FRONTVIEWS - An interview with the frontman.
BAND: BLEACH Nirvana Tribute
FRONTMAN: Daniele Tofani Date of birth: 26/04/1986
"Playing with Chad was one of the most amazing experiences in my life."
Due to the Corona crisis we as Frontrow Events & Booking had the time to make a new website and take some new bands who we can work with, to have a great restart after this crazy period…
That also gives us some time and space to present some people from those bands to you, in a special called “Frontviews – an interview with the frontman of the band”.
Starting off is Daniele Tofani, the frontman of our Italian Nirvana Tribute band Bleach. A pretty amazing and focussed guy who is always fully commited in everything he does… A cool talk with him was the result.
Hey Daniele, tell me how BLEACH has started and who came up with the idea.
The Bleach project started in the summer of 2012. I have always wanted to pay hommage to Nirvana with a tribute and at that moment I decided to start it with two childhood friends, with Yuri one of them is still into the current band. We had already played together in an original project before and therefore the harmony was instantaneous. We decided to shoot the “Smells Like Teen Spirit”-video on our own to promote the band. The result was striking and the video went viral on the internet, which gave us the power to continue our adventure with this tribute band. Over time the band’s line up changed a bit and brought us to what we are now.
I bet it isn’t easy playing songs of world’s biggest grungeband, and also have the task to “be” such a personality like Kurt Cobain.
It is not a question of how difficult or easy to recreate the feeling that nirvana gave live is mainly based on the attitude that the people who make up the band have. We all come from original underground punk / hardcore projects and therefore have a very similar attitude to what nirvana had as a band (obviously we don't have the same talent ahah) . we don't want to be compared with nirvana, we simply offer their repertoire in our style. We like to have fun, play, drink, smoke and travel the World together as friends and I think that’s what makes it all so magical.
Looking at your date of birth, you were just almost eight years old, through which way did you made contact with Nirvana and its music?
I discovered Nirvana in the most classic way imaginable. my older cousin (Mattia's brother) listened to this type of music (it was the 90's) and Mattia and I looking through his records we noticed the cover of Nevermind. We were struck by the imagination of the newborn child chasing money, we put on the record and we fell in love with it instantly (the record was ruined and “Smells Like …” was not heard, we listened to that song only a few years later) . To sum it up, it was love at first sight.
Before you started off with this tribute band, what was your history in other bands, and how did you do it with them?
I’ve always been in a band from the moment I decided I was going to play an instrument. I have had lots of original musical projects in 20 years of acivity. The most important was definitely “Hopes Die Last”, a post-hardcore band that I have been playing in for almost 10 years. We recorded 4 albums and practically toured all over the World. As for Bleach, each of us continues to have original musical projects despite the tribute band, we believe it is the right way to express ourselves and be a part of the universe that is called music.
In 2018 you were invited by Chad Channing, the former drummer of Nirvana during the album “Bleach”, to do some shows in the Balkan countries and Finland. How was the working with him? And are there more future planns of this kind to do more shows with Chad?
The tour with Chad was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It all happened quickly that I didn't even have time to make it happen. The moment we went on stage with him seemed like a dream, perhaps the rehearsals in the hall were even more so. Playing the songs that marked my childhood with the person who helped make them is priceless. There are no shows planned with Chad at the moment, but we have remained on excellent terms with him and who knows… Maybe, one day, it could happen again.
Since 2016 you are playing shows in Belgium and Holland, it seems you play more shows over here than elsewhere… More than 40 shows are already played in these two countries in four years… How is that actually realised ?
In Belgium and Holland there is a very important culture of live music (especially heavy rock & metal music). Which led us to fall in love with the vibe that goes on during our live shows there. The combination of this with the collaboration with Frontrow bookings has meant that in a few years we have been able to play a considerable number of live shows in those areas. The work we have done together has paid off and we will never be grateful to these guys enough for what they have done for us and our band.
This year started off with a crazy weekend with three sold-out-shows out of four. One of those shows was live-streamed through your facebook page… “Live at Spirit Of 66” in Verviers… Did you receive lots of comments on the show?
Yeah sure, it was definitely one of our best shows, having filmed it completely by two camera’s was a great thing because it allowed even those who were not physically there to experience that incredible moment. And yes we recieved a lot of great comments… Our local fanbase will be there again on our next show at Spirit…
Lots of other shows were planned, and then Corona fucked things up… How was the feeling in Italy with that and how is it now in your country?
It's a terrible time for music and entertainment in general. Unfortunately, the emergency situation completely undermined everything we had planned to do. But with a lot of work, now everything has been postponed to 2021, we hope it will be a better year for all of us.
All the planned shows are, for the second time already, rescheduled for 2021. How eager are you to play these shows? Even the unplugged sessions are totally in, you will play two sold-out unplugged shows…
We can't wait to be back on stage. Unplugged show are magical to play, everyone knows that fantastic Nirvana session so we try to recreate that unique atmosphere. We want nothing more than to go back to doing what we love most.
What is the ultimate target for Bleach?
Our main goal is to play as much as possible and keep alive the memory and legacy that Kurt Cobain and his band left us, trying to make it known even to the youth of this time and to continue to cherish the passion about a type of music that has now almost disappeared. We have already played at amazing festivals, in Belgium and elsewhere, and we can only dream and hope on a spot on a big festival in Europe, which currently book tribute bands to end the night… That would be just crazy.