Mellowtoy Interview with Matt Massa singer for the group talks about Lies.
Mellowtoy Interview
– What’s new in the world of Mellowtoy?
Hey y’all we have a new kick ass album called “Lies” and we’re so proud of how it sounds and for all the great musicians that worked hard to make it so awesome. Now we’re ready to let the world know about our music, live shows and determination.
– How was it recording the album Lies?
It was very long but very funny. Recordings started during summer of 2013 and we finished at the end of the same year, but the writing session started more than one year before. After that, our producer Marco Coti Zelati (Lacuna Coil) worked on the very first demos, giving them the shape we were looking for, then he followed us during all the studio session. When recordings were completed, we sent the songs for mixing and mastering, done by Kyle Hoffmann and Howie Weinberg. We are so stoked about the sound and the tracks, this is probably our best album ever.
– How do you build a song up from nothing to become something?
It’s something different all the times. Sometimes it all born from a guitar riff but other times even from a drum fill or a vocal chorus. Then we start jammin’ till all the instruments come up together to see if we’re walking the right street or not. But we immediately understand if a song could be a masterpiece or a perfect shit hahaha.
– Are the equipment and instruments used on stage mostly the same as the ones used on the album?
Basically yes, that’s because we want that our songs could approach the same energy we build on stage. We are a live show band and shows are everything to us. So we give everything we have in studio during recordings like we’re performing live, to make it sound so natural and pure.
– Do you consider album artwork as important now that music is mostly downloaded?
Artworks are always so important. I always love to buy physical cds to look and read everything inside the booklet. I even love the smell of booklets haha. Now everything is very different and slowly we’re all losing the very essence of music. A lot of bands today publish their albums only on digital stores because music shops are closing and almost nobody buys cds anymore. That’s very sad, but I think that the artwork is still the first thing that you can see from an album before the music, the first impression of how it could be.
– Do you have any tours coming up in the near future?
Right now we’re touring Italy so hard then we’re planning some tours in Europe and America hopefully.
– What would be some of your main musical influences today?
I’m very bound to all the nu metal movement, so I would say bands like Slipknot, Korn or Deftones but even some rock too like Foo Fighters or Biffy Clyro.
– The current single “Chain Reaction” has a great promo video. How long was the process for that video?
The video was shoot by Matteo Di Gioia (The Jack Stupid) during November 2014 in only one night for the playback parts. Then, the day after, we did all the acting parts of our singer Emiliano in and outside the location. It’s an insane video, the director found the perfect way to put Cristian Machado on it, like a ghost moving around the location and he personally hand-drawned everything! It took several months to do it. We are all so happy about it.
– What would we be surprised to find in your music collection at home?
I think some cds of George Michael or Alphaville haha I love some pop sometimes. Then probably some shitty Italian bands and dance music from the 90’s haha.
– Where do you see the music scene going in 100 years from now?
On Mars maybe because there will be too many bands around, but less and less live clubs.
So if you have fear of flying and want to start a band, be conscious that there will be endless days and nights of sacrifices, waivers, sweat and tears…and you have to support all good bands as well!
Check out Mellowtoy online http://www.mellowtoy.com/
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