Interview by Miriam Cadoni
Personally speaking, I do seriously think that perseverance and fighting for your dreams, at the end of the day, will always pay. However, before reaching the top, you gotta sweat and be patient. In short, this is what Ardours is and what their debut album (released via Frontiers Records SRL) “Last Place On Earth” testifies. Essentially, what Ardours represents for Mariangela is the complete achievement of a dream and beside musically exemplify who Mariangela as an artist is, listening to Ardours‘s music is like a jump into the golden era of the 80s goth music with echoes of The Cure and Siouxie and The Banshee. Enjoy!
So, Mariangela, welcome back to Femme Metal Webzine. How are and how today is treating you?
I’m fine, thank you. Thank you for calling me. Well, today I woke up really early and I had to do a lot of things and I did arrive home just a couple of minutes ago and I’ve been kicking around the whole day.
Here we are for talking about your musical project Ardours and before anything else, did you like to introduce it and how everything started?
Ardours more than a project is actually a band that started with just a simple talk in 2015. Then became reality after working on some music with a friend of mine. The idea of writing something new comes out from the fact that I was always replacing singers in bands and I finally wanted that I really I didn’t have to worry with that anymore and that I could feel free for some reasons Iike free to express the identity I’m creating in the project I’m signing. Also, Ardours represents my first wish to have a band, I explain it better, when I was younger I always wished I had a band I could grow up with, so, being friends with the members, in the end being in a band very unique, the kind of band that after 20 years are still together and it sticks together for tours but since I was located in Sardinia, we don’t have certain opportunities. Generally speaking, we don’t have that in Italy and I had to travel, I had to join places out of my country and I have to away from home to build my story somewhere else. However, I had the opportunity now to start something with a friend of mine that he was coming from my same place which I always admired for his musical talent and someone I could match with, musically talking. That finally happened and here we go, now we have Ardours and I’m very happy about this. Somehow, I managed to realize my dream.
That’s good. You have both positions in two bands such as Tristania and Ardours but Ardours can be something much more, musically speaking, personal, maybe?
Hmm, well instead of personal I would say my solo things. In Ardours, I still want to keep a band identity, I don’t want to be the main face, I just want to be equal to the other members because they’re putting their souls and their minds. For instance, we are two main members in the band but we have a third member which is Tarald [Lie, the drummer from Tristania]. He wrote the lyrics and he’s a very, very important member of this band. The more personalities you put together, the less is your solo project, so I didn’t want to sounds it like my solo but I wanted to sound like my band.
However, if we refer to your solo project, do you have any plans for that because I own at home a promo CD from your solo gigs…
Yes, I still have that. In truth, I recorded an album a few years ago which I’m very proud of but I think that I didn’t reach what I really wanted soundwise and for the style. I don’t know, I still have to work on something about that and I wanted to be sure 100% of what I’m doing, what exactly it represents me because I’ve been influenced by many things and genres. Sometimes it’s quite hard because the more you absorb the more insecure you get and you’re not sure on your own of what you would do. So, I’m working on some ideas but eventually, I have to because I feel the need to do that.
I can feel you in a way because I listen to a lot different musical genres and even for me, as a listener it’s complicated to give myself a limit. I cannot imagine the struggle that an artist can face…
Yeah but also I’m a person that overthinks too much. Maybe if I’ll think less, maybe the things will just happen… I take these things seriously and deeply and as right now I don’t feel like going there and I would like to put on display what I think and do in a raw manner. So, I want that it looks good.
Thus, I’ve listened to the album and I want to express my congratulations because I really like it. Basically, while I was listening to it I felt thrown back to the 80s. It did recall me Siouxie and the Banshee and The Cure and all that gothic wave from the 80s. On top of all, I really liked for the particular atmosphere and in addition, in the press release you expressed the desire for this band to be like a melting pop of several personalities and I felt that, so, do you think to have managed to reach the perfect equilibrium of these elements? And which elements were important for you for finding the right balance?
Yes, I’m very happy about that and I think we did it and about the balance that you mentioned, I think about total instinct, knowledge experience as well as wiseness. And in some forms, even poetic.
So, on the 9th August, Ardours‘s début album “The Last Place on Earth” has been released. What you can share about its general production? When did you start composing for it?
We started composing for “The Last Place on Earth” in 2016 without any rush at all. We started with the instrumental parts and on top of it, I added the vocal melodies too. Then, we continued with the lyrics and we followed with the structure: basically, with the final product. We attempted to be honest and be ourselves, so we took time for that and we avoid any external pressure for finishing this album. Essentially, the process was that I’ve described earlier.
Up to this, it was released a single called “Last Moments” accompanied by its own amazing video. Please indulge me in my own curiosity: where the video was shot and do you think that the location relates to its lyrical context in the song?
Well, we can say that if we want. It depends on our imagination. Of course, we gave that image in our video but essentially, this last place on earth and the last moments mustn’t be related to this desert close to Genova. We can relate to it like that but we want to be people free to imagine their last place on earth, identify with the lyrics and dream up their own spot. Sometimes videos spoil the imagination because they give an appearance already and while you listen to a song you want to build up some thoughts of your own. Eventually, it’s also cool because it’s always artistic. Especially, it’s a good thing.
As I stated before, this album reminds me a lot of The Cure and in a particular way, the single “Truth” evokes the legendary British post-punk/new wave band. So, I would like to learn more about this song, what you would like to add?
Ahhh, do you like “Truths”? Well, “Truths” is actually a song that tells the story of a person that gets really down in a very bad and bitter situation and he gets influenced a lot by what happened in his life. He sees things the way he thinks they are. With this tale, I want to invite people to ponder over the fact that the truth is how we relate and we perceive things because it’s not eventually anything objective but it’s something we create on our own and consequently, you develop some unconsciousness as well.
So, “Last Place on Earth” has been released by Italy’s Frontiers Records SRL. How did you get in contact with them and therefore, how you signed a deal with them? I mean, I’m cognizant that their main focus is hard rock and AOR and I was quite surprised. However, I know their professionality.
Yeah, it’s something different but they love the album. Wait, let me explain to you a little bit how this did happen: I sent them an email because I was contacting labels here and there and they answered me back saying: “Whoa, you know that we were talking about you right now?” and I said: “What!?”. After they told me like “Ok, we’ll listen to your music but in addition, we have also a proposal for you”. Well, if you ask me this was really weird [laughs]. In the end, the reason why they were interested to contact me was about an invitation for Timo Tolkki‘s “Avalon” project. After all, they listened to the album too and they really loved it, thereupon we started talking about business. I was impressed by their care for the artist that they have and how they were so confident in sign Ardours. I still can see that, I mean, they work a lot for our promotion and they do what’s in their best to accommodate the artist. They proved to be really supportive of our music and that’s what I got impressed by because they never lookout for trends. Well, it happens that a label has an interest in you however what defines their decision, in most of their cases, is related to business and trends. The fact is that if you don’t belong in a trend or you appear to look like the next big thing, you get recognized as an artist, you have always to show off. I got really disappointed by that and what I saw in Frontiers is that they were focused on the music. So, I got an opportunity and I took it.
So, we are almost reaching the end of our interview. Do you have any plans of touring with Ardours?
We’re talking about that and we’re hoping to do that as soon as possible, at the moment nothing is defined however the only thing I can affirm is that we’ll play in a very nice festival with Paradise Lost headlining next December. We’re very happy because it’s our right musical environment.
Musically speaking, which are your musical plans for this year?
Oh my god, I have many plans. Besides my life at home which is very busy due to my kid which is only 1 year old but anyway, I would like to bring Ardours to the next level and I have many other projects on the way, so I have to be careful to not overload myself.
Now we come to the dreadful question: do you have any news about Tristania?
Unfortunately, I don’t anything to say about that if it’s related to new material. We talked about starting to write a new album but nothing didn’t happen yet.
Well, Mariangela I really thank you for this interview. We are really at the end, this is your space if you want to add something or simply greet our readers and your fans, this is your space.
Thank you, Miriam. I would love to greet all the people that are interested and also know Ardours, I would also to promise them that we are working hard for creating new music and for being out there in order to gift you with some memories, nice moments and some real emotions.
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