5rand is an italian metal band with a girl on song and she sounds really mean. Here I let them answer a lot of questions from me to let us understand how it is to be an italian metal band....may-2017

Please tell me a little bit of the history of the group.

-5Rand are an Italian metal band. Founded by Pierluigi Carocci (Guitarist), the band proposes a modern sounding mixture of thrash metal and industrial elements, with growl and clean vocals both delivered by Julia Elenoir's female voice. The lineup, formed in 2015, is completed by Riccardo Zito (Bass) and Francesco Marroni (Drums). 5Rand recorded in June 2016 their debut album “Sacred/Scared” at Kick Recording Studios (Rome, Italy): engineered and mixed by Marco Mastrobuono (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, Buffalo Grillz), mastered at Finnvox (Helsinki, Finland) by Mika Jussila (Nightwish, Soilwork, Moonsorrow, Amorphis, Children of Bodom). The album has been released on 24/02/2017 via My Kingdom Music.

Two videoclips for the singles “Cordyceps” and “Paint of Pain” have been published, along with a third live video for the song “Preacher of Lies”.

After having played along with Fleshgod Apocalypse in Rome, the band took part in a European tour with Vader and Immolation in April 2017. Furthermore, 5RAND will play on June 24th at Metalhead Meeting Festival (Bucharest, Romania) along with Behemoth, Sepultura, Agnostic Front and Cradle of FIlth.

Please tell me a little about every member in the group right now: age, family, work, interests and something bad about everyone? Earlier bands? Other bands on the side?

-There’s 4 of us. Pierluigi is 36, Julia and Riccardo are 28 and Francesco is 23. We have our own daily jobs, but that’s not nearly as exciting as music! Regarding non-musical interests, Riccardo is an amateur luthier and enjoys tinkering around instruments, he is a history enthusiast and a proper geek; Pierluigi is a painter and therefore a lover of visual arts; Julia oddly enojys both cooking and fitness, she really has a problem watching people eating :D Francesco enojys skating and street art. We have some other side projects but they’re literally side ones, so mostly just for fun.

I can hear much different influences but mostly metal and then both death and nu metal? Favorites from the past?

-We certainly like thrash and death metal a lot, their influence is in plain sight. On the contrary, we wouldn’t say we have a thing for nu-metal at all, unless with the term you mean post-2000 bands like Slipknot, Rammstein or Gojira… then yes, but if that’s the case, we have to settle what we mean by the term nu-metal, first :P

Are you satisfied with the name? How did it came up? You weren’t afraid that some other band would be named like this? Which is the best band name you know?

-The name 5RAND comes from a strange story that happened to our guitarist Pierluigi some years ago. In a summer night in his hometown, he met a strange man (who eventually revealed himself as a shaman) and passed a good part of the night drinking and talking with him. When he spoke about his dream to build a metal band, this guy gave him a 5 Rand coin from South Africa as a lucky charm and said: “If you make sure that every step is in the direction of the mountain, you'll get there”. That’s why Pierluigi chose this name for the band.

The name’s pretty unique, I doubt that someone else would choose it.

What’s the best band name? That’s too easy: IRON FUCKIN’ MAIDEN!

What’s the best thing about playing live?

-The energy that it gives us. We love playing live, seeing the crowd enojying our music and freaking out. It’s what pushes us to go on, no matter what.

And where is best place to play? And the worst place?

-Where the crowd is hottest! The fans make a concert unforgettable, not just the band!

How is it to play this sort of music in Italy right now? Which types of bands do you have concerts together with?

-Harder than it is in Sweden, for sure. Metal is not exactly for the masses here, let’s put it this way. However, we have a huge lot of astonishingly amazing bands in all of metal subgenres, from Elvenking’s folk/power to Fleshgod Apocalypse’s technical death metal.

How would you describe your music in three words?

-Energic, melodic and yet powerful.

What does punk mean to you, is it only a word or is it a lifestyle? I know you don’t play punk but we do it another way, have punk been any influence for you?

-We respect the “movement” or however you wish to call it, but we don’t have any affiliation with it.

How do you see downloading, mp3 and that stuff?

-It’s a great way to make people know about you, but it has also made much harder to actually emerge, because the number of bands is awfully increased in the last 15 years, and obviously they can’t be all good bands… On the other hand, it has made live shows more important, which means more fun for us ;)

How is it to live in Italy right now? Politically? Fascists?

-Up ‘n’ downs I guess, but it’s still a free country. Could be much worse. Could be like in Turkey recently.

Are there any good bands from Italy now? Is the punkscene/hardcorescene/metalscene big? How is it in your hometown?

-Of course there are! I’ve mentioned some of them answering question 7, but there are really many more! Metal is pretty much alive and well, especially for big bands. We could complain about scarce interest in smaller and younger bands, who get acknowleged only once they’ve become renown abroad, and often not even then. But it is what it is, no sense in complaining… just GO TO LOCAL SHOWS!

What do you know about Sweden?

-Pretty much, actually! Riccardo has been there a few times, even in Lappland in winter, and totally loves it!

Have you heard any good bands from Sweden?

-Are you kidding? You’ve got some of the best bands! At the Gates, Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, Sabaton… do I need to continue?

Your lyrics, who does them and what influences you? Is it easier to do lyrics now or was its easier to do it when you were younger? Never in italian?

-Usually Julia writes the lyrics: she’s a psychologist, so she always has infinite material about our minds to write about. Therefore, it’s definitely easier now… as youngsters we’ve all written crappy stuff :P Never thought about actually writing lyrics in Italian… it would sound weird, I guess :D

Is there any subject that you never will write about?

-I don’t know. Probably explicit politics, I mean with real names and all. We want to either tell a story or communicate our feelings about something, and generally encourage people to think on their own; so, we won’t ever write with the aim of prescribing what to do. We hate that.

Politics and music, does it goes hand in hand? Which is your most political song?

-As explained before, we don’t think so. Therefore no politics in our songs.

Best political band/artist?

-None.

Do you think that music (lyrics and so on) can change anyones life, I mean people who listens to music?

-Of course it can, even for a distracted listener… How many memories do we associate with the music we were listening to in that specific period? It’s just normal, our lives have soundtracks! As it’s inevitable, for a more dedicated listener who has a passion for music, to be influenced by the artists he or she likes the most. Also, it’s scientifically proved that our brain behaves differently, according to the music…

Your cover on your CD looks really nice, is it important to have a record cover which shows people which type of music you play? Your favorite records covers? Who does your covers? And do you have any good recordstores in your hometown?

-Thank you. We think it’s really important to have a good artwork, but not necessarily to show which kind of music you play… even if probably it’s kind of automatic for a band playing a specific genre to have an according artwork.

Favourite covers… well all of Iron Maiden’s is a classic answer, but there’s plenty: Metallica’s And Justice for All has an amazing cover, as do Opeth’s recent records.

                                                                                                                                     
Is it important to get physical records of your stuff? Why or why not? Vinyl, CD, cassette, what do you prefer if you could choose whatever ?

-It’s important to support the artists! Vinyl has something special, old-fashioned and yet never old. Maybe because it’s bigger :D We’d like to release our future records on vinyl too, for sure.

Please tell me a funny thing which has happened during your career and in some gig?

-Can’t be very specific, but it involves stomachache and not shitting in your pants during a gig :D

How does your audience look like? Which people do you miss on your concerts? Which is the biggest band you ever have played together with?

-Our audience is variated. We have mostly young people in their 20s, but we have old-school metalheads too, and we’re really happy about that! Probably we have more girls among the audience, thanks to Julia… Guess they empathize with her.

Vader’s the biggest band we’ve ever played with. Great guys and musicians.

Please rank your five favorite records, five favorite concerts and five most important things in life?

-Ok, before I answer, I have to point out that it’s Riccardo answering to this.

Records: Seventh son of a seventh son by Iron Maiden, 2112 by Rush, Sound of Perseverance by Death, Rust in Peace by Megadeth, God hates us all by Slayer.

Concerts: Iron Maiden in Knebworth, England in 2010; Iron Maiden in Istanbul in 2013; Megadeth in Rome in 2010; Arch Enemy in Rome in 2012; Heaven and Hell (Dio’s era Black Sabbath) in Monza in 2009.

Most important things in life: ”Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women” – Conan the Barbarian

First, last and most expensive record ever bought?

-My first was a complete Beatles’ discography. My most recent is Testament’s Brotherhood of the snake, my most expensive I can’t tell… probably some Iron Maiden collector’s edition.

Is it boring with interviews? Are there many interviews?

-Sometimes.

If you could choose five bands from the past, both dead and living, to have a concert together with your band. Which five would you choose?

-Ah, it’s impossible to answer to this one. Let’s keep it simple and say Iron Maiden, Mötorhead and Metallica.

Is music a good way to get out frustration and become a nicer person outside the music?

-I suppose it is. Letting the steam off is good and necessary sometimes.

Which is the most odd question you have ever got in an interview?

-“You’re Italian. Do you know how to cool?” Of course we do, every proper Italian does! :P

Which is the question you want to have but you never get? Please ask it and answer it.

-Hahah, we get asked pretty much everything already… both musically and non musically related!

Future plans for the band?

-We’ll try to deliver a new album the next year, meanwhile expect us somewhere near you in Europe! We’d like so much to tour other continents too, let’s hope to achieve that in the near future!

For yourself?

-Don’t know, I like keeping things fluid :P

Wisdomword?

-Think indipendently, but always verify your informations and your sources before doing something stupid. In one word: study!

Something to add?

-Thanks for reading about us, we hope to meet you soon in some shows! Follow us on www.facebook.com/5randofficial and the other social media (you’ll find all the links on www.5rand.net) to stay up to date on where we’re going to play; give a listen to our album "Sacred / Scared”, available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music etc. And remember to watch also our video clips on youtube ;)

Thanks again and keep banging your head!