A without compromise classic and melodic hard n heavy stuff in the style of late 80’s rock giants such as Dokken, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Dio etc. Fabri not only shows up with big anthem heavy guitar riffs and shreds amazing guitar soloing, but he, also, sings powerful,melodic and soulful vocal lines. He, also, played bass guitar, keyboards and handled the production steps.
Below is the really interesting interview that Fabri Kiarelli gave to Heavy Paradise and spoke about his past, present and his future plans......
fabri kiarelli: Thanx a lot!!!
heavy paradise : Do you want to tell some words about yourself? How did you start?
fabri kiarelli: I fell in love with music when I was around 9 or 10 years old. Stole one of my father’s tapes and casually, or I should say by fate, I got hypnotized by Pinball Wizard from the WHO. That was the first sparkle! Never been a maniac WHO fan but that song still drives me crazy nowadays. Then I quickly moved to all that was rockin’… Kiss, AC/DC, Molly Hatchet, Nugent, Rainbow, Purple, Zep, Styx , Priest, Journey, Rush, VH etc. Those were the days I was living in Mexico City
Almost immediately I wanted to pick up a guitar and play… I think I was around 11. Never stopped since then. I started to work as a professional musician at 20 years old. Had some rockin bands at first but we went nowhere (ah ah), then started playing covers and I also worked as a session man for other major italian artists.
heavy paradise : I would like to cogratulate you for the release of "RISE" album! At this point I have to say that your album, in Heavy Paradise, is one of the most viewed posts! I alos have to say that 'RISE' took me by surprise from the first listening and, in my opinion, is one at this year's biggest pleasant surprises! How do you feel about that?
heavy paradise : I. also, saw that Alessandro Del Vecchio was involved in this album. But, also, in “Follow The Rain”, he takes some vocal duties with you! Who else is involved in the creation of this effort?
heavy paradise : On "RISE" album you have played all instruments by yourself ecxept drums and one guitar solo! Why didn't you got a full band in the record?
fabri kiarelli: Let me explain how things went before, during and after the album was recorded.
I already tour almost all the time doing about 100 gigs every year. My band is always travelling in Northern Italy playing hard n heavy classics like Whitesnake, Zeppelin, Rainbow, Kiss, early AC/DC, Scorpions, Iron etc and we got a lot of fans in our area. We perform under the name of Mister No and I formed the band around 2000… a lot of musicians have come and gone before this actual line up. My long lasting partner is Mao Granata, who also did the drums for the album. So for me came a time when it was a natural thing shifting from the covers to the original material as F.E.A.S.T.
heavy paradise : I read in your bio that you are into this music for a long time. How come you didn't release a solo album earlier?
fabri kiarelli: Around 1994 I started to be attracted by other kinds of music. As a musician I felt the natural need of exploring what is outside of hard rock and heavy metal. I’ve spent years in studying and performing funk, pop, soul, jazz and most of all rock blues, which I adore. I haven’t been performing heavy rock for years, though I never quit listening to it and playing it in private.
When I felt I had satisfied my hunger for different kinds of music, I got back from where I started, good old school hard n heavy. I started to build the idea of recording my music around 2003 but I was always involved in a lot of things: never ending tours with my cover band or working for other artists, my wedding, then three children came after. It was definitely only in 2009 when I made up my mind and all things went in the right direction to make an album.
heavy paradise : If you had to pick three tracks from "RISE", which will they be and why?
fabri kiarelli: I don’t really have a favourite one… it depends on how I feel at that particular moment. The ones that I really love performing right now are first of all Broken Dreams, then The Meaning Of Life and Feed The Hunger but also Stormwind and Follow The Way.
Maybe if you ask me that same question tomorrow you would get a different answer. I must say that when I play live, every song gives to me a different special taste, but good anyway!
heavy paradise : You come from a country, Italy, that isn't famous for the hard rock scene! But with albums like yours and Hungryheart's both releases the future is lookin' brighter :-) . How is the situation with this kinda of music in your country?
fabri kiarelli: To be honest I confess that in the past we did not have many good bands doing hard rock, I agree with you. Maybe two or three very good ones as far as I can remember.
Nowadays I must admit that due to my very busy schedules I don’t know very much of the Italian scene as I’d want to. I know most of the bands only by name and heard very little of their music.
I spend most of my time after my musical working and my family, so I don’t have very much left for checking other Italians acts. Anyway it seems that stuff like Melodic Hard Rock or Class Metal have a good number of fans in the alternative medias. I see people from 15 to 60 years old enjoying classic hard n heavy at our shows, no matter if we’re doing covers or original material.
But Italian heavy rock musicians are not very much into that hard rock bluesy feeling. As far as I know there are still few Italian bands into melodic hard rock. I mean, I’ve been growing listening to stuff like Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Triumph, Gary Moore, Whitesnake etc while most of the recording Italian bands are much more into power metal… I think because that stuff it’s easier to write and it’s a good vehicle to show off, ah ah ah!!! Just kidding of course!
heavy paradise : Avenue Of Allies is a new record label in this music but with some really good releases. I think that the guys in Avenue Of Allies are doin' an excellent work! How difficult is nowadays for an artist to get a good record contract?
fabri kiarelli: I must gladly admit that for me it wasn’t very difficult. I’ve been veeeery lucky! I have to say thanx toAle Del
I must confess that they also had to be patient with me because it was the first experience for me as a producer and artist at the same time. I had to fix several things before giving the label the final work, ah ah ah! As a new record label, AOA is doing very well with the promotion and I really hope their efforts will bring’em to grow bigger in the future. Almost needless to be said, but the stronger the label, the better for us artists.
heavy paradise : Do you think that the internet (webzines, myspace, facebook e.t.c.) is a good for an artist to promote its music?
fabri kiarelli: Of course it is! Especially for newcomers! I had the chance to be heard by the label thanks to myspace. But I have to tell you that it’s not so easy as it seems, at least for me. If you wanna reach a larger number of persons in the web, you have to spend hours at the pc, promoting yourself. If you wanna be heard by 10 you have to work for 1000!!!
Not always I’m in the mood for that, I must confess. Personally, also webzines really gave me a great help and support. This new form of media seem to have a good success with the fans. Some times, webzines are done by the fans themselves, which is great but at the same time this shows the other side of the coin. What’s important is that webzine personnel has to be really qualified as it happens (or should happen) with paper magazines… to play well you need to study a lot as in any other activity. That also should be with the webzines personnel.
Web writers and reviewers should consider that they affect on people’s choices so they have to be very skilled to do that. I mean, the fact that I love watching sports in the tv, doesn’t imply automatically that I’m a good sport reporter…
heavy paradise : How do you see todays' hard/heavy rock scene generally?
heavy paradise : From the new 'blood' of hard rock bands, is there any that you liked?
fabri kiarelli: Oh yeah!!! There’s a british band that I like very much, called The Answer. Very talented, with great tunes and an amazing singer!!! Another good band I go crazy for is Burning Rain, super hot, but they’re not so new…
heavy paradise : About Burning Rain agree with ya 100% !!!! So, let's go back to your album. The songs contained in "RISE" are all written recently or are they tracks that you are carring along your music career and you've decided to release them now?
heavy paradise : What are your influences? From the music that you are playin' is not difficult for someone to guess :-) ...good old fashioned hard rock? Except hard/heavy rock which other music styles are you listening?
fabri kiarelli: There are so many ones I don’t even know where to start!!! Of course all the good hard n heavy old school… which is the only school I know. Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Rainbow, Journey, Zeppelin etc.
Other artists I love outside of Heavy Rock are Pink Floyd, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Gino Vannelli, Billy Joel, Beatles, Police, Toto, etc. Then I really adore playing and listening to the blues, which equals my passion for rock! BB King, Freddie King, SRV, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Clapton, etc
heavy paradise : Do you wanna send a message to your fans?
fabri kiarelli: Few words from one of my lyrics: I wish everyone to find the love, live your dreams and hold on to what you believe… and of course come to our shows when we’re next to your town!!!
heavy paradise : Thanx a lot Fabri for sharing these things with Heavy Paradise. I wish you all the best for the future!
heavy paradise : I would like to cogratulate you for the release of "RISE" album! At this point I have to say that your album, in Heavy Paradise, is one of the most viewed posts! I alos have to say that 'RISE' took me by surprise from the first listening and, in my opinion, is one at this year's biggest pleasant surprises! How do you feel about that?
fabri kiarelli: Wow! Thanx really! I’m really happy that you think so! Well I hope that every one who reads the post about “Rise”, is running to the shop and get the cd, ah ah ah! Just kidding. What you told me makes me feel good. I gave my heart doing that album, regardless of anything coming from outside… just wanted to do something I loved. Knowing that my music is enjoyed even by others is food for my soul.
heavy paradise : I. also, saw that Alessandro Del Vecchio was involved in this album. But, also, in “Follow The Rain”, he takes some vocal duties with you! Who else is involved in the creation of this effort?
fabri kiarelli: Ale not only is a talented musician but first of all is a close friend of mine. We also work together in a band where we have fun playing classics from Boston, Europe, Eagles, Creedence etc. I wanted to put on tape the partnership we already have in life.
fabri kiarelli: Let me explain how things went before, during and after the album was recorded.
I already tour almost all the time doing about 100 gigs every year. My band is always travelling in Northern Italy playing hard n heavy classics like Whitesnake, Zeppelin, Rainbow, Kiss, early AC/DC, Scorpions, Iron etc and we got a lot of fans in our area. We perform under the name of Mister No and I formed the band around 2000… a lot of musicians have come and gone before this actual line up. My long lasting partner is Mao Granata, who also did the drums for the album. So for me came a time when it was a natural thing shifting from the covers to the original material as F.E.A.S.T.
On a first moment, back in the spring 2009, when I decided to record the original stuff, I wanted to involve all the band. I had a large part of material already written and I wanted to rehears it with the band before going in the studio as everybody would do. But when it came to the real deal, two ex members (second guitar and bass) did not agree with the choice of making a step further.
They were ok with playing covers and nothing more. I had everything in mind, like arrangements, structures, melodies, rhythms but they didn’t wanna spend time and energy for the record, maybe because we also had problems with our personal egos… Only Mao, the drummer was with me. I knew that we reached the point of no return with the other two so I started recording all by myself while kept on doing the cover live shows with the old line up. In the mean time we started looking around for new members to replace the ones that were about to be fired, but I found them only when the recording sessions where almost finished.
There was only a little space left for a guitar solo, so I thought it was a cool idea to let the new comer Luke Ballabio to fill that space!!! The other new guy is Angel Perini on bass… They’re both really talented and brought the band to the level I wanted. What’s funny is that they’re both old friends of the band. We had the solution just around the corner while we were looking far beyond!!!
heavy paradise : I read in your bio that you are into this music for a long time. How come you didn't release a solo album earlier?
fabri kiarelli: Around 1994 I started to be attracted by other kinds of music. As a musician I felt the natural need of exploring what is outside of hard rock and heavy metal. I’ve spent years in studying and performing funk, pop, soul, jazz and most of all rock blues, which I adore. I haven’t been performing heavy rock for years, though I never quit listening to it and playing it in private.
When I felt I had satisfied my hunger for different kinds of music, I got back from where I started, good old school hard n heavy. I started to build the idea of recording my music around 2003 but I was always involved in a lot of things: never ending tours with my cover band or working for other artists, my wedding, then three children came after. It was definitely only in 2009 when I made up my mind and all things went in the right direction to make an album.
fabri kiarelli: I don’t really have a favourite one… it depends on how I feel at that particular moment. The ones that I really love performing right now are first of all Broken Dreams, then The Meaning Of Life and Feed The Hunger but also Stormwind and Follow The Way.
Maybe if you ask me that same question tomorrow you would get a different answer. I must say that when I play live, every song gives to me a different special taste, but good anyway!
heavy paradise : You come from a country, Italy, that isn't famous for the hard rock scene! But with albums like yours and Hungryheart's both releases the future is lookin' brighter :-) . How is the situation with this kinda of music in your country?
fabri kiarelli: To be honest I confess that in the past we did not have many good bands doing hard rock, I agree with you. Maybe two or three very good ones as far as I can remember.
Nowadays I must admit that due to my very busy schedules I don’t know very much of the Italian scene as I’d want to. I know most of the bands only by name and heard very little of their music.
I spend most of my time after my musical working and my family, so I don’t have very much left for checking other Italians acts. Anyway it seems that stuff like Melodic Hard Rock or Class Metal have a good number of fans in the alternative medias. I see people from 15 to 60 years old enjoying classic hard n heavy at our shows, no matter if we’re doing covers or original material.
But Italian heavy rock musicians are not very much into that hard rock bluesy feeling. As far as I know there are still few Italian bands into melodic hard rock. I mean, I’ve been growing listening to stuff like Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Triumph, Gary Moore, Whitesnake etc while most of the recording Italian bands are much more into power metal… I think because that stuff it’s easier to write and it’s a good vehicle to show off, ah ah ah!!! Just kidding of course!
heavy paradise : Avenue Of Allies is a new record label in this music but with some really good releases. I think that the guys in Avenue Of Allies are doin' an excellent work! How difficult is nowadays for an artist to get a good record contract?
fabri kiarelli: I must gladly admit that for me it wasn’t very difficult. I’ve been veeeery lucky! I have to say thanx to
I must confess that they also had to be patient with me because it was the first experience for me as a producer and artist at the same time. I had to fix several things before giving the label the final work, ah ah ah! As a new record label, AOA is doing very well with the promotion and I really hope their efforts will bring’em to grow bigger in the future. Almost needless to be said, but the stronger the label, the better for us artists.
fabri kiarelli: Of course it is! Especially for newcomers! I had the chance to be heard by the label thanks to myspace. But I have to tell you that it’s not so easy as it seems, at least for me. If you wanna reach a larger number of persons in the web, you have to spend hours at the pc, promoting yourself. If you wanna be heard by 10 you have to work for 1000!!!
Not always I’m in the mood for that, I must confess. Personally, also webzines really gave me a great help and support. This new form of media seem to have a good success with the fans. Some times, webzines are done by the fans themselves, which is great but at the same time this shows the other side of the coin. What’s important is that webzine personnel has to be really qualified as it happens (or should happen) with paper magazines… to play well you need to study a lot as in any other activity. That also should be with the webzines personnel.
Web writers and reviewers should consider that they affect on people’s choices so they have to be very skilled to do that. I mean, the fact that I love watching sports in the tv, doesn’t imply automatically that I’m a good sport reporter…
heavy paradise : How do you see todays' hard/heavy rock scene generally?
fabri kiarelli: Mmh… I cannot really tell very much on how it goes outside from my country, but those few feedbacks I got, ain’t giving me great impressions. I mean, there are some very good bands, but the big medias don’t seem to care a lot.
Right at the moment if you wanna be a worldwide famous star performing in front of thousands, well… better forget to play hard rock. I haven’t got news of a hard rockin band playing in front of sold out arenas in a long time! In Italy
From this you can guess how it works for any newcomer. Me and my band, in the areas where we’re known, play in front of even larger numbers but only because we built our audiences after years and years of playing covers… which I admit it’s not very encouraging. If it was only for the original material, I’d have to get another job!!!
If you got enough money to promote yourself and buy spaces in radios and tv networks, maybe you have a chance to see your name in lights… but at the moment I haven’t seen anyone doing that. I hope that’s different in other countries, but I’m not very optimistic… anyway it’s a topic that would need hours to be treated.
heavy paradise : From the new 'blood' of hard rock bands, is there any that you liked?
fabri kiarelli: Oh yeah!!! There’s a british band that I like very much, called The Answer. Very talented, with great tunes and an amazing singer!!! Another good band I go crazy for is Burning Rain, super hot, but they’re not so new…
fabri kiarelli: I write music since I was 14, but for the F.E.A.S.T. stuff, some songs were written during the recording sessions, some just before and three or four between 06 and 08. There’s just one I wrote in 1994 and is the hidden track… but I laid down the lyrics to that one just some months ago, when the music was already recorded.
fabri kiarelli: There are so many ones I don’t even know where to start!!! Of course all the good hard n heavy old school… which is the only school I know. Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Rainbow, Journey, Zeppelin etc.
Other artists I love outside of Heavy Rock are Pink Floyd, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Gino Vannelli, Billy Joel, Beatles, Police, Toto, etc. Then I really adore playing and listening to the blues, which equals my passion for rock! BB King, Freddie King, SRV, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Hendrix, Clapton, etc
heavy paradise : Are you going to perform live in the near future?
fabri kiarelli: Me and my mates perform around 8 to 10 gigs a month, during almost all the year… in the same night we alternate original F.E.A.S.T. songs and covers. We already did a full show as F.E.A.S.T. and we’re having another one December 23 in the Lake of Como Area
heavy paradise : What are Fabri Kiarelli's future plans?
fabri kiarelli: Spend a little more time with my family then…play, play and play, ah ah ah! I hope that in January I will find the time to lay down some ideas I already got for a second album. I also hope to get in touch with some booking agency to perform outside of Italy
fabri kiarelli: Few words from one of my lyrics: I wish everyone to find the love, live your dreams and hold on to what you believe… and of course come to our shows when we’re next to your town!!!
heavy paradise : Thanx a lot Fabri for sharing these things with Heavy Paradise. I wish you all the best for the future!
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