Interview with Halo Effect
1. Let’s start with a general questions about your approach towards music? What is it for you? How does this approach has changed during your career?
Music is something that lives forever, it's past, present and future, and it plays an important role in our life. It 's really one of the most fascinating things in the world! Our approach towards music in general has changed so much over time, we went from mere listeners, to be real fans starting to follow bands like Depeche Mode looking for news, bootlegs, and then becoming friends sharing the same passion, getting to create our own music. It 's a very personal way to experience music, based on strong emotions that are a part of us from our birth... we grew up with music, sort of. Our love for music brought us up to where we are today: we handled with care our emotions, sensations and feelings, expressing them by music. Today, our approach is definitely more professional, we learned to take care of even the smallest details, to push ourselves (hopefully) towards perfection, so the new album came out after a three-year-long work. We are a very thoughtful band and pretentious with ourselves, often we are too picky and critical regarding our product, but we are too much respectful of what we're doing now and we would like to do it as well as we can!
2. Your new album is on the way and its title is "Recoding". Does it announce coming of something new? How do you understand to recode?
The album title has different interpretations, for us and for the listeners. For us, this album represents a new beginning, after many years in which we produced several demos and two self-produced albums, now we finally have the opportunity to make our voices heard by the general public with an album of great quality, born thanks to the support of our label EK PRODUCT and to the work done with great skill and competence by our producer Mika Rossi (Autodafeh / Endless Shame). For the first time we worked in the best attitude to make a record, and the result is really great! To do the re-encoding, we left behind what we had done so far, and we reprogrammed ourselves to offer another shade of Halo Effect, to be new and shiny. That is the personal meaning we gave to the title. More generally, for the listener, the songs revolve around Science Fiction, getting to explore some of its many sub-genres, telling about space travel, resistance waged by hackers, androids and population control... It is an album that speaks of an imaginary future, it looks for something better than the reality we are experiencing... we cannot anticipate the end of the story, but unfortunately, the future is the result of wrong choices made by mankind and that cannot be avoided......so "recoding" is an invitation to change direction, today’s recoding is tomorrow’s change, otherwise we won’t be able to save the planet and humanity.
3. "Androids, virtual reality and rebelling machines, those are the themes" of your albums. Can you explain why these ones?
The idea behind this album is the future world proceeding from today, so it was natural to imagine concepts like androids as slaves or virtual reality as the only possible reality or rebelling machines which maybe are waiting for us in the next future.
Modern Science fiction was born in the twentieth century, thanks to progress in science and to revolutions in the field of astronomy and physics, therefore it is a spokesman for something new. For that reason we decided to turn the spotlight on issues and topics representing for us a new way to tell stories. We wanted to renew ourselves and present our vision of a futuristic world, so what better of science fiction? On first thought you may think that sci-fi is something relegated only to spaceships or Martians, which are certainly part of it, but through research you may discover how this genre told in advance scenarios that came true in reality. Just think of William Gibson's Neuromancer, who prophesied internet through the cyberpunk genre, or novels known as "social science fiction", such as Philip Dick's androids and rebelling machines, telling neuroses and defects of current society. We wanted a broader look, to feel like pioneers of a new reality!
Music is something that lives forever, it's past, present and future, and it plays an important role in our life. It 's really one of the most fascinating things in the world! Our approach towards music in general has changed so much over time, we went from mere listeners, to be real fans starting to follow bands like Depeche Mode looking for news, bootlegs, and then becoming friends sharing the same passion, getting to create our own music. It 's a very personal way to experience music, based on strong emotions that are a part of us from our birth... we grew up with music, sort of. Our love for music brought us up to where we are today: we handled with care our emotions, sensations and feelings, expressing them by music. Today, our approach is definitely more professional, we learned to take care of even the smallest details, to push ourselves (hopefully) towards perfection, so the new album came out after a three-year-long work. We are a very thoughtful band and pretentious with ourselves, often we are too picky and critical regarding our product, but we are too much respectful of what we're doing now and we would like to do it as well as we can!
2. Your new album is on the way and its title is "Recoding". Does it announce coming of something new? How do you understand to recode?
The album title has different interpretations, for us and for the listeners. For us, this album represents a new beginning, after many years in which we produced several demos and two self-produced albums, now we finally have the opportunity to make our voices heard by the general public with an album of great quality, born thanks to the support of our label EK PRODUCT and to the work done with great skill and competence by our producer Mika Rossi (Autodafeh / Endless Shame). For the first time we worked in the best attitude to make a record, and the result is really great! To do the re-encoding, we left behind what we had done so far, and we reprogrammed ourselves to offer another shade of Halo Effect, to be new and shiny. That is the personal meaning we gave to the title. More generally, for the listener, the songs revolve around Science Fiction, getting to explore some of its many sub-genres, telling about space travel, resistance waged by hackers, androids and population control... It is an album that speaks of an imaginary future, it looks for something better than the reality we are experiencing... we cannot anticipate the end of the story, but unfortunately, the future is the result of wrong choices made by mankind and that cannot be avoided......so "recoding" is an invitation to change direction, today’s recoding is tomorrow’s change, otherwise we won’t be able to save the planet and humanity.
3. "Androids, virtual reality and rebelling machines, those are the themes" of your albums. Can you explain why these ones?
The idea behind this album is the future world proceeding from today, so it was natural to imagine concepts like androids as slaves or virtual reality as the only possible reality or rebelling machines which maybe are waiting for us in the next future.
Modern Science fiction was born in the twentieth century, thanks to progress in science and to revolutions in the field of astronomy and physics, therefore it is a spokesman for something new. For that reason we decided to turn the spotlight on issues and topics representing for us a new way to tell stories. We wanted to renew ourselves and present our vision of a futuristic world, so what better of science fiction? On first thought you may think that sci-fi is something relegated only to spaceships or Martians, which are certainly part of it, but through research you may discover how this genre told in advance scenarios that came true in reality. Just think of William Gibson's Neuromancer, who prophesied internet through the cyberpunk genre, or novels known as "social science fiction", such as Philip Dick's androids and rebelling machines, telling neuroses and defects of current society. We wanted a broader look, to feel like pioneers of a new reality!
4. I have found some of the track titles very intriguing, eg. Cold Front, Pathfinder, Dying star. Can you give any details about these songs?
The titles could remind sci-fi imagery, some refer to movies or books and in these songs much importance is given to the authors' message behind the stories they profile. Of course anyone could find his own message because generally the lyrics are always written in a metaphorical way. Also, of the three titles you mentioned, Cold Front and Dying Star are the tracks more reminding DM sound in the whole album: the first one is the opening track, a mid-tempo with a synthetic and "cold" atmosphere, while Dying star is a ballad with a great arrangement and deep lyrics; they both have great melodies. Pathfinder is a fast instrumental track sounding "alien", we always used to put instrumental interludes in our albums.
5. Soon your new videoclip Sector Beta is going to appear. Can you tell us about it? What would it be like?
Have you ever travelled on a spaceship? The song opens with a sample from the "War of the Worlds", from the famous radio broadcast by Orson Welles and this is the first sign that something strange is going on..... this is all we can say at the moment, not to spoil the view.
Shooting this video was a very interesting experience because we worked with a serious and competent director, Antonio Levita; also it was sort of alienating, because we ended up shooting against a green screen..... not seeing what will be around you at the end makes you a bit confused! Certainly it would have been difficult to bring a gigantic spaceship in a movie studio.... this is the "Power of post-production"!
6. Can you say something about your cooperation with Mika Rossi?
As we said before, we are very demanding and meticulous in our work, especially regarding arrangements, we use many tracks and we play many instruments, we are in some way the antithesis of minimalism... so at the beginning we were a bit worried because we had to deliver all the material for the production to a guy outside the band and then communicate by e-mail from time to time, telling him what was right and what was wrong. In this sense, Internet is definitely helpful, but We thought that direct contact with the producer, working close with him were definitely a better choice. Instead, we found that this "remote connection" can work well and bring good results! much of the credits goes to Mika, who was very skilful on finding the right balance, giving us a very powerful sound suitable for the European market, being always open to our suggestions and giving a major contribution.
Also he honoured us by participating in the song New Body Machine, which is maybe most featuring the kind of sound Mika knows better.
The result was so beautiful that we are looking forward to work with him again!
7. You have already shared a stage with a lot of bands, but is there anyone you would like to share the stage with, perform together or cooperate?
Our dream always remains to open a concert of "Depeche Mode".... maybe there is a greater chance that Martians could arrive on Earth. Anyway, we believe it is important for us to work and share the stage with many artists, to grow professionally and humanly; considering our ability to measure and understand our mistakes, and the will to exchange views with famous bands or new bands, we think that "share" is perhaps the most important word in recent years for us.
8. How would you assess the condition of the scene you are associated with, synthpop/EBM/ darkwave, in Europe nowadays? And from your point of view, as musicians, how is it to be a part of this scene?
There are a lot of synthpop/ebm bands especially in Germany and in the northern part of Europe. Some of the emerging ones are very interesting, and on the other hand there are bands like Front242, Nitzer Ebb, And One that are still a reference for us. Thanks to years of experience and many gigs we have developed excellent international relationships, even with very important bands... However, we feel and we would like to be part of a scene, united under the brand of "quality music", along with bands like Covenant, Diary of Dreams, And One, Melotron, bands with a defined music style, offering to the public a performance worthy a ticket.
Sadly, the Italian scene, but not only (many foreign friends tell us of problems in other European countries) is in big trouble, but we think we have a lot of great Italian bands which are much better than other more recognized and publicized ones. Unfortunately, here in Italy we have several problems. For example, many clubs can’t host a concert of electronic music, or often forget that this kind of music needs a high level of sonic clearness not to have an electronic band sounding like a punk band! Otherwise the best Italian clubs to arrange a gig expect a large audience, which our scene can provide only with some of the most famous bands. In any case we were lucky, since we have played in some of the best Italian clubs and in any case, Italy is also the base of our label, which certainly, at the moment, is one of the most serious and motivated on the international scene. With this album, we intend to open up more to the public and to the international scene, confident of being well received!
The titles could remind sci-fi imagery, some refer to movies or books and in these songs much importance is given to the authors' message behind the stories they profile. Of course anyone could find his own message because generally the lyrics are always written in a metaphorical way. Also, of the three titles you mentioned, Cold Front and Dying Star are the tracks more reminding DM sound in the whole album: the first one is the opening track, a mid-tempo with a synthetic and "cold" atmosphere, while Dying star is a ballad with a great arrangement and deep lyrics; they both have great melodies. Pathfinder is a fast instrumental track sounding "alien", we always used to put instrumental interludes in our albums.
5. Soon your new videoclip Sector Beta is going to appear. Can you tell us about it? What would it be like?
Have you ever travelled on a spaceship? The song opens with a sample from the "War of the Worlds", from the famous radio broadcast by Orson Welles and this is the first sign that something strange is going on..... this is all we can say at the moment, not to spoil the view.
Shooting this video was a very interesting experience because we worked with a serious and competent director, Antonio Levita; also it was sort of alienating, because we ended up shooting against a green screen..... not seeing what will be around you at the end makes you a bit confused! Certainly it would have been difficult to bring a gigantic spaceship in a movie studio.... this is the "Power of post-production"!
6. Can you say something about your cooperation with Mika Rossi?
As we said before, we are very demanding and meticulous in our work, especially regarding arrangements, we use many tracks and we play many instruments, we are in some way the antithesis of minimalism... so at the beginning we were a bit worried because we had to deliver all the material for the production to a guy outside the band and then communicate by e-mail from time to time, telling him what was right and what was wrong. In this sense, Internet is definitely helpful, but We thought that direct contact with the producer, working close with him were definitely a better choice. Instead, we found that this "remote connection" can work well and bring good results! much of the credits goes to Mika, who was very skilful on finding the right balance, giving us a very powerful sound suitable for the European market, being always open to our suggestions and giving a major contribution.
Also he honoured us by participating in the song New Body Machine, which is maybe most featuring the kind of sound Mika knows better.
The result was so beautiful that we are looking forward to work with him again!
7. You have already shared a stage with a lot of bands, but is there anyone you would like to share the stage with, perform together or cooperate?
Our dream always remains to open a concert of "Depeche Mode".... maybe there is a greater chance that Martians could arrive on Earth. Anyway, we believe it is important for us to work and share the stage with many artists, to grow professionally and humanly; considering our ability to measure and understand our mistakes, and the will to exchange views with famous bands or new bands, we think that "share" is perhaps the most important word in recent years for us.
8. How would you assess the condition of the scene you are associated with, synthpop/EBM/ darkwave, in Europe nowadays? And from your point of view, as musicians, how is it to be a part of this scene?
There are a lot of synthpop/ebm bands especially in Germany and in the northern part of Europe. Some of the emerging ones are very interesting, and on the other hand there are bands like Front242, Nitzer Ebb, And One that are still a reference for us. Thanks to years of experience and many gigs we have developed excellent international relationships, even with very important bands... However, we feel and we would like to be part of a scene, united under the brand of "quality music", along with bands like Covenant, Diary of Dreams, And One, Melotron, bands with a defined music style, offering to the public a performance worthy a ticket.
Sadly, the Italian scene, but not only (many foreign friends tell us of problems in other European countries) is in big trouble, but we think we have a lot of great Italian bands which are much better than other more recognized and publicized ones. Unfortunately, here in Italy we have several problems. For example, many clubs can’t host a concert of electronic music, or often forget that this kind of music needs a high level of sonic clearness not to have an electronic band sounding like a punk band! Otherwise the best Italian clubs to arrange a gig expect a large audience, which our scene can provide only with some of the most famous bands. In any case we were lucky, since we have played in some of the best Italian clubs and in any case, Italy is also the base of our label, which certainly, at the moment, is one of the most serious and motivated on the international scene. With this album, we intend to open up more to the public and to the international scene, confident of being well received!
9. How do you handle mistakes or any problems during a performance?
The first rule is: the show must go on, do not panic, it will always happen to artists to have problems on stage. But, at the end of the concert if something went wrong we are the first ones to be disappointed, even if the problems were almost undetectable. Also, as we said, our live performance is very important, as well as the energy that we put on stage and we want to convey to our audience. Sometimes this can cause small errors, but it certainly gives more emotions than a flat, cold and monotonous gig. Anyway experience is the first way to solve problems, and playing live since 2003 we have a lot of experience, not even the poorest acoustics on stage can bring us down!
10. If we switched places and I was the artist and you were asking the questions, what is one question you would ask me? Why?
If we were the ones asking questions we would try to understand what is in the minds of the people we’re talking to, trying to approach them psychologically, digging deeply to understand, in addition to music, what else the band is trying to say, if there is a message, a meaning, an idea making the difference. So we would ask why did you choose this theme, what do you want to tell us, where did you pick your ideas. Maybe we would try to strip the band of the cover, the photos with the tough look, and go straight to the soul, the purpose and concept.
When you make a new record, it hopefully means you have something to say, and we are glad to talk about that: The interview is a chance to do it!
11. Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
We would like to say that we are too respectful of music and of readers to advertise an inferior product.
We worked with passion on Recoding for three years, and we feel it as an album of great level, deserving to be taken into account. We are not against downloading music from the internet, since we used that means ourselves to release previous material as a free download just to give listeners the chance to judge whether it was worth to spend their money or not, but we would like people to buy this record since we still feel tied to the physical product: a booklet with the lyrics, the smell of paper, the physical support, added to the charm for the discovery of new music and a deserving one, too! Beside personal tastes from the beginning to the end you will not find a boring album, but several great songs, each one unique. We are excited and we are sure that you will be too.
We have a good number of Polish fans and we know that in Poland the scene has a good following, so we really hope to be able to come and play for you as soon as possible!
The album will be released on December 7th, 2012 by EK PRODUCT and may be purchased in advance by pre-ordering on: www.elektrokommando.org - http://www.poponaut.de/ - http://www.stormingthebase.com/
Thanks to you and to all of the staff on AlterNation.pl for hosting us, we are hoping to move from virtual reality to physical contact in an upcoming concert!
The first rule is: the show must go on, do not panic, it will always happen to artists to have problems on stage. But, at the end of the concert if something went wrong we are the first ones to be disappointed, even if the problems were almost undetectable. Also, as we said, our live performance is very important, as well as the energy that we put on stage and we want to convey to our audience. Sometimes this can cause small errors, but it certainly gives more emotions than a flat, cold and monotonous gig. Anyway experience is the first way to solve problems, and playing live since 2003 we have a lot of experience, not even the poorest acoustics on stage can bring us down!
10. If we switched places and I was the artist and you were asking the questions, what is one question you would ask me? Why?
If we were the ones asking questions we would try to understand what is in the minds of the people we’re talking to, trying to approach them psychologically, digging deeply to understand, in addition to music, what else the band is trying to say, if there is a message, a meaning, an idea making the difference. So we would ask why did you choose this theme, what do you want to tell us, where did you pick your ideas. Maybe we would try to strip the band of the cover, the photos with the tough look, and go straight to the soul, the purpose and concept.
When you make a new record, it hopefully means you have something to say, and we are glad to talk about that: The interview is a chance to do it!
11. Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
We would like to say that we are too respectful of music and of readers to advertise an inferior product.
We worked with passion on Recoding for three years, and we feel it as an album of great level, deserving to be taken into account. We are not against downloading music from the internet, since we used that means ourselves to release previous material as a free download just to give listeners the chance to judge whether it was worth to spend their money or not, but we would like people to buy this record since we still feel tied to the physical product: a booklet with the lyrics, the smell of paper, the physical support, added to the charm for the discovery of new music and a deserving one, too! Beside personal tastes from the beginning to the end you will not find a boring album, but several great songs, each one unique. We are excited and we are sure that you will be too.
We have a good number of Polish fans and we know that in Poland the scene has a good following, so we really hope to be able to come and play for you as soon as possible!
The album will be released on December 7th, 2012 by EK PRODUCT and may be purchased in advance by pre-ordering on: www.elektrokommando.org - http://www.poponaut.de/ - http://www.stormingthebase.com/
Thanks to you and to all of the staff on AlterNation.pl for hosting us, we are hoping to move from virtual reality to physical contact in an upcoming concert!
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Other articles:
- Halo Effect - New Romantic Industry - 2009-03-06 (Music reviews)
