Distillerie di Malto are growing!
Warning! Distillerie di Malto expands! In only one year Fabrizio, Giuliano and Marco (who in the meantime married Innes) have cranked out three new little clones of DdM's family. We still don't know if one day Giulia, Riccardo and Federico will go back the way of their parents, but if yes, we have to put up with DdM's music for a long long time.
It’s the bass-player’s turn!
It seemed inconceivable thinking to Giuliano on any altar pronouncing the fatidic “Yes”! We all made a mistake. On July 17th, 2005 he and Alexandra have married and now they form the fourth official family inside the DdM! Fabrizio has done the co-witness and has also had to read in church (shock)! But the presence of the group has not been only that, in fact in church there was a wonderful trio with a certain Marco Felicioni at the flute, who was present as guest in one of the concerts of the band playing and singing Firth of Fifth. In fact between one song and another he has really outlined the splendid solo of flute of the Genesis’ masterpiece.
Branduardi
In the ambit
of the manifestations organized by the Morokaldary Association, our
long dated friend, the great Angelo Branduardi arrived in Ortona.
Distillerie di Malto was present. In fact, Marco and Fabrizio
had the honour of playing in front of the master who enjoyed it with
approval. At the end the distillers and Branduardi exchanged their
autographs!!! Now the minstrel of Italy have got a signed copy (and
he surely will take care of it jealously!) of Il manuale dei piccoli
discorsi!
Here’s the third!
On the 3rd April 2005, Fabrizio and Benedetta got married! Over the music of Morricone’s Mission played by Ciampichetti (he was a distiller in 1991 so far) bride and groom have had as witnesses Fabiano and wife in a side and Giuliano and his future wife in the other side. It was just a union under the sign of Distillerie di Malto!
UFO came back!
Ortona, March
20, 2004. An event went completely unobserved under the eyes of the
world, of the nation, region, town, quarter, and, at last, our own
flat too!
Only to five persons the event provoked astonishment, emotion, joy,
tenderness and, above all, it meant a magic jump in the happy and
light-hearted world of the youth: UFO came back!
In 1981, Franco Altobelli (12 years old), Gianluca Pellicciaro (12
years old), Fabrizio Pellicciaro (10 years old), Maurizio Di Tollo
(12 years old) and Rosaria Tucci (12 years old) formed the band
called UFO! Their strange repertoire included such songs from
Sanremo to international hits such as “Enola gay” (instrumental
version) and Lio’s “Amoreaux solitaire”!
The band had got a relatively short life, if we consider that when
we are 12 years old, one day is one year long but at 30, one year is
almost a quarter of an hour long! However, they succeed in recording
something in the Pellicciaro’s garage and even to play live in
February 1982, in the occasion of the party for Franco’s birthday.
It was the first and only gig of the band, attended by the crowded
Franco’s dining-room!
Well, after more than 22 years, just Franco, now living in Ascoli
Piceno, exactly finds those recordings in a drawer and, after
cleaning out the sound, saved them into a CD, making a real cover
and creating “The very best of UFO – The ultimate collection”!!!
The
inevitable reunion took place just in the Pellicciaro’s garage. They
listened to the disc together: untuned guitars and children voices…
that’s incredible... just us, UFO!
Even the keyboards-man is no more single!
Well, a second
distiller had chosen to be united in matrimony. The 13th
october 2002, Fabiano Cudazzo and Luisa Di Martino became husband
and wife.
Everybody known the new to come, but, to hear the words “Yes, I do”
always gives a lump in in one’s throat. Giuliano, the bass player,
even sang the song “Fratello sole, sorella luna” (“Brother sun,
sister moon”) in the church… and he wasn’t yet drunk! The only thing
we had to do was to be here, and so we did. The fact that in the
evening, to the restaurant, Luca attempted to butcher the two
waiters is only a marginal thing…!
The rehearse room becomes "the studio"
At last we menaged to do it: we
have renewed the "old" rehearse room. It was always a big problem to
play in an unsuitable place, with a mess that brokes your ears,
where it's impossible to hear other instruments (and neither yours!).
We had the absolute necessity to change the matter. So, thanks to
the fruits the CD have brought us, we rolled up our sleeves and, in
about two weeks, we changed the face and the
substance
to our rehearse room. Working unceasingly, nearly at any hour, and
after getting tools, wood, plywood, innumerable cardboards for eggs,
special glues, screws, nails, bulbs and bulb holders, cables and
plugs, paint, even ransacking the dustbins to find pasteboards for
the walls, we've created a jewel (in our opinion!). A touch of
yellow have crowned it all. But we did most: we've bought our first
complete musical installation which, in that now called "the
studio", fit to a T! Now we only need a "true" heating, but if we
pledge ourselves to do it and, maybe, if we record another CD,
besides that, we'll even put a swimming-pool in!
The three days in Palena
When people look back to past,
discover that the things they remember best are not so much;
important stages which made us grown and that we know we’ll never
forget. After a few time from the three days in Palena (CH), we’ve
already noticed we lived just an occasion of those; one to narrate
to friends and nephews, if our renowed sexual sterility will allow
us, above all, to have children! We try to tell you, even if we know
that it was one of that thing you will have to live to understand
it.
mountain
house in Lama dei Peligni (CH) (40kms from Ortona and 8kms from
Palena where Domenico Pulsinelli’s “Miciomaos Studio” we chose for
the recordings, are lying). The presence of a house where eating and
sleeping near the studio was basic to give homogeneity and
continuity to the disc. And, to say the truth, even knowing we could
stay in Lama together for a while, only thinking to the music, was
one of the reason we chose Miciomaos. We all were enthusiastic about
thinking to this kind o
school-trip
without teachers, to enjoy ourselves and work incessantly. A sort of
pleasant self-isolation for the best outcome of our first CD. Jokes,
instruments, awakenings, sounds, wine, tunings, party, no women,
listening to the songs, small tensions, laugh tears etc. All was
Allegro con brio! We enjoyed as hedgehogs, and this collective
embrace produced a fruit: Il manuale dei piccoli discorsi.
The appointment
Luca enters into Mauirizio’s music store to say him hallo. Maurizio shows him thh PFM internet site and he goes at the links page. He shows him our name between Banco and Orme. After some seconds Luca understands. Emotion. The moment to do it has arrived: Maurizio makes him knelt besides the bench, he gives him the CD “Distillerie di Malto live 24.01.1999” to hold high in hand. He takes two drumsticks he sells in the store and, skimming his shoulders with them, he declares: “With the power Fabrizio Pellicciaro, founder member of Distillerie di Malto, gave me, I appoint you Official Member of Distillerie di Malto!” Craze!
Jesus Franz Superstar
All of us had no
doubt in considering Franz Di Cioccio as a Big. But we didn’t
thought to speak about him in celestial or supernatural terms. He
insert Distillerie di Malto into the links of the official site of
PFM (www.pfmpfm.it),
between Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson etc. Italian bands
are only three: Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme and us. Incredible!
In the site you can find some photos of us, after attending one of
their concert, with the caption: “Distillerie di Malto”, friend of
Ortona”. Joy and voluptuousness! It is not only the guarantee That
Franz is a very nice person, showing his infinite disposal (Maurizio
had been contacting and knowing him by internet since a few time).
But it is a great demonstration the music goes far, binding the
strickly technical speech to the exclusive magnificence of human
being. Now we can surely affirm that Franz is the proof of the of
God’s existance!… Some of us are seriously thinking he wasn born in
S. Giovanni Rotondo!
The wedding event
On the first of
Aprli 2000 (just that day!), Maurizio got married with Oxana. All
the poeple thought it was a joke but it wasn’t so. Fabrizio and
Fabiano had the honuor to cheer up the persons present with keyboard
and guitar. As a result Maurizio and Oxana had pronounced their
“yes” over the “Dancing with the moonlit knights” notes.
Bad luck
We steer
Cepagatti (PE) to play into the mythical Pop Off. All appeared
normal, but that evening sould be the unluckiest of all ones. We
arrive. In the back of the pub there was the parking with a little
bit irksome entrance. We had to pass across a millimetric gate with
the seat of the spike which was quite high. Marso passes, ok,
Maurizio passes, ok. Fabiano passes and he get entangled. The brake
cable of his car brake. First curse! We enter and start to climb up
the instruments. Surprise: Maurizio forgot his drum pedal! Silvio,
the manager of the pub, started to phone all the bands he know
hoping some drummers sould carry one. A boy came and gently lent it
to us. We play. About the middle of the gig, during “Red”, we see
the peolple get worried near the bench and, after a while, some
stretcher-bearers
entering and taking away
someone in a litter. Enzo, Silvio’s brother, go away too. During the
break we knew that their mother, who worked in the kitchen, got a
heart desease and they had to take her at the hospital soon. At the
end of the concert Silvio took a call and, very worried, even him
ran away. We remount the instrument, a bit disorientated, and we
restart back home. Maurizio, who counted on the fit of the event to
fill his car up, had the petrol at the end of its tether. But they
didn’t pay us, and it seemed inadequate to speak about money, in
such a moment like that, to Silvio’s wife who remained in the pub.
On the first crossing his car stop (near a funeral stele!). Marco,
with the only surviving car, go to the first petrol pump and fill
the only available container (a bottle of wine) up. After the hard
insertion of the fuel, the last problem was solved. Now we could go
back home!
Umbria Rock
We won the price “Musica dalle
scuole”. So we could enter at Umbria Rock, an event in Perugia. Our
former bass player, Valerio, was engaged. With his agreement, we
called Gianluca Di Renzo to substitute him. We left with the joy in
our hearts. It was a wonderful day, and we were going, for the first
time, over the boundaries of
our region, to play together. All was ready. Some bands were already
making their sound chek, when a dreadful storm falled on us, on the
stage-box, on the instruments and on that little audience whob had
already come to listen to the music. We waited for a long time but
the rain didn’t cease. There was no possibility to postpone the
event. So we disconsolate went back home, with the tail between our
legs and the imprecations between our teeth!
The name
One day, Marco had a simple doubt. “Beer don’t come out by the distillation, but by the fermentation of malt” said to Fabrizio. Fabiano had always declared that our name was a sympton of our love for this drink. Then Marco and Fabrizio revealed him their doubt: “Beer is a fermentation, not a distillation!” Fabiano answered: “What the fuck we care, we’re called Distillerie di Malto and we like beer!”.
Dance academy
In 1990 the Dance Academy of
Ortona invited us to play between the changes of the scenes of their
ballets in Civitella Casanova (PE). Maybe they didn’t know our
repretory or maybe theye were simply crazy like us. The fact is that
we proposed, between bodices, pointed shoes and pink tutus, covers
of The Who, Pink Floyd and…, you well listen to, Stairway to heaven!!!
And so it is, we have done it!
P.S. that was tho only gig
without Fabiano (Navy).
A gipsy kink!
We just lived a bad experience
thanks to one rehearse room. The AVIS of Ortona gave at our disposal
one room of their’s. It was surely warm, but in the second floor
there was some families of gipsy put up by the town council. Granted
we do notn have any preconceptions of nothing at all, one evening a
gentleman, disturbed by our amplifiers, went down, he entered nearly
breaking the door and shouted into our ears to stop playing. His
voice’s noise was most deafening than our intruments. Then he
throwed himself on Fabrizio’s Gibson double neck, he kept it making
the action of cleaving it to the ground. The decibels before were
flown: dead silence. Fabrizio spoke some words with him and he
luckily left the guitar and went out slamming the door.
We shitted
ourselves below!
Rehearse room
All young band have the same problem to find the right place to rehearse. We are not just an exception. We played everywhere. “Half-building” without doors (we placed one), smelly cellars with several rats. In the grandmothers’ houses we cuold count on their deafness but we had to called the neighbours to account. You don’t have to forget that we started in a storehouse of an Office for the Dead!