Fede of Destrage Interview
5th January 2017Destrage are a band that are currently going from strength to strength. Fede took time from his Xmas dinner to answer a few questions.
You guys have just released your new album ‘A Mean To No End’ which was released at the end of October, how has this been received by your fans?
Well, itâs been a good vibe so far. It started from the release of the first single âSymphony Of The Egoâ in the end of August, and exploded at the release party we had in our hometown Milan a few days after the release of the full album. We had such a blast, the energy was incredible, so intense.
Since the album is quite different from the previous one, on both songwriting and overall sound, we expected people to need a little time to digest it and enjoy it. Thereâs been a good diversity of reactions, but fortunately the big part of them were good. Then youâll always find the fan who will always prefer your first record but, you know, you canât make everyone happy. At least we canât.
Not even the Beatles could. Actually not even Jesus Chris could.
How did the recording go for this album?
This has been by far the most intense, tight and long teamwork weâve ever done. To be honest, in the end we were all completely exhausted and couldnât wait for it to be finished. The recording itself ran out very smoothly, this is because of the work thatâs been done previously; everything was recorded in about a month. It took about one year and half from the first composition session to the final master tho. We had a super tight schedule of jams/writing session, arrangements, writing each instrument part, writing lyrics, recording preproduction, fix structures and then enter the studio.
What is your favorite track off the album?
This is a very tough question. Itâs like asking a father whoâs his favorite son.
I like many songs for many different reasons, but if I really had to choose one, I would say Abandon To Random (Iâm sure some of my band mates wouldnât agree). It has a different vibe from the others, itâs darker, and itâs a trip that takes its time to carry you around.
How would you say your music has evolved since you first started out?
This year will be 10 years with this line-up. Many things have changed, we as persons first. Thatâs what our music reflects the most.
I think with this record we all wanted to try to deliver emotions instead of attempting to impress someone; which is something that weâve already done, and we donât like to repeat ourselves. Plus weâre all in our 30s now, and this changes the way we live music a lot too.
Also the writing process has evolved a lot from the beginning, when everything was written by one sole person. Time by time we started working together and eventually we wrote this last record all together in the same room, playing the songs; itâs an old school approach, but I think it makes a great difference emotionally speaking.
If you had a 30 second slot on prime time TV to say whatever you wanted to the public about the music industry, what would you say?
âItâs fucked, and thereâs nothing you can do. Itâs too late, sorryâ
How often do you sit and listen to your own music?
Rarely. Most of the time itâs because some student ask me to explain him how to play some part of a song.
Would you change anything at all about the band if you had to do it all over?
I would change nothing about the band itself and the people in it. I would just change âwhereâ and âwhenâ Destrage were born as a band…US early â90s could be a good option, but we could consider many other good ones.
What has been your main drive which has pushed you forward to continue doing what you do?
Passion. Thatâs the only true answer. Passion has made our friendship stronger  too, but also love for music, traveling and hanging with people. Need for expression and need for fun. Thatâs what is all about being in a band; eventually if everything works out the money will come.
How would you describe your music to fans who hadn’t heard your music before?
Thatâs the toughest question. We donât really know how to describe our music properly. itâs a metal/rock-based thing, with a bunch of different influences that go from grunge to pop, electronic, cross over, experimental…
Basically we do what we would like to listen to, without thinking about a specific style.
What can we expect from you guys in the new year?
We have a few shows scheduled, and we hope some more will come out for the summer. Basically weâre finishing the Italian tour from the end of Jan to mid March, and then we have this European tour with Periphery and The Contortionist, which is going to be a blast. Hopefully weâll manage to play in the US too, sooner or later!
Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
You know we love you, but donât get angry if we donât play in your city!
Cheers Fede for your time, have a great Christmas and we look forward to catching up with you guys in the new year!