Giolì & Assia are two Italian girls who have made a huge impact across the world, culminating in their new LP ‘Fire Hell And Holy Water’ out now on Ultra Records. After a recent tour in the US also, we caught up with the girls to find out how their summer has been, how the LP came about, and what’s next for them now…

WWD: Hello Giolì & Assia, how are you, what’s good and bad in your world right now?

Hey everything’s great! It’s good that our album is out, which is amazing! We were so stoked to let the world listen to it! And bad, nothing would say, just airports! They are so exhausting sometimes!

WWD: Do you feel a weight of responsibility as females in the dance music industry?

Honestly not, even if right now being a woman and fighting for human rights has become difficult, especially with what’s happening in Iran. About the music industry, of course nowadays it is so much easier than the past, a lot of amazing female artists have opened the doors for the future of other ones. Of course we know we can have a voice and for sure we want to use
it to help other artists and mostly female artists to grow, whenever we have the chance to do it. There’s still so much work to do, and just a small percentage of dance music is represented by women.

WWD: Who did you look up musically growing up? Who were your role models? Was there anyone?

No one of our parents was into music, but both of us were introduced from a young age to the great artists of that time, like Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Muse, U2 and also some Italian great ones such as Luciano Battisti. We didn’t have a specific role model, but these artists helped us to grow interest in music.

WWD: Is representation important, do you think, so young people of all backgrounds, ages, races, colours, sexualities and religions can see themselves on stage and aspire to be the same?

Yes, nowadays with all the instruments and socials we have there’s so many chances and possibilities for everyone to be known and show what you can do and love to do. It can look so easy, there so much more competition but of course there’s space for anyone. For sure age, race, color, sexuality and religion are not an obstacle when talent is crystal clear!

WWD: Your latest LP ‘Fire Hell And Holy Water’ out now on ULTRA is your biggest album to date – tell us about writing it, inspirations, aims?

After touring in the US in december 2021 , we felt really inspired to write something that could have been so powerful on stage, with more live instruments, and more pop melodic lyrics. When we came back to Italy in our home studio, we concentrated a lot on the production process, and we finished the whole Fire Hell and Holy Water body in about a month or so. The key message of this album is hell seen as a metaphor to describe depression and down moments and beautiful ones. We faced difficult times at the beginning of the year, so we wondered what the meaning of life is, and more generally if there really was one. That was the start to our album journey, we like to call it like this because when you listen to it, it brings you to an intense journey. It starts with cinematic soundtrack vibes and powerful lyrics, going through more dance underground vibes to rock you, and finishing with some magical sad and emotional moments to the outro, making you reflective, being happy or sad at the same time.

WWD: What’s in the title? It’s a Sicillian saying right, what does it mean?

Kinda ye ahah! In Sicilian we say “sini u diavulu cu l’acqua santa” literally ” you are the devil and the holy water”. It came in our mind in a difficult period for us, and it was fitting perfectly with that moment, with the music we were producing and the ups and downs in our daily routine. So essentially means the good and the bad of anything you want to refer to.

WWD: How different did you approach it compared to other albums? Did you switch up your process or your tools etc?

Of course the kind of approach was different, this album wasn’t just an experiment like the first two. This album was what we really wanted to do and produce. While the past was a search for our sound, this is definitely our sound. The difference is that we grew up a lot and we learnt so many things on production and songwriting these last 2 years that the approach of course was more mature and more methodic.

WWD: Who or where is the album for, do you think about these things during the writing process?

It depends, we like to get inspired from the moment we are living and from what our feelings are. Of course if you want to express that feeling you have to refer to that and start writing about it, trying to express yourself at the best. Most of the songs of the album are about this. We went through a bad familiar period, life seemed to be so unsenseless so we tried to write everything down talking about the meaning of life, as the song title about our journey as a couple and so on. Sometimes yes, maybe you have something in mind you really wanna translate into music, maybe a thought or a story, as it was for our single Eurydice, we wanted to write about her story so we put down some melodies and wrote about her.

WWD: Tell us about your DiesisLive video series – how did it come to be, what’s the aim and inspiration?

The inspiration from the idea of making these videos was born from our desire to show the public and the music industry how our live set was structured, because before then we had not shown all the live elements that compose it: the vocal, the piano, the handpan and the drums. Also here we wanted these videos to tell a story, not just a musical but also a visual journey, told by both the music and the beauty of the locations. Each location is unique, and has been chosen for its beauty and connection with the music. The second episode of Diesis Live was shot on the Volcano of the Aeolian islands, and the song “Inside Your Head” was composed already imagining a drop that could reflect the powerful and vital energy of the volcanic eruption.

WWD: Italy of course has just elected its first female prime minister, but someone from the far right – how does that make you feel?

As the first female prime minister for Italy we would have preferred someone who was really into protecting women rights, minorities and lgbtq+ rights, that is one of our bigger concerns. We love our country and all the things and values that Italy represents around the world, and seeing international news making jokes of her and her interviews for sure it’s not positive for Italy and its citizens. Unfortunately we have a wrong voting system in Italy, so we just really hope she will not make so many damages.

WWD: What’s next now the album is out, what are you up to?

We are working on making a documentary for the album, there will be a huge FHHW tour for next year, with some important stages and of course new music is always around the corner!

‘Fire Hell And Holy Water’ is out now on Ultra Records. Grab it here.

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