June 16th 2017

Baltimore SoundStage

BOOZE..BOOBS..CROTCH GRABBING SUPERSTITIONS.. BAD ITALIAN TEXAN ACCENTS.

Italian 80s Sci-Fi infused Rockers Army of The Universe came into Baltimore During the Under Your Spell Tour with fellow bands Sumo Cyco and Headline act The Birthday Massacre.

Empire Extreme got to drink and shoot the shit with the band before they hit the stage that night to entertain the masses. When  I got into the bands room right away singer Lord K offered me a drink, he asked “ A beer, jack Daniels, a coke” I then replied “coke” . He then said “ we need some jack in that” which I couldn’t turn down, I do love me some bourbon.

Empire: How’s the Tour going so far?
Lord K: It’s really good. It’s always a pleasure to be back in the states. This is our second time in Baltimore and I can’t wait to play.
Empire: Good crowd response?
Lord K: Yes, and I can say it’s a good mesh of bands we been touring with.
Albert: It’s a great match. Very sweet people, I mean we have a pretty bad tour manager but…(everyone in the room starts to laugh, the tour manager was in the room with us)
Empire: How did the band name come to be? (Albert and Lord K discuss on who created the name and then decide that Albert was right)
Albert: It was 2010 and we liked the army idea in general, but we wanted to make it big. Epic.
Lord K: I remember we were talking about masters of the universe mostly the cartoon. It’s like retro SciFi movies like Blade Runner, Escape from NY, melting with The Warriors and John Carpenter.
Albert: I would say The Matrix 1 is the end line from our period. And Army of the Universe was matching what our inspirations were from, so we went with it. And it was my idea.
Empire: You guys are from Milan Italy how is the music scene?
Lord K: There’s no more music scene, it use to be maybe…
Empire : I know Lacuna Coil is from Milan.
Albert: They are the exception.
Lord K: They are a very good band, different style. They have sold a lot of records. We are friends with them.
Albert: They represent the exception, the music scene in Milan and Italy in general is very commercial. It’s a lot of EDM, the dark underground subculture disappeared, even the metal is weaker in the last 10 years. But we can see something coming back, hopefully.
Lord K: in Italy there are two waves. 1st is Hiphop in Italian which really makes me want to puke and kill people. The 2nd wave are the strange YouTube, Instagram phantoms, they go viral for saying a swear word and that’s another thing that makes me want to kill people.
Albert: We are bigger in Germany, Scandinavia.
Lord K: I love playing the states, my favorite place.
Albert: the good thing in states, you don’t have Italian rap. ( everyone bust out in laughter again)
Empire: How was is like working with Chris Vrenna?
Albert: It was a really good experience. We worked with Chris on the first two albums. We met kids randomly cause of a common friend, and he liked what we were doing. We landed on the Industrial side without trying, and Chris helped blend and mold the sound. He was very talented and very skilled. Sweet guy and very humble.
Empire: How do you guys like being compared to bands like NIN and Ministry?
Albert: it’s a big compliment. And in a way we are less industrial, we are a little more modern. With a combination of electric and meta, with big guitar riffs and strong electronic element.
Lord K: I agree
Albert: Thank you very much. (Laughs) Yes we have an industrial influence but we’re not trying to be more diverse. It’s not we do a bit of everything, if you listen to our stuff there’s a lot of consistency.
Lord K: But I can say Albert excuse me if I interrupt you
Albert: Please
Lord K: The last album is more in your face. Even more than the first two.
Albert: Very True
Empire: How was it shooting the 1999 video?
Albert: oh that was fun. Please Lord
Lord K: There were many different girls. We got to play and perform which was fun. And our course there were all these girls in Latex, there was a girl from Sicily, our drummer Joe from Sicily. This girl was wearing a latex suit, super tight, but she was soo big breasted that at some point she exploded and broke the suit.
Albert: That was pretty impressive. That tells you how much fun it was.
Empire: Anything you want to say to the fans?
Albert: There is one more thing, I would like to compliment our guitar player Dave, because his hair is so beautiful. The reason why I’m saying this is bet between Dave and our drummer Joe. Everyday we get people complimenting Dave’s hair and Joe couldn’t believe that, and he said that it happens at every show I’m going to pay for a big dinner at the end of the tour. And I wanted to say it today just so he loses the bet. There it’s recorded.
Joe: it already happened the girl at breakfast.
Lord K: We Italians are very superstitious, so when you say a compliment to us we have to do this ( he then gives out the devil horns and grabs his crotch) kinda like knock on wood in America, but we touch balls. It’s not good to see.
Albert: The reason is someone says like you have nice hair and you don’t want to lose it.

When Army of the Universe hit the stage, Lord K demanded the audiences attention. With his look resembling Billy Idol he took the stage by storm. Playing mostly from the Latest album “1999 and the after show” this band was not just fun to photograph and interview but also just to watch. Good fun without all the rock and roll pretentious bullshit. I can’t wait until they come back around again.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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