Interview with Stefano Droetto (Sted), The Famous-X (June 18th 2007)

First of all congratulations with your Demo CD “The Famous-X”. Are you satisfied with the result? Sted: Thanks! Sure I am satisfied with it. I recorded most of it… about 90% of it at home, so I am glad to hear the final result. Of course there is still more work to do in the future and when I’ll record new songs I’ll pay more attention to some details concerning home-recording.   Who had the idea for the name, “The Famous-X”? Sted: It was me, in summer 2005. I was talking about the myspace website with a friend of mine whose nickname is “Dimension Idol” and I wanted to have a cool nickname too…so after several days of thinking…I thought about “FAMOUS-X”. It is an ”X”…like many others but… it’s “Famous” ha ha…it’s kind of nonsense!   In what words would you describe the music and moods of your demo CD to someone that has not heard your Demo yet? Sted: Err …let me see… at first when I started composing material for this project I was mostly inspired by Paul Gilbert’s solo projects… actually he is my favourite guitar player and inspiration…then I decided to make sung-tunes and I asked Andrea to give me a hand. It is some kind of “Classic Rock or Melodic Rock-Metal”… but the new songs enclose some influence by Blues or Southern-Rock music… so it’s definitely something about 360 degrees away from the music of Highlord.   Where did you record your Demo CD? Sted: As I said mostly at home. I have a small home-studio with M-Audio firewire interface, Cubase SE and various software’s and plug-ins. I recorded all guitars, excluding solos, with a Behringer V-AmpII and direct-in bass. Drums are made with a wonderful plug-in called EZDrummer…100% MIDI programmed by me (LOOOONG WORK!!!) We went to a professional studio close to my city just for solos, voices and mixing. If anyone is interested to know more details about it, feel free to visit the blog section of www.myspace.com/afamousx where I reported quite all about the recording sessions.   Who has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have a great cover? Sted: The artwork has been made by a friend of mine called Renato. We had the idea together while talking about “glam… ‘80’s and kitsch stuff”… we wanted to make something original, something very strong... I think we reached our aim, didn’t we?   You have chosen Andrea Marchisio (Highlord) to sing on the tracks. Why did you use him? Sted: Well it’s not that I “used” him... we are friends... and I asked him if he could be interested in singing in my solo project... he has a great voice and likes Hard-Rock, so why not? Its better if you work with friends… it all seems easier!   The song “Bullet Time” is inspired by the adventures of the PC-game Max Payne, right? Sted: Yeah true! Max Payne was a game I did really enjoy for its dark feelings… and for the main character…a violent psychotic ex-cop! Finally, a friend of mine called Vandal asked me many times to compose something about this game so I did it!!!!   Beside your main band Highlord and The Famous-X project, you’re also in a Hard Rock band called The Warnipples… handling the bass-guitar, right? Sted: Sure! There my nickname is “Flex Stevens”…. I am not a bass player I know... but I am really having fun with those guys so I hope we will have luck in the future! Thanks to this band, I’m discovering lots of rock bands I did not know and taking some new base on which I build my guitar style.   What tasks presently lie ahead for you? Can we expect more music from your Famous-X project? Sted: At the moment I’d like to receive as much reviews as I can… I need to spread the word about this demo. Then we will look for a label… who knows?! It would be awesome for me to have a 100% personal CD released someday. I already composed 3 new songs…and Andrea is working on the lyrics... anyway nothing will be recorded or revealed before autumn 2007.   Please name the 5 most important Metal-albums of all times! Sted: Megadeth: Rust in Peace Pantera: Cowboys from Hell Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon Iron Maiden: Somewhere in Time Yngwie J. Malmsteen: Trilogy   Well… that’s it. Thank you so much for the interview. Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans and the readers of Powermetal.dk? Sted: I'd like to thank you for the attention given to Famous-X and to the readers of Powermetal.dk. Please check my page at www.myspace.com/afamousx ... Cheers!!!   Interviewed by Peter Laursen

The Famous-X - Demo For more info on The Famous-X project, click on the album cover