Casino Royale

Bio

Casino Royale are one of the longest-running bands still active in Italy. They were born in 1987 in a post-punk Milan and with their Ska sound they overturned stages with a warm sound, full of horns and full of energy. A strangely assorted band of kids and veterans, lovers of the Clash, 2Tone of ska and Jamaican reggae, they sing in English for two albums Soul of Ska, Junglee Jubilee.

In the very early nineties they overturned every point of reference within their sound by contaminating themselves with contemporary evolutions of genres already in their DNA, it was the time of ragga-hip hop, black rock and what is known as cross over. They start writing and singing in Italian and this creates a stronger empathy with their following.

In 1995, they turned to a producer from Bristol, Ben Young, and together they produced an album that left its mark on the Italian scene of the 1990s, ‘Sempre Più Vicini’.

Sound research, use of electronics, a sound never heard before from an Italian band producing and creating simultaneously with an international scene not chasing the sound of the moment.

In 1997, they went to London and came back with an album, ‘CRX’, with an electronic and dark sound that had nothing to envy the English one. They could make the leap into the universe of Italian pop, but they relaunched with even darker and more urban works that seemed produced for a future market.

They stop, they split up, they open a label and promote other bands in the scene, they start again with projects that focus on spreading music on the net when the internet is still running on coal.

They fall down and get back up and each time they leave their audience surprised, which has now changed: before it was the big brothers who brought their little brothers, now it is the parents who bring their children.

They have some fifteen studio and live albums to their credit, and their story is not yet over. In fact, it started again at the same time as the first lockdown of 2020 with the production of a concept album ‘Quarantine Scenario’, which tells with sound and images – a feature film was made with director Pepsy Romanoff – the state of mind of a series of artists, producers and performers.

‘Polaris’, their latest work lasts about thirty minutes, an intense collection of eclectic music ranging from song, orchestral and chamber composition, European-rooted electronica to black-derived grooves. For ‘Polaris’, a reissue is on its way in which an unreleased track bearing the project’s name appears. In this track, the collaboration with singer Marta del Grandi, who has already accompanied the band in a number of live performances, is realised in the studio for the first time. The sonic universe of Polaris will also become an audiovisual work, of which the single track being released and its video will be a preview.

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