Interview withSimone Salvatori (vocals) from Spiritual Front, Lust Syndicate
Simone Salvatori, the singer and composer for SPIRITUAL FRONT and LUST SYNDICATE, is indeed a daring and creative individual. His talent ranges from creating sensual, moving ballads to political manifestos and he himself plays the role of a bard, skilled actor, showman and lyrical intellectual. I had a chance to talk to Simone about his new album, the ways his artistic expression represents in his both projects and about artistic freedom.
Reflections of Darkness RoD: : What do you think it takes to move people’s minds, hearts and imagination these days? Do you feel an artist needs to provoke, send a very strong message to reach the audience? Do you find it’s harder to reach the listeners now than, say, 10 years ago?
Simone: Unfortunately we are living in an era where everything appears and dies quickly, nothing remains, everything must be consumed and abused. Artists have to follow this death race, release more stuff as possible: songs, pics, statements, most of them forced themselves to be more politically correct as possible, scared to lose some views or fb friends and all this bullshits. We have our loyal fans and supporters, I don’t give a shit to collect as many fans as possible on IG or being hype according to the mainstream. We keep doing our music. We don’t care about numbers, we care about quality and our fans. True stuff lives, those fake wankers will be wiped out, maybe they’ll collect more money, but who cares about stinky money? Gained easily, gone easily.
RoD: SPIRITUAL FRONT is described as Neo-Folk, Suicide Nihilistic Pop - I guess you evolve as men and as artists so I‘m wondering if you would still use that term to describe your music? Or do you fell your music changed the vibe?
Simone: Never considered myself Neo-Folk. I don’t know who did it. But it’s not correct. FORSETI in Neo-Folk, DARKWOOD is Neo-Folk, not SPIRITUAL FRONT. We did some darker stuff at the very beginning, but never thought… Ok, we are Neo-Folk, we don’t sing about runes or forest or pagan myth, to me that’s Neo-Folk, I like it. But we are not Neo-Folk. Suicide Pop fits better.
RoD: Your last album, ‘Amour Braque’, was released two years ago - it was filled with stylish, rich compositions that created the atmosphere that I personally strongly associate with SPIRITUAL FRONT style. Now, as I understand, there is a new album to be released. You mentioned it would be, I quote, “a double album with many THE SMITHS classics re-arranged by your fav Suicide Pop band plus a lot of alternative and unique versions.” Could you please tell me more about it?
Simone: It started as a sort of pastime, we are all fans of THE SMITHS, we started to play some gigs around, then we decided to record some tracks, but from there and on… the thing grew. We did a double album with a lot of material, with many guests. Well, it’s a break, but we wanted to do that. Probably it will be released together with the reissue of ‘Rotten Roma casino’.
RoD: Your art is a lot about love and human nature. What does love mean to you, how do you find a way to represent it in your music?
Simone: I love to sing about the things I feel, maybe it represents what other thousands of people feel too. It’s something close to the bone, real. There’s no point to talk about further things, what’s the point? It would be senseless, fake, it’s not my cup of tea. To me, playing music is the best way to express and free yourself, like a cure. It creates bonds between people, between souls.
RoD: Sex seems to be as easy obtainable as fast food these days and it sells well, yet it still arises controversy, provokes. Why do you think that is? How do you employ erotic element in your art?
Simone: Sex is over exposed, there’s a sort of sexual anorexia around, people prefer porn to real contacts, it became merchandise, it became sterile goods, everything is drastically exposed and degraded, relations are just based on fast and selfish satisfaction. No curiosity, no intensity. Everything must be quick: purchase, food, beverage, relations, friendship, sexuality; no time or space to go deeper. This is our time. That’s it. We prefer to live it intensely, without labels or constrictions. It comes from there, from the bottom of our hearts, from the depths of our bodies.
RoD: What is the place of art in the current world? To what extent you yourselves are influenced by art in your artistic creativity and what influences you the most?
Simone: Things changed, or better, someone decided it must be changed. I’ m still a big fan of cinema, expect the low quality commercial cinema, it still represents an intense look over people life, over people feelings and more. Some movies still give the chance to reflect and see.
RoD: You recently mentioned at your Facebook profile there are some concerts in planning? Are you looking forward to resume live concerts again? What was the lockdown experience for you personally?
Simone: ...many gigs have been postponed, seems that they are going to be rescheduled next years (some, apparently even before 2021). During the lockdown, except gigs, and other activities I have, I worked; my job is taking care of corpses, so, I had a lot of things to do! But I had to spend time at home too, like everybody else around. I finished the lust syndicate second album and I started another special project, which is available on tape soon, all about the world of morgue, a sort of soundtracks for obituaries.
RoD: Tell me more about your live shows - what are they for you? When I saw your concert it was like a secret, intimate conversation with your listeners, a poetic meeting and at the same time a powerful sonic experience. What are the emotions you want to evoke in your listeners? What is the effect you aim at?
Simone: If you come to our gigs it means you love the band, we have a deep and loyal relations with our fans, it’s a vibe you can feel, we play music to connect our hearts with fans’ hearts, no chance for posers or soulless people. It’s something about love and passion. No hype, no trendy shit.
RoD: Do you, as artists, feel free in your creative expression? What are the reactions you receive from your audience? Do you pay attention to the feedback you receive?
Simone: Well, as all artists we pay attention to the feedback; some critics make you happy, some make you feel depressed, but I know I do something personal, something true, I keep doing my thing, being out of the trends makes me feel better and more independent. I know those who follow us are on the same redline, but I’m totally into advice, suggestions and so on. It’s important to listen to what you supporters say, what the more experienced artists suggested you, otherwise, you wouldn’t grow, you wouldn’t improve.
RoD: Criticizing reality in art - do you feel it makes sense at all? Is the voice of artists heard?
Simone: It depends how do you express it. When, who’s your “promoter” and who is your audience. There are a lot of big artists who criticize reality from one point of view, designed for fans who have one point of view, published on platforms with one point of view. That’s the game. Every day you read interviews with the same boring, standard statements about hunger, immigrants, misery and blab la… but things don’t change, because no one is interested in changing things, because they don’t know where to start, they don’t know the problem, it’s just empty talk, it goes nowhere, but people love to clear their conscience, feeling OK with themselves. That’s why you hear all the stuff about racism, peace bla bla, a lot of good words, many promises… and then?
RoD: Why did you decide to start your other project LUST SYNDICATE? In what way your activity in the said project differs from the one in SPIRITUAL FRONT? It’s seems it’s far more politically or ideologically engaged?
Simone: It is. With SPIRITUAL FRONT I focused on myself, with the lust I focused on the world out there. I don’t know if it’s ideologically engaged, I just tried to express my point of view on some cruel mechanisms that run our lives, focused on the new wave of capitalism, European community, new enslavement etc.
RoD: Do you think art should always be personal? Is it personal for you?
Simone: Definitely personal, glad if someone else feels the same.
RoD: What is it that matters for you apart from music?
Simone: All my life is related to music, this way or another. Well, love, friendship and death…
RoD: Aside from the new album - what can we expect from you?
Simone: I’ll try to be around with SPIRITUAL FRONT, the LUST SYNDICATE and why not with the new project MORGUE ENSAMBLE.
RoD: Thank you for your time.
Simone: Thank you for supporting the front and for your time!
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