written by Marko Jakob | 06 July 2022 |
Pix666: Hello Michele and thanks for your time. How are you doing these days?
Michele: Hey!! Thanks a lot for hosting us here!! I’m crazy busy lately but everything is going great!
Pix666: Recently your new video ‚The Dawn Of Dawns‘ was released. How have the reactions been so far?
Michele: Kaledon had a long break between the last record and this one, so there’s a lot to do to re-activate the band! Those who have seen the video, have highly appreciated the style that band is offering with this new record! Indeed we’ve been restarting from where we left with “Carnagus”.
Pix666: Where did you shoot the clip and how long does it take?
Michele: Everything has been filmed in Rome at KINOrama Studio! It’s the studio lead by Herma from the band Sick’n’Beautiful! They’re growing a lot as videomakers and they really made a great job with us too!
Pix666: The video clip has a lot of views on YouTube. Do you look at these statistics and do you know from which parts of the world your listeners and fans come?
Michele: We always follow this statistics and I guess that every band does. For a band like Kaledon having reached around 50k views in less than 3 weeks, with a video that has been published on our own channel, is absolutely a great result! Hopefully it will grow more and more!
Pix666: Your new album ‘Chapter VII – Evil Awakens’ will be released soon. What is the main difference to your previous albums?
Michele: Kaledon’s evolution in time has been moving a lot. The band begun as a classic power metal band and has moved into heavier and darker territories with time. The last two records, Carnagus and Evil Awakens are indeed the heaviest releases from Kaledon. We have grown, we have developed different musical tastes and obviously our approach to music is changing. Evil Awakens is a bit more melody-based compared to Carnagus, but the guitar riffing and the heavy drums still are the solid base from where everything begins.
Pix666: How do you create your songs and what are your lyrics about?
Michele: In Kaledon the songwriting is a team-work process. Alex starts putting down the basic structures and the riffing for the vast majority of the tracks. After he’s done I get on the material and basically re-structure and rebuild what he put down to adapt it to the vocal lines that I have in mind. Paolo gives the final touch with his keyboards arrangements. I’d say that this is what happens for the 80% of the material. There are some songs though, where even the guitar riffing and the instrumental incipits have been written by Paolo, Tommy and Manuele. Still the re-structuring and melody-composition process stays the same.
Pix666: Why has actually passed so much time since the last release, were there any particular reasons for this?
Michele: to be extremely honest, we were not really convinced about writing a new record after Carnagus. Kaledon is a band with a long, long history and all of us now have other projects. It is also not really easy to organise live shows and touring due to the entire world around each member…and we really thought that Carnagus could have been the last record. Then, the pandemic happened and we found ourselves with a LOT of time and a lot of ideas in the closet. After a few discussions we decided not to waste the time we had and to use it to make something that we though impossible…possible! And this is how Evil Awakens came to life, after a long time from Carnagus. Crazy but true, from the ashes we found ourselves with a record that convinces us really, really strongly!
Pix666: Did the Corona Pandemic influence your way of working?
Michele: Of course the pandemic played a part in our lives. As I said above this is the reason why we are discussing about this record now…in a way we have to be thankful to the pandemic from the Kaledon’s perspective. If nothing happened, especially I would have absolutely not been available due to the duties with Visions of Atlantis and Temperance, and most likley we would have not been here discussing about this cool album of Kaledon.
Pix666: Do you have a show or tour planned for the time of the album release?
Michele: Unfortunately not. We will see if this will become possible soon, as we all want to play live and bring this songs in Europe. Kaledon don’t hit the stage since a long time, so it would be an important coming back for us. It might be clear from this interview that the biggest problem is to coordinate six people where every member has other big and relevant duties with other projects.
Pix666: You’ve been on the road with Kaledon for more than twenty years now – what have been the most memorable experiences with the band so far?
Michele: Kaledon have been on the road with Lordi, Rhapsody and had the chance to open for big names…but I guess that the highlight of Kaledon’s career (in a moment in which unfortunately I was not in the band yet) was the show as opening act for Ronnie James Dio. Alex always talks about it getting emotional.
Pix666: What do you do when you’re not into music – do you have any interesting or extraordinary hobbies?
Michele: Nice question! I am a nerd musician, to be honest. My biggest passion is music and when I don’t sing I play guitars, when I don’t play guitars I compose…music is my job and my hobby. Crazy but true! I also love photography and TV series, but the role this play in my life is definitely smaller compare to everything that moves around the musical world.
Pix666: Do you have any other news about Kaledon, or maybe even about your other bands, Temperance and Visions of Atlantis, that you would like to share with the fans?
Michele: well, there is so much going on now. Kaledon will soon release new videos, and this is definitely another boost to the new record. We’ll try to plan everything at the best of our possibilities so that we can give the album the promotion it deserves.
With my other bands there’s also a lot of stuff ongoing. VoA just released their latest record, ‘PIRATES’, and the overall response has been amazing. We’re playing a lot of summer festivals (Wacken, Metaldays, Masters of Rock, Metal on the Hills and more) and we have a big tour coming this fall co-headlining with Xandria. Temperance will tour too in November and December as special guests for Leaves’ Eyes…finally back on the road to promote the latest record ‘DIAMANTI’. I can’t say I’m a lazy man…
Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting answers – good luck with the new album and stay healthy!
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photos © by Kinorama
