In Words: Mastercastle

 

  
- Giorgia Gueglio & Pier Gonella -
  
Aug. 2010
  
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 

© Mastercastle




Giorgia Gueglio & Pier Gonella - August, 12th 2010 (by email)





 

  
 

  

Italian band Mastercastle just released their second album which is called Last Desire. Time to introduce the band and so I'm glad guitarist Pier Gonella and singer Giorgia Gueglio agreed to answer some questions.





About a year ago you presented your first Mastercastle album The Phoenix, now you are back with Last Desire. Looking back, are you happy with what you achieved with The Phoenix?



Pier Gonella: Of course, yes. First Mastercastle album, The Phoenix, had a great visibility all around the world, more that we expected.



Giorgia Gueglio: We had very good feedback not only from Italy but also outside, especially in USA. This mean that people liked the album but also our music style.



Now Last Desire is out and I guess you already got some feedback. Are you satisfied with the reactions of fans and media?



Pier Gonella: As you can see with a rapid check on the web, feedback are very good. Reviewers noted a better production and a better care for the arrangements, and a greater security in Giorgia performance. This gave us more enthusiasm. Also Lion Music, the label, is happy about our 2 albums, and we feel very good working with them.



You are signed to Lion Music. How you got in touch with them? Will you continue working with Lion Music?



Giorgia Gueglio: We sent a demo on August 2008. At that time there was not particular expectation. I remember that Pier wrote a couple of power metal stuff with a guitar tuned very down (unusually for power metal, and typical in nu metal). Just for try something different he sent them to me asking for put my voice on them, and we were surprised by the result. So we continued working, and we recorded a 4 tracks demo. Lion Music was the first label interested and they replied us immediately with a precise and good deal proposal.



Did the work on Last Desire compared to The Phoenix differ? Was it more a team offer? Or did nothing change work-wise?



Pier Gonella: There are no substantial differences. This is because The Phoenix was very well accepted, the songs, but also the production, so we worked in the same way. I produced both of the album in my recording studio, but this year I'll send the stuff for the mastering to the Fear Studio, a very professional equip that mastered also last 2 Necrodeath albums (another band of mine). Having the previous experience I knew where we could do better and for the rest we didn't change anything. So the production is better. It also has a little bit more heavier sound of the rhythm guitar, but this was not planned. Maybe because people liked the mix of hard heavy metal riffs with the voice of Giorgia so we naturally accentuated it. In my opinion when an album sounds good there is a sort of 'alchemy' in it, because of who plays, who and where we record etc. Radical changing can be a risk.



How long did it took you to realize Last Desire? Did you start working on the album right after The Phoenix? Or did you take a time off?



Pier Gonella: After the release of The Phoenix we made some gigs around Italy. We also played on the Italian TV channel Rock TV and made acoustic showcase in some Italian Fnac stores. But in the meantime we started immediately writing new stuff. We had a lot of ideas to work in and we though that best thing to do was to release another album asap, and so we produced Last Desire, 14 months later. 









Btw, why did you choose Last Desire as the album title? And what does it mean to you?



Pier Gonella: I find the title interesting, there is something intriguing and curious in it.



Giorgia Gueglio: We can consider the album as 'concept' album, because all song are about a different mean of the word 'desire'. Apparently the 'desire'  seems a simple concept, but it's very complex. It is the engine of all our thoughts and all our actions. When I wrote the lyrics for Last Desire, I decided to tell about the desire as passion that lights up between two individuals. Than I wrote Event Horizon telling about the general relativity, where the event horizon is a boundary in space beyond witch events cannot affect an outside observer. I found on this concept a good representation of the man who 'desire' to now everything about him. And so on, in each song I tell about a different desire. Everyone  has his own Last Desire and I leave the interpretation to everybody, people listening to the track can think about their last desire.



Which songs represent Last Desire best?



Pier Gonella: Maybe the title track Last Desire. It combines some heavy-track guitar riffs with vocal melodies and this is our trademark. There are other songs I like very much where we touch some hard rock stuff like Away or Cat-House.



Some criticized that Giorgia Gueglio tries too much to sound like Tarja or Sharon del Adel, what do you think about that? What do you think about comparisons with Nightwish, Within Temptation and Evanescence? 



Giorgia Gueglio: I like all these great bands, but I don't listen to them so much. The voice of Tarja is excellent, but completely different from mine. Simply many people has her as their best singer (and of course she is a great singer!) and so they compare any female voice with her voice. I've  started singing listening to English and American hard rock, as Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Led Zeppelin. Those band has my favourite vocalist, also now. Listening so much to male voices makes me naturally try to have the same aggression with the melodic touch of the female voice. I like also Sharon, but I think my voice is a little bit more aggressive (this not means better, but simply a little difference) for the rest any female voice has something common. I think we have to compare within the band.



Pier Gonella: I agree with Giorgia. Of course to be compared to those band is a good thing. For my style is the same. People always says my style often try to sound like Malmsteen. But they just heard a solo and they compare it to Malmsteen. I love it, of course, but sometimes I get inspiration by other guitarist as Tony Macalpine or Frank Gambale and people don't know them, and so they connect to the great Yngwie.



And what are your influences? What inspires you these days? Metal and non-metal!



Pier Gonella: As I said before I've been listening to many rock instrumental music and guitarist. Then I'm fonded to some 80s-90s bands as Scorpions, Deep Purple, Faith No More. I also listen to some classical music, but not the usual (great!!) Bach, Paganini, Vivaldi etc, but especially some classic guitar composer as Francisco Tarega and Augustine Barrios Mangorè. Recently I listen also to Rondò Veneziano and other classic-modern ensemble like this.



Giorgia Gueglio: Aside from David Coverdale or Ian Gillan I like some Malmsteen albums, with singers as John Lynn Turner, Mike Vescera and Jeff Scott Soto. I like also System Of A Down, Rammstein and Lita Ford.



For many it was a surprise you choose to cover Rondò Veneziano's La Serenissima. So, what's the idea behind it?



Pier Gonella: I'm happy that people considered this as a surprise, and I'm also happy that in any interviews one question is about this song, it's rare to talk so much about an instrumental song. I love Rondò Veneziano's music, because their way of mixing classical string and orchestra sections with electric bass and rock drum is really amazing. So listening to La Serenissima I had the idea to remake it with a couple of guitars instead of the string section. It's a way to get inspiration from classical music but in a little bit original way.



Can we expect Mastercastle to work with an orchestra in future? Well, if you get the possibility...



Pier Gonella: If in the future there will be possibility a live with an orchestra is amazing of course. But in the studio I'm not so fan of orchestral or symphonic section. I like to listen to them, but I always imagine them played by guitars in a hard rock way.



What about concerts? Could you play any shows in your home country? Abroad? Are there plans to promote Last Desire live?



Pier Gonella: Yes, we made a couple of gigs around Italy. But we started immediately composing new stuff because now 2 albums give us many more chances for playing live. We planned some Italian shows starting from November and we hope to play also outside Italy.



Pier, Lion Music just release some instrumental albums, have you ever considered an instrumental album? Or do you prefer to add an instrumental or two to a Mastercastle album?



Pier Gonella: I like instrumental music and maybe in the future I'll publish an album. But there is no hurry and I don't want to sacrifice energy out of Mastercastle. This is actually my best promising band and the 2 instrumental song in an album is the best compromise for making the album good also for guitarist and musicians, and in the same time making my instrumental song good also for non-musicians without boring them. We will see in the future...



What keeps you busy when you don't work on Mastercastle songs?



Pier Gonella: I actually play guitar also in Italian thrash band Necrodeath. I've been playing many years with Labÿrinth and I recorded albums of many bands as guest musician. For the rest I also teach guitar in a school, so it's rare to see me without a guitar. :)



And what does Mastercastle do in their spare time? And band activities?



Pier Gonella: When I don't play I like to see some quite places and villages especially in the mountains, and have good dinner together with Mastercastle guys.



Giorgia Gueglio: I also teach singing and all band member has also other side project or bands. The drummer Bix plays also in Labÿrinth and Vision Divine, Steve has Athlantis band and I have with Steve and Pier also some cover band to spend some free time.



What's next on your schedule?



Giorgia Gueglio: We are currently working on a new video clip. The previous Princess Of Love is reaching 70,000 views on YouTube and this was a great success for us. The video clip is for the song Last Desire. We will make it in front of a famous abandoned church in the north of Italy and there will be also 2 actors, the rest is a surprise! :)











Sounds like the chances are good to see Mastercastle live sooner or later. Meanwhile check out the video clip - when it's up - and if the photo is done at the same place, then it's a great location for a video shoot!
  

  

 




Claudia Ehrhardt


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