• Hi and welcome to this interview. Tell us about your latest release
Hi, thank you for having me for this interview! Well, Dreams & Destiny to me is a great achievement because it marks the return of my main project. I can speak for hours about the album and how it was conceived, but let’s summarize a bit by saying that it’s a very heartfelt work where I poured all myself, my feelings, energy and passion for music. Whether it’s good or bad, the listeners will decide.
• How would you describe your sound?
Well, there are a lot of different influences, because I tend to listen to a wide variety of musical genres. I also plan not to stick with the same exact sound forever, because I believe that every artist should never get stuck in one style. We change, grow and mature, and I sincerely appreciate those who explore new territories, even though this could lead to results that may not meet the tastes of long-time listeners. Anyway, I would describe today’s Wicked Bluesman as a mix of pure raw and gritty Hard Rock, Blues and Heavy Metal combined with a modern sound.
• What do you write about?
It depends. Usually I draw inspiration from life experiences, but not only. Basically I let myself be inspired by what I feel it’s worth telling. I am also a voracious reader of books (I love sci-fi, horror and
grimdark fantasy, but I also like classic novels as well as poetry), and I am deeply passionate about movies. I’m working on other projects that should fully incorporate those passions, but traces are present in Dreams & Destiny too.
• What do you listen to when you are home?
As I said, I like to listen to various musical genres, even diametrically opposite ones. One day I can have Brutal Death Metal blasting at full volume and the day after suddenly spend an entire afternoon listening to folk music. I like to explore different styles because I often find inspiration in the most
unexpected ones.
• Your favourite live performance so far?
The first one that comes to my mind is the iconic show that Queen performed at Live Aid in 1985. Speaking of more recent concerts, the last performance of Ozzy at Back To The Beginning really gave me goosebumps and made me shed a tear (or two!). But if I have to choose a concert I’ve actually seen in person I have no doubt about it: it’s the Aerosmith show at Heineken Jammin Festival in 2010. That one was incredible and Aerosmith can really rocks at any age!
• Tell us a funny story that happened in studio or on stage
Years ago, with my other band we recorded an album (that sadly was never released for various reasons). I put a lot of hidden details in it too, and the most important one was a ghost track at the end of the last song. No one but me and the audio engineer in studio knew about that so it was fun to see the reaction of the other members when they discovered that track. It was a sort of acoustic blues with a creepy vibes that slowly became more and more distorted until suddenly it stopped with a laugh that went on loop and faded out. At the time my idea was that the bpm of the loop should have been the same of the opening track of my next Wicked Bluesman album. That was long ago, but I never forgot about that idea. In fact, just take a listen to the first track of Dreams & Destiny now…
• Your favourite albums?
This is a tought one. There’s actually three albums that I would not skip a single track while listening to them. Those are Trash by Alice Cooper, Painkiller by Judas Priest and, more recently, Iconoclast by Symphony X. However i consider Innuendo by Queen one of my all time favorite albums, given how much I love that band.
• A musician you would like to meet for a beer?
Oh, this is an even tougher question. I’ll try not to consider all those classic artists who influenced me because otherwise the list would be almost endless. Not that this helps much with narrowing the circle because there’s still a lot of different musicians and artists that I follow today. If I have to choose right this second I think I would say Jack Black. He and Kyle Gass are masters at blending good Rock’N’Roll-inspired music with comedy, and I think that a beer with them would probably become one of the most memorable, funny and insanely crazy moments of my life!
• What would you ask for backstage, if you were the most important band on earth?
You know, I never really cared to become the most important band on earth, so I’m not sure what I would do. But now that I’m thinking about it, I would probably ask for no backstage at all, so that people don’t have to pay billions for those meet&greet tickets only to meet the band.
• What are your plans for the near future?
First of all I’m planning to support this album. I’m working to bring the project on stage with a full band, and that’s the first step in my schedule. But I have a lot of ideas actually, and I’m already working on new material, not only for Wicked Bluesman. I don’t want to say too much at the moment but there’s a lot of things going on in my head, and I just need to find the time to work properly on all those ideas without going crazy.