INTERVIEW MONSTRE : BACKDOOR SOCIETY : "We tried to get inspiration strictly from the musical scene, obviously trying to add our own touch"

 

Un groupe italien fan de nederbeat, la formule peut sembler étrange. Cependant, les Backdoor Society passent l'épreuve avec talent, proposant en fait leur propre version d'un rock'n'roll  intemporel et sans frontière. Enchantés par leur dernier single, nous avons pris contact avec eux pour leur proposer de répondre à nos questions. Ils ont gentiment accepté. Merci à eux !

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Taste question: Which artists have influenced you the most, and what examples can you give us? Who is the artist you least like and why will he/she never influence you? 

As we’ve always been playing “Nederbiet/R&B, it’s obvious that our main influences come from the sixties Dutch beat scene, represented by bands like the Outsiders and Q65, but also from the sixties English R&B scene like the Pretty Things and the early Stones, and others. Actually we are especially attracted to bands who released only a bunch of 7’’ and nothing more and then vanished into thin air. For our first record, we recorded three covers by Dutch Beat unknown bands like Dukes, Insect and Bumble Bees, that you won’t ever see in the Top of the Pops charts.
We absolutely don’t like progressive rock bands because of the boundless length of their songs. Why write a 10 minute song when you can condense the message in 2-3 minutes?

 

 

Intellectual question: Which 'non-musical artist (filmmaker, writer, painter...) played an important role in the way the band evolved… 

No one in particular. We tried to get inspiration strictly from the musical scene, obviously trying to add our own touch. I’ll tell you a secret, many of our songs are nothing more than a distortion of still existing songs. I am a mediocre guitarist and when I listen to a song I like, I try to play it on guitar, coming up inevitably with something different from the original, and the deed is done! That’s how Backdoor Society’s new tunes are born.
 

History question: Can you sum up the story of your group?

The Backdoor Society was formed in 2017. Before the BS, Simone, Andrea and I had a band called the Rookies. We passed through and revisited lots of the Garage phases: at the beginning we played Folk Punk, then Psychedelia, Freakbeat, Nederbeat and in the end kind of Garage Psych like the Mystic Tide. With 20 years of activity, a couple of LPs and two 45s done, the Rookies came to an end. After a few months of pause, we decided to start over again with a new name and a brand new bass player, Denis, the owner of a recording studio. Since then we’ve made several tours in Italy and across Europe, played important festivals like Festival Beat and Berlin Beat, and recorded two albums and three 7-inch, one of them just being released. We also played in the soundtrack of an American movie titled “Portrait of a Rocker”, with the song “Better than me” from our first LP. Unfortunately it was released during the pandemic and didn’t have a good distribution. A pity because by now we could have been famous in Hollywood! Haha !

 

 

 

Champollion question: What is the meaning of the band's name?

When we started with this new project, we were looking for a name that represented who we are. Among the many proposals, one in particular comes to mind, “Groep 67,” the idea being that since we mostly did “Nederbiet” a Dutch name would have been perfect but because of the ambiguous pronunciation and a few other considerations, we decided to opt for another solution. Considering we’ve always proposed a kind of music that is very underground and unknown to the general public, the Backdoor Society seemed the perfect name to represent our musical concept. The Backdoor Society was also the name of a little known band from Ohio in the Sixties whose song “I’m the kind” was covered by our first band, The Rookies.
It all made sense!

 

 

Buddy question: Who has helped you most in your band's adventure and without whom you wouldn't have had the same evolution?

A few months into our new adventure we recorded a demo that we sent to close friends and a few studios for their opinion. Lenny Helsing of The Thanes, a longtime friend and author of the liner notes of our first LP, offered to help us and eventually we found the American label Hidden Volume Records that in fact released our first 45. We should also mention Tiziano and Jacopo of our label Area Pirata, who had faith in us from the beginning and released two Lp’s and our latest 7-inch.
 

Question Happy Few: What's the biggest benefit you've derived from your band, and can you tell us about it?

Mainly everything that comes from the concert scene: meeting people who share our same passions and sometimes even becoming more than just friends: our bass player actually met his partner at one of our first live shows!

 

 

 Art question: What book, film, record and current band made you flash? 

Giovanni:
Book: Acid archives
Movie: The warriors (1979), but also and above all everything done by Hitchcock.
LP: Optic Nerve - On

Simone:
Book: Celine – Voyage au bout de la nuit
Movie: The Italian Cicciolina and Moana mondiali
LP: Cut Worms – Nobody lives here anymore

Andrea:
Book: I giorni di vetro (The days of Glass, Nicoletta Verna)
Movie: Fallen leaves (Kaurismaki)
LP: Vampire Weekend – Modern vampires of the city

Denis:
Book: The second coming (Niven)
Movie: Mulholland Drive
LP: Baby Jesus – Words of hate

 

Camembert question: What's France to you, apart from the land of wine and cheese? (you're allowed to Google it, the theme is rock and underground culture).

Genghini, Giresse, Tigana and of course Platini, one of the strongest midfielders in the history of soccer!
 

Sponsorship question: Who can you sponsor for Les Monstres Sacrés, and how can you convince us to talk about them?

The folks at Area Pirata sent us the link to your site, after it was included in the weekly list of best releases with the 45 ‘'Backdoor city blues/I won't love you.’’

 

 

 

Patriotic question: Make the list (between 5 & 10) of the top records made par artists of our country. 

To keep it simple, here are some artists from the 1960s:
Antoine rencontre Les Problemes LP
Les Fleur Du Pavot LP
Les 5 Gentlemen – Dis Nous Dylan/Si tu reviens chez moi
Ronnie Bird – Chante EP

 

 

Michel Polnareff – Ame Caline EP
Serge Gainsbourg – Qui est in, qui est out EP
Noël Deschamps – Pour le pied 45
Bowlers – Il est trop tard EP
 

Patriotic question 2 : Make the list (between 5 & 10) of the top records made by artists of your country. 

Again, keeping to only records made in the 1960’s:
Planets LP
New Dada – I’ll go crazy LP
Pooh – Per quelli come noi LP
Nico – Segui la fila/La mia testa 45
Kings – Trovane un altro 45
Kolmans – All’improvviso/Ballata di un giorno 45
Delfini di Siena – L’ora della verità 45
Ranger Sound – Ricordarmi 45

 

 

Ragazzi del sole – Atto di forza numero 10
 

Merci Backdoor Society !