Among the very few highlights of this bloody 2020 there is certainly one magical night I put on for my friends Squidling Brothers on January the 17th at the mighty
CSOA Forte Prenestino in Rome, Italy.
I happened to meet Jelly Boy and part of his crew, The Squildling Brother Circus Sideshow, back in 2015 at the Schrottbar, another mighty place based in Biel, Switzerland, bang in the middle of an itinerant punk-rock'n'roll circus Freaks Show set up by friends Bab Digler, Dany Digler of BURNING SOUND RECORDS and many other beautiful humans.
Jelly did swallow real swords that night and my friend Marco Ferrarese took a shot of that precise moment Jelly got this big ass medieval sword through his throat capturing the most frightening thing and at the same time the most cathartic and real performance I’ve ever seen in my life. One great experience had led me to another and the most amazing feeling was being a part of all that. This is what the Squidling Brothers are all about. The show is real and raw, what you see is what you get and you can be a part of it. Later on I decided to use this photograph for my “Evil Flatmates” LP album cover.
Things lined up once again this year in January and thanks to the efforts and the enthusiasm of the brothers and sisters at Forte Prenestino, all of the people involved, my friend Simone Lucciola and his Blood '77 who also performed, and above all the over-excited crowd, that night turned out to be magical. Magical and real. This is what we’d better expect from this upcoming year, with the awareness that it takes a big effort and a strong commitment to make things happen, line up, get magical and real. And we can be a part of it.
Here’s a little excerpt from the documentary “Seven Wonders of Squidling” shot by the video maker Steve W. Thompson who has followed the Squidling Borthers on their world tour.
This is me and Jelly introducing the night, he swallows a sword and I, after pulling the sword out of his throat, go and warm up the crowd stomping, picking and howlin’ my tunes “Call It Quits” and “Pure At Heart Blues”. Watch the entire video on TBAY Youtube page, but you'd better find it yourself cause facebook doesn't like me posting a You tube link here.
Wish you all TBAY friends and supporters a great slide into 2021,
hang in there, stay safe and get ready to rock!
We will be back!