Despite a cult status amongst a very close circle of connoisseurs, AIT! remains quite confidential to many people, so could you please begin with an introduction of AIT!, its origins and its members... ?

AIT! is basicly my new solo project, born between 2000 and 2001. I say new, since I previously played with the name of "Today, I'm dead" for some years... that was essentially a death-industrial and power electronics project...
After some years and some cd's as TIMD, I started feeling the will and the need to widen my artistical horizons, to express my self in a more boundless way... this is for the "technical" side; but AIT! is mainly born to satisfy a need of freedom, I wanted to create a project whose contents had to be outspoken. A project that had to deal with crucial and unpleasant themes and with personal passions-affections, without boring sweetenings and veilings, taking a stand against the so called "politically correct" (which has nothing correct!) and the right-minded moral. I wanted the freedom to say what I wanted to, without worrying about reactions... and this is what I do and what I will keep on doing!

What does AIT! mean and why use a '!' to punctuate the name?

AIT! is a local exclamation my beloved grandma (La Mora :-) ) uses to say, and it means "get away!" "Raus!". She uses this expression when she is upset for something or with somebody... she says that very often, many times she yelled that in my face! Most of the times though she says that in a funny and ironic way. I've always been fascinated by the authoritative sound of this word and by its "localness" as well…these reasons, plus my visceral love and respect for my grandparents, led me to call my project AIT!, here is the reason for the exclamation mark... being an exclamation I wanted it to be read in the correct way...

The music of AIT! is quite difficult to describe due to the diversity of sonorities going from cabaret, black-lounge, experimental noise, old songs, samples... How would you qualify your music?

I really wouldn't know how to describe AIT!'s music; yes, there are all the genres you mention in the songs I've done until now.
I've been playing since I was 8, and I enjoyed playing many styles: folk, jazz, funky, electro, metal etc... I got the whole pack, that is!!! Now I feel I have a rich musical store of knowledge, and I'm trying to get possession of a style which cannot be defined, simply because it mixes all that I like and that I've known in these years...
AIT! shouldn't be easily labeled, this is very important for me, but that's not snobbery or exclusivism! I just think that every good musician plays without exactly knowing if what he does is part of some genre or another, he leaves this job to critics and listeners.
So I think that trying to label AIT! is rather pointless, it's much better to take each album on its own, since you cannot really know what the next will be like! This makes me truly happy, I finally feel free to do and to say what I want.

Are there any bands that may have had an influence on your musical path?

The list would be too long, I could name italian folk or Claudio Villa and then name Suicide and BDN... Every one contributed in various measures to my musical growth.

Judging from the AIT! website (the entry page and the gallery) visual aesthetics seem to play an important part of your art. Could you develop this?

Yes, music is no doubt the mean of artistic expression that I feel the most satisfying and close to me. But I do love visual arts too; I think that in some musical genres - especially experimental, industrial, ambient etc. - images are complementary to sounds better than in other genres - like rock - They are almost necessary, the right sound-image mixture can make the work complete.
Besides, I am very interested in the "cult of the body", both physically and aesthetically.

How do you create a song? What is at the beginning: a melody, a thought, some words... ?
You also use samples (from historical, cinematographic... sources)... how do you proceed to choose and integrate them in your music?

It's different every time, random. I don't have any scheme, plan or whatsoever, sometimes I happen to do the music and then put voices and samples on it, sometimes it's the exact opposite.

You first appeared on the (surprising, musically speaking) Teatro Satanico 7" (as guest vocals) released with the 'Dimonia' book by Sotto Mondo Editions. How did you get in contact with the Italian underground cult-band Teatro Satanico and what kind of relation do you maintain with them nowadays?

I've met DeviLs in his shop "Sottomondo" some years ago; it was instant feeling, so we started seeing each other and we became good friends...

On this recording 'Diaul', you sing in Friul. What are the reasons for using this specific dialect?

Language, not dialect; I'd like to stress this point: friul is an actual language! The idea came from DeviLs, he asked me to translate and record those crowleyian sentences in friul because he wanted to use a harsh and scarcely known language... (sadly, friul is almost a dead language nowadays)
I immediately loved the idea and I did the whole thing with extreme enthusiasm. When I made him listen the result he went "Fantastic! The sound is so dark... it's do delightfully satanic!!!!! " hhahhhaaaha!!!

After this first guest appearance, again you provided the vocals on the Teatro Satanico track 'Satana' that features on the Novy Svet 'Teatro Satanico Charles Manson' 7" released by Ars Benevola Mater/Amplexus as a very limited edition. Can you tell us more about your participation on this collaboration...?

Ehm, there's a little mistake, before this 7" I had already done my self-titled debut-cd.
The vocal track "Satana" is born like "Diaul"; I recite a couple of sentences in friul, this time sentences are simultaneously recited in spanish by the dear Juergen and in latin by the good old DeviLs...

Is there a chance that a new AIT!/Teatro Satanico split/collaboration will see the light in the future?

Hehehee, actually DeviLS and I have taken the decision to operate this diabolical collaboration since a lot of time. In fact we already had the title, the cover and some sketches for some tracks... alas, we both had a terribly busy year and now this project has become very difficult to bring on... maybe in the future...

After these collaborations, finally the first AIT! album was released by Ars Benevola Mater/Amplexus with a nice and original artwork... Could you tell us a bit more about the cover and the inner photo and the reasons of these choices??

OK, I've already stressed the point about the chronology.
What can I say about the artwork, I think it's perfect for that record, every time I see it I'm really enthusiast and I'm sure I've done the correct choice.
The album cover is taken from a nazi-porno coming from my collection.
About the inner photo, well, it's me, naked, posing with Lalla (one of my favourite dummies).
They are two very strong and "in-your-face" images, according to the things I was saying about AIT! in the beginning of this interview.

This album was recorded in late 2001... how do you explain it took so much time for people to notice this record?

Nice question... but maybe you should question about this the guys who had to spread the product... but it's better not to talk about this :-(

I noticed that the song titles are expressed in different languages, such as Italian of course but also English, French... What do you appreciate in these specific foreign languages?

Like on the musical side, I don't see any reason to put limitations, why just one language? ...according to the track I can feel one language or another to be more appropriate, for the musicality, for the message, for the mood I want to create...

After this eponymous first album, AIT! collaborated with Novy Svet on a limited 7" split. How did you meet Juergen and Frl. Tost? Is this new collaboration a continuation from the previous 'Novy Svet / Teatro Satanico' 7"?

I met Juergen and frl.Tost in Italy, while they were visiting DeviLs.
They listened to the debut-CD and they liked it very much. The idea of doing a split together came from there. Well, I would say that the experiment was successful, I think the split is really a good product...
The idea of the NS/TS split came after…

This split 7" also marks the beginning of Punch Productions... What made you decide to set up your own label?

Yes, this 7" is the first production of my own label Punch. I decided to start a label of my own for various reasons, the first of which was having total autonomy for myself and my works, to avoid boring and annoying problems with other people.
Besides I was pleased with having the chance of proposing to the musical market some projects that in my opinion were interesting and that deserved attention.

The second release of Punch reunites (again!) Novy Svet and Teatro Satanico... this label seems to attach importance to friendship, doesn't it? ;-)

Yes, sure, friendship is very important for me, and I think that NS, TS and AIT! have several unusual things in common, even if they are really different they have a very similar soul...
Punch, before being a commercial label, wants to be a label with a "friendly soul"...

A few words about the great artworks that adorn this 7" picture disc and the now cult track 'Confesso Tutto'?

Picture's artwork was entirely made by the bands.
NS did that wonderful collage taking inspiration from the story told in "Confesso tutto!". TS too chose a totally appropriate image: a "Krampus".
What can I say about the song: it's an old TS anthem, in the original version and in a splendid re-interpretation made by NS.
It's a confession, in fact few people know that, sadly, a few years ago some TS members were charged and inquired for alleged nazi-satanism... they were accused of being part of a sect devoted to who knows what crimes... TS therefore decided to "confess everything", declaring it was all true, stating (in the song, of course) he killed a little girl (!!!) after having ripped her clothes off, hid her corpse throwing it to the dogs, etc etc...

Your latest work is 'Fiori di carne'... A beautiful LP picture disc featuring splendid artworks by Saturno Buttò. Could you say a few words about this artist... how did you meet each other, have you any plans for working together again in the future...?

Saturno Buttò is an artist that fortunately lives near me, and he's a friend of DeviLs's as well. It was DeviLs in fact that one day decided to make us meet, thinking that this would have led to good things…well he was damn right!
I already knew his works, but I never thought about meeting the artist. With great pleasure I found out that he's not only a great artist, but also a very lovely person, a music lover and very open-minded.
I made him listen to the tracks of "Fiori di Carne" and asked him if he thought his work could have been a matching artwork for the record. He immediately accepted with enthusiasm.
I think (and hope) to continue this collaboration also in the future... I already have some ideas but... it's too early to talk about this.

What would you say about 'Fiori di Carne' to people who have not listened to it yet?

A friend of mine (Marco Deplano) told me that, despite the first debut, he found the material in "Fiori di Carne" more "Morriconian" ...mmmh, probably this is the most suitable word to describe the album.
It surely isn't just lounge-music, folkish samples, post-industrial ambient-dark pads etc...
"Fiori di Carne" (Flowers of Flesh) can be considered a following or a variant of the previous self-titled work. Of course the sound and the rhythms are considerably different, but the themes are more or less the same. Love for pop culture, interest for history, militarism, fetishism, irony, and a pinch of healthy intolerance :-)

Is there a special meaning in releasing this album as a limited edition of 333 copies? Would you be a collector too?

Of course, I am a collector (in fact this is what Punch is about), but in this case the 333 is due to "magick-esotheric" reasons and never the less it's a number I'm linked to since my childhood (3-3...)

All your productions pay great attention to aesthetics... how important is this for you?

Aesthetic in general has a huge importance for me; of course it's no use saying that content is the main thing and the most important, but if, given that, we can also give it the best garment...
I'm generally speaking a terrible fetishist: images, colours, forms, odours... they get me!!!
I really couldn't think of one of my productions in a "cheap" format... if not refined as well, hehehe!

What are the plans for Punch for the present and the future?

Producing and proposing good music; I'm very, VERY selective. I think that in the last years too many mediocre projects have been brought along, poor imitations of originals, and this only fills the market with useless products, I would say.
I try (and I will try) giving space only to bands who (in my opinion, of course) are really interesting or even original, to do so I am willing to risk, to go into productions of various genres and styles...

Can you tell us a bit more about the forthcoming split/collaboration 12" 'Drinking to better days' with Novy Svet, Totenlieder, AIT! and Ô Paradis? How did you guys get in contact? And what can we expect from such a gathering of 'deranged' talents? ;-)

It's a maxi split, a 12" in heavy vinyl and with 45 RPM speed to get a better audio quality. All the four bands will contribute with 2 tracks each, one song from each band in both sides. What can I tell you more, well nothing I'd say, I would spoil the surprise, wouldn't I?

The Italian post-industrial scene seems to be very active these days with good formations such as Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte, Terroritmo, Der Bekannte Post Industrielle Trompeter, Mushroom's Patience... without forgetting to mention Ain Soph... What are your connections with these bands and the 'Italian underground scene' in general?

Frankly in these years I've never looked for a direct contact with other italian musicians, strangely I've always had - and I like it this way - swaps and friendship with foreign musicians; swap and friendship with projects like Terroritmo, Teatro Satanico etc are born outside musical plans, friendship has take place before "business"... I'm essentially a misanthropic musician, due to my nature I am not willing to have relationships with "too many" musicians...
Yes, there are many interesting projects in Rome, but I can assure you that many other italians are doing (or did) very good things, sadly always in the silence... Unfortunately the average italian is xenophilous, therefore it frequently happens that foreign artists discover and promote italian bands rather than our fellow countrymen (and I'm essentially talking about critics and music magazines).

Are there any other artistic projects inspired by 'apocalypse culture' that deserve to be mentioned?

Rather than asking myself what other projects could be mentioned, I ask myself whether there are already too many names around, often not even worthy of being named... think about this, my dear, think.
I'm deeply disappointed by today's "apocalyptic" scene, and honestly I can't figure out how this scene can be still named like that... I'm very nostalgic about that reality that marked at least two decades in the "underground" scene.

Till now you have collaborated with some well-known neo-avant-garde musicians such as Teatro Satanico, Novy Svet (and Ô Paradis, Totenlieder soon)... Are there any other artists with who you will or would like to collaborate?

Well, yes, lots of them, but I couldn't give you any name... they are too many!

You live in Italy in a city localised in the province of Udine... To what extent does the place where you live have an influence on your music?

Actually I am from Pordenone, I live in Udine since less than a year...
Rather than Udine, we'd better talk about Pordenone; I do think that this town and its musical past (like the legendary Great Complotto) had an enormous influence in my taste and in my artistic choices.
Pordenone has been a small town, but with a huge artistic ferment…in the late 70s/early 80s it already had the first italian underground "movement", way before big cities like Milano, Bologna or Roma.
I'm a real fan of the Great Complotto and I think that this has been for me one of the main examples of how you can propose "risky" music outside every classification.

Do you have any other artistic projects outside of music?

No. I think I have a talent mainly for music, and I try concentrating and do my best.
Well, I could tell you about body-art :-) and so on... I think that my interest for this discipline/practice can be guessed. I've been a piercer for several years, I've been interested (and I still am) in "body - psychic alteration"... but this is another story.

To my knowledge, you have never played live... Is it a project you are working on and if yes what can one expect from an AIT! performance?

Correct, at the moment there has never been an AIT! live-act, I've had several proposals, but I've always decided not to do that (sometimes they were very hard decisions to take!) because I thought it wasn't the right time...
Now I think the time is right, in fact I'm starting the organization for a couple of gigs…now I'm really enthusiast with the idea of a live act, I just hope to find the time to set everything in the best way.

The last words are for you... Is there anything you would like to add?

I thank you from Heimdallr for the constant and loving support to AIT!
A big HELL-O to all your readers!