Name: Marco Schiavo aka Il Bue
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Drummer, composer, sound artist
Recent release: The new Larsen album Golden Leaf, a collaboration with Alessandro Sciaraffa, is out via Important.
Recommendations: Anything by Gustav Doré; anything by Cocteau Twins; anything by Edward Hopper

If you enjoyed this interview with Marco Schiavo of Larsen and would like to find out more about his music, visit Larsen on Facebook. To find out more about Larsen, read our interviews with the other band members:

[Read our Roberto Maria Clemente interview]
[Read our Paolo Dellapiana interview]
[Read our Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo interview]

Over the course of their career, Larsen have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Xiu Xiu, Martin Bisi, and Lustmord.

[Read our Xiu Xiu interview]
[Read our Martin Bisi interview]
[Read our Lustmord interview]



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started playing drums because it was the only instrument no one picked yet. I wasn’t really into drums back then, then I started playing and enjoying it, so I started to pay attention to drums in songs.

My favorite music back then were American noise bands like Sonic Youth, even if I grew up listening to most of the new wave bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, The Cure and so on as well.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Like reading, music creates an image or a landscape that you picture in your mind. Playing music is a chance to be on the other side and create those worlds usually somebody else creates for you.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Being a self-taught musician, it was hard but extremely satisfying to discover how to play the various parts of the drum kit.

After developing some skills the challenge wasn’t so great with my band, as we all play what we can, so I joined a couple of other bands just to challenge myself to play drum parts I didn’t originally write.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Not sure how my identity in life can affect my musical style. For sure being confident in my drumming lets me play my music in a more relaxed way.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

The main idea is to create something that a has a specific mood. I am not interested in technical skills.

Most of the times even with a minimal approach you can get an interesting mood.  

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

As a band we were always lucky enough to play our own material instead of trying to play other people’s music, so of course being original is the main idea behind it.

Technical perfection is not what I’m trying to achieve. As I said I am more interested in creating a specific atmosphere.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

For a long time I just focused on drumming and how to play what I had in mind the way I wanted. After I while I got frustrated with the fact I wasn’t producing notes, so I started playing the glockenspiel

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Not being a full time musician, my daily routine has nothing to do with me being a drummer, more with what I do daily - which is a tattoo artist.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

No one in the band writes parts for the others, so we always get together in the rehearsal space and jam until something nice comes out. Then we stop and start working on that.

One of my favorite Larsen releases is the live recording of the performance with the late Z’ev, now on the record called “In vitro”. Thanks to him I experimented with drumming and percussion on that occasion, like playing the drum kit with my bare hands.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

For me, being a drummer, creating music could never be a solitary experience. I need other musicians to play.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Music in my world is always present. When I walk I have music in my ears, when I get ready in the morning, when I shower and get dressed there’s always music on. When I work I feel strange if there’s no music playing. There’s music right now as I’m writing

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Music serves as a way to enhance things in life, so happiness or sadness require specific music.

Maybe music doesn't hold the answers to the big existential questions I have. But it has helped me to get through some experiences, especially the bad ones.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Music is math and math is science.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Music speaks a universal language that reaches the soul. Coffee is good but can only give you a good taste or a kick to start the day

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

As music is universal it can speak to our inner selves. Like reading, it can create images in your mind.