il sogno del marinaio
canto secondo is the name of the second album from il sogno del marinaio (“the sailor’s dream” in Italian) which is a trio made up of stefano pilia on guitar, andrea belfi on drums and mike watt (MINUTEMEN, fIREHOSE, Iggy & The Stooges…) on bass. The album is being released August 26, 2014 on clenchedwrench; two weeks later il sogno will begin a fifty-three gigs in fifty-three days U.S. tour supporting it.
la busta gialla was the debut album from this trio and came out at the end of january 2013, having been recorded more than three years before! One reason for the delay was the members having to juggle their busy schedules. Another was the way it was made: lots of overdubs and guests involved; it was more a process of creating a work rather than capturing a band — the band had been together only a week when the basic recordings were made! The release was also delayed till il sogno had the opportunity to support it with a European tour, said eventual tour turning out to be a great success. These experiences inspired the trio to immediately plan a second album, informed by the lessons learned making the first one.
When il sogno del marinaio were invited to be part of the All Tomorrow’s Parties “End Of An Era” festival, it was decided to travel the day after from the festival site in England to Bologna, Italy. This is the home of guitarist stefano as well as Vacuum Studio (which is built in an old barn just north of town) and Bruno Germano who was slated to record and mix and album.
il sogno del marinaio practiced and recorded together for eight days, the twelve tunes that make up canto secondo emerged and everyone flew home. Vocals were flown in later via Internet to Bruno from each member’s home recording setup. But primarily canto secondo is comprised of the three of them playing together live in a room, a reflection of the time they’ve spent playing together live as a trio since recording their debut. In fact watt had suggested that all three bring in compositions that reflected the experiences they’ve accumulated together.
il sogno del marinaio began in the november of 2009 when stefano pilia wrote mike watt an invitation to join him and his buddy andrea belfi in a performance at festival in Cesana, Italy. stefano had met watt four years earlier while the latter was taking his second opera, the secondman’s middle stand, on tour; the Italian promoter had stefano on board to lend native assistance. They convened practice and compose all new original material for the festival date and the did a six gig Italian mini-tour with two days set aside to record an album which resulted in la busta gialla.
“I think andrea and stefano bring things out in me, explains watt, “that maybe would be lost otherwise – not just old stuff but things in the moment too… hell, I’d even go as far to claim the future maybe too.”
“il sogno del fienile” video:
skinny cat” video