Marcello Michelotti: lead vocals and synth
Piero Balleggi: keyboards and synth, backing vocals
Adriano Primadei: guitar, electronics
and computer programming
Leo Martera: drums and electronic percussions
in collaboration with Rex Cafè
The story of Italian rock passes here.
After a twenty-year absence from the stage, the Neon are back with their original line up.
Among the most active groups in the Italian new wave of the Eighties, the Neon started as a duo in 1978 in Florence, a city turned upside down by the turmoil of youthful subculture arising from the local underground circuits.
In the front line were the Neon of Marcello Michelotti, the avant-garde of the Florentine nouvelle vague, a whip-crack of novelty in the scenario of the time, while not forgetting the other revelations on the city scene then, such as Diaframma, Moda and Litfiba. Their synth inherited from the Kratfwerk and the new wave icons joined with the neo-romantic, post-punk ideas of bands like Joy Division, Ultravox and Human League.
The Neon's style represented and still represents that thoroughly European cultural dream of the early Eighties that touched our senses like a mirage of light-hope capable of counteracting the shadows of that dark age.
After an exclusively electronic start with the 1980 single Information of Death, through many changes of formation they managed to synthesise the mix of electro obsession, dark atmospheres and somewhat original pop melodies that took shape in their later works Tapes of Darkness (1981), Obsession (1982), My Blues is You (1983), Dark Age (1984) and particularly in the mature Rituals of 1985.
Their excellent studio production, together with intensive live performances, made Neon one of the few icons of Italian alternative music of the Eighties.
The recent issue of a set of CDs containing reprints of their first LPs gives the chance to appreciate once again their unquestionable emotional force and innovative power.
To follow:
LEO MARTERA LIVE DJ SET
Together with his collaboration with the Planet funk, where he is now the drummer, Leo Martera performs in live sessions where he appears in the role of dj drummer.
His personal dj set is wide reaching, his performances impact strongly on the public with sounds that range from the minimaltech to the electro house, coming together with his own compositions.
