[txt: Stefan Stardumb for No Budget Creations Magazine - April 2001]

NBC: Let's start with a little bit of Nerds history. When, where and why did you guys start the band?

Marco: We started the band in march '97 to have something better to do than sittin' in a park smokin' pot, and basically to enjoy ourselves and cause some mayhem.... I think we succedeed. It was difficult then and it's difficult now, but we still keep strong. If you want to know more, check out our website at http://digilander.iol.it/thenerds since is a long story and I'd rather talk about somethin' else...

NBC: I heard some old Nerds 7 inches and they sound pretty different from the new stuff. Especially the voice of The Boss is really different. What's up with the style change?

Marco: There's no style change by me, The NERDS are what they were 4 years ago. The only things that have changed are the fact we're playing together for 4 years now, and we improved both our musical skills and studio experience, so it's obvious the sound has changed a bit, but the attitude is the same. Down & dirty evil rock'n'roll as it should be, the fact it doesn't sound so hardcore no more doesn't mean we're less angry and pissed-off with everybody out there. Surely you can expect somehing else different from the future... The Boss is dead, the actual singer is his twin-brother, he sings more powerful 'cause maybe he's even more pissed-off than his sadly missed bro...

NBC: Which bands have inspired you guys?

Marco: I can say Wimpy's Queers and Angry Samoans and GG Allin & the Jabbers in the very first period, but always with some heavy metal/hard rock thrown in. Now we can also play it, and not only be inspired, ah ah!!! By the way, comin' to bands, I'd say Motorhead, ANTiSEEN, GG Allin, Angry Samoans, Mad, Lewd, Cocknoose, Ac/Dc (with Bon Scott the most), Limecell, Nine Pound Hammer, early New Bomb Turks, outlaw country, Iron Maiden, "Kill 'em all" Metallica, Bulemics... and too many others... simply, all what's REAL rockin'...

NBC: You recently released your debut LP / CD called '...Just Because She Didn't Wanna Fuck' on Stardumb Records. Are you happy with the result?

Marco: Since you released it I would say not just to piss you off, but I must admit it has sorted out the way we wanted it: cool artwork, cool paper, cool songs... it has took a shitload o' time to be written, arranged and recorded, but I can now holding in my hand a record I love and I'm proud of. You Dutch boys did a great job.

NBC: Who's the girl on the cover?

Marco: My girlfriend Aiki. Sex sells and is the best for an album cover. Violence too, so we mixed things up and did it. To the people who consider me a stupid exhibitionist I shove a big middle finger up their asses... I always had an idea of paying a tribute to HER greatness (you know what I mean, yes?) and that was the best idea I had... she's really happy about that... a lot of horny people write her telling how she's hot, and I'm glad about it.

NBC: There are stories about the cover of this new record, like pressers who didn't want to press it because it's too shocking and stuff. Why did you guys decide to use a cover like this? Did you expect people to make so much trouble about it?

Marco: No, because the only place people have problem with that kind of stuff seems to be Holland... Never had problems pressing anything overhere, even a cover with the Boss wearing a KKK hood... Your presser made much noise for nothing. And I mean, it isn't so shocking... what's wrong about a big pair of NICE boobs covered in blood? What would the Dutch pressers have done instead of pressing our 'Satan's rise' Split 7" with Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 cover? Maybe hung themselves??!! We use covers like this because we are NO NICE and CLEAN how most "punk bands" are these days. I think rock'n'roll is dangerous, it's something made for overturning order and 'cause some serious damage, so what could I have done better than that?!! I don't give a shit about havin' our picture in front of a wall like thousands of bands that totally gone mental for the Ramones and about what's punk and what's not... they can keep all that bullshit for their meetings, I want it raw and brutal 'cause I feel like that and I couldn't do otherwise since I'm mad and when I play I beat all the shit out of me, so the music is evil and the band is a fuckin' ball-crushin'-hate machine and that's everything you'll get from us. Leave us or love us, we don't give a tin shit about you...

NBC: You are coming on tour to The Netherlands and Belgium in April. Are these gonna be your first shows outside Italy and are you excited?

Marco: Yes, they'll be, and we're very happy to come overthere... I have been told Belgium and Holland are real big fun for rock'n'roll shows, and I can't wait to leave Italy and have some fun with the guys and all the friends we have in your country. We'll also play with cool bands I love such as The Spades and El Guapo Stunteam, so the fun will be also greater!! And don't forget all the drugs I want to taste and all the girls and sluts I want to play with....

NBC: What can we expect from a Nerds live-show?

Marco: Simply the most honest form of rock'n'roll we can give you... I don't know if people in Holland are used to seeing what I call a punk rock show, we'll see the reaction... We play with all our fuckin' guts tryin' to pull it out hard and loud and enjoying the audience, if not, well, The Boss will take care of them.

NBC: I heard some clubs in The Netherlands didn't want to book The Nerds because of that same album cover we talked about. What do you think about that?

Marco: That they are a bunch of fags... fuck, you Dutchmen have all the drugs, the sluts, the booze and you're so fuckin' square, everything cool hurts you!! It seems that they can't stand an assault of real fun & rockin' madness, so I'm not interested too in playing places that would be sensible if we don't act nice as every smart "punkband" does... That's their pity, not ours, I'm sorry.

NBC: On the backcover of the record there are linernotes written by Jeff Clayton of ANTiSEEN and that guy from the Bulemics. Pretty big names in your scene... Are they friends of yours?

Marco: Yes they are, they became fast friends of ours and we started swappin' stuff and mail each other... these are two of the most significant bands for the born of our first full-length, a huge influence, and the circle had to be closed with their final mark on our work. Too good they liked us a lot!!! We're in touch with a lot of other cool bands all around the world, great rock'n'roll bands such as Frankenstein Drag Queens from planet 13, Tunnel Rats, Hellstomper, Cocknoose, Dead Kings, Before I Hang, Born Bavarian, Nothing But Puke, Orange Juice from the Crypt, Rupture, Blurters and so on, I publish interviews and reviews on my zine and help the word be spread in the Old Continent... I feel good 'cause these are people that share our same interest in the duty of keeping rock mean and evil, and I'm proud of being one of their allies in this hard crusade...

NBC: You are from Italy. Over here in Rotterdam there are only a few Italian bands most kids now... Like Retarded who released a split with The Apers and the Manges because Screeching Weasel covered a song by them on 'Teen Punks In Heat'. Those are both poppunk bands. Is there a scene for your music in Italy too?

Marco: No there isn't. The kids like us anyway, even if they'd rather listen to more poppy stuff, but there isn't a real scene and I think there never will be. Now it seems that an interest in these matters is slowly growing, but I don't think it can last. Too bad, we did this before and we'll do it anyway in the future. The only band we can allign with ourselves is Orange Juice from the Crypt, great rock'n'roll as it should be. We know quite everyone in the 'scene', even if personally I don't like the music no more and I'm attending gigs not for the music but to talk a bit with new and old friends, and I must admit I feel a bit isolated, but that's cool since people like us anyway. Usually I get more feedback from foreigners than from Italians, but that's fine. We're not at it for the scene and not for punk rock, I really think we hardly are punk rock these days, I don't give a shit and I play whenever I can with people I like, even if maybe I don't like their music who cares.

NBC: I know you used to run a label called Saucer Rex, with some cool releases by bands like the Automatics and the Manges. Why did you quit the label?

Marco: No more money and interest in what I was doin'... I always wanted to put out other bands on record and never could. This doesn't mean I don't love what I have done, but the label was born and raised with the main purpose to help friends doin' records... I failed doin' records with The Satelliters, Los Ass Draggers and so on, and it resulted to be focalized more on the pop-punk thing, or at least, to be remembered of.... you know that the first releases were from the Grabbies and Nerds/Orange juice from the Crypt, that aren't poppy at all. And I always did what I liked, except maybe for the Manges/Raggity Anne one that was offered me to be put out when I hadn't planned it and hadn't the money, I did it anyway and I was happy 'cause it sold well and permitted me to do the Automatics/Stinking Polecats one, the first italian single with an italian band and a foreign well-known one... that record means a lot, maybe even more to the people that now call me an asshole than to me... so who's the stupid?

NBC: Like you said you're now involved in a fanzine. Garbage Dump, right? Tell me a little more about this.

Marco: As I say before, I talk about wild, heavy bands, mainly Confederacy Of Scum stuff, cool hard rock, punk rock, a bit o' stoner rock... everything that excite me. Issue #1 is out now and has ANTiSEEN, Bulemics, Frankenstein Drag Queens, Hellstomper, Loudmouths, Gun Club, Jeff Dahl... And B-Movies reviews, record reviews.... all cool stuff from all around the globe to corrupt your virgin sisters and make drool your fat moms.

NBC: Where/how can we buy Garbage Dump fanzine?

Marco: Write me at Via G. dalla Chiesa 6/C - 27058 Voghera (PV) Italy sending 4$ postpaid and you'll have it delivered to your house... write me to have some for distribution, I need people with guts helping me.

NBC: What's up with The Nerds in the future? Anything new coming up?

Marco: A shitload o' stuff!!! The split 7" with Frankenstein Drag Queens will be ready when we'll be hitting Holland, other splits with Tunnel Rats and ANTiSEEN are planned. Also ouut soon will be tribute comps to Alice Cooper and GG Allin in the USA and Sweden featuring our contribution along with such bands as ANTiSEEN, Rancid Vat, Hellstomper, Limecell, Dead Kings, Nothing But Puke, Frankenstein Drag Queens and others I don't remember now, and we're working on the songs for a new CD split with the Dead Kings, a great band from North Carolina, USA. Too much to do before thinkin' about a new full-length!!!

NBC: Any last words for the Dutch people?

Marco: Hope to see all y'all in the pit in front of the most asskickin' european destructo-rock band... bring your sisters, the drugs and tell yer mommies about accomodations in their big, empty beds.... Keep it Evil!!!

NBC: Thanks for the interview.