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Following
on from their outstanding debut album 'The Music That Will Heal The
World' we catch up with founding member Daniele Liverani to find out
more about their latest release, the equally stunning album 'Forbidden
City'.
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MM
- This new album finds you with a new vocalist, why this change?
D - Soren Adamesen from Denmark
had to quit the band due to some personal problems, it was very
difficult for him to handle being in a band so far from his home
due to some latest development of his personal life, so he left.
I and the band was and are absolutely happy about his vocals
regarding our first record and the live shows he’s done with
us, there have been no problems at all. He’s an impressive
singer and we hope the best for this career of course!
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MM
- Did you have Göran Nyström in mind from the beginning for this
album?
D - We listened to a lot of auditions
after Soren Left, and Goran seemed to be the best fit for the direction
of our music.
The songs were almost all written when we got to make the audition, so I
wrote these songs actually without having Goran style into my mind…but
he ended up being the best singer in terms of expression, performance
for the songs of the new album indeed!
MM - So what came first, the songs or
the singer?
D - The songs, all the album was
written already when we started auditioning….
MM - The band’s first album ‘The
Music That Will Heal The World’ was a great album, was there any
pressure in following up such a successful album when putting together
‘Forbidden City’?
D - Well thank you very much, well I
and the guys tend to consider the music as a natural expression, we
don’t get much pressure from what it’s expected from Media, fans and
listeners in general.
We of course hare very happy to reach listeners and to get positive
feedback, but when it comes to writing and arranging and producing I and
the guys are very natural, and we do our thing in the most spontaneous
way.
So I’d say no pressure at all.
MM - Where do the band get their
influences from for the songs?
D - Well,
each band member has different influences, but of course Prog Rock and
Prog Metal has been the main collective influences that we shared in the
past and we continue to share. Bands Like King Crimson, Kansas, and more
modern Dream Theater, Fates Warning of course.
Then after that each member has a different background, I come from
classical piano and I have an heavy passion also for classical music,
Tommy Ermolli is a great fan of Film scores music, Dario loves also more
heavy extreme music, Alberto listens also to some sort of pop music…as
you can see different styles and influences are present in our band.
MM - Who does the songwriting and music
for the band, is a single person responsible or do the whole band have
an input?
D - For these first 2 albums I’ve
been writing the music and lyrics completely, and the other members have
contributed with solos, arrangements, additional ideas and stuff, but we
are starting off to compose together for the 3rd album, so
the process of writing will change in the future, I will have only a
role of supervisor/producer of the ideas of all members, and hopefully
this will give more power to the music and a more original identity to
the songs.
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MM
- The album opens up with the ten minute epic and title track
‘Forbidden City’, a brave move to have such a long track as
opener, was that the intention from the beginning or did it just
come to be that way?
D - ”The Forbidden City” is
a conceptual album, so the music has been written according to
the development of the story.
I just needed a song that could present the whole scenario to
the listeners, and once again it came out very naturally,
according to what the concept was needing, there have been no
planning about song length and track list in advance.
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MM
- I feel the album pushes the boundaries of the whole Progressive Rock /
Metal genre, how do the band feel about the final result of the album?
D - Well
we all are very happy about the result, and in a certain way we agree
with what you say. We wanted to create some songs that could definitely
push the boundaries of Prog Metal, adding some contamination of
different styles and trying to open up our sound to different kinds of
arrangements.
I think that this album is really representing all the different
influences of the band members in one fluid combination.
MM - I’ve already mentioned the
opening track which is just stunning, but what are the bands favourite
pieces from the album and why?
D - The band is very positive about the
last song “I Am Free”, most of the band members feel that the finale
of this album is really a lucky moment.
Also “My Future” is one of our favorite tunes of the album.
MM - How long did the album take to put
together from initial ideas to final product?
D - I took a long time, almost 2 years,
but some songs I’d already written back in 2005/2006.
It’s been a long time creative/production process for this album…due
also to some circumstances like the changing of singer that has of
course taken time to the normal schedule of the band activity.
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MM
- Do the band have any plans to tour in support of this release
either this year or next?
D
- Yeah! Definitely, We have a tour in Italy on the first 2 weeks
of December where we’re going to play in many Clubs on the
major cities of all Italy, and then we’re working on a
European tour, scheduled for Spring 2010, that will touch all
the major cities of northern Europe as well. We definitely want
to play live after so many months in studio.
MM - Do you have a mission plan
for the band, where do you see the band going from here?
D
- As many lives shows as possible in the upcoming 6 months, and
of course starting a new album production at the end of 2010.
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MM
- Finally any closing words for both our readers and the bands fans out
there?
D - Thank
you very much for taking the time out to read this, hope to see you soon
on tour, and thank you for your support!!!!
MM
- We'd like to thank Daniele for taking the time out to chat with
us again and for bringing us up to speed with the recent developments in
the band. The band's new album 'Forbidden City' is well worth
checking out if you enjoy Progressive Rock that pushing the boundaries
of the genre in all the right directions. We'd like to wish him
and the band every success with this new release and keep our fingers
crossed they make it across to the UK for a live show or two at some
point in the not too distant future.
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