5 Minutes With… FUCKTEHGOVERNMENT.LTD
FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD are a live underground act that are really turning heads right now! Made up of Alfredo Trastulli and Marco Riff, the duo have just released a stunning 8 track LP over on the Skylax imprint, a collection that really demonstrates the knowledge of underground electronic music and one to certainly check out. Following the release we spoke to the guys to jump deeper into what what it took to create such a sound amongst more.
Hi guys, great to talk to you today. Tell us a bit about how FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD was created, what is the reason behind the name and what is it you set out to achieve with the sound?
We answered this question many times actually. It isn’t only about politics, even though politicians in Italy are ruining everything, from people’s lives to arts and music. Politics have nauseated us so our FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT is a scream of rebellion and freedom. Then when the scream ends our sound begins, a sound made of distorted noises coming from old machines, meshed up with old vinyl samples. It is a sound born in the streets, without any money behind, inspired by the one from 1987-88-89 and the first nineties when many artists came out from their basements. We are over 40 years old and maybe we now have the skills we didn’t have when we were 20 but we feel for sure like those artists from the late 80s. There are now also a lot of similarities with the politics of that time.
You are just about to release the 8 Track ‘Paris Traxx’ collection, talk us through the history of this project, was it made in Paris, is there a reason why their are no direct track names?
No it wasn’t made in Paris but it is our tribute to a city that has always attracted us for its culture and art, and now, more than ever it needs a lot of support and this is our way to do it. Our very first important gig was meant to be right there in Paris, with Tama Sumo and Paranoid London, but our flight was canceled due to bad weather conditions. It was a terrible blow for us as it was our first big chance. In addition to all of this we owe the label Skylax Records and Joseph G. Bendavid aka Hardrock Stricker a lot.
For all these reasons the album title had to be Paris Traxx. We traveled with our minds among Paris, Chicago, Berlin, London, Terni, where we own our studio and Perugia, where Marco has his own vinyl store, two fundamental places to our music.
What we love about this album is that people that listened to it felt our journey between different ways to see electronic music.
How does this release compare to previous FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD releases?
This project is much more complex, it wants to leave a mark and be a link to our original “Chicago” sound. The first release, “Tribute 89”, was made by Alfredo aka F.T.G. only, but then the sound of the two of us came out, with the successful “Heaven”, which continued with the third release of our label, “Numero Tre” (feat. Fresco). The album Paris Traxx can be seen as the blessing of the duo Alfredo and Marco, Fuckthegoverment.
How does the FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD sound compare to your own individual sounds when working Alfredo aka F.T.G. solo?
How you can hear, Alfredo’s sound is much more “Chicago”, very direct, basic. Often he follows the House Classic sound, which is where musically he comes from. The great thing of this album is the mash up of two points of view, as you can hear the contribution and influence of Marco as a real “vinyl pusher”. After 3 years together and almost 15 tracks and 1 album made as a duo, Alfredo follows Marco at the beginning, Alfredo takes it and feeds it into his machines and MPC, he put it on a sequencer software, they make an arrangement together and then you can listen it at the Music Box Records Store or in clubs. Pretty often our “beta tester” who plays our tracks for the first time is the the historic Italian dj/peoducer Ralf.
Talk us through the live element of FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD, what is your current set up and reasoning behind what you choose?
Live:
Alfredo:
Roalnd TR909 or Roland TR808, Roland 727 Circuit Bent, Roland TB303, Elektron Octatrack, Elektron Analog Four, Critter & Guitari Bolsa Bass, Korg M1, Juno 106 or Korg Polysix and Midas 24ch Mixer
Marco:
Akai MPC 1000, N.2 Technics 1200, Rotary Mixer and N.1 Pioneer CDJ 2000 Nexus
Will you be taking ‘Paris Traxx’ on tour? If so where can we find you playing?
We hope to be on a great tour both as Live Jam and DJ set. We would like to propose a 3 hours Live and Dj set so we can express ourselves at 100%. We just had live dates recently but we would really love to play long vinyl-only djsets as we were both born as Djs (for more than 20 years) and vinyl collectors. The tour is currently under scheduling, but we can just say we’ll have many dates in Italy, then we will hit France, England and Germany.
Looking back, what were each of your musical influences when you first discovered music? Do you feel that the sound is present in the productions you make today?
.We both approached music when we were just children, 8 or so years old. Marco started with a lot of Jazz and Funk thanks to his father’s huge collection, then when he is 17, he listens a new kind of music in the clubs, they call it “House Music” (because you can make it at home!) and he falls in love with it. On the other hand, Alfredo started with some old Rock and Pop vinyls, like Michael Jackson, a rare Soul Makossa, a lot of Soul music, then an Atari came as a present for his 16th birthday, and later also a first Cubase for making the first arrangements.
Who was your biggest inspiration when first getting involved with electronic music?
Our inspiration is not a single artist but is the whole music movement that was born in Chicago in the late 80s and its pioneers.
What is the best and worst thing about working as a duo?
There are no negative aspects. We love to play as a duo, we love to compare our ideas and develop them together. We would probably do it more often if we didn’t live 100 km far away from each other.
What was the hardest part of this release and why?
It was a hard project actually but we were both inspired so it came out easy to work together at the end. We also argued because of our differences, the will of changing our sound without losing our unique style. Alfredo took care about the sounds and arrangements, trying to stay as classic as possible using the TR909, TR808, Juno 106 and Juno 60. Marco listened to lots of vinyls, looking for an inspiring sound. We thought about some Perlon for the arrangements but without losing focus on the 1989 sound!
What is next for FUCKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD following on from this release?
After this album there will be a single release with Skylax, with a Heaven reprint and a new track, Fuckthegovernment005 on our label. Then a collaborations with the Italian priducers Bassa Clan and a with tue US legendary masters Virgo Four, coming out with our label!!
‘’F*CKTHEGOVERNMENT.LTD’’. It will be a full autumn and winter, then we have great news coming next year, but we will talk another time about this!
Be sure to pick up a copy of their latest release here.
