Interview by Erwin van Dijk
An in-depth chat with Chiara, the soprano singer of the well-promising Italian Gothic Metal band Lust for Oblivion about their debut demo “Black Moon” and their musical future.
Did you always want to become a singer?
I’ve always loved music and my first experience with it was at the age of nine, when I started playing the piano, but I’ve always loved singing, too, since when I was a child, so, some years ago, I started taking opera singing lessons.
And to what kind of music do you listen yourself?I listen to classical music, especially opera and piano compositions and also to metal music.
And who are your favorite bands and musicians?Bands like Dark Tranquillity, Moonspell, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Tristania are my favorite, but I’ve surely forgotten some…obviously I adore Tarja Turunen!!!! My favorite classical musicians are W.A.Mozart, F.Chopin and K.Orff.
Did you have any other bands before Lust for Oblivion and/or are you active in any other bands now besides Lust for Oblivion?
I used to sing for a gothic metal cover band, for a celtic music orchestra and for a gothic-core band but now I’m only singing for Lust for Oblivion.
What are your other passions besides music?Music is my main passion, but I’m also very interested in Biology (which I study at University in Milan), then I love reading books about it (Genetics in particular). I enjoy reading ancient Greek and Latin authors’ books, too. I also love traveling around Europe very much.
Why did you choose Lust for Oblivion as name for the band?Ahah, it’s not easy to explain! Many people ask me for the reason why I chose it but actually there’s not only one reason and the name doesn’t have only one meaning. I was surely inspired by ancient mythology (Lethe is the Oblivion river from whose waters dead souls had to drink to forget their past life, that’s what the ancients thought), so, the first meaning is the need to forget everything for a while but I think it’s easy to find many meanings to the name and I have my personal one… but I’m sure: everyone, at least once in their life, has lusted for oblivion!
And how would you describe your music?Our music can be named gothic metal but it takes inspiration from many other kinds of music. Every member of the band likes different genres and artists, so the result is a mix of classical music, metal, rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, anything we might like. For example Alex (the keyboard player) likes metal ( Nightwish, Within Temptation, Blind Guardian, Iron Maiden…) and classical music (Bach, Orff, Beethoven) and his favorite keyboard players are Holopainen, Simonetti, Wakeman, Emerson. Andrea, the guitarist, likes bands like Rush, Dark Tranquillity, Tool, Faith No More, Meshuggah, At the Gates, and his favorite musicians are Tom Morello, Jimi Hendrix , Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Morse. Paolo, the drummer and Riccardo, the bass player, have a similar musical background, and they like heavy metal, rock, prog, jazz, blues very much. Riccardo has a special passion for the band Rush, so we’re always forced to listen to their songs while we are driving in his car!
And what makes Lust for Oblivion different compared to all those other female fronted bands?Well, I think that what makes Lust for Oblivion different is this mix of influences and ideas which I told you about and the fact that we all are friends and that we share a common passion for what we do: I’m sure anyone can feel it while listening to our songs and while we are on stage… and I must admit: Lust for Oblivion musicians are very cool!!!!
Every lyric holds a different story and a different inspiration: some are about real life events, some about dreams and nightmares, memories and oblivion. Some ideas come just from what I see around me: nature, pictures, people, etc…; But some are something like “stream of consciousness”. Sometimes it takes only half an hour for me to write lyrics, sometimes a month or more.
And how do you work together with Alessandro? Does he create the music and do you add the lyrics afterward or do you two share ideas before writing a song?Usually Alex writes the music, tells me what he was thinking of while composing and then I write the lyrics (which are usually very different from his original idea) and sometimes we share ideas and then he creates the music and I create the lyrics.
What is your favourite song on the album and why?Another hard question! I like them all but my favorite song is probably “Black Moon”: I love the mysterious and horror sound of the keyboards at the beginning, followed by the solemn entry of other instruments. I also love singing it, especially when the lyric goes: “in the gloom, I can see thee, crescent moon”…sooooo gothic!
Can you introduce us to the other members of Lust for Oblivion?It is such an honor for me to introduce the other members of the band to all the Femme Metal friends: Alex is the keyboard player and also the founder of the band, Andrea, the man with SUPERCOILED wires, is the guitarist, and Riccardo-isthevolumeofthebasshighenough?- is the bass player. Last but not least comes our magnificent drummer, the youngest and also the “sex-symbol” of the band, Paolo.
“Black Moon” was released some time ago. How did the media, and more important, the fans react on the EP?“Black Moon” was welcomed well, from both the fans and the media but we’re always opened to new suggestions: so anyone can contact us and tell us what they like about the EP, what they don’t like or what they would change by writing to us using the following addresses: lustforoblivion@gmail.com – www.myspace.com/lustforoblivion. Now we are also on Facebook… so, become fan!
There are only four songs on the EP. Are you working on other material right now?Yes, sure! We have more or less twenty songs and some new other songs are coming, written both by Alex and Andrea.
What are for you the highlights with Lust for Oblivion so far?There are a lot of precious moments with Lust for Oblivion: some are just little things that have a meaning for us (the birth of new song, kilos of pizza we ate together…) and one of these is when we first met our drummer Paolo: the band was, finally, really complete and ready to rock the world! Some other wonderful moments are about our live gigs: we have learnt that it is not important how huge or crowded or famous is the place you perform in, but that people in front of you make the difference… it is so amazing when you see someone singing your songs or starting with the headbanging! These are the highlights with my band.
And what can we expect from Lust for Oblivion in the nearby future?In the nearby future we’re supposed to record a new EP or maybe an album, ’cause, as I said, we’ve songs enough for both. We would also like to bring Oblivion throughout Europe, so we would like to have gigs in the rest of Italy and Europe.
And the last question: is there anything the reader should know that I have not asked?The other members of the band and me would like to say thanks to our families, friends and supporters, to all the Opossums we ate (Alex, you know what I mean!), all the mud that surrounds and soaks our music room and to our faces for looking so silly in the pictures… that’s what Lust for Oblivion are made of, too. Thanks to all the Femme Metal staff and to all the female metal bands supporters. Keep on lusting for Oblivion!