Interview with Alex and Randy
Q>>
How do you feel now that you've finally recorded a full-length album? Is it
like a dream come true ?
A>> Well, ... Yeahh! We have been working hard for many years and finally
our efforts have been realized with the full-length. After all, this is what
we expected to see from Cassandra, because the production has been very good;
Alex De Rosso is a good guy as well a good producer and his experience in the
Rock/Metal scene is strong. Also, we have found a great label (Adrenaline Records)
which is distributing the album worldwide. So thanx to Alex and to the guys
at Adrenaline for this dream come true.
Q>> How did
you get that deal with Adrenaline? Did they introduce you to Alex De Rosso or
did you already know him before ?
A>> Regarding the label, a few months after the recording we were almost
signing for a label in the US. Unfortunately, they did not respect the time
schedule we dealt, so we decided to focus the new promotional shipments mostly
on the bigger European labels. Adrenaline Records is a well-known label in the
Hard Rock/Metal progressive scene, so we were proud to get the deal with them.
Regarding Alex, we can say we are old friends. We live in the same city and
first met him in 1995 while he was gigging. We love the way he rocks! Last year
we made him listen to the pre-production of Cassandra. He found it cool and
he proposed to be co-producer of the album. We felt excited about this idea
because with his collaboration we could achieve the Hard Rock sound we were
looking for. And we did!
Q>> What
exactly did Alex bring to your music? Did you leave him free to do whatever
he wanted or were there restrictions?
A>> We knew that the sound he could give to the pieces was the right one,
so we mostly let him express himself freely on our songs. Alex's prints can
be recognized through the Hard Rock-oriented sound of the guitars and the general
character is mostly rather Hard Rock than traditional Metal. Alex suggested
some arrangements to us in order to get the "rockiest" sound we wanted.
He also brought some great ideas to Cassandra about vocal arrangements and sound
effects. We are very happy about this, because he understood the atmosphere
we were looking for. Anyway, every choice has been made by the whole band; especially
regarding mixing and mastering we all worked together to find the perfect sound.
Q>> So, you
all had an ideal sound in the back of your mind and apparently Alex helped you
to actually get it on the recording... Do you think you would have got a similar
result with another sound engineer/producer ?
A>> There are many great producers all over the world; everyone leaves
his own sound prints, giving a specific identity to his work. Alex knows us
personally and this has been the winning plan! He knew which choice would have
been the right one for our music, as he could really be one of us. Unfortunately
there isn't enough space to put three guitarists in the band :)
Q>> Why not ? Iron Maiden play with three guitarists... do you think they're exaggerating? ;-) A>> Exaggerating?? No! They are just IRON MAIDEN!! As you can imagine, our stages are not the squares the Maidens use to ride, I think that our stages would be a little bit crowded. LOL!!
Q>> Indeed
:) Let's talk about the content of the album now... Did you work all together
on the songs or do you have one or two people who take care of writing the music?
A>> [Randy] Alex and I wrote the lyrics for "Cassandra" together.
While we were writing the story, we realized how the songs had to sound and
we started writing the music as the lyrics went on. Being a concept album, we
wanted the "Cassandra" sound to be strictly related to the lyrics,
as if it were a soundtrack of some sort. By approaching them together, we wanted
to achieve that every step of the story got well expressed and easier understand.
Actually, we do hope to have reached this goal! Once the songs were ready, we
worked together with the band to arrange the pieces in order to reach the groove
we were all looking for.
Q>> Tell
us, even briefly, what the concept of the album is about...
A>>[Alex] "Cassandra" is a modern story inspired from the myth
of the Trojan seeress, who received the gift of foresight but at the same time
was damned not to be believed… The story is told in the I-form, in order
to allow the reader to identify him/herself with the characters. Cassandra is
attracted and guided by some elements around her and she finds herself caught
in her visions. In these trips she lives some experiences that she hardly understands
at first, but that start to upset her later on.
Q>> Can we
draw parallels between the story of Cassandra and your own experiences in life
or it is just pure fantasy ?
A>> [Alex] I think that life experiences exert the greatest influence
on everyone's thoughts. Cassandra has been imagined as pure fantasy, but we
can surely find something about our own life in it. If think it's inevitable.
Q>> What
about you personally ?... I mean, when you read your own lyrics, do you sometimes
identify the fantasy as real things of your very own experience? Ever read a
particular song that makes you think "that happened to me too!"?
A>>Sure! Regarding my own lyrics, they are often inspired on something
that happened to me or something I feel at that particular moment. In general,
I love to find myself in what I read, both in books and songs.
[Randy] As Alex said, I think that unconsciously everyone who writes fantasy
stories gets inspiration from his own life. In my own lyrics I have probably
magnified something that really happened, giving a fancy tone to the facts,
because I was guided by the feeling I had at that moment. Generally, I'd talk
about the feelings that the lyrics can evoke in my mind. Most of the times the
lyrics make me think "I feel that situation in the same way" rather
than "that happened to me too", when I try to understand what's behind
the metaphors that everyone uses to explain higher concepts. Alex and I both
hope to have made not just Cassandra's story but also the entire concept understandable
to the readers…;)
Q>> I was
wondering if you (Alex and Randy) can be considered as the masterminds in Somniae
Status... All the songs are signed with both your names only... Did the other
members just play the parts you composed for them or did they bring something
personal as well ?
A>> [Alex] Actually not, we usually discuss everything with the band.
Randy and I wrote the story of Cassandra and we traced the main parts of the
music. That's why we have signed all the songs. Everything else has been done
with the rest of the band; they got really exited about "Cassandra"
as soon as they listened to the parts that we wrote. Now we are working on the
new album and each member is involved in the songwriting from the beginning…
this different approach is making the new songs more powerful still; we are
really enthusiastic about the new compositions!
Q>> Can you
tell us something about those new compositions? Will they sound very different
from the ones you recorded on Cassandra ?
A>> Our sound is going towards Hard Rock more than Heavy Metal, still
keeping the same progressive influences; the melodic side will be similarly
faced, but we are also working hard on the groove to get a strong vibe in every
song. Regarding the lyrics, they are going to explore the human emotional sphere
once again. The new album will be a concept album too. This time, it will not
be written as single story; it will represent as a common theme among the songs...
Q>> Are you
confident about the band's future ?
A>> [Alex] Sure! We believe in our music 'cause it's our life. Sometimes
we've found ourselves fighting against our windmills and this has not been so
pleasant... I'm sure it will be the same in the future, but somehow we'll be
here Rockin' Hard!
[Randy] Of course, our understanding grows stronger day by day and we are all
getting more and more confident about the future of the band. This is something
we perceive both on the new songs we are working on and on stage too; we hope
to go on like this!
RNO