It's Bank Holiday Monday, so it follows that you might need something to blast away the cobwebs accrued over the weekend – so, don't worry, we here at Louder have got you covered. Introducing the sounds of Italian melodic hardcore five-piece What We Lost, whose emotional racket has marked them out as one of the Italian underground's must-hears in 2018.
We catch up with the band to find out more about their journey, their music and what they have lined up for next.
Can you introduce yourselves – where are you from, who does what and what are your roles in the band?
"Hi guys, here's our line-up: Simone Galeotti - vocals, Riccardo Ibatici - guitar, Lorenzo Di Girolamo - guitar, Enrico Tosti - bass, Andrea Barbieri - drums.
We all come from the north of Italy: Simone, Andrea and Riccardo are from Modena, Enrico is from Reggio Emilia and Lorenzo is from Lodi."
How did you guys meet and start making music together?
"Andrea, Riccardo and Marco, our former guitarist, used to play together in a band before What We Lost. Then they had some auditions to start this project and met Simone and Enrico. In 2017 Lorenzo joined the band, when Marco left."
What were your key influences/inspirations in getting the band together?
"We discovered and started listening to this genre after watching several Italian metalcore/melodic hardcore bands playing live: we appreciated both the energy and the feelings that characterised the shows and we decided to start the band."
How would you describe your sound in three words for people who’ve never heard you?
"Emotional, intense and introspective."
What makes you special/different to other bands out there?
"We don't even know. This question should be asked to our fans! Ha-ha."
What’s the story behind latest single Chamomile – how did you approach writing and how did it come together?
"Our guitarist Riccardo used to play Chamomile's starting riff during rehearsal to warm up. From the first listening we loved it and we decided to build the song around it. After several (totally different) versions of the song, we worked on it with our producer Federico, from Wavemotion Recordings, and it finally became Chamomile."
What’s your favourite story/anecdote from recording the song?
"Actually there isn't any anecdote from recording the song, but it is curious to know that before finding it a name, we called it HT without a real reason."
What do you hope people will take away from the song and your music in general?
"One of the greatest achievements as a band is receiving messages from people saying our music helps them in a way or another. In general we hope people can identify with our music and our words, can understand it's ok to have certain feelings and can feel like a part of something."
What's been the highlight of your time in the band so far?
"One of the biggest highlight of our career was sharing the stage with Alazka, Casey and Acres for the release of our first EP, Shades. We played with them in our hometown in 2016, a lot of people came to the show, that was one of our best nights so far."
What can people expect if they come to see you live?
"As with every hardcore set, ours are quiet brief, but extremely intense and lively."
What are you most looking forward to about the future – what’s coming next?
"We are currently writing new songs. We have several shows booked all over Italy for next few months and we are planning a tour to hit Europe/UK before the end of 2018."
