Deep-dive into the 90s tonight for a session (the only one) by the Italian Indie band Northpole for John Peel at the BBC on March 29, 1996.
With only one album to their credit and this session, it’s the only legacy the band has left to discover so far.
Northpole consisted of Federica Colella (bass), Alessandro Ceron (guitar), Paolo Beraldo (voice and guitar) and Erica Piol (drums). Despite having one album, the self titled Northpole, released in 2005, their EPs and demo-tapes where quite popular in the alternative Italian scene of the ’90s.
The late lamented John Peel has classified them as “the best Italian alternative band”.
Digging up what scant information is available, according to a few websites, Northpole are still together after some 30+ years. Why there haven’t been any follow-ups is a mystery, but mystery is the nature of Rock and certainly Indie.
Here is a bit of news via the Italian website Rockol MusicBiz from 2004. It may offer an insight or two:
The first full-length album by the Venetians Northpole (appreciated and highlighted by the legendary, and recently deceased, John Peel) and the fourth album by the Pisan Zen Circus, to be released in quick succession in early 2005, inaugurate the catalogue of I dischi de l’amico immaginario, a newly formed label based in Leuman, on the outskirts of Turin, created by Maurizio Borgna and Cristiano Lo Mele, aka Fratelli Drezzezze (Giasone, the “imaginary friend” who gives the company its name, is entrusted with the task of being the “public” voice of indie).
Distributed by Audioglobe, the albums will have a “fixed” price of 15 euros in stores. But it will also be possible to buy them by joining the label, with a card that gives the right to receive all the albums published in the period (along with merchandising and more) in exchange for 60 euros a year, 50 for those who subscribe to the service by 31 December.
The plot thickens – in the meantime . . .
