After the release of the official music video for “La dura vita delle rockstar”, The Bordello Rock 'n' Roll Band is back with a free digital 45 download: “La dura vita delle rockstar” / “Come Fred”.
“Born as a 50s/60s cover band, an era in which singles had much more value than albums, we decided it was logical for us to release a 45, as was appropriate at the time. So, two songs: an A-side, which should represent the flagship song of the operation, and a B-side that, in the future, hopefully, can become a treat for fans, as has already happened with a myriad of songs by bands such as the Beatles, who deeply inspire us”.
The idea also comes from the de-evolution that, especially thanks to the internet, the music market is undergoing, less and less attentive to complex works, in favor of hit-and-run songs to be inserted, often without any real sense, into playlists that do not do justice to works of a broader scope.
“In recent years we have suffered a withering of the enthusiasm with which, before the spread of the internet, we searched for music, in an active way: we have everything at our fingertips, with Spotify playlists; we have transformed ourselves into passive listeners, a bit like what happened with jukebox singles in the 50's/60's, but now in a massive way. We have put aside the revolution of “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, when the Beatles imposed themselves on the market (mainly in the US) so that their album was not dismembered (so much so that they chose not to publish any of the songs as singles), but was offered to the public as it was, from the first to the last song”.
And, just like the physical 45s, made up of two different covers, for side A and side B, “La dura vita delle rockstar” / “Come Fred” also comes with double graphics, by Charlie Comics (the stage name of the illustrator Carlo Casaburi), a former collaborator of the site Cartoon Movement and active on SputnInk, a collective of cartoonists he leads together with Riccardo Marinucci (aka VignettaRu) and Virginia Cabras (aka Alagon).
THE SONGS
“La dura vita delle rockstar” and “Come Fred”, although they start from the same background, are two dissimilar songs: the first is a cheeky garage punk a la Strokes; the second is a song more tied to the rock 'n' roll and 'n' b tradition of the 60's, with an eye on Motown productions, but taken to the extreme in its executive ferocity, as per the Who school.
Screaming vocals, schizophrenic guitars, distorted bass and pounding drums are the trademark of Mr. B. Sapphire (vocals and guitar), Mr. Spritz (bass and vocals) and Mr. Dreher (drums and vocals).
“The two songs have in common a rowdy, sarcastic narration, in which we mix Italian and our Cilento dialect, without taking ourselves too seriously. In “La dura vita delle rockstar” (sung by all three) we joke about the difficulties emerging bands have in managing to organize a concert, between long trips, with cars loaded with all the equipment, up to the usual squabbles with the managers of the venues about the price to be agreed. “Come Fred”, on the other hand, was created specifically to participate in the contest “Sotto il cielo di Fred”, dedicated to Fred Buscaglione; and, like the contest, the song is also dedicated to him: in the song we retrace our imaginary participation in the contest, with an unfortunate ending, due to drinking too much Barbera”.
Article published on May 5, 2020 - 15:52 pm
