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Hi, first off all I just want to congratulate you with ‘Involution’.
Are you satisfied with it?
ANDREA: The only thing I can say is: “YEAH!”. That’s mainly because we’ve been trying to record a professional demo since something like 2005 and I think the result is great, especially because it’s our first work.
VINCE: Yes, firmly. It’s the best we could do at that time. We worked hard and together during the creation of the songs and everyone in the band put something personal in each piece. Indeed we had a great time in the rehearsal room as we have during the live shows!
Who has produced and mixed‘Involution’?
SECO: Well actually we produced the whole demo and the artwork is a Vince’s. For the mixing phase actually we got a help from a friend.
How would you describe your music to any of our readers who may not have heard of you before?
SECO: Well I think that our music is something that has been already heard somewhere, but the listener cannot decipher exactly where… It’s a hybrid of different styles, and different artist of the past music scenes too, for instance. It’s not just like crossover modern things; it’s maybe a new reading key of the old school style. Same strong atmosphere, same rage, same power while listening, but a different way to communicate all these feelings.
ANDREA: Our music? I feel Psycostasia’s sound as a fist pounded in your face, that’s because of the rage and the violence of the riffs, even though we’ve managed to put something important in our message... all the shit about society and human’s inner evilness.
Which subjects do your lyrics refer to, and who writes them? And what inspires you when you write your lyrics?
VINCE: All the lyrics have been written by Andrea but they came out from an idea of the whole band.
The topics are all about the society and psychological spheres; we managed to voice emotions, sensations and fears from different (and maybe unusual) points of view.
How long do you need to practice to feel comfortable with your songs before you record them?
ANDREA: Oh, it’s hard to say! But I think something like 8 or 9 months but we are never satisfied about the songs, so, during all this time, we changed a lot of things (and during the recordings too!)
How has ‘Involution’ been received by the media?
ANDREA: We can say that “Involution” is a success for us, nothing groundbreaking as you said in your review, but a lot of webzines and a lot of people like our sound... it’s obvious that we cannot be liked by everyone but there aren’t totally negative responses (‘til now) and it’s a good thing, specially for an Italian thrash metal band, and this makes us very proud about our work!
SECO: Here in Italy people was really happy ‘bout our Involution, but the most enthusiastic were abroad. I can honestly say it’s a great success for us.
Will you stick to this sound on the next release, too, or will there be changes to the Psycostasia
Sound?
VINCE: Something must be changed for sure, now we’re just in three and we’ll have to play the songs in a different ways, with a better exploiting of the bass lines and with a better guitar work.
There are no limits for the new songs, surely they won’t be too much different from the “Involution” sound but we’ll try to evolve our musical style! There will probably be songs that will be less aggressive and more fascinating but, at the same time, there will be very furious, evil and heavy pieces. Obviously we’ll try not to become too much discontinuous. After all we’re a thrash metal band, and this is the style we love to play but… we’ll see!
SECO: Now, after the last line-up change (John, the bass player, has left the band a couple of weeks ago, so Andrea picked up the bass), something will be modified, re-elaborated or so. Anyway Psycostasia’s Sound will ever be the same stream of energy and melody; it’s like our own trademark now.
What are the best and worst trends in metal today?
ANDREA: I think the worst trend is the fashion-playing. Here in Italy there are a lot of bands who put the word CORE after whatever words. I hate these wanna-be-fashion things.
VINCE: I don’t like the fact that the guitars are becoming more and more similar to a bass guitar… a guitar should sound as a guitar!
A lot of people is influenced by the fashion and listens only to modern sounds, there’s nothing bad in this but, especially during the live shows, we notice that there isn’t the right power in the audience when we play with other bands that do these modern stuff.
What tasks presently lie ahead for Psycostasia?
SECO: First of all the new songs to finally build up our first full length. And maybe one day a tour would be the first step to something bigger…
I thank you very much for participating in this interview and sharing this information and your thoughts with us - these last lines are entirely for you. Any final words you would like to round off with - a tip, a recommendation or a thought for the future?
ANDREA: I’m probably the worst person to tell recommendations to anyone! The only thing I can say is to support the underground music because one day all the great and historical bands will give up!
SECO: Recommendation? Well I think that we learned, while playing in the band that the key of success is to have fun playing and to completely focus on the objective, whatever it is. So keep the metal faith alive!
VINCE: I hope to continue playing with fun and to continue destroying everything with our sound! And why not... maybe come to your land to let you headbang to our songs! We’ll be just in three but you’ll notice it will be enough!
Interviewed by Peter Laursen |
