An Interview With The BlackLava | UDS Interviews

Check out our recent interview with Carlo “Karlo” Loglisci, lead singer of Italy’s hottest rock band – The BlackLava!

For the unfortunate few who don’t know who you are, would you mind introducing yourselves?

The BlackLava: We are The Blacklava! We are 4 friends from Turin in Italy. Carlo “Karlo” Loglisci on vocals and guitar, Marco “Mark” Stillavato on bass, Francesco “VIP” Priolo on guitar and Diego Petrino on drums. We make rock with 90ss and 70s influences. 

In the effort of getting to know each other better – if you could be a sandwich, what sandwich would you be?

The BlackLava: A hamburger. Bread with sesame seeds, guacamole, jalapeños, Chianina meat (Tuscan cow) rare, iceberg salad, crispy bacon, caramelized onions! Tasty! 

Tell us about your latest release…

The BlackLava: We released a single called Woman in late February, and during this quarantine period, we released the official video (luckily we shot the scene before the lockdown). The song is one of our most mature – energetic, with groove, a little 70s and a little 90s! We recorded it in the recording studio of our guitarist, Francesco.

Have you had much chance to tour?

The BlackLava: We did a little tour in Europe for our album As Black As My Heart. When we released the record we didn’t have a record company yet and we organised everything through social media and various contacts. A very complex job! Mark (our bass player) took care of finding the contacts.

Have you got any crazy tour stories you can share with the world?

The BlackLava: When we went to Amsterdam to play, we obviously went to smoke weed in the coffee shops! So before playing our ex-guitarist took us to one of the most popular places in Amsterdam. I am a person who must always be in control, but every now and then smoke weed. But that day we had a lot to keep under control! I am the only one who speaks English well and therefore I was very focused before soundcheck. But we were in Amsterdam and I wasn’t going to not smoke! So I smoke, I drink 5 shots and I’m super quiet! Let’s go eat and start to see dragons! It took me an hour and a half to calm down!

Here at Upside Down Shark we discuss a wide breadth of pop-culture, including music, movies, TV, video games and the like. So with that in mind, if you could have a track featured in anything, whether it be any of the above on even a wrestling theme, what would it be?

The BlackLava: Many of the tracks I write are inspired by TV series! I love all the visual parts and I help to create most of our music videos. I’d like Bones (my favorite song off of As Black As My Heart) to be part of the soundtrack of Dark, a German TV series! You can find it on Netflix. Dark atmospheres, time travel, mystery and a perfect soundtrack! I recommend it!

Name one thing on your band bucket list…

The BlackLava: Have fun together playing around the world!

What would be your inspirational quote to share with the world

The BlackLava: Try to have fun and feel good, always! I see many people doing things because they think they have to do them (and I’m not talking about work) and basically they are unhappy! In life there are certainly many difficulties, but many times we only look for the way to feel bad instead of trying to feel good! When we go on a trip to play, most of the bands are sad or too focused on what they don’t enjoy or worrying about being a famous group! But if after everything you’ve done, everything you’ve sacrificed you’re not happy and you haven’t enjoyed the trip, then I wonder what it takes to reach it! The important thing is the journey and not the destination! 

What does 2020 have in store for you? 

The BlackLava: I wouldn’t be able to answer you ostensibly! COVID-19 has changed everyone’s habits! We in Italy have been in complete lockdown since March 10th and speaking only of music or events in general, it’s been rumoured that they cannot resume until at least 2021. Therefore we’ve stopped all our projects and I don’t think they will resume as such. We are trying to change the way we approach the moment. We are much more active on our social networks and we are creating both serious and funny material. 

What’s your favourite shark?

The BlackLava: Streex! The tiger shark from Street Sharks. I watched this cartoon when I was little and I wanted to be all four of them! 

Many thanks to Carlo for sitting down to talk with us! Check out The BlackLava!

While you’re here, please subscribe to Upside Down Shark on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts!

If you’d like to support us, please check out our Patreon!