Although this so-called Stoner band, based in Bovolone (near Verona in the North of Italy) was officially born in September of 2010, its history goes back to a year prior, when drummer Francesco “Francis Slaves” Schiavi and bassist Umberto Patuzzo along with singer/ guitarist Stefano Carmagnani started the band Jab.
Being friends in the first place, and getting along just fine as musicianship goes, that band came to an end when Stefano put it in his mind to go try life in sunny California, and somewhere toward the end of Spring 2010 he moved to San Diego...with the complete support of his friends in both his decision and the execution of it, so I hear, although it left the duo without a band to continue. They kept on practicing on occasional opportunities though, hoping to be able to start another project, even if it was stylistically completely different from what they did before. Then, in late summer of that same year, Francesco invites an old friend, whom had been busy making music in his own bedroom, for a meet at his place. After exchanging thoughts about musical tastes, Leonardo Scali (first name actually a double comprising also Francesco, which we shall drop here for convenience's sake), puts on a cd-R onto which he's recorded some ideas on riffs, choral and vocal lines. And as the listening session advances, Francesco's initial excitement about the fact that Leonardo's musical taste concurs almost completely with that of what he used to do with Jab, is turned into a state of ecstasy, as he discovers that not only does Leonardo have some great musical ideas, but he also possesses a really fine voice! He is also pleased with the ideas brought forth by Francesco, but is not quite certain about himself actually steppin' into a bend situation yet. Still, hardly has he passed the door of Francesco's place, or the latter jumps upon the phone to call his friend Umberto about the possibility to continue as a trio with very much the same kind of music as before.
Not wanting to push Leonardo into a position where he'd have to make a hasty decision, Francesco waits for a couple of weeks, until a certain Saturday in September, making a call from his workplace, and albeit casually asking the other, “Well hi, Nardo...so, do you play?”. “What are you doin' today?” was the answer he got. That same evening the three musicians got together for Nardo' try-out an first rehearsal of a cover which they would later frequently play, entertaining other friends in clubs. Just under a year after their official start, in August 2011, the band records the two tracks, “Broken Mirrors” and Stop”, and uses the opportunity of the release to promote the band by playing local shows in and around Verona. In late February/ early March of 2013 then, the band reconvenes in the studio with recording/ mixing engineer Frederico Grelia, to record the 10 tracks which we now find on this, their full-length debut album!
The lyrics, sung in Italian, deal with the friendship and complicity of the band's members, are generally positive in content, and therefore do not quite concur with the generally depressed/ depressive - psychedelic mood associated with Stoner music. Also, the music itself has some deviating qualities, and I personally surmise that in the case of Klem's music, we had better speak of Alternative Rock with Stoner influences. Incidentally, the most “Stoner” moments on the album are the two short instrumentals (funnily enough, the 2:07 “Mobile Classico” is acoustic – love the sampling of that barking dog being included – and the even shorter 1:31 “Fluo” is basically a bass & drum solo, guitar only coming in during the last 30 seconds).
Anyway, it would seem that, at the moment of my checking at least, the only material available on the Internet is found via a YouTube link found at (www.) facebook.com/klemfluo. Oh wait, two songs off the album can also be listened to at (www.) reverbnation.com/klemfluo. Go check it out, to find some highly infectious catchy tunes which have a sing-along factor so high, you'll find yourself memorizing Italian words you don't even know the meaning about! Great stuff, this, and highly addictive too! I mean, actually feel bad about my deal with the editor-in-chief which stipulates my returning to him all material the site gets from the promotion agency which sent us the album!