Italian hardcore punk band Golpe skips Winter Olympics to play Seoul

Tadzio Pederzolli of Milano hardcore punk band Golpe / Courtesy of Piotr Królikiewicz @xmoroccox

The Winter Olympics are about to kick off in Tadzio Pederzolli's hometown, but the frontman of Milan hardcore band Golpe won't be anywhere near the opening ceremony. Instead, he'll be in Seoul for the start of the band's Korea-Japan tour.

"The more I miss the games, the better it's gonna be. Actually I'm gonna spend almost all month away to skip them as much as possible," he told The Korea Times.

"It's been five years since they started destroying naturalistic spots and leaving unfinished buildings because of these games to come. Unfortunately a lot of money is involved in these kinds of events and every time something like this is happening in Italy it's a total mess."

This East Asia tour has been in the making for a while. At first the band planned to tour Japan only, but the Japanese promoter encouraged Pederzolli to play some shows in Korea. Garrett, the drummer of Korean hardcore band Slant and owner of Sinchon live music venue Baby Doll, offered to book shows in Korea, a nice turn of reciprocity after Pederzolli had booked Slant to play shows in Italy late last year.

"I was happy that the international connection worked out in both ways. Slant are one of my favorite bands of the past years," Pederzolli said. "I really can't wait and don't know what to expect, I'm pretty excited!"

Pederzolli, a veteran of Italy's hardcore punk scene, started Golpe in 2019 with just one other member initially, his good friend Luca Calafati. He added that Calafati was responsible for the band's name, which has various meanings, including the Spanish word for coup d'etat. It is also a word for punch or strike in many Romance languages, including Italian.

As Calafati focused more on other projects, Pederzelli continued Golpe as a solo project. He handles all of the songwriting and recording of Golpe's music by himself.

The band's discography is full of raw, scathing, politically charged tracks influenced by D-beat and raw hardcore. Copies of the band's 2021 debut LP "La Colpa E Solo Tua" came with a one-page political manifesto.

"When I'm writing lyrics I do my best to use words that could help the reader/listener to awaken to be more careful to several subjects, mostly around the concept of taking responsibility for our everyday actions," Pederzolli said. "Modern society has made us think that we can always delegate power, actions and responsibilities. We all as human beings should use our intelligence and energy to make this world a better place, or at least not to make it worse."

Golpe has basically become self-sufficient, except when Pederzolli wants to take it on tour. He said this tour's lineup will be fully Italian, although previous lineups have included friends from the U.S., Portugal, France, Poland, Sweden and Russia.

"I know, this project may sound more complicated than it is!" said Pederzolli, while also adding that the musicians he's collaborated with have been instrumental in helping Golpe take shape. "Having the chance to meet so many talented musicians that are sharing a stage with me helped me to be influenced by them, or at least inspired, for sure."

This Saturday, Golpe will play at Baby Doll, with local bands 13 Steps, Chasm, Beacon and Years From Now. The show starts at 7 p.m. and entry costs 18,000 won in advance, or 25,000 won at the door.

On Sunday, the band will be at Seendosi in central Seoul's Euljiro area, along with Find the Spot, Slant and Fail Fast. Entry costs 25,000 won and the show starts at 5:30 p.m. Follow @golpe.punx on Instagram for more information, or visit golpepunx.bandcamp.com to listen.