Band Interview: Lectern (Fabio Bava – Vocals, Bass)
Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are very pleased to bring you an interview with Fabio Bava, vocalist & bass player for death metal band, Lectern! Their latest album, Precept of Delator is out now & you can read our review of it here.
Tell us a little bit about Lectern’s origins. How did you get started?
Fabio: In 1999 I had the idea, along with other musicians, to form a band of brutal death metal. One made up of Satanists, with a Floridian style from the early Nineties. We all were attracted by the sound and the production of Scott Burns, made at Morrisound Studos. Huge productions, low-tuned and nasty guitars, that was what we were mainly looking for. Today, it’s still the same!
For having been around since 1999, you only just released their debut album in 2015. Why was that?
Fabio: We made a demo in 1999, performed one gig then we disbanded. Awakened from the hiatus, it was 2008 and more than ten years had passed! Fuck! The fault was of dickheads, timewasters, shiteaters, presumed guitarists and drummers who approached Lectern promising that we would rule the world! I still don’t know just how many people played & were in and out the band! With all these delays, only from 2012 did we have a steady line up.
You followed that up with Precept of Delator in 2016. Where the creative juices just flowing?
Fabio: It’s incredible! Unbelievable! We did a new record, and when we resumed rehearsals, we start working on new songs for the next! Pietro (Guitar) always writes an incredible amount of endless riffs and songs & my lyrics are always ready! We are gonna release Deheadment For Betrayal in April, and we have already new tracks in the pipeline! Pretty impressive! The will for death metal is terrific and always pregnant!
Death metal is arguably the most saturated sub-genre of metal. How do you guys stand out from the crowd?
Fabio: The question is: are we really standing out from the fucking mass? If yes, why? Different songwriting, bestial lyrics with un-theological and anti-Catholic titles, bestial artworks, and an old school look? Who knows! I don’t! Saturated or not, I think death metal is the most brutal and fleshy sound ever made! Its brutality is fascinating! It’s something that calls you, that enslaves! The more you have, the more you want! It’s an urge! How long have I waited for the new Morbid Angel album? How much more new stuff from them would I like to have? And how much from Lectern? The band is blood! You always want more songs, more lyrics, more shows, more clips, more stuff!
Has the rise of YouTube and streaming services helped or hindered you as a band?
Fabio: Surely it has enhanced the possibility of being known in a hurry compared to the times you were forced to pack your tapes and send them through snail mail. Sales have decreased, savings for sending your stuff has increased but there is still something that doesn’t work. Pay to play!
Every band, pays their managers to organise their tours, that’s normal! But, if you want that new band to grow they don’t give you a chance if you have to pay for gigs, record and print your albums though phantomatic labels! Sometimes bands also pay for all of this without being sure that someone will promote their stuff! It is not always a fact of promotion itself as the internet is useful but if you don’t play live, on a stage, you are fucking nothing!
The problem of selling albums is still common to every band, not only because you can have tons of records for free without spending a buck. Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel still sell their stuff. Allso merchandise is another way to earn in absence of albums’ sales, which are not selling like many years ago. Without tours, or gigs, also in a minor number than the sacred monsters, you won’t be famous. Instead just hoping someone will fucking click like on the web while searching for your page!
Games, Brrraaains, Horror or Head-Banging? What do you enjoy?
Fabio: Everything! I adore my PlayStation 4 and Fifa 18! Still waiting for World Cup Russia 2018 to come out on my system! Nothing better! I also had an Xbox 360 and enjoyed Dante’s Inferno and Shadow Of Rome on a very old Sony System!
Coin-ops, Amiga, first consoles from Sega and the Neo-Geo, games like Ghouls N’ Ghosts, Mexico 86, Hostages, and Operation Wolf! I like horror movies and books, especially about the Ancient Ones, Necronomicon and the Satanic Bible! I always buy a countless number of records every month! Physical, as always!
Have you played live much? How important is it to you as a band?
Fabio: Too much! As I said, without live situations, you go nowhere! I found myself feeling very important when we opened for Incantation! The dream came true! Me, myself and I with my band, Lectern, on the same stage with mighty Incantation! Days spent purchasing their albums, listening to them at home in my room, when I was a teenager, dreaming of playing with them one day!
What’s next for Lectern?
Fabio: We have just delivered the layout and the audio of our new album, to our label Via Nocturna. Deheadment For Betrayal will be released worldwide on the market in April, on jewel case CD and digital, then we will start touring in Europe with Anal Vomit and other supporting bands, between June and July!
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We would like to thank Fabio for taking the time to speak with us! You can pick up Precept of Delator over on Via Nocturna’s store & via Big Cartel here. You can also stream the album via Apple Music above. Find out more/keep up to date with news via Lectern’s website here, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram, ReverbNation, Soundcloud and YouTube.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Bisbetical (1999)
Salvific Of Perhaps Lambent (2010)
Lectern (2014)
Fratricidal Concelebration (2015)
Precept Of Delator (2016)
Deheadment For Betrayal (2018)
LINE UP:
Fabio Bava: vocals, bass
Pietro Sabato: guitar
Gabriele Cruz: guitar
Marco Valentine: drums
