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Interview Moonlight Comedy
with Guitarist Simone Fiorletta.
April 2007 By Joe Florez
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Moonlight Comedy is an Italian five piece
progressive outfit that have been making the rounds for eight years
now and should see the light of day where their music will be exposed
to the masses worldwide. While the band is only on their second
offering "Dorothy", this is my first chance at exploring their world
of prog metal despite the fact that I have known of their existence
for quite some time. My first encounter with the band was with
guitarist Simone Fiorletta who has pumped out some solo discs and I
began to get a feeling for what was in store. Let me tell you,
although I was worried that this would be a paint by numbers product,
it was furthest from the truth. These guys go all out to not only make
each track as different as possible, but at the same time keep their
signature sound consistent, but they break the prog mold by adding
aggressive elements such as riffs and thinking outside the box that
makes this a can't miss record. Simone was more than generous to shed
some light on the band and their sound and believe me if you thought
only Dream Theater was capable of crafting musicianship then you
haven't heard anything yet.
Simone, first off, naming your disc Dorothy
is very unusual in the metal community. What is behind this title?
Does it have something to do with the movie The Wizard Of Oz?
Hi Joe… thanks for all. Dorothy is clearly inspired by the famous
"Wizard of Oz." Anyway, it's a walk inside the life started three
years ago. Dorothy is about the classical teenager question: "What
must I be?". Without a guide, Dorothy assumes a double personality
hiding her true emotions of hate and anger toward those who surrounds
her with a grotesque rabbit mask. She is on the edge of madness. "I
was wrong": this is the key to understanding her unstable personality.
This is the second release for Lion Music. Is
there much of a difference between this one and the debut?
There are many differences between the debut album "The Life Inside"
and "Dorothy." You can hear these differences in the approach that we
have had in the layout of the work, in the sonorities, in the
technique, in the whole way we conceive every song, in the electronic
parts (totally absent in our debut) and in our image too. With Dorothy
we introduce some new Moonlight Comedy, in a revolutionary way.
Anyway, to know our evolution you must listen to our work.
“Solar Eclipse” is the first song off the record
and it’s a pretty colorful song. There are electronic elements giving
it that futuristic vibe and the guitar work is very tough by adding a
lot of those trademark Zakk Wylde Squeals. Also at the same time, it’s
mature in sound because the are some passionate passages. Is it the
band’s mission to be as diverse as possible with each track on here?
Let me tell you that all the electronic parts on the album have been
realized by the new keyboard player. After the album release, there's
been a line-up change: for more info you can visit
www.moonlightcomedy.com Talking about the new work, we want to
succeed in finding our own musical language. We think that the use of
electronic parts have brought us to assume the style we want to
increase in the next few years.
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Vocalist Emilianio Germani’s vocals
pretty much run the gamut on here because he, unlike some
other folks in the prog metal genre doesn’t stay in one
dimension. He can croon in a low range one minute and then
kick it up a few notches and get a little angry in other
spots as in “Solar Eclipse.” I also notice that he gets a
little staccato like Disturbed’s David Draiman in other
spots. I am pretty sure that he just goes with what he
feels and how the song flows as well, correct?
The Moonlight Comedy isn't a five person band, but one
soul! I want to say that everyone of us has his own role,
parallel to the others and for this reason, as all the
instruments, the voice may express its own feelings. The
voice must assume different tones, trying to not be
monothematic.
The one thing that I noticed with
all of your songs on here is that they aren’t all light
and fluffy like other prog discs are. Sure, there are
classy moments where each individual will get to strut
their stuff in their own way, but the compositions for the
most part have a tough and rugged feel. The guitars have
more impact in them. They have a lot of bite and the
drumming is heavy as hell. Was it ever a mission to make
MC a heavier band than the others to make yourselves more
noticeable?
As I said first, Moonlight Comedy works as a unit and none
of us must prevail over another. When we write, we try to
concentrate principally on the music and not so much on
technical potentialities inside the band. There’s so many
bands that offer five soloist rather than a band.
There are a lot of time changes in
your music making for an intricate sound. The one thing
that I noticed is that there are some jazz elements thrown
in like on the track “Metamorfosi.” Are all of you
influenced by the jazz scene at all?
We have always been united Power Prog. Some of us listen
to Rock, Jazz and Fusion over Metal… sonorities that then
find their space in our compositions.. |
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I love the fact that all of your
music doesn’t have to stay on just one path. “Into
Whisper And Desire” is a power ballad of sorts.
Emilianio’s vocals are passionate and the song is soft
and mellow at times and elsewhere it picks up steam and
gets more up tempo and even a little bit aggressive. The
mixture is perfect and never suffers from being weak.
Not too many artists can pull this off as far as I’m
concerned because I have heard many that thought they
could pull off a ballad and it just falls flat on their
face.
We are glad you appreciate our songs. Our music is the
mirror of our feelings, so our compositions are not born
following the standards of the genre but following our
life. In this way we can vary our compositions, after
all there are so many and different emotions in our
life!
Now, you are also a solo guitarist
and I have reviewed your last release “Parallel Worlds.”
Do you ever use riffs that didn’t suit MC and bring them
over to the solo stuff and vise versa?
My solo work is far enough from Moonlight Comedy
influences for various reasons. First of all, it doesn't
make sense to release albums stylistically similar to
the Moonlight Comedy works; then my compositions mirror
its soul, my way to see the music, instead inside the
Moonlight Comedy my feelings are united with those of
other people.
Nowadays, when people say that
they have a new prog disc out, I am at this point less
than interested in hearing it because the compositions
are rehashed and sound like everyone else. It’s hard to
standout, but you guys go to great lengths to come up
with something fresh and invigorating. Will you all
continue to stay on this path as long as you are around
or do you have other plans in mind for the future?
We want bring our name higher, trying to compose good
and original music. Even if it is very soon to say it,
we have some things under construction for our third
album that sincerely, we have never felt from other
metal bands… With Dorothy, we want play live as much as
possible. We are doing some shows, anyway a real tour
should begin in September and October.
Any last words for MC fans out
there?
We want to thank everyone for the time spent in our
company. We hope with the whole heart that our music can
capture you. At the same time, we invite you to visit
our official web pages.
www.moonlightcomedy.com |
www.myspace.com/moonlightcomedy |
www.simonefiorletta.it
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