submeet (IT): It’s imperfection and error that truly define us

When it comes to music publishing, the main goal of No Profit Recordings is to explore the unknown and immerse ourselves in something different and fresh. When we learned about submeet, we immediately thought, “Well, this is something else.” It is our great pleasure to have this Italian band on our label, and now it’s time to meet them. To start, we set up an interview with submeet’s core: Andrea, Jacopo and Andrea.

Ciao, ragazzi! submeet is one of the most interesting bands we’ve heard lately, and we’re sure our readers will come to the same conclusion. But first things first, let’s do a proper introduction! Could you introduce yourselves? Who makes up the band, and since when have you been active?

R: Ciao! We’re submeet, a band of three friends from Mantua: Andrea “Zannunzio” Zanini (vocals and bass), Andrea Guardabascio (guitar, vocals), and Jacopo Rossi (drums).

The band has existed in this lineup since 2016, although the two Andreas had already been playing together before. The encounter with Jacopo turned the project into a true melting pot of influences, as each of us comes from a different musical background: the two Andreas from indie/revival post punk, Jacopo from HC punk/extreme metal.

Since we started playing in this formation, we realized that what we enjoyed the most was creating a band that could generate a kind of controlled chaos, never losing the thread and the post-punk backbone, but allowing ourselves to wander into noisier territories.

You describe yourselves as a noise post-punk band, but through your releases we can sense different influences, since there are elements and traces of industrial, shoegaze, electronic music etc. But, let’s step away from genre labels. Please, describe your music through: a) color, b) texture,  c) feeling.

R: If we had to describe our music without talking about genres, we’d say:

a) it looks like a gradient shifting from black to white, with grey as the dominant shade.

b) it feels like a grainy texture, somewhere between concrete and sandpaper.

c) and the feeling is basically distress… but with a smile.

Inevitably, origin influences expression. You come from the Italian city of Mantua, which itself is rich with independent scenes and artistic collectives. Can you tell us a bit about that scene and what is being created over there? How much has it influenced the development of the band?

R: Mantua itself doesn’t offer many spaces for live music, especially nowadays. There are a few exceptions and some venues here and there, but the scene has definitely shrunk compared to when we first started the band. Back then, there were more places to play and attend shows. One of them was FCE (Frammenti di un Cuore Esploso) a label/venue with some rehearsal rooms with strong posthardcore/HC/screamo influences who supported the local scene. Unfortunately they had to shut down. Today, the main venue left in the city is Arci Tom, which still plays a key role. Just outside Mantua, in Castiglione delle Stiviere there’s Arci Dallò, which has become a really important space for live shows and the local scene.

After the pandemic, we felt a strong urge to create something new, something that could bring people together again. That’s when we started an artistic collective called Paura Padana. With this collective, we began organizing events in a countryside farmhouse mixing local live bands with electronic and techno DJ sets. It was our way of carving out a space for ourselves and others. Eventually, we took this format beyond our province and into clubs elsewhere.

In the meantime, new bands started forming around us, like a/lpaca, Exhibit and more recently we launched a new project called Normativ. Because there aren’t many regular concert opportunities nearby, what we often end up doing is simply meeting in the rehearsal room and creating something together. That’s where a lot of our energy goes.

Coming from a small city has always pushed us to look beyond its borders. Ever since we were younger, we’re in our thirties now, we used to travel to nearby cities like Bologna, Modena, Brescia, and Verona to see shows. That helped us form strong connections and build a network outside of Mantua, which has been essential to our growth as a band and as individuals.

Why submeet? At first glance, it seems that your music is deeply devoted to existential exploration and to delving into both the inner and outer worlds, touching on questions of identity, the subconscious, and the unconscious? 

R: The name submeet comes from the idea of encounters that happen beneath the surface. Our first rehearsal actually took place in a basement in the center of Mantua, just a few hundred meters from a canal that connects the lakes around the city. That setting, underground, near water, felt like a kind of submerged meeting, which naturally tied into the concept of underground music as well.

It also reflects how we approach music: not just as sound on the surface, but as a meeting point of hidden forces, memories, instincts, contradictions, unconscious drives. Our songs often try to translate those subterranean tensions into something audible and physical, something you can feel.

So yes, the existential dimension is definitely there, but it’s not something we treat academically. It’s more visceral. We see our music as a kind of exploration of the invisible: identity, dream states, anxiety, the ongoing dialogue between the inner self and the external world.

submeet is the word we chose for that space where all of those forces meet and collide.

Has this kind of exploration through music led you to any conclusions, and if so, which ones?

R: Exploring through music has brought us several insights, some introspective, others more practical.

On a personal level, one thing we’ve come to understand is that the process itself: diving into emotions, subconscious mechanisms, and hidden tensions is just as important as any “answer” we might find. Music works like a mirror, reflecting both our inner world and the world around us. Through that reflection, we’ve learned to better understand ourselves and what we’re feeling. In that sense, we owe a lot to this band not just musically, but in terms of personal growth.

One of the most beautiful things is when that message somehow reaches the listener, when a connection is made during a live show, and you feel like there’s a kind of mental or emotional link being created with the audience. That’s a really powerful experience.

On a more practical level, being in a band has taught us the importance of relationships and connections. Meeting new people, discovering new places and scenes, and forming bonds. That human aspect, building community through music, is something we value deeply.

Behind you are the EP submeet from 2017 and the album Terminal from 2020, and soon you’ll be presenting your new album codename ®, which will be released on our label No Profit Recordings, in collaboration with Controcanti Produzioni, Santa Valvola, and Non Mi Piace. We’ll leave it to you to announce the details!

R: With our first self-titled EP, we were young, maybe even a bit naive, but we created something that reflected exactly what we were living at the time: our influences, our listening habits, our curiosities. One of our main reference bands back then were the Canadian band Preoccupations, to whom we still feel very connected. We’ve played shows together in the past and stay in touch often, so the bond remains strong.

With first LP “Terminal”, we carried forward the post-punk idea, but while our earlier sound had ethereal, dreamy shoegaze atmospheres, in this record we moved toward something rougher, sometimes darkwave, with experimental and unsettling textures.

With the new album “codename ®”, we decided to change the approach. We still keep our post-punk nature and our spirit, but we wanted to wear a more militant, confrontational, attacking sound. The old references are still there, but in some way this album feels like a call for redemption, a record that demands a response. We’re very happy to have had the opportunity to collaborate with Giovanna Cacciola from Uzeda on one of our songs. Her voice embodies a punk and DIY attitude that’s rare to find nowadays. We are true fans of Uzeda, they are one of the most original and avant-garde Italian bands.

It will be released through No Profit Recordings in collaboration with other italian labels Controcanti Produzioni, Santa Valvola Records and Non Mi Piace. We’re proud to collaborate with a group of labels that truly care about independent music and the constant search for new forms of artistic expression.  

The album codename ® has an intriguing back story; you describe it as a musical manifesto. Each of the 10 songs forms a separate, coded story that practically has to be “unlocked”. Could you walk us through this unusual concept and share the story of how it came about?

R: We composed the tracks between 2021 and 2024, sometimes revisiting older recordings from previous years, experimenting with new ideas, and rearranging everything until it felt right. Once the musical part was complete, Zannunzio began working on the lyrics.

During that writing process, it became clear that, while each song seemed to tell a separate story, they were all interconnected by a common thread: the struggle to express subconscious discomforts, the incommunicability of taboo topics, the difficulty in forming connections, and the broader condition of isolation.

The lyrics are intentionally written using metaphors and coded language, almost like puzzles. When we zoomed out and looked at the album as a whole, it started to resemble a kind of collection of short stories, which is where the inspiration from Boccaccio’s Decameron came in.

As for calling it a musical manifesto, it’s our way of saying that the album is more than just a collection of songs. It represents a statement of intent, both musically and thematically. Each track is like a coded message waiting to be unlocked by the listener.

Fun fact: the album was originally going to be called Liminal, as a sort of second chapter following our first release, Terminal. But then we found out that another band had just released an album with that exact same title and to top it off, they had also invited Giovanna Cacciola to collaborate on it! Oh, shit.

So we decided to change the name, but in hindsight, that actually turned out to be a blessing. It opened up a whole new dimension for us, something deeper, more personal and allowed us to approach the project from a completely fresh angle, moving away from what we had done before. 

Earlier this year you released a video for the track titled ® in which we see the performance of a pregnant dancer immersed in the intensity of modern dance – a symbol of hope and prosperity. Can we expect more such fusions of different art forms from you?

R: Yes, absolutely. The video for ® is one of many examples of how our music can interact with other artistic languages and become something greater than sound alone. Even in our previous releases, we placed a strong emphasis on the visual aspect. That’s largely because Zannunzio, who is both a videomaker and designer, developed the entire visual and graphic identity of the album, and also directed the other two videos: apiary and another turing test.

In the case of ®, the performance of the pregnant dancer, Martina Luna Zanini, a professional dancer who did an incredible job: symbolized hope, rebirth, and prosperity, but also tension, struggle, and transformation.  Through her body and movement, she brought the meaning of the song to life. She’s also the mother of Jacopo’s son which made the entire project even more meaningful on a personal level.

The figure of the pregnant woman here is a symbol of the creative possibility of art, dreams, and utopias, not an ideological or biological statement. And yet, within this contrast, a message of hope emerges: the idea that it is still possible to change the world we live and survive in.

After the release of the album, the promotional period begins. What are your plans? Do you enjoy live performances more, or the more introspective process of recording material?

R: The most artistic and expressive moment for a band is definitely during the composition phase, and later during recording, where you can really shape and refine what you want to communicate. That’s where the introspection happens. Where everything is focused on detail and emotion.

But for us, the live dimension is just as important. It’s the moment when the message leaves the studio and enters the real world. We’re very much a live band, on first listen, our sound might seem a bit “difficult” or complex, but it’s during the live shows that listeners often really grasp the essence of what we do. There’s a physical and emotional intensity that can’t be replicated in recordings.

After the album release, our main goal is to play live as much as possible. We’re hoping to take part in showcases abroad and to tour not just in Italy but especially across Europe. We feel the need to have that experience, to connect with different audiences, and to confront our music with ears and minds that come from outside the Italian scene. It’s something we’re truly looking forward to.

What are you currently listening to, reading and watching?

R: This is probably the toughest question, haha. Our tastes are pretty eclectic. Each of us listens to different things depending on the moment and the mood. We don’t stick to a single genre—whether it’s music, cinema, or (less frequently) books, what we’re drawn to is a certain attitude or emotional intensity that cuts through.

Some bands we really like include Show Me the Body, Daughters, A Place To Bury Strangers, as well as older acts like Unwound, Swans, and Shellac. We also still enjoy the stuff we listened to when we were younger—Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones—since we’re right in the middle of that nostalgia wave… and maybe a bit of a midlife crisis too, haha.

We’re also into old-school Italian punk—bands like Skrugniers, Attrito, Congegno, and Nerorgasmo. Sometimes we dive into completely different genres like techno or art pop. And of course, we always make a point to support and listen to local bands too.

As for films, some of our all-time favorites are Calvaire by Fabrice du Welz, Ex-Drummer by Koen Mortier, Gummo by Harmony Korine, and Ken Park by Larry Clark and Edward Lachman.

Random thought to close?
We live in an era where everything feels plastic, fake, replicated, and endlessly reproducible. But it’s imperfection and error that truly define us. Our independence and freedom aren’t guaranteed; we have to earn them through effort and sacrifice, not to rise above others, but to feel authentic in who we are.
We invite everyone to take on personal responsibility and strive for inner coherence, because real change starts there.

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