Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
ET: I’m a devoted fan of rock music who’s writing and recording his own music for passion. I’ve always done it for myself and always will until I’ll have the possibility. In particular I found my way doing late 70s and 80s style classic metal and hard rock.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
ET: I’m from Florence (italy), at 14 I started listening to rock music charmed by the variety and passion of the classic artists and as I grew up I devoured an enormous amount of albums from acts like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Virgin Steele, Rhapsody, Dio and many more. As the years went by I dedicated all of my energies and time to learn playing instruments and using my voice. Recording original music became my biggest passion to date spending almost every single day trying to understand how to record music as a solo artist.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
ET: Metal music has an evocative power that I found nowhere else in rock music. Everything can inspire to make music, it really depends on what kind of topics and feelings are closer to your sensibility. I found myself writing about introspective suggestions and fantasy like scenarios as well. Sometimes you just pick the guitar and come out with the core of a song after one hour and sometimes it takes months to make an idea work properly, there’s not a magic rule.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
ET: Writing and recording my music everytime i feel I need to.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
ET: When I realized that with practice and passion I could’have become a rock singer.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging
from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
ET: I think it’s an important step that allows talented artists to make music even if the music business moved away from guitar based artists more than a decade ago.
Promoting music is quite a nightmare but I think you can also make music for yourself without necessairly promoting it to an audience. Make a living out of rock music is almost a dream and requires lots of compromises. I see a lot of artists have normal jobs and use part of their earnings to promote their band’s music for sincere passion and for the pleasure to connect with other enthusiasts.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
ET: I’m not planning a live activities at the moment.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
ET: I grew up collecting my favourite bands cds and I loved going to the store and searching among those incredible covers the one to buy every week, but he world has changed and I think that’s not only a bad thing. Through stream sites and downloading you can get rare music you weren’t able to find in stores and grow up as an artist discovering new bands from all around the world.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
ET: Maybe desiring to have written someone else’s music is like desiring to be someone else. I’m just a guy doing his thing and I’m really fine with that!
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
ET: I think music industry has moved too close to social networks logics and is now guided by algorhythms that are taking away humanity from it.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
ET: I’m working on the next album, I’m at a good point and can’t wait to let those who appreciated my first effort listen to it!
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
You can follow the project on instagram (elle.t.ill) and ask me infos whenever you want, I’ll answer as soon as i can! Keep rockin’ \m/ !
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