Interview with Leonardo Serrini and Donatella of The Beatersband by Dave Wolff
“Bad Girl”, a posthumous tribute CD to Joey Ramone and Ronnie Spector was released by The Beatersband in September. Who thought up the idea and what made the band follow suit? How were the tracks selected for inclusion?
The original idea was Donatella's (voice and guitar). The rest of the band liked both Ronnie Spector and Joey Ramone and immediately agreed, thinking it was a great idea to honor their friendship and mutual respect. The nine songs have been put in the playlist in chronological order from 1962 to 2006, referring to the recordings performed by Ronnie.
The Beatersband records a lot of iconic rock and punk songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Do you perceive any stylistic similarities between both periods?
Listening to songs by artists such as Ritchie Valens, you immediately get the perception of his being one of the forerunners of punk. If you listen to the Misfits you understand they were inspired by the music of those years. Michale Graves (Misfits) has often included songs like “Tears of My Pillow” by Little Anthony and The Imperials in his live performances. Even Glenn Danzig, founder of the Misfits, was inspired by Elvis Presley of whom he made a cover album entitled “Danzig sings Elvis”.
“When You Walk in the Room” by Jackie DeShannon was covered by The Searchers, even “If I Had a Hammer” by the American singer-songwriter and folk-singer Pete Seeger was covered in 1964 by the Italian singer Rita Pavone.
What made you decide to form a band covering punk and classic rock? Is there a local market for punk and pop punk scene in your area in Italy?
The idea was born from Donatella (voice and guitar) who has listened to 50s and 60s music since she was a child, thanks to her father who passed on this passion to her. The project was born when she met Leonardo (bass), who already played in a punk rock group (Latte+). The two decided to merge their musical acquaintances.
The punk scene in our area is not very active, especially since after Covid they closed a few clubs. Those still active can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and this also applies to the rest of Italy.
Since there’s not much of an active punk scene in your area, how much work did you have to put into advertising and promoting?
We had to dedicate a lot of time to it. Luckily social media exists, without which it would have been difficult to advertise.
Do you always distribute your albums and singles independently, or do you sometimes collaborate with local indie labels to promote your releases?
We are an independent band. We distribute and promote our music independently all over the world, although for some shipments abroad we collaborate with the American labels Smelly Rick Record, River Monster and Outloud Records, and with Discos Polo of Palma de Mallorca (Spain).
Could you describe your relationship-building process with the labels you identified for distribution and promotion? To what extent do they help the band spread word of their releases?
Our relationships with labels were born through social media, simply by sending our material to be listened to. Their help is important, they manage to promote our music to a wider audience.
You can stream the majority of your work at Bandcamp. To what extent does this site aid the band's outreach outside Italy? Do you also stream on other net outlets?
The distribution of our music is mainly with Bandcamp, It’s helping us substantially. Even the labels listed above do it. It’s also possible to find our songs on Spotify and the best streaming platforms.
The band's approach generally seems to lean towards the ferocity of punk bands such as Sex Pistols and Bad Brains, as well as the Ramones. This is largely due to the drums. In the studio, how much focus and energy are you giving the drum tracks?
The drum parts are a fundamental part of the recording. If the drums didn't play with that sound and intensity we wouldn't be able to give a punk rock mood to the songs since they’re from the 50s and 60s.
How much more challenging has it been to promote your live performances than your recordings? Did Facebook and other websites help you spread the word more quickly?
They are both important. Being a totally independent band we have to look for places where we can perform on the one hand. On the other we try to give new life to songs that are now over sixty years old trying to keep their soul intact. As I answered previously Facebook and other websites have helped us a lot. The internet gives everyone the opportunity to be heard and known all over the world in the shortest time possible.
Were you attempting to recreate the vibe of Ronnie’s songs or incorporating your own style?
We have been rearranging songs since we formed in September 2018, even the songs from “Bad Girl” are rearranged in our style, trying to keep their soul.
Producer Phil Spector has worked with Ronnie and Joey. What would you say about his early contributions to rock music? What personal resonance does his production work have for you?
Phil Spector was certainly a questionable person on a personal level, but nothing takes away his great contribution to rock music, of which we follow the same trend.
Phil produced the Ramones’ album “End of the Century” which was met with mixed reviews. What do you personally think of his work there?
“End of the Century” is in our opinion a great album, even if obviously it has a totally different sound from the previous albums, the hand of Phil Spector is felt being the creator of the Wall of Sound.
Were there any songs Ronnie and Joey collaborated on? What was the extent of their friendship?
They recorded the mini album “She Talks to Rainbows” together in 1999, they were very good friends, Joey Ramone, who loved the female bands of the 60s, and in particular the Ronettes, tried to lift her up when she had been overshadowed by the figure of Tina Turner who was debuting in the same period.
Are you familiar with the song Ronnie recorded with The Misfits for “Project 1950”, namely “You Belong to Me”? Who else has she worked with to your knowledge?
It is a beautiful reinterpretation, we know this album very well. We’ve also rearranged four songs from it, including “Donna”, “Diana”, “It's Only Make Believe” and “Runaway”. Ronnie also duetted with George Harrison and Bruce Springsteen.
You released a cover of Blondie's "X Offender" in 2022. Debbie Harry's original atmosphere seems to be evoked by Donatella, and the version combines pop elements with a street-level punk energy. Why did you decide to cover the song?
It was one of the first songs by Blondie brought to CBGB and it is less inflated than their other songs, such as “Maria”, “Heart of Glass” and “Call Me”. We like it a lot.
The second song on the Blondie single is a rendition of "I Only Want to Be with You" by Dusty Springfield, which is also on your album "Vol.Tre." There's a similar punk vibe to the tracks. To what extent did you work on the album?
It was born as the conclusion of the three albums “Vol.Uno”, “Vol.Due” and “Vol.Tre”. It should have closed the circle of our project of 50s/60s covers.
Do any of your CDs feature covers of The Beatles or Bruce Springsteen? Or maybe any recordings from the late 1960s?
No, but we have in common with Bruce Springsteen the fact that we covered “Then He Kissed Me” by the Crystals. Our CDs are mainly rearrangements of songs from the 50s and 60s, but we have also made a tribute CD (EP) to the Misfits, and “Goodbye Eddie Goodbye”, a song included in the musical “Phantom of the Paradise”.
What was the plot of the musical “Phantom of the Paradise” and how were you inspired to cover a song from its soundtrack?
A young naive singer-songwriter, Winslow Leach, is tricked by the legendary but unscrupulous music producer Swan into sacrificing his life's work. In revenge, the composer dons a new and menacing personality and begins to terrorize Swan's new concert hall, insisting that his music be performed by his most adored singer, “Phoenix (Jessica Harper)”, directed by Brian De Palma. The inspiration and idea came from Timothy, the owner of the label Smelly Rick Records (Arizona/Texas) who wanted to make a compilation tribute to the musical, coming out soon on CD, vinyl and digital format on his label.
Who else is on Smelly Rick Records' compilation honoring “Phantom of the Paradise” besides the Beatersband? What is the anticipated date of release?
We know that the other bands are mainly American but we don't know them, the release date is unfortunately not certain yet.
Do the members of the band watch a lot of musicals? Do other musicals inspire the band to cover songs from the soundtrack?
Donatella watches musicals. The inspiration for the soundtrack of the musical was born from Timothy the owner of Smelly Rick Records.
What songs appeared on your tribute album to the Misfits? Has it been received well since it came out? Are there other punk bands you’ve considered tributing?
There are four, specifically “Saturday Night”, “She”, “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Some Kinda Hate”. It was well received both for sales, positive reviews and many passages on the radio. At the moment we have not considered other bands, even if the Ramones are present in the album “Bad Girl” and in “Danny Says” also re-recorded by us.
Ringo Starr once said the Beatles were the punk rock of their time in their early years. He said the soundtrack of the film "Backbeat" was recorded by bands that reflected the type of band the Beatles were when they started. Have you seen this film? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
We haven't seen this film, but we will watch it under your advice, you've intrigued us.
Little Steven's Underground Garage, which airs Sunday nights at undergroundgarage.com/, is another good source for information about rock & roll’s punk roots.
We know SiriusXM well even if we can't listen from here to Rodney Bingenheimer playing our songs on the radio. However every now and then we manage to listen to Little Steven's podcasts.
Do you have recommendations for obscure bands that helped pioneer punk in the sixties and seventies? YouTube has a number of videos highlighting these bands.
Little-known bands, they don't come to mind offhand, but we know that punk is an evolution of garage rock that developed in America in the early 60s, later towards the end of the decade garage rock took another turn by exaggerating the salient features of the genre, the epicenter of this music was Detroit where that trend that was called proto-punk was born. Among the first groups that can be considered precursors of punk we think of the Kinks and the Troggs.
Would you recommend material about the history of punk to people who may not have seen them?
We read some books about punk, and specifically we would recommend Johnny Rotten's autobiography, Marky Ramone's “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg”, Dee Dee Ramone's “Blitzkrieg Punk”, Will Hermes' “New York 1973-1977”, Dave Laing's “Punk” and Monte A. Melnick's “On the Road with the Ramones” and the documentary “The Great History of Punk”. The books are still easy to find, and they tell in detail what they want to explain, each with its own point of view. 35) I think punk will have its ups and downs as it always has.
Has the band covered any songs recorded by Patti Smith? Would you be interested in songs recorded by Runaways, Pretenders, or Siouxsie and the Banshees?
We haven't recorded anything by Patti Smith even if we like her, we would like to cover songs by the Runaways. Pretenders, why not!
Does the mainstreamization of punk from the nineties to the present, from grunge to pop punk, have more positive or negative aspects? Since major labels began signing bands, to what extent has the genre retained its sixties roots? In what direction do you think underground punk will go in the future? Do you see punk scenes continuing to grow and inspire more people to form bands?
Punk at the time was much more motivated, it was born as a form of protest and was a way to convey various issues of the time, compared to that of the majors which is much more driven by economic ends. I think punk will have its ups and downs as it always has.
Are you planning to release a new full-length album in the near future? Or do you have ideas in mind for one?
In the future we have the idea of doing something of our own. For the next album we are thinking of making our own songs.
-Dave Wolff
