Interview by Ary R
Young and talented, the Italian band Synful Ira is proud and ready to introduce itself to the European metalheads with their first full length album, “Between Hope and Fear”. After having signed a deal with the label logic(il)logic Records, this sturdy young sextet is ready to enter the International music biz, spreading their own symphonic-gothic metal sound. For the occasion, the lead singer Letizia addressed herself to our crew and she talked about the creation of the project and much more about the band and the record itself.
Thank you! It’s really nice to answer your questions and to introduce myself to all the readers!
Let’s break the ice starting our chat talking about your band, Synful Ira. It’s an Italian gothic rock/metal band and of course you are the lead singer. Would you like to introduce the band and to tell us how did this project come to life?I would like to introduce you all the members of Synful Ira:
Bass – my brother Emanuele Chiozzi
Guitar – Laura Balducci
Drums- Marco Renzi
Keyboards- Filippo Mantignano
Guitar- Fabio Balducci, project leader.
After several years playing “covers” we finally made something by ourselves. Fabio put into music the main phases of his life, his emotions, feelings, memories and he created the main character of our album “Between Hope and Fear” by taking out all the emotions people experience during their lives.
The band was born mainly as a Nightwish/Evanescence cover/tribute band. How did this choice of imprinting your sound on the wake on these famous bands in a first moment rather than some others?At the beginning Laura proposed to form a Nightwish and Lacuna Coil cover band and meanwhile Fabio was trying to form an Evanescence cover band; when they told each other about their same ideas to form a gothic-metal cover band, they decided to combine them. This was the germinal try to set their dreams up.
The line up sees the attendance of Fabio Balducci (Ancient Bards) and Marco Renzi (Absynth Aura). How do these band members manage to accommodate their own commitments with their bands?
Marco and Fabio are very professional, that’s for sure, as they respect all the commitments with their own bands; as said before, Fabio was the creator of this project, giving life to it with all himself and all his energy since the first day.
Right after you’ve decided to become an independent band in 2010 and you’ve recorded a demo, “The Hard Reality”. Has it got good feedbacks?Yes, “The Hard Reality” had good feedbacks; it has been the first time we played music made by us, it has been really exciting and it pushed us to “Between Hope and Fear”.
Not long ago, the band signed a deal with logic(il)logic Records, which has released your debut album last month. How did the cooperation with this label come to life?We already knew the label because Marco previously worked with them with his other project Absynth Aura and spoke very well of them and of their promotional work, so when Fabio sent the tracks of our album to various labels, logic(il)logic showed a lot of interest in working together and now, a few months after the signing and the release of our debut album, we are very happy and pleased about our choice to work with them.
Last month the record has came out. Have you had the chance to see some good reaction, to read some good review about it?I am happy to say YES , since our first CD we had good feedbacks and positive articles!
Are you satisfied with the final result?I think I can speak for all the band, we are very satisfied with all the positive judgments: we did something new and we created it using our emotions. That’s what we call “making music”: passing our emotions to others and I think we succeeded in doing it.
As I was saying, Fabio put into music all his own life and also our experiences; in this way “Between Hope and Fear” was made, a nice collection of sad and joyful moments like everyone experiences.
What can you say about the recording process? If I’m not mistaken, you “paid a visit” to the DoctorStudios in Bologna (Italy)…Inside DoctorStudios there’s Roberto Priori’s “Pristudio”, and we recorded the whole album with him. We knew about him because our friends in Absynth Aura previously worked with him and they were very satisfied, and also because Fabio attended a seminary of studio mixing held by Roberto. We get on well with him both technically and personally very soon because Roberto, apart from being a great sound engineer,(and also a musician-guitarist from his historical band Danger Zone) was almost a “psychologist” for all of us, because it was our first studio experience and we were so much excited and also scared to do something wrong.
The album also sees the partecipation of Claudia “Klod” Saponi. What could you say about this coopertation with Absynth Aura’s singer?While creating our first record we had some collaborations like the one with Claudia Saponi, the great Absynth Aura‘s singer. By the way, I would like to thank all the people who supported and helped us during this marvelous journey.
Listening to “Inside My Fears” I’ve noticed a slight reference to Lacuna Coil. Am I wrong or is there an influence by this band?Yes, as we were born as a cover band you will notice some references to Nightwish, Within Temptation, Evanescence and Lacuna Coil.
If I should identify the band sound with a song, I would choose “Shining Tracks”, since I think it identifies your sound at the best. Do you agree with this statement?Let’s say that “Shining Tracks” is the meaning of the whole record, like the main character’s discouragement. His power of fighting overtakes the fear of withstanding, so he has a stronger consciousness that gives him and us the frame of what is right and what is wrong.
Nowadays, it’s very hard for Italian bands to get a name in their native Country. The metal/symphonic panorama is often undervalued. What is your thought about this situation?I agree, it’s not easy for a band like us to succeed in the entertainment world, but anyway I’m very happy to take part in this event, even if for a few emotions.
What is the best way to promote your music? Do you use social networks like Facebook or Myspace to “gain” some extra fan?Of course, FB and Myspace are good tools to promote our job, but first of all we thank a lot our fantastic label logic(il)logic.
What are your future goals at the moment? Having a released album now, what are your expectations?At the moment I don’t want to have any expectation, I am still at the beginning, I like playing music and reaching people with our music.
Any hidden dream?I am still dreaming of playing piano and singing in a live concert, which I would like since I was a child. That would be very nice, giving all myself to the audience.
Is there something you would like to say to Synful Ira fans and to our readers? Meanwhile, we want to thank you for your time and for having allowed us this interview 🙂The message we want to send as Synful Ira with the album “Between Hope and Fear”, is that each one of us finds many obstacles in his life, but the important thing is to react and not to lose the faith in life, reacting to any fears and difficulties. We really love to thank you and all the people who follow us!