From the heart of Italy’s underground scene, DOUBLE ME has been delivering blistering powerviolence and grindcore since 2012, refusing to conform to any strict formulas while keeping their songs short, raw, and relentless.
Beyond the band, frontman Mirco is also the mastermind behind HERE AND NOW RECORDS, a label dedicated to fast and aggressive musick.
I caught up with Mirco to discuss DOUBLE ME’s evolution, the realities of running a DIY label, and the challenges of keeping underground music alive in today’s scene. Expect insights, humor, and even an unexpected Hilary Duff reference – so buckle up!
Hey dude! Thanks for your time for answering these questions, I hope it was(n’t) torture! Hahahaa! DOUBLE ME is known for ultra-fast and raw songs. Who is DOUBLE ME? What was the initial idea behind forming the band, and has anything changed since then?
Mirco: Hi! First of all I’d love to thank you for this talk.
DOUBLE ME is a 3 piece band based in Padua playing a sort of mix of powerviolence and grindcore. We started in late 2012 form an Idea of Mirco (the one’s talking) and Sonny (bass player). We used to play in 2 different bands and go to some shows together. One day we started talking about having a band together playing super fast music with slow parts. In 2 weeks Marco (drums) and Ennio (guitar) joined the team and we had the first practices. We have all been friends since ages so it was really easy to find a good feeling. After some years Ennio left the band because of some personal issues so we found ourselves at a turning point: looking for a new guitarist or trying to move forward as a bass driven band. Well, you can wonder which was our decision. Our first songs were raw and longer than they are now and I think we had some big changes in writing music. The thing I love is that we don’t care to play „institutional“ pv or whatever, if we like it we do it and try our best to make it work. It’s interesting to me to see that each album is an evolution of our song writing.
As I mentioned, and for those who might not know, your songs are extremely short and intense. Was that the original plan and format you wanted, or do you intentionally avoid longer compositions?
Mirco: Well, as I said before we don’t want to get stuck on an idea. All of us bring some new songs at practices and we see how to make them work together. Maybe we don’t write long songs because we have a lot of changes in a few seconds and we don’t want to be repetitive and boring. It’s more funny.
What are the key influences on the band? Is there a band or album that was crucial in shaping your musical direction?
Mirco: Pretty hard question. We all listen to a lot of music and different genres. For example, some listen to hc sxe, hip hop, jazz or noise so I can say that we don’t have any bands we look at but a lot of different experiences that we bring at practice somehow we put them all together. So, if I have to answer this question with a name I can’t. There are too many to mention.
Powerviolence and fastcore demand maximum energy – how do you maintain that intensity live? When we spoke at GHRN, your set lasted about ten minutes, and after the show, you told me that many people were asking you why it was so short, to which you replied, “Try playing this, and you’ll understand why.” 🙂
Mirco: Hahahahaha well we don’t want to play too much because we prefer to give a lot of energy in a shot. We have a lot of time / riff / vocals changes in a few seconds and it’s hard to be at the top for 30 minutes. We are the ones that prefer to run the marathon as fast as they can than walk and take it easy just to arrive relaxed at the goal. Moreover we play short songs so we already have a 40/44 songs set and I think it’s enough hahaha
Italy has a strong hardcore/powerviolence/grindcore scene. What’s your perspective on the current scene, and how does it compare to when you started the band? Do you even follow the local or Italian scene in general, and where do you see DOUBLE ME within it? Is there an Italian band you’d recommend that people might not know about?
Mirco: The Italian scene is nice. We all know each other personally and we try to meet everytime we can, not only at shows. We call or send messages to each other just to say hello. I love it. I think the real problem is that there aren’t many venues so you won’t have as many shows as in the past. 10 years ago many people used to book gigs everywhere: squats, clubs, bars, house shows… I won’t say it was better but a bit different. Now most of the venues prefer to have cover bands or big names so underground has less possibility but I see a lot of people doing their best anyway.
DOUBLE ME is a band like the others. I don’t think this is a challenge (I know you didn’t mean it) but just a common field where we all live and support each other.
About bands I can mention: ANF, FAILURE, L.U.L.U, THE SEEKER, MISOPHONIA, EDDIE MURPHY, NEGATIVE PATH, NEID, REPULSIONE, PLAGUE BOMB, MORTAIO, PEEP, ANTISEXY, SO CLOSE and many many more (sorry friends if I forgot your bands).
For those who haven’t seen you live, how would you describe your shows from your perspective? Do you have any memorable concert stories that have stuck with you?
Mirco: I think it can be described as breathless. We have 2 stops during the whole set and we link all the other songs. That’s another reason why we don’t want to play more than 12/15 minutes haha.
There are a lot of stories like all the bands have. Most of our stories are funny. An odd thing is that since we started playing shows without guitar it was amazing to see how many friends took a broom or stuff like this, jumped on stage and pretended to play guitar with us.
I take this opportunity to thank all our improvised guitarists hahaha.
DOUBLE ME has had various split releases – how do you choose the bands you collaborate with? Are there any bands you would love to work with in the future?
Mirco: We love to have a relationship with bands we split with. We knew most of them because of their music, then we started talking and at least one of the bands asked the other to split. The most simple way it can be.
I’d love to split with many bands all around the world but I don’t want to think about it. I explain myself: We are a bit slow recording stuff and we have 2 more splits planned so if I start thinking about who could be the next one (and they agree) I think it would take my whole life to release them all hahaha. I need some free time too…
If DOUBLE ME had to cover a rap song and turn it into a powerviolence massacre, which song would you pick?
Mirco: I’m not into rap too much. It’s a Sonny and Marco thing. Probably I may say some old Beastie Boys song.
I’m more into pop music hahaha. At the moment I’m thinking of Hilary Duff – The beat of my heart and making a powerviolence version named The (blast)beat of my heart.
How do you balance running a band and running a label? Does one affect the other?
Mirco: One thing does not affect each other. I keep them separated as 2 different entities. It’s the best thing for me. If I do thing straight I know what I’m doing and I’m focused on it. If I try to mix the I’m sure it become a mess.
Since I already mentioned the label, how did you come up with the idea to start HERE AND NOW RECORDS? What inspired you to get into the record label “business”?
When I started singing in ANTISEXY 15 ago, my bandmates had a little DIY label and asked me to join it. We didn’t do many releases and all of them were co-releases with many other labels. After a year they decided to quit. At the moment I had another band too (EAT YOU ALIVE) and I was thinking of how to release our demo. I needed a sort of label “immediately” so I started Here And Now! Now you know where the name comes from. I never thought it’d last for so long but still here I am.
So I can say my friends and the music I played inspired me and probably still do.
HERE AND NOW RECORDS is home to hardcore, grind, powerviolence, punk, and similar genres. Is there a specific philosophy behind the label that you would never break?
Mirco: I need to talk to bands before releasing something. I try to understand their way of doing things and way of thinking. I don’t care to work with big bands if I’m just a way to release stuff and don’t have a relationship with them. I don’t like macho or superiority behaviours. I don’t want to have to deal with right wing people, homophobes and social climbers. It may sound stupid to say this in our scene but sometimes people lie just to be part of something and that’s not my way. That’s not my business. I want everything to be crystal clear. If they don’t like it I’m not the one for them.
Least but not last: I don’t want to be stressed. I don’t need bands to ask me 1000 times if I can release their new record. If I said no it’s because I can’t even if I’d like to do it. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Next time they write me an email I won’t answer because I know how stressful they are.
This is not a job. If you pretend that labels do what they want, start a label and do it.
Running a label in the DIY scene comes with a lot of challenges – what are the biggest issues you face?
Mirco: I think the main problem is how people see labels from the outside. Someone thinks we get money doing nothing the whole day just waiting for you to place and order.
They don’t know that we spend many hours a day taking care of records, trading and releasing stuff, preparing packages and running to the closest post office, talking to bands, and promoting them. It takes a lot of time and money each day. When we sell vinyl we gain 1/2€ and probably we have a lot of unsold stuff at home. This is not making money as you can see. If you are lucky you get what you spent back. We are here for passion. Do you think so many labels quit because they earned a lot?
Then I don’t sell a lot of releases in Italy so most of the time I have to ship records. That’s a problem for me because shipping costs are expensive and I’m sad to see people spend 20€ for a record when they could have it for 12€.
How do you choose the bands you release? What does a band need to have to become part of the HERE AND NOW catalog?
Mirco: If I have to talk about the music side, I love fast stuff. Slow music bores me. Nothing against it, it’s taste only. I prefer bands that can be original in songwriting, not copy of old bands but hey I don’t dislike bands that play academic grindcore / pv if they sound good to me.
I surely won’t support a band whose members don’t like pizza. That’s a must.
Is there a release you are particularly proud of, and why? Of course, without offending the other bands.
Mirco: Not really. I mean: every release has his story. I think the one that changed my way of doing was the COMMON ENEMY LP. It was the first release in which I wanted to spend more money and I took the risk. That changed my approach as a label. I decided to do less things but support the bands more.
How do you see the future of physical releases (vinyl, tapes, CDs) in an era of online music platforms, given that physical formats are “back in fashion”? How much do you even use these platforms to promote your releases and the band itself?
Mirco: I think the physical format will survive for many years underground. We love to touch it, smell it, feel it. It seems to be close to the band playing. On the other side we already saw that the music business is imploding because people use platforms or apps to listen to what they are interested in. It’s not better or worse. Times change, it’s natural.
I use Bandcamp because it’s useful to let people listen to what you release without spending money. Then if you like it you can buy it. It’s pretty fair, except for high fees.
How hard is it to run an independent label today? Do you have a philosophy for surviving in the underground, or do you just go with the flow?
Mirco: I don’t follow the flow just because I really don’t know what’s more on the hype at the moment. I don’t care. If I had to follow it I had to choose another genre hahaha
It’s hard to run an independent label because it’s difficult to make people listen to new bands and not only the most known. Then not of us can spend a lot to buy all the vinyl / CDs / tapes we want. You have to make a choice and maybe most of people prefer to buy big bands releases. I can understand it. My opinion is that a label has to release few stuff with few labels and focus on those ones so you can promote it in a good way.
In your opinion, is there any other way to support a band, or rather the scene, besides buying merch and music, whether at concerts or online?
Mirco: Of course. There are 2 more good things to do: go to the shows and share bands (or labels) links.
Going to the show can give the opportunity to bands to get refunds. If there are a good amount of audience other people are more interested in going there. It’s like a chain. If there are 3 people at the show, maybe next time bands won’t play, who booked the gig won’t do it again and the audience won’t go there because they can’t meet, talk or discuss with other people about what surrounds us.
Sharing links is important because other people that like the same genre can approach new music they haven’t listened to before.
If you could release any band in history under HERE AND NOW RECORDS, who would you choose?
Mirco: Ooooooh my gosh hahahaha. Probably CUT THE SHIT. There are many other bands I’d love to release but it was love at the first sight with them.
What’s next for DOUBLE ME and HERE AND NOW RECORDS?
Mirco: We have a compilation coming out on KnockenTapes / Coffetimes zine (Hi Jan, I love you!) and we have 2 splits but I don’t know if it makes sense to talk about them now. I mean: we already have all the songs for both but one band has other stuff to do before so it might take a lot and the other 3 ways split was supposed to be released this year but maybe it will be out the next one due to some delays. We’ll see. We are in a sort of Limbo: we could have 2 new releases this year but probably we won’t have any. Let’s see the bright side: we have more time to write new stuff.
Top 3 Italian beers?
Mirco: I like the most stupid pilsner beers. My fav one is Moretti, then all the others are mostly the same but I can mention Poretti and Peroni.
And finally – this is your space to say whatever you want, curse someone, praise someone, or send a message to the maniacs reading this!
Mirco: Thank you for this talk, it means a lot to me. I hope we can meet again as soon as possible. Hopefully at Grind Here Right Now next year.
I’d like to thank all the people that support DIY labels and bands in any way. This keeps our scene alive.
Last but not least I’d like to tell people to spend less time pointing fingers on the internet telling them that what other bands / labels / people do is wrong. If you don’t like it, ignore and don’t support them. If you think you could do it better, do it. It’s a more positive approach and it’s more useful. You’ll see you want to be disappointed and many people will support you.
Keep the spirit alive!
Follow DOUBLE ME:
Bandcamp: https://doublemechinaski.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doublemepv
Follow HERE AND NOW RECORDS:
Bandcamp: https://hereandnowrecords.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HereAndNowRecords
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hereandnowrecords
