Spiritual Front Are Thoroughly Charming Men

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Could you please introduce yourselves to us by telling the readers your names and who plays what in the band?

Spiritual Front is a suicide pop band who consists of four fellas: Simone H. Salvatori as vocalists and acoustic guitars, Francesco Conte as guitarist, Andrea Freda as drummer and Daniele Raggi as bassist, plus many other musicians and friends that each time join us, because Spiritual Front is like a large family.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

We are all from Rome. 5 words? Ancient, beautiful, seductive, bewitching, decadent.

Your forthcoming album entitled ‘The Queen Is Not Dead’ is a collection of songs by The Smiths. What was the story/thought process behind releasing music by this particular band?

It’s the first time we’ve ever made a full album ‘covering’ songs by one band, and we did because we’ve all loved The Smiths since we were teen, especially me. It started as a joke, between gigs we started to play some riffs and step-by-step that joke became a real proposal between us. We did it, even though we decided and wanted to put a little bit of ourselves in it.

You released ‘Big Mouth Strikes Again’ as a single. What was the thought process/inspiration behind recording this song and its accompanying video?

You can recognise that song as soon as that opening riff starts. You can’t get it wrong; it’s a catchy and unique song, and of course one of The Smiths’ most popular. About the video, well, we skipped any idea to propose a sort of wannabe The Smiths because it makes no sense – it would be insane and suicidal. That’s why we chose something totally estranging: a dwarf flirting with a video screen.

Given the substantial back catalogue of material, was it difficult selecting which songs to include?

Absolutely! We left many hits out and chose just the ones we instinctively play and liked.

Interestingly, the album includes a bonus track of ‘How Soon is Now?’ which was recorded live in the Etruscan Tomb. How have audiences reacted to the lives shows where you’ve played sets comprising entirely of songs by The Smiths instead of Spiritual Front songs?

You know, The Smiths and Morrissey are so dividing, and this happens among Spiritual Front fans too. Some are hardcore fans of The Smiths, whereas some totally hate them. Equally, some consider Spirtual Front as part of that world, while others feel that our roots are totally distant from that conception of music. It’s very stimulating, by the way. Most of the time, we try to play both in the set in order to keep everybody happy – hahaha.

How do you prepare for a show/do you have any pre-gig routines?

Live shows are part of our lives now but, believe me, performing The Smiths set makes me more nervous for many reasons.

Are there plans for a Volume Two of other Smiths songs?

I don’t think so. It’s a one night stand!

Do you have any plans to tour this album in the UK and other parts Europe?

We are going to play many shows in Europe, but there are none scheduled for the UK at the moment, which is very sad.

Finally, what makes Spiritual Front happy, and what makes you unhappy?

It makes me happy when someone tells me “I always make love while listening to your music”. Unhappy? When someone says “my father made me discover your music” it means that we are getting older…too old!

Photo Credit: Marco Soellner

‘The Queen Is Not Dead’ is released on Auerbach Tonträger/Prophecy Productions on and is out now. To pre-save/pre-order go to https://bit.ly/3JxHdZm or www.spiritualfront.com