness fan, but actually we changed so much the songs that they sound almost like new songs!
Did you incorporate anything into this album that you didn’t in your previous works?
HS: We tried to add some more electronic stuff and tried to have a more professional approach to the registration and mixing sessions (we made the whole album by ourselves, no studio at all)
Desy: We put more attention to the particulars
Celesh: We made it more powerful too.
What would you like people to listen for in Deja-Vu?
HS: "Deja-Vu" is a real raw and hard album... it was not born with the idea of being a concept album, so I can imagine that is difficult to get a precise idea of what the message of each song is. I would say that each song is a different aspect of what the No Forgiveness project is trying to say to the public.
Celesh: There are our toughts in our songs, I hope people will understand and appreciate them.
Desy: I like it very much so I hope that many people will appreciate it too.
Many of your songs have references to pain, sorrow, and love. Are the lyrics inspired by real events?
HS: Yes, of course. Real life is the main inspiration for us.
Celesh: Every day we get inspiration, if you listen to our songs you’d think our life is a shit... eh eh eh
Desy: Life is hard and we took inspiration from it, but we also took inspirations from the theatre and some movies of course.
What bands have influenced your sound?
HS: Basically Rammstein, NIN, The Kovenant, Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. Recently we took inspirations also from the German EBM scene.
Celesh: Right!
Desy: Right as hell!!
What’s most important to you when you write lyrics and music?
HS: For me it’s necessary to have a good situation around, the best for writing the lyrics is to be alone in a room with one only friend to take inspiration, the music. I don’t write music from zero but I usually manipulate the main riff that Celesh invent adding some drums, keyboards and effects to it and when I do so it’s important for me to be in a good mood and relaxed.
Celesh: Nothing in particular, each song was probably born in a different way.
Desy: I write the secondary parts and adjustments (the main riff is usually written by Celesh) so the most important thing for me is to merge in a good way all our various parts.
Which of your songs is your favorite?
HS: There is no one in particular but I like a lot to play live the hardest ones: Aves, Insane and Hate Gate.
Desy: I love Aves, Insane, Another and recently I like to listen to Hate Gate very much.
Celesh: Gimme a Scream. (I never agree with my friends, you know...)
Which do you enjoy more: creating new songs, or performing live?
HS: Both parts are enjoyable: the main difference is that creating new songs is without the contact with the fans but has a more creative aspect. Definitively we enjoy both a lot !
Celesh: We usually drink a lot while we play on the stage.. ..and we drink when we create new songs too... Yeah, Holy’s right. Both.
Desy: I enjoy more creating new songs because there is a special atmosphere and many good hopes. But of course I like also very much playing on a stage, there are different emotions.
Is there a particular live that has been very memorable to you?
HS: I would say the Holland tour, for sure. 5 days of pure madness!
Celesh: Definitively.
Desy: Sigh... I couldn’t go in Holland...
When No Forgiveness first started, you entered several music competitions with much success. What was it like to compete against other bands?
HS: It’s not the competition in itself, it’s more about listening to other bands and making new friends in my opinion. Unfortunately many competitions were as fake as politic in Italy so we decided to make it by our own. And it’s also a problem of genre, ours is not so famous in Italy and Italian people are not so used to listen to it, alternative bands usually play Punk, Ska or rock covers.
Celesh: I like playing with more bands without being in competion with anyone, there’s always something to learn playing with someone else.
Desy: I agree with Celesh.
What artists would you recommend?
HS: Our friends Neon Synthesis from Brescia, they are original and fucking good with the instruments. Also Dope Stars Inc. are cool and they’re already under a good label. A not so famous band is also Hanzel Und Gretyl, I would suggest eem as well !
Celesh: There are a lot of great industrial bands, only No Forgiveness are loathsome.
Desy: Neon Synthesis of course, but I like very much also Labyrinthus Noctis from Milan.
Is there any phrase that’s popular in the group?
HS: Zan-zan-za! (it’s the intro of Insane)
Desy: Zan-zan-za!
Celesh: Ahahhahahha
What are your future plans for the band?
HS: In these days we decided to shoot our first video-clip, I’m already excited about it! In the meanwhile we’re looking for a good label and some worldwide distributions for the "Deja-Vu" album that, hopefully, will come out also in a double-discs format with new remixes and the video. Musically we are already writing brand new songs that will be part of our next release, a very complex concept-album. Before or after the release of this concept album, it will be time for a particular EP, but I cannot say more, it will be a quite nice surprise for the fans.
Desy: Video clip is now our first engagement but in these days I’m trying also to organize some live shows in Turin.
Celesh: Too many things... I’m going to have an headache...
Can you give a message to your fans?
HS: Thanks a lot for your support and love, without you we are nothing !
Celesh: Ciao!
Desy: Ciao ciao!
Additional Information
Official SiteCheck out No Forgiveness' Official Site for more information on their history, lyrics, discography, and more!
Deja-Vu
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