SERGIO MESSINA
LA VENDETTA DEL MULINO BIANCO

La Vendetta del Mulino BiancoRecorded and mixed @ Psycho studios in Milan, feb. '94, by Ignazio Morviducci, except * by Matteo Cifelli.
Artwork by Nicola "Deemo" Peressoni (roaches kindly provided by Sangue Misto).
Music published by BMG Ricordi

This is my very first (mini) album, published in september '94. In the previous year I had produced 99 Posse's very successful first album, Curre curre guagliò , and so I confidently enquired about a distribution agreement with all major record companies. The album was entitled The Revenge of Mulino Bianco (Mulino Bianco being the largest and most advertised biscuit brand in Italy), and the replies were unanymous: "No way: Barilla (the © owner) will sue you, and we want none of that." But meanwhile the producer and studio owner Claudio Dentes had already given me the go, and I had started the recording sessions. When his lawyer also said no, I put my foot down, finished the album and basically stole it. But it still had no distribution. It came nine months later, when the now defunct Flying records agreed to distribuite it (after being fully released from all possible legal consequences).

The concept behind La Vendetta del Mulino Bianco is simple: while its advertising campaign portrayed an hydillic world of healthy breakfasts, happy people and a green world, what I saw every day was very different. So I wrote a reply to those ads, questioning its imagery as well as other aspects of the campaigns (for example the positive use of the word Bianco, white). This mini album also bears traces of other fixations of mine: radio (there are 2 radio ads, one about balding men and the other about HIV/AIDS), and my dislike of the (very small and boring) italian music business: the song Ansaloni talks about a very well known music tv anchor of the time, Red Ronnie, whose ways and means I intensely resented.

I have reasons to believe both Barilla and Red Ronnie considered sueing me, but neither of them eventually did. Barilla played it sweet (they could have easily won, at least on copyright and trade mark infringements): a court case would have given too much visibility to my song. When a journalist asked them, they talked about "brand presence in unusual cultural areas" and mentioned their new, softer advertising campaign. Ronnie Ansaloni was seriously pissed off, but his lawyer must be a good one: every word in my song is true and provable.

After over 20 years, I have mixed feelings about this CD: it's an oddity for sure. The Soweto version of the title track (# 5) still kicks some ass, and the single (# 2) enjoyed a brief but intense airplay on italian radios. The following tour, called Biscotto Locale Italian Tour ( local biscuits being one of Italy's hidden gastronomic treasures) was very successful (over 100 gigs), and a lot of people still remember me for this album (released in glorious vinyl, CD and K7, now on Ebay). Click on the image to see more.

1 Lista dei drogati del lazio 1'45 *
Vocals: Massimiliano Orfei


2 La Vendetta del Mulino Bianco 4'32
Programming: Roberto Vernetti
Bass: Alessio Manna
Voiceover: Massimiliano Orfei
Background Vocals: BBDai, Roberto Vernetti, SM
Coproduced by Roberto Vernetti and SM


3 Spot Calvizie 58" *
Vocals: Massimiliano Orfei


4 Ansaloni 2'
Pocket Trumpet: Lulù
Record case and Caixixi shaker: SM


5 La Vendetta del Mulino Bianco (Soweto version) 5'11
Unmistakeable voice: Raiz
Coproduced by SM and Roberto Vernetti


6 Spot AIDS 55" *
Vocals: Massimiliano Orfei


7 Soweto 5'05
Coproduced by SM and Roberto Vernetti


8 Rock Satanico 11"


Download full album in MP3 (24 mb)

© by Sergio Messina
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