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Q: In brief…who is Diablo? A: I can’t tell you exactly who Diablo is. Diablo is the person the others see. Instead I can tell you more or less precisely who Alessandro is. I am a man who chose to face a life path where music is the centerpiece. I am a man who chose to follow his own vocation at any cost, at any risk and relying on his own deepest and simplest vibrations. Q: How and when did you start to sing? A muse? A: I started to sing in the car with my mother. We didn’t have the auto radio and when she brought me to kindergarten (and then to school) she sang all the way. I joined her really soon. At the age of 4 or 5 I learnt many songs I had never listened to the original by heart! Q: Before “Siki” you played in “Cani da rapina”, how did your style change? A: Obviously it changed a lot. It was almost 15 years ago. There were a number of experiences, lot of satisfactions but also lot of delusions. Stylistically there was a strong growth, the acquisition of a more conscious writing and the capability to manage my own energies according to the limits of my talent. But what I love the most is to notice not what changed but what is still the same: the attitude, the inclination and the will. Q: You have to parallel project: Sikitikis and Brain Department, both started in the same period,(2000). Who decided to split the two things? A: The two projects start simultaneously but both under the name Sikitikis. Only in 2008 the two activities of sound dubbing and “pop” writing were split in two different frames. This was useful to create an order in our work. With time Brain Dept. will become a more independent organism, till it will have a completely different management from Sikitikis. This because the two things refer to and compete with markets and audiences more and more different. Q: Was the passion for sound-tracks something you had already in common o was one of you to push the others on that direction? A: The most fanatic on this topic is Jimi (bassist). He involed me when we were still playing in Cani Da Rapina. Enrico and Daniele (keyborder and drummer), immediately proved to be very receptive on the topic. As for the rest, it was enough to start playing that marvel and everything came by itself. Q: How would you describe the style of the Brain Dept. projects? The imagery is usually retro (movies, dialogues), does the sound fight back them? Musically speaking, what do you want to convey? A: With Brain Dept. we sound dub anything. From movie images to words taken from stories or novels, from monuments to paintings to pictures and everything is worth it to describe through music. The attempt is that of create an iper-text which waves together with the material to be sound dubbed in order to create new texture and new material. Music can chance one’s humor and perception. Through sound dubbing we try to interpret, translate and return the humor. Q: Your cover of “Un cuore matto” is in the sound-track of the movie “ Cosmonauta”(2009), which is the movie the director Susanna Nicchiarelli debut with. Did Max Casacci (Casasonica/Subsonica) get in touch with you? Who chose the song? What do you think about the finished work? A: We have co-operated with Casasonica since 2004. My friendship with Max Casacci is more than ten years old. The Fandango (the movie studio) contacted Casasonica to produce the movie sound-track. The director decided the outline that had to be followed and chose the songs. We were asked to arrange the original version of Cuore Matto, sung by Little Tony. We tried to give it an epic atmosphere, in Ennio Morricone style. They really liked the experiment and the final result is one of our most successful cover. Q: Let’s go back to Siki, do you write the lyrics? The title of your new album is Dischi Fuori Moda – Out of Fashion Disks, why this name? How would you describe this album referring to its content in comparison with “B”? Was there a growth, a need to express something else? A: Yes, I write the lyrics. Dischi Fuori Moda is a fragment of a verse of one of the pieces of the album. We thought it sounded good, it could represent the “colour” of the disk. There was obviously a growth, because of the age and the experiences. “B” is an album which described different things, or better, it described things in a different way. Dischi Fuori Moda was conceived in an opposite mood, lighter, free, where there is disillusion but it is hidden by a positive irony. In other words it is an album we wrote smiling to make people smile. A: Never. I think to sing, and more, to write in English one must be English, American or Indian. Or, at least, one must have lived in one of these places for a long time. Using a language is something delicate, important. You can listen to certain Sardinian or Italian bands singing in an embarrassing english…I often ask myself what they actually want to convey… Q: Besides Sikitikis and Brain Department you organized a “Golpe” – “coup” – every Friday at FBI (a nightclub in Cagliari) Does the project end? What kind of scene do you want to create? Which musical genre? A: Golpe is not at an end. There will be, it enjoys us, and it will evolve. Golpe doesn’t creat a scene but it makes it compact. The scene already exists, this is shown by the more of 800 people per night who are protagonist of Cagliari new nightlife. No musical genre, everything is ok. This is our motto. The Cagliari, the Sardinia of Golpe is the one in direct contact with Europe. When you are at Golpe, the feeling is that of being anywhere. This gives a huge sense of freedom. Q: Dj or singer? Which one gives you the strongest feelings? A: There is no challenge: Singer. But better: Autor. Q: Professionally, how do you see your future? With Siki?... other projects? Secret dream? A: I have plenty of dream. Bringing Siki to an high level is one of them. I have other project in mind, but is not yet the time to speak about them. A big secret dream is that of recording the sound-track for an important director, nominated for the Oscar. Q: Radio Press, another project, do you have any limits in the musical choice? A: As I said, no limits. My parameter as a radio artistic director is not to choose what I like, but what I think deserve our audience’s judgment. Q: What do you think about Cagliari music scene? (live music)? A: I think it’s healthy. In Cagliari we produce quality music. The local audience follows satisfactorily live performances, is selective. In Cagliari only who deserves gets something. Q: The best clubs to listen to and dance live music in Cagliari? A: Historically, in Cagliari there are not a lot of places for live music, because of problem with the neighbours or inadeguate technical equipment. In this moment there’s almost nothing. Some places like Caracol, Fabrik and few more are trying to keep it alive. The better equiped club is FBI, but has been a long time it hasn’t try to satisfy different kind of customers. Probably things will change. Q: What kind of music do you listen to at the moment? A: At the moment I listen to different things. For example, I’m checking the new Angolan electronic scene. African producers work hard on rhythm using raggamuffin stylistic matrix. I’m also listening to the last album of Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti, I really like Davide Toffolo’s lyrics. Web page: http://www.sikitikis.com