Tunes

Blonde Redhead

February 17, 2016

Blonde Redhead is composed of twin brothers, Amedeo and Simone Pace, and Kazu Makino, who found themselves playing and writing together back in the mid-90s. At a time when the musical landscape was defined by the sullen, narcotic rage of grunge, and counterpointed by the purist, politicised undergrounds of Olympia, Washington and Washington DC, Blonde Redhead simply did not fit in anywhere. This indivisible trio of aliens — decorous, poetic, hermetic; dedicated to espresso and tea and a glass of red wine with dinner — were out of place in New York City, never mind the rest of America. It was only when, in 1997, they were invited to tour with Fugazi — who showed them a thing or two about being a band — that Blonde Redhead even saw the rest of the country where they had impulsively ended up living and working. Perversely, the experience helped to define them, and the long process of carving out a niche for their singular music began.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. My name is Amedeo and I play guitar in Blonde Redhead.

What kinds of things are influencing your music right now? Other music and art, a drive that I have inside me to fulfill something that is still trapped in me.

How has living in New York City affected your music? I have never done music anywhere else but in New York City, so it is hard for me to know how everyday life has influenced the sound of the band. I feel that influences have been mostly affected by timing, since NYC is so much about that and the exchange of our personalities, which are so different.

How long have you lived in New York and what brought you there? I have been here since the early nineties and I am not sure what brought me here. Maybe curiosity and the desire to feel free in expressing what I had inside

Top 3 favorite or most visited websites and why? At the moment, Hulu for films, Pinterest to help me renovate my apartment, and Craigslist to find things to put in it.

Credit: M. Alexander Weber

Where do you plan to travel next? France and Turkey.

Favorite dessert? I don’t have a sweet tooth. Just in the morning.

How did your interest in music begin? It began when I was really little. Music was always around the house and the desire to learn an instrument was always very strong.

What other musicians are you interested in right now? Many. Lots of old soundtracks and some current and older bands which I don’t want to start listing.

Who would you ideally like to collaborate with? Ennio Morricone or George Delerue

Credit: M. Alexander Weber

Do you have any guilty pleasures? Tell us about one. Having wine and listening to old Italian 60’s romantic music.

What’s your absolute favorite place in the world to be? At the moment, it is still Macugnaga in the Italian Alps. I spent a lot of time there as a child.