In 1999 Stiv Cantarelli was the leader of Satellite Inn, the first Italian alt-country band to sign a record deal with MoodFood Records of Cary, NC (Usa) where they replaced Ryan Adam's Whiskeytown that just signed for Outpost Records. Satellite Inn's first record, Cold Morning Songs, obtained positive feedback in the US, Europe and Australia for their personal interpretation of alt-country music with their mix of punk rock and border stories.
After 2 US tours (East Coast, 1999 and West Coast, 2001, including festivals as CMJ in NYC, SXSW in Austin TX and Country Star Festival in Trenton, NJ) Stiv then decided to move closer to the scene, finding a new home in Boston, MA. Unluckily enough, Moodfood then filed for bankruptcy so Stiv, disappointed, decided to hide from the music scene. His disappearing saw him leading Gold Rust, a bar band heavily influenced by electric Neil Young and the best British bands of the '60s that, after a couple of albums positively reviewed from the press and unconditional love from rock’n’roll fans, made his way into relentless touring of Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and his homeland, Italy.
After Gold Rust disbanded in 2006, Satellite Inn briefly reappeared in Italy with an highly praised album, In the Land Of The Sun, that made waves in the local scene, just to quit again after some band member chose another way of life.
In 2009, long time pals Richmond Fontaine asked Stiv Cantarelli to open the last leg of their European tour (that touched Spain, Austria, Croatia and Switzerland) as a solo act, something he never did before. Stiv jumped on the bandwagon, and that’s where the story began.
Following that experience, Stiv decided to finally pull the trigger on Innerstate, his solo debut, with the help of Richmond Fontaine (that played as a backing band on most of the songs). Most of the songs have been written even before the tour was ended, blending a decade of Americana flavour with dark-tinged landscapes, tour memories and a ’60s folk attitude.
Then, just as a remainder that good things come to those who wait, during that tour Stiv got a supporting act spot on Bob Mould (Husker Du) first Italian tour in 20 years. This happened after Bob listened to Stiv’s music and gave his seal of approval.
