Recording sessions for the new Walter Marocchi Mala Hierba album have been scheduled for the end of april.

2012 and I'm back on the site after a while. A lot of editing from september on, and I'm proud to announce that a documentary I've been working on in these last months, doing both editing and original score, will evolve into a feature film! I've just started working on this new project with director Laura Chiossone and will be for a couple of months at least. Soundtracks apart, my musical activities slowed down a bit, but let me say that both Mala Hierba and Anacondia are planning to record some brand new stuff. I swear I still don't know when, but I hope soon, and as soon as I know I'll let you know. Cheers!
WM

"FIMMINE FIMMINE, CA SCIATI ALLU TABACCU" It's the title of the evening event that will take place on Monday, June 27th at the Circolo ARCI Martiri di Turro in Milan. WM and director Antonio Puhalovich present L'Ultima Raccolta (The Last Harvest), a documentary film shot during the last year of the reaping of tobacco in the south-italian area of Salento: myths and memories of an ancient rural world now disappeared.
A brief guitar accompaniment will be provided by WM, re-interpreting some workers' traditional chants...

WM AND JAM PEDALS I was asked to write a few lines about my collaboration with JAM Pedals, which realized the multi-pedal I've been using recently. JAM is a little big factory based in Athens, Greece, manifacturing analog, true-bypass, great-looking guitar pedals, inspired by classic 60's and 70's vintage pedals. The interesting thing is the possibility to choose different types of effects and configurations and mount the circuits straight into a compact custom multi-pedal. That's the ideal thing for guys like me whose aim is to shrink the equipment and reduce the time spent to get ready to play, without having to lose quality.

I will not discuss here the features of every single effect, suffice it to say that the quality of sounds is very good, the warm and natural tones of analog instruments prevail, and also the clarity of the signal is excellent. As everything, analog has its pros and cons, especially on some specific effects, but anyway nothing will stop you from connecting other pedals, even the digital ones, to this unit.
In short, my multi-pedal includes: a Dyna-ssor compressor, inspired by MXR Dyna-comp; a TubeDreamer 58 overdrive with an high-gain switch to boost the signal; a Red-Muck fuzz distortion shaped on the legendary russian Big Muff; a Chill tremolo, that can be used as a booster too; a WaterFall chorus with 2 extra switches, one to add a vibrato and the other to adjust the maximum speed of the effect; a Delay-Llama, with an hold switch to create a "looping" effect. One jack that gets in, one jack that comes out, with a send-return output I've placed after the distortion pedal. Everything works just fine.
It's extremely light and small-sized, so if you're doing it just for show this is not for you, but on the other hand its hand-paintings look great and it surely clears a lot of space. I managed to slip it, with cables and stuff, into one of those briefcases that drug dealers (or accountants) always exchange in action movies. I make an impression. WM

Altrimenti Ci Arrangiamo live 2011: under this prophetic name begins a new series of live gigs for Mala Hierba, in which never-played-before material will be presented with different line-ups. Details in MUSIC section.

WM is currently working, once again both as film editor and musician, on the documentary film ¿Necesitas Algo, Nena?, directed by Laura Chiossone, based on the true story of the italian-argentinian desaparecida Angela Maria Ajeta. The soundtrack features songs by Mala Hierba, Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, Marlene Kuntz, Fabrizio Mocata.

On Sunday, October 10th Mala Hierba and bluesman Mauro Ferrarese will headline the "Suoniamogliele...ancora!" festival, that will take place at Spazio Teatro 89 in Milan.

Saturday, march 13th at the Auditorium Demetrio Stratos in Radio Popolare Milano Walter Marocchi Mala Hierba+special guests: a special evening to present Impollinazioni "at home", featuring Antonio Neglia (who appeared as a guest on the album too) on acoustic guitar and Roberto Romano (Stewart Copeland, Rosso Maltese, Atleticodefina) on saxophone, woodwind and percussion. Free entrance while seats last, reservation recommended at info@cinemarocchi.com.

WM interviewed at Radio SNJ on february 9th at 4 p.m.

New award to Impollinazioni: after winning Premio Toast the record has been nominated at the Progawards edition 2009 in the Best Debut Album category.

Tonight WM on Fandango Web Radio at 9.15 p.m.

Mala Hierba on air: november 15th Radio Capodistria (www.radiocapodistria.net) at 9.30 a.m., november 17th Radio Onda D'Urto (www.radiondadurto.org) at 4.30 p.m., november 29th Radio Sherwood (www.sherwood.it) at 3.15 p.m.

Impollinazioni has won the Premio Toast 2009 award for Best Italian Instrumental Album. The award, created by Toast Records in association with M.E.I. (the italian meeting of indipendent labels, a very important musical fair in Italy), was given "for the rare ability to convey music without boundaries", and the band will receive it and hold a brief performance on November 28th at M.E.I., where they've also been pointed out as one of Best New Indie-Rock Acts of 2009.