Spellblast are: Jonathan – vocals; Aldo – guitars; Luca Arzuffi – guitars; Xavier – bass; Luca Cortesi – drums, managers: Cristina & Daniele.
Let’s start with the very simple question: It’s your first time in Finland. How does it feel? What do you think about this country? What do you like and what you don’t like?Jonathan: It’s a great country, and our gigs went very well, the audience was amazing, Finnish people are awesome. That’s it!
Was it better than you’ve expected?
Jonathan: Well, I think it’s different situation comparing to Italy, because in Italy not many people listen to metal music. And when we came to Finland, it has been great ‘cause here everybody listens to metal music! It’s great! And somebody even knows our songs!! That’s a big thing for us!
So beforehand you thought you’re an unknown band here and nobody knows you?
Jonathan: Yes, basically, I think so.
to Aldo: What do you think about Finland?
Aldo, Jonathan translates: He likes Finnish girls! (Everybody laughs) There are great bands here, of course, and very good players, all the bands we have played with are really great.
Ok, that actually was my next question – what do you think about Finnish bands?
Jonathan: I think there’s a big difference between Italian bands and Finnish bands. When we came here, we met Dreamtale and Force Majeur and they play so fucking great, they are professionals. We were shocked about that. And we were happy to see those bands and honored to play on the same stage with them.
to Luca A: And what about you, what do you think about Finland? What was the biggest surprise for you?
Luca A: It’s an amazing country where probably everyone is “metal” inside a little bit, and that’s pretty much different from what we have in Italy. Here in Finland you can see everybody who plays music is a good player.
Luca C: I like very much Finnish open territories, this land seems to be a little savage. While we were landing by our plane we could see lakes and forests, and I loved those things. And the weather, we’ve got used to the very hot weather, and here it’s almost summer, but I’ve been cold.
You have just played 3 gigs in Finland, which one was the best?
Jonathan: Well, for me the best one was in Tampere.
Luca C.: “On the Rocks”! (Helsinki)
Aldo: Two and three! (everybody laughs)
Why the first one wasn’t so good?
Jonathan: I think it’s because we were there very tired. We woke up at 3 a.m. and arrived to Finland at 11 a.m. and then we just went to the venue. We were really tired. Of course we enjoyed the gig, it was great, but we just were tired.
Was it the first time for you to play abroad?
Jonathan: No, we have played on Bloodstock festival in UK, so now it’s the second time we play outside Italy.
Talking again about Finnish & Italian bands, Italy has a very strong power metal scene, Italy is known for its power metal. How do you think, is it so?
Jonathan: In power metal, Rhapsody of Fire is famous… Actually power metal is not much played in Italy. Maybe VisionDivine, Elvenking are known.
And what kind of metal is popular there?
Jonathan: Death and black metal, I guess.
Is it difficult to get known?
Jonathan: In Italy it’s difficult to find a place to play metal music.
I guess music is not your profession. Do you have any daily jobs?
Jonathan: Yeah. I’m a lorry driver.
Aldo: I'm an employee… But we have a great passion for music so as a second job we give some lessons to children and youth.
Have you ever played in any other bands?
Jonathan: Yeah, I play nowadays in 2 other bands. I play in Drivhell, it’s a progressive metal band, and then I do just some acoustic stuff with my friends.
Xavier: For me Spellblast is the only band now.
Luca C.: Yeah, same here. Just one!
Do you think this band has a great future?
Jonathan: We are working on it. We work on the new album and we hope to release it in the first half of 2013. We work for that.
The previous album was released about 2 years ago, in 2010, so it’s gonna be quite a long break between releases…
Lucky: The previous album was released about 2 years ago, in 2010, so it’s gonna be quite a long break between releases…
Jonathan: Yes, because we c
hanged the line-up several times. Aldo started to play with us only in November 2011. And our drummer Luca joined us in June 2011, just one year ago. So we had a lot of changes and it slowed down our work. That’s the reason.
Luca A.: It’s also due to the endless reviews of the material coming out of the band. You know, someone brings a new idea and you have to revise everything. Also as you know we do work, we are not professional players. Time is not always on our side. We have to combine our jobs and our passion to music. Plus, it’s difficult to find someone who could believe in the project. Labels don’t invest any money into the newcoming bands. I understand the market, it’s not very good for music, they loose money, especially in Italy. In Italy you can’t find anymore a label that would release a metal music CD. They ask bands to pay for the promotion. We have to self-produce our songs, cover, master and even promotion. But we don’t want to work with a label that cannot believe in our product. We put our art and soul into our work and we don’t want to give it to someone who thinks only numbers. We do a lot by ourselves, but we can’t say that we haven’t tried. We are made by ourselves, as one of our politicians says.
Do you have already any new songs?
Jonathan: Yes we have!
Do you play them?
Jonathan: No. Just working on it.
So you play only the material of 2 albums.
Jonathan: Yeah, or less. We don’t play any unreleased songs.
Have you played this kind of power metal since the very beginning?
Jonathan: Yes. We listen to the music, we listen to power metal, bands like Rhapsody or Elvenking, but we have always tried to keep our own sound, you know, it’s not a common power metal band, it’s a special mixture that makes the difference. And then, on the next album will be other changes, too, so the sound will be different again. We don’t like to be fixed on anything. We try to make the different sound on the every album.
Will the next album be dome again on the New Sin Studio, as 2 previous?
Jonathan: Well, we don’t know yet. You’ll see.
But were you satisfied with NS Studio?
Jonathan: Yes, without any doubts. We worked very well with Luigi Stefanini.
Luca A.: When you look back, you often want to change something, for example, but in our case it was a great work and a great experience.
That’s nice! What would you change?
(Everybody laugh)
Luca A.: Some sound details, equalization, drums’ volume. The sound could be based more on the guitar than on the drums.
Who writes the lyrics?
Jonathan: Daniele.
Daniele: I’m the one who writes the lyrics starting from the first album. It was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007 by the label we have created ourselves as it was difficult to find a label to release that album. The first album is the collection of the stuff that we have written from 1999, you can find there folk metal along with classic power metal. Lyrics on that album were written by the previous singer and keyboard player of that time. Then we have changed our style. I think that the second album is less inspired by the fantasy but it’s more epic. It’s due to my passion to Manowar and Nordic mythology. So now we are more into that spirit here and that’s why also it’s so great to be here in Finland... On the next album we work with the different kind of things. Well, we don’t want to expose the subject yet. Anyway, I can say that it’s based on a Saga, on the book Saga, and it will tell about the different kind of fantasy. So it will be another kind of folk. Something new. It would be nice to try new styles of folk! Folk from China or Russia! (laugh) Or from South America. Let’s do something different, not to be classified.
Will it be the concept album?
Luca A.: Yeah, we will try that sort of a project…
By the way, what do you think about Internet and its role in the music industry, about digital industry?
Luca A.: For now I have to say thanks to it. For an unknown and unsigned band like us there’s no better chance to get known abroad. Thanks to globalization and Internet that allow us to reach other, new countries. Now we know, for example, that in Indonesia there’s a good market for power metal. Indonesia!!! Where is it?! (laughs – “Lost in the Forest” sings Jonathan and again everybody laughs) Yeah, really lost! I mean, thanks to the Internet, we can go to the new markets and promote
Luca A.: It’s also due to the endless reviews of the material coming out of the band. You know, someone brings a new idea and you have to revise everything. Also as you know we do work, we are not professional players. Time is not always on our side. We have to combine our jobs and our passion to music. Plus, it’s difficult to find someone who could believe in the project. Labels don’t invest any money into the newcoming bands. I understand the market, it’s not very good for music, they loose money, especially in Italy. In Italy you can’t find anymore a label that would release a metal music CD. They ask bands to pay for the promotion. We have to self-produce our songs, cover, master and even promotion. But we don’t want to work with a label that cannot believe in our product. We put our art and soul into our work and we don’t want to give it to someone who thinks only numbers. We do a lot by ourselves, but we can’t say that we haven’t tried. We are made by ourselves, as one of our politicians says.
Do you have already any new songs?
Jonathan: Yes we have!
Do you play them?
Jonathan: No. Just working on it.
So you play only the material of 2 albums.
Jonathan: Yeah, or less. We don’t play any unreleased songs.
Have you played this kind of power metal since the very beginning?
Jonathan: Yes. We listen to the music, we listen to power metal, bands like Rhapsody or Elvenking, but we have always tried to keep our own sound, you know, it’s not a common power metal band, it’s a special mixture that makes the difference. And then, on the next album will be other changes, too, so the sound will be different again. We don’t like to be fixed on anything. We try to make the different sound on the every album.
Will the next album be dome again on the New Sin Studio, as 2 previous?
Jonathan: Well, we don’t know yet. You’ll see.
But were you satisfied with NS Studio?
Jonathan: Yes, without any doubts. We worked very well with Luigi Stefanini.
Luca A.: When you look back, you often want to change something, for example, but in our case it was a great work and a great experience.
That’s nice! What would you change?
(Everybody laugh)
Luca A.: Some sound details, equalization, drums’ volume. The sound could be based more on the guitar than on the drums.
Who writes the lyrics?
Jonathan: Daniele.
Daniele: I’m the one who writes the lyrics starting from the first album. It was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007 by the label we have created ourselves as it was difficult to find a label to release that album. The first album is the collection of the stuff that we have written from 1999, you can find there folk metal along with classic power metal. Lyrics on that album were written by the previous singer and keyboard player of that time. Then we have changed our style. I think that the second album is less inspired by the fantasy but it’s more epic. It’s due to my passion to Manowar and Nordic mythology. So now we are more into that spirit here and that’s why also it’s so great to be here in Finland... On the next album we work with the different kind of things. Well, we don’t want to expose the subject yet. Anyway, I can say that it’s based on a Saga, on the book Saga, and it will tell about the different kind of fantasy. So it will be another kind of folk. Something new. It would be nice to try new styles of folk! Folk from China or Russia! (laugh) Or from South America. Let’s do something different, not to be classified.
Will it be the concept album?
Luca A.: Yeah, we will try that sort of a project…
By the way, what do you think about Internet and its role in the music industry, about digital industry?
Luca A.: For now I have to say thanks to it. For an unknown and unsigned band like us there’s no better chance to get known abroad. Thanks to globalization and Internet that allow us to reach other, new countries. Now we know, for example, that in Indonesia there’s a good market for power metal. Indonesia!!! Where is it?! (laughs – “Lost in the Forest” sings Jonathan and again everybody laughs) Yeah, really lost! I mean, thanks to the Internet, we can go to the new markets and promote
our music. First of all, we should have a good product, but after that we have to sell it.
Some musicians think that it’s enough to have a good product.
Jonathan: I think that is completely not truth. I can see a lot of bands that play not so well but they are quite famous. That’s the problem. We try to play well and make good songs… It’s sad when you watch a TV, you see there a band and listen to a song and you wonder what that is. You think: I can do better!
Luca A.: People don’t buy good music. People buy music they like. So you have to understand what people like if you want to be known. Of course you can play what you want in your rehearsal room and it can be a good music.
Jonathan: But we play what we like.
Luca C.: No compromise.
Luca A: If you want to be rich and famous – you should play pop music!
(they laugh)
What about you on stage? Do you have any special image, show?
Jonathan: No, we don’t have any particular style. We wear jeans, and, talking about me – a black jacket. It’s a very simple “black” style.
Luca A.: We are not Lordi! (laugh) But once, on the Bloodstock festival in 2006, we tried to go on stage with the facepainting in the black metal style. We tried that to understand what kind of response could come. And I saw before the show people going away. When we went on stage and put the backdrop and so on, people were interested even before SpellBlast started to play. I think image is very important.
Do you have a lot of gigs in a year?
Luca A.: When we were young and stuff like that, we used to do about 60 gigs in a year, we played everywhere we could. But then we stopped and chose another way to work. Playing that much you don’t have enough time for other stuff. Now we can focus more on the upcoming album.
What about your families, what do they think about the band, gigs, trips and so on?
Luca C: They think that it’s great! “Oh wow, you’ll play in Finland! What a surprise, someone listens to you and your music!” They don’t believe it. And also my girlfriend is a little jealous.
(everybody laugh)
Jonathan: It was a strange situation yesterday. My grandmother called me… (everybody laugh) before the show. She is from Sicily. She didn’t know I’m in Finland. She asked me, where are you? – I’m far from Italy, in Finland! Then she asked, Why are you there? – I play gigs. – Oh! Why do you have to go there? Can’t you play in Italy? I’ve just made an impanata for you (Sicilian dish). – But I’m in Finland! – Well, you’ll eat it when you’ll come back! So, that’s my family.
Aldo talks Italian, everybody laugh.
Jonathan: He doesn’t want to tell about his family. (laugh) He is not Italian, he is from an island. (speak Italian) His family is not very happy that he plays with us.
Onni: Why?
Jonathan: They know us! (laugh)
My favorite question: can you tell us any funny cases that have happened to you in studio or during concerts?
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: Okay, if you want we can show the yesterday video…
Others: No, no!
Jonathan: There are a lot of fun… Italian people are sunny and funny people… But, the thing is that before the tour we have planned to play the gigs and go straight to the hotel…
Luca A.: The plan was: no drinks!
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: Okay, then it was Thursday, the second gig. We’ll stay calm, we told to ourselves, just play and go back to the hotel… (laugh) Some of us can’t even remember what’s happened that night! Yesterday we played in Helsinki… (laugh) And it got even worse!!!
(Everybody laugh)
Luca A.: Italians are bad drinkers. We cannot drink as much as Finnish people do!
Jonathan: So you can imagine what happened in Tampere and Helsinki.
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: I remember one situation in Italy, Bergamo, in the most famous pub near Bergamo – Keller. There were too many people…
Luca A: Think well at what you’re saying!
Jonathan: Yeah-yeah!.. We had our beer on stage. AT some point people started to jump and they jumped on the stage…
Everybody laughs and talks at the same time about beer and its lost
Luca A.: I’m afraid we can’t tell you our funny moments ‘cause it’s private… Maybe one day when we’re famous we can do a DVD with special content…
(Everybody laugh)
Is there anything I haven’t asked but you would like people to know?
Luca A.: Support metal music! Visit our website www.spellblast.com! Download our songs!
Some musicians think that it’s enough to have a good product.
Jonathan: I think that is completely not truth. I can see a lot of bands that play not so well but they are quite famous. That’s the problem. We try to play well and make good songs… It’s sad when you watch a TV, you see there a band and listen to a song and you wonder what that is. You think: I can do better!
Luca A.: People don’t buy good music. People buy music they like. So you have to understand what people like if you want to be known. Of course you can play what you want in your rehearsal room and it can be a good music.
Jonathan: But we play what we like.
Luca C.: No compromise.
Luca A: If you want to be rich and famous – you should play pop music!
(they laugh)
What about you on stage? Do you have any special image, show?
Jonathan: No, we don’t have any particular style. We wear jeans, and, talking about me – a black jacket. It’s a very simple “black” style.
Luca A.: We are not Lordi! (laugh) But once, on the Bloodstock festival in 2006, we tried to go on stage with the facepainting in the black metal style. We tried that to understand what kind of response could come. And I saw before the show people going away. When we went on stage and put the backdrop and so on, people were interested even before SpellBlast started to play. I think image is very important.
Do you have a lot of gigs in a year?
Luca A.: When we were young and stuff like that, we used to do about 60 gigs in a year, we played everywhere we could. But then we stopped and chose another way to work. Playing that much you don’t have enough time for other stuff. Now we can focus more on the upcoming album.
What about your families, what do they think about the band, gigs, trips and so on?
Luca C: They think that it’s great! “Oh wow, you’ll play in Finland! What a surprise, someone listens to you and your music!” They don’t believe it. And also my girlfriend is a little jealous.
(everybody laugh)
Jonathan: It was a strange situation yesterday. My grandmother called me… (everybody laugh) before the show. She is from Sicily. She didn’t know I’m in Finland. She asked me, where are you? – I’m far from Italy, in Finland! Then she asked, Why are you there? – I play gigs. – Oh! Why do you have to go there? Can’t you play in Italy? I’ve just made an impanata for you (Sicilian dish). – But I’m in Finland! – Well, you’ll eat it when you’ll come back! So, that’s my family.
Aldo talks Italian, everybody laugh.
Jonathan: He doesn’t want to tell about his family. (laugh) He is not Italian, he is from an island. (speak Italian) His family is not very happy that he plays with us.
Onni: Why?
Jonathan: They know us! (laugh)
My favorite question: can you tell us any funny cases that have happened to you in studio or during concerts?
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: Okay, if you want we can show the yesterday video…
Others: No, no!
Jonathan: There are a lot of fun… Italian people are sunny and funny people… But, the thing is that before the tour we have planned to play the gigs and go straight to the hotel…
Luca A.: The plan was: no drinks!
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: Okay, then it was Thursday, the second gig. We’ll stay calm, we told to ourselves, just play and go back to the hotel… (laugh) Some of us can’t even remember what’s happened that night! Yesterday we played in Helsinki… (laugh) And it got even worse!!!
(Everybody laugh)
Luca A.: Italians are bad drinkers. We cannot drink as much as Finnish people do!
Jonathan: So you can imagine what happened in Tampere and Helsinki.
(Everybody laugh)
Jonathan: I remember one situation in Italy, Bergamo, in the most famous pub near Bergamo – Keller. There were too many people…
Luca A: Think well at what you’re saying!
Jonathan: Yeah-yeah!.. We had our beer on stage. AT some point people started to jump and they jumped on the stage…
Everybody laughs and talks at the same time about beer and its lost
Luca A.: I’m afraid we can’t tell you our funny moments ‘cause it’s private… Maybe one day when we’re famous we can do a DVD with special content…
(Everybody laugh)
Is there anything I haven’t asked but you would like people to know?
Luca A.: Support metal music! Visit our website www.spellblast.com! Download our songs!
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interview réalisée par Onni
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There is something wrong in the middle of the interview, a question is missing (the one after "Do you think this band has a great future?") and a part of the answer.
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