Interview by Michela
Editing by Alessandra
Editing by Alessandra
"UP" was released last 21 august. Today, their bassist Mat DiRito talks about its genesis.
LFdM: Hello Mat, thanks for this interview.
Well I think we can start immediately with the first question, obvious but ritual: How the new album is going? Are you satisfied with the reaction of the public and the media? I read great reviews around.
Mat: The new album is going great. We have had very positive response from the fans and many within the industry. Many people were skeptical of how we would approach writing “Up” because they had grown so close to “Onyx.” We are very happy with the way the new album has been received. The new songs are also very fun to play live!
LFdM: UP or a leap forward compared to the past? How was it born?
Mat: “Up” is the culmination of everything that happened in the two years leading up to it. As a band we had our first taste of mainstream success with Onyx. It changed our lives and opened us to many new experiences including our first tours of Europe. When the album cycle for Onyx was over, we felt different than we ever had before. Our lives are filled with positivity and we wanted to share that with “Up.”
LFdM: For the production you have chosen Adam Kasper: nothing to say, for your sound I think he was the best choice you could do, right?
Mat: We wanted to get a fresh ear in the studio and stretch ourselves a bit. We had become very comfortable in the active rock format and it was time to change things up a little. We think Adam was the best choice.
LFdM: I found UP much more fluid in the sounds, more spontaneous, maybe less innovative in terms of music but more sincere. What’s missing before to reach this level?
Mat: Life experiences. As we grow and tour more as musicians we grow as writers. I think that a good song speaks for itself no matter how simple the music might be. We are constantly striving to become better song writers.
LFdM: How much can be exhausting trying to communicate your message? If that is the goal you want to achieve of course, a lot of bands do not seem very interested if their music is understood or not.
Mat: It doesn’t really matter to us how the songs are interpreted. Thats the joy of making music. It might mean 5 different things to 5 different people. As long as it touches peoples lives than we have done our jobs.
LFdM: How much is right to strive to obtain a more or less good music and how much is crucial for a band to know how to wait for the right moment? Basically, if you have no good ideas is better to wait, right?
Mat: Yes. When we go into the studio we come up with many songs, but not all of them make the record. We try not to put out any songs that we think are weak.
LFdM: "UP" seems to be son of numetal generation. In the early 2000s they came to light many great albums: how much of it is in this album?
Mat: I think you can see a lot of this in our song writing. We took the time to experiment with a lot of electronic sounds and samples.
LFdM: Going back to Adam Kasper, did you have a clear idea about how the album should sound and he had served only as “an adhesive” or somehow he also helped to bring out something new which you had not thought of before? The classic phrase like "hey I had not thought ..." things like that.
Mat: Adam pushed us to challenge ourselves. In the past we would get stuck and turn to our producer for an answer or a direction. For this album, Adam would simply say things like “I liked where you were headed in this part,“ or, “I think you guys are getting away from the direction of the song.” He never tried to write the songs for us and we admired that.
LFdM: The album has a shot great for the radio. Are you more animals for the stage or studio?
Mat: I think the band really shines on the stage. When all of the hard work in the studio is done, we get to blow off steam on the stage. Performing the songs is therapeutic and one of the best parts of being in a band.
LFdM: How do you see your music in next twenty years?
Mat: Hopefully we have a wide variety of achievements to look back on. I would love to record an acoustic album at some point. I would love to tour Japan, Australia and South America. I think that our music will still be very much Rock and Roll, but probably with a radio edge like most of our songs have had throughout our career.
Thanks again for your time,
Cheers,
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