Over 25 k views for the single Tonight on Youtube, thousands more views on many other songs, 3 albums labeled with blazons of the production, concerts all over Italy, reviews of increasing caliber and sweaty but confirmation of a growing success.
An expensive but precious band, niche but with tangible results, known in various circles and nations.
We meet the soul of the Fitness Forever in Naples, a few kilometers from his native village, a few weeks after the release of the last branded album Elephant Records "Tonight”, A synthesis of rigor and stylistic research cloaked in an apparently facetious and retro style.
Diego Cordua: Dear Carlos, aka Gaetano, aka Dino!…. Oh well, let's do it Carlos, since you are working… What satisfactions has “Tonight” given you so far?
Carlos Valderrama: I had the greatest satisfaction even before the launch, when the master was finished, heard through the headphones, after 4 years of work, when I realized that I had once again done a job that I like, and that I enjoyed doing, compose, record and finally listen… because the meaning of what we do is all there, having a record in your hands that you like.
D.C.: So the fun was there anyway, a fun that starts from the Valderrama Five era, a time when on stage, between the late 90s and 2000s, there was a huge core of people who had fun expressing themselves anyway with a beautiful product , valid, which shone with its own light, regardless of evocative texts of a typically youthful world of passion.
CV: Yup…
D.C.: But let's start with these four years of waiting. In a previous interview given to another magazine on the occasion of the launch of Cosmos, together with Luigi Scialdone, it emerged that in essence you take over the reins of the work, review, overturn, overturn, lock yourself up, succeed, and in the end your traveling companions, that is the FF, follow you. Basically, you are the chef of Fitness Forever: yet, almost in contrast, you are almost never seen in the videos, you only appear in a few second album covers, in short, you seem almost an anti-star. Schizophrenia or shyness?
CV: In reality there is no precise design. I'm just shy: my place is behind a keyboard, a mixer, a computer, not on a newspaper cover or in a video clip. Even live, if you notice, I am hidden behind a cloud of keyboards. The less I show myself, the more comfortable I feel. Perhaps this is also why I have always had numerous bands: perhaps facing the stage alone, for me, would be too much ... I wouldn't do it, I need to be surrounded by a bubble of friends - and in this case also of extraordinary musicians - that make me feel at ease and make me feel calmer.
D.C.: It's a great thing to focus on managing the purest aspect of your work. Now let's move on to my boss's questions, the more boring ones. You worked hard for this album. For 4 long years. So it seems like a well thought-out job, isn't it? Or, all in all, was it a casting job followed by a long weighting?
CV: The 4 years, in and of themselves, considering the previous experience of Fitness Forever, are not always the most obvious answer to our way of composing. For example, on Cosmos we worked for about two and a half years… and the result was then literally thrown in the bin. We then completely rebuilt the work in two weeks, with 8 songs being the "angry" response to all that unrecorded work. This, on the other hand, was a much more considered work, which also took a couple of "things" thrown away by Cosmos.
D.C.: Does “Nico” have something to do with it too?
CV: In reality, "Nico" is a track that comes from quite far away, from another attempt at a record in a 60s style that in the end we got bored of making, because in any case we wanted to do something more vital and with one foot also in the present , without praising the music we like to listen to at all costs ...
D.C.: … On this point I think something a bit unpleasant has happened, because a lot of reviews have focused - in a poor way - on a simple search for similarities with the past.
CV: You know, often journalists, in spite of themselves, tend to put themselves slightly at the center of attention… perhaps by displaying a series of skills and knowledge, sometimes even with the noble purpose of helping the listener to orient himself, mind you. In general, I still think that the quality of a record should be evaluated by pure listening. Do you like songs? Do you like arrangements? Don't think about anything else! Just think if today, in 2017 you enjoy listening to this type of music and that's it. Maybe all those similarities that are mentioned are part of a musical culture that others do not have. In any case, the songs are posed in a different way… To speak a slang familiar to readers of Ageofaudio, the songs will be recorded differently, with different technology and a different spirit, which has engulfed others 40 years of music and it is more than evident. In short, the references are useful, but there is much more to evaluate ...
D.C.: One hundred percent agree. However, my boss always asks very nicely if it is still worth working for so long on the realization of a record, from the point of view of the economic result. Or is it better to rely more on social media and do everything very quickly in the home studio and then pour it into a professional studio?
CV: Commercially it is absolutely not worth it: the relationship between employed work and economic results does not hold up. But if profit were the only yardstick, we would only have products of a certain type. Fortunately, there are also other reasons that lead us to dedicate ourselves for 4 years to a product different from many others: it is up to the conscience of each artist to define what he wants to achieve and in how much time.
D.C.: Well, I would say we can switch to Tonight juice…. Let's start in a soft way and let's say right away that we leave out any evaluation of similarities, assonances and similar crap out of here. Let's talk a little about you and you in particular, and about the relationship between a rich present and an amused and amusing past (very Marzullian, eh ???). How much of the Valderrama Five experience remains in you?
CV: That's a good question! The most evident similarity can be found in the composition of the live band. As you will recall, in the Valderrama we had a staff just under ten people: the same goes for the FF. Another similarity is certainly in the arrangements: with Valderrama we were very keen to arrange the productions in a certain way, we were not satisfied with making recordings with bass and drums, but we bowed everything with choirs, percussion ... In short, an approach that was not at all minimalist. And still, in common there is a certain type of melodic research, even if in Valderrama it was declined towards the Beach Boys model garage-rock, while for FF we talk about funk afrobeat, dance music in general. However, yes, it is clear that there are many things in common. What certainly differentiates us from that experience is a certain technical mastery, a general refinement ...
D.C.: Regardless of the lyrics, on which I learned a lot of English, while having fun….
CV: Ahahahahaha….
D.C.: By the way, I think it is worth pointing out that despite the Neapolitan origins of the band, except for "Andrè", you are among the few who do not implement the famous "Neapolitan blackmail", the combination with the image of Vesuvius, the video shot on the seafront, the call here, the homage there, in short, all those options that make it impossible to say that a song sucks, because it is linked to an unexpectedly beautiful context. Your beauty also stands out for this: despite the fact that Fitness Forever comes from, at least in some basic matrices, this type of blackmail is not configured, but a simple identity profile "I see and I do not see" - something in which we provincials are good…. It is no coincidence that we are doing this interview in a sushi bar!
CV: I'm glad it's acknowledged that there is nothing blunt in the face. We take ideas from a very varied universe, from many references, many plays and many experiences. The 4 years are also justified with this: we took our time to build this whole path, creating a range as interesting and varied as possible for the listener. Consider, in this regard, that we actually composed more than double the songs included on the album - almost triple.
D.C.: Do you love or hate the Seltons?
CV: Neither one ... This is already a lot of stuff. Really, I don't like many things about the new Italian music. On the other hand, the Seltons, whom I confess to having listened casually on the radio a few times, didn't make me change the station, I liked them. It seems to me that they have something to say.
D.C.: I'll tell you, they always seemed to me your brothers a little poorer….
CV: You're not the first person who points this out to me….
D.C.: Damn, they stole my idea…. Oh well… Let's move on to the songs of this last great success which is “Tonight”. Let's go in no particular order. PORT GHALIB which trip did you think of it for?
CV: For a trip that I actually did. Just in the days when I was packing this song and trying to develop the overall idea of the album, I was in this beautiful Egyptian location, hence the title.
D.C.: So no more "Palma de Mallorca" ... ..
CV: Ahahaha, no no…. This is also a form of maturation. And so, during these long walks and intense tanning sessions, I slowly developed all the parts of the piece - which in any case had already been created “in nuce” in Torre del Greco. Initially the title was supposed to be "Instrumental 2", then in the end we chose the homage.
D.C.: I really like hearing it on the highway, even if I know it may not interest you….
CV: But no!! Even Micio of the Valderrama Five told me the exact same thing and commits terrible traffic offenses, pump adrenaline…. Pump, pump a lot, is also a favorite of the band, both to listen to and to play….
D.C.: On CANADIAN RANGER too much has already been said and written, so let's skip it….
CV: Well, I'm glad! ...
D.C.: … The same should be done for ANDRE ', but after a question we will escape….
CV: Ok.
D.C.: ARBRE MAGIQUE is a full-fledged candidate (beyond the sign of "Disco quiz" by Cosmos) as the creator of the late 80s / early 90s TV series. Have you ever dreamed of collaborating - or maybe you have already done so but we missed it - with TV?
CV: In fact not directly: there have been TV shows that for strange turns have used FF material, then TV commercials that have used "Albertone", there is an international chef - David Rocco - who often uses songs of the Fitness….
D.C.: “Albertone” (editor's note: instrumental hit of the previous album) represents a lot for me, but we will tell this off of records…. However, I take note of the beautiful figure of poop and I ask you, since I really care about this song, where it was exploited.
CV: Then…. In a Mini commercial from a few years ago, in various Spanish films, in the “Born to death” series and on many other occasions…. “Albertone” is in fact our most used piece for cinema and TV.
D.C.: And what would you deliver as a theme song among those of Tonight?
CV: Look, “Port Ghalib” or, as you yourself anticipate, “Arbre magique” can sound very good… but in general I think that different pieces lend themselves, for their musicality, to the purpose. Among all musical activities, between us, it is the most profitable thing….
D.C.: The boss will be happy with this answer ...
CV:…. So let's keep our fingers crossed and we hope that these Tonight tracks can be placed soon too!
D.C.: DANCE BOYS is the classic soundtrack for the "fireworks evening", which then finds a clear contradiction in WHAT YOU TOLD ME. Regardless of your latest emotional affairs, to the headlines, have you made peace or not with love?
CV: Sìììììì yes yes yes yes, but then often the emotions used for the songs are not necessarily the ones you experience in the first person at that moment: you enter a sort of "trance" about stories that you may have lived in the past, or that you have told or have particularly impressed you. Just about "What did you tell me" my girlfriend asked me a similar question, for all the emotional suffering that emerges…. “But who did you write this song for?”….
D.C.: Aspe ', then I have to ask you…. When an artist finds himself writing a text where references are made that are completely extraneous to the sentimental sphere currently experienced, what is triggered in the partner? Do you wonder if you have been cuckolded?….
CV: In fact, we ask ourselves some questions, because maybe one sees in front of him a person who is always smiling and serene… and then dark, melancholy texts come out, perhaps even relating to a sentimental situation…. One might worry…. However of course, for a partner it is not easy…. But this is how it came out, I didn't want to censor myself. Somehow it seemed to me a text that worked well and that well represented a series of feelings I have inside. However I would like to tell the friends of Ageofaudio: it is not easy to be authors and to have a peaceful love life. Things don't always go hand in hand if you want to do genuine and not forced things….
D.C.: CARLO is "a late night" and you are awake, obviously…. What relationship do you have with the concept of "distance"? Attention: it is a question that I wanted to ask you since Cosmos, with "Seeing you distant" and "Drowned Love" ("if I lose you far away, how nice it will be"), but I gave up ... now it is an inevitable question, even considering ANDRE 'and a coda of the piece completely dedicated to the drama of a mysterious distance, more mystical than the very long conclusion of "I Poeti" by Vecchioni ... In short,' is it far away? ...
CV: In my partial defense, let's first specify that the text of “Carlo” is actually by Nicoletta….
D.C.: …. everything else remains !!
CV: And for this I said "in partial defense"! In general, one of the leitmotifs of the FF lyrics, but you know it well, is this sense of nostalgia, melancholy and loss…. More than a lived feeling, because I have not experienced big losses in my life, it is perhaps a fear that I carry inside. I live with the constant fear of the drama of sudden and inevitable large losses and no return….
D.C.: There are two of us then….
CV: Actually, it is a subject that haunts me, a source of constant concern, which I often think about in my private life, perhaps precisely because it has never been lived ... a bit like the fear of someone who is about to jump with a parachute for the first time. To exorcise it, I make it emerge in the songs, even if between the lines and not exposing myself like many others do…. This is true in general for many other songs, where on closer inspection you find many things, even intimate ones, of our personal lives.
D.C.: With TONIGHT, perhaps you realize that you can move people who listen to you “very strongly”. I think it's objective. Can you sleep with this responsibility on your shoulders?
CV: Yes, and very good! Eheheheh… I sleep peacefully because, as I said before, when I listen to the finished record, and I like it, paradoxically my task is over. My task, more precisely, begins when I start creating and ends when I listen to the master of the disc. From that moment on, the record isn't even mine anymore! I deliver a product that I think is worth listening to and then from there on I sleep peacefully. The problem is during the creation….
D.C.: Carlos, you can give it to anyone to drink but not me, who have also been a fan of yours for unsuspected times. Already in Cosmos the structure of the songs was such as to suggest that there was something physical and metaphysical in your albums. Now the fact is clear: from the first piece up to ANDRE 'you synthesize and represent the birth (with a growing "Tonight" and a "Sorrentiniano" ending, in the CD version), the growth and old age of memories, which in your penultimate opera you represented with a poignant SEA - never too valued - and today a dedication to your childhood. In Tonight add death as well, with PORT GHALIB's daring journey to a silent afterlife. In your opinion, in light of these considerations, who is my dealer?
CV: Ahahahahahahahah, I don't know your square, but this parallel with the Divine Comedy makes me proud! But anyway I thought about it: in the collective imagination, the FF are one of the sunniest bands that exists. But if you see well - and then I find myself with those who do a little more in-depth analysis like yours - Fitness are a rather dark group, also for the issues covered ...
D.C.: A Sergio Caputo disguised as a band….
CV: Eh, in fact, people say “let's go see Fitness tonight, we have fun”, but when I listen to me as a… listener…. When I hear the tail of Tonight, Port Ghalib… in short, they are quite epic, important, not light pieces, so all in all, yes, you say a very nice thing. I think there is a good balance of the various elements of life and music, in Fitness, moments that are more relaxed but also more intense and heavy ... Have you noticed anyway some good things ...
D.C.: What will you propose to us in 4 years?
CV: We are still at the beginning. When something comes to mind I put a kind of mental gate in my head to force myself to forget, I do total reclamation, I wait for the tension to subside…. We'll see, I don't know anything yet!
******
