February is considered the month of month of love with Valentine's Day popping up on the 14th, just in case you needed reminding while it is being rammed down your throats. This year though, to honour St Valentine we are heading to his homeland to bring you our Band of the Month, Belladonna.
The female fronted band are no strangers to us here at R13 and with their 4th studio album, Shooting Dice With God, being released in the UK via Cargo on the 4th of February, they should be no strangers to you too.
Thankfully you don't have to travel all the way to Italy to see them live, although it would be worth the trip, as they are heading to London on 26th February to play a special album launch show.
Bio:
We've worked independently since our first album Metaphysical Attraction, and it has allowed us to retain artistic freedom and integrity. Despite being independent, we have achieved more than we would have ever dreamed possible along the way: 2 Grammy Awards Ballot Nominations in 2008, support to Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Mars Volta, Staind and Korn and collaborations with the likes of composer Michael Nyman (who played piano on our co-written track) and producer Sylvia Massy (Tool). We have also played at the London Erotica exhibition with Dita Von Teese. True to our Italian roots we now have also started producing our own wine!
Members:
Luana Caraffa - vocals
Dani Macchi - guitar
Valentina De Iullis - piano
Taya Angelini - Bass
Mattia Mari - drums
Influences:
We actively try to avoid being overly influenced by the music we love. Our most consistent and strongest source of inspiration therefore mainly comes from other fields of creativity, such as literature, philosophy, movies. Here's a short list of artists we deeply love: Edgar A. Poe, Philip K. Dick, Led Zeppelin, Charles Baudelaire, Black Sabbath, Federico Fellini, Michael Nyman, Roman Polanski, William Blake, Karl Popper, Caravaggio, Fleetwood Mac, Lisa Dal Bello, Fedor Dostoevskij.
Sounds Like:
In our heads it's halfway between early Blue Oyster Cult and Kate Bush, with Sophia Loren on vocals. But it probably sounds very different from that in everyone else's heads!
Current release and where it's available:
The album Shooting Dice With God, out in the UK on the 4th of February, distributed by Cargo.
Up and coming artists you would recommend:
UK sultry soul singer Alex Hepburn, a real star that has not yet received the recognition she deserves in her homeland. Wendy McNeill, a fantastic musician, singer and songwriter from Canada, and The Seraphim Rising, a great Californian group, one of several from all over the world that were inspired by our band to define their music Rock Noir - a true honour for us.
Future Plans:
We're very much looking forward to come back to play in the UK - on the 26th of February at The Borderline in London! We're also currently writing many new songs for our next release and we've also just started working on a very special movie project.
Tour Dates:
26th of February, London, The Borderline
If you were the prime minister for one day, what would you do?
We'd pass a bill that would make all advertising illegal. It would set us all free from everything that is wrong about Capitalism and establish total meritocracy in one simple, easy stroke.
If you could go back to any time in history, where would you go and why:
Probably the most sensible thing to do would be to go to Vienna in 1909, track the 20-years-old Hitler down and shoot him. We don't think we need to explain why.
Is there anything you would like to say to our readers:
We usually say whatever we want to say through our songs - but we're always very happy to receive emails and questions from our followers and we always, always write back personally to everyone, so yes, feel free to contact us via our Facebook (link below) or via email at info@belladonna.tv
Links:
Official Website.
Facebook.
Twitter.
Soundcloud.
Wikipedia.