Interview - La Crus: our first album I think is still ahead

In 1995, the Crus brought to light a work destined to leave a profound mark in Italian music.

Their homonymous debut was not only a disc, but a poetic manifesto, an intertwining of rarefied songs and loaded with pathos, capable of evoking a world made of metropolitan disturbances, fragile loves and twilight visions.
An album that, between awards and applause, traced the path of a unique band, suspended between the most refined songwriting and the enveloping sound of electronics.

Today, almost thirty years later, Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi and Cesare Malfatti brought that sound universe on stage, closing in Milan (March 27) a journey that retraced the soul of a legendary debut.

A last act of an intimate and powerful tour, a return to the heart of those songs that still vibrate with emotion and memory. Of this, and much more, we talked about it with Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi.

La-Crus-Cover-1995

The interview

After the first concerts, what were the public feedback?

They were very positive, I have to say. I didn't expect such a warm answer from the first date. The fact that we are on stage, with the addition of Gianni to the trumpet, has brought a new balance. Listening to the album, which I have not felt for at least ten years, I understood how fundamental the trumpet was for this music. In the previous tour we had replaced those parts with vocal lines, but in this case the sound of the trumpet was essential.

After thirty years, do you think that disc was ahead for the time? Or is it still ahead today?

I shouldn't say it, but I think it's still ahead. It was an experimental disc, different from everything we did later. “Inside me” is a middle ground between that disc and “behind the curve of the heart”, but the first remains the most radical.

We used Einstürzende NEUBAUTEN, Young Gods, COP Shoot Cop samples, with a method similar to hip-hop, but instead of black champions we have explored more industrial territories. The result is a cross between electronics and author song that we had never reproduced with the same radicality.

How is the live yield of this repertoire?

We tried to respect the rigidity of that disc, but without making a philological re -proposal.
We found the original champions, the sequences, but with a new energy. The audience perceived him and he repaid us with incredible affection. One of our historic fans, who saw over twenty concerts of La Crus, told us that this is the best of all. For us it is a strong signal.

Will the ladder faithfully follow the album or will there be variations?

We will play the disc in full, from the first to the last song. Then we will do a piece or two from any other album, up to the most recent works. It is not a nostalgia operation, but a way to give continuity to our path.

The last time we felt, the album had just come out. What has changed since then?

We did many live and the enthusiasm has grown. However, at this moment, I am focused on my solo album, which has already finished before the La Crus disc.
With La Crus there are still three or four interesting pieces, but there is no material for a new disc. We should start working on it, but for now the priority is my project.

What did you perceive from the public on this return on stage?

An immense affection. I didn't expect such a strong, almost staggering answer. This confirms that we have walked well. Many historical fans have returned, but there is also a new, younger audience, who has discovered us perhaps thanks to my participation in Sanremo. This is significant.

Outside your musical world, is there something new that excites you?

In the last two years I have listened less for various reasons. When I was artistic director of the “My generation” festival, I actively looking for emerging artists. I was struck by Lucio Corsi, Emma Nolde, Whitemyry. Madame is another that I find very interesting. I was also struck by Santoianni who won the De André prize last year. I liked it very much, even more than on a record.
Today I follow less, but I always try to maintain a careful eye on those who bring something original.

What struck you most in the last Sanremo Festival?

I followed little, but the version of “La Cura” made by Simone Cristicchi excited me. It will be that it is one of the most beautiful songs of Italian music, but I think they have made an intense interpretation. The rest, honestly, left me less impressed.

The ladder

In these concerts, in the first part of the show they will present in full and in rigorous order, the ladder of their first album “La Crus” to recall the dazzling and avant -garde atmospheres of that iconic work, with the formation with which they have trod the stages of their last tour: Joe / Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi (voice and harmonica), Cesare Malfatti (guitars and champions), Chiara Castello (Tastiere e choirs), Marco Carusino (bass and choirs), Leziero Rescigno (drums).

The second part will be reserved for some of their great classics, as well as some songs taken from the last album “Protect me from what I want”, Released on March 22nd.

Still life
Wine
White nights
Black lady
Angela
Just a dream
The carousel
Stone hole
Distant
Where God is over
Tarab
You will see
I start again from here

Encore:
Inside me
Like every time
The man you don't have
Remember
(Ennio Morricone Cover)
Like a cloud
Eat Dormi works repeat
Protect me from what I want
Mentions
I confess