THE STRANGE FLOWERS "We never had the courage to record 'Strange Girl' before. We thought nobody would listen to such a long track on a record, although we had played it at virtually every gig. This time we had the courage." Italy's The Strange Flowers started as a group of like-minded friends who had a penchant for 60's psychedelica and prog-rock. Having all been in previous bands, they decided it might be a good idea to form a band that reflected their love for the likes of early Pink Floyd, King Crimson, The Stooges and The Velvet Underground. After releasing their debut full-length, "Music For Astronauts" in 1994, and a succesfull gig at Munich's Beat-O-Mania Festival , The Strange Flowers broke up soon after. Then it took almost 9 years for the band to reunite. Strange Flowers indeed. The band's latest album, "Ortoflorovivaistica", showcases a gentle, melodic and almost trancedental take on psychedelica, and is a strong contender for album of the year. "Ortoflorovivaistica" is released through Germany's Beyoundyourmindrec. Words | Michele The beginning of our adventures date back to 1987, although we knew each other for a few years before that. Maurizio Falciani and I were together in a prog band called Chroma and were attending the weekly meetings of 'Musicalinea', an independent organization in Pisa. There, we met these two guys from Marylin Faith, Giovanni Bruno and former bass player Alessandro Pardini. We became friends with them, plus a few other guys like Nicola Cionini and Stefano Montefiori playing in Molinas. We spent endless nights debating whether 'Sgt.Pepper's' was a better album than 'Ummagumma' or if King Crimson should be classified as progressive or psychedelic. After this bonding experience, we ended up playing together and finally formed The Strange Flowers with the idea of combining our backgrounds [Marylin Faith was originally a new wave band]. We recorded a few demo tapes that, besides getting the attention of local radio stations, gave us the reputation of a 'psychedelic band.' Basically nothing happened until the summer of '88, when we played in Pisa in a place called Riverart Bar. There was a guy there from Germany who approached us, Joachim Friedmann. A couple of months later Joachim wrote us a letter saying that he wanted to organize a tour, and in 1989 we went to Germany with another band from Pisa, The Liars. We then went back again with The Prime Movers and The Sick Rose. In the meantime, Alessandro had left and unlike the rock n'roll' cliche, it wasn't because of creative differences. At first Nicola Cionini replaced him, but then Stefano took over. During that time, our style became more and more 'visionary' and we were playing lengthy live improvs, which enhanced our reputation. We finally got a deal with a record label, and released our first single in 1990, which was followed by our debut full-length, 'Music For Astronauts.' The day 'Music For Astronauts' was released we were at the Beat-O-Mania Festival in Munchen, where we met Rudi Protrudi [Fuzztones] for the first time, sharing the stage with him for a couple of songs, one of which was later put out on his solo album, 'The Fuzztone' and on the compilation 'Beat-O-Mania At Its Best.' Despite all of the good things going on in Germany, in Italy nobody -and when I say nobody, I mean ZERO- ever gave a damn about The Strange Flowers. I guess we weren't 'garage enough', or 'beat enough', or '60's enough', or 'whatever enough.' The result was that we got bummed out and around '94-'95, without ever actually saying the word 'split', we just quit playing. I moved to the United States for a few years, Stefano moved to Milano, Maurizio and Giovanni got a family life. In 2000 I came back to Italy and we started talking about getting back together, which we eventually did in 2003. A year later we released an EP, went to Berlin for Reverberation II and played with 'The Electric Prunes.' And now there is 'Ortoflorovivaistica.' Future plans are a German tour in April 2006, some festivals [including Swamp Room Happening 2006 in Hanover], a split CD with the Argentinian band Babyscream [released in March-April], and finally a new album for late 2006. ORTOFLOROVIVAISTICA> The making of... This record exists thanks to the efforts of Michel Grimminger of beyondyourmindrec, who contacted us late 2004. We had several songs that we hadn t recorded in the past, plus others we had written between 1995 and 2003. On our first LP we had explored the pop side of our psychedelic style, now we wanted to do something more 'mind-expanding', reflecting our affinity for improvisations. We were eager to find [and use] new sounds, noises and effects that could give the songs a unique atmosphere. We started rehearsals in January 2005, and then selected 10 songs, some of which were later discarded. In May we recorded the basic tracks; drums, bass and rhythm guitar, all in couple of days. We recorded at Westlink Recordings, a Studio in Cascina, near Pisa. The basic tracks were recorded simultaneously, with no overdubs. Then, we moved to the SFP Studio, which really is a small room in my apartment where I keep a 16-track recorder. There we overdubbed Giovanni's guitars, and some additional guitar parts. I did vocals, percussion and effects. I remixed and mastered the record myself in my apartment, which took me nearly three months. Believe it or not, the total cost of recording, mixing and mastering was around 1000 Euros. ORTOFLOROVIVAISTICA> On to the songs... Mars Behind Our Eyes I, Giovanni and Alessandro Pardini wrote this during one of our first rehearsal sessions in 1987 in Alessandro's father's garage. In the beginning we were playing it with a drum machine because Maurizio hadn't joined the band yet. We included it on our second demo tape 'Underground Mirrors'in 1988, and played it extensively during 88-89. Then, [and nobody knows why], we shelved it and didn't put it on our first album. The version here is much faster than the original, and the arrangements are different. The main difference is the intro, which was done by reversing a Brahms piece, and also because of the Indian sound we added. I also played some piano parts, but I think that the quintessential nature of the songs is the background vocals Stefano did, which gives the songs a sense of deepness and magic. John On The Moon I wrote this between 1990 and 1991, and we played it a few times. I guess this is inspired by The Velvet Underground to some extent. I was listening to them heavily in the period I wrote John On The Moon. There are no special tricks here, besides some mellotron sounds Stefano played on a vintage keys module. The Ghost In Your Room We wrote this between 1990 and 1991, just by improvising during rehearsal. We first recorded the song in 1990 in our rehearsal room on a 4-track recorder. The version here is quite different. The main element is the guitar solo recorded in two separate parts, one from Giovanni and one from me. The improvised solos were panned left and right in the mix. What I love most is the way we managed to follow each other while doing the basic tracks, having no clue of what was going to happen next. A Telescope In Reverse I wrote this in 2003 and it was originally intended as an acoustic song. While doing the basic tracks, Maurizio insisted that we record this one too, even though it wasn't planned for the record. He had this tempo which I wasn't too sure about. We did it anyway, and now it's one of my favorites. Most of the effects were done by Maurizio playing percussion and Giovanni with his guitar parts. Stefano played a vintage organ sound on his module. It's definitely one of the best lyrics I've written. The Spider In The Clock I guess Giovanni wrote This in late 2004. I did the arrangement and revised the lyrics. The drums sound was obtained by looping [in both directions] a bit of drums by Maurizio that were inspired by the Beatles' 'Taxman.' The main instrument is a clavichord sound Giovanni plays. The distortion effects on the main vocals are obtained with a guitar preamp simulator. Additional effects were done with vocals, an analog echo with no instruments attached, and some keyboards. This is the only song that was entirely recorded in my apartment. My Garden This is definitely my favorite at the moment. I wrote it around 1994, and we played it a few times. To make the first part sound more like a fairytale, we used a vibraphone sound, plus multiple guitars and organ. Strange Girl We never had the courage to record 'Strange Girl' before. We thought nobody would listen to such a long track on a record, although we had played it at virtually every gig. This time we had the courage. Nobody really knows who wrote it, basically it just came out by itself, starting from a riff Alessandro Pardini had written. The recordings weren't complicated, as the song is 90% improvised. We used a few tricks here and there, like some orchestral parts in reverse [Rachmaninoff], but most of the sound is due to heavily echoed guitars.