CVLT Nation interviews Italy’s Cancer Spreading

Fans of Hellshock, Last Legion Alive, Axegrinder etc will love Italy’s Cancer Spreading. Dark crust infused with Death Metal riffs. Thanks to Gabri for answering the questions.

CVLT: Tell us about the history of Cancer Spreading and what have you been up to lately? I also see you played at the Dewdrop Squat in London, how did that go and have you played many places outside of Italy?

CS: Cancer Spreading is a stenchcore band born in 2006… since then we added a second guitarist in 2009, released some crap (a demotape, 3 split 7″s, a split Lp, a full 7″ ep and now a full lenght cd.), toured Europe a couple of times, played in some fests and a shitload of gigs. Recently we have a new permanent bassist after our old one went away in 2010 and since then some friends from other bands helped us to play live. Our next release will be a split 7″ with Black Trinity from Greece (which is on press now) and a split Lp with Last Legion Alive from Belgium that we will record next summer. London has been a great experience for us, we stayed there one week and I have great memories of it… thanks again to the mighty Deathdrop Crew! I know that now they’ve been evicted, I wish them all the best. We have played in England, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland, France… maybe I have forgotten some. Probably the countries where our shit seems to be more appreciated are Germany and Czech Republic, but I think that probably every country have his own good and negative sides.

CVLT: You have been around for six years now, do you find your tastes in music or style will change. Do you think some folk can be very dismissive of a band who plays “stenchcore”, even though they might use other music genre terms like ‘drone’ or ‘screamo’? How do you think you manage to sustain your appetite for filthy stenchcore crust?

CS: Well, since 2006 some things of course have changed, and our style evolved a bit too… even if I would say that basically we are still into the same bands (Amebix, Deviated Instinct, Bolt Thrower, early Napalm Death, etc.) Our tastes in music didn’t changed for sure, maybe we are a bit more open-minded now and everyone of us listen to a lot of different genres… from classical rock to electronic music, going through doom/sludge, black metal, etc. but when we compose stuff for CS, we have our specific style and we exactly know how it have to sound. I really don’t care if “stenchcore” might sound “out of fashion” today, Since I have been into extreme music I have always seen fashions come and go, people following stupid trends and then disappearing… a big fuck off to them. I think that we are still into it thanks to our sincere passion for what we do… and by the way I’ve always believed that Stenchcore is more of an attitude than a specific style of playing… maybe I could be wrong. About Screamo I hardly know what is about, and Drone I like some bands…

CVLT: Do you think it’s possible to change peoples opinions through dirty metallic distortion? Do you find there is more of a crossover metal crowd at some of your gigs there is a hint of death metal in your sound?

CS: We don’t want to change nobody’s opinion… we are not preachers. We offer OUR point of view, which is extremely personal, and if you feel the same way we feel you could probably understand it… and that’s fine for me. But for what I see many people nowdays aren’t interested at all in what a band has to say, they just care about the music… as for Cancer Spreading I can say that I strongly believe in what I write, and I don’t write lyrics just because they have to “fit the music”. About people at our gigs: basically we play in squats through the DIY circuit, so many people from the hc/punk/crust area, but also many fans of grindcore… and there is often people coming from the extreme metal area too, we have also a lot of friends/followers into it… it’s always great to see people who goes beyond stupid barriers… sometimes people in Italy can be very narrowminded.

CVLT: What is Italy like to live in, gig wise and to survive on a daily basis? Do you find in this age of conformity, where multinationals take over, that there are not as many independent shops and venues anymore? What bands or places would you recommend checking out where you live?

CS: Italy is a dying country. Often I have been asking about the status of Italy in this period, and I can just say that things have changed very fast in these last years, and the situation is now out of control… the effects of our corrupt society are endless. Taxes increase, few possibilites of finding a job leaving a lot of young people without hope, repression and control are growing to “protect” the scared citizen that now doesn’t feel safe even in his home. And politics here is just a farce. About places in Modena: we used to rehearse and organize gigs in a squat here some years ago, but now this place is dead on gone. The other couple of squats where we used to go have now been evicted. So now it’s the total desolation. We try to concentrate on our music since it’s the only thing to do here except getting wasted, and about this topic I’m glad to say that we have very nice bands that you should check out: No White Rag (punk hardcore), Infamia (obscure punk), Jesus Ain’t In Poland (grindcore), Terror Firmer (mincecore/grind), Black Temple Below (blackened Doom/Sludge), Saturnine (all female Doom/Sludge), Austerity (funeral doom/ambient), 9/11 Jumpers (old style punk), Essenza Del Male (underground rap with punk attitude)… we are friends of all these bands (in many cases it’s people that we are grown together with), and we are planning a compilation to gather all the underground filth this shitty town has to offer.

Cancer Spreading – Cenotaph (Bolt Thrower)

CVLT: What do you think of the Occupy movement, I see your release gig of your album was a benefit for them. They are being kicked off the streets throughout the world. Are they still a strong voice in Italy?

CS: The release gig of “The Age Of Desolation” has been at Torre Maura Occupata, celebrating the 20th birthday of this very old and important squat in Rome… but if I remember well it wasn’t a benefit gig. About occupy movement: sorry, I’m not so well-informed about what they are doing now, and I don’t follow anything related to it. We all should be aware that we are witnessing an important historical period, the failure of modern man… that will end in his consequent extinction. and that is just what he deserves, so I have no interest in taking part in any protest/demonstration… I just stay aside with the few people I trust, trying to go through the decay around us with huge doses of alcohol.

CVLT: Do you have anything else you want to say to our CVLT Nation readers?

CS: Thanks for the interview. The split 7″ with Black Trinity is going to be released soon, stay tuned. And remember to buy some copies of “The Age Of Desolation” too instead of just downloading it from the internet, we need money to buy the booze. Cheers!

Cancer Spreading – The rotting empire

facebook.com/pages/Cancer-Spreading/160560837334955
http://www.reverbnation.com/cancerspreading