Italian psychedelic outfit New Candys have never been the kind of band to stand still. Over nearly two decades, the Venice group has built a cult following around their dark, hypnotic blend of shoegaze, psych rock, and shadowy pop. With their latest album The Uncanny Extravaganza, frontman Fernando Nuti says the band has taken a bigger leap than even he expected.
“I think the evolution has been bigger than I expected,” Nuti tells Montreal Rocks. “The latest album has much more new elements compared to what happened in the past. The electronics are stronger… more in your face.”
When New Candys return to Montreal on May 1 at La Sotterenea, fans who caught the band during the Vivid era will hear something both familiar and strikingly different. The band’s signature atmosphere is still there, but the new record pushes further into electronic textures, darker rhythms, and a broader sonic palette.
It happened in a way that changed the band’s creative process entirely.
A New Way of Writing
Much of The Uncanny Extravaganza came together through remote collaboration and home studios rather than the traditional band-in-a-room approach. For Nuti, that shift opened unexpected doors.
“It was a fresh method and it brought a new creativity, a new way of working,” he says.
The lineup changes played a role too. Dario Lucchesi moved from drums to bass and synthesizers, bringing new influences into the mix, while guitarist Emanuele Zanardo added another dimension to the band’s evolving sound.
Nuti himself has been diving deeper into darker electronic territory.
“Recently I’ve been listening to bands like Nine Inch Nails and things like Death in Vegas,” he says. “These new things changed the band.”
Working separately also allowed the band to approach arrangements with a level of freedom they rarely had before.
“When you get together in a room, you have two guitars, bass and drums, and that’s the arrangement,” Nuti explains. “But when you work on your own, you can decide maybe the song doesn’t need real drums, or maybe it just needs one guitar.”
In fact, half the drums on the new record are virtual.
The band also brought in producer Maurizio Baggio, known for his work with The Soft Moon and Boy Harsher, to help shape the final sound of the record.
For Nuti, the process was surprisingly intimate. Instead of jamming until a song emerged, ideas could arrive almost fully formed. One example is the standout track “Regicide.”
“The seed came from Dario,” he recalls. “He sent me this instrumental track. As soon as I put the headphones on, the vocal melody came to me, the verse and the chorus, as it used to happen when we practice. This time, I had the song finished in my head. I was instantly inspired.”
According to Nuti, Baggio played a crucial role in pushing some of the songs further than the band expected. “He was able to enhance our songs,” Nuti says. “In some cases the result was even better than what we had imagined.”
Dark Disco and the Joy of Movement
“Regicide” might be the clearest example of New Candys’ new direction. Its pulse leans closer to club music or disco than traditional psych rock, yet it retains the band’s trademark dark atmosphere.
Part of the inspiration came from unexpected places.
“I was thinking about ‘Some Velvet Morning’ by Primal Scream and Kate Moss when we programmed the drum beat,” Nuti says.
But the motivation was simple.
“We always wanted something dancey,” he explains. “It’s fun to see people dancing. I needed that ingredient in the setlist.”
The gamble paid off immediately.
“Since day one, when we started playing that song live, people go crazy,” he says. “It’s already a hit. People go crazy with that song.”
Some fans get nervous when a band starts pushing its sound in new directions. But for Nuti, evolution is part of the creative process.
Staying locked into the same sound album after album might satisfy listeners, but for the people making the music it can quickly become a creative trap.
That willingness to evolve isn’t accidental. Nuti says he’s always admired artists who take risks with their sound rather than repeating themselves.
“I appreciate artists like David Bowie,” he says. “and the Dandy Warhols when they released Welcome to the Monkey House. Even if it’s not my favorite record, I like the fact that they made something that sounds like it’s from the ’80s.”
For Nuti, that kind of creative restlessness is essential. “I like bands like Primal Scream that are diverse in their discography. If a band records the same album every time, I get bored.”
Venice in the Sound
Listening to The Uncanny Extravaganza, it’s hard to miss the sense of fluidity that runs through the album. Songs seem to shimmer and distort like light reflecting off water.
That imagery isn’t accidental.
“I love Venice,” Nuti says. “When I walk around the city, I’m always in awe because it’s like a natural mirror. There are no cars, just the sound of water.”
The city’s atmosphere and history seep into the band’s aesthetic. Beyond the canals, Nuti draws inspiration from the theatrical traditions of Venetian Carnival and commedia dell’arte, with its masked characters and centuries-old mythology.
But water itself plays a deeper role in his imagination.
“The look of water reminds me of dreams,” he says. “When you wake up and you remember a dream, it’s blurry in your mind. When you put something underwater, it becomes dreamy.”
That dreamlike quality also carries a darker edge.
“There’s a fascination when tragedies happen on the water,” he says. “Let’s take the Titanic for example. Why is everyone obsessed with the moment the ship breaks and goes underwater? There’s a fascination with that moment of passing between life and death.”
“It might seem chaotic, but in my mind, I’m connecting all these things together. Everything that is underwater is connected to dreams and death in a way.”
Songs as Personal Reflections
After five albums, Nuti can see certain themes repeating throughout the band’s work. “Even if you don’t want to, you end up writing about yourself,” he says.
Looking back across the band’s catalog, he can even see those ideas stretching all the way back to the beginning.
“Now that we reached our fifth record, I can see that I am revisiting themes that I already talked about in the past,” he says. “Like the title of our first record, Stars Reach the Abyss. There is already a connection there with the water and the colour purple.”
Sometimes the songs are autobiographical. Other times they’re more like short theatrical scenes. But either way, personal experience tends to find its way into the music.
“You’re describing a situation, like writing a show for the theater,” he says. “There is always a little bit of autobiography.”
Revisiting the past can reframe even traumatic events. As we get older, we begin to realize they may simply be part of the process that shaped who we are today. We don’t want to keep hitting the iceberg, but maybe by doing this, we can avoid it next time around.
From the Studio to the Stage
Some of the songs on The Uncanny Extravaganza have already been shaped by the stage.
The band played “Crime Wave” live before recording it, refining the arrangement through performance.
Another track, “Wild Spaghetti West,” has taken on a completely new life in concert.
“Now we arrange it in a more rock way,” Nuti says. “We can jam when we play it live. In the setlist, we wanted a moment in the set where we could jam freely.”
That sense of freedom is something fans in Montreal will hear when the band arrives in May.
According to Nuti, the live show itself has evolved significantly since the band’s last visit.
“Compared to 2022, we sound better,” he says. “We arranged the live set in a more professional way. I can hear all the frequencies now, and the addition of synthesizers is really cool.”
A Global Following — With One Exception
While New Candys’ fan base continues to grow internationally, the places where the band connects most strongly can be surprising.
“The States and Australia, for sure,” Nuti says. “Melbourne had the biggest crowd we ever played. Athens was mind-blowing too.”
Across Europe, cities like Paris and London consistently turn out strong audiences.
But one place remains a challenge.
“Italy is difficult for us,” he admits with a laugh.
Why This Tour Matters
Touring today is more expensive than ever, especially for independent bands crossing oceans. The upcoming North American run represents one of the biggest financial risks the band has taken.
“I’ve never invested so much money to tour before,” Nuti says. “But in my mind it was like, it’s now or never. The new record is new now. In one year it won’t be new anymore.”
For him, the decision ultimately comes down to passion rather than profit.
“I’m not a musician to earn money in the first place,” he says. “Of course it’s a job, but that’s not why I do it.”
Don’t Miss Them Live
If the reaction to songs like “Regicide” overseas is any indication, Montreal audiences are in for something special.
New Candys’ music lives somewhere between darkwave, psychedelic rock, and dance-floor hypnosis. But the band’s real magic happens on stage, where those sounds stretch, breathe, and sometimes spiral into something completely unexpected.
For Nuti, that moment when a crowd connects with the music is still the whole point.
And if Montreal is anything like Athens or Melbourne, La Sotterenea might just turn into a dance floor.
New Candies play Montreal on May 1 at La Sotterenea.
If you like bands that aren’t afraid to evolve, this is one show you don’t want to miss.
Get your ticket now: Tickets
To learn more about their origin story, the band name and more, watch our 2011 Interview.
Writer: Randal Wark is a Professional Speaker and MasterMind Facilitator with a passion for live music. You can follow him on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. His Podcast RockStar Today helps musicians quit their day jobs with out-of-the-box advice from Ted Talk Speakers, Best Selling Authors and other interesting Entrepreneurs and Creatives. He created the Rock Star Today Music Business Jam Session for musicians. Randal is a collector of signed vinyl, cassettes and CDs.
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