Strana Officina

Strana Officina started its activity in the middle of the seventies in Livorno (a city close to Pisa). Founder members are the two brothers [a1819026] (guitar) and Roberto Cappanera (drums) with bass player Enzo Mascolo. They started playing their favorite artists (Rory Gallagher, [a84752], Jimi Hendrix and [a144998]) after work. Then the band, with first singer Johnny Salani, wrote songs as "Viaggio in Inghilterra"(recorded on the first album in 1984), "Non Sei Normale", "Profumo di puttana", "Il Corvo è Là", "Sole, Mare, Cuore" (never published but constantly played in live performance) and "Non C'è Più Mondo" (recorded in 1991 on Cappanera brothers solo album). In 1982 Daniele "Bud" Ancillotti (new singer) and Marcello Masi (2) (2° guitarist) joined the band and Strana Officina played, together with [a316312] and other bands, at the first and legendary Italian heavy metal festival: the “Certaldo Fest”. The following year the song “Non Sei Normale” appeared on “[m1017761]”, a compilation published by the magazine “Rockerilla”. In 1984 they released their first EP "[m804354]” containing four songs sung in Italian. Due to insurmountable problems in negotiating with foreign labels, the band swapped the songs’ texts in English and in 1986 a new EP “[m754242]” is released. Finally in 1988 the band completed its first LP "[m700286] ", which confirmed Strana Officina as the most representative heavy metal band in Italy. On 23 July 1993, after 10 years of activity and shows around Italy, the two brothers [a1819026] and Roberto Cappanera passed away in a car accident. This tragic event lead to the split of the group, which was writing material for a new release. However, from autumn 1993 until 1995, the band held a commemorative tour with Dario Cappanera (grandson of Cappanera brothers) on guitar and Rolando Cappanera (son of Roberto Cappanera) on drums. In 1995 was released posthumously “[r4849372]”, where is concentrated the entire production of Strana Officina (excluded “Burnin' Wings, the English version of the song “Piccolo Uccello Bianco”) After 10 years of silence, Strana Officina participated as headliner at the major Italian metal festival, and one of most important in Europe: the “Gods of Metal 2006”. In March 2007 they started to record an album, released in June “[m735577]”, containing the most famous English songs, “Autostrada Dei Sogni” and two unedited songs: “Officina” and “Profumo Di Puttana”(written in the middle of ’70). In 2008 is published a 4 LP limited box set "[r2125980]” composed by the two EPs and the LP plus another vynil with unreleased and rare songs, which were later published in a specific release ([r6661817]). It is only in 2010 that the band publish its first studio album ([m497355]) with unreleased songs and two unedited old songs.