What was the beginning point for your music career? How did it all start?
Personally (Johnny, Singer) I started in early 2000, after the first gig I attended I was already sure about my way and since then I played in several bands. Fere and Fax (bass & guitar) play together since 1995, when they started their first band named “Punka”. Ther band still play live a couple of time a year. Dave the drummer is the youngest member and No Restraints is the first band for Him. As No Restraints we started in 2019, after I passed more than one year to find all the members. After few practice we immediately went in studio to record 2 songs for our first single, that has been suddendly released in february 2020. We started to play live in september 2019 and in the following months we had the chance to share the stage with some great bands like Exploited, Crim and Maid of ace, just to name a few.
Was there any bumps on the road? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with?
You mean aside a global pandemic? ? our first single has been release one week before the first lockdown, all our european gigs has been cancelled, then we released a second single in november 2020 and another lockdown and other gigs cancelled…so it was probably the most difficult start ever for a band. But we worked a lot on arrangements of our songs, that was basically the only thing possible at that time. In April we will release our dubut album, are you ready for Apocalypse?
What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?
Coming back on stage last November after almost 2 years, it was amazing. We had the chance to play 3 gigs and they have all been amazing, really crowded and meeting again old friends was like coming back to life. But also when I saw the test press of our album was really satisfing, I can’t wait to see it released.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
I think that the definition of Street Core fit perfectly to us, we basically play a mix of street punk and new york hardcore, but we all listen a lot of different kind of music, from Metal to reggae and of course we like to let all these influences flo into our music, I never wanted to put limits in what we do…No Restraints, right? 😉
What is your creative process like?
I write all the lyrics, instead the music is a collective work. It usually starts from a guitar riff and we build the songs all around it. Then is see which one of the text I have fit better and I adapt it to the music.
It sounds simple but in reality there is a lot of work behind that, mostly because I have not this big talent in writing haha…so I have to compensate with hard work.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
I think that there is no space for rock bands, mostly here in italy, few clubs to play, no radio plays, no chances for promotion in anyway…the only two rock radios always play the same song by Red hot chilli peppers, lenny kravitz and things like this…this is so mediocre, always the same twenty songs, no space for something new or different, no space for italian bands at all, and some of them really deserves it.
IT is all so boring and conservative, Like these “old” punkers or metalheads that only sticks to the same few old bands like nothing happened after the 80’s…all these things are killing rock’n’roll.
If you were asked to give a piece of advice to upcoming bands, what would that be?
Put always all yourself in what you do and do the best you can, never settle for something mediocre. It may seems obvious but it is not, I see many bands just doing things and not really caring, so record at the best you can, care about graphic and videos, care about social medias and every other aspect of the managing of a band. But never forget that the most important thing that a band has to do is go on stage and kick ass. So play loud! Oh and also, whatever result you accomplish stay down to earth and don’t act like a jerk, some bands do it and it is ridicoulous and really sad.
What has been the best performance of your career so far?
Punk & Disordery opening night in 2017 at bi nuu, Berlin. The club was sold out so there were nearly 600 people and it was a total blast!
If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
Probably dying of cirrosis…i would never be able to stand life without music.
What is new with the band at the moment? What are you currently working on and would like to share with the world?
We have our debut album called “Stand our ground” coming out in april on Sunny bastard records and Demons Run Amok Entertainment. The first single extract from it will be out with a video on all digital platforms on January 28. The album will be released on vinyl, CD and digital.
At the moment we are planning some european gigs from the end of april to on for the promotion of the release, so keep an eye on our socials, we might come to your neighborhood 😉
Also we are working on a song that will appear on a compilation tribute to the Analogs, the legendary street punk band from Poland. We should record within the end of january.
After that we will start to write some new songs, we already have a lot of ideas, half lirycs, guitar riffs that we can’t wait to develop.
I would like to thank you for this interview, we are really happy to be on metal heads forever!!
And to all those who reads this interview don’t forget to follow us on socials and feel free to get in touch, you can find all our pages under this link: https://linktr.ee/norestraintscore
but mostly we hope to meet you at one of our gigs.
– Keep the faith – Johnny
