DarkVeins has the pleasure of interviewing Diego Merletto, leader of The Frozen Autumn, a well-known Italian electro cold-wave band. We will talk about their beginnings continuing with questions about their music, new and future works and the "Lie in Wait" EP.
L: Hi Diego, first of all thank you for giving us this interview. It is an honor for me to ask some questions to the leader of a band that I love and have been listening to for years. I would like you to tell us briefly about The Frozen Autumn's beginnings and your musical influences.
Q: Hi! First of all, thank you for your patience in receiving my responses to this interview. As many of you know, we have been (and are) very busy on the concert front. The Frozen Autumn was born as my solo project in 1993, after a while the project was joined by a guitarist as a session man, especially as far as live performances are concerned. After a first demo tape on cassette titled "Oblivion", in 1995 the first album, "Pale Awakening", which immediately paved the way for several concerts abroad.
But soon the need for a guitar faded away, giving way to fully electronic sounds that, with the arrival of Froxeanne in 1996, were also enriched by the female vocalist as well as keyboardist of The Frozen Autumn who already makes her first appearance in the title track of the second CD album "Fragments of Memories" released in 1997. Also worth mentioning is our parallel project "Static Movement" with which in 1999 we released the CD "Visionary Landscapes" which definitively decrees the stylistic choice to maintain the formation of "Electronic Duo" and which is to be considered somewhat like "the third album of The Frozen Autumn"... the project "Static Movement", after the release in limited copies of a video CD, is completely assimilated into The Frozen Autumn, and from here on all our other productions have always been released under the name "The Frozen Autumn."
My musical influences have always been 4AD groups, Factory and also other cold wave derivations...
L: You are considered one of the best darkwave bands at you have millions of fans who adore you. How does that affect you?
Q: It's wonderful to be able to know that you are heard by so many people all over the world, to know that your music right now is being heard and danced to in a club in Brazil or the U.S. for example. It's a great satisfaction and this only increases the desire to keep going and to want to do better and better at our work, which is also our passion and our reason for living ... our choice of life.
L: How much work is behind each of The Frozen Autumn's albums?
Q: Luckily there is someone who asks me this question!!! There is a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of time used in the studio doing sonic and compositional research, the in-depth study and use of one's instruments, delving into the use of synthesizers (our other enduring passion), the continuous search for the best possible quality for our means (joy and pain of every musician I think)...
Sometimes we spend weeks on one track because we want to be satisfied with the end result...we are perfectionists...but of course you are never done learning! There is always some good discovery around the corner.
Then there is the cover study, making videos... preparing and managing concerts (which is really demanding) etc... in short a full-time life immersed in music... I couldn't and wouldn't want to do a different thing, we have made so many sacrifices in these 22 years, where many have a secure job, a new car, a house of their own maybe (and welcome all these very right and hard-earned things!! ). We have made an artistic choice, even this often involves sacrifices but we are proud of it and believe it is worth it!!!
L: What are your sources of inspiration?
Q: As far as I'm concerned, musically speaking, a lot comes from the new wave of the 80s... after all, it all started from there for our genre but there is still a lot to discover and I can say: thankfully!
Otherwise, my inspirations come from my surroundings, from some life experiences, from the desire to escape a bit from reality... and often they also come from dreams, even compositionally speaking, I have already happened to dream complete musical pieces. "Rallentears" for example is one of them.
L: Can you tell us about your new EP "Lie in Wait"?
Q: First of all, we decided to make this EP on 12-inch vinyl. This is the second vinyl we are making, the first being the 10-inch "Rallentears," also made by Calembour Records (www.calembourrecords.com ). This new vinyl however is made in a spectacular "picture disc" format all to look at!!! It contains 4 tracks including 3 previously unreleased tracks and a different "atmospheric" version of "Sidereal Solitude" previously released in its original version on our CD album "Chirality" also released by Calembour Records.
The new songs are highly articulated, rhythmic and with manic attention to sonic details, melodies and sequences that weave together (I can confidently say "our trademark") to form textures and tonal variations that evolve over time. Two songs sung by me and two by Froxeanne...the theme is one of anticipation as the title suggests, the perception of something about to happen, even on a dreamlike level...and it all creates a tension, a frenzy that is clearly perceptible. The sequences are at times tight and at times dilated according to the various tracks.
The version of "Sidereal Solitude" abandons the purely rhythmic part to create an even greater sense of suspension and enhance Froxeanne's vocals that-I'm sure-will "decontextualize" you!
L: What are the future plans? Is a new album already in the works?
Q: Exactly! New tracks being composed and recorded... and new concerts in which we also already present tracks from the new vinyl.
L: You recently performed in Parma. What are the upcoming dates?
Q: Immediately after Parma there were concerts in, Kopenhagen, Stockholm, London, Budapest and Berlin... coming up in May is WGT in Leipzig and in July the Castle Party festival in Poland and there will be news soon!!! Follow us on Facebook!!!
L: What are your favorite bands and what do you think about the current music scene?
D: As far as I'm concerned I love Twice a Man, Ultravox, I've always liked Cocteau Twins, Dead can Dance, Xmal Deutschland, and also And Also the Trees, Chameleons, Sad Lovers and Giants, Sound, Killing Joke, A Flock of Seagulls, Pseudo Echo, and Comsat Angels. plus various cold wave groups both electro and non-electro... certain minimal... etc...
L: What is your relationship with Horror cinema? Are there any genre films that you are particularly attached to?
Q: I don't follow the Horror strand much but there are at least two or three films that I consider horror that keep me glued to my seat: "Glimpses in the Dark" for me terrifying, Alien (the whole series) and a Japanese film called "Beyond the Mirror." Beautiful...pure aesthetics...perfect thematics...a masterpiece at least for my taste. As well as the original version of "The Grudge" which is best seen once in a lifetime I think....
I'm maybe more for other genres--if you cry it's better: in "The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean" the porthole scene and the whole film are a masterpiece for me; "Hearts in Atlantis"; "The House on the Lake of Time" (a theme very dear to me); "If You Leave Me, I'll Erase You" (fantastic); "The Stranger Who Came from the Sea" (devastating); "Picnic at Hanging Rock"; "The Paperhouse"; "The Bridges of Madison County"; "Jane Eyre" which fortunately has a happy ending or else your heart would melt in a sea of tears; "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" which is pure suffering with no way out in my opinion; "The Final Cut" and many others including a very rare Italian film called "The Shadow Game," a film I am very fond of! And of course "Amelie." What can I say, am I a romantic?
L: I would say so! Can you leave a message to the DarkVeins community and to everyone who will read this interview?
Q: A special thanks to Barbara and all the staff of DarkVeins. I hope our music can convey emotions to you, keep you company and help in some way!
On FB look for "The Frozen Autumn (official)", on the internet the site where to buy our work is as follows: www.calembourrecords.com
L: And I thank you for your helpfulness Diego!
