20 years after the last studio album, Gazosa is back, the Roman band that for months made Italy sing with the refrain "www mi piaci tu" and "stai con me forever", winning song in the New proposals section at the Festival di Sanremo in 2001. Now those kids have grown up, the line-up has partially changed and the new song, “L'italiano” has been playing on the radio for a few days.
Federico and Valentina Paciotti (voice and guitar respectively) together with Vincenzo Siani (drums) entrusted themselves to a Sardinian director for the realization of the video clip. “No more ballads but a punk, stoner and grunge style sound”, explains Valerio Matteu , the 36-year-old from San Giovanni Suergiu , who also signed the executive production to L'Unione Sarda. Technical academies behind him, up to the New York Film Academy, Matteu was the director of other well-known videos such as “Boom” by Valeria Marini and “I'm crazy” by Federico Fashion Style , just to name a few. But he also deals with documentaries, in particular on Sardinia.
How did you meet Gazosa?
“In 2019 I worked with Jessica Morlacchi, the former lead singer of the band, on a single of hers and we have remained on excellent terms ever since. Then I met Federico, the guitarist, and Valentina by chance. They asked me for some information on how the videos are made and we shot a private demo, never released, just to understand how they could revive the band. The response from the record companies was positive and therefore they recorded various songs, including 'L'italiano' ".
In the meantime, the line-up has changed.
“Yes, but with no internal controversy, only professional choices. I remembered Gazosa from 'Www I like you' and 'Stay with me (forever)', they had had a huge success so much that their songs had been used for commercials, jingles that everyone knew by heart at the time ".
What did you think for “L'italiano”, the video of their return?
“You couldn't replicate the genre they did in the early 2000s, it's no longer in fashion. And that sound is too distant from their current age (33 years Valentina, 32 Federico, 36 Vincenzo, ed) , it was clear that a change was necessary. While they were building the songs they involved me in their path based more on punk but with particular arrangements. I immediately came up with some cinematographic citations that represented the Italian spirit ”.
For instance?
"Fantozzi eating the onion omelette, which by the way I prepared myself for the set and they told me it was also good, or references to 'The great beauty', or Scorsese's 'Raging Bull', which the younger ones may not know but I have included it so as not to be too obvious and to propose something broader ”.
Where did you shoot?
“Between Rome and Latina. The gym is that of Parisi boxing in Latina, in Rome we used the Wallnut Studio, very nice, large, with a huge background. And we assembled our set ”.
What were the difficulties?
“The technical organization of the shooting, the preparation of the scenes, we shot a lot of them and we couldn't fit them all. Then some time lag: for example, on the first day at one in the morning we would have had to record on a roof but we realized that, being in the city center, even with only the noise of the battery we would have caused such a noise as to risk the intervention. of the police. We had a lot of fun, we created a nice environment, made of great collaboration and lots of laughs ".
What about the scene where they play naked?
“It's a quote from Blink-182's 'What's my age again'. He talks about society being angry with a 23-year-old who wants to do things as a kid, while friends tell him he should act like someone his age. And in the video they run naked. I adapted the scene, even if I wanted it to be shot on a pitch but the climatic conditions were not suitable. In any case, I wanted the true nature of Gazosa to come out, 'you must be real', I repeated, and the maximum of transparency is nudity ”.
The reference to "The great beauty"?
“Made on the terrace of a hotel, I also played the soundtrack of the film, 'A making love begins you” by Raffaella Carrà, just to get them into that atmosphere. After all, it is a video with many comic scenes, bordering on the insane with a subtle interpretation. They gave me complete artistic freedom to do what I wanted. After all, the director is like a doctor, you can't explain him how to cure ”.
Fantozzi?
“I chose it for an emotional question, it represents the Italian spirit of the 70s and 80s, the heart of the average Italian at that time. Then there is also a provocation, since in that scene he watches the match between the national team and England for the qualification for the World Cup, eating the onion omelette. Many Italians have a sort of obsession with football, a passion that makes us entertain, also unites us but distracts us a lot, sometimes engages energies that distract us from other important things. We focus on the successes of our team enough to empathize, and we forget that the victory is not ours. This is obviously my personal vision ".
Are there any hidden details that don't appear at first glance in the video?
“I am reminded of the scenes in which Valentina, while the text talks about good food and love for sport, shopping, ironing, but they are not representations of stereotypes of the Italian woman. The alluring and sexy attitude always transpires, and perhaps this is not easy to grasp ".
In the acknowledgments, the group dedicated a sentence to her: “You are number one”.
“Because the right alchemy has been created, we are more or less the same age, we speak the same language”.
Why don't you choose locations in Sardinia that offer unique scenarios?
“It is not a 'not wanting', I always propose to artists to shoot scenes in Sardinia, unfortunately there are major logistical problems even considering the high costs of the transfer. On the island I am doing a different job, it is called "Sardinia Secrets", a documentary with a more poetic, serious and committed voice ".
Other projects?
"I'm writing a horror film set in Sardinia, a screenplay for a film that is inspired by the tales of 'Sa domu' and s'orcu ', inserting aspects related to rituality and ancestry, rituals, Mamuthones, a demon Sardinian, because there is always a devil in stories and fairy tales, who may be hiding in a nuraghe. And then in the pipeline there is a new video clip of a showgirl who has a connection with Sardinia, but I can't anticipate anything ".