Bernuggets
Bernuggets is such a relentless person! Obsessed by bolts, screws, machinery, robots catching fire when they get angry, hooded characters with huge sneakers crashing though our retinas. He comes from Italy, loves hardcore punk, and treats us with graphic compositions straddling two worlds. Constantly divided between “classic” hardcore iconography, and the doors to fantastic universes to which only him holds the keys! Thanks for everything Mr. Bernuggets!
| Interview by Polka B & translated by Nino Futur
How did you start drawing? What were your sources of inspiration as a child?
I’ve always drawn since I can remember! At the kindergarten I was always drawing monsters and constantly had to make up some excuse for them to be like heroes or good guys saving someone, so my teacher wouldn’t get angry… and that was hard because they were literally chopping their limbs off or shooting each other.
I guess they were like that because I was also trying to watch horror movies without my parents knowing. And probably that’s where most of my traumas come from (shout out to Romero’s The night of the living dead).
And also lots of wrestling stuff so I had my “pumped guys era” full of horns and evil stuff. Still doing them somehow though haha.
You seem to be very close to the punk-hardcore scene. How did you discover this music?
The HC punk world means a lot to me. I always thank a friend of mine for having introduced me to the music first with Angel Du$t’s Rock the fuck on forever and Turnstile’s Non stop feeling. I was really into metal stuff at the time of high school and that kind of music blew me away from the first listen. There was something about it: it wasn’t rock, metal, punk as I knew it… it just felt different.
I know I’m talking about pretty modern HC punk, but they came at the perfect time to get fully involved in all the other older bands and more importantly the culture behind the sound.
I was so into it that my bachelor degree in the following years was about American Hardcore punk and the meaning of subculture in the 80’s society. I was graduating in informatics.
Where are you from in Italy? Can you speak about your local environment? What are the specificities of the alternative cultural scene there?
Originally I am from Veneto, in northern Italy, and of course the first reality I got into was the Venice Hardcore scene. I remember I was really trying to find a spot in the scene. I wasn’t that good at playing drums to be part of a band and I wasn’t even that close to the city to meet the locals to start one.
So I kept pushing with drawings. I told myself I would have drawn a flyer for the Venice Hardcore fest and once out of nowhere Samall from Slander texted me to do the flyer for No Warning/Candy who were coming to Padua. Peak moment for me, I was no one and yet someone I admired was asking me this. That is an example of how great the environment is.
It’s how a hardcore community should be, involving everyone who wants to help in any way they can. Have a place for whoever feels alone.
Then during my master years, I moved to Rome and things changed even more. I was completely alone in a new huge city and I was told to text some guys (now friends) from a collective called Till Death who were organising shows in the city.
From the first time I met them I felt hugged, included and part of their community, they let me draw their T-shirt and a flyer and I just kept going out with them, supporting shows and everything in between. I ended up being part of a music video and even going to a wedding (crazy to me, so wholesome, from being an outsider to close friend). It’s more about the fact these people wanted me to be part of their reality that fills my heart (shout out to all my friends in Rome, miss you so much).
What are your sources of inspiration? Did you begin with the pictures and the graphics come from punk hardcore imagery?
I initially wanted to be a comic artist, so I studied a lot of American superheroes comics but never got good at it. I was too lazy to study the basics from scratch with no formal education. But that was a starting point for inspiration.
Then as soon as I discovered the hardcore imagery I thought “maybe I don’t need to be that good to draw”. I felt like in the culture it was more about the will rather than the skill, if you know what I mean. Show everyone you care for the scene and don’t feel ashamed if you are not a pro. SkillS will come eventually with time and devotion.
So I started to draw classic imagery I was seeing from historic American HC flyers: skinheads, riot girls, hooders, devils and angry peeps in general. And lots of sneakers. Like, a lot. All of this during moshing and dancing moments. Pretty classical stuff. But I liked it and it was a great start.
The classical HC imagery contains a lot of specific codes. Do you want to include something new in this visual culture?
I wouldn’t say I’m including something new. But I feel like sometimes, because of these specific codes, we limit the opportunities we could have. And I see some stuff often falls under the “Not enough hardcore” label in spite of some old vintage nostalgic hardcore patterns. People are always looking for the same characters or dynamics to put on covers and merchandise so they look badass. Which reinforces some aspects of modern hardcore that I don’t share.
I’ve just stopped (mostly) drawing the same things over and over and gone my own way that probably doesn’t totally fit HC imagery. Sometimes I still ask myself “is this hardcore? Would people from the scene like it?” But then… What’s the purpose of this? As a band or whatever, you are supporting the artist and whatever they do if you feel they match your vision.
They could draw cats and be great for your merch. Cats are not hardcore enough? Then it’s a systemic problem, where hardcore equals badass violent stuff and nothing more. I’m exaggerating just to give the idea… maybe;) but go out of the comfort zone, look for other talented artists that do something different. American bands are already doing this, I feel like we as Europeans should do the same.
You seem to be very inspired by robots, weapons, violence, through immersion in an atmosphere of invasion. Why this obsession with machines and apocalypse?
It’s funny cuz it doesn’t come from any previous trauma, I do believe the main reason is that I grew up playing with LEGO Bionicles, which at the time were sick as fuck. They didn’t care about family friendliness or whatever, they cared about creating this gigantic war tank that could turn into a mecha scorpion because of an endless robot war in a dystopian future. All the designs they made were great, raw and simple or extremely complex. You could even build a gigantic bionicle with 3 other ones which were big as well.
I think they shaped my head the most. I was always spending lots of time by myself because I wanted to build the most ferocious bionicle with its background story to fit in a major plot where one of them had to kill the others… and everything was fine, because they were on tv and it was just a great way for my parents to keep me entertained and get creative. Shout out to my parents for this.
I guess it then developed lately when I discovered cyber stuff mangas like Nihei’s Blame!, Biomega and Abara and everything in between. And that’s why now I’m really going into cyberpunk comics and robots, art-wise is also a useful way to better my skills and advance. Robots.
Can you speak about your favorite «nugget» character:
a mysterious guy, hidden under a hoodie, with intense eyes?
Talking about HC imagery, I think this is one of the most iconic. I don’t remember drawing the first one ever, I remember while studying I was looking at the old stuff here and there, and there was always this guy popping out on some album cover, merch and flyer. Americans were crazy about that and of course I was feeding off this, so I started drawing it compulsively.
Art-wise, I don’t know how personal it was but, maybe I’m wrong, I was one of the few guys, in northern Italy at least, drawing and sharing them (please correct me if I’m wrong!!!).
I remember a guy at a show told me “oh you are the guy who does the hooded moshers”. I was like, dang am I? But it felt good. I still love it because I still draw it happily, with or without a face haha.
You actually co-founded the fanzine «Do You Care?». Can you tell us more about it? What is your vision of a fanzine?
That’s my lil baby. It’s one of my main projects and I’m so happy we got this far. It was born 2 years ago, when my associate (the goat, my king, Luca Cescon) wrote me on IG (fuck IG but thanks for this one) because he saw some pages I shared of a zine about HC I wanted to make during Covid, which never happened. He just went straight to the point asking me if I wanted to make a zine together.
In less than 2 months we were putting out the Issue #1. Cool thing is, we didn’t know each other, besides some chats on the gram. We just cared about hardcore and that was enough. But that’s how our friendship started. And as the publications progressed, we could see the vision clearlier:
Give space to everyone who wants to share their story. And that story should be brought to everyone thanks to hardcore punk.
We all got into this culture because of the need to have a safe place to be ourselves, now it’s our time to help someone else feel that same safety and appreciation. We shifted the focus from the bands to the people around ‘em, those who are also an active part of the scene, but that’s the point: everyone must feel included. And, I’m gonna say it, it happened too many times that we felt more support from these peeps rather than the bands, who sometimes believe they are at the top of who knows what. Not all the bands obviously, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, our zines are based on contributions from a lot of talented and inspiring people, be they artists, photographers and people with amazing projects they believe in. Of course we have reviews about cool releases, but a lot comes from other sources.
Art-wise, we try to push young artists to share something they are proud of, we don’t care about exclusive stuff just for the zine. It’s up to them to choose what to do. But I want them to know that every zine can be theirs somehow. At least that’s my dream. That’s also what I wished I had when I started.
Do you consider DIY as a political affair?
Everything that is DIY is political. It’s a statement, no matter how small the commitment is. DIY means fuck whatever limitations a bigger system might impose on our stuff. And usually it’s political and against our ethos or profit-oriented, where we are always the ones losing.
Do You Care? Zine is all about DIY, which doesn’t mean we are getting so much money to pay the bills, but it means that we are committed to share what we believe in without barriers.
We’ll speak about all the Palestinians that are suffering right now under our eyes and do whatever we can to help, fundraising as long as we can and not getting a single cent in our pockets.
We’ll speak for them, for the Sudanese, for all antifas, for all the oppressed. And we won’t fuckin let any big money change this.
It goes for publishers but also when talking about shows. We make DIY shows to fight for a cause, not for bands and everyone to have a fun time and go home. We used to make those, don’t get me wrong, but right now as a scene with specific roots like HC’s we can’t unsee what is happening in this world and just let it be.
Then, it’s also somewhat easy to say this when it’s not zines and shows that pay the bills… gotta face that. That’s also why I don’t totally condemn who does it. I appreciate everyone who manages to get a living out if hardcore, it’s so fucking hard (I’m talking for Italy).
For us at DYC, it’s easier becase we both have jobs that give us some freedom. It’s about choices I’d say. What I care about is keeping it real to our roots, be aware of the present and use it to your advantage. It’s hard but it pays off eventually.
You are very active with a lot of bands for covers (Leach, Big Shot, DIY Conspiracy…), for merch, and graphics in general. How do you make the balance between passion and professional activity? Do you want to live from your art?
Heh. As I mentioned right above, art is not my main job. I do really wish it could be. But being an artist, in Italy, I felt it was hella impossible for my situation. I spent lots of years at the university when maybe I should have grinded creating stuff. Not that I didn’t do it, but looking at people that I admire I feel it was not enough.
HC was great to start getting in some business, but there isn’t too much money running around and bands do not invest much in art. You do it for the culture, not the money, but eventually money starts affecting your decisions. That’s why I kept investing in a more safe career, while keeping art as a side project.
And that’s also why I left Italy and moved to Amsterdam. I’m still in the creative environment though, as a UX designer, which is the complete opposite of what my art is: structured, clean and minimal. It’s funny to think of it but it’s a job that gives me economical stability, keeps my mental health in shape and lets me have enough time to focus on my art. In other ways, it lets me do whatever I want and take commissions when I feel they can match my likings (robots).
I do really spend 90% of my time drawing, maybe sacrificing some social interactions but that’s what I’m up to exchange. My goal is to draw as much as I can, get better each day or at least get something done and eventually realise I may manage to live with my art.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m trying to draw a comic, but it’s fucking hard man. It takes a lot of time and with the job, the zine and other smaller commissions I take for fun, I struggle to be consistent throughout the week. But it’s a great way to improve my skills. I’m not interested in making a masterpiece (will never happen) but I want it to feel like “oh that’s my comic, that’s bernuggets”.
I want to see how I tell a story. How serious can I be, or maybe stupid hahah. But the story is fun, it’s about a guy in a post apocalyptic world wandering around trying to find everything that’s left of this mysterious Hardcore Punk Culture he casually discovered. He gets angry and goes on fire, literally. And in between, two main forces fight for rebuilding the world as they think it’s the right way. It’s something, trust me. I sucked at selling it though.
What are your “dreams” as an artist?
I would like to leave a sort of legacy here in this world. Create stuff of course, a lot, but I hope to be a sort of trusted guidance for some youngsters in the future. I don’t know, I want them to pursue their passions because a guy (me) pushed them to do so. With a rationale though. And even if it’s just one. That’d be fine. Maybe it’s egomaniacal, but at least someone will be proud of their choices. Hopefully.
Three tracks that you are listening to at the moment?
– « Too Much » – Initiate
– « Football » – Candy
– « Resilience » – Oltrezona