Act Noir

Act Noir is an Italian alternative-electro-rock band, widely influenced by other music styles, such as: psychedelic rock, post-punk, ambient, industrial rock.

History

1998-2000
Sergio Calzoni formed Act Noir together with Stefano Nieri. Soon afterwards the newborn band found in Michele Gozzi and Claudio Pilati the right complement.

2001-2004
Relocated in Copenhagen, Sergio acquainted Nicholas Hill (singer of the space rock band The Univerzals) and after some time he joined Act Noir as main vocalist.
In June 2003 the band released the promo-CD "Cosmo Minimized". One of the tracks was included in the sampler "k:goth", compiled by the web-magazine Kronic. During the same year the Italian band MonumentuM commissioned to Act Noir the remix of the track "Distance". The remix was included in Metastasi,^[1] album containing rarities and various unreleased material by MonumentuM.

2005-2006
In December 2005, Act Noir signed a record deal with My Kingdom Music, for the release of Act Noir's debut CD Automatisme Psychique.^[2] On March the 3rd, 2006 the album was issued worldwide.
At the beginning of 2006, the new singer Mark Benoit joined Act Noir.
In the same year, Sergio started working with Colloquio's mastermind Gianni Pedretti for the production of the album Si Muove e Ride,^[3] released in July 2007 by Eibon Records.

2007
In April, the band played as open-act for the Italian tour of John Foxx, while in June, they were invited to play in London at club Slimelight with Clan Of Xymox and Violet Stigmata. In the same year, contemporary artist Francesco Arena commissioned to Act Noir a fifteen minutes soundtrack for a video-installation included in his project "Respiri/Breath".

2008
A previously unreleased track is included in the download-compilation In the Dark Room vol. 1,^[4] compiled by the web-magazine Darkroom.

2009
At beginning of the year Act Noir parted ways with vocalist Mark Benoit. Soon afterwards the band started working with new singer Gaetano Notarnicola on the second album "Shape a New Start".

2010
With the support of Eibon Records, on January the new record "Shape a New Start" was released worldwide.

Band members

• Gaetano Notarnicola - vocals
• Sergio Calzoni - electronics
• Stefano Nieri - guitar
• Michele Gozzi - bass
• Claudio Pilati - drums

Former members:

• Nicholas Hill - vocals
• Mark Benoit - vocals

Discography

Albums

• "Automatisme Psychique" (2006)
• "Shape a New Start" (2010)

CD-Demo

• "Cosmo Minimized E.P." (2003)

Compilations

• "k:goth" (2003)
• "Metastasi" (2003)

Other works

• Signa Sørensen performance/installation "Nika Is Dead" (2002)
• Production/sound-design of Colloquio album "Si Muove e Ride" (2007)
• Francesco Arena's installation "Respiri/Breath" (2007)

References

External links

• Official site, including music and informative resources
• (Italian) Interview with Sergio Calzoni
• Gothic online - band history.
• Interview on Gryphon Metal - exhaustive interview on the Swiss magazine "Gryphon Metal".
• Eibon Records - record label website.