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Hi,
first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album. To
new fans could your please fill us in on the history behind it
all?
Ramon: Hello, thanks for the compliments! Secret Sphere was
born in 1997, from an idea of the guitarist Aldo Lonobile. We
started out as a band of friends, but we soon realized, that we
would be releasing our first album just one week after the
recordings of our demo: “Between Story and Legend”. The first
two albums with Elevate Records went very well, which lead to
Nuclear Blast's interest in us ... “Heart & Anger” is our
second album with the German label.
How
has your new album been received by the media?
Andy: The first responses were all positive, journalists
and staff is much satisfied ... let’s only wait for the audience!
I
know artists are not happy to categorize their music, but how
would you describe your music to an outsider?
Ramon: I could say this is a power metal album, but as you
said it is impossible to categorize music, as it is impossible to
give a name to emotions.
Where
does your inspiration come from, both musically and lyrically?
Andy: Musically we get inspired both by what we listen to
and what we feel inside, concerning lyrics, surely we begin to
write upon something striking us in some way
What
topics do you deal with in your lyrics and why?
Ramon: The topics are always different, we can write about
love, music, life in general, and the guide line through all of
them is how we relate to them, to life, with passion, with
difficulties sometimes, with heart and anger!
Who
has produced and mixed the album, and are you pleased with the end
result?
Andy: We are very satisfied with the production. Differently
from the past, we dicided to recorded in different studios,
choosing the best place for each instrument, as we have heavy
guitars, symphonic orchestra, big choirs ... and to mix it all we
chose Achim Kholer in Germany, because he is an classic metal
producer with talent and experience in classical parts too. The
result is striking; we worked so much on it ...
Who
has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have
a great cover?
Ramon: The artwork and all graphics on web are done by
Simona Adriani and metal web design (mwbdesign.it), we think that
a cover is very important, first of all to catch the attention.
But it's equally important, that the cover has a deeper meaning,
so we always let the graphic artists to work free on our concepts,
to have both a musical and a visual work of art.
Do
you have any touring plans?
Andy: We have just started to collaborated with a
booking/management agency from Denmark, Intromental. And together
with them, we hope to meet our targets like. tours, festival
participation and anything can promote our music live; we consider
the live concert as one of the best moments for a musician, in
which the emotions find an immediate contact with the people!
At the moment we are
working upon it and we hope to walk on the live stages soon -
starting this summer.
How
do you feel about the co-operation with your label, and are you
satisfied?
Ramon: Nuclear Blast gives us a good exposure to all the
metal people and the possibility to grow as a band. We are giving
our best to reach this condition, and we hope they go on trusting
in our music as they did before
The
internet is a very important source for many music fans - how do
you use the internet and how important is it for you and other
bands?
Ramon: We trust very much on internet promotion, news run
much faster than on papers and connections with the entire world
are easier! It is also easier to get to know new bands, but then
it is necessary to have direct contacts with people - like at
concerts.
How
do you see the progressive rock/progressive metal scene at the
moment?
Andy: We listen to various music genres, progressive rock
and metal are surely oamong them, many good bands and valid
musicians are around, but what makes a real difference in our
opinion is the feeling inside of it, don’t you think?
To
finish things off - could you pls. make an all-time Top 5 or sort
of the 5 most important albums in your opinion?
Andy:
-
Blind
Guardian - Imagination
From The Other Side
-
Queen
- Greatest
Hits 2
-
Mötley
Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
-
Guns
'n' Roses - Appetite
For Destruction
-
Savatage
- Edge Of Thorns
Ramon:
-
Dream
Theater - Images
And Words
-
Faith
No More - King
For A Day
-
Helloween
- Keeper
Of The Seven Keys
-
Symphony
X - The
Divine Wings Of Tragedy
-
Queensrÿche
- Operation
: Mindcrime
Ramon
and Andy: Thanks for the interview and the space dedicated to
us, we would like to see all our fans soon and all the people, who
has begun to get to know our music lately...
Please
visit our website www.secretsphere.com
See
you on tour!
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