Getting to Know… Total Recall | Interview 🎤

In the 301^st Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from the Italian,  ‘low tuned heavy music’ band, Total Recall.

“If you are into low-tuned heaviness on six strings, a drop G vibe could be appealing.” Totally, 🎙 Total Recall! In response to our first burning question, the band continues, “If you are into several sub-genres of metal you will find in Total Recall a blend of low-tuned metallic hardcore with post-hardcore influences and some old nu-metal vibes.” Awesome, awesome, AWESOME! Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the genesis, goals, musical influences, and current and future musical endeavors of the Italian collective. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Total Recall: Interview No. 301!

For those who may not be familiar with Total Recall, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 That’s a tricky question. For sure if you are into low-tuned heaviness on six strings, a drop G vibe could be appealing. And if you are into several sub-genres of metal you will find in Total Recall a blend of low-tuned metallic hardcore with post-hardcore influences and some old nu-metal vibes. You will also find a touch of death and black metal in it like two olives in a Martini.  We try to involve the audience from the intro, and we keep them in the vibe till the last moment, we do not do anything in particular, we just transmit our truthfulness on stage. We don’t use choreographers; everything that happens on stage is improvised at the moment.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Total Recall form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 Total Recall was born in 2019. The founding members Luca (Pigo) (K-Again, Samaritan, Embrace Destruction), Stef (K-Again, Traces of You, Die Trying) and Danny (Embrace Destruction) were already veterans in the hardcore/metalcore scene and decided to start to write music together after their common friend and brother, Massy, passed away after a long fight with his disease. Massy toured with Pigo and Stef for more than 20 years and he wanted the two old friends to come back together in a band as they played in different bands for many years. Stef and Pigo recruited the drummer Danny who played in Embrace Destruction (the last band of Pigo and Massy) and decided to form a band with members who played or toured with Massy. After Pigo decided not to be a singer anymore and to take Massy’s bass guitar to keep his legacy alive, with Stef at guitars and Danny at the drums, the lineup started to write music without following any particular influence, with the only purpose to write songs that could reflect the style of music they played with Massy throughout the last 20 plus years. After a few months Andy was added as singer. Andy toured with Massy when he was in Rise Above Dead and his friendship with him went back some 15 plus years, and Stefano (Bleed) as guitarist who also was in Rise Above Dead.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Not really. We are still 100% focused on trying to make the music we write to honor Massy’s memory available to the most people possible.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Music is a crucial part of our life since we were kids, so we had several bands’ musical styles who really influenced us throughout the years and most of all the ages. Even now that we are in our late 40s,  we still have bands that we consider as influential. This is also a watershed to distinguish what we consider true from the millions of good albums that are only another product on the digital shelf. Also, we do not live in the past, we are always on the lookout for new music and new bands even though we are loyal to the great bands of the past. For sure metal, hardcore, stoner and their sub-genres are our most crucial reference.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 As single members, we would have lots of stories to tell considering that we are touring since more than 25 years, however as a band we are on the map for three years only, and two of them were influenced by the pandemic. This gave us really little room for memorable moments, but we were lucky enough to tour in 2022 and we will end the year with more tours, one in the UK and one in mainland Europe. We hope to have some wacky moments to share in the next interview then. Up till now the shows went pretty smooth, first time ever for most of us in 25 years though…

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 Being active for only three years, and having a full-length album out for 1054 Records, we do not have a lot of songs to choose from, but for sure we would pick the album title track 🎵 “Always Together” as it speaks about our missing brother Massy and about the feelings we all have about him not being with us physically but always present spiritually. Playing this song live is sort of therapeutic.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 We have a certain talent for stand-up, give us a topic and we can improvise for quite some time. Until you want to kill us at least. One of our guitarists is a living wiky for Metal Music, our Bass Player is a huge fan of Duran Duran. We in generally adore 80’s thrash movies or 80’s Horror movies (better if B Movies).

Closing out, what is Total Recall currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 No pressure at all. We are completing the live effort to support the release of our first full length,  💿 Always Together, out pretty much everywhere via the Australian 1054 Records. After a series of club shows in Italy and a package tour in France, we will do a short tour in the UK this early November (3-4-5) with No Second Chance and we will embark on a small European Run in Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium in early December (2-7-8-9-10). In the meanwhile, for a couple of months, we are recording some pre-productions. The new songs are surely darker and heavier than the previous ones but at the same time, they keep the same attitude. It’s a natural evolution of the five of us now working together for three years. These new songs are reflecting our common influences in a more natural way. According to what our feelings will be about the pre-prods we will decide if we will hit the studio for a full length or for an EP, but for sure in early 2023 we will release new music.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Thanks to you for the opportunity, it was a pleasure to chat.

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Getting to Know…Total Recall: Interview No. 301 [📷: Brent Faulkner, Darkmoon_Art, luis2500gx, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, OpenClipart-Vectors, Total Recall]