Interview Giant The Vine

In this interview, Giant The Vine delves into their latest video "The Heresiarch," inspired by Dolcino's radical beliefs. They discuss their creative process, blending influences with their unique sound, and the thematic connections within their latest album.

1. Your latest video, "The Heresiarch," draws inspiration from the life of Dolcino, a historical figure known for his radical beliefs. What motivated you to explore his story through your music?

We learnt about Dolcino’s life quite incidentally. We knew him because he’s mentioned in The Name of the Rose, and we came across his story while composing A Chair at the Backdoor.

We were impressed by how relevant his ideas still are nowadays, especially considering our current historical time. In the past few decades, Christianity (or at least Catholicism) has faced quite a crisis. Many people feel that religion is failing to provide plausible answers to modern questions, and this has pushed them to look elsewhere for answers and to put their faith in new religions or philosophies, or even in shamans, or mediums.

Dolcino was tortured and killed simply because he preached things such as poverty and equality between men and women.
2. "The Heresiarch" is described as a straightforward yet commanding song, resonating with alternative and post-punk influences. How do you balance these influences with your own distinctive sound?

The writing process of the songs involves all four of us, and it takes us quite a few months. It’s inevitable that our different musical backgrounds emerge here and there in our songs. Also, keep in mind that we were born in four different decades, from the 60s to the 90s… although we have very similar musical tastes, we did grow up listening to different genres.
3. Can you walk us through the creative process behind the composition of "The Heresiarch"? How did the themes of rebellion and non-conformity influence the music?

For us the composition of a song is a pretty slow process, but it’s also very intuitive and spontaneous. We didn’t rationally decide to write a song about Dolcino. We started working on The Heresiarch after we had just come across his story, and it was so engaging that we inevitably ended up associating sounds with images in our heads.

Something similar happened for The Potter’s Field, which we wrote during the first few days of Corona’s Lockdown. For us that song will always be inextricably bound to the fear of those days at the beginning of the pandemic.
4. The video for "The Heresiarch" is noted for its essential yet powerful visuals, using darkness and lights to enhance the dynamics of the song. What was the collaborative process like in bringing this vision to life?

The making of the video is such an important moment for us. It’s a bit like giving a second life to the song through images (not necessarily related to the title of the song).

After our band rehearsals, we often sit down and talk about how we’d like to represent our songs in a video. Between releasing the music video for Glass and the last music video, we spent so much time discussing ideas and discarding dozens of them that were too expensive or complicated.

For The Heresiarch instead, the decision was fast and easy. One day, I was building a wooden ladder with my father-in-law, during weekend. We were in his garage, which is really spacious and full of different tools, bikes, and other random objects. In that moment I realised for the first time that it was the perfect place to shoot a video, thinking in my mind of something like Judith by Perfect Circle. Then we started filming, and we got a little carried away with the coloured lights…

5. Your latest album, "A Chair at the Backdoor," was released in 2023. How does "The Heresiarch" fit within the broader narrative or thematic arc of the album?

In A Chair at the Backdoor there are some recurrent themes, but it’s not a concept album. The Heresiarch is kind of an independent track, but still strictly connected with the following song The Inner Circle, which is about the deaths of Dolcino, his partner and his lieutenant Longino.

6. Giant The Vine is known for creating intricate and emotive soundscapes. How do you approach the balance between technicality and emotion in your music?

We don’t! We are no virtuoso, we don’t really care about being technically good. We mostly let our emotions drive us. Our goal is to move people, through a musical language that we hope to be as little trivial as possible.
7. Could you share some insights into your recording process for "A Chair at the Backdoor"? What were some of the challenges and highlights during the making of the album?

When recording A Chair at the Backdoor we had to meet different needs and arrange different recording sessions, in different studios. We recorded the drums, the bass, Fulvio’s guitar and Ilaria’s piano parts at Greenfog Studio. For the piano parts of Jellyfish Bowl and for the saxophone we went to Zerodieci, a studio specialised in jazz music.
Finally, I recorded the guitar and the keyboard parts at home, so I could do the final editing of the songs myself. Once all recordings were done, we went back to Greenfog Studio for the final mix.
In 2022 we sent our demo to Ronan Chris Murphy (producer of King Crimson, Ulver and Aurora), and he was very kind to us, expressing his appreciation for our first album as well. So he ended up being in charge of the final mastering, and we were extremely happy with his work.
8. "Music for Empty Places," your debut album, received acclaim from both national and international critics. How do you perceive your growth and evolution as a band since the release of your first album?

When we released Music for Empty Places, we actually had known each other for very little time, and we had no fixed bass player.

We released the album with absolutely no expectations, but it turned out to be pretty well received by the public, and the feedback was always positive.

In the following years, Antonio Lo Piparo became our bass player, and we started writing music as a group. We also learnt how to publicise our music a bit better, although we are aware we can only aspire to a niche audience. More importantly, we got to know each other, and we got a clearer idea of what each of us is really good at doing and so forth.

9. As you're currently composing tracks for your next album, what themes or concepts are you exploring this time around? How does your approach differ from your previous work?

Our approach hasn’t really changed. We write music because we like it, and we don’t really decide a priori what we want our album or songs to be like. We do what we feel like doing basically.

As for the themes yes, something has changed from our previous work. Previously it used to be mainly existential themes, based on the individual, and usually coming from only one of us. For the new album instead, we have been sharing and discussing the themes way more than in the past. It may seem pointless, since we do instrumental music, but it really helps us to visualize the mood of the album.
10. Your music has been likened to bands like Mogwai, Secret Machines, and Porcupine Tree, as well as classic prog-rock bands like Genesis and King Crimson. How do you navigate the balance between honoring your influences and forging your own path?

We write songs very intuitively, without worrying if there’s influences from King Crimson or Sigur Ros.

For many artists imitation and emulation are the starting point from which to develop a personal style. And this process has actually led to some very creative results, more than you’d expect.
11. What role do you see your music playing in the contemporary music landscape, particularly within the progressive and post-rock genres?

Our albums are something in between prog rock and instrumental post rock. Or they could not belong to any genre, it doesn’t really matter. It’s certainly true that odd meters and frequent changes aren’t typical of post rock music. It’s also true that our instrumental sound and our lack of technicalities move us away from prog music.
12. Can you tell us about any upcoming projects or collaborations that fans can look forward to in the near future?

In July we’re doing a pre-production of the songs for the next album, and in autumn we’ll present them live as a preview, together with some tracks from the first two albums. By the end of 2024, we’ll start recording the third album. We’re getting in touch with some artists we’d like to collaborate with, and we should know soon enough if that’s possible at all.

14. Lastly, how do you envision the trajectory of Giant The Vine in the years to come, both creatively and in terms of reaching new audiences worldwide?

We have no idea what the future will bring for us, and I think none of us would like to know.

In Italy, where we live, this type of music is not very common, so we always aspire to an international audience, maybe by taking part in some international festival, who knows.

Then of course we wouldn’t mind becoming part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… 

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