STAGE OF REALITY - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

Andy: We like a lot of different music genres and we all come from different experiences, so we like to describe ourselves as an eclectic band.

Damiano: Well, it’s not easy to describe myself as a singer since i like many different kinds of music and i try to mix different vocal styles. I love to mix rock with opera, for example, to create something personal.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

Andy: We come from Rome Italy and here it’s full of music school, so it’s easy you start studying music since you’re a kid and it’s also easy to start playing in a band since there a lot of them at school. I’ve personally started as a self-taught, but after few experiences I decided to follow a teacher and that was a good choice for me. I started to write “music”, small compositions since I was a kid all I wanted is to create something good as the bands I used to love like Guns and Roses, Queen, Ac Dc just to make a few names. I was only 14 so during these years I changed a lot and I started to listen to many more different things, also classical music, jazz, electronic stuff.

Damiano: I started singing when i was thirteen at middle school as a musical singer. I was fascinated by the phantom of the opera. Then i started studying singing and my carreer was begun jumping through rock music and opera. I was graduating as a tenor and meanwhile i met Andrea and now here i am ready to “rock” the world

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?

Andy: Stage of Reality started as a music project focused on trying to describe the reality of the world we’re living in, I wrote all the lyrics of our first album “The Breathing Machines” which is a distopic view of our life, human beings who are like robots because they spend to much time in front of the TV and they believe in everything the TV tells them. We can say I put in music what Orwell and Pasolini used to say in literature. I wrote also lyrics about real facts I read on the news, things that got my attention and I wanted to know more about.

Damiano: My favourite singer of all time is Freddie Mercury. I love his voice and his compositional style. At the same time i feel inspired when I listen to the Puccini’s or Schubert’s melodies. In my songs i like to talk about human feelings or the problems of everyday life.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

Andy: I would like Stage of Reality was a band touring the world to bring our music to everyone

Damiano: I would love to tour around the world with Stage of Reality…i wouldn’t ask for more.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

Andy: One night in Slovakia people arriving at the venue and asking for autographs before the show, we were the support act and we sold merch far more than the main act. People were truly interested and since they read our name on the venue they went to youtube to know more about us and they actually liked our music a lot. For me was so incredible!!!

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?

Andy: we either are using a homestudio, if you are good to do it you can save a lot of money producing music. Of course nowadays there is a huge amount of content online which makes the challenge almost impossible because everytime you release something you have to face million of other songs, videos… potentially you could be heard by millions but you end up with being listened by few hundreds if you don’t advertise on socials.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

Andy: we are actually looking for a booking agency, our manager Jason from EMG is working hard to obtain a deal and we don’t have gigs planned at this moment, we’re writing new material and trying to reach a bigger audience on socials before planning something on the road again.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

Andy: I really don’t know what to think, they seem the better way to promote yourself but they make music so easy to access that it’s useless to get out and attend a show. On line there are so many hours of great music, produced with high level gear that the venue round the corner cannot compete. of course it’s a different situation, different feelings but I see it like Netflix vs Cinema. Music needs a new way to be something you can experience from home, but once you decide to attend a show it must be crazy, awesome, a new experience. The problem is that most of the times it’s not such a great thing especially if you are not a high budget band and it’s difficult to create a monster show if you don’t have monster money.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

Andy: well, I can say Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns and Roses. Reasons are because I thing they are perfect songs even if they don’t match the rules of “perfection” with their structures, solos, length and so on.

Damiano: Well, every Queen song LOL. Seriously i wish i would had written shock the monkey by Peter Gabriel ‘couse it’s simply amazing, it makes me sing and dance.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

Andy: I’d like to see talent scouts at small venues before seeing artists performing at X Factor. It’s ok if a record label wants to make sure the product is competitive and wants to use a talent on TV to make sure of it. But if the selection would start also from small venues I think it could be more interesting for the music scene.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

Andy: a lot of new music!!!

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

Andy: our website, youtube, spotify, facebook twitter, instagram… we’re also on tiktok (damn…). You simply digit stage of reality and our world will be in your hands!