After dropping their debut album “Crudo” , and before their session at Hidden Gem Studio, we sat down with the Danish/Italian duo Raw Fish (Teis Semey & Giovanni Iacovella) for a brief chat. Raw Fish is punk, indie rock and improvised music mixed together in a spaceship. Teis Semey and Giovanni Iacovella navigate through lands of unknown and sounds unheard. Armed with an MPC, guitars, synthesizers, drums and a laptop, they are ready to lose themselves in smashing buttons.
We are Rawfish and I'm Teis Semey and I play guitar and this is Giovanni Iacovella who plays
drums and live electronics.
How would you introduce the performance we’re about to witness tonight?
G: It's a bit of a long journey. We started playing together after being roommates for a while.
After we organized this party in Amsterdam Noord, we started playing together to form a band. Basically, what we're going to play tonight is what's included in our EP. It just came out.
It's called Crudo. It's out online on all platforms. We're going to play some of that material
and also improvise a bit.
Do you have a way how you like to describe the sound of Raw Fish?
G: Yeah, it's tough because there's a mix of many things and many influences. Both of us have different backgrounds that then come together. I think it's a very cool mix of improvised music, punk, and in the attitude more than the sound itself. And also, there's a lot of
improvisation in it. Both of us played a lot of jazz or music that could be put under the umbrella of jazz music. So we're both improvisers and we like to keep that in the music.
T: That mindset meets a pretty broad palette of influences from Men I Trust or indie music or
late Coltrane to avant-garde classical music of 20th century. And yeah, hopefully all
that stuff is also there.
How did the name Raw Fish come about?
T: As far as I remember it, Raw Fish came because at that time we played our first concert.
I had a few alternative bands that I was trying to experiment with what felt good
and what also could be a fun thing for me to work on next to my other projects.
While working on those projects eventually I came up with the name Raw Fish
and I thought it was such a good name. And then I asked Giovanni, "What about calling it Raw Fish? I like the name."
G: Yeah, I liked it a lot so we just embraced that. I think it really fits the music and the vibe.
It describes the music a bit because it's really... It's a bit rough and we like to keep it raw like that. It's not super refined. There's nuances and details but...
T: Yeah, we definitely have a habit of resisting the idea of refined stuff to not make it too smooth around the edges. That's where I like to exist in terms of music. So I guess that's what people find most confusing when I say I'm inspired by indie music and Men I Trust. It doesn't sound that smooth. But I think the sound ideal or how the music just sounds is still important to me, music making. The raw aspect of it is this kind of like maybe a refusal of polishing every edge. I don't always think that's necessary in music. I like it but for me I like keeping it raw.
Tijmen de Nooy Photography
How do you feel in this current chapter of your life, in your music, in your art?
T: Well, I think it's a beginning and we're in a moment where our first chapter sort of ended. We made a lot of music, we recorded it, we produced an album, it's out, now we're doing
the shows. And now is a chance for us to reimagine Raw Fish because now a lot of stuff is clear what we can do and what we have to play with. So it's a chance for us to kind of rediscover a lot of stuff and make new music. So I would almost say it's a beginning period now.
G: Yeah, especially like we're extending the group a little bit. Like we're trying to keep it open and think about it more as a collective rather than only a duo. So we're like, there's like a few friends that are joining the band for some shows, like horn players. So and that's like really exciting. We played a gig in April, it was like really fun for me, like just expanding the possibilities a lot and I think that also might be the start of like a new chapter for the band.
And also like I mean, we're collaborating with the singer Marta Arpini, who's based in
Amsterdam as well. And so we're like also getting into like lyrics territory a little bit, like more like song. And there's already a few on the album that one of them has lyrics. So it's like we're also like sort of exploring that territory a bit more.
T: Experimenting with the radical idea of lyrics in music.
Who’s all part of the Raw Fish extended collective?
T: They don't know about it yet. In our heads, they are a part of a collective.
G: Marta, I could say we played a few shows with her already and also, she is featured on the record. And then there's like James McClure, just like trumpet player and Alice Leggett on alto. Teresa Costa, who's been playing flute with us. And Nicolò Ricci on tenor. So it's all like people based in Amsterdam, that gravitate around the, Amsterdam jazz and improvised scene. And it's just friends that we like to play with. So yeah, they're not stable members of the group, but I think it's nice that we keep it open, you know, and experiment with different
ensembles and organics.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
T: Free Palestine.
G: Yeah, exactly. Stop genocide. And I think that's crucial matter right now.
T: That would be great. Our music doesn't say that specifically...
G: ...but I think if we can say a few words, it would be that.
T: Yeah, that would probably be it. Genocide is bad. Not worth supporting.
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