1990s Maltese band Shostakovich’s Nightmare will be playing with Welsh band Feeder on October 11 at Aria Club, San Ġwann. Gwen-Jane Agius talks to ANTONIO TUFIGNO, the band’s lead singer, about playing live again and the band’s identity as a 1990s musical act in a contemporary context.

GA: Shostakovich’s Nightmare is making a comeback this year on October 11, where you will be opening for Welsh rock band Feeder. How does it feel to be performing again, especially with a foreign band that was active in the 1990s alternative music scene like you were?

AT: We’re very happy to perform again on a semi-regular basis after a hiatus of almost 14 years. We started at Rock for Richmond in 2022, then went on to play some gigs, notably in Rock the South and Kinemastik last year and Ħolmasonika this year. We love being part of the alternative music community and playing with other bands, it’s an amazing community.

It’s rather exciting for us unbridled amateurs to play with “real” music people like Feeder, people who have been internationally successful. We thank NNG Promotions for this opportunity.

In the past, we had opened together with Areola Treat for Therapy? in 2009 and, earlier around 1997, for Fish, and we even ate a considerable part of a cake that had been baked for him and smoked some of his cigarettes – the professional music people we have met in the past were always friendly.

We still love the 1990s vibe as it conserves a vibrant kind of energy and liberty. Moreover, Feeder are very energetic when playing live, so we are looking forward to what looks like a very electrifying evening.

The band playing at Rock the South’s 2023 edition. Photo: Rock the South

GA: In terms of the Maltese scene, Shostakovich’s Nightmare is considered one of the bands from the older generation. How has making music and playing live changed, or remained the same, from the 1990s and 2000s? Is there a different attitude?

AT: It’s great to be the alternative dinosaurs, especially when revealing ourselves to the newer generations. Alternative and indie music has not remained just a niche interest as it was in the past, but is at times even appreciated by mainstream crowds.

Making music is a bit facilitated because we can now easily fund any instruments and apparatus we might require, as compared to the early 1990s where we would have to save up on our stipends to buy instruments (instruments which we still use, by the way).

It’s such fun so see that we are so old that our instruments and pedals are sold as vintage stuff over the internet! Playing live is as exciting as it was in the early 1990s; our attitude is très punk and we are still disproportionately energetic despite our venerable ages.

Shostakovich’s Nightmare have been collaborating with other Maltese music acts since the 1990s. Photos: Shostakovich's Nightmare

GA: You collaborated with Brodu on their latest album, Kusksu Clan, and have even performed with them at Rock for Richmond. Your line “Dix-xbiha antika ħafna għadha tħares lejn ix-xagħri” on the track Ħlewwa Vjolenza caught my attention when I first heard it. Although my interpretation is probably far from its original meaning, the lyrics make me think of the older generation looking upon the newer generation of Maltese musicians. How does it feel to be given a label that has connotations of maturity and experience, but also of ageing and possible outdatedness?

AT: I love Brodu and think they are geniuses. I am extremely chuffed to have been asked to collaborate with them, it was a great present from their end.

Regarding the quote, it mostly refers to the pain of the statue, probably a Duluri or a soul in purgatory, declaring publicly and steadfastly its sadness despite knowing that there are no commiserating spectators to be entertained by its pain.

We’re actually not very mature, so I believe we still mix well with the younger crowds and newer bands; we love the vitality of youth! We do not perceive any considerable distance due to age between bands, but for our 1990s songs, it’s like there is no midway: they either conserved their pristine energy until now, or else are cringefully outdated.

As a band, it’s fun to feel that there might be prejudice as to our age, because we live in the illusion that our live performances wipe this out completely. We recently played for three-and-a-half hours at a concert I organised for my 50th.

Antonio Tufigno in one of the band’s performances at The Alley in Paceville, 1993.

GA: Concerts and gigs are important to keep any music scene alive. As the Maltese scene is so small and heavily anchored to the island, how do live performances such as Rock for Richmond and Rock the South benefit and help musicians flourish as an important part of Maltese culture?

AT: The collegial atmosphere and sense of fun that a concert featuring a number of bands brings is very elating; it makes you feel part of a creative community that is so precious at this point in time, when most of Malta is just a hoard of angry people in traffic chasing money and wealth totems. You get to meet new talents, genuineness and inspiration, and they also foster the meeting of bands and future collaborations in a community that is totally supportive and fluid.

The group playing at Ħolmasonika last March. Photo: Holmasonika

GA: Are there any future plans for Shostakovich’s Nightmare?

AT: We wish to produce some more new songs and hopefully one day publish a long-play record – I have always dreamt of that. I spent [my time at sixth form] buying records, only for them to be taken away from us when the CD arrived. The fact that records are back with a vengeance is such an unexpected vindication. We will also continue playing live at regular intervals, hopefully destroying less apparatus as we go along.  

Shostakovich’s Nightmare will be playing with Welsh band Feeder on October 11 at Aria Club, San Ġwann. Tickets for the concert can be purchased from showshappening.com.