Before their London show, I met with vocalist Sara and guitarist Alberto from Messa. Along with bassist Marco and drummer Rocco, they were in the midst of a European tour supporting Paradise Lost. Back in April, they released their latest album, The Spin, which has already earned a spot on my personal top ten list for the year, as well as being raved about by many music critics across the music media. I’ll admit I was already biased, but as I walked through the windy backstage corridors of Islington Assembly Hall, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Their music had long captured my heart. I’d seen them perform at Hellfest and knew exactly what they were capable of on stage: their presence is magnetic and elegant. This meeting felt almost like seeing an old friend, yet I was aware that for many in the audience tonight, it would be their first time hearing Messa. It’s hard to imagine what an artist feels when performing deeply personal material before an unfamiliar crowd, wondering whether the audience will truly understand what they are trying to convey.
“I think most people understood our message“, said Sara, while sitting cross-legged on the sofa with the biggest smile on her face. “Every time you release a record, you never know what the reaction is going to be, and at a certain point, you even end up asking yourself – what if nobody likes it – driven by that little fear that sometimes lingers at the back of your mind. But at the same time, I think that first and foremost, we as artists must be happy with the result.”
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and you should have heard the fans’ reactions at the end of their set: the clapping hands, the excited whistles, some even screaming in awe as they closed their time on stage. The band exclaimed “Grazie” and nodded to us standing beneath the stage. It’s been a long ride for them, almost ten years performing as Messa. Within The Spin, they weaved in the motif of the road and the journey, not just in body but also in spirit. The fact that they have to pack up and move from one place to another every day for the next month and a half is both exhilarating and exhausting. But how did they arrive at that theme in the first place? Sara continued: “It definitely emerged through the writing process. We didn’t start writing the record with a super precise idea in our mind, both sonically and theme-wise. It felt more like a path we stumbled upon while walking on it. If I look back, I do see the little pieces of the puzzle coming together. In the past, I read some books by Cormac McCarthy in Italian, but I never read them in English. He was an excellent writer and helped me out with understanding what and how I wanted to talk about. We can call it an inspiration when it came to writing both the music and the lyrics for me.“
Their discography already included some remarkable work; their previous album, Close, had captured audiences, yet within unused material, the foundations of the new album gradually began to take shape. “Yes, we all wanted to go on and after Close, personally, I never stopped writing new music“, said Alberto. They rewrote a couple of existing songs, which helped set the tone for the rest of the album.
But with a new direction often come new ideas. Messa is famous for their self-invented genre called Scarlet Doom, which perfectly encapsulates their style and vibe; however, they strive not to repeat themselves. Do they sometimes worry that they might lose this creative label? “We started using the ‘Scarlet Doom’ term in the very early stages of Messa, but I think it still resonates with us“, said Sara. Colour plays an important role in their self-expression. “Type O Negative used the colour green to express chromatically what their music was about. I think the scarlet colour still resonates very well with what we’re trying to do, and it’s one of my favourite colours, together with periwinkle. I think The Spin sounds more blue, but in the DNA of the band, there’s this deep scarlet red colour, and it’s a label we are fine with sticking to.” Her mentioning of periwinkle felt almost freeing, but she continued: “Graphic design and the photos give an album its identity; it’s all connected together, just like in The Big Lebowski, where the carpet tied the room together.” Alberto joined in on the colourful exchange, he proclaimed that for their second album it was rust. Sara confirmed: “For Close, it was gold and brass colour. When you do write a record, at least for us, it’s not just about writing the music, but you actually create a universe around it, which is the lyrics, it’s the pictures, graphic design; it’s all tied together“.
Listening to their album for the first time back in April, when it dropped on all platforms, was a captivating experience. Each song and melody seemed to swallow you whole, refusing to let go. In that whirlwind of emotion and beautifully crafted riffs, I didn’t even notice that I was listening to it again. With the automatic replay enabled, there was no clear beginning or end. Sara and Alberto both said “Grazie” to my little listening story, beaming with pride; it was exactly what they had hoped would happen. “When we were thinking about how people could experience this record, this was one of the ideas, and we’re very happy to have this kind of feedback“, revealed Sara. “When we did our release shows in April, we played the record in full, following the order of its track list, and at the end, we played again the first riff of “Void Meridian” and I sang the first lines, and then the show would end, spinning around.“
Something that doesn’t have an endless lifespan is old analogue equipment, and to capture that 80s vintage feel that’s so heavily packed into their record, they used the original gear. While watching their live set, I couldn’t help but wonder if they dared to bring it with them on tour, as there’s an unmatched sense of nostalgia present during their shows. Alberto smiled almost apologetically: “We did not bring the vintage equipment with us because it’s too valuable. But we tried to understand the most prominent and focal points within the vintage sound and replicate it live as best as we could. This was very important during our writing and recording process, as it makes you behave in a certain way. What I mean is that when you play with an old instrument, once you switch to a new version of it, it will not sound the same. That restriction is a blessing in disguise as it forces you to use your creativity differently; you are forced to find solutions. I wanted to have the same restrictions as a person in the 80s would have, where, in the end, you have a believable and authentic output. I like the term believable, as it really makes you think it was all made in the 80s.“
Most people love the 80s, an era with an unmatched influence on all generations alive today, maybe also because it feels so familiar. When I told them that many of my non-metalhead friends also adored their album, I could see the pride in their faces. Sara nodded – “I’m quite convinced that it’s the result of us being four different people. The band is the common ground between us. Our effort in trying to get along with each other in the end reflects on the music. Another aspect that I found interesting when we were writing and arranging The Spin was that when we understood what path we wanted to go for with exploring the 80s sound and its references, the ones that each of us had in mind were extremely different, although we had a common ground. Alberto would think about Journey, I would think about Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Rocco would think about Bathory or Venom. It was interesting to see how all that stuff ended up being fragmented and incorporated into the record. I think it was also interesting, not as a social study, but to observe our relationship with each other. In all the potential inspirations, four records had the biggest impact: “Jeopardy” and “Lion’s Mouth” by The Sound and “Night Time” and their self-titled debut by Killing Joke.
Messa is not just about music; they take their image and visual aspects seriously. There’s a poetry to it; it’s one thing to play songs on stage, but another to craft a well-rounded image that evolves around the material. Something has always intrigued me when watching their music videos. Towards the end, you’re met with an intense and deeply moving poem, spoken words with the power to shake you to the core and leave you in anticipation, yet they’re not included on the album. “The three videos we shot are supposed to be like three chapters where one leads to the other”, Sara lifted the veil of mystery. “It was not planned, to be honest, but I do write a lot all the time, and I always have lots of stuff to dig into if I need it. I was thinking after seeing the first draft of the video for “At Races” about how we could give a sense, not of expectation, but lead the watcher to understand that there is going to be something else coming up next. I just started digging through my notebook and found something that could work. I called Alberto and asked if I could come to his house and record it. We liked it straight away, so we decided to keep going, and I kept writing, thinking about what could come next for the other two videos. It was not planned, but I really like spoken words and I love poetry, I’m a lot into literature, I love reading. I’m reading a ton of books on this tour. It was definitely too late to put them on the record, but that’s ok, they exist, they’re there, and they have their own reason and meaning.”
And it’s not the first time they’ve felt a sudden jolt of inspiration. Alberto had quite an exciting story to share as well: “I went to play with my other band at a festival in Croatia to open for this duo, which is very famous over there. After that show, I went to bed at around 6:00 a.m. I was very tired, and it was very late, and at some point, I was dreaming about those two guys who we opened for, and they were playing this song. Being in that half-wake, half-sleep state, I realised that I had never heard this song before. I woke up and took the guitar; luckily, I had one near me and recorded the riff, and that’s how the song was born. I dreamed about a band playing the song. I was so happy to have finally something suggested by my subconscious. I really hope it will happen again, so many great songs were born like this, for example, “Yesterday” by the Beatles. Maybe need to play more festivals in Croatia, haha.”
There’s also another side to Messa that’s more daring and adventurous. Their love for motorcycles holds an important place on their new album as well. In their music video for “At Races“, Sara is riding a beautiful bike across the Balkans. I had to find out the story of that gorgeous, vintage Kawasaki. “To be completely honest, the bike is not mine. Marco, our bass player, bought it. When we were thinking about the storyline for the video, everyone was fighting over whose bike should be featured, so we decided to just get a new one that doesn’t belong to anyone. We found this beautiful Kawasaki from the 1980s, which fit the mood perfectly, and it was historically accurate. Marco kept it in the end. I haven’t been riding for a long time, maybe around two years. My dad used to do motocross when I was a kid, and sometimes he would take me with him. My mum would get mad. He’d sit me on his lap on the motorcycle and bring me to these little rides. I loved that feeling and the adrenaline rush. Marco directed all three videos; it was such a big effort for him to put it all together, and it made sense to connect these three chapters, so we decided to use that motorcycle. It was tough, but I had fun riding it in the Balkans.“
Messa has the power to draw tears from your eyes; their aura is that strong. The emotions run deep through their songs and live performances. But how does an artist feel when that energy radiates back from the crowd? After all, it’s a two-way relationship. “I might sound a bit naive and romantic, but I feel humbled because if I can see that my music touched somebody, I feel grateful“, said Sara. “I do get very emotional about other artists’ output, whether it’s a painting, a record, a book or poetry. It’s great when something moves you, especially in a world where, in my opinion, everything is becoming more and more constricted. We don’t often allow space for emotions or to feel something deeply because we are always in a rush, running out of time to grasp what’s going on beneath our feet. In the fast world, I like to slow down to appreciate things more.” Alberto added: “Every time when I see people enjoying what we do, it’s always a surprise because I never take it for granted. I also feel understood, which I think is most important; it’s so rewarding, and I feel less alone in the world because of that.“
Consuming the creative output of other artists is a daily part of their lives on tour. Sara laughed at my reading list question, as I knew she was a bookworm. “This is going to be funny. For this tour, my friend lent me a Kindle. I never owned one, and we talked before the tour, and he said, “There is no way you are going away for a month and a half and bringing THIS amount of books. There is going to be no space left in the van.” So this time I have a Kindle with hundreds of titles, which is brilliant. I think I already read five or six. The last one was amazing, “Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead” by Olga Tokarczuk. I know I sound like a crazy lady, but it took me two days to finish it. I got hooked; it was amazing. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep, so I decided that if I can’t do that, I will just read, hence I finished it so fast. Then I read some stuff by Henry Miller, Isherwood and good old crime by a French writer, but I don’t remember the name now. I mean, I know it, but my brain is not working right now. I have been very lucky and taking advantage of having this Kindle with me and definitely saving some space in the van for everyone else; otherwise, we would definitely be crammed up.” Alberto, on the other hand, laughed, saying that his downtime was, in his words, a little less productive. “I do less intelligent things. I brought a PlayStation 2 emulator, but only for the night drives, just to kill some time. It’s got all the old games like Tekken, etc., but I found it difficult to play car games, inside the car, so definitely skipping those haha. I also brought some music scores and studied Bach works for classical guitars. I try to keep up with it, but you really need a fresh mind to learn it, and on tour, this rarely happens, especially after two weeks being on the road, but when I have the time, I will be on it.“
That was it, time to say our goodbyes. Messa is not only an incredibly talented band that continues to grow with each chapter of their musical journey, but they are also some of the nicest people you could meet. Next time you see their name on a music poster in your town, don’t skip it; grab a ticket.