“The afterhours found the light in the eyes”
“Among small hyenas, the sun also arises if it is convenient” is one of the most powerful phrases of a repertoire, that of the afterhours, which is powerful of his own. 20 years later he is more current than ever. “The idea of the group, of the social, of the civic sense has been destroyed. It is all a” I, I, I “, tells me Manuel Agnelli. For this reason, it also makes sense to put a band back on his feet, a group of people: the after have been stopped for 6 years, but the formation that will go on tour this summer for much more: it is the one with vines, chiff and prette, who engraved” ballads for small hyenas “, which is reprinted on June 6, remastered version, for Universal
With Agnelli we had heard a few weeks ago to talk about “fresh meat”, his review of young rock bands that has now become a monthly appointment in Germi, his Milanese club. The news of the return of the afterhours had just arrived and here we are telling the return. In the meantime, Agnelli is never stopped: a “no comment” on X Factor (who has now confirmed Giorgia to the conduction and the other three judges, Achille Lauro, Jake La Furia and Paola Iezzi) and the resumption of the theatrical tour of “Lazarus” by David Bowie (tomorrow in Modena, from 28 to Milan, from June 5 to Rome). Then, from 26 the Afterhours return.
Afterhours haven’t played together for 6 years. How was this reunion born and why really with this formation, different from the last?
In reality he did not leave like our idea, but from Universal: since twenty years have passed since “ballads for small hyenas”, they asked us to reprint the disc and to make some promotion. Instead of making a Blanda promotion for an old album, we thought: let’s make a party. And from there the tour was born.
Many of those pieces I haven’t played them for years, some – like “Andrea’s birthday” – had never played them live. And since that album had been recorded live in the studio by a band that he had really tried to do it like this, I thought it was right to put that band together, with those people. I was very careful, also from a personal point of view. To close circles. And therefore it has also become an opportunity to re -establish or, in some cases, redefine relationships. A beautiful opportunity also on a human level.
That formation, however, had almost never played all together, right?
No, he actually played: it is a part of the formation that has done “it is not forever”, it is the formation that has done “what is not there” and “small hyenas” so we are talking about four or five years together. Except that we haven’t played since 2006, so a long time has passed.
And here I arrive at the other reason why I wanted to put it back together: when I talked to them, I saw the light in their eyes. That light there, that desire, for me it is the basis of a band. Beyond the projects, success, technical skill. It is the energy that moves you. And they have this thing. They didn’t just want to go on stage to do the cool, but to do something that, for them, also has an emotional value. And when I saw this desire, I convinced myself definitively.
Did you no longer have that light’s latest formation?
They were excellent musicians, perhaps the best technically I played with. But the problem is that the After had become a brand, a mini-company. There were the songs, the very good musicians, the concerts that worked … but I had to put the activity of the after among a thousand personal commitments of others. Some were, in fact, luxury shifts.
And to me, who consider this vital project, to hear it a little underestimated had tired. But what really tired me was the lack of necessity. It is not that they did not have fun or bringing no ideas, quite the contrary. But it was not necessary. A band must be. And this, today, is. Maybe in a while it will no longer be, and ten years ago it was not. But now yes.
So this reunion is linked only to this moment?
I do not know. Any forecast can do now would be linked only to the interest that is around the band, and therefore not very noble. I go on navigating on sight: I am interested in making music with a strong emotional tension, because for me it is vital. And everything will depend on that: how many tension I can find.
I do not exclude that something is still done, but I can’t even tell you that we will do it. Certainly, presales are going in a way never seen before. There is a huge love around the name afterhours.
In your opinion it depends on the absence, on having missed for six years?
More than “absence”, I would talk about “love”. I made a solo album that had excellent feedback, I won prizes, I made three tours in crescendo, I had fun. There was emotional tension, it was a vital period. However, at the level of numbers, when you are written afterhours the quadruplica public. And it is curious, because I also made several pieces of the after ones on my tours. But evidently that name there, even if the band has changed a thousand times, has a profound meaning. The numbers we are doing are now monstrous, and this formation hadn’t played together for twenty years.
Do you think this reunion can bring new music?
I don’t know, it’s difficult. I think a part of the AFTter audience is new – otherwise we would not make these numbers. And this audience has known us through the “classics”, and those want to hear.
With “Padania” and above all with “Folfiri or Folfox” we had already tried to propose new things. “Folfiri” also ended up first in the standings. So the thirst for novelty was there. But people want “honey badly”, and it’s fine, I’m proud of it.
Are you working on other musical projects?
For those who want to live it – and not only to exercise as a profession – it is clear that the gaze goes on. I have a lot of ready material. I just have to decide how to call it. If I call it afterhours, it seems strange because maybe I played everything. But at the same time it is strange that, after all these years, I cannot let out a disc and call it afterhours.
These are thoughts that I don’t want to face at the moment. Now we have a tour in front of a tour that must be, first of all, liberating, fun, saving. Non -design.
Let’s go back to “ballads for small hyenas”. It came after “What is not there”, your masterpiece. How do you judge it today?
It is a very focus disc, and you have to thank Greg Dulli, who produced it. He gave consistency to the pieces, built a unitary sound from start to finish. The after have always been eclectic, a little for the variety of musicians, a little for my taste. But “ballads” and “what is not there” are perhaps our most compact records.
Then, it is always the public who decides what is worth. And the pieces of “ballads”, perhaps even more than “what is not there”, have become the spine of our lives. “The white widow”, “ballad for my little hyena”, “The thin white line” entered the imagination of our audience.
“What is not there” is a record that saved my life at a time when I had lost any reference. But from a live point of view, “ballads” has more weight. I can’t do a race. But yes, the audience eventually chooses “ballad for my little hyena”.
“Among small hyenas, the sun also arises if it is convenient” is one of the strongest phrases you wrote. Is it still current?
Absolutely yes. In recent years I have experienced situations of absurd opportunism. Not that I am a saint, but today this attitude is rampant. The idea of the group, of the social, of the civic sense was destroyed. It’s all of an “I, I, I”. This division between us is not accidental: the more you are divided, the less we can be significant, create pressure, change things.
There is a “saving who can” psychological who has become lifestyle. And in Italy it takes root very well. We don’t trust anyone, we only think about our well -being. When I wrote that sentence, I probably began to see all this.
What judgment do you give today of the English version of the album that came out shortly after and of the tour abroad?
It was a wonderful experience. He was published by One Little Indian, the bjork label: we took world tours for five or six years. The most beautiful, in 2006: 150 dates between Italy, the United States, UK, Germany, France, Spain. We continued to play until 2012 abroad. He saved us as a band, opened new horizons and made us grow like people.
But it was a project, and there they came out of the limits: translating the songs into another language is not easy. Davey Ray Moor helped me a lot, less good went with Greg to New Orleans, who wanted him to sing with the accent of the southern United States: how to ask a German to sing in Neapolitan.
The Italian tour with the songs in English, however, was not well welcomed, and there was also a hull with a fan you told a few years ago …
Yes, but it was grotesque. We had made 55 dates in Italian first, then we went on tour in the United States. Upon returning, in the lineup we had 7-8 pieces in English out of 22. A third, in short, and people were free not to come.
Instead, in certain concerts there was a dispute, people who sang in Italian above the pieces. I never understood that reaction. Perhaps it was the fear of getting lost, or perhaps only provincialism. My generation had to deal with a cruel provincialism. But all in all, it went well.
You have remastered the album but not added outttake or unpublished. Precise choice?
Yes. We wanted to recover “ballads” as it was, linked to that period and that training. However, in pouring the ribbons digitally – for fear that they would be ruined – I found a lot of material.
Potentially you could make an outlet disc, even interesting. But I don’t want to do it now. The idea of inserting “the new piece” to sell it seems to me … I don’t know … from the outttakes a real record could come out, but they are things to finish. Many pieces have no text, only melodic lines, others are not even mixed. We will see if it will be worth it.
