Hi guys thx for being – again – in touch, this time to share some words and maybe discover something new on SWB. I’m pretty sure a lot of our readers known the full story – But anyway tell us, how did the Shake Well Before project started?

Hi, first of all we would like to thank you for this interview . The project started back in 2008 with Simone, Sbatta, Silvio and our previous guitarists Albi and Milo. We started with a mix of almost every genre that has nearly to do with metal. It was something between metalcore and nu metal, but we weren’t good at all at the beginning. Albi was the first one to leave the band because of his studies, then Milo. Sometimes it’s difficult to have a job and play in a band at the same time. We replaced them with Matteo, who played in tribute bands of Slipknot and Rammstein and Alessandro, who has lots of other projects like “My Hidden Phobia” and “Lisa Meets Jack”.

How did the name come out? What’s the meaning?
Actually there is no deeper meaning behind it. The idea came from our drummer Sbatta. We all had different music styles so our music was like putting different styles together, shake it and you have us. We decided to keep the name also after we changed genre.
Where you already playing in other bands and then gathered into the project? Or was it the kick start also for your musical experience?
SWB was the first band experience for Sbatta and Simone,our bassist. Matteo used to play in tribute bands and crazy black metal bands, Alessandro had lots of bands/projects and Silvio used to play in very small bands in Germany before he moved to Italy

How long have you been around since the beginnings? Can you remember any of the most relevant moments of the band? Maybe also including some old song title that people would listen too!
We played our first concert the 25th of April 2008 in Genoa. Right now we played around 50,may be 60 gigs around Italy. Normally the recording sessions are the most relevant moments because we get all together for a few days and make a lot of shit. We also recorded in Munich, Germany in the summer of 2009, that was awesome, we drank a lot of beer . But that feels like ten years ago, we changed everything, so there aren’t really old songs of us that can be relevant, may be a song called “This Butterfly Is A Dragon”, because we did a video for it. It was our first music video and the first video shot of Andrea Larosa of Ready,Set,Fall. Anyway we recorded 3 Eps with the old line up.

I really love your sound and it reminds me of a mix of death vocals, grind guitars and some HC tunes.. I mean, a lot of things contribute to create a nice and powerful sound. Maybe I’m pretty far from the right definition, but which are the bands SWB takes inspiration from?
You aren’t that far from the right definition I think. It’s just natural for us to do what we do but you can clearly hear inspirations from bands like As I Lie Dying, Parkway Drive, August Burns Red, may be also some Lamb of God or even Panthera.

I know it’s quite hard to have just ONE fav band. Do you also listen to “other things” ? From metalcore to hc? From melodic punk to electronic ?
We listen to a lot of other stuff from every genre…we listen to everything. From heavier stuff like Immortal and Oceano to commercial pop to country, jazz, rock, classic, dubstep, mathcore, ska…whatever, if it’s good, it’s just good, it doesn’t matter what genre.

I know you’re workin damn hard at the moment, what are your next projects?
We are working on our new EP recorded at Fusix Studio in Turin. A lot of good bands recorded there and the producer Andrea Fusini is just a Monster, what he did with our sound is just incredible. It will come out on itunes around January. The next step will be working on a new video clip and playing a lot of shows wherever we can. Then we only hope to be seen by somebody who trusts in us and wants to invest in this band to release a full album.

And what about tour dates? Are you planning something abroad too?
We will be on tour in GB from the 2nd to the 5th of January (London, Brighton, Oxford and Birmingham). It will be our first experience abroad and we are all very excited about it. Then we are planning to do other European tours through Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and a trip to Russia and Hungary.

I have the feeling that metalcore is becoming more and more popular, eventually turning from the archetype of the “ugly and smelly” leather man playin’ Megadeth or Obituary (lol) to the cool guys tattooed that evey girl wants like Bring me The Horizon or A Day to Remember. Do you share this view? Do you think it’s a kind of evolution?
Yes, you’re right. Things changed and metalcore is becoming more and more popular and even more commercial. Metal is not anymore just about being sad, dark and dirty but being cool, having fun and doing a lot of shit around. We aren’t wearing dark clothes, studs, leather. We don’t have long hairs except of Matte, who is still living in the 80s (just joking).

We’re a board mag, so this one is mandatory, this kind of music is often related to sk8 videos and extreme sports. Have you ever been in touch with the action sports scene?
No, we are all very lazy…we love to see it on television but we don’t practice actively. The only sport we do is driving fast and getting a lot of speeding tickets.

Are you working on solo\side project at the moment?
Our guitarist Alessandro is working on an acoustic pop project called “Lisa Meets Jack”, you should check them out also if it’s not metal.

Well, where can we listen your tracks? What’s your website, FB page, Twitter, Tumblr, whatever!
Right now you can hear a teaser of our last single on youtube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhtuAjcP4L0). It’s called “Watching Jersey Shore” (the lyrics have nothing to do with Jersey Shore) and you can download the full version for free on our facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/shakewellbefore ). Just contact us on facebook and you will see all news of the band, you can also add the members of the band and talk to them

Thank you to Shake Well Before, see you in the mosh!!