Banda Bassotti

Banda Bassotti is an Italian ska-punk band formed in 1987 in Rome, Italy. Their songs are generally political in nature, focusing on Communist and anti-fascist issues. Many are about also politics of Ireland and Latin America. The band was inspired by The Clash and The Specials. The band was politically active from the beginning, attending protests and sympathizing with anti-fascist movements in Italy. Their name derives from the Italian version of the Disney characters Beagle Boys.

Releases

Banda Bassotti released their first album Figli della stessa rabbia in 1991, which gained them a success amongst the local political and punk circles. In 1995, they released their second album Avanzo di cantiere recorded in the Basque Country with Kaki Arkarazo and Negu Gorriak. With this lineup the band toured Spain during the same year.

The band split up in 1996, only to be reunited in 2001 for a benefit concert. The reunited band introduced trombone and trumpet sections to their previously strictly guitar based punk lineup. The concert was released later the same year on the live album Un altro giorno d’amore. In March 2002, they released L’altra faccia dell’Impero, seven years after their last studio-album.

For the promotional tour for this album they played hundred of concerts in Spain, Italy and in Japan where they concluded the Fuji Rock Festival with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Shocked and disappointed at the direction politics were taking in the following years all over the world with the rise of such politicians as George W. Bush and Silvio Berlusconi they decided to record Asi es mi vida, an album with popular political songs from all over the world. In 2004 they released the album Amore e odio and toured Germany for the first time.

In September 2014, the band's tour called 'No Pasaran' took in Rome, Moscow, Rostov and the Donbas region.