Statuto – Noi Siamo i Mods!

Turim, no norte de Itália, oferece-nos maravilhosos chocolates e locais elegantes para beber um café ou então uma das suas criações, o Martini. Também possui excelentes livrarias, uma culinária requintada, dois clubes de futebol com mística, a Juventus e o Torino, uma arquitectura barroca mas ao mesmo tempo racional, e uma vista para os Alpes, ali mesmo ao lado. Também nos ofereceu os Statuto, a mais importante banda mod/ska italiana. Sem dúvida uma cidade de bom gosto pois com coisas que a gente gosta. Aqui fica o relato da minha entrevista ao Naska, o baterista.


It's your first interview for Portugal?
Naska - Yes it is our first interview for Portugal

Have you ever been here in vacations?
No sorry, none of us has ever been to Portugal.




I've just finished reading the book wrote by Oskar. That period between the end of the 70's and the begining of 80's might have been really exciting...
For us born in the mid sixties the early '80 were a period of full innovation. Musically and socially. At that time there was not Internet so we have to 'discover' every new sensation coming from England through the musical papers, the fanzines the record that someone brought back from his vacation in London. It was really exciting.



The mixing between mod revival and ska two tone was positive or complicated?
Ska arrived in Italy in the early '80’s with 2tone invasion. Some italian singer recorded some ska song in italian, and there was a big interest for a year but soon all vanished. Some early mods in Italy otherwise were 'ska boys' (in Italy nobody knew what a rude boy was), that turned into the mod thing.

Wich were your favorite bands at the time?
At the time first of all were The Jam and Style Council, Lambrettas, Purple Hearts, Chords, Merton Parkas, Thruth, and all the 2tne from england (Madness, Specials, Selecter, Beat, etc). And some oldies like The Who, Small Faces, Motown. We discovered the real soul and northern soul scene at the end of the '80s.



Were you the first ska band in Italy?
Definitly yes, we composed and sang ska songs in italian from the beginning.

As I figure it out by the book was just after that you discovered the sound of the 60's?
Not so. Statuto were formed from the sounds we had in our ears from english ska and mod revival.

All of the mods and rude boys from Piazza Statuto had a Vespa?
At the moment there are more Vespas than Lambrettas in Piazza Statuto. Almost every mod has a scooter.

Wich models did you have? Do you reemember?
Mine is a Vespa 200 Rally. There are many vespa PE 200, I think this is the most common.



And nowadays, how are the Vespa activities for Statuto?
Vespa has always been associated with Statuto. We have countless of pics with our scooter, many album cover with a vespa on it, even our latest album greatest hits “Elegantemente Rudi” released by Sony in 2008 has my vespa on the cover (that picture was took in 1987).



And how about the mod scene in Turim? The Mod Clan is just for mods that have a Vespa?
Turin had always had a great mod scene, really healthy from the beginning in the early '80’s. Nowadays there are mods in theirs 40’s and new generations on teenagers, all in the same group. No the mod clan is not a scooter club.

The compilation "Elegantemente Rudi 1983/2008" is an excelent compilation of your music. Do you have any plans for 2009?
At the moment we are still touring from last year (in 2008 we played 70 gigs in italy). We'll stop touring in september and then we will begin the recordings of a new album; these are the plans at the moment.



Am I wrong or you refuse to play in Turim?
You are correct we don't play in Turin since 2004. This was a strong decision against the city musical 'burocracy' : few people that take control of huge amount of public money and that is spent in one way. If you're not 'friend' with these people you are banned , not officially but de facto, from festivals, big concerts events, etc, etc.

Who knows one concert in Lisbon...
Who knows, why not??



Visitem o myspace deles aqui.
ou o Vespa Gang lá de Turim aqui.
e a nova banda da cidade aqui.

Leonel de Jesus, O Rapaz do Chapéu