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| Interview by Burt Wolf with Vlad, the singer of Stigma! Interview done on April 2, 2004 through email. |
| STIGMA IS A FAIRLY NEW BAND IN THE UNDERGROUND SCENE, BUT CAN YOU GIVE A BIT OF THE BANDS HISTORY? Yes...STIGMA was born in the year 2000 as a Hardcore old school band with a strong attitude, but a feeble devotion! So after a temporary split up in the summer 2002 STIGMA came back with a new line up & after 10 months of song composing we recorded our first MCD "Metamorphosis" that made us sign with HARDEBARAN AGENCY (Belgium) and with NOCTURNAL BRIGHTS RECORDS (Italy) for the release of an upcoming full length. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE OTHER BANDS YOU GUYS WERE IN? Myself & the guitar player Morgan were in STIGMA since day one, the bass player Magna came from a great local Grindcore band called GRIND CORPSES & the drummer Stefano is at the first experience in a band. WHO OR WHAT HAS INFLUENCED YOU IN CREATING YOUR STYLE & SOUND? We came from different music styles...I listen to a lot of Hardcore & Death Metal (Swedish & brutal), Morgan listens to Thrash Metal, Magna to Grind & Death & Stefano also has a strong Hardcore background. So a clear Death metal die spaced with some cruel Grind parts, Thrash riffing & a few ground shaking breaks straight from STIGMA's Hardcore background...so that's it!!! WHY WAS THE NAME STIGMA CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? We like the ancient feels you experience listening to that name...it made me feel something very dark & claustrophobic. We're very proud of this name. |
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| YOU GUYS WON TWO REGIONAL CONTESTS IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE BAND. PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THOSE? Oh! They were two small contests for bands in the high school ages! There were lots of Rock & Ska bands...we won because STIGMA's live exhibition are done in a Hardcore way...you know...sweat, walls of Death & head banging! People enjoy that stuff and we are very honored of the feeling we taste during our shows! HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE SOUND & STYLE OF STIGMA? We like to describe it as "fast and furious" Deathcore with Thrash riffing, Grind |
| violence & Hardcore attitude!!! YOU GUYS HAVE A GOOD BLEND OF HARDCORE & DEATH METAL MUSIC. WHICH STYLE DO YOU FEEL YOU FIT IN MORE WITH OR IS IT A BALANCE OF BOTH? I think they're balanced...they're the most important elements of our music...everything starts from those two points...but they have the same importance. WHY DID YOU POSTPONE FROM DOING ANY LIVE SHOWS FOR 10 MONTHS? Because we wanted to have a complete set list before starting any live shows. Too many young bands jump on stage with one cover & a song with the same riffing pretending to entertain people! We wanted to work thinking about our songs & testing every aspect of them...last year people didn't remember of a band called STIGMA & so we had all the time we wanted to create. WHERE DID YOU RECORD YOUR CD "METAMORPHOSIS & WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO DO IT SO FAR (800 KM) FROM YOUR HOME? We recorded "Metamorphosis" in the opposite part of Northern Italy. I met our sound technician Gaetano Dimita during a holiday & I immediately felt that he was the right one for us! Extremely professional, but very funny & in love with our music. he became a member of the band & we worked hard for two months to reach the "Metamorphosis"! |
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| "METAMORPHOSIS" HAS BEEN OUT FOR A LITTLE WHILE NOW. HOW HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN SO FAR FOR IT? Very good! We were very proud of our MCD, but we couldn't immagine that also webzines & radios could be so...we had an average rate of 8/10 in the reviews & we're in the play list of 3 European radio stations & also one from the U.S.A. CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE COVER ARTWORK? I wanted to explain the feeling of "Metamorphosis" also using very dark immages so I created the artwork taking away the band name & title from the front cover. Then I choose the digipack format because we wanted to |
| transmit a professional idea of working & I put inside a sticker with the band name & contacts plus a booklet with lyrics & photos! Ah! The man in the cover was my desk companion at the high school! |