Claudio Alcara

Well,let’s begin with Stroszek,which is one of my favourite bands. What does “Stroszek”  mean? Does it have anything to do with the Herzog movie?

Oh, thank you very much then ...yes, the name comes straight from the movie, which is really worth watching for everyone. Did you know Ian Curtis killed himself after watching it? ...the life of the main character Bruno Schleinstein is really interesting and very similar to Bruno Stroszek himself...

You can’t easily define the genre, can you? How would you describe Stroszek’s music?

I usually say "country folk". I know someone could get a wrong idea with this, "country" may sound like something happy, and "folk" could take you to neo-folk or to some of those dancing viking bands, but what can I do?If anyway someone is interested it takes 10 seconds to check something on youtube and make up his mind.

How did it all begin?

in 2005, after the Frostmoon Eclipse acoustic album called "Dead And Forever Gone", I thought I wanted to continue in that direction but I couldn't really turn a 10 years old black metal band into a country folk one all of a sudden. So I had to start Stroszek.

Your musical influences.
 

Townes Van Zandt.

Being the man behind “Frostmoon Eclipse” as well,would you tell me a few things? What about this brainchild of yours? I think it dates back to 1994.

We are 20 years old, recorded 5 albums, countless 7"/split/mcd/tributes, played all over Europe and toured the United States in 2008.

What about old school black metal in Italy? Isn’t it more of a “scandinavian” rather than “mediterranean” music genre? How do you consider black metal scene  in the “sunny”  countries we live in?

Now I don't exactly know how Grece is right now, anyway Italy may have a sunny weather (somewhere, sometimes) but it's for sure one of the most depressing places to live, let alone to be a "musician" or even start a band. All of these scandinavian heroes have all the luck in the world when it comes to work, money or government helpings... so...

Describe me your ideal line up of a music festival. It seems to me that you would really like to play with legendary Townes,hehehe!

Ah, that's for sure, but I think I am bit too late... But "everyone I love is dead", to say it with Peter Steele (who is dead as well, by the way)... Nick Drake, Johnny Cash, Mickey Newbury and so on... all gone. A couple of days ago I opened the show for Hugo Race, which is another favourite of mine, so this could be enough already... but I would really like to share stage with Mike Johnson, who let me coverize his song "If The World Hadn't Gone Insane" (on Stroszek's third album "Sound Graveyard Bound"), and since we're dreaming here, let's give Tom Waits a call, too.

Your music is so versatile. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
 

I think most of my songs come out by themselves. About his song "Pancho And Lefty", Townes Van Zandt once said: " it's hard to take credit for the writing, because it came from out of the blue"... for most of my songs it's pretty much the same.

An all time musician’s typical day.How many hours do you play and what does relax you after a stressful day.

This may surprise you a bit, but I almost never touch a guitar today... maybe we could say ten minutes per week or so... that's why I am getting worse and worse, ahah... anyway it's still the best way to relax for me, and I keep telling myself I should play for myself a little more.

Tell me three things you wanna do in your (music) life.

I think to live off of it would be too much of a dream, ahah, what do you think?

Is there anything you re up to at the moment,Stroszek or Frostmoon Eclipse?

I've written a bunch of songs for both bands, I think we'll try to give them all a proper shape. Stroszek has just released the double reissue "Wild Years Of Remorse And Failures", while Frostmoon Eclipse have a couple of split 7"ep's on the way. In the meantime, shows may pop up here and there...

How would you describe the greek audiences?Are they more acoustic or ,say,hardcore black metal headbangers?
 

I never had the chance to play an acoustic show in Greece, but when we played in Athens with Frostmoon Eclipse, we had a great time and met a lot of nice and friendly people. One of our best shows for sure.

Is it true that you have included some Kazantzakis’ verses in one of your album’s artwork?

That's in the booklet of Frostmoon Eclipse "The End Stands Silent" album, I think it was an idea of our drummer, who did the artwork. Kazantzakis is great by the way, I still think that was a good choice.

When are you coming back to Greece? Are there any programmed lives?

Unfortunately no, but I am always open to suggestions.

Will you send a message to the Greek fans of yours?

Help me to get over there again and check what I am up to, on www.stroszekmusic.com and www.frostmooneclipse.com ... or if you prefer facebook, www.facebook.com/stroszekofficial and www.facebook.com/frostmooneclipse