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Twinspirits
are one of the hottest new progressive metal bands to burst onto the
scene in more recent times. Their debut album 'The Music That Will
Heal The World' was released on the Lion Music label just a few days
before this interview took place. An album that is both a very
accessible and enjoyable release and a total joy to listen to.
Today we catch up with founder member Daniele Liverani to find out more
about this mighty band and their music.
MM
- Firstly can you introduce the band to all our readers out there, who
are Twinspirits? How did you all
come together as a band?
Daniele:
Twinspirits is the latest line up I’ve put together in the last 3
years approximately, it’s a band that I’ve formed linking all the
talents that I’ve been discovering in the last period, starting from
drummer Dario Ciccioni, the drummer of my Genius rock opera, Daily
Trauma and Khymera records.
I’ve been working with him since 1998 and there’s always been a
great chemistry between us, he’s an incredible drummer both musically
and technically.
Then we have guitar player Tommy Ermolli. He’s a great talent too.
I’ve encountered him at an exhibition fair back in 2002, while he was
performing live in a small booth, playing Satriani and Vai with an
incredible maturity and musicality; he was just blowing away the
audience that was attending!
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Then
we became friends and I’ve been involving him in many
situations like Khymera and now, Cosmics, a line up with Virgil
Donati and Rufus Philipot as rhythm section and me on the
keyboards and song writing.
Then
we have Alberto Rigoni on bass, he’s an incredible bass
player. I’ve noticed him while he was playing with his Dream
Theater tribute band ASCRA, he was handling bass parts with an
incredible precision and musicality, that’s why I asked him to
join Twinspirits.
And last there’s the singer Soren Nico Adamsen from Denmark.
It was a long process to choose the right singer for Twinspirits
band. Tons of auditions and demos sent from all over the world,
from USA to Brazil to Europe ...
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Then
we have Alberto Rigoni on bass, he’s an incredible bass player. I’ve
noticed him while he was playing with his Dream Theater tribute band
ASCRA, he was handling bass parts with an incredible precision and
musicality, that’s why I asked him to join Twinspirits.
And last there’s the singer Soren Nico Adamsen from Denmark. It was a
long process to choose the right singer for Twinspirits band. Tons of
auditions and demos sent from all over the world, from USA to Brazil to
Europe …
There have been many singers that sent out great demo, including Goran
Edman, Terry Ilous, Gustavo Monsanto from Adagio, John Jeff Touch from
Greece, Olaf Senkbeil, Thomas Hackmann and Tobias Althammer just to name
a few. Nico seemed to be the best fit for the band and it turned
out to be a strong point of force for the band, singing warm ballads to
heavy brutal songs with the same quality and intensity. We needed
a very versatile singer with a good range and expression, and that’s
undoubtedly Nico! Finally there’s me, Daniele Liverani on Keyboards,
the oldest one in the band … he he …
MM
- Your debut album ‘The Music That Will Heal The World’ has quite a
varied mix of styles but it all comes under the banner of Progressive
Metal, do you think this makes the album more accessible to non Prog
Metal fans?
Daniele:
Well, Yes, I hope that this variety will be making the album more
accessible, from hard rock to very strong prog metal fans.
That was the main aim that I had when I wrote the music for this new
line up.
MM - To have
such a young talented guitar player like Tommy in the band must bring
hope to the older members that Prog Metal can capture a younger
audience?
Daniele:
Yes! Definitely, he’s one of the new generation talent, and hopefully
he can capture the attention of the younger fans of prog metal style.
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MM
- What has been the general media reaction to the new album?
Daniele:
Well, the album has just been released and I must say that the
general media reactions so far are very positive and are getting
the main aim of this band, the research of a new way of making
progressive metal with mode contamination from different styles
… and the research of good song writing as opposite of solos
and intricate instrumental parts only.
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MM - What expectations to you have for the album yourselves, are
you looking for instant fame or are you here for the long haul?
Daniele:
Definitely for the long haul, we already have a new album almost
ready and we know that Twinspirits is a new name on the scene,
so we are planning to work hard and to look forward to long view
results …
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MM
- I noticed on the bio for the album that you have plans to tour to
support the new album; do you have any dates lined up yet?
Daniele:
We are planning at the moment; all dates will be published on our web
site www.twinspirits.net when
scheduled.
MM - When you do perform live as a band what can the audience expect
from a typical Twinspirits show?
Daniele:
Of course a lot of energy and fun! We try to play live trying to
preserve the sound of the record, but giving some more soul and freedom
to arrangements, to give something different to the fans each concert.
They can expect very various shows, full of different moments and
different styles covered.
MM
- Have you begun working on the next album or are you waiting to see how
things go with this one first?
Daniele:
Working on the new album; it’s almost written, since it’s important
to keep the creative process always active.
MM - As an album I found it very agreeable on the ear unlike a lot of
Prog Metal around, the solos have been left to a minimum and egos have
been left behind instead the music is more pure, was this the intent
from the start or did it just turn out that way?
Daniele:
It was certainly the intent from the beginning. I’m very happy that
you caught this aspect, since it’s a point of which we’ve taken much
care.
MM - How long from its initial conception to the final product did the
album take to produce?
Daniele: This
first album has been passing through a demo version and it took a lot of
time (3 years) because there was an actual band construction’s process
to handle.
We also had another guitar player in the line up, but for many reasons
it ended up being only one guitar player in the band (Tommy) and that
took time also to rearrange the whole work …
The new album production will be much faster since the line up is fixed
now and the team know how to work together.
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MM
- As a band do you get together socially or are the parameters
of travel too extreme?
Daniele:
We get together weekly, except the singer Soren Adamsen of
course, since he’s from Denmark.
We live in a range of 300 Km circa so it’s not that much road
to travel for getting together.
There’s
a strong friendship also among the band’s members, which is
good both personally and for the music of course!
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MM
- How many songs did you have to choose from before you finally came up
with the nine that are on the album?
Daniele:
We actually used all songs; there are no outtakes for this album,
really.
MM
- Are there any songs that didn’t make the album ready for inclusion
on the next?
Daniele:
Not really, all the songs that were written for this first album were
included in the release.
MM
- Where did the name Twinspirits come from and what does it represent to
you?
Daniele:
The name Twinspirits comes from a character of my Genius Rock Opera …
It was chosen because it represents the union of different musicians
that have the same spirit and sensibility.
Also it represents for me a step ahead from the Genius rock opera, and
even if this is a true band in all senses, for me it’s the step I’ve
done after it in my musical path.
MM
- A couple of my personal favourites from the album are ‘Take My
Hand’ and ‘Fire’, but do the band have any particular favourites
and why those tracks?
Daniele:
I think the band likes all the songs … I know that singer Soren likes
“It’s just life” a lot how it turned out, but the rest of the band
loves all the album in its entirety I think … it’s difficult to
choose from one of your sons … he he!
MM
- What do you feel has been your biggest accomplishment so far as a
band?
Daniele:
Well the release of a record is always a great accomplishment for a band
…. nowadays is so difficult to release records as you might know.
So I think this release is the most important thing that happened as a
new line up so far.
MM
- What does the future hold for Twinspirits or are you focusing on the
now and the new album?
Daniele:
We are trying to set up some good shows and support this album as first
priority, and we are also working on the new album as well so both sides
are important to us now.
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MM
- Finally thanks for taking time out to do this interview, is
there anything that I didn’t ask you were expecting?
Perhaps a question that I haven’t asked but for which you
already had an answer prepared for maybe?
Daniele:
Well, you’ve been very detailed and the only thing I would
like to say is thanks to all the fans that will take the time to
listen to our music … we really appreciate it and hope to
create good feelings to them!
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MM - We'd
like to thank Daniele for taking the time out of his busy
schedule to talk to us today and wish him and the rest of the
band every success with their new album 'The Music That Will
Heal The World'.
With the wonders of the internet there really is no excuse not
to check out this band and their music. We're confident
you'll like what you hear so why not head on over to either www.twinspirits.net
or www.myspace.com/twinspiritsband
and give their music a listen.
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