Some people do more than simply create; they also open up spaces for others to create, connect with one another, and make their voices heard. Luca, whom many will know through Do You Care? Zine and Colliders, has left a remarkable mark on both the hardcore scene and zine culture. For Toyz, we met with him to talk about everything from his first encounters with hardcore and independent publishing to the motivations behind his creative practice and the things that continue to excite and inspire him today.
First of all, hi Luca! And thank you so much for accepting this interview. I’ve been following both what you do with Do You Care? Zine and Colliders with great interest for quite some time now. I find it really inspiring how your creative practice remains so sincere, independent, and consistent, both in music and publishing. It’s a real pleasure for us to get to know you and your creative process a little more closely. Welcome to Toyz!
I’d like to start from the very beginning. Feel free to introduce yourself to the readers however you want, but what I’m especially curious about is: how did you first come into connect with hardcore? :)
Hey there! Thanks for having me, I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity :) I like talking about things I love and about who I am besides music, fanzines etc. So let’s start! My name is Luca, I’m 34 and I live in Turin, Italy. I spend 40 hours per week in the office working for a Danish transport and logistics company; I’ve been doing it for 9 years now so yeah, my weekly routine might not sound that exciting. Going back home and petting my cat is actually my favorite and most relaxing activity haha
I started listening to hardcore at around 14/15 years old. I used to listen to a lot of classic rock, heavy metal and hard rock before getting into bands that really changed my life: Nirvana and Pantera. This will surely sound as something obvious…but I still consider those bands as a real turning point in my life. Both brought to my ears different approaches to music (the punk attitude of Nirvana and the ferocity of Pantera) and somehow they pushed me to start digging into more aggressive and raw records from other bands. Italian hardcore-punk bands like Negazione, Nerorgasmo, Arsenico, Skruigners and especially the first Bull Brigade record (called “Strade Smarrite”) had a strong impact on me, before moving towards international acts. I spent lots of money on CDs (and I still do) and lots of time on eMule…must say that I miss that time when you actually had to discover and listen to music without social networks shaping your taste. Also, despite not being hardcore bands at all, I have to credit acts like Il Teatro degli Orrori, Linea 77 and I Ministri for my first push pits. Somehow all these different genres gave me something and I do like having an interesting variety of backgrounds.
What does your relationship with your current local scene mean to you today? How do you think the people there, the shows, the collective spirit of production, and those smaller communities shape both your creative practice and your daily life?
Well, this is an interesting question. I must admit that I do prefer going abroad for hardcore shows, I’ve been doing it since I was 20 and somehow seeing scenes around Europe growing fast - with both great bands and DIY labels - makes me proud, I feel like my support really matters. For what concerns Italy, there’s surely a lot going on into the screamo and emo side of things, which is cool. It’s not my cup of tea, but I like seeing a young audience approaching aggressive and emotional music with intensity and passion. Italy is mainly made of small collectives - if we talk about the real DIY approach - doing their best while keeping shows prices accessible…it’s a struggle worth fighting but definitely exhausting. I do not see a particular spirit of cooperation when it comes to production, but I do see lots of interest when a new event pops up on the Internet. So, the scene is alive, but there’s still lots to do I guess. From north to south you’d easily find a DIY show going on almost every day of the week, whether it’s in a squat or in a proper venue. Some rooms are more packed than others…some shows are “cooler” than others…but it’s always about people having fun and spending time together in real life, which is the most important thing considering how bad the social and economic situation is here in Italy. Anyway I’ve always done my part for this world and I’ll always do, no matter how many hours I have to drive or how early I have to wake up for a show on the other side of Europe. Both the things I do with the zine and the daily approach I have to music are driven by the passion I feel for this world. I somehow belong to hardcore and to the underground.
Do You Care? Zine feels like an important part of the scene. We didn’t get the chance to meet that day, but at the WAK 3-Year Anniversary Show I picked up every issue I could find, and it was genuinely exciting for me. Where did the idea for the zine first come from? How does it feed or inspire you personally, and do you have certain rules or methods you follow while putting it together?
The introduction to this answer is pretty simple: I can’t imagine my life without the zine. For those who are not familiar with it, the team of Do You Care? Zine is made of me and Lorenzo: he is the goat behind everything you see, both on paper and online, while I take care of collecting all the articles, pictures and reviews. We’ve built a strong relationship which goes beyond the zine and I won’t trade this friendship for anything in the world. We started this project 4 years ago - time flies! - without high expectations. I came from years spent writing reviews for national and international webzines as a hobby, while Lorenzo was developing his style and improving his skills, thanks to his first collabs with the hardcore scene of the Venice area. When I saw him posting a never released zine, I immediately texted him asking whether he was interested in doing something together. And here we are, with lots of issues and projects we’re really proud of. The things we do, the dedication we have for D.Y.C., the connections we made…they mean the world to us. I really feel like we have a way to leave a mark in the scene by talking about bands, illustrators, photographers, labels etc. with the only goal of keeping this world spinning. Between me and Lorenzo there are no rules…we have just a couple of deadlines every month but we’ve always tried to keep the pressure low. Life is already exhausting enough and for us the zine is a way to escape reality. Anyway, we run D.Y.C. like a Swiss watch and I think the quality of our works speak for itself.
I’d love to hear more about the production process behind the zine. From the first idea to the final printed issue, how does the process usually unfold for you? What parts of content selection, balancing visuals and text, or making editorial decisions excite or challenge you the most? And.. can you talk about the label side of DYC? :)
For me, one of the most exciting aspects of running the zine is that we’re always focused on “what’s next”. I collect zines - mostly from recent years - and I’ve always seen lots of projects ending after a couple of issues. Lack of ideas? Lack of time? I do not know…but for me, pushing D.Y.C. towards the future means that we do have a serious plan for it. The process is really simple: we want to release at least a couple of zines during the year. We have our yearly newsletter coming out around January - covering 12 months of the previous year - but I think the zine itself is the real challenge for us. Both me and Lorenzo usually spend some time figuring out which might be the most interesting articles to feature, while deciding a deadline for all the written contents that allow us to work without pressure on our shoulders. He is in charge of choosing the visual direction of the zines, I fully trust him so no matter what he decides to draw, everything he comes up with is always pure perfection. The visual aspect of the zine, its cover and the internal designs are really important when bringing our copies around at shows or fanzines-oriented events. Balancing articles with pictures and illustrations really makes every D.Y.C. copy what it is: an open art space dedicated to the underground world. I do like writing short reviews and live reports: I spend my free time listening to a lot of new records so reviews in particular play an important role for me. We do love the entire process of making the zines, no matter how long it is, we know it will pay off. Well, for what concerts the label side of D.Y.C., I really wish we’ll have the chance - and the money - to improve it. I’d like to release more tapes and bring them around, and I hope more bands will send us their demos in the future. My dream is to follow the path of labels like New Morality Zine, DBNO, Collective Memory, STTW Records and so on.
At a time when everything is being pushed toward digital formats, what does insisting on producing something physical mean to you personally? What are your thoughts on holding a printed object in your hands, archiving it, or physically sharing it with people?
I think that collecting memories through tangible objects will always help me feel alive. The things we touch with our hands are the result of big efforts and dedication, even if they’re just a folded paper with front and back reviews or a tape with a couple of tracks recorded on it. While the internet comes and goes according to algorithms, printed materials are the projections of someone’s hands and ideas. I do love buying zines and archiving them, it helps me keep track of what’s going on or discover old bands through interviews and other written content. For me and Lorenzo, insisting on producing something real and accessible to all kinds of readers is an act of rebellion against the elitist world we live in. For us it’s all about connecting with people through printed paper in a world full of screens telling us who we are and our role in the society. Fuck that. Making fanzines has always been a political and social statement and I think we all have to keep this in mind.
Especially in an era where social media makes everything visible but also incredibly temporary, do you think printed works still manage to create a special kind of space? Where do you think DIY publishing and independent zine culture stand today?
Yes, definitely. I had the chance to travel a lot across Italy over the last 4 years and in every city I visited with our stand I’ve felt a strong sense of community. Even the smallest events gave me something back in terms of relationships and I do not take this for granted. I feel like we’re all on the same page also from a political and social point of view, which means a lot to me. The publishing and independent zine culture in Italy is really strong and sometimes underestimated. We do have lots of incredibly talented artists and I have to thank Lorenzo for introducing me to most of them. There’s a growing interest in organizing fanzines/illustrations-related events and sometimes they’re created by young people, which is really cool. Connections made online that evolve in something real and driven by the urgency of the DIY spirit…I love being part of this with D.Y.C.
How are things going on the Colliders side these days? What kind of place does the band hold in your life?
Things are going well I must say! We’re down to the last couple shows before entering the studio later this summer for recording our first EP. We’ll play Low-L Fest at the end of June opening for Excide and Thrown and we’re all excited for this opportunity, considering that we started playing shows one year ago. We spent lots of hours on the road last autumn/winter and we all want to thank Apo for having us in Amsterdam last January for the W.A.K. anniversary show! We put some crazy dedication into this band: we all come from different areas in north Italy and we barely have time to meet ourselves for rehearsals. Despite this, we played 20 shows and released two records (Lorenzo designed the artworks) through the D.Y.C. Bandcamp profile. I formed the band with my longtime friend Marco (guitar), Elisa (vocals) and Marcello (bass) in 2024 and I must say that I can’t wait to see where the next steps will bring us. We all enjoy what we do and the energy we deliver is something that really means a lot to me on a personal level. The new tracks we’ve been working on recently sound like certified bangers to me haha I hope you’ll all like them as much as I do.
You continue producing independently both through the zine and through music. What still motivates you today? Are there any new ideas, projects, or future plans that currently excite you?
I feel like both the zine and the band would not be the same without this strong DIY spirit they both share. Keeping these projects real and special - in the most sentimental way - is the reflection of who we are and how much we care about the subculture we’re part of. I’m always excited for the future of the things I’m involved in, I’m basically a negative person but I fully trust the people around me - whether it’s Lorenzo or my bandmates - and I’m always ready to put any skill or knowledge I have into our common passions. Colliders will release their first EP, so this will hopefully mean more shows and more days to spend together. D.Y.C. will have a new fanzine out around September, so more events across Italy and even more opportunities ahead of us. Yes, the future looks bright.
Hardcore, zines, music… and all of that aside, who is Luca outside of these things? Is there a version of yourself we haven’t really met yet? :)
Haha well…My life is almost entirely dedicated to D.Y.C. and the band, and I’m really proud of it. Outside of these things, I’m a football fan and I love listening to football matches on the radio. I’ve always wanted to become a sports commentator but I never really explored that job field. During summer I always spend a couple of days hiking with my father, it’s something we’ve been doing since I was a kid. I have a strong relationship with my grandfather too, we meet every day during my lunch break. We basically talk about football every day but I love it. I like collecting CDs, I have lots of stuff from the most different artists (Rihanna and Merauder sharing the same shelf…). Some of my favorite movies are “Heat”, “City of God” and “Giù la Testa” (the best western movie ever produced). I’m a huge fan of “The Wire” and “Person Of Interest” as well.
Lastly, is there anything you’d like to share with the readers? :)
I hope you enjoyed reading this interview! Keep supporting this webzine as much as you can! A quick message to you all: free Palestine. Silence is betrayal. If you’re reading this and you’ve done nothing for the Palestinian cause, expect nothing but hate from us.
