Interview with Twinspirits

Metal Express Radio recently spoke with the members of Italian progressive band Twinspirits. Lead by pianist Daniele Liverani, the band hopes to conquer the world and make us all stop and listen to Nature’s music. The transcription follows …

MER:
Why form Twinspirits now?

Daniele Liverani :
Twinspirits is the union of all the talents that I’ve been working with lately for my projects Genius, Khymera, and some other discoveries that I’ve done in the last years … in fact it includes musicians from these two projects: Dario Ciccioni and Tommy Ermolli, and talented bass player Alberto Rigoni and singer Soren Adamsen from Denmark, the only one foreign member. There’s not a specific reason that led us to start this band, the events progressed naturally and I just thought that all these incredible musicians together could have really worked out a killer team. Just play some good Prog Rock music, offering them to work together and try to create a solid new band. At the moment, I take care of the songwriting, so I consider myself very lucky to have known such great talented musicians that can add their style and creative performances to my music, creating a real band that can play it live, something that I really missed lately, being always in studio for all the records I’ve been releasing during the past years.

Dario Ciccioni:
This project was born back in 2003, when me, Daniele, and Tommy were already playing together as an instrumental trio.

Nico Adamsen:
I got an email from Daniele saying he wanted to start a band and needed a singer. I heard the music with demo vocals on (sung by Tommy’s sister) and liked it right away. I had heard a little bit about Daniele’s Genius project, but otherwise I knew nothing about the rest of the guys, or Italian Prog Metal for that matter. I did some live cassette taping with my voice on top of the songs Daniele had sent me, and the next thing is, I find myself in Italy, meeting the band, eating excellent Italian food at Tommy’s house, and recording a proper demo tape. The rest is history.

MER:
What is lacking in the current Progressive Metal scene?

Daniele Liverani:
I think that the melodic aspects of the songs are usually lacking in the current Prog Metal scene. There is plenty of technical stuff in the songs, and incredible difficult parts, but what usually is missing, in my opinion, is the catchy melody that you can remember easily and that can give a clear identity to the songs. That’s what we tried to do with our music, to create a good balance between interesting Progressive music and Melodic Rock tunes.

Dario Ciccioni:
In my opinion the scene lacks of “easy-listening-Prog-music,” that is what we are trying to give with our project. Lots of Prog bands are offering over-complicated and over-technical songs that are really incredible for a skilled listener, but are not that interesting for a normal user.

Tommy Ermolli:
We are trying to expand the usual boundaries of Progressive music. It is kind of a paradox: simplify things to get something new.

Nico Adamsen:
I actually never really got into Prog music. I have always been into 70’s and 80’s Heavy Metal music like Sabbath, Priest, Maiden,Kiss, Dio, Manowar, etc., and that is where my inspiration comes from. Being in this band, I have started to explore the Prog scene, but I cannot say what is lacking. I think bands like Symphony X, Ark, and, of course, Dream Theater are cool bands with great ideas and a fresh approach to music. To me great music is great music no matter if you call it Prog Metal, Speed Metal, Death Metal, Shit Metal or whatever. As long as it’s Metal.

MER:
Are there any commercial influences in your music?

Daniele Liverani:
There might be some, but not much actually … I come from a Classical training and I love Progressive music masters since the seventies to Dream Theater nowadays, and I think that they are my main influence, not much into what radio is playing lately. It happens that I listen to the radio and some influences might come from it too.

Dario Ciccioni:
I really like Muse, some songs from Coldplay, Nickelback, and some good Italian artist.

Tommy Ermolli:
Me too. I like that kind of heavy-but-commercial music like Nickelback or Creed, but our influences are mostly recognizable in Prog music (Rush, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater).

Nico Adamsen:
I definitely don’t like Nickelback, Creed, or Coldplay. Pantera! That’s what I call radio-friendly music!

MER:
Who wanted to call the album The Music That Will Heal The World? Isn’t that a lofty goal for one band?

Daniele Liverani:
The actual meaning of this title has not been understood from many reviewers, but if you read the lyrics of the title track, you’ll quickly get that it’s not our music that will save the world, but in general it’s the music that will save the world, connecting people of different cultures and communicating feelings and emotions without barriers of language misunderstandings. Also, the music is referred to as the Music of Nature, that always entertains us if we just slow down and take a listen to what is all around us. This is the main concept behind the song and the title of the album.

MER:
Who came up with the idea to video your recording sessions, then share on Myspace and YouTube? Do you think this helped cast a broader net, gathering a younger fan base?

Daniele Liverani:
I think that it’s an interesting thing to give to the fans a view from the inside aspects of the band. It can give a closer idea of what is happening during the production sessions and give an image of the band to who’s going to listen the music.

Dario Ciccioni:
To peep in a studio during a session is a thing that I’ve always loved … you can really catch the emotions coming from every single musician while he’s giving out his best to record his part.

Tommy Ermolli:
True! I’ve got many “extra-contents” DVDs of bands in the studio for their sessions. [I] Just love the mood that a studio experience can generate.

Nico Adamsen:
The whole concept of Myspace and YouTube is a small revolution for the music industry, both good and bad. Well, it’s a revolution for everybody, actually. It gets the listener a chance to find out so much more about their favorite artist, just one click on the computer. At the same time, there is so much available on the Internet that it is almost too much. The computer is both a curse and a blessing.

MER:
Are there plans for a mini tour to support the album?

Daniele Liverani:
We are trying to set up some shows and dealing to find a decent deal with agencies … let’s see what happens … we hope to be on the road as soon as possible!

Nico Adamsen:
Touring is what it’s all about!

(Read the album review here.)