Keyboards and special effects
Guitars
Drums
In the distant year 2000, xeno began his project "Primordial Soup," a concept devoted to the birth of the universe and, later, of life on this planet. After 3 years of studying the subject in many scientific texts and a period of planning the work to be carried out, he entered the recording studio and eventually completed the first CD, "Primordial Soup," published and distributed by Ma.Ra.Cash in 2004
The CD was received favorably by critics, almost enthusiastically; proof of this can be found in the various reviews on the site, and in any case within the space & electronic field it remains an extremely particular product, influenced in many ways while still maintaining a very precise and well-defined identity.
Meanwhile the project continued, as it is a concept spread over several CDs, and between 2004 and 2005 the second work, "Signals of Life," began to take shape, immediately followed by "Hot Blood" and "Of the Body and the Spirit," the latter still in progress.
The release of "Signals of Life," originally planned for 2005/2006, was deliberately postponed by xeno himself so that the album could be rerecorded by Ross54 and released under the band’s name.
As with all the other works that will follow. You will then understand why.
In 2005, after seeing that the work done up to that point could have further development, I decided to found a band that would support me during live performances, or at least that was the original idea. So I got in touch with some dear musician friends and explained to them what the path would be to perform the project in a live situation, and thus I founded Ross54.
Initially the lineup was not the current one but included two more members than today, due to the complexity of the sounds and instrumental parts. It did not work out, and we therefore lost two members. For a short time I remained uncertain whether to continue with the band or not, then I decided that as far as I was concerned music must be played live, because only by playing it with a real band could it have that sonic impact and that effect which, in my opinion, were missing.
So I decided that the band would continue, and I agreed with my friends to keep the project in its original form, namely me as the artist and them as the accompanying band. Then I realized that this was not what I truly wanted, (to be honest I realized it almost immediately) and I became part of the band.
The question naturally arises: Why? First of all, the people I play with are truly friends with a capital F, and then I hate sitting at a table alone. Playing for me is like feasting: what pleasure can there be in being in front of a set table without sharing the food with someone?
Rehearsals begin (October 2005). The human and musical chemistry gave me excellent vibrations from the start, but something was not right and I could not understand what. It seemed to me that although the performances were good from the beginning, the right spirit was missing, or at least an understanding of what was being played. I repeatedly asked all the band members to read the written materials and interpret the moods that led me to compose the music. (I earned the nickname "the hammer" for this persistence, but it was worth it.) After they understood the true essence of the songs, the light finally came.
Reconciling one’s musical background with something that in some respects may be alien is, I believe, the hardest thing a musician can do. It is true that among us there is great respect, great esteem, and above all great friendship, which helped greatly in creating a work so different from what they were used to doing before. For me, who am the creator or, if you prefer, the mind behind this musical project, it is natural to deal with this genre; for them it was harder to let go and absorb something so far from their own nature. But thanks to the elements I mentioned earlier, which should also be combined with the undisputed technical ability and versatility of each of them, we succeeded in obtaining the sound we had set out to create, with that emotional and communicative charge that so many times in my dreams as a musician I had hoped to achieve.
In 2006, continuing to rehearse in order to refine our style as much as possible, we realized from listening to the rehearsal recordings that we were doing good work. At the same time we came into contact with Anacondia and thanks to them we obtained our first live date. Great excitement and a strong desire to make a good impression pushed us to work hard and prepare a selection of songs to present that evening, including two unreleased tracks, one composed by me and one, believe it or not, composed by Ross, which made me understand even more how much we are tuned to the same frequency. For the occasion I prepared a multimedia support that would guide the audience through our journey through space and time, and we learned to play synchronized with the footage, trying to communicate the various stages of the journey through music. I proposed making a DVD of the concert, and they called me crazy because it was the first one we had done; I replied that if something had gone wrong we could always pretend nothing had happened and keep it for ourselves.
The concert was a success despite the small audience; part of the DVD can be found in the multimedia section of the site.
The result of the evening was extremely positive for us, not only because of the success achieved but also because there was an increase in the people involved in this project and interested in carrying it forward.
Permanent staff now includes sound and lighting technician Alessandro Gasparini as stage setup manager, manager Diego Colombo as head of external contacts, promotion and press office, and graphic designer Ida Trimboli, who created the logo.
I have to say that the rehearsals, the work, and the determination shown by all of us in trying to improve ourselves led to a result that, from an artistic point of view, I would personally describe as good, although still open to improvement. It also brought improvements in us, or at least in me, who today feels part of a group of people who are good together and who together are walking a difficult path, extremely steep and full of obstacles. As we all know, unfortunately in Italy it is difficult to propose something innovative and outside commercial schemes; it is hard to find spaces to perform, hard to present one’s own compositions, and even harder to communicate one’s emotions using music as a vehicle. My luck was finding people who, together with me, decided to share this journey, combining their expressive ability to refine a sound that is only ours and that became the sum of our personalities, as if we were a single being.
This feeling, which I personally find beautiful, manifests itself clearly in the communication with the audience. It is true that we have only done one concert so far, but the sensations we had on stage were very strong: there was a great deal of attention and involvement from the listeners. The participation in our creative effort was so strong that it could almost be touched, and for an instant I felt many hands and many thoughts brushing against me. An indescribable and priceless sensation. We hope to repeat such an engaging experience soon; we are all motivated to keep going and improve.
In 2009, the band’s first album was recorded with the following lineup:
The album titled FULCRUM is the union of different schools of thought brought by each member of the band, and it takes this title precisely because each style, taste, and composition is the fulcrum of a collective work aimed at creating an album with experimental and unique sounds of its kind. It was the album that gave Ross 54 an unmistakable sonic signature.
At the end of the recordings Vito Scrima decided to take another path and, with complete serenity, left the band.
Several concerts followed, as can be seen on the live page of the site. After some time, precisely in 2012, Adriano Raspo left and Andrea Magni joined in his place, with whom work began on the new album, titled MUTAZIONI, an album in the final stages of recording but already performed several times live, as can again be seen in the live section. Then came the arrival of Monica, who wrote almost all of the lyrics for MUTAZIONI, giving new energy and strength to the band with her great personality and charm.
In mid-2017 Andrea and Monica stepped down, and in their place Terry Lacapra on vocals and Luca Scarpa on bass will join, thus renewing the adventure of Ross 54.
We will certainly begin a new journey and a new album, still different from FULCRUM and MUTAZIONI, an album that marked a turning point in our sound and made us grow a little more both as people and as musicians. Working on MUTAZIONI was extremely rewarding, even though it was very different from FULCRUM. The cyber-electronic, psychedelic, lysergic atmospheres of FULCRUM gave way to more concrete sounds, less experimental but equally psychedelic, tracing a path that from cybernetic madness brought us almost abruptly back to earth, catapulting us into a mutating and changeable sonic reality. Hence the name MUTAZIONI, very different in sound and content from FULCRUM. This album marks a new reference point for the band, a new way of communicating with the audience, no longer only through pure and simple music and the vibrations it created, but also through lyrics, expressions of how much more we still have to give on an emotional level, sometimes cryptic and sometimes not, but always inserted into the exclusive sound that characterizes the band’s nature.
We have moved from the exaggerated use of sequencers to a different music, less cybernetic, less robotic if you will, to more concrete melodies less dictated by technology, which nevertheless remains a cornerstone of our sound. The use of synths is still a distinctive feature, but one that merges with bass and guitar in a more harmonious, less violent and less industrial way.
This is also one of the reasons behind the choice of the name MUTAZIONI; after all, it could not have been otherwise. Lineup changes also bring changes in sound precisely because each person contributes their own being, their own musical taste, inserting their own melodic and harmonic lines into the band context. None of us has ever argued against an idea, but has always tried to add their own contributions until the song is refined according to the collective taste. I find this a splendid way of making music: no limits to creativity, no limits to personal taste, no limits to individual personality, but rather the integration of each person into the collective context.
This album is perhaps a little more mature than the previous one, which I personally still find beautiful and captivating. As time goes by, we are also refining our recording techniques and live performances. Of course, all this is part of a wealth of experience that has formed through spending time together and growing together, a growth that has not yet ended because every day of life is one more brick we add to our experience as human beings as well.
We know each other well, we respect each other, and we care about one another, as if the band were a second family, and that is exactly what drives us to continue in our intent to create music. Above all, we enjoy doing it, and I hope this will carry us forward for a long time to come, helping us grow more and more, and allowing us to give those who listen to us the beautiful emotions and vibrations that we ourselves feel, because the ultimate purpose of all this is not so much the audience’s approval as its involvement in our world.
