Rockezine.com interview with Thunderstorm on Nov 25, 2004

with Omar on Nov 25, 2004

While we are endlessly arguing about what metal is, what makes metal true, etc., True Metal raises its head with a new wave of incredible intelligence, powerful creativity and magic sensibility. Today it all materialized before me in a sight of Omar, bassist of Italian doom band Thunderstorm who have just released their new album Faithless Soul on Dragonheart Records. I couldn’t stop myself from asking some questions to such a charming person. It turned out to be an interesting interview:
		To begin with, what influenced your decision to become a musician? There isn’t a specific reason! Many guys like sport, cinema or books; I put music at the top of my life. I think it’s a kind of self expression that fits very well with my spiritual features and this world gives me all the necessities for my ‘ego’: concentration, stimulation, expulsion of unnecessary power and rage. The music gave me much, now it’s time to give something back.
		Why did you choose to play doom metal? Wouldn’t it have been easier to play melodic speed metal which most Italian bands are famous for? In Italy it isn’t easy to play hard’n’heavy metal and the situation is becoming worse if we are talking about doom metal. Maybe it could be easier to follow the Italian melodic trend, but we don’t want to follow someone, we want to be us! I personally don’t like melodic symphonic Italian power metal (I think you understand what genre I’m talking about!), cause this kind of music overloads the market and I find it quite boring; always the same song structure. I know they are great musician, but I can’t listen to an entire album and someone says that Doom metal has unexciting melodies!
		You mentioned Candlemass, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Black Sabbath as your influences? Do they still influence your music? Black Sabbath will be forever and ever among my influences! The other bands influenced our musical development; it’s easy to recognize their teachings in our songs. Obviously Paradise Lost have gone far away from their four firsts albums and I don’t like this new way they took!
		You have recently released a new album Faithless Soul on Dragonheart Records. What’s it about? Well, this album has the melancholic feelings of Sad Symphony and the epic mood of Witchunter Tales. I think we finally found a personal style in doom. Faithless Soul sounds louder and deeper compared to the others albums and the promotional work done by Dragonheart Records is helping us to spread this CD. This label is supporting us more than Northwind Records and Enrico Paoli (the master of Dragonheart) is a great person, maybe because he’s a musician too. Finally our fans can easier get our CD!
		How do you like the reaction of the critics and the fans? At first I must say that we play for us, I mean that we made the music we like and not what ‘others’ like. My heart needs just one person that pleases my music and it’s fulfillment of proud! Everybody seems to have enthusiastic feedback on this third release: press and fans alike! We put all of ourselves into this CD. I know that there will be someone who won’t like our work, but I don’t care. I like intelligent critics. I’m my first censor; I don’t like superficial stereotyped reviewers that classify everything in modules, I know we aren’t perfect; if someone with a great culture in Doom metal will explain me why my CD sucks, I will accept it. Maybe! [laughs] I don’t understand reviewers that ignore Doom metal!
		Would you change musical style to experiment or to get more radio or TV rotation? We always experiment and this album is the result. Yeah we test, but always in the Doom way, we were born under the Doom star and we will always ride in the shadow of this star. We lived through some line-up crisis, but we passed trough these times with help of our friends and fans! We will never change for all the people that believed in us since the first ‘coming-out’ of Thunderstorm, we will never misunderstand these guys!
		Does Thunderstorm have any side projects? We spend all our energies on the ‘Thunderstorm’-project: live performances, reviews, promotional work and we work every day as other people do. Sometime it’s hard, but it’s what every musician wants to do! Normally side projects are born when you want to express something you never did before, but I can fully express myself in Thunderstorm. When I will feel this necessity, I will take some free time and I will do some stuff, but now I’ve got just my band on my mind.
		About influences… Do you usually listen to doom metal in your private life? Your favorite album? Definitely! I love Doom metal. I like classic metal, epic metal, 60’s and 70’s rock and I think all these genres can be easily located in Faithless Soul! Every one of us has a different musical development; these ways cross in Doom metal! Many different kinds of music inspire us. I like to listen very well before I make any conclusions! My favorite album is “Vol.4” (the name of the band is useless!) [laughs]: a mix of experimentations, doom and magic, there are no adjectives to describe this record, simply… the maximum!
		If you could jam with any musician (alive or passed) whom would you choose? Oh! Well! This is my ideal ‘death’ band, maybe it’s too much 60’s / 70’s but my roots are from there: - Kate Moon on drums; - Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar; - Sid Barret on rhythm guitar; - Bon Scott on vocals. For my ‘alive’ band: - R.J. Dio on vocals; - Angus Young on lead guitar; - Tony Iommy on lead guitar; - Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar; - Vinni Appice on drums; - Bob Moog on synthesizers; - a blind man as light mixer; - a blind woman as music mixer.
		Can you imagine yourself being sixty? What would you do then; will you still remain a musician? It’s so hard imagining myself as sixty; I can’t imagine myself to tomorrow! [laughs] If I should live till sixty, I would definitely play! Music is the only stable thing in my life, the music: People die, people get born, Years go and years come It will ever play But my hour has come I will go to nowhere But it’ll ever be here As I said before I’ve much to give back to music, so I WILL PLAY TILL DEATH!
		What was the most impressive event in your life? You know: life is a rollercoaster! There is not a specific event that has changed my life but it’s the collection of many bad and good episodes, which has defined my own history, like a book. Maybe if I should single out one single part of my life I will choose the passage from ‘teenager’ into ‘adulthood’. There will be no more people that will think for you, now you are on your own, the first decisions. Wow! Such a stressing season! Not so many rights as we thought! If I could I would go back to my childhood, where I should think about nothing, maybe you could consider me a sucker, but try to image the daily happiness. Every one of us has been a ‘rock star’ in our childhood (if you had a good childhood!): others worked for you, gave you food, and solved your problems. I know that sometime I’m quite mind sick!
		About new digital technologies. How do you use them? What is your position on the question concerning downloads from the Internet? I’m not a great surfer of the WWW! I use a PC just to play and write (the lyrics I wrote down with a pencil before digitalizing them), about the official site you should speak with Fabio because he’s the webmaster. Downloads are the cancer of the modern music industry. Labels don’t want to waste money on the CD. I must say that metal is the exception to this rule, because it has so many fanatic fans who want the original album (…and I must say thank you to these guys!). I don’t want to say the usual invitation against downloads, because I will never change this trend, but if you really like what you listened to; well, you should buy it! Especially if you want to hear another album from this band! If there would be no more bands, what the hell would you download?
		And in the end, when will we have a chance to see Thunderstorm live in Holland? We haven’t planned a tour for now, but something is moving from the underground! I can’t promise you that we will play in Holland during the next year, but you have to assure me that if it should happen you’ll be there! Being a trio is an advantage because we have low costs and small logistic problems! Now I’m gonna leave you with our new motto: LET THERE BE DOOM!!
		Thank you for the interview! We are awaiting a forward! Good Luck! Good Luck!
(Julie Michael)