Kevin Starrs and the rest of Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats have been quiet on the album front since 2018’s Wasteland, and when it was announced that the forthcoming Nell’ Ora Blu was going to essentially be a concept album derived from Starrs’ affinity towards 1970’s Italian film, I’m sure it raised more than a few eyebrows. What follows is an album that works in the way that old radio did with scenes composed of a combination of dialogue and Starrs’ haunting approach to music writing in general.
Much of this album is a result of the self-isolation of a COVID-stricken earth and was done via telephone calls and other members of a semi-mobile crew. Starrs even admits to being uncomfortable being away from his guitar, as it is his main and most comfortable instrument to wield. He carefully curated what classic Italian actors to contact, including some who had never appeared on screen with one another, and one who passed away shortly after he was done being recorded. A lack of knowledge of the Italian language and formal training in music theory notwithstanding, Nell’ Ora Blu comes together as a full-fledged revenge story driven by its time-period-specific film score.
We go on to discuss Italian film history as a whole, including his recommendations for favorite movies and the bits and pieces that Starrs collected from others for the album before pen hit paper. The tall task of playing the album in full as intended in a live setting seems like an arduous endeavor but certainly one that is in the pipeline. If you have the time and patience to give the album a proper and complete spin in one fell swoop, then go right ahead. Until then, read on below for more specific details.
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Kevin, what was it like recording this album as a whole?
It was quite a long process, but enjoyable. Seeing it all come together has been really rewarding. It’s hard to judge an album when you’re so deep into it, but when everything is finally mastered with the artwork and everything, you can just sit back and enjoy it. Or endure it, as the case may be for everyone else!
What was it about conventional recording that you wanted to eschew this time around?
I wanted to be totally out of my comfort zone, so I started writing and improvising on other instruments. Normally when we record, everything is perfectly planned where everyone knows exactly what to play. This time it was mostly improvised. Also, circumstance played a part. The band lives in three different countries, and we had an 18-month period where we couldn’t travel, so I had to just get on with it and record as much as I could.
I probably recorded three hours’ worth of music, but you can’t use it all. Vaughn also sent me a couple of ideas that he had written and recorded which worked out really great. I didn’t tell him I was working on an “Italian” project, but weirdly he sent me a track called “Sardinia.” Absolutely perfect for the album, so I added a second part to it and some dialogue. I had already recorded Franco Nero at that point, and coincidentally during our conversation he mentioned that he’d just been to Sardinia on holiday, so I assembled a whole scene out of that comment and the track became Il Tesoro Di Sardegna (Treasure of Sardinia).
How did you go about deciding what Italian actors to use for the album?
I knew my top choices would be Franco and Edwige. They’re two great actors and two of the biggest names from that era and have never appeared together before. Same with Luc Merenda, so it’s nice to finally have the three of them on a project together. Franco was the first person I contacted. He was totally into the idea straight away, I think mostly because it was so weird and something he’d never done before. Once he was on board it gave the project some legitimacy and meant other actors maybe felt more comfortable in getting involved. I went through some films and tried to find people who were still alive! It was difficult as so many have either retired or they don’t have agents or any way of contacting them. I really wanted Henry Silva but it wasn’t to be. Massimo Vanni turned out great as the killer. He’s an actor but also an ex-stuntman, so he has that hard edge to him. He puts in a really threatening performance and delivers some of my favorite lines on the album.
Nell’ Ora Blu seems so meticulously well put together, when you consider it started out in myriad different disconnected pieces; how were you able to assemble this Frankenstein’s monster of an album?
Just good planning I suppose. Once the dialogue was recorded, it was a case of putting together music around those scenes. Then I added foley and various sound effects, before finally mixing it all together. Some people have called it “a soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist,” but that is not really what this is. The scenes are there; they’ve been scripted, acted out, and recorded. It’s not a fake film, or even a traditional soundtrack. If anything, it’s closer to a radio play with music. I can’t really think of anything like it, so it’s tricky to explain, even for people that have heard it.
Did you find it difficult to record dialogue remotely and direct with a language barrier?
I had to use Google translate for a lot of the correspondence. I was also fortunate that I found Eugenio Ercolani, an Italian film historian who also makes a lot of DVD extras for these films. He put me in touch with Massimo Vanni and recorded Luc Merenda in Rome for me. I actually thought Luc had passed away, so I was happy to learn that he’s still around, and could speak Italian! He brings a nice ”fuck you” French attitude to the role. Other than Franco, the only other actor who could speak English was Giovanni Lombardo Radice. He had a great voice and was totally into the concept. I think this may have been his last role, as he died a few months after I recorded him. The dialogue was pretty straightforward to record. Because so much of the story is based around phone calls, the sound quality wasn’t that important. I just took a feed from the phone into a preamp. The sound was actually clearer than I wanted, so I distorted it and used an old pultec EQ that has a “telephone” filter built in.
What was your comfort level like with unfamiliar instruments? Which ones in particular were the most problematic?
Other than guitar, I’m not totally comfortable with anything else, including singing, but you just have to go for it. I find keyboard playing quite difficult, so I bought a couple of nice analogue synths and made the effort to really practice. I wrote most of the album on keys by imagining the scene, listening to any dialogue I had, hitting “record,” and then improvising. I can’t read music, and I don’t know any theory, so I have no way of making notes on what I was doing. I just knew if it sounded right, I could start layering ideas.
Were there any Italian films in particular that you drew inspiration from for the album? Or was it the synthesis of Giallo and Poliziotteschi genres?
No films in particular; it’s mostly inspired by things that I see going on. Obviously I wouldn’t suggest taking the law into your own hands. That side of the story comes from the ultra-violence of those genres.
What are five essential 1970’s Italian films for your fans to check out?
Almost Human, The Fifth Cord, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Profondo Rosso, Milano Calibro 9. I would say those are good starting points.
Do you feel your level of creativity lends itself to the dark themes of violence and murder as they have over the course of the band’s career?
It’s just part of what I wanted to do with this band, mix dark themes with very light melodies. I like the contrast.
What kind of environment do you anticipate entire album live performances of Nell’ Ora Blu to evoke? Would it be a seated, cinematic experience? Or just general mayhem?
It would need to be seated, like a theater experience. I don’t think it would work with people just standing around in a club setting. I think a few shows in Europe next year will be enough. It will take a lot of planning, and we’d need to bring in extra musicians. It’s not something we’d be able to extensively tour.
Are you working on a follow-up to the album or what are your plans going forward with this release cycle?
I’ve always got new songs ready to go, but this one’s not even out yet! I know it’s going to take time for some people to fully appreciate the album because it’s not what’s expected. It’s something different that doesn’t fit on playlists or algorithms or any of that. It’s the complete opposite of whatever’s going on in the mainstream. The plan is to put it out, hopefully play a few shows, and that will be that. Going into a cycle of doing things the way that it’s always done is not what I’d want for this.
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Nell’ Ora Blue releases on May 10th via Rise Above Records.
