Interviews: Frozen Sand
In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview the Progressive Metal band Frozen Sand, from Italy. Check out this band and give them a like on their FACEBOOK PAGE.
1.Where did you
get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like
that?
We
spent a lot of time in search of a name that could fit our band and
most of all our music. At first we had to think of what we were both
as musicians and as a band. So, trying to figure out what we were, we
had to face a simple question: "what music means for us?"…
and an image came to mind: "lost somewhere in the vastness of
human soul, there lies a special place, a secret and recondite Eden
where everything can happen. This is the place where the most
beautiful among the greatest gifts that were primordially given to
humans can reveal itself, turning into imagination… fantasy… art.
And this is also the place where, sometimes, the collision between
two different forms of art releases a sparkle with a tremendous
force, whose power is capable to freeze the sands of time within the
great hourglass of life". This is a picture of what music and
art are capable of… and we simply tried to capture that precious
moment, turning it into our band’s name.
2.Why did you
want to play this genre?
Progressive
metal is a genre that gives us certain flexibility in order to
exploit our creativity at maximum, music-wise. It really has no
boundaries; it's like a good environment to raise the seed of
creativity, the best we could find and fit us better. It is perfect
for the lyrics we write and for the ambients and moods we aim to
build with our music, which can be very heterogeneous at times. Last
but not least, it is the great common point within our musical
tastes, as we are all huge fans of the progressive metal scene.
3. Did you know
each other before the band was formed?
Yes!
We have two brothers in the band: Federico (guitar) and Simone
(drums) are brothers. Tiziano and Mattia were classmates at high
school, the same one attended by Simone when they met and decided to
start a band together. It was around 2009... And like most of the
teenagers, we were just a bunch of kids messing around with their
instruments, driven by a strong urge to play and make some noise
together! About a year later we met singer Luca, the brother of a
Simone's friend. As soon as he entered the band, we started writing
our first songs. It's somehow funny that Federico joined us only in
August 2010, but that's life! With his arrival we reached the current
line-up. Consequently, our music finally took shape, gradually
concretizing into notes…words…emotions.
4. Each band
member favourite band?
Luca
(vocals): uh, I listen to more than 250 bands/musicians and I have
collected something like 700 records up to now. That’s why it is so
difficult for me to pick out a name. Fine, let’s mention 5 bands:
Breaking Benjamin, Avantasia, Yellowcard, Escape the Fate, Nightwish.
Simone
(drums): Porcupine Tree, Infected Mushroom, Sleeping at Last.
Federico
(guitars): Dream Theater, Periphery.
Tiziano (bass guitar):
Karnivool, Agent Fresco, Haisuiononasa, Hidden Orchestra.
Mattia
(guitars): I have many, on the same level and for different reason.
I'd go for these four: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Dream Theater,
Pantera.
5. Who or what
inspires you to write songs?
Basically,
inspiration comes from different points. Music-wise, we write songs
thinking about a story, so if you have to put a story into music, how
would it sound? Which is the kind of effect you want to reach and
how? Trying to find an answer to these questions, our music flows
out. So, the story is a good source definitively. Also improvisation
and study are good tools to find out great musical ideas to develop.
Sometimes when you just jam on your instrument, ideas come to mind.
6. Where was your
last gig?
The
last gig played at was with our good friends and progsters MirrorMaze
at Bros Valhalla (Borgo Ticino, ITALY), on January 28th. We had such
a good time with our mates, and public shared the same good vibe with
us: response was very good! Hopefully we will have more chances to
share the stage with such good bands and public, both in the near and
far future!
7. Where would
you like to act?
Well,
basically everywhere on the globe where our music may be appreciated!
In the end, entertaining people (and ourselves, of course) is the aim
of what we do. So we guess it's not very important where.
8. Whom would you
like to feature with?
There
are many people who we would like to feature on our records, both
singers and musicians. An interesting collaboration may be with some
of nowadays young artists of the guitar universe such as Sithu Aye,
Plini, Aaron Marshall and many others... Who knows, maybe one day!
9. Whom not?
Ahahah
funny question! We guess people like Gigi d'Agostino and Bob Sinclar
are on the top of the list!
10. Any of you
has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to
beat that?
Sure
everyone is afraid of the stage, at least at the beginning, and there
are three things that can help you overcoming this fright. First of
all, be very well prepared for what you are going to do!: having
self-confidence of your instrument, the music you are going to play
and your gear is a must. Good practice is to play on metronome, the
same piece you will be playing with your band at different speed, and
record yourself to really understand where you need to work on.
Second: do as many live shows as you can. The more you play live, the
more you get used to the stage, and the less shy and frightened you
will feel next time. Third: do rehearsal to check the overall result,
because you are not alone when you are on stage, and you are (maybe)
not playing on metronome. So it is a fundamental step to practice
together. Possibly, try to record also the rehearsals in order to
check how your overall performance was.
11. What bands
have inspired you the most?
We have
always tried to create something with a personal identity ... a
"sound Frozen Sand"! Of course this is not easy, but our
final goal has always been originality. As mentioned before, our
music influences are many and varied. Let’s say that most of our
grooves and rhythmic patterns come mainly from alternative metal
(bands like Karnivool, Tool or Breaking Benjamin), but contaminated
by influences from Djent and technical metal, as Periphery, Protest
the Hero, BTBAM, SikTh, Tesseract
and Scar Symmetry. On the contrary, our guitar riffs have a more
classic origins, taken by traditional metal, blues-rock and prog
rock/metal: to name a few, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Frank Zappa,
Dream Theater and Symphony X. Finally, the vocal styles have very
varied forms, coming mainly from metalcore and melodic post-hardcore
in the way of switching clean and harsh voice (Bullet for My
Valentine, A Day to Remember), with some reminiscences from power
metal (Sonata Arctica, Avantasia), passing through choirs that try to
re-echo the symphonic styles (Rhapsody, Nightwish or Sabaton), to end
up with soft and clean parts taken from pop and classic rock.
12. What's the
weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?
Nothing
special actually. Unfortunately, we have no particular memory of
strange requests by fans.
13. What do you
think of your fans?
Our
fanbase is made of very heterogeneous and open-minded people. Since
we play a miscellaneous kind of music, consequently many kinds of
people come to our concerts and buy our music. Starting from the
classic metalheads who like our heavy metal influence most, or the
prog guy who wants to get into odd time signatures, ending up with
the one who wants to hear clean and spacey music. Playing a very wide
range music, without losing cohesiveness, allows us to connect a lot
of different individuals together, and that's one of the things we
love most from this global metal scene.
14. What do you
think of our site?
It's a
very good one, specialized and well-made. Definitely a nice discover
for us! You feature a lot of good bands that deserve more than what
they get, and that's really cool.
15. Something to
add?
Yes,
thanks for having us here at Breathing
The Core. Hope you guys will have a
good time while listening to our music and follwing us, both live and
here on the web. Of course you can find our music on the main digital
platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, ITunes, Bandcamp and you
can follow the whole story of our album of our official page
www.frozensandband.com
(section “Stories”). Thanks guys. See you soon!
No hay comentarios