MESCHALINA started its activity in 1998 as a Rage Against The Machine cover
band. The band was then made up of 4 boys: Vittorio Pignatelli (drums),
Francesco Quintiliani (bass), Stefano Teatini (vocals), Matteo Valente
(guitar). After having played many gigs which have been very important for
the musical growth of the band, MESCHALINA recorded (in 1999) its first live
demo thanks to the precious help of the Music Hall s producers who had
noticed the 4 boys from Rome during one of their most important concerts of
that year. They really appreciated the 4 guys and decided to produce the
demo (whose title was Fight the war! Fuck the norm!) for them. The demo,
which contained 10 covers by R.A.T.M. and was distributed through
underground channels, assured the band good promotional success and
encouraged the guys to go further in their musical career by starting to
compose their own songs. It s the time in which Antonella Montinaro
(synths) joined the band. MESCHALINA strongly wanted her to contribute to
the creation of their new sound which they wanted to be an extremely
original one, different from that of R.A.T.M., although inspired by the
Californian band s music and joining the rap-metal s rage to the deep
atmosphere of electronic music. MESCHALINA s first demo containing
unpublished songs was recorded by the band itself in 2000. Its title was
Shut Up and it contained 3 songs. This time
the demo is a self-production recorded in MESCHALINA s private recording
studio. Even if the production was not excellent, the demo earned for the 5
musicians a lot of good reviews on the best Italian web-zines and the
interest of many people working in the music business. Encouraged by the
great success of their demo Shut Up, the band decided to produce another,
longer demo. It was again a self-production, but it was characterized by a
better production than Shut up. The demo (2001), homonymous, recorded this
time too in MESCHALINA s private recording studio, contained 8 unpublished
songs and its aim was to promote the band in Italian magazines, web-zines,
radio, etc. Not committing again the same technical mistakes of the previous
demo Shut Up in matter of production, it earned the band disconcerting
success from critics. Enthusiastic reviews about the work of the Roman band
started to appear in such magazines as ROCKSOUND, TUTTO MUSICA, METAL SHOCK,
ROCKERILLA, PSYCHO and many others. The strong promotion obtained in this
way obtained for the band the inclusion of their last single in two
important compilations distributed in Italy (PUNK & CONTAMINAZIONI, vol.2
Sana records/Audioglobe distributions- and Italian Experiences, vol. 3
Path of experiences records-) and the sponsor that was to decide their
future: the independent cooperative society MILITANT which would have
produced, in 2003, Something 2 die 4, the debut EP of MESCHALINA s new
line-up. The band immediately left for a long promotional tour which brought
the 5 musicians from Rome to play in front of the audiences of major Italian
cities. The IN RIOT WE TRUST Italian Promotional Tour 2002 was
co-organized by the MILITANT crew and MESCHALINA and its aim was a
reciprocal promotion. But, at the end of the tour, the differences of aims
which divided the members of the band started to become deeper and deeper
(Antonella Montinaro, Francesco Quintiliani and Vittorio Pignatelli were
still too bound to classical styles of making music to permit the musical
revolution which Stefano Teatini and Matteo Valente were starting to feel
they wanted to realize) and, during the month of June of the year 2002,
MESCHALINA finally renewed its line-up with the end of the collaboration
with Antonella Montinaro, Franceso Quintiliani and Vittorio Pignatelli.
Stefano Teatini and Matteo Valente were finally free to make even more
extreme the mixture of rap-core and electro
music which already partially characterized their sound and, after having
welcomed a new bass-player (Francesco Grieco) in the band, they fully
dedicated themselves to destroying every cliché and every musical scheme a
priori imposed. Their aim was to distort their musical genre, creating a new
one which, in their mind, had to be fully personal and original and which
they would have defined Electro-Rap-Core. MESCHALINA worked hard at the
project and it culminated, in June 2003, with the publishing of the EP
Something 2 die 4 (realized thanks to the inimitable collaboration of the
MILITANT crew, financer of the EP and of the video-clip of the single
Something 2 die 4) that gives full support to the band. The EP is being
strongly promoted through every channel available to the band and over 300
promotional packs have been sent to the same number of people working in
radio, magazines, web-zines, etc. all over the world. These people will
contribute (or have already done so), to promoting MESCHALINA s music,
thanks to their means. Many reviews about the EP have already been published
in magazines and webzines and can be read in the section music of the
official web-site of the band: www.meschalina.com. At present another
channel of strong promotion of the EP is the many gigs played by the band
all around Italy. Among these live dates it would be useful to mention the
wonderful concert organized by Rock TV in the Auditorium Flog in Florence on
the 18th of April 2003, during which the band shared the stage with such
bands as EXTREMA (the most important Italian thrash-metal/nu-metal band, a
historic band). The latest news sees MESCHALINA reaching Hollywood! Their
single "Something 2 die 4" will in fact appear on a sampler containing songs
from the best Californian band (bands whose music goes from rock to
crossover to guitar-pop) produced by the famous promoter Mike Galaxy
(Linkin' Park s manager), which is the most reputable sampler available to
the Californian industry.
The following is the short description of the band which will appear on the
sampler. The description has been written by Mike Galaxy s Band Promote
staff to describe MESCHALINA s music to the Californian film, TV and music
industry. The text is made up of short excerpts (in inverted commas) from
the most important reviews written until now about Something 2 die 4.
Praised by critics all over Europe, MESCHALINA, an astounding trio from
Rome, plays an explosive blend of rapped vocals, strong and noisy
hardcore guitars and samples which recall various styles of electronic music
(jungle, drum n bass, industrial, techno, EBM and electro-gothic). The
global result is an original and innovative style, something which can be
defined Electro-rap-core. The band is made up of three components
(Francesco Grieco -bass guitar-, Stefano Teatini -vocals, samples-, Matteo
Valente -guitars, samples-) and has been said to be the most innovative,
original and powerful unsigned rock band in Europe, a band which will
surely satisfy you with its innovative, unique and personal sound. Critics
who have been present to one of MESCHALINA s live concerts have said that
the three guys are enthusiastic and powerful, and give their best on stage
and that their style and aggressiveness will soon gain them a large
audience for sure. MESCHALINA 's musical repertory includes a completely
rearranged cover of "Bullet in the head" by R.A.T.M. and many unpublished
songs written by the band itself. The band has recorded its official
debut-EP which has been defined really amazing and extremely
experimental, but easy to listen to at the same time. It contains 11
unpublished songs (4 in English, 1 in Italian, 2 instrumental and 4 remixes)
and the single 's video-clip. The final result is simply astonishing and
breaks the monotony which lately has tormented the international rock
scene. It all has been possible thanks to the inimitable collaboration of
the MILITANT crew.
The only thing MESCHALINA still need is a good label/distribution and it is
what the band is now looking for.
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