Dave: Thanks a lot, it’s a pleasure and honor for me!
Heavy Paradise : Before I start asking you some things about your new album, would you like to say to our readers a few things about the creation of Soul Seller?
Dave: Sure! Soul Seller is a project born in 1999 from a shared desire of my brother Mike and I to form our own band. We wanted to compose original songs and since we embraced our instruments, our only aim was to write our own songs. We never really wanted to be a cover band, nevertheless we have played in several cover bands for many years to gain experience on stage. It is very difficult in Italy, let’s say “mission almost impossibile”, to start a band that plays original songs, especially in our field, melodic hard rock. For this reason, we’ve been going through many line up changes over the years, and many doors have been slammed on our faces. .
Nobody believed in us, starting from our band mates who couldn’t see a future with us. We self-produced our first album in 2000, and we recorded several demos, but with few results. Things changed when Steve (drums) entered the band. He actually brought stability in the lineup and a more unity to the sound. From that point on, brick after brick, we recorded the demo that Alessandro Del Vecchio received. After he heard the songs, he was stunned by Michael’s voice and the sound of the band and he offered to produce our album. What comes up next is recent history.
Heavy Paradise : So, "Back To Life" is called your brand new album and from what I've heard it's about a very enjoyable and extremely melodic hard rock effort. How long did it take you guys for the recordings of "Back To Life"?
Dave: We started in December and finished it in May. It took us a lot of time because we went through (another!!) lineup change during the recordings. Our new guitarist Cris had to re-record all the solos. As the album was taking a shape, we understood that the project was more and more ambitious, and so we decided to make some adjustment to make it even better. For example, Oliver Hartmann’s intervention in the album was a last minute choice in order to give a surplus value to a record that went beyond our greatest expectations.
Dave: It was very helpful, and for us it’s been a great honor to work with such musicians. Concerning Dave Rox he is a dear friend of us, he helped us with the demo of the album when Michael still wasn’t part of the band. Obviously, the biggest contribution on the album was Alessandro’s, who not only produced our album, but he has been a real “dad” for us. His experience, his advice, going beyond the musical aspects, were absolutely fundamental. He’s been able to make us play as we wanted to without taking away our nature, he did an amazing job!!!
What you hear in the album is 100% Soul Seller and the merit goes to him. Probably other producers would have imposed their own “brand” without caring what the band would think about it. Alessandro is a great producer and a great musician. Oliver Hartmann was the icing on the cake, he is an amazing singer. When I heard his lead vocals on the songs I was shivering. A mention note goes to Danilo Bar from White Skull who played a killer solo on Change your heart tonight.
Heavy Paradise : You have chosen the track "Wings Of Freedom", a huge track in my opinion, as the first single of your new album. Does this track mirror the sound of SOUL SELLER?
Dave: Thanks a lot!!! Soul Seller’s sound is very heterogeneous. We change easily from rock/aor to classic hard rock. But wings of freedom holds in itself a lot of the main elements of our sound. It combines power and melody as we like. It is a good calling card.
Heavy Paradise : Which is your favourite track from "Back To Life"?
Dave: It changes on a periodic basis. Change Your Heart Tonight is the one that, at the moment, gives me more thrills than the others. Maybe because it’s the last songs I wrote for the album. Few days were missing to the starting of the recording, but I felt that something was still missing. So, one night I let myself go and this is what was missing. I love its “fresh” and “positive” sound, then there’s also a great work on guitars!!! Then, I’d mention Hell of Tears and Old Hero’s Prayer that are the songs that met with success among audience and critics
Dave: Not much actually, I wrote most of the songs with important contributions from Steve and Mike, who both wrote excellent songs. You have to consider that most of the songs have been written before the arrival of Michael and Cris in the band, so they couldn’t contribute in an active way to songwriting. By the way, their contribution to the arrangements has been of crucial importance. Michael’s voice was our “tool” to get to Alessandro Del Vecchio and Cris’ solos have decisively raised the quality of the songs. A good song is nothing without the contribution of a great band that plays it.
Heavy Paradise : What are your influences?
Dave: Each of the members of the band has his own influences that determine the “Seller sound”. Let’s say that the bands on which everyone agree are Europe, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Journey and Gotthard. For example, Michael is a great fan of AOR and he has an infinite knowledge of the field. He loves bands like Giant, Toto, Survivor, etc and this is mirrored in what we offer with our music. Mike loves heavier things, and this can be heard in many of our songs. The heterogeneity of our music is something I’m very proud of.
Heavy Paradise : The last couple of years Italy builds a strong reputation in the Melodic Hard Rock scene with some really strong releases. Do you think that Italy's scene has nothing to be jealous of regarding Sweden's or the U.S.' scene?
Dave : Edge of forever, Soul Seller, Lionville, Hungryheart, Wheels Of Fire, Shining Line to quote some…no, not at all, Italy’s scene has nothing to be jealous of regarding the rest of the world. Actually we’ve just started the invasion!! We’ve been out from it for too many years. The world of hard rock has always been full of Italian Americans who wrote the history of rock: I’m thinking about Jon Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, Ronnie James Dio and they all have Italian origins. Now it’s the time to take what we deserve. Italians have music in their veins, you’ll see good things!
Dave: Success means getting to the heart and soul of people, and getting their respect. Nothing more, nothing less. The meter of success is not money neither the copies you sell, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to cope with 12 years of “ranks” and disappointment.
Heavy Paradise : From this year's releases, which did it impress you most?
Dave: Concerning Aor and Melodic Rock I can’t avoid to mention Lionville and Work of Art, great works!! In general, I liked a lot the new albums from Whitesnake and Alter Bridge. And I’m looking forward to hearing the new releases from Nickelback, Daughtry and in January the new Sunstorm album!!
Heavy Paradise : Avenue Of Allies is the nowadays home, along with Frontiers, of Melodic Hard Rock. Was it hard for you guys to sign with Avenue Of Allies? How difficult is for a band to get a good record deal?
Dave : I think that the most difficult thing nowadays is to get a competitive product, well played, well produced and well structured. The problem is that many Italian bands still believe that is more important to scene their hair, to wear spandex trousers rather than finding a great producer, and having a kickass sound in their album.
When you understand how things are working, what comes next goes alone. Nowadays, if you have a great album with you, it’s not impossible to find a contract. The Italian situation is not helping of course because the bands playing their own material don’t have enough, much space (sometimes no space at all) to play and grow musically.
Concerning Avenue of Allies I have to thank Ale who thought about the A&R aspect for our band, and Gregor Lee who showed a lot of interest in our project since the beginning. Gregor is a very nice person, he has and puts a lot of passion in what he does, and he is very qualified. I think that Avenue of Allies will make great things in the future.
Heavy Paradise : What are Soul Seller's future plans?
Dave: It took us 12 years to debut and we have no intention to stop here. We’re a true band, a live band. There is brotherhood between us, and we crave to conquer rock audience. We want to play everywhere and release the second album as soon as possible. Actually we’re already organizing for the composition. You’re not gonna get rid of us soon!! We got great projects. And I want to use the space you’re giving us to introduce you to our new keyboard player Alexandros. He’s our ace in the hole!!
Heavy Paradise : Dave, I would like to thank you once again for this interview and to wish you all the best for the future!
Dave : Thank you for the space you gave us and for the support! Greetings to your readers! Rock on!!!
http://www.soulseller.it/
http://www.youtube.com/SoulSellerBand
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