Interview – Passarella Death Squad reveal their long-awaited sophomore album

Passarella Death Squad is much more than just a band – you are also known for your clothing brand as well as an outlet for art. How were these concepts born? Has it been difficult to manage them simultaneously?

Around 2004 each aspect of Passarella Death Squad’s creative output, clothing, music and art began pretty much as a hobby. Although the clothing side of Passarella definitely took off more than the music, which whilst being released at the same time never quite got the international attention the clothing did. It was only in 2010 when our collaborative track ‘Temperature’s Rising’ with the techno artist Perc came out that the music side started to gain more focus. The first Passarella art exhibition was in 2014, so slowly over time the whole three-pronged multi-discipline aspect became an actual thing making the management side of things more of an organic process that slowly came together over time.

Is there a link between your music, fashion and art or do you prefer to keep them as separate entities?

There is a link but it’s not really that deep, maybe the artwork that features on the sleeves might also be available on a t-shirt or a jacket, or in some cases the record sleeves have also been featured in artwork that is also part of an exhibition, a good example of this would be the ‘Fantasy Scenes’ retro videogame artwork series which came out in 2014, which was featured on several Passarella Death Squad record sleeves, quite heavily on the clothing side of things as well as having several exhibitions around the world. But in general, if it happens that the various aspects cross paths so be it, but it’s not too considered too much at the start of the creative process.

Many fans will be excited to hear that you have a second album coming out, 13 years after the first. What inspired this release and how long has it been in the works?

As to why it took long, I’m not entirely sure why, between the first album and now there have been several releases over the years but if I said it was a total breakdown from being drained from the system of trying to get things noticed it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration but thankfully it’s here now.

Sonically, how does the new LP differ from the previous?

The first album was written pretty much on a Roland 303 Groovebox with additional instrumentation added on the day of recording in the studio, after that I started working with Logic as well, so now alongside the hardware we now have the various soft synths etc which has definitely expanded the general sound to be less raw and more expansive.

The music itself is a beautiful and contemplative piece of electronica. How does your production process work in the studio as a producer and vocalist?

The general process is not too dissimilar to how the first album was made, start of with a series of percussive loops and progress from there. I write the lyrics which are sent along with a rough backing track to Emilie who will work on ideas for how the vocals can be sang and after a few back and forth’s we’ll look to finishing everything off in the studio which is usually booked for one day’s work per track.

The album is releasing on your eponymous record label. What can you tell us about the label and its premise?

Passarella Records began in 2015 with the first release entitled ‘Videodrome’, a soundscape created by myself (Danny Passarella) and Perc, created to accompany a Passarella art exhibition of the same name. This was followed by ‘Multi’ created by myself and Oliver Ho, once again this release was accompanied by another art installation, this time in the form of a video which made it’s premier at the KAOS nightclub in London.

Since then Passarella Records has seen releases from D’Marc Cantu and myself under the name of ‘The Future Has A Silver Lining’ the first EP of which was awarded the Techno Release Of The Month in DJ Mag,  In 2020 I began a series of releases under the name of ‘Tourism’ which so far has seen myself alongside Techno DJ and Boudica founder Samantha Togni for the ‘Rome / Milan’ EP, a 2^nd release with the New York EP by myself and a New York Jazz artist called Mitch Marcus followed last year.

We heard your track ‘Just Like Sleep’ recently featured in the soundtrack of the BAFTA-winning video game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. How did that come about and how did it feel to have one of your tracks included in a video game world?

We were approached in early 2015 by the company Ninja Theory, they wanted to use the track as background music for what they were calling a series of ‘Developer Diaries’, a unique idea where fans of the company could watch them create a new videogame called ‘Hellblade’. Just before the game got released in late 2017 they called to say they wanted to feature the music in the actual game, in this case, during the epic battle scene between the games heroine Senua and her villain protagonist ‘Hela’. It’s a beautiful game that thoroughly deserves its numerous awards and accolades it’s received, something we’re really proud to be associated with.

Thank you so much for joining us today Danny and Emilie, it’s been a pleasure having you both! Lastly, what does the rest of 2023 look like for Passarella Death Squad?

The album comes out on April 21^st, from there we have the Passarella Death Squad live shows to organise, previously we’d played live around 2010 to support the debut album but we’ve not done anything since, so there’s that for us to look forward to. On the Passarella Records front, I’m hoping to create a few more instalments of the ‘Tourism’ series, working with more artists from around the globe.

I’m looking to release a book of the various lyrics that have been written over the years, each set being accompanied by an illustration.

Also on the art front, the 2^nd series of the retro-video game series ‘Fantasy Scenes’ is being launched, the first series originally came out in 2014.

Elsewhere, Passarella started a not for profit publication called ‘RA!SE’ as a way to help raise awareness on human rights issues from around the world, with 100% of all profits from sales are donated to a charity supporting the cause detailed in the publication. Issue 4 and 5 are due out soon.

They’ll be a few clothing things along the way as well I’m sure.