The boyz were back in town headlining our second Gasp!!! event which took place @ XOYO, couple of weeks back. Alongside the lovely Italoboyz, we had Codekontrol residents Johnny Fiore, Gabriel amaru and from the infamous East London Bread & Butter family, Max & Jamma. Upstairs room was hosted by Unwanted Family with Mr Venom, Thomas James, Chris Gee and Franklin.
The party was awesome, with such a good and laidback vibe. Nothing and no one else made it so than all of you shaking those boots there on the floor.
Check yourseves out in the pics: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.356314021059040.89146.167201049970339&type=1
So, try and get your brain back into time and read this with a pair of fresh eyes ;)
Aaaand here we are peeps, 2012, January 21st. Codekontrol’s BIG Weekend is now on! You’ve been asking for it so now it’s time to gasp for air and face the music, 2011 is gone, finito, done. 2012 is here to stay! End of the world possibility included.
So no time to waste: firmly grab that Vodka bottle, couple of Red Bulls, fistful of limes, click play and enjoy the show. That’s what some good people have been doing for years and it seems to work quite well for them.
Italoboyz @ B&B London - 29.8.2011 by italoboyz
Marco Donato and Federico Marton, quite well known and loved around London town as Italoboyz are living proof that a positive attitude and a never ending love for music making might just help all you need to navigate through the crazy mess we call society today.
Settled in the maddest of them all, London, a decade ago, Marco and Federico embraced the city with all their being and never looked back with sentimentalism to the “mandolin and pizza country” as they affectinately call native Italy. In return the city embraced them back…with love.Now with a good ten years spent at the very heart of London’s underground house scene Marco and Donato seem to know very well what they’re after and are willing to use every inch of their creative selves to get it. Ahead of tonight’s Gasp!!! @ XOYO, we take a minute or two with Marco from Italoboyz and skillfully navigate through their story.
[code]: Hi there Marco, hi there Federico, the pair of “wacky” Italo jackmasters, affectionately known as Italoboyz! How are you and where does this interview find you?Marco: Hello guys (Marco here)! I’m at my new home in east London, just moved here after Christmas, so still a bit unsettled, lots to do, lots to plan, slowly re-building my studio but listening to nice beats ;)
[code]: Aaaah, moving home, what else can beat that?!? We hope the transition is now in its final stages and you can get back to the music. How/where did you spend the Christmas and NYE?
Marco: At home at my sister’s place with my family, then Berlin, then Italy again for New Years Eve, then back here. The overall Christmas time was super!
[code]: And now…how is it being back? Back to work; or not quite there yet? The hangovers getting better?
Marco: As I said, more than the hangover, which we have learned how to master properly (:), it’s more about planning, and settling down and all those things…My studio is still down, first time in years that I am in this situation, it feels a little unusual, but it’s ok….
Now where on Earth did I put those wiring schematics?[code]: Cool, so let’s start the questions with a popular one: For someone who’s just heard of Italoboyz, how can we define it? Everything that Italoboyz stands for!
Marco: To be honest, it’s a name that we have been given here in London in 2003 when we (me and Federico) started djing together by this promoter who booked us for our first London dj gig at 333 in Old street. Not far from XOYO actually! And it was so epic, that we decided to keep the name…. Is that bad, doctor…? ;-)
[code]: Surely not bad Marco, quite good actually :) Your connection to London is quite special and well documented in the previous interviews you’ve given, but how is the relationship going? Is London still THE place you want to be in day in day out? Does it still get your creative juices flowing?
Marco: Yes for sure! Personally, I have been very tempted a couple of times to change and move to Berlin, but somehow I felt that I still have a lot to give and a lot to get here, in London; and I still feel that.
[code]: Please remind us: How long have you guys been around London?
Marco: 10 years darling, exactly 10 years; and for me another 5 years plan just started!
[code]: So, tell us a few things on how was 2011 for Italoboyz? All the highlights, all the best moments of the year. And please give us a few favorite couple of (2011) tunes you’ll forever be in love with?
Marco: Lots of great moments for sure…! maybe Mexico and Peru for me were very special; that’s because I took the chance to have a little vacation too, something that now I sooo much would love to have again!
Musicwise… hmmm… we are always researching music without bothering much of the release date, so it’s a bit difficult right now to answer precisely to this question… But without a doubt, you’ll hear what I’m talking about Saturday at XOYO ;-)
[code]: Now that we’ve put our finger on the “music” 12 inch, let’s get that needle on the groove, shall we? Listening to any piece from your discography, your preference for taking obscure pieces of the past (sound, voices, film dialogs) and twist them into something new, if not futuristic, is a mainstay theme. Why so?
Marco: I guess because this is how we like to approach music; starting from an idea, a main theme, and building the track around it. Also, we really like weird elements, especially voice; You can expect to hear lots more coming up very soon in our music….
[code]: Do you feel that what this past has in terms of music, and everything else is maybe, a different story to tell than what we have today in our collective culture? Maybe more romance…? Are you consciously looking for such stories?
Marco: I do think that a little while ago making music was much more complicated and releasing music was something that only people with a strong passion were doing, having a precise idea of what they were looking for. Nowadays, everyone can make some beats, and releasing music is almost immediate… So this has either good sides or bad side, depending on where you stand as an artist…
One of the bad sides I see is that music sometimes is made just for promotion, just because you have to be present on the market, and not because you really want to present something that represents you…
[code]: We hear that Marco; Nowadays, if you don’t also produce, than probably you don’t really have a future just mixing other people’s tracks. So yeah, I guess there is a lot of what you just said around at the moment.
[code]: Tell us something about what you guys are working on and who are we likely to hear on vocal duties on the next track/EP?
Marco: We are working on the very first release of our upcoming own label… And guess what? A super nice and trippy vocal will be in it ;-)
[code]: Italoboyz own label, yes, hype us! Pleeeeease! And also other plans for 2012?
Marco: Well, yeah, we are gonna be mainly focused on our own project on this new thing, our label…Something you all guys will hear about very soon! The name is Superfiction…. as well as keep working with other labels for some releases, remixes…
And finally
[code]: We’re still in the very first days of the year, but we’re very curious what’s your attitude to the impending doom being predicted?
Marco: !!!…do you mean financially!? …ummmm… I dunno… but it seems scary.
My solution: let’s make music, and hope for the best ;-)
[code]: Probably the only solution worth considering.
Big love xx
