Next week, Italian alternative metal four-piece ANewRage release their second album, ‘Life-Related Symptoms’. Having played together since they were 12 years old, the quartet has spent years, striving to make a name for themselves in a country that isn’t known for produce stellar rock and metal bands. Nevertheless, ANewRage look to change this with their new album. ‘Life-Related Symptoms’ plays host to a plethora of riffs and soaring, melodic hooks with hints of grunge, metal and electronica throughout.
Although they may want to explore the world with their music, we asked ANewRage to tell us about their home city of Milan.
The City:
“We are a band from Milan and what makes us proud to be from here is… well… We have to be honest with you and we’re struggling to find the right answer! We guess it’s home!”
Its People and Culture:
“Milan is a really frenetic city and everything revolves around business, fashion and design. People always run and don’t seem to care about their surroundings and other people. It’s a pretty selfish city.”
The Music It Inspires:
“Milan is not a music-making factory, even if there are a lot of local bands. The scene, as we’ve experienced it, is underground and it’s really hard to stand out. Music is the same in every city in Italy and (as a rock band) we don’t have that much space to be heard. Of course, there are clubs and venues to play at, but the majority of people aren’t really that much into it. We have big venues too, but they only take on huge international and national acts.”
The Local Music Scene:
“there’s no such thing as a "City genre” or style to associate with this city. There’s some indie stuff, some rock and metal, some pop, but mostly we deal with hip-hop and rap in every city of Italy.“
Its Most Famous Musical Sons and Daughters:
"We have a really big and famous name born here in Milan – Lacuna Coil. There are also national artists but if we’re talking about bands, we have Lacuna Coil and Destrage, who are having a good success now. They’re both great bands although they’re really different.”
The Venues We Visited:
“We always wanted to, and still would like to, play at Alcatraz. That’s a great venue and it has a lot of international great bands (Stone Sour, Korn, Papa Roach…) come through. We’ve played a lot of smaller clubs here in Milan and they’re all good. We always aimed to play with the international acts that come here, as we’re mostly influenced by American bands.”
The Venues We Played:
“We played at Legend Club Milano, which also hosts other great bands. That’s becoming an important venue for us. There are also a lot of smaller clubs. Whenever we played one of them, we definitely learned a lot especially how to deliver great energy in front of small crowds.”
The Influence Home Has on Our Songs:
“We wouldn’t say Milan has been an influence on our music directly. Milan has inspired to explore other places. We don’t really feel like we belong here.”
‘Life-Related Symptoms’ by ANewRage is released 7th April on Scarlet Records.
