Chris: What are Moonlight Comedy up to right now?
Simone: With
Moonlight we’re about to finish writing our next album. As long as nothing
unexpected happens, we hope to enter a recording studio around November for an
early 2010 release. We’ve finished all the songs’ arrangements and our next step
will in fact be the recording. Until that happens we’ve put our live activities
on hold.
C: Will there be a theme or concept linking the songs?
S: No, not
really, they won’t have a common conceptual thread. However, I can reveal that
stylistically the album will be different both from “Dorothy” and from “The Life
Inside”, our previous 2 albums. The music will be heavier and in some tracks
I’ll even be using an 8-string guitar and doing some Meshuggah-style riffing. So
it’ll be more aggressive but will still remain attached to the Prog Metal genre.
C: I’ve noticed that Moonlight Comedy’s songs and imagery seem to emphasise
drama and literature. Why does the band feel the need to merge different art
forms?
S: Well, it’s not
like we take a theatrical work and compose music for it. As far as we’re
concerned, life itself is like a theatre. The activities of all the band members
are like performances and each performance is called ‘life’. In fact that’s why
we refer to ourselves as ‘actors’ (Actor 1, Actor 2, etc…). This interpretation
was instinctive and not something we decided upon, say, following a round table
discussion.
C: Despite that, is there a particular book, play or author you would like to
dramatise with music from Moonlight Comedy?
S: To be honest I
never though of that. In any case, our songs are very personal and are very much
inspired by personal experiences.
C: Let’s talk about yourself….in your most recent solo album, you have once more
worked with keyboardist Andrea DePaoli. How had you got to know Andrea?
S: Of course
Andrea plays with Labyrinth, which is a band I have always admired and in
particular I always liked Andrea’s style as a keyboardist. Well, the first
record I did with Lion (label Lion Music), “Parallel Worlds”, came out in 2005.
After that I had sent Andrea an e-mail inviting him to listen to my records and
asking him for his opinion.
He answered me
straight away and was very friendly. When he told me he had liked my material I
decided to take advantage of his favour towards me and asked him if he would be
interested in musically collaborating with me in the future. He replied in the
positive and gladly made himself available.
Some time later,
I started working on what would become my third solo album – “My Secret Diary”.
Andrea kept his word and played keyboards on that album, also because he had
liked those compositions. Our relationship started as a professional one but
today we’re actually very good friends. We live about 600km from each other so
we mainly keep in contact via Internet but every now and then we do meet to
chill our together. Andrea also worked on my most recent solo album “When
Reality Is Nothing” (2009) and in fact whenever I need a good musician he’s
always one of the first I think of contacting.
C: The line-up in your “When Reality Is Nothing” album also has Tony Liotta on
drums. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve also played on Tony Liotta’s own album…..
S: Not exactly. I
performed some of his songs with him at a few gigs but it’s not me that plays in
his album. Right now Tony is working on his next record and…well…I don’t really
know if I’ll be playing guitar on it.
C: Tony’s music is more bent on Jazz. What challenges did you face when playing
that style of music?
S: To be honest
in the past I’ve actually studied at a music school here in Rome that was very
much focused on Jazz. Jazz is a genre of music that you have to practice
regularly otherwise it’s easy to lose touch with it as a musician. When I
collaborated with Tony Liotta, one might say I brushed up what I had started off
before.
Besides that,
when Tony invited me to perform his compositions, he gave a bit of freedom in
interpreting the songs of his that had already been recorded. When Tony performs
his songs the music tends to be more Rock-oriented than how they might sound on
record, the latter maybe having a more Latin-Jazz sound. For sure it was a great
experience, especially since I had an opportunity to dabble in other genres of
music.
C: You must also have learnt new techniques and ways of playing that you could
use in future solo releases…..
S: Yes. In fact
I’ve always had the opinion that you can learn from anyone. Tony obviously knows
his stuff and can be a good source of knowledge. Studying music and putting it
into practice are 2 different things so if anything playing with him helped put
my theoretical knowledge into action. However I can also learn from someone who
maybe can’t play so well when that person makes me think about different aspects
of playing.
Tony’s drumming
parts for “When Reality Is Nothing” were recorded in Germany and going up there
to oversee his recordings was also an eye-opening experience in its own way.
When the album was recorded everyone recorded his parts one at a time – we never
played ‘together’.
C: With that method of recording, wasn’t it easy to lose the organic feel of the
album?
S: It could be
true, you make a good point. But when one is experienced and well-prepared it
shouldn’t make much of a difference whether one plays with the band or if one
plays the same parts alone. Besides, this method of recording one at a time is
now the most common method of recording. Thanks to technology’s rate of
development, today recording studios take up less space and are more affordable
than before
C: Have you ever given your solo compositions a ‘live’ delivery?
S: When I
released my previous albums, I always did a one-off presentation of the album
but essentially I considered it to be a studio-project. As regards “When Reality
Is Nothing”, however, I do intend to organise some gigs to promote the album. So
soon I hope to be on the road with both Moonlight Comedy as well as my own
group.
C: Will your live-group have the same line-up as the recent album?
S: Yes - that
means Andrea on keyboards, Marco Aiello on drums and Matteo Raggi on bass
guitar. Marco and Matteo live quite close to me and in fact we’re already
rehearsing our repertoire. Now we have to practice a bit more with Andrea so
towards the end of September, hopefully, we’ll start playing live.
C: I’m curious on the meaning of your album’s title: “When Reality Is Nothing”…
S: It’s inspired
by moments that all of us go through. Sometimes you’re doing something you enjoy
so much, such as listening to a particular piece of music, that you feel
transported into another world. During those moments your mind allows you to
transcend reality to a point when its true identity becomes insignificant.
C: If you would listen, in chronological order, to all the recordings you’ve
done, how do you think you’ve changed as a guitarist?
S: With Moonlight
Comedy, I think I’ve become more ‘rhythmical’. In fact in the album we’re
working on, I think there isn’t even 1 single guitar solo. It will be more
riff-based. These days I tend to write songs that, in my opinion, do not require
too many solos. My guitar contributions with Moonlight Comedy have become one
element within a wider musical context.
As regards my
solo material, I think that stylistically I’ve remained more or less the same.
On the other hand, I’ve possibly improved on levels of composition and sound. In
fact with “When Reality…” I’m very much satisfied with the production,
especially when compared to my other solo albums.
C: In other words you feel you’ve learnt when to stay back and when to showcase
your technical skills….
S: Yes, that’s
right.
C: When comparing your solo career with that of Moonlight Comedy, don’t you
feel added pressure to create quality music?
S: To be honest,
no, not really. Like I suggested earlier, both with Moonlight and alone, I tend
to write while inspired by my own experiences, so my writing style is quite
instinctive. In fact “When Reality…” was written, recorded, mixed and released
within the space of just 5 months so it’s not as if I spent too much time
working on the songs. The way I go about composing songs is to think of a
particular theme and then try to put that theme into music, as if I’m creating
the soundtrack to an imaginary film.
For example, the
opening track of “When Reality…” – ‘Thanx’ - was inspired by feelings of
gratitude toward my parents. ‘Laura’, another track in the album, was inspired
by my girlfriend. So all my compositions have a story behind them, despite them
being instrumental songs. I’m more interested in expression rather than in
virtuosisms and that’s why there I don’t feel much pressure…..it’s all a very
natural process.
C: Many years ago I had been an avid collector of guitar albums, especially
those released by Shrapnel Records, by guitarists such as Marty Freidman, Jason
Becker, Tony Fredianelli, Richie Kotzen, Vinnie Moore….. I think those records
were very influential in promoting the Metal musician as an artistic virtuoso.
What are your views on this?
S: I agree. Many
times the Metal musician is seen as a producer of noise, especially by those who
hesitate to immerse themselves in the music. The truth, of course, is that in
Metal we have musicians of extremely high levels of musicianship…and this in all
branches of Metal in fact…..from Prog to Hard Rock to Black Metal and so on.
Having said that,
I reiterate that if a particular piece of music is not highly sophisticated on a
technical level, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the musician/s is/are not
technically proficient. In my opinion it’s more challenging to compose music
that makes holistic sense than to indulge in gratuitous technical wizardry.
C: U2 aren’t a band I follow but I recently happened to check out their website
where I found something relevant to what we’re discussing. Basically the band’s
guitarist is quoted as having said: “(I realised that) actually not knowing hot
to play was not a problem…music was more about energy and trying to say
something and not necessarily about great musicianship.”
What is your reaction to this?
S: In my view,
what counts is the final result. So if you don’t possess a great amount of
technical and theoretical know-how, but you manage to create a great record,
then that’s fantastic! Sometimes I read reviews of (instrumental) guitar albums
and it’s as if the guitarist is expected to compete with other guitarists on a
technical level. My views are otherwise and I’ll give you two examples: Joe
Satriani and Neil Zaza. They are very melodic guitarists capable of composing
incredibly emotional music but can just as easily create more technical stuff.
C: Italy has a deeply ingrained but overlooked legacy in the genre of
Progressive Rock. In fact Italy of the 1970s gave birth to some incredible
jewels of the genre from bands such as Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Biglietto Per
L’Inferno and Alphtaurus but very few Prog fans are aware of them. Do you feel
that the relationship of Italy with this genre has conditioned your musical
upbringing?
S: Not really, to be honest. Having grown up between the
1980s and 1990s, the Italian bands I had listened to were the more modern ones,
such as Labyrinth. The Italian Prog Rock bands you refer to I had discovered at
a later phase.
C: I have the
impression that your involvement with music doesn’t stop with Moonlight Comedy
and your solo band. Could you give me more information?
S: Well I also
work in music instruction. You see, I live in a small village which is about
60km from the main city of Rome. So some things are still underprovided and it’s
only recently that music tuition has started developing. Together with 3 other
musicians of the area – a bassist, a percussionist and a keyboardist – 5 years
ago I founded a music school. Besides tuition now we’ve also included recording
and rehearsal facilities. Every now and then we also have ‘clinics’ from
visiting musicians. Of course personally I teach guitar and I’ve discovered that
teaching is something I really enjoy doing.
I intend to live
music from a 360˚ perspective. Making a living just by releasing records is
virtually impossible today. So, since I definitely don’t want to abandon music,
I started being involved in teaching guitar and music. You know, “When Reality…”
was in fact recorded at the studio I referred to earlier and was produced, mixed
and mastered by myself so now I’m also getting involved in sound engineering.
C: My last question is relatively straightforward. Could you give a list of
guitarist and/or guitar albums that you still rate very highly?
S: OK. As I
suggested earlier I like Satriani very much but especially Satriani of the late
1980s and early 1990s – albums like “Surfing With The Alien” and “The
Extremist”. Another guitarist I admire is Neil Zaza, who maybe has a more modern
sound than Satriani, although I consider these 2 guitarists’ styles to have much
in common.
Other guitarists
I like were mentioned by you – Jason Becker and Ritchie Kotzen are 2 of them.
Regarding Ritchie Kotzen, I prefer the stuff he did when he was younger and had
a more Rock-ish sound.
C: Simone, thank you for having made yourself available for the interview. Good
luck for Moonlight Comedy’s forthcoming album and for your own career.
S: I thank you,
Chris, and all those who’ll have the patience to read the interview. What’s
more, I invite everyone to write to me, via my own website, telling me what they
think of my new album. Even if they might not like it – I’m open to criticism. I
don’t do albums just for the sake of it and am genuinely interested in knowing
what people think.
©Chris Galea 2009
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Moonlight Comedy
line-up:
Emiliano Germani - vocals (Actor 1)
Valerio Danna – synths (Actor 2)
Simone Fiorletta – guitars (Actor 3)
Armando Pizzuti – bass (Actor 4)
Andrea Scala – drums (Actor 5)
Moonlight Comedy
discography:
“Dorothy” (2007 – Lion Music)
“The Life Inside” (2004 – Lion Music)
“Second Shadow” [Promo] (2001 – self-release)
“...And the moonlight dispelled a mystery” [Promo] (1999 – self-release)
Simone Fiorletta
discography:
“When Reality Is Nothing” (2009 – Lion Music)
“My Secret Diary” (2007 – Lion Music)
“Parallel Worlds” (2005 – Lion Music)
“The Beginning” (2004 – Videoradio)
Related websites:
- http://www.moonlightcomedy.com
(Official website)
-
http://www.myspace.com/moonlightcomedy (Official myspace page)
- http://www.simonefiorletta.it
(Simone Fiorletta – official site)
