SA: We’ll write a bit about you and Larsen. First tell us when and how u met?

FMP: it is not such an interesting story…15 years ago Il Bue, Silvia and I started to put sounds together. Now Bue and I are still here working with Paolo and Roberto, Silvia , on the other side, is not into this anymore

SA: You have released two albums (3 including the collection of previously unreleased tracks Musm, which also features the whole soundtrack for the Windsor McCay short animated films commissioned by the University Of Torino) branded by the weighty productions of Martin Bisi and Michael Gira. With the expectation for yr forthcoming releases comes also the curiosity to know who has produced them...

FMP: We have learned a lot from Martin and Michael so this time we made everything on our own, side by side with our faithful sound engineer Marco Milanesio. We have learned a lot from Martin and Michael. There's lot of people we would like to work with in the future, Ken Thomas is at the top of our list and we will do something together as soon as our schedules will work out. Also for the next album we have worked with some friends like Julia Kent (cello, Antony and the Johnsons, Backworld) and Matt Howden (violin, Sieben, Sol Invictus). They really help our sound to grow richer and we will work together again, both in the studio and on the stage

SA: Swans are a big inspiration to u. How has been to work first with Michael Gira (for "Rever") and then with Jarboe (as documented by the DVD Krzykognia). Is it true that yr realtionship with Michael has been totally "incorporeal"?

FMP: I don't think we have been inspired by them but for sure we always felt them to be close to our attitude even in their route from the first brutal and physical records to their later solemn and introspective stuff. Today Michael is for us, above all, a friend. The Rever sessions with him have been really intense and changed the way we worked in the recording studio forever. That story about the fact that we never met in person is archived on the young god record website, have fun reading it, but now we are interested in other things. The experience with Jarboe, for an album and a 5 weeks tour in US, is made up of highs and lows and we would rather not like to talk about it. U will have the chance to judge the album when we will release it, J. is a great singer and that tour has given us the chance to meet our american audience that we thank for the affection and attention they follow us with

SA: What do u think now of yr debut album No Arms, No Legs: Identification Problems? It sounds "straight in the face ", really direct and violently stunning to me. Rever, on the other side is far more introspective and disturbing ....

FMP: I agree with u. It's a matter of age. No arms arrived at the end of our 20s but now we are older than 35 and we feel no urge to scream anymore

SA: I always thought yr music has great cinematic qualities, that's why i found natural you were working on the soundtrack for Windsor McCay 's movies (the father of the animated movies with "Gertie the dinosaur"). this work has been commissioned to u by the University Of Torino. Please tell us more about this collaboration

FMP: Giaime Alonge of the University of Turin is a great fan of our music, He commissioned us for this work (as he did before with "la guerra e il sogno di momi" , which, unluckily, we didn't record, even if one track , sung by Jarboe, will appear on one of our forthcoming albums). We performed it as a special event for the release of a book about the history of animated movies,after that we have been invited to take part in the In/Off camera movie festivals and later to the international festival of new soundtracks for old silent movies, Harlock, where we won a "Best of Show" award. We really love to compose and arrange soundtrack music, as we also worked recently on some soundscapes for the new art video by Marzia Migliora, and we are looking for more of these kind of jobs.

SA: and now Fabrizio let's talk aboput yr solo stuff: you run the project ( r ) almost an isolationist version of Larsen. Listening to yr Humps" ( which features a transfigured version of Velvet Underground's classic Venus in furs) i thought of Main. Am i wrong...?

FMP: i never thought of my solo stuff in that way, but of course i can't deny the influence of one project on the other. Humps was mainly a compilation of different pieces collected in the years during my time off from Larsen, whereas the next album (which has already been finished but probably won't be released till next year) has its own intentional atmosphere, even because it is both soundtrack and catharsis of a specific period of my life. I'm totally happy with it. in the meantime i started to play some solo gtr shows as Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, i've also released an ep under my real name, and i'd like to experiment more into this area, extending and destructuring the "song" and turning it into an "ambient" form. Basically i'm a depressed one, so this kinda context, i mean "isolazionism", really fit me. Even if in a more relaxed and musical way compared to the rough sound of Humps the forthcoming ( r ) album "Under The Cables, Into The Wind" is lot more extreme in that direction.

SA: Yr interview for the Wire magazine (on the december'03 issue) has expanded yr reputation outside of Italy. I think now you are not known anymore to be a band from italy but just to be "Larsen"....

FMP: the weird thing is that we have never had any problem outside of italy , and the Wire issue is just one more confirmation of this. Things are harder here for us , but luckily this is not effecting our activity so much.

SA: What do u think of the italian underground musical scene?

FMP: there are a lot of really good and intersting musicians , the problem is the lack of a scene, a culture, and consequently a market to support them/us

SA: What's coming next in yr schedule?

FMP: more records, gigs, musics. Check out our websites to keep abreast of our activities...