After the "Apotropaismo" CD, T.A.C. activity noticeably faded away. What happened with band and in your life since then? You wrote you were in New York. How long time and what did you do there?

Well, right after the release of "Apotropaismo" I relocated in New York, way too far to keep a band in Italy... I've been living there for one year and something, during which I got a degree in sound engineering at the Institute Of Audio Research and did some studio work here and there. I kept T.A.C. alive as well, since I didn't know if I would have ever come back to Europe... A new album titled "Chaosphere" was recorded but never edited and released since I was willing to include some musicians from the downtown "illbient" scene and do some additional recordings. That never happened 'cause I suddenly decided to leave the U.S., in 1998. Anyway, I did a final mix and maybe one of these days that lost album will come to light.
After that I decided to relocate in Sardinia, a beautiful and weird island in the center of the Mediterranean Sea...

How do you like your stay in the US in general? What was it similar to?

NY is great. Really different from any big city I've been to before. You feel like everything, just everything is happening around you and yet you can live like in a small village, saying hello to your neighbors... I'm talking about downtown Manhattan of course. Incidentally I lived in the same building where Madonna used to live years ago, in Alphabet City... But I don't think you can generalize. I perceived NY as an exception, maybe because is such a definitive melting pot, but on the other side Americans are quite horrible and barbaric... Ha ha...

As someone said, barbarians are those who have not history or forgot it. But now you reside in Cagliari, the city founded by Phoenicians long before Christ� Is not that great? Would you agree that a place with all the culture and history connected, where a person lives in, has the big influence on the process and results of his creative work? Comparing New York, Parma, Sardinia (as well as other places I have no idea about yet) - where it's easily to breathe for you as for an artist?

True. There's something special about places with a history; you just perceive it. And I totally agree with you about how you are influenced by what surrounds you. But I feel attracted also by places with no history at all, or at least with a history made up of slight and subtle changes, on a different plane of perception, like deserts or, why not, big cities... it's a matter of what you focus on (and of course what you are after...); so, except for Parma, my hometown, that I hate since I was a kid, I'd say that all those places were right for the moment. When that instant is over, well... break on through.

Last year was 20th since T.A.C forming. Which thoughts and feelings the date did evoke? Had you celebrated it somehow?

Yes, right, time's passing by. It's a strange feeling: T.A.C. is in such an endless state of mutation and flux that it's hard to realize it all started in 1981. I really had no time for a celebration of any sort. Oh well, to be honest, I did assemble some material for a sort of a retrospective with unreleased and rare tracks, something very celebrative, indeed, but at last I didn't even bother to look for a contract for its release. I'm always looking forward so I try to keep concentrated on the new album and all the next projects.

Could you remember your first steps into music? First instruments fallen into your hands? From where did you proceed and what did strife for?

I used to play classical guitar, when I was twelve or thirteen. Then one day I went to a concert by pianist Cardini: it really struck me, Stockhausen, Cage's Amores, Bussotti, Satie, the last pieces of Liszt right before he died: it changed my life. And then it came Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, and a few weeks later an older friend of mine introduced me to the early Pink Floyd, Area, Amon Duul, Can, Neu!, Kraftwerk and all the krautrock scene, and Hendrix and... nothing has been the same after that. I walked into my teacher room with partitions by Maderna and Berio (quite pretentious, I was fourteen by then) and he yelled I could forget about that. So I quit and started to experiment with Geloso recorders, metal springs and pans...
One year after we were in '77, the punk thing started, and after that, more interesting, came industrial and "experimental" new wave. That's how it all started...

Please explain what are the "Geloso recorders" you mentioned - a brand of tape-recorders or what?

Geloso was the brand of very cheap reel-to-reel recorders that were very popular in the early 70s.
Totally unprofessional and with a microphone that could saturate a breath.

And as regards of this, which is the better way to describe the sound and spirit of first T.A.C. recordings? The earliest work of yours I heard is "Ouvrez Vos Auditifs Canaux" which sometimes sounds for me between avant-garde experimental and free form jazz! And a bit naive too�

Early T.A.C. was an odd sort of a band. Something in between post industrial, punky-funk and contemporary music and yes, influences from both avant-rock and jazz as well. Definitively naive... I still love "Ouvrez", it also broke the band, a quintet by those times, in two, which was not so bad... The first two albums were a little bit too rock oriented to my taste and the second (the first vinyl) is something I really could never "digest".

How do you look on a re-issue of your long out of print and accessibility LPs from Anschlag and Azteco labels?

I would like to reprint "Il Teatro Della Crudelta" and maybe "Senza Titolo", our first album, which was released on tape in 1982, but as I was telling you don't ask about our first self-titled vinyl...
More interesting maybe is the fact that a lost tape Andrea Azzali (T.A.C. co-founder and member up to 1987) and I, recorded in Florence in 1984-5, is right about to be sent to me. The project was abandoned but the guy who recorded it, has found the 8-track tape and is restoring it. He says it's something fantastic, close to Pan Sonic mixed with musique concrete... I really have no clue. I remember we gave off because the result was so depressing... we'll see.

Each T.A.C. album is more or less depressing and sad. Is not it so? I cannot remember any single merry song of yours. Maybe "Hugging Shadows" from "La Nouvelle Art Du Deuil" is one of the rare exceptions, but I'm not sure�

Hey, I can't remember any merry T.A.C. song either... Happiness is something I like to catch, not sing about, maybe. I think is not in the nature of T.A.C. to make happy music. But I don't know if I would call it depressing and sad music: I like to consider it melancholic and alarming... something that possibly should make you think...
And I remark that is the nature of T.A.C., not mine: I've been listening to Beach Boys albums all winter long...

Since the "La Nouvelle Art Du Deuil" is mentioned, I have to say I do love this kind of easy listening �"before the end of the world". My favorite T.A.C. album. And which is yours?

Well, at this point I should answer the next one, the one I didn't do yet... Which is true on one side... but I have to admit that my favorite albums are "A Circle Of Limbs" and "Apotropaismo", in the sense that even after some time I wouldn't change anything on them.

"A Circle Of Limbs" is a really monumental album, but since it was released much waters has flowed under the bridges. There arose a lot of labels specializing on such kind of music, which they baptized "dark ambient". Till today such sound was so often (mis-)used and re-produced, that whilst I listened this record in last year for very first times a long file of musical associations and reminiscences, clear or vague, drifted through my brain - and in that way it interfered with the perception not for the better. But I never had similar problems with "Apotropaismo". From my point of views, this is quite inimitable and at the same time approachable stuff, with much more personal touch - I would say "introvert" - even if it deals sometimes with places and things out of borders of my imagination. There could be thought out every possible explanations and theories, but after all they just cover that we love this or that music not because it's perfection and beauty, but for something special it tells or brings to us�

Thanks for your compliment. And you have already answered the question yourself... also I definitively agree with how you differently perceive the two albums.

By the way, where you got the Apotropaismo title from? I'm sure I recently met this name in some major Russian tourist magazine called like "Voyage and the rest" or somewhat else. Searching through Internet I found only the word "apotrope", for a kind of talisman or amulet�

Apotropaismo is a neologism, coming for apotrope/apotropaic, used by anthropologists. It refers to the practices you do to keep evil spirits and influences away.

Has T.A.C. some own luck-bringing talisman? And �do you believe in omens?

I do believe in omens and I can accept the idea of talismans but I do not have one of my own and the same goes for Corrado and Monica.

I'm a bit puzzled with T.A.C. logo. The gear can stand for industrial music as well as for working-class. More or less understandable is the stylised arrow� But what does mean that asymmetrically placed point inside the circle? Could you explain the whole story?

Yes, more or less you got it right. The trick is that if you read the logo clockwise you'll find the stylised letter T, A and C, so the dot stands for the horizontal bar of the A and also intentionally breaks the "perfection" of the symmetry. (And also, if you can figure it out, the logo could be a face with a blinking eye...)

T.A.C. contributed to nearly 4 tens of compilations. Some can be called "standing dishes", some look as if issued on very special occasions. But which were the most memorable and dear - due to every possible reasons - for you?

It's hard to remember... For sure "Ekhnaton", the first compilation we did and "Strength", the first one we edited.
And I also have nice memories, both for our contribution and for the other bands involved and the courtesy of the editors, about "Project Neue Ordnung", "Object 5", "1654-The Cave", "L'Ordre Et Le Chaos"; and yes I also like "Conception" where we participate with an airy instrumental (hey, maybe that's a T.A.C. merry song!) among a bunch of fine power noise (Aube, Merzbow, Deutsch Nepal, etc.). A great contrast, a snowball in a coal sack, something I really love!

On the "Strength" there was a track by Jean-Marc Vivenza. Since some articles in the mid-90ies, I have heard nothing about him. Do you know whether is he still active as a musician?

I'm sorry but I don't have any news about Jean Marc since years. His music was highly conceptual and the last time I heard of him, he was working at an art installation or a sound sculpture in a French museum. His records are something worth searching for, indeed.

Talking about power noise, in 1997 the famous American noise-label RRR released T.A.C. CD "Out of context". Now I know it was another band used same abbreviation, but I would not be surprised if it was your album. There are enough of noises and drones on every T.A.C release.

I know about that album... I saw it in a record shop in New York and I almost fainted: I thought it was a bootleg!
I like very much the concept of the power noise thing but lately it's very hard for me to find something really appealing, most of the stuff really lacks organization and sounds pointless and dull. I did some experiments in that field in the early '80s but I always prefer to work in a more subtle and controlled way, getting closer to pure drone music or minimalism. The "Chaosphere" project, which is relatively recent, could have been a good example...

You also are known as an architect. Please tell this story. Did it start before T.A.C. or later? Which way did it develop into? How did co-exist with music? Are you still involved into the architectural work? Do you see any correlation between both kinds of art?

It started in the very same time, September 1981: T.A.C. was formed and I entered the University of Florence a few days later. How to make your own life harder, you know... I quit my job as an architect five years ago: too boring. I work as a sound engineer now... Architecture was and still is correlated to the way I make my music, something about time and space... and building blocks of course!

Do you remember when and how you were carried away with those ritualistic and esoteric kinds of things? Have they substantial influence upon you and your life so far?

Can't remember exactly, guess it all started with a book or something like that... To me it was more studying and analyzing rather than practicing, anyway; you know, the other side of philosophy... And after all I've always been "searching for hidden gods in the interstices of my nervous system"...

Have you ever tried to smoke them out of the interstices with a help of some plants or "magic mushrooms"?� Are you familiar with Terence McKenna views on the psychoactive substances as "the original tree of knowledge", expounded in such books of his like "Food of the Gods"? What do you think as regards of this in general?

I tried. With some success. I generally agree with McKenna, but I don't like the idea of building a method on what I consider a personal path... Psychoactive substances are OK but I don't think they are made for a nice night out...

Is it true, those years ago you were politically left-oriented or influenced at least? Apart from the gear in logo, I can remember "Andreas Baader Requiem", "Tis Kolassis Kambanes" with lyrics by former IRA member� Did something change since then in your views?

Definitively true. I was and still I am politically left oriented for what it could mean it nowadays... The only thing that has changed is that Europe is slipping (or may be sleeping...) to the right and I'm pretty scared and disgusted about that. Maybe T.A.C. should get ready for war...

Yeah, Austria, Netherlands, France... But how could you explain that popularity of left parties falls down elsewhere (except ex-Soviet block) while right-wingers gather strength?

That would require a couple of pages to answer: hoping I'll not sound simplistic I'd say, in short, two words: fear and long-term control. Left parties are falling down because they have nothing to offer, they are corrupted like any other party, and they ideas/ideals are "old" and couldn't adequate to the changes in the global economy. The new right is riding the people's fear for the future (which doesn't look bright indeed). Same old stuff, just good ol' Adolf did: xenophobia, cheap socialism and free-trade policy, "God, Family, Property". And Enemies; Enemies, aliens everywhere. A good media exposure, old style propaganda (yes, every 60 years you can use it again, just shake before use) and money, big money. Do you remember Adolf: yelling at the bourgeoisies, screaming about protecting the weak, and making solid and secret connections with the industrial power of 20's Germany... A perfect formula in the right time. It worked well and it's working well... You know we are not talking about right wing ideals, not about Evola, or Europe or anything like that, something I can confront with; here we are talking about the fact that you and I could not have a chance to do an interview like this anymore (since it wouldn't be economically interesting, of course).

Just curious, why did you remember Evola in particular? His writings are popular in rather small "hobby groups" mad about art more than real politics. Moreover, he left very interesting books on esoteric, such as "Metaphysics of Sex" or "The Mighty Yoga"�

Yes interesting books. I made mention of him just because here in Italy he's considered a right oriented free thinker (despite his involvement with the regime) and at the same time the new right, ignorant and pretentious, tries to forget about him.

T.A.C.'s line-up was changing constantly. Only a couple of names say something for me. Who were all other people? Had/have they own bands and project, well known or forgotten now?

Wow, this could be a very long answer... we had at least 20 people working with T.A.C from 1981 to now.
OK, just to make some history, here we go:
Andrea Azzali: after he left T.A.C. he worked and released with Razza Ventura and Parts and alone as Monophon and Soma. We occasionally still collaborate.
Enrico Marani: started his "musical career" with T.A.C. After he quit he released several albums with Le Forbici Di Manitu and worked also with Lubna and other bands
Gregorio Bardini: classical musician and performer; collaborated with Tuxedomoon for the Ghost Sonata tour. He also played in bands such as Thelema, Avvoltoi, Kino Glaz, Parts.... and released some solo material as well.
Patrizia Mattioli: studied at IRCAM in Paris; Kino Glaz member; works for the theatre and still she's doing solo performances.
Alex Papa: chief and editor of Mondo Bizarro (extreme art book store and label).
Celestino Pes: after he left, formed Andromeda Complex. Music journalist for Blue and other magazines.
Gio: Fiaschi: has been member of Limbo for several years.
Paola Sartori: another Kino Glaz member. She's been also with Kirlian Camera for while.
Angelo and Emilia: guess they are popular enough...

Absolutely. And now it's necessary to tell how did you get acquainted with Angelo Bergamini and Emilia Lo Jacono?

A common friend had us meeting somehow in '91. You could call it love at first sight... In a few weeks I joined KC and soon after both Angelo and Emilia started their collaboration with T.A.C.

You know each other more than 10 years and for sure your friendship somehow impressed all of you, both on personal and artistic level. Are you aware of the KIRLIAN CAMERA influence on T.A.C. and vice versa? It is not about instrumental or vocal contributions, but much more deep things�

Correct, it wasn't a matter of musicianship. In all those years I would say that we played together more with our brains rather than with our instruments... About the music what myself and T.A.C. really owe to KC is that Angelo and Emilia helped me a lot in giving up my reluctance to use melodic and song-like structures.

When it is more absorbing and enthralling to compose music - in the very T.A.C.'s coming into being or recently, working under the new album?

What really gives me thrills is thinking about the albums yet to come, actually.

Please tell a bit more about the latest T.A.C. work. What it is all about?

I'd prefer you to listen before... What can I say about "Waiting For The Twilight" is that it is the companion album of "Twilight Rituals". It was conceived and recorded during the very same sessions. We had so much material that we started to like the idea to create a twin album instead of a double CD (too long to listen to...) or of leaving out some tracks we really enjoy. And well, is about twilight of course, the time of day when everything can happen and things don't seem any more what they are... (Or was that vice-versa?).

How do you see T.A.C. future? Have you any distinct scheduled plan or � the future will show?

Yes, only time will tell... We have since a few weeks a fourth member, Alessia Manca (on viola, clarinet and keyboards) and we are planning our forthcoming live activity. It will start here in Sardinia in a festival with Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins, Kirlian Camera, Krisma, ... and we wish we could perform live more and more since September (anyone interested over there?). Twilight Rituals is scheduled for release in late October and ... yes this is a big slice of future... sorry can't see any further: today is a sunny day I'll spend on a lonely beach...

What do you rely more when composing music - inspiration, spontaneous lucid moments or intensive work? What do prevail in your records?

It really depends on the project and each project has its own rules: from free-form improvisation to heavy conceptual music writing... For a work maybe we start from titles and literature references, for another one we work eight days a week, for another one we wait for it to auto-generate (sometimes it even springs off the ground)...

You play different instruments, but which are the most favorite for you? Are there any without which you could not imagine T.A.C. Music at all?

Well nothing I couldn't do without. I really love to put my clumsy hands on some new instrument I don't even know if it requires blowing or plucking and "squirt" music out of it. If I really have to give a serious answer I'd say my brain (and electronics, that incidentally are hardwired to it)...

Without doubts T.A.C. Entered the gold fund of Italian post-industrial music. Which more names - from "old guard" as well as youngsters - you would remember in this connection?

First of all let me remember Tasaday. I think they were the best of the lot. Go and look for their old albums! And by the way, they just reformed and a new excellent CD is out since a few weeks. Other really interesting bands (worth looking for) from ancient-days Pizzaland were F:A.R., Pankow, Officine Schwartz, Enrico Piva/Amok, Therabaqud Leic, Sshe Retina Stimulants, Laxative Souls... About new groups I think Retina are the most interesting band with some connection to post-industrial. I'm also quite satisfied with two bands I recently did the production for: TH26 and Bahntier.

Angelo Bergamini determines Kirlian Camera as a part of international electronic scene. To which scene belongs T.A.C. on your opinion?

Never liked to be part of a "scene"; it helps you to sell more 'though... I would like to belong to the trans-global post-ethno-glitch-avant-psychedelic-pop scene if it would happen to exist one...

Which things are stirring you most of all now - as the musician and as the man?

Monica's singing and watching the sun falling into the sea from a desert beach.

Senza Titolo MC (Anschlag, 1982)
Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata LP (Azteco Rec., 1983)
Ouvrez Vos Auditifs Canaux LP (Azteco Rec., 1985 )
"Il Teatro Della Crudelta LP (Azteco Rec., 1987)
Pioggia Su Carne Di Cavallo 3"mCD (Neuro Habitat/Heaven's Gate, 1992)
A Circle Of Limbs CD (Cthulhu Records, 1993)
Hypnotischer Eden CD (Heaven's Gate/Discordia, 1994)
La Nouvelle Art Du Deuil CD (Neden/Discordia, 1995)
Ouvrez Vos Auditifs Canaux CD (Discordia, 1996)
Apotropaismo CD (Old Europa Cafe, 1997)