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Days of Rona: Giorgio Trombino of Elevators to the Grateful Sky, Assumption, Sixcircles and Dolore

The ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the varied responses of publics and governments worldwide, and the disruption to lives and livelihoods has reached a scale that is unprecedented. Whatever the month or the month after or the future itself brings, more than one generation will bear the mark of having lived through this time, and art, artists, and those who provide the support system to help uphold them have all been affected.

In continuing the Days of Rona feature, it remains pivotal to give a varied human perspective on these events and these responses. It is important to remind ourselves that whether someone is devastated or untouched, sick or well, we are all thinking, feeling people with lives we want to live again, whatever renewed shape they might take from this point onward. We all have to embrace a new normal. What will that be and how will we get there?

Thanks to all who participate. To read all the Days of Rona coverage, click here. — JJ Koczan

elevators to the grateful sky Giorgio Trombino

Days of Rona: Giorgio Trombino of Elevators to the Grateful Sky, Assumption, Sixcircles and Dolore (Palermo, Italy)

How have you been you dealing with this crisis as a band? As an individual? What effect has it had on your plans or creative processes?

We had scheduled our final pre-album rehearsals when the lockdown kicked in. Everything was already in the pipeline but now all plans have been postponed to who-knows-when. That being said, Assumption has always been a long-distance band since we all live in different places, basically three in Northern Italy and one in Slovenia. I mean, our regular band life is already about getting to meet just for specifically planned occasions, so we know the hassle. We would love to stick together much more than we are allowed to and not just for playing and recording. On a personal level, lockdown was ok and I’ve tried to make most out of it. I even managed to move to a new house with my girlfriend as we had like a special permit to carry the furniture, drive back and forth and so on. I have been reading, watching movies and writing new music the rest of the time.

How do you feel about the public response to the outbreak where you are? From the government response to the people around you, what have you seen and heard from others?

Situations differ a lot from region to region. Northern regions like Lombardia and Piemonte are still facing the toughest tasks, whereas both major islands and southern Italy in general have seen slightly better times. Veneto, the region I currently live in, has received much praise and is now regarded as a national model in contagion management in spite of the idiotic and extremely unstable discourses of regional President Luca Zaia. It seems like he basically did all he could to try and dismantle this region’s efficient healthcare system during the last few years but in the end he took all of his staff’s credit for the good results. I mean, what else would you expect from someone whose political party (Lega, formerly Lega Nord) is one of the most arrogant, self-righteous and repulsive right wing piles of shit ever in this country? As for the people I know and love, a good percentage of them was freaking out at home. I decided to choose just a few pieces of daily information I felt essential, switched off the rest of the panic-inducing media and focused on other stuff. I, for one, am really grateful for how things turned out for my family and me.

What do you think of how the music community specifically has responded? How do you feel during this time? Are you inspired? Discouraged? Bored? Any and all of it?

First it seemed like house streaming and people doing stuff live on Facebook were the answer. I stand with what Nick Cave said about them in early April, I think most of that stuff is plain self-indulgence. Live music is mostly a social thing, there’s no way a surrogate experience can ever avoid being boring and feel adulterated. I have written tons of music for almost all of my projects, worked on commercial tunes for advertisement, home demoed 90 percent of a future Sixcircles album did a lot of stuff that I always wanted to focus on and I have been waking up each morning wanting to do more and go to places I hadn’t been musically before. You know, Moody Blues once said thinking is the best way to travel. For what concerns the broader music community, I know many people in the live music world that are struggling to survive and some drive-in gig isn’t simply enough to change things. I can only wish for a speedy twist in the plot for people dealing with this.

What is the one thing you want people to know about your situation, either as a band, or personally, or anything? What is your new normal? What have you learned from this experience, about yourself, your band, or anything?

A disproportionate event such as the one we’re all going through now offers a whole array of free lessons to be learned. Biggest one is that all things must pass. Inhabitants of the privileged sector of the planet are now familiar with a redefined concept of “personal restriction” to some extent. Covid has pulled the best and worst out of everyone and hung a huge question mark over our heads. Franco Maresco, a Sicilian director whose art I admire, has recently said in an interview that mankind won’t learn much from the pandemics, just like many times before. I partly share this vision and feel like covid is a portion of a bigger dysfunctional picture anyway. I’m essentially hoping for best and preparing for worst. I can say I felt nauseauted by the trendy optimist logorrhoea that flooded the Italian web when everybody started writing, painting, drawing the phrase “ce la faremo” (“we will make it”) on whatever available surface. After all, Turgenev once stated that there are situations, however touching, from which one nevertheless wants to escape… as for Assumption, the band is made of people I love. We will simply carry on and do our stuff whenever it’s possible again.

https://www.facebook.com/assumptiondoom/
https://assumption.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/assumption_band/
https://www.facebook.com/sixcirclesband/
https://phonosphera.bandcamp.com/album/sixcircles-new-belief/
https://www.facebook.com/ElevatorstotheGratefulSky/
https://elevatorstothegratefulsky.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/doloremeanspain/
https://dolore1.bandcamp.com/

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