Sofisticator – Interview –

Country: Italy 

Genre: Thrash Metal

Interview with: Popi

Hello Welcome to Acier Doux ! For those who weren’t familiar with Sofisticator , What was the band about ? And when ?

Hello everyone! Here is Popi, guitar player of Sofisticator. I’m very happy to talk to you about the band! Sofisticator are, were and will always be until their death a fuckin’ old school thrash metal band, but not of the “classic” kind like many others nowadays.

When it all began many years ago, we were just a bunch of guys who loved thrash, to drink together and make fun of each other, with the classic spirit and joviality of Tuscany, that is where we live. The band seriously started as a joke and was just an opportunity, to me and the others at the time, to have fun playing together some thrash, paying tribute to the classic bands of the genre, but at the same time developing a lyrical concept based on parody, that especially in the beginnings, was about everything that made us laugh and came to mind in a very extemporaneous way. From the second album “Death By Zapping” onwards we basically changed the way of writing and composing: we continued to use parody as a common thread, but added a strong dose of storytelling to the songs and, often, hiding between the lines some absolutely serious concepts. This pushed us to improve technically and often led to experiment with less common musical solutions and environments. Anyway, the best way to get an idea is always listening to the music and reading the lyrics.

How long has the band been together ?

Sofisticator started in a rehearsal room near Florence in 2009; many things had changed since then. I am the only one left from the original line up, but the thrash metal spirit is still there and I’m still enjoying it a lot.

Is there a particular story behind the band name ?

It’s really hard to remember how it came out because in that early days we were always fucking drunk and high. From what I can remember, Sofisticator was a name that made everyone laugh their ass off because it is pretentious of doing something sophisticated, but at the same time it’s a word spelled incorrectly exactly as an old Tuscan farmer would have done trying to say it in English.

Since your band is underground in the initial meaning of the word, an introduction to your music would be necessary.

It’s just fast, heavy, thrashing music with some little hint of prog here and there.

How important are lyrics for the band ? Who writes them ? What kinds of themes inspire you guys to write about ?

Lyrics are very important to us now, but in the beginning it was just parody and jokes. Basically the lyrics of Sofisticator are written by me and Atomik Bahnhof, the bass player. In our first album “Camping The Vein” (2012) many of the lyrics literally had no meaning. However we are fond of those songs, it always makes us laugh out loud reading their lyrics. I think they are the perfect representation of what we were at the time.

As I said before, from “Death By Zapping” (2014) on we changed our way of writing music and lyrics. “DBZ” is a concept album that talks about Walter, a young metalhead from Florence who is hypnotized by TV, watching the demonic Channel 666 until his death. Every song is part of the main story so the lyrics make everything work in terms of narrative.

Our third album “At Whores With Satan”, instead, is designed as a collection of short stories like the Decameron or Canterbury Tales and the same will be for the next album; this kind of concept for lyrics and songs is definitely the one we are more confortable with.

What’s the most memorable show you guys have played and where are you scheduled to hit the stage in the near future ?

Well, in the past years we had the privilege of playing many memorable shows along with some legends of thrash and heavy metal. We shared the stage with Exodus, Venom, Coroner, Hirax, Toxik, Hobbs’ Angel Of Death (R.I.P), Vulcano, Protector etc. All great memories that we carry in our hearts. I have to make a special mention to our brothers in Solstice (US): in 2016 we toured and had many gigs together in Europe and basically became brothers. That tour was truly amazing and we have very special memories of it.

How do you think your music will progress in the future ?

Who knows? We will definitely continue to play thrash in our own way, always trying to improve and trying to maintain a fresh and genuine sound and attitude as much as possible.

What are the next steps for your band ?

Actually we are finishing the composition of our fourth album. The plan is to start recording at the end of 2023. Once the studio work is finished, we will look for a label to release the album and be back on stage for gigs as much as possible.

Thanks for your time answering my questions. I wish you the best of luck ! Please close the interview in any way you like.

Thanks to Med for this space dedicated to Sofisticator and thanks to everyone who is reading this interview. Thrash on, Shit In Your Brains