end of 1987: Giulio (13) and Alberto (16) start to play together after being involved in few Punk/metal side-bands with their school mates. The first project that comes out is called GRIMCORPSES and sounds like an ultra- minimalistic and untalented attempt to do some ultrafast Thrash/HC in the way of WRETCHED, LÄRM, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, HERESY and all the classic stuff of that period. Giulio plays drums, Alberto guitar and vocals. They record a sort of Reh/Demo but don't mind about getting it distributed around, they just give it to friends as a gift. Only in 1993 those songs get re-mastered and released by E.U.'91 Prod. on a 4 Way Split tape.
1988:
GRIMCORPSES keep on playing and they
get the chance to practice in a dusty room at the top of a
gristmill, close to the country- side. Tired of doing the same
old stuff and the same old covers, Giulio and Alberto decide to
give a radical change to their style and bring it to the most
extreme and violent Noisecore nihilism. This also thanks to the
influence of the many classic Grind/Noise bands getting so
popular in that period. In March 1988 they form the CRIPPLE
BASTARDS.. this name meant as a portrait of what they are in
the everydays life, the way they used to dress at those times,
looking like filthy crippled ragmen!!!! Giulio goes on as the
drummer and Alberto as the guitarist, and they alternate vocals -
with Giulio being the main one. They start to write tons of short
blasting songs but they don't think about recording anything +
still have no contacts with the italian sene, they just keep the
thing for themselves as a personal entertainment, a way to escape
from the apathy/boredom of Asti.. a grey, conformist town in the
north of Italy.
The first C.B. show is just a short performance at a friend's
birthday party.
1989: C.B. are kicked off from their rehearsal room and spend a very long time looking for a place to practice. Whenever they find something they are quickly asked to go away, because nobody tolerates that raw, damaging noise and their young vandalistic attitude. In the short periods of time they get the chance to play, they start to record many reh. sessions that will be later used on the classic "From 1988 to 1991" cassette. 1989 is not a lucky year and C.B. find themselves stuck, there's no room for their enthusiasm and creativity. Besides few appearances at friends' parties, they don't play any shows around. Giulio starts to write mail and keep contacts with people in the underground scene, expecially abroad. He quickly becomes a fan and good friend of Matthias Weigand, the wizard behind TNT&Records - mother label of killer Noisecore acts like ANAL CUNT, 7 M.O.N., STENCH OF CORPSE and many more. During the summer C.B. record their very first Demo (25 songs in 5-6 minutes) that for no concrete reason is forgotten in a closet for ages (it'll be re-mastered and put on the anthological "Best crimes" CD only 7 years later!).
1990: Giulio and Alberto start a side-band called DISSONANCE with a friend, Luigi. The basic intention is to make some fast and catchy Hardcore, not so extreme as C.B. but still really intense and raging. Luigi is the drummer, Alberto the guitarist, and Giulio starts his "career" of screaming vocalist. The band plays an incredible brutal show at DLF in Asti, throwing in covers of DISCHARGE, NAPALM DEATH, DOCTOR & THE CRIPPENS, MACABRE... but the audience is narrow and nobody seems to appreciate. Meanwhile, Giulio and Alberto go on with the CRIPPLE BASTARDS, getting more and more into brutal, anti-musical Grind/Noisecore. Having the chance to practice at Luigi's house in the countryside, they record many rehearsal sessions with a walkman or an old cassette deck...
1991: a very important and active
year for the bastards. Giulio starts his own d.i.y. label called
"E.U.'91 Produzioni". "E.U." stands
for "Estremisti Uniti" (United Extremists), that was
basically the name of an ultra-weird vandalistic movement that
existed for a short while, specialized in urban violence and
destruction of cemeteries + monuments. Nihilism and violence were
the main things on which Estremisti Uniti was focused on, so why
not giving place to a musical (or rather, "anti-musical"!)
expression of it. CRIPPLE BASTARDS & DISSONANCE record their
first official demos and Giulio puts them together on the
first E.U. release: C.B. / DISSONANCE / K.S.G. 3 Way tape. C.B.
deliver 64 songs of full-speed Grind/Noise sounding like a cross
between 7 M.O.N., SORE THROAT and VIOLENT NOISE ATTACK. DISSONANCE's
"Proud people suck" DT is 20 minutes of grinding, fast
Hardcore/Thrash with covers of DR. & THE CRIPPENS, MACABRE,
ANAL CUNT and even KING CRIMSON!! K.S.G. is a depressive
ambient/dark/noise project created by Alberto in 1988 and joined
by Giulio two years later. The 3 Way Tape gets a decent
distribution, but nobody in Italy shows interest about the bands.
Giulio and Alberto often attend local shows in Torino-Alessandria
and give the demo for free to the people at the entrance... In
spring/summer '91 Luigi gets into hooligan/skinhead stuff and
Giulio follows the thing for a while. Vandalism is anyway the
biggest passion of Giulio & Alberto, and this gives'em some
problems with local authorities and of course many quarrels with
friends (now ex friends!) and people in Asti. Even Luigi starts
to dislike them and everything ends in a big fucked-up quarrel,
causing the break up of DISSONANCE and the end of their
friendship. Rehearsal room is lost again. In May C.B. play a
crazy show at Giulio's mansard but they have to quit suddenly
because some angry neighbours come to complain. In summer/autumn
they start to practice in Torino, at the now well-known metal
club "Dracma", and they record a lot of reh. sessions.
K.S.G. get 5 new songs released on "Killed by the
machinery of sorrow" Comp. CD on the mighty Econcentric
Rec. (E.R. 103) In October C.B. record their 2nd demo in a
different room of the same gristmill they use to attend in '87/'88
... those trax will get released only two years later, on the
infamous Split 7" with VIOLENT HEADACHE. In November C.B.
play their first real show, at "Torretta" / Asti,
attacking the audience with 80 songs of brutal minimalistic
Noisecore, everybody leaves the place (about 100 people were
there to see the other bands) and only 5-6 friends remain to see
C.B. 'till the last track! The year ends with 2 new releases on E.U.'91
: K.S.G. "88-90" Tape (collection of material
recorded by Alberto solo) and the mighty CRIPPLE BASTARDS
"From 1988 to 1991" Tape, an incredible comp. of
rehearsals and live sessions through the first 3 years of
activity, 90 min. - 341 songs of the most extreme and noisy
italian Punk ever heard since then! "From 1988 to 1991"
also includes a 145 track out take from the first demo session
that was supposed to be put out as Split 7" with K.S.G., but
never happened - due to financial problems.
1992: C.B. go on practicing in Torino and between the hundreds of short and rapid noisecore tracks they throw in some re-visited versions of Hardcore influenced songs, originally written by DISSONANCE.. "Vital dreams" and "T.L.O.H." just to mention the most successful ones. Meanwhile, Giulio gets more and more into d.i.y. distribution and contacts with the underground scene (95% outside of Italy) and C.B. start to be recognized around, expecially thanks to the "1988 to 1991" collection. They finally get the chance to put some stuff on vinyl, the very first appearance is 2 trax on the "Son of bblleeauurrggh!" Comp. 7" released by Chris Dodge/Slap A Ham. Both ones were taken from the unreleased Demo # 2 recorded in 1991. Vandalism is still one of their biggest passions, and C.B.'s introspective lyrics are often very inspired by the night-rides of Giulio, Alberto and their gang of friends. Some titles: "Standing violent", "...what can be awaked", "Provincial councils", "Deoxidized brain", "Kilroy's green cadillac" + many more. Summer '92 is a very lucky time for the two Asti vandals: Psychomania Records from Scotland asks them to release a split 7", AGATHOCLES send unreleased live stuff to Giulio and agree about doing a split tape... And they're finally invited to play abroad, taking part to the huge "Melody Festival" in Pula/Croatia (6/8/'92) with bands like TRANSMISIA, HLADNO PIVO, POLSKA MALCA, ANTIOTPAD + many more. C.B. shock the audience (about 1500 people) with 44 tracks in 12 minutes - the show opens with Giulio saying "we're not musicians we're CRIPPLE BASTARDS 1,2,3,4.." and then noise 'till death. It's the beginning of the legend. Some people told they started to realize what the hell was happening on stage just when the show was already finished!! In September another important thing happens: C.B. decide to take a 3rd member and end their story of two piece outfit. The new member is Michele Delemont and takes Giulio's place on drums, so that "the bastard" can start to concentrate his effort to vocals & lyrics only. In order to makes things clear: Giulio - vocals, Alberto - guitar, Michele - drums. Tons of new tracks come out and they quickly record their new Demo, that is supposed to be included on the Split Tape with AGATHOCLES. Michele shows to be a really excellent drummer even if he never played any kind of Hardcore/Grind stuff before; he chooses to join C.B. simply because he was feeling sympathy for Giulio and Alberto, very attracted by the many things he heard about them around (vandalism, nihilistic attitude). As a matter of fact, he's now one of the few ex-C.B. members still in friendship and good contacts with them. In November, the band records a new Demo (# 5) that is meant to come out as "Tribute to 7 M.O.N." on a split tape with the French Noise/Grinders FILTHY CHARITY. It's 94 songs in 4 minutes, and all lyrics are written in italian following a really hermetic, negative edge. Soon later (December) Giulio and Alberto form a side-project called HARSH FEELINGS, trying to mix brutal Grind in the early N.D. way with scandinavian type HC and other features. The final result is far away from the intentions, but they anyway manage to record a Demo that sounds quite intense and aggressive.
1993: in the first months of the
year E.U.'91 puts out two new incredible releases: C.B. / AGATHOCLES Split Tape and C.B.
/ DARK SEASON Split Tape, the first one including a very raw
cut of the C.B. show in Pula/Croatia + 22 song Demo #4 (the one
with Michele on drums), the other including a 40 track Demo (#3)
of which drums and guitar were recorded at Dracma's rehearsal
room in spring '92 and vocals were added at the beginning of '93
at Alberto's house, using a rough 2 track equipment. Both tapes
get a huge distribution thanks to Giulio's enthusiasm and will to
spread the C.B.'s noise all around, trading with tons of labels
and sending out many free copies to 'zines, pen-pals etc. He also
manages to get 10.000 flyers made gratis ripping off a
printing office that was close to go bankrupt and disappear. This
helped a lot to advertise C.B. all around and raise the interest
of tons of people in the scene. Making a rough estimate, during
the years Giulio sold/traded/presented more than 2000 x C.B. / AGATHOCLES, 2000 x C.B. "From 1988 to
1991" and 1500 x C.B. / DARK SEASON... In the spring, C.B.
can finally see the first 7" released... it's the Split
EP with VIOLENT HEADACHE (Spain) on Psychomania Records,
featuring the hyper-brutal 44 song Demo # 2 recorded in '91,
fucking sick fast Noise/Grind reminescent of early A.C., SORE
THROAT, FEAR OF GOD. A little secret: the insert of the record
states that Michele was playing drums on those tracks, in reality
it was another drummer (can't mention the name) that made only
that thing and then suddenly quit. E.U.'91 comes to the 7th
release few months later... it's two split tapes put together as
a 4 way cassette: CRIPPLE BASTARDS / FILTHY CHARITY / HARSH
FEELINGS / GRIMCORPSES, pro-copied and limited to 200 pieces
only. C.B. and F.C. include their "tribute to 7 M.O.N.",
H.F. the '92 Demo and GC the early trax recorded in 1987. These
new outputs raise a lot of interest and positive responses, and C.B.
get new offers to release vinyl on different labels, most of
which from Germany. So they promptly do brand-new stuff for Split
7" with W.B.I. and full lenght EP on A-Watt Records, all
very filthy d.i.y. recordings organized by Giulio at Michele's
rehearsal room. Few mikes close to the drums, guitar and vocals
passing through the mixer, everything connected to a good
cassette deck... this way of self-producing their recordings was
destined to become a classic and give a unique home-made feel' to
the many C.B. singles that came out from then on. In June the
band is invited to play in Torino at "Prinz Eugen"
squat. It's the first real C.B. contact with the italian scene
and also the first Grindcore show ever happened in Torino, a town
with a long tradition of Punk/Hardcore bands and anarchistic
action, but nothing at all concerning Grind and extreme fast shit
in general. The show is ultra-successful and the audience forces
C.B. to stay on stage and play their set twice, asking for many
versions of songs like "Asti Punks" and "Stimmung"
(still not appeared on any record!). Although Grindcore in Italy
was probably started in '87-'88 by bands like GRIMCORPSES, SONIC
TERRORISM, CEREBRAL DISFUNCTION etc., C.B. were the first and
only band to leave a concrete mark in the scene, turning the page
of the old Punk tradition and bringing it to the most horrorific
extremes. In the summer Giulio goes to Croatia and meets Hado of
PATARENI for the first time - they become friends and talk about
possible split releases in the future. In autumn '93 the bastards
record some new trax for future releases and do their 2nd show
abroad, in Thannhausen/southern Germany, even if Michele decides
not to come because he's facing some troubles with his parents,
so that Giulio and Alberto end up with the two member line-up
playing tons of old trax (including HARSH FEELINGS stuff) . The
german audience is surprisingly friendly and enthusiastic. Few
months later, both the Split 7" with W.B.I. on Useless
Records (ltd. to 500, never re-pressed) and "Life's
built on thoughts" 7" on A-Wat come out, and C.B.
strenghten their international fame of hyper-brutal Hate/Noise
terrorists. The year ends with the very first C.B. studio
experience, at Dracma Club in Torino: they record 6 tracks for
the Split 7" with SOCIAL GENOCIDE + 5 x PATARENI covers for
the "Obrade" tribute Comp. LP + 1 x AGATHOCLES cover (re-mixed
and released on "Kill your idols" tribute Comp. CD
several years later) + 1 x BEATLES cover for the A-Wat's Comp. 7".
1994: a show with SOCIAL GENOCIDE at Prinz Eugen/Torino is the first important event of the year. On that night the bands agree about doing a split 7" on a new italian label, A.D.P. Records. The following months are destined to become some of the most depressing, hate-inducing periods in the C.B. story..: Giulio gets brutally ripped off by an actress from Berlin, after over 1 year of fake friendship and lies, and he falls in a nervous breakdown / Alberto passes through many personal changes as well, often jumping in drug abuse and self-destructive intentions. It's the perfect climax for some of the most rageful and aggressive recordings to date: "Addicted to hatred" (later released as Split 7" with PSYCHOTIC NOISE) and "Images of war / Images of pain" (Split 7" with SENSELESS APOCALYPSE). The bastards get back to d.i.y. self-productions at Michele's rehearsal room, and reach their best in that type of ultra-corrosive, hate exploding style, later labelled as "Filthy Fastcore Punk". The first versions of songs like "Italia di merda", "1974", "Devozioni", "Padroni" + many more are all from those times, as well as the negative lyrics to "September, 18th 1993", "Walk away", "Never mentioned"... harsh reflections on the personal shit Giulio + Alberto have just came from. Spring '94: C.B. / PATARENI Split 7" is released by Regurgitated Semen in Germany, and there's a big diatribe because Hado of PATARENI accuses the label to have pressed more copies than what it was originally accorded with the bands. Though, at the end of all nobody ever knew how many copies of the EP were done. In that same period, Matthias/Ecocentric Rec. deals with Giulio about bringing to light an old C.B. dream: a record featuring covers of classic early '80s italian Hardcore bands performed in the Cripple's way. After a quick selection of the songs and some months of practice, they get back to Dracma Studios in June and record this awesome EP, including covers of WRETCHED, NEGAZIONE, NABAT, UNDERAGE, IMPACT, BLUE VOMIT and INDIGESTI. After playing on this record, Michele decides to call Giulio and explain that he wants to leave the band, finding himself not interested in the musical direction C.B. was based on, and also too distant from the attitude/ideals the bastards were often assuming. Giulio persuades him to quit the thing only after recording a full lenght album and some other important releases scheduled, and Michele agrees - in the name of their old friendship. In September/November they write some new legendary tracks like "Prospettive limitate", "Watching through my chaos", "Danas je dan za ljencine" and they record them firstly at Michele's place and then, for the first time, at "Acqualuce Studio" in Alpignano (close to Torino) - destined to become the definitive C.B. studio for the next years. The songs from Michele's reh. room session are later used on "Punk's not music" collective tape and "Best crimes" CD, while those recorded at Acqualuce end up on the split 7" with CARCASS GRINDER. Still in autumn '94, C.B. start to practice with another drummer (whose name can't be mentioned here) but only for doing some shows around - while Michele was meant to help them on with the studio stuff. With this parallel drummer, C.B. finally manage to play some gigs around, among which one in Firenze and one at Torino/El Paso (recorded and later featured on the Split 10" with CAPITALIST CASUALTIES). They also get a full tour organized in Germany at the end of December, but they have to cancel it few days before leaving, due to some problems that can't be written here. A show with RAW POWER gets cancelled too, so Giulio and Alberto decide to break up that badly organized "parallel line-up" and go on with Michele for the missing studio recordings he had promised to do. Meanwhile, C.B. / SENSELESS APOCALYPSE Split 7" (View Beyond Rec.) and C.B. / SOCIAL GENOCIDE Split 7" (A.D.P. Records) come out and soon after Econcentric Rec. puts out the cover EP "Frammenti di vita", destined to become a total successful classic. In October/November Giulio becomes good friend of two brazilian brothers he met in Torino at a show, and he promptly tries to put together a band with them, playing some kind of fast south american Thrash/HC. The project doesn't work too well, but one of the Brazilian bros (Eduardo) shows to be very interested in the C.B. thing and asks the bastards to join the band as the very first bass- player they ever had. Giulio and Alberto accept and find in Eduardo a really great friend and good new member. From now on, C.B. start to practice hecticly in order to teach to Eduardo the whole set of the album they're working on...
1995: releases of the year:
Split 7" with PSYCHOTIC NOISE on Grinding Madness Rec./Belgium,
Split 10" with CAPITALIST CASUALTIES - part of a
Double 10" set on Wiggy Rec./USA, different versions
of "Punk's not music" cassette on
different labels - including Upground/Spain and Chaotic
Noise/USA, Split 7" with PRÄPARATION-H on Vicious
Interference/USA. The band goes on and on rehearsing hard for
the upcoming studio recordings, Giulio and Alberto share their
time between Torino - 
teaching the songs to Eduardo,
and Asti - revising the drum parts with Michele. They even manage
to reform the 2 member line-up for a short while and open at the
IMPACT party (E.U.'91 had just released IMPACT "82-85"
collective LP, one of the first re-issues of old italian Punk
ever made). In March they finally start to work on the new album
at Acqualuce Studios. Michele finishes the drum recordings in May
and definitely leaves the band, after almost 4 years of prolific
activity and awesome ultrafast grinding blasts. It takes a lot of
time to record, mix and put together the new stuff.. ..and Giulio
has to face the fact that more and more labels ask for new C.B.
material for upcoming releases. So he decides to use different
versions of that studio session to satisfy the most important
requests. At the end off all, the Acqualuce recordings '95 end on
the following records: "Your lies in check" LP/CD (complete
session), Split LP with SUPPRESSION (a different mix of 20
minutes of the most grind-oriented stuff), Split 7" with PRÄPARATION-H
(different mix of 10 trax), Split 7" (bootleg) with WRETCHED
(different mix of the HC trax sung in italian, meant to be
included on a local Comp. CD but bootlegged by a south american
label off the promo cassette Giulio used to send around for
promotion) + some compilations. The whole "Your lies..."
session lasts from March '95 to February '96, this anyway
considering several breaks due to personal problems and the
narrow studio engineer's availability. In the summer, C.B. see
themselves quite in a critical situation as far as they can't
find a new drummer, and Giulio doesn't want to return to the drum
& vocals thing, finding it too difficult and frustrating.
Luckily, the bassist of CRUNCH contacts the bastards for a show
in Torino and tells that Paolo, the drummer of ARTURO (fast old
school Hardcore) was very much into C.B. and would have really
liked to learn the trax and help them out with shows + other
stuff. Paolo Arturo quickly reveals to be one of the best (and
fastest) HC drummers in the italian scene, and he totally shocks
Giulio, Alberto and Eduardo learning more than 20 C.B. songs at
its first rehearsal!! With this new line-up, the band does one
show in Torino and takes part to the legendary "Crust
Barrage" Festival in Firenze, November '95 with FUCK OFF,
ENDLESS HATE, SCUM OF SOCIETY and other emerging local acts.
Piero Pelù, superstar singer of the ultra-popular italian rock
band LITFIBA attends the festival and congratulates Giulio "the
Bastard" for the unbelievable aggressivity of his voice. A
more unique than rare event in the C.B. history!! In the autumn,
the american label Grand Theft Audio - specialized in fantastic
CD re-issues of classic '80s Hardcore/Punk (AGNOSTIC FRONT, RAW
POWER, ADRENALIN O.D., RATTUS etc.) contacts the cripples for
doing a collective CD compiling the previously released singles
and the best of the older stuff from demos and '88-'92 rehearsals.
Another important event is the re-press on multicolored wax of
"Frammenti di vita" by Ecocentric Rec., and the
brilliant response this record gets (in Italy above all), with
positive reviews on local UG mags and even complete articles/interviews
finally introducing C.B. in the proper way to a bigger audience,
reaching the status of most extreme Punk band of the country,
giving one step foward to the italian Hardcore reality of the '90s.
During a IMPACT + RAW POWER show at Leonkavallo in Milano Giulio
goes up on stage to sing the old classic "La vostra
violenza" with IMPACT, the song is recorded and ends on
the C.B. / PATARENI Split 10" (Havin' A Spazz Records) later
on. The year ends with the above-mentioned Split 7" with PRÄPARATION-H
coming out on Vicious Interference/USA. This EP includes a very
strong and interesting concept about sexism and exploitation of
feelings, later recanted by Giulio due to the fact that many
people misunderstood the basic ideas and wrongly judged C.B. as
politically correct moralists.
1996: in April C.B. play a memorable show at the "Two Days Of Struggle" HC Festival, set up by sXe Green Records in Padova, sharing the stage with the most followed italian HC bands of the moment: GROWING CONCERN, BY ALL MEANS, EVERSOR, MOURN, OBTRUDE and so on. The local scene reacts with more and more enthusiasm to C.B.: the singles around sell at the speed of light and the affulence at the shows is always good. In May '96 Eduardo decides to return to Brazil because his wife and daughter are there and he misses them too much, so he suddenly leaves C.B. - not keeping the promise to get back soon. In the summer E.U.'91 Produzioni finally puts out the CD edition of the first C.B. full lenght album: "Your lies in check", with a detailed 16 page booklet featuring all lyrics, commentaries etc. In September it's the turn of Ecocentric Rec. to release the vinyl version of it, with a wonderful fat gatefold cover and a photo-poster enclosed. Other releases to follow are the Split boot. 7" with WRETCHED and "Best crimes" collective CD on Grand Theft Audio. Meanwhile, Paolo persuades the ARTURO's bassist Stefano to learn the C.B. live set and replace the missing Eduardo for few shows 'till the end of the year. With this temporary line-up C.B. play in Udine with DOOM (September '96), and few months later in Torino/El Paso with DROPDEAD + STACK. After this, Paolo decides to leave C.B. explaining to Giulio and Alberto that being busy with two bands was too much for him, but most of all due to the fact that other ARTURO's members weren't too happy to share their drummer with another band, realizing that C.B. were so well-known all around. Paolo's main band was anyway ARTURO and things were meant to stay like that, even if C.B. never thought to "steal" him to them nor to let them pass in second order. In the following period the two original bastards have to slow down the activities because they're too resigned and disappointed, realizing that most people who had been involved in the band took the thing only as temporary entertainment and nothing else. After some time, Luca of Havin' A Spazz Records (old friend and supporter) introduces to C.B. a drummer interested in joining them: Gaba from Milano, already playing in STUNTPLASTICPARK (melodic HC). Gaba takes the thing quite seriously and after some problems at the first rehearsals, he shows up to be a really fast and brutal drummer. Anyway, it takes 4 months of exhausting practice to teach him the live set.
1997: In March C.B. get
back to stage with two incredible hyper-blasting shows, the first
in Pavia and the other (very successful) in Milano/Eterotopia.
But it's already the end of Gaba's career with them... he quickly
decides to leave because he has to start the compulsory civil
service and the military shitheads send him to a small town far
away from Milano. A mini-tour in Slovenia gets cancelled few days
before. After this sequence of bad luck, Giulio persuades Paolo
Arturo to come back for a while and record something at Acqualuce
Studio.. this happens in spring '97 ... 6 tracks for an upcoming
4 way CD on Gran Theft Audio and 2 x HÜSKER DÜ covers for the
italian tribute Comp. CD on Berserk Records. After that session,
Paolo leaves the band again and Giulio & Alberto remain alone,
with tons of obstacles to face. Giulio decides to get back to
drums and improve his abilities in order to record some new
tracks. Meanwhile, the Split 7" with PATARENI gets re-pressed
on Havin' A Spazz Rec./Italy as a Split 10" with
remastered stuff and bonus live tracks (including IMPACT doing "La
vostra violenza" with Giulio on vocals), plus the Split
7" with CARCASS GRINDER on Upground/Spain and some
compilations on various labels get finally released. Soon later,
the bastards reform with the old 2 member line-up and record some
new songs at Acqualuce, one for the "Europe in decline"
comp. LP on Six Weeks and 2 for a Comp. 7" that never
came out. Almost in the same period, they find a new drummer,
Walter from Biella, backed by a good experience with WELCH (Fat
Wrech influenced HC), a 10" recorded with ex-INDIGESTI's new
band ACREDINE, and a short unsuccessful period of practice with
Italy's popstars PROZAC+. Walter shows up to be a good talented
drummer, but he finds it very difficult to learn the fast
grinding parts and fit his own style to the C.B. needs. It takes
a lot of time and stress to teach him the live set, months and
months of practice and serious effort. After some time, Giulio
decides to contact Gigi, the bass-player from Milano that was
supposed to join the band at Gaba's times but was put aside by
the circumstances when Gaba decided to quit. Spring '97 is a
really frantic period for the bastards, but at the end Giulio and
Alberto manage to teach the live set (+ even some new tracks) to
Walter and Gigi, and organize some shows for the summer. In that
period, the Split LP with SUPPRESSION on Bovine Rec. gets
finally released, and it gets a really good response, expecially
in the US. June '97: the new C.B. line-up goes for its first show
with ACAO DIRETA and some shitty local bands in a squat of Torino.
They play at 4 am in front of 10 people, due to the extreme lack
of organization and care of the squatters from that place. Giulio
gets mad and starts to hate the way things are often done in the
italian anarco-scene, finding himself and the C.B. mentality more
and more distant from this kind of reality. Though, the second
show (at Laboratorio Anarchico in Milano, with STRYCHNINE/USA)
goes ways better and this brings some satisfaction in the band.
The third show is a again a complete disaster, C.B. play at the
anarcoPunk festival in Treviso with STRYCHNINE, D.D.I., BRANDELLI
D'ODIO, HEADACHE, SCUM OF SOCIETY + tons more, but the
organizators use the policy of "let's call as many bands as
we can (15!), who cares if at the end they are paid or not"...
C.B. get really few money, not even half of what they spent for
petrol and road-bills, so they end up with the car stuck without
petrol in the middle of the way back home! A reason more to
increase the hate against a scene that seems to be more and more
inefficient and lost behind nebuolus political struggles. Soon
later C.B. finally manage to go abroad, after 4 long years of
"captivity" in Italy. They play cool shows in Slovenia
and they promptly appreciate the fact that underground
organization outside of Italy works 1000 times better. As soon as
they come back, they record 6 new tracks for Split 7" with I.R.F.
on MCR Company and they quickly start to work on more stuff for
future releases. In September they play in Cremona at the best
italian Punk festival of the decade (with CRUNCH, ARTURO,
ENTROPIA, TEAR ME DOWN and tons more) organized by the future C.B.'s
bassist Andrea Schintu. At this festival the bastards reach the
top of their fame in the scene, the audience gets crazy for them
(total massacre show) and all singles/CD's/merchandizing sell out
in few hours. One month later C.B. are invited to play at the
same place with DOOM and D.D.I. Again, they're the winners, with
a superfast and schizoid live set. After this Gigi "Pacino"
decides to quit, assuming that C.B.'s activity was too hectic,
that he couldn't stay behind all what the band was doing (recordings,
shows etc.) and that living in Milano he had to travel a lot for
coming to Asti and practice, then go back late in the night and
wake up early in the morning for goin' to school. Anyway, one
week before the show with DOOM, the bastards manage to go at
Acqualuce Studio and record some new tracks for the Split 7"
with WORLD on Nat Records/Japan + some comp. tracks (including
one with the 2 member line-up, never released) .. it's the last
session with Gigi Pacino on bass. Giulio doesn't give up and
quickly contacts a guy from Asti that asked to play bass in the
band some months before: Panz. Meanwhile, C.B. / URBAN DK /
THE DREAD / P.E.L.M.E. 4 Way CD on Grand Theft Audio
comes out, and the cripples go to Austria for a show, without
bass because the new member isn't ready yet. It takes about 3-4
practices to teach the live set to Panz, and November is time to
start to do some shows with him. C.B. go to southern Germany and
have a really great time thanks to the excellent organization. In
that same period Denied A Custom from Japan releases the "Massacrecore"
7", including some classic ultra-raw footage from '96/'97.
In the last months of the year Alberto the Crippler starts to
discuss with Giulio about leaving C.B.; being too stressed due to
the endless line-up changes (every time wasting months and months
teaching the live set to each new member) and finding himself too
disappointed by the italian scene, too distant from the common
mentality + due to many personal problems as well. This is a real
stab in the heart of C.B., considering that Alberto has been
playing with Giulio since 1987 and has always been a load-bearing
column of the whole thing. So the two original members start to
talk on how to organize the next months; Giulio accepts Alberto's
choice but persuades him not to leave the band until they had
recorded the new album and brought to light some important plans.
From now on, the future of C.B. is uncertain. Talking of the
italian scene related to C.B.'s lyrics, mentality and attitude,
we can say that some important changes have gradually developed
from '94 to '97 and it's quite well explained in the next lines,
taken from an interview (Spit Teeth 'zine) Giulio answered in '98:
"In '94-'95, Cripple Bastards got very involved in the
political Italian scene and I often tried to stay on the side of
local squats and anarcho movements (here in my area there's some
of the most active groups into these kind of things). The records
that came out at those times (most of all the split 7"s with
Social Genocide, Senseless Apocalypse, Präparation-H and the
split 10" with Capitalist Casualties) were partially
influenced by that reality we were trying to share. Later, we
started to realize that it was all a big bunch of lies and
hypocrisy and it had nothing in common with the real spirit of C.B.
We didn't want to become a tool for a certain movement's
political messages, so we finally realized that Cripple Bastards
was a band destined to stay away from politics and any sort of
movement/ideology. This form of "repulsion" grew up
after years and years of disillusions and negative experiences.
Too often we realized that people here do only care about
politics and boring rhetorics and don't give a shit about the
bands, the music, the records. Too often it happened to play in
squats and be treated like the worst shits on earth, no promotion,
no money (not even to pay the cost of the travels), no respect
for Cripple Bastards as a band at all. So, we chose not to be a
"benefit band" for these assholes. The real C.B.
direction is the one of the most negative and personal lyrics and
the things we're doing now, giving expression to our misanthropy
and inner violence. The current Italian scene is too ignorant and
chained to backwarded political schemes for us. In my area it's
all related to what the anarchists do, what happens to the
comrades in jail, squats vs local authorities etc. In other parts
of Italy, politics have been mixed with emo crap bullshit, so
there's a lot of backward feminists using the anti-homophobic/anti-sexist
slogans in the same way as the holy inquisition used to condemn
the heretical movements in the middle ages, pc bands playing the
most mediocre non-original shit are overrated and worshipped.
Then there's another slice of the scene made of those we call
"militant punks", those who stand for the ultra-political
punk, living it as they are still in the early '80s... So, what
you can hear from them is just a bunch of prehistoric clichés
and shit against all those who differ from their punk-as-fuck way
of life. Cripple Bastards are very attached to early '80s punk/
hc and to many things that happened in those years, but we're
certainly not repeating at length out of date words/concepts...
We rather keep the music and the nihilism of those bands as a
source of inspiration, but we don't feel like it's still
something original and fresh to sing "fuck the power, fuck
the police, destroy the church, boycot the nuclear power..."
and so on. I mean, they're still all important topics, but the
way this kind of subjects are often represented is getting too
narrow-minded and out of time. So, as I explained above, the
Italian scene is structured in many different realities, most of
which are very ignorant and backwards. A big part is chained to
politics and out-of-date attitudes/ideologies, some others are
completely influenced by the shit that comes from the US. Bands
who really do something of their own and deserve to be
appreciated are those who stay away from their local scenes. So,
I can't talk about a "progress" of the scene, but
rather of a regress."
1998: the year starts with a HC festival in Genova with C.B., CRUNCH, ARTURO, TEAR ME DOWN, ENTROPIA and some more... quite a good event but no so excellent as the previous shows in Cremona. The bastards realize that the italian scene is getting too fucked-up and full of prejudice, so they decide not to play any shows for a while, except the dates abroad. They finally start to work on new songs for the next album, even if Alberto falls again in a period of crisis and takes a full month off the band for reflecting about what to do in the future. Giulio puts together his energies and starts to look around for a new guitarist. So he decides to contact Fulvio, an awesome 6 string wizard doing a total Grind-Violence outfit called HATEBOX. Fulvio takes the chance and starts to try the C.B. songs using some tapes/videos as guide-line. In the spring he starts to practice with the band, and again - it takes quite a long time (and patience) to teach him the most important tracks, but at the end it works fine. Meanwhile, Giulio has the big luck to control/organize a part of the european tour of RATOS DE PORAO/Brazil, including their shows in Austria, southern Germany, Slovenia and most of all, 6 dates in Italy with the bastards, of course in bigger/better places than the fucked-up squatted toilets C.B. had been ghettoized to for years. In the spring MCR Company from Japan brings to light the C.B. / I.R.F. Split 7", with 6 new tracks of fast, corrosive Hardcore/Violence backed by extremely negative + cynical lyrics, facing for the first time different arguments than those of the old C.B. songs... words of mysoginy against the typical middle-class female individuals and their conformist intolerant habits ("I hate her"), oppression of an omnivore society consuming everything in the name of salvation, money and comfort ("Mondo plastico", "Jesus and his crabs"), reflections about direct violence ("Get out and bite them", "fuck politics") and a hymn to asociality: "always unsatisfied". This kind of change is a very important step forward in the Cripple's style and way to see the things. After an inhuman effort (5 months of stress) the R.D.P. tour gets finally organized and the italian dates confirmed. For the first time, C.B. play with an incredible 5 piece line-up: Giulio the Bastard - vocals, Alberto the Crippler - guitar, Fulvio Hatebox - guitar, Panz - bass, Walter Dr. Tomas - drums. RATOS DE PORAO quickly become great friends of the bastards and the combination on stage is just perfect, nihilism and sheer rage at the rawest levels. The shows are all memorable with very good affluence (500-1000 people)... expecially in Milano/Leonkavallo, Firenze/C.P.A. and Roma/Sisto. However, Giulio ends up quarrelling with somebody at every gig, in Modena takes place a big diatribe with ignorant radical feminists due to a controversial patch/sticker C.B. had printed 4 years before, in Ascoli and Roma there's problems with money because the guy that set up those dates gave out a part of the gain to an obscure "benefit" cause without consulting with the bands before. C.B. are more and more hateful about the dishonesty and backstabbing attitude of most people in the italian scene, and they start to realize that they've been used just like a toy - enthusiasm and support when they were something new, something to be discovered - prejudices and envy when people started to realize that they were around since too long and didn't fit the standards of the typical politically correct militant Punk band they wished'em to be. Some squats/labels/collectives even start to boycot them, and C.B. get banned from different places in Italy. Alberto the Crippler tells that he doesn't want to do shows anymore because he's too sick of the way people stabs his band in the back. Soon after the tour with R.D.P. Giulio begins to dislike Panz due to many important reasons, above all the almost zero enthusiasm, his constant missing at the rehearsals, his way of ripping friends off on debts and money matters.. etc. It's the first time that C.B. find themselves forced to kick a member off in a very unfriendly way. The main problem anyway is that there's a tour abroad (with ENTROPIA) organized for the summer and the band has no bassist. Giulio decides to ask to his friend Andrea (drummer of ENTROPIA from Cremona) if anyone of them was into learning the live set and play bass on the tour dates. Luck wants that Andrea before being drummer was a bassist, and a really excellent one as well. So it's time to practice again and again for teaching him the most important songs. In July and August C.B. & ENTROPIA do their ultra- successful "east european tour", including shows in Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic and north east of Germany. Alberto doesn't join them on this, so Fulvio Hatebox plays as the only guitarist for the first time. In the middle of August the band goes to Belgium for a couple of shows (including the "Wee Lawaat" Festival with AGATHOCLES, MALIGNANT TUMOUR and many other cool bands) and Alberto decides to come, so the 5 member line-up strikes again. In September C.B. record 4 new tracks for upcoming comp.s and for the not-released-yet Split picture 7" with DENAK on Clean Plate/USA, it's the first studio session with Andrea on bass. Alberto the Crippler takes part to the thing too, while Fulvio Hatebox not, as far as he's still meant to be a live guitarist only (this just as a matter of organization). Havin' A Spazz Records puts out the C.B. / P.E.L.M.E. Split 7" including the C.B. trax taken from GTA's "Atrocity, government, culination" 4 Way CD + 1 unreleased bonus. After these events, the band goes on writing and practicing songs for the next album and the 5 member line-up blows brains again with some cool shows in Torino/Milano with DROPDEAD, ROT, ABUSO SONORO etc. In December Giulio the Bastard sets up the "Birthday Holocaust" HC party in Milano, with ENTROPIA, CRUNCH and ARTURO. A polish label releases an ultra-deluxe cassette edition of "Your lies in check", with cool full- colour packaging and all lyrics translated in polish.
1999: NAT Records from Japan releases the ominous C.B. / WORLD Split 7", including 4 new tracks talking about glorification of violence, psychology of serial killers, gore as an alternative form of expression, negativity getting a life-style, the metaphor of cannibalism in the contemporary society... The EP gets a surprising success all around and it's promptly re-pressed. After some not too important shows, Walter Dr. Tomas calls Giulio and tells that he wants to leave C.B. soon; the reasons are not clear at all, but they mainly concern the fact that the band doesn't leave enough room to his creativity, and the sad point that he wants to make a living on his musical activity and this is obviously impossible for a d.i.y. HC group. Giulio accepts his choice but persuades him to stay some months more and record the new album on which they've been working since a long fucking time. C.B. really don't want to give up and Giulio agrees with Andrea about contacting Al Mazzotti, a bulldozing drummer coming from 10 years of experience in thrash metal bands and a short permanence in STINKING POLECATS (local PunkRock with some records around). From now on, C.B. split their effort in the following way: - rehearsals in Asti with Giulio (V), Alberto (G), Andrea (B), Walter (D) for goin' on with the upcoming LP works, - rehearsals in Cremona with Giulio (V), Fulvio (G), Andrea (B), Al Mazzotti (D) for gettin' back doing shows a.s.a.p. A 3rd temporary "special line-up" is also organized by Giulio + Andrea + the other two guys of ENTROPIA in order to record the C.B. side of Split 7" with COMRADES (to be released by S.O.A. Rec., Italy). Spring '99 is one of the most hectic periods in the C.B. history, all members spend a bunch of money on travelling, due to the fact that they come from 4 different towns and they have to meet in 2 different places for practicing. But the split 7" with COMRADES gets finally recorded and the new line-up with Al Mazzotti finally starts to go abroad for shows. In May they do two mini-tours, the first in Slovenia, the other in Holland and Belgium. It all works fine except some organization fuck-ups and the narrow affluence at part of the gigs. Meanwhile, Giulio gets the chance once again to organize R.D.P. shows in Italy. Walter and Alberto realize that it's goin' to be very big concerts with tons of people, so they ask to play, taking it as the very last shows of the "old" line-up. C.B. agree even if the thing isn't too fair, expecially towards the new drummer. In the same period, Applequince Records (an italian label working in a quite obsolete way) puts out the longly awaited "Live to hate people" 3"CD featuring a great selection of live cuts recorded in Italy and Slovenia during '96 and '97. This release leaves some big doubts to Giulio, expecially concerning the honesty of the label and matters like money spent on manifacturing, copies pressed, free % to the band and so on... doubts that today aren't still solved. It's just another proof of the lack of sincerity/credibility in the fucked-up italian scene - a song like "Italia di merda" was a real look at the future in a country full of backstabbers and dishonest dicks ready to rip you off. In April/May the old line-up goes to record some brand new tracks at Michele's d.i.y. studio in Asti. It's the same place where the bastards used to record their early ultra-filthy singles, and as a matter of fact, the sound turns out somehow like a jump back to the raw as fuck origins. In late June C.B. do the mini-tour with RATOS DE PORAO, all shows are wonderful, expecially the first in Milano, where the bastards give one of their best performances ever, a live set of about one hour including dozens of hits from all singles + "Your lies in check" + upcoming album. In Roma they play in front of an audience of 2500 people, and it's a big bloody massacre like always. July '99: it's time to go abroad for the "east european tour Pt. 2". Line-up for this is Giulio the Bastard (V), Fulvio Hatebox (G), Andrea (B) and Al Mazzotti (D). The first is a show in Slovenia with RATOS DE PORAO, and it works fine. Then it's the turn of the amazing Obscene Extreme Fest in Czech Republic, where C.B. take part as special guests of the second day and destroy everything in front of a completely insane crowd (about 1000 people), turning the stage into a total diving-board parade. The festival is presented with a brilliant Comp. CD (on Obscene) featuring among the others, 2 x unreleased C.B. tunes. Unfortunately, the following days are destined to remain some of the most tragic/unlucky in 12 years of C.B. story: a big part of the remaining dates of the tour gets cancelled due to the lack of interest and organization of some people in Poland and Germany. C.B. remain very disappointed but they understand there's nothing left to do. On the way back from Curby's birthday party in Dolany/Czech Rep., Giulio the Bastard + Al Mazzotti + 3 roadies have a very serious car-crash and the van the band had rented for the tour gets completely destroyed. The rest of the tour is totally cancelled and C.B. are sent back home by plane with the support of an insurance company. After this horrible event, the bastards decide to take a break for a while, and they are forced to pay 11.500.000 Liras (about 11.500 DM / 6000 US $) to the rent-a-van company. Al Mazzotti gets back playing drums only two months later as far as he got the right hand injured during the accident. In October the old line-up finally enters the Acqualuce Studios to start the recordings for the new album ("Misantropo a senso unico"), but things work very slowly because the band has spent too much on the accident fuck-up and has no money left to pay the new recordings. Apart from this, Giulio the Bastard puts together a horrorific Grind/Fastcore sampler/party ("Falafel Grind") with 32 bands worldwide playing C.B. covers in their own style, and he licences Obscene Records to release and promote it. The comp. (coming out on CD) has an extra track with G.T.B. growling sick on a classic Amanda Lear's hit of the late '70s: "Blood & honey".
What's happening today:
NOTE: this biography was supposed to be the most detailed and complete one we ever made. Though, we couldn't mention exactly all the members that got involved in C.B. through the years (12 drummers, 5 bassists, 2 guitarists) nor some specific details about minor releases (check out the discography for further infos).