1. We are talking with Pier Gonella, and Giorgia Gueglio of the Italian band MasterCastle. Let's start by introducing the band as a whole. What part of Italy are you from and who is in the band? ?
(Pier Gonella) All the band member live in the north of Italy. I live near Genova, and also Giorgia Gueglio, the singer. Steve Vawamas, the bass player, live in Genova and Alessandro bissa ¡§Bix¡¨ live near Brescia, in the north too. I had many projects and hard rock bands together with Giorgia Gueglio in the past, but we never tried to create some music together. So We decided to put together our forces and experiences and we started writing some tracks. No fixed genere was chosen with the emphasis being on producing music in a natural way. The result was amazing because the mix of my virtuoso guitar style with her individual fermale voice given to the songs a unique sound. Than Bix and Steve¡¦s arrival trasformed the initial project in a real band
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2. Pier you are also part of Labyrinth and Necrodeath, as well as being a solo artist. MasterCastle moves in a different direction musically. How did MasterCastle come to be?
?(Pier) I always have been an aeclettic musician, even if hard rock/heavy metal is my favourite genere. I made a lot of guitar studies in the past. I studied some jazz and classical stuff, including five years of bassoon at the Conservatorio on Genova (really!),so I like every kind of metal stuff.? Labyrinth and Necrodeath are two very different bands. Mastercastle is the band where I completly express myself in composing music. In Labyrinth we write a song all together, starting from a single riff or idea. Absolutely not bad, but different. In Mastercastle a new song start generally by my riffs. I write a complete structure of a song, than Giorgia Gueglio write the vocal melodies. Than we work hard to optimise all tonality and melodies. This is my preferred way to compose music. Necrodeath ia also very different, or very extreme, but I like it.On may the new Necrodeath album Phylogenesis will be out.That¡¦s all.
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?3. Giorgia, you have been playing in several other bands as well, and have worked with Pier in the past. What made you decide to become part of MasterCastle?
?(Giorgia Gueglio) Yes, I¡¦ve been singing in a lot of hard rock bands in the past, and I worked with Pier for a lot of years in many different projects. But last year we tried to compose something different and personal following our real music aspirations. We wrote many songs in a very natural way. Than we choose 4 songs for a promo. Lion Music was proud of that and offered us a deal.
(Pier) This is an important thing. Mastercastle was born is a natural way. We discovered that the mix of our styles sounds good together. Today often musicuans found the bands only to make albums, tour etc. They discuss their musical genere befor start playing together, maybe copying the style of another affermated band.
This is not the best way to make music. First goal of a band must be have fun, have goodtime playing music together, and than something will happen...
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4. The new album is out now on Lion music. "The Phoenix" is a very impressive record to say the least. The musical arrangements combined with the power of Giorgia's voice really blew me away. How did the writing process work with the material?
?(Pier) Mastercastle rappresent, for my opinion, the perfect compromise between a ¡§guitar based¡¨ metal style and a good vocal melody. As I told you before all songs of the album ¡§The Phoenix¡¨ has started by my guitar riffs. The second step is the voice of Giorgia, and than we work together to arrange all melodies in the best way.At the end of this process Steve Vawamas and Bix arrange bass and drums stuff to give the song the right energy. We made a 4 tracks promo and we send to Lion Music. Just the time to listen to it and Lion Music offered us a deal. I must say thanks to all Lion Music stuff. They are extremely honest, correct and professional people. An example to follow.
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5. My favorite tracks on the album are "Princess of Love", and "The Phoenix". Tell me about the ideas and writing behind these two songs.
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(Giorgia) Fisrt of all Pier Gonella write the music and then I write the lyrics inspired by his music. ¡§Princess of love¡¨ make me fly into the? particular atmosphere that only passion and sensuality can create. In this song I mixed the tears, the fire and the dance of some wiches.
We have just finished a videoclip of this song. You can see it on our site www.myspace.com/mastercastle.
¡§The Phoenix¡¨is more heavy song. The phoenix is a mitological bird that attract me from when I was a child. His tears heal people from wounds and I love his peculiarity of? resuscitating from ashees. That is just a simbol, but often into our life we need to change and totally clear our past and mistakes? to rebirth again with new chances and new strength
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6. Pier your guitar work is the keystone to the musical force of these songs. Are there any things you have yet to accomplish with your guitar work that have yet to achieve?
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I can tell you something more from my inspiration. I start playing guitar when I was fiveteen years old, listening in particular to Scorpions and Deep Purple. Than I discover my passion for all virtuoso guitarist like Joe Satriani, Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Tony Macalpine and more... I like Scorpions because many songs are based on great heavy riff (Bad boys runnign wild or Alien Nation). Learning from that bands and that guitarist I created my own style. Many Mastercastle song start with a heavy guitar riff (like ¡§Space¡¨, Words are swords¡¨, ¡§Cradle of stone¡¨) and contain some virtuoso guitar solos (like ¡§The Phoenix¡¨ os ¡§My screams¡¨). This stuff mixed with the powerfull vocal melodies of Giorgia create a good metal style, where all solos and riffs are never to much. Another song of Mastercastle album that I think original is the instrumental ¡§Memories¡¨, that is a remake of a classic guitar song ¡§Recuerdos de la Alhambra¡¨, a composition of the guitarist Francisco Tarrega.
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?7. Giorgia, the power and tone of your voice really brings these songs to life. How long have you been singing and did you have any formal training?
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(Giorgia) Yes I¡¦m been singing for 12 years, studying by myself and working a lot with my vocal coach Dino Stellini. My bachground is full of english and american hard rock. David Coverdale is my main source of inspiration
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8. Will there be any live MasterCastle shows or tours in support of the album?
?(Giorgia) Of course. On next 6h may we will play live on Rock tv, an italian television. That we will start play gigs from July 2009. We are closing some gigs in the south of Italy and in the north startigfrom november 2009, but we are working in particular in the north of Europe (Sweeden, Finland). In a couple of mounths people will found mant confirmed gigs on our site www.myspace.com/mastercastle
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9. What is the next big goal for the band?
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(Pier) At the moment the next step is to realize another album soon, and release it till April/May 2010. It¡¦s just a step, not really a goal, I mean that we started in a complete natural way, and we will continue n that way. Many things are happend till now so I know that more have to happend in the future.
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10. In closing, please leave us with any final comments, and tell our readers where they can get the new album.
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(Pier) First of all many thanks to you and your webzine for this interview. The Mastercastle album ¡§The Phoenix¡¨ is world wide distrubuited, and you can surf on www.lionmusic.com (the label Lion Music site) to know the distribuitor of any country. You can also order it directly from Lion Music web site or other online stores. You can also visit our myspace page to see our new videoclip of the song ¡§Princess of Love¡¨
Thanks a lot!