Generic Animal, the art of taming monsters: “When doubt becomes fun”

A dinghy that goes round and round in the middle of a huge lake. The protagonist who paddles but fails to dock on any shore. An enemy who pushes it out and controls it with a drone. It is the signed drawing Generic Animalto the century Luca Galicia, that two months after the release of his new album, Benevolent (for La Tempesta Dischi), launch the video of Nightmare, second track of the disc. «It all started from a landscape ideawe were able to create a narrative, symbolic sense, following the intentions of the piece », the artist tells us class of ’95 presenting the clip, previewed on Vanityfair.it. «Represent therefore the limbo of the nightmarewhich is in turn a dream. In that place and with that character, it takes on another flavor ».

The character, in fact, is a monster. Who also slapped on the album cover: where did it come from?
“From Japan. Benevolent, in fact, he is associated with Kappa, a folkloristic creature who, according to Japanese legend, is malignant, inhabits rivers and hunts in villages. The peculiarity of her is that, if you manage to subdue her, she becomes good. “

Which, beyond metaphor, means taking care of even the less beautiful aspects of the self.
“Exactly. It ties in with accepting the flaws you discover you have in dealing with some little daily pitfalls. The importance of recognizing how you are built, and sometimes you are hurt a little. Here, in my opinion we must learn to embrace evil a little for what it is, without dramatizing it ».

The art of taming monsters, which is also the subtitle. Has she tamed hers?
“They have diminished, but those who must remain, remain. Defects of character, of education that you cannot eradicate, inherited things, let’s say. Then, without going too far because the issue is big, I admit that recently I feel bleak: the biggest monster, in the last two months, is everyday life seen from afar. If you have a bit of sensitivity, it is difficult to be in the world knowing that you live above some kind of privilege ».

Staying up BenevolentI ask you for an anecdote related to the genesis of the record.
“The fuse was the”mo ‘enough, I want to go back to playing the electric guitar“. Enough trick that in live leads me to do something special, I want to go back and play the instruments I wanted to play when I was 15, but I didn’t have the confidence to do it. So I found myself at home recording demos with a non-amplified guitar, because I didn’t have the means to amplify it: it was the way I wrote the first riffs, which in fact are darker, woody ».

Talk about confidence. Does he feel a lot changed since the beginning of his career?
«I walk more willingly alone, I feel safer both at the author’s level and in some practical choices, such as dealing with etiquette. I recognize that for the first time, making this record, I didn’t have the anxiety of doubt. But rather, the doubt was the fun. I felt sure of all the various hypotheses that could be underway ».

To think it comes just two years later Soon.
«Which is full of breathlessness, an adolescent breathlessness. In Benevolent it’s like starting to name things. Despite being a cryptic record, it is still a more rational record ».

Is the generic animal beginning to find its own definition?
“The” generic “label has always been the paradox of the project, an ambivalent definition because it encompasses everything, but if you listen then you understand that it is a very precise thing. Anyway, yes, let’s say that today the animal has more defined attributes, it is more recognizable. Like “does it have scales or fur?”. In these two years, if before it was a snake, now it is a four-legged animal. “

And how do you rate your genre of music?
«Alternatives, like those who didn’t give a damn about what was going on around them, I remember for example the Verdena family. The term indie is often used, but I believe that in Italy there is nothing really indie anymore, neither in terms of sound nor in economic terms because everyone has the money behind a label, the term has been torn apart. I like to think that mine is alternative rock music, or alternative pop-rock ».

You mentioned the Verdena family. Who are other musicians who inspired you?
“There are so many bands of my friends that I was a fan of even before they became my friends. I think of the Three Allegri Ragazzi Morti, things that are now very close to me. Then outside Italy there is everything from which I learned to play instruments and write songs. I think of Weezer’s first records, Pavement. The alternative of the early nineties, from the beginning to the end of grunge, a retrology linked to my older sister’s CDs ».

Did he steal them?
«The first was Take Off Your Pants and Jacket by Blink 182. She is 3 years older than me: in that unknown age which is ten, she was 13 and always listened frantically to the same albums, which were from a few years earlier. As soon as I got my driver’s license I stole them and put them in the car, she hadn’t listened to them for some time now. But for me they were memories I didn’t have access to. ‘

And, leaving your sister alone, what were your first musical acquisitions?
«The earliest memory is an audiocassette from the Festivalbar, at the beginning of the 2000s, they had given me a Walkman. Then I bought Geri Halliwell’s first solo album, I must have been about six years old. And in my mind I have well imprinted the first CD I bought with my money: Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Absurd (laughsed) “.

A path that, through these very different stages, however, led her to Benevolent. Here, if to close I asked you to choose a verse that represents the disc?
The ending of Sticka song with nineties sound: “The way I am, I won’t be wearing anymore. Now I’m leaving and saying hello“. As if I let go, I accept that there are a lot of things I cannot control. And lately I have to say that I can follow this line, live the fatality of life, even the bad luck: things you might write in a comic strip, or get sick for a month. I try to associate them with a comic strip ».

The art of taming monsters, in fact.

Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you

Generic Animal: “From vocational school to music”
5 questions to Generic Animal
Pietro Tredici: «The surname Morandi? Plus an advantage “
Paky, in balance between light and dark

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