Miccoli are turning their music into a family matter, with twin brothers Adriano and Alessandro teaming up with their sister Francesca to make what might be the most exotic collection of musical Brummies out there.
Miccoli
After spending years playing exclusive venues like The Viper Rooms in the US and The Wireless Festival, Miccoli are finally releasing their debut EP in the form of ‘Idle Stranger’.
With the EP releasing on Monday, we talked to Adriano from the trio about the record, hanging out with Motley Crue and their rather unconventional way of avoiding junk food on tour.
So, to start off with, what can we expect from the EP.
We’ve got a few new versions of the song on the EP of ‘Idle Stranger’. We’ve got a dance version, an acoustic one and a slightly tweaked version. There should be something on there for everybody really. We’ve also put on a new song called ‘Fear’. It’s quite a melancholy sound, but it’s nice and chilled so we hope people enjoy that too.
What’s the reaction been like to the track so far?
People seem to really like it. It’s being played on the music channel as we’ll and people really seem to be bonding with the video. That was shot in Malaysia and people seem to be really responding to that, so it’s all great.
With the band being very much a family unit, is there something in particular about your family that makes you all musical?
Not really, our parents aren’t particularly musical or anything. It all started off in school really when we started playing instruments. Then going through school, we joined the school orchestras until you realise that the clarinet’s not the easiest thing to write for and we started picking up guitars and messing around writing songs individually. It just became a natural process for us to come together and put together our creative visions and it went from strength to strength from there then.
So no sibling squabbles on the road then?
That happens as well, believe me. But we’ve all got the same weird sense of humour which helps, as well as similar ideas about music and where we want to go. We do have our Barney’s though for sure. It’s quite normal in that, but under it all we get along really well, which is the most important thing.
You and Alessandro used to work behind the scenes for a lot of bands. Has that helped you understand the music world a little more?
Definitely. It opens your eyes in regards to the whole musical machine, especially when it comes to live music. For us, it’s inspiring to see such big acts and work behind the scenes on that. We got to see how to perform for the audience and how not to as well and see prime examples of people being complete d***s to their fans. Not to speak ill of her, but Amy Winehouse was one of those.
It was an interesting time all the same. It was an exciting job to do, but you always want to be on stage, not behind stage.
You guys have been touring for a couple of years now, so why the delay until releasing ‘Idle Stranger’?
We basically did our tour in the States and were out there getting sponsors but during that time my brother wasn’t very well at all, so we had to lay low until we got better. We started writing songs just after then and now we’ve got material that we’re really proud of and want everyone to hear.
Both you and your brother suffer from a pretty serious heart condition. Does that have any effect on you two performing and is that something you always have to bear in mind?
I think with anything like that, it’s all about attitude and how you deal with it. You can let it get to you or you can flip it on its head and push on. It’s difficult of course at times; my brother came really close to snuffing it. He’s alright now, but it makes you appreciate everything just a little bit more. It sounds really clichéd and bit hippy-ish, but it’s true.
It does open your eyes to the fact you want to do this, you are passionate about it and you are really lucky to be doing it. It doesn’t hamper you playing, but if you get really drunk afterwards, that’s when it begins showing up. That hasn’t stopped us from time to time.
Guessing moderation isn’t the buzz word when you’re hanging out with Motley Crue?
Yeah, we bumped into those guys after we were playing one time and it’s not very rock and roll to say you can only have one as you have a condition at the moment. If you tell them that you can do some things with, that impresses them and gets them saying ‘Wow, you’re all f****d up and you’re still drinking?’ and all you can do is try and spread it out a bit.
Is it true that you guys actually made a cooker in the back of your car when you were touring America?
Yeah, it was to just save money really while we were touring. We did think the Police were going to arrest us for it, but it was just a means of not only doing that, but you end up eating rubbish on tour. So we were taking things instead and cooking it there instead. It was all really bodged together, we just used to open the sunroof for an air vent so it wouldn’t catch on fire.
It would all steam up though, so it looked really suspect when the whole band would get into a car and the windows would become instantly steamy. But nobody died though and it meant we didn’t have to eat another McDonalds again so that’s a result.
So, finishing up, what are the plans? Any word on a full album coming out?
Yeah, we’re finishing a few bits off but the album’s going to be coming. We’re planning to tours not only here in the UK, we’d love to get over to the States again and just push this whole enterprise up onto the next level really. We’re excited for people to hear what we’ve got lined up.
Miccoli’s EP ‘Idle Stranger’ is out Monday April 9th.