July 25, 2001

NB
Tell me about the band's history - how and when did you start...
MM
We started in march '97 because we were bored of hangin' around in our shitty little provincial town doing nothing at all... we smoked too much pot at that time and I came out with the idea of doing the band to waste our time in a funnier way... in april the Boss joined as the vocalist and we started playing shows in college parties and other shitty venues just to piss people off, and I think we succedeed. The rest is fuckin' rock'n'roll history.
NB
Why did you choose this name - The Nerds? To Me The Nerds sounds more like good name for some shitty college punk band, but you are totally oposite to that kind of punk.
MM
Actually, the name is the best we could think of, because is what we are, we are fuckin' nerds tryin' to have fun with music, that's all. College band? Probably. I talk for myself, I like having weird sex, smoke pot and drink a bit, but this doesn't make me a doomed rock'n'roll outlaw, I'm just a normal guy like the other 3 guys playing in the band. The name resumes what we are, and it's stupid that people talk to me saying we're not as wild in life as we seem on record, our name is important because it's real. We are just a bunch of homosexual who know how to rock and fuckin' roll, that's it.
NB
What are your musical and other influences?
MM
Musicwise, there are a lot of bands we listen to and love, two of us are more into the heavy metal/death metal thing, the other two are more into punk rock and '70s hard rock, there are tons of influences. I can say the Dwarves, Antiseen, Bulemics, Angry Samoans, early Queers, the Germs, californian '80s hardcore, Iron Maiden, early Metallica, Cocknoose, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams, outlaw country music, Slayer, Confederacy of Scum stuff and loads more. We're open minded, we listen to a lot of different music, I listen to a lot of stoner-rock bands lately such as Alabama Thunder Pussy, Goatsnake, Nightsticks, Electric Wizard....
NB
You started as a normal (I mean musically) punk/hardcore band and then at once you started to mix garage/trash punk with hardcore and even death metal. Why this sudden change?
MM
Really? Maybe just because after 4 years togheter we started realizing that a good work in the studio and the right time to arrange the songs during rehearsals can provide your own sound, that's the most important result for a band to reach, by me. Why I have to sound like one million other bands when I can do it my own way? By the way, I haven't felt the change you did... we're always the same, maybe with a bit more of musical skills??!!
NB
You did split 7"EP with Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13. How did you come in contact with them?
MM
You know I'm the greatest Confederacy of Scum sucker here in Italy along with Carlo Scarey... we know and support every band involved, and the same was with the Drag Queens. They're a great band. I got in touch with 'em to have an interview for the first issue of my magazine GARBAGE DUMP, and later the idea of sharing a 7" came out after Wednesday listened to the advanced copy of our album.... and we tore the world a new asshole with that record, it's the one I'm most proud of so far.
NB
Who did the cover art for your side of this split? It's the most morbid thing I've seen lately. It seems you're obsessed with sex and violence - or is it just a good way to provoke and shock?
MM
Erica, Carlo Scarey's girlfriend, did it. She's an artist and liked our band, so Carlo asked her to draw the cover. It's a Carlo idea. In the beginning, it would have been the picture of a mad surgeon assisting a possessed nun giving birth to the antichrist, but later he decided to use also the red-hood thing... it had to be white, in the beginning, but we figured we could have got so many shit from that.... you know, the KKK shit and so on... people can't stand jokes!!! Obviously we want to provocate and shock people, but I am also obsessed with sex. Everything I see is sex to me. It's like walking in a cunt all day. There's cunt everywhere. Now it's summer and I'm happy because I like girl's feet, and I see a lot of girls wearing sandals and I can see their feet. In winter, I love to see women in pantyhose. The black ones are the best ones. I wish I could lick'em all... it's stronger than me, cunt is rooted in my head.... but I'm also afraid of dealing with women, I'm the pervertite kind of guy, so stay away from me. And, if you want to have some good sex with me, please come to me with black tights and suspender belts with black nylon panties.... I love thatshit. Lingerie is the God's gift to men.
NB
Your album "Just Because She Didn't Wanna Fuck" came out on Stardumb Records. How did that happen? The other bands on that label are pretty different from The Nerds (music, lyrics...)
MM
The album was supposed to be relesead on Scarey Records, our home-label, but at that time Carlo hadn't enough money to put it out. Stardumb knew us from our previous 7"s and liked us, and was interested in releasing the CD version of the album. Later, dealing with Carlo, they took all the project under their business. Actually i don't know why Stefan put the record out, since it's really different from the stuff he uses to release, but he said he's interested in various kind of music, not only pop-punk stuff. He's a nice guy and promoted the alum surely better than we could have done ourselves, so we're happy with it.
NB
What's the craziest thing that happened on your gigs?
MM
One night the Boss came under the stage and hit my ex girlfriend leaving her without senses on the ground. Another night, at the end of the show, I threw away my guitar, jumped on a girl and started licking her on the whole body. One night we threw empty beer bottles on the floor in front of a three people audience and hit a girl in the legs. They wouldn't pay us for that, but we got the money tough. The Boss used to smash beer cans over his forhead and slashin 'em with the teeth, one night he cut loose his mouth and spitted blood all over the stage. From that night on, he'd rather drink'em and throw away the cans, I guess. Lot of stupid drunk shit happened, sometimes we got hurt, some other times people got hurt.... it's funny.
NB
In april this year you played in Holland. How did you like it here?
MM
Holland was cool. We were always zonked out on the best pot I've ever smoked. Eindhoven and the guys in the Spades ruled. Rotterdam was cool too. We also played two small villages in the north, Kleizenaaven and Hoogwood, but we definitely went over bigger in the cities rather than in the villages in front of the farmer guys, you know. Your weather it's rather cold and windy, but Holland is cool. I wish we could come back one day, sooner or later. One thing I hated is the beer... it tasted like water.