Of
Infinity
Ok, I know that the female
fronted bands is a usual phenomenon in our days and most of them have nothing
more to do than copy the already known groups. On the other hand OF INFINITY
is a band with a very personal sound and their lead singer Alessandra is
a very gifted musician and interesting person that you want to talk with
her for hours. So let this interview work as a motivation for you to learn
few things more about this very promissing band...
1.HELLO, YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE INSPIRED BY
BANDS LIKE EVANESCENCE AND NIGHTWISH BUT THE 3 SONGS THAT I'VE LISTENED
TO ON THIS CD ARE FAR BETTER THAN ANY OF THOSE GROUPS. HOWEVER, AS ARTISTS
THAT YOU ARE, I'D LIKE YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE CREATING PROCESS
OF THIS RELEASE...
Ok…first off, thanks for having us!
Thank you as well for your kind words. There are a few great female-fronted
metal bands out there right now, but I think that although the band enjoys
listening to them, were not so much inspired by them as we are happy to
see that other bands like us are around and prospering. In fact,
Of Infinity has existed years longer than Evanescence and all the songs
written on our new CD were done before they became popular. I think
that our songwriting, which is primarily done by myself and Nazareth Sando,
is something that comes from inside of us more than from outside influences.
Sometimes we write alone and bring songs to each other to polish up… and
sometimes we write together… I think we’re really lucky that we write well
together though since I think this is a difficult thing to find in other
musicians.
2.I READ IN THE BIO THAT YOU SENT ME THAT
YOU EXIST SINCE 1999. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU WHICH WERE THE REASONS THAT
SUCH A TALENTED BAND LIKE YOU DIDN'T FIND A CONTRACT WITH A LABEL AT ONCE?
WHY HAVE YOU DECIDED TO RELEASE A MINI CD INSTEAD OF A FULL LENGTH ALBUM?
I AM SURE THAT YOU HAVE AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS READY...
Yes, we have been around for over 5 years
now and yes, we have many compositions written, and we actually put out
an all instrumental demo CD back in 2001 that we did not promote much.
We decided to put out a mini CD instead of a full length because we wanted
to give people a sampling of us before we asked them to buy a more expensive
full length CD without even knowing what we were offering them in the first
place. The reasons for us not being signed with a label right now, or ever
for that matter, are we hadn’t really been searching for a record deal
at the moment. We have had many smaller labels approach us about
becoming involved with them, but most of the time, they could not offer
us more than what we have been doing for ourselves already. After
the business of this new CD release has died down a little, the band plans
to look to possibly sign with a larger label as long as the contract is
mutually beneficial to both the band and the label.
3.ALESSANDRA ONE THING THAT I LIKE A LOT IN YOU
IS THAT ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE A CLASSICAL EDUCATION AND YOU ARE AN OPERA SINGER
YOU ARE ALSO FAN OF THE HEAVY METAL MUSIC, SOMETHING THAT MOST OF THE OPERA
SINGERS THAT PARTICIPATE IN METAL BANDS ARE NOT.WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN HEAVY
METAL MUSIC? DO YOU THINK THAT IT'S A NECESSARY FOR A MUSICIAN TO KNOW
A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE MUSIC THAT HE/SHE PLAYS OR NOT? I WOULD LIKE
TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ON THAT SUBJECT…
Thank you for this personal question!
Let me be modest here and say that I can not call myself a true opera singer;
I am more of a very well trained vocalist with a lot of ties to the opera
and classical music in general. I’ve really been into metal since
I was around 13 or so... I started off with some basic Ozzy, Type-O, and
Pantera (R.I.P. Dimebag ? )…and I still listen to these bands a lot, but
then I was introduced to more European metal bands like Theatre Of Tragedy
and In Flames and I was gone… I just couldn’t go back, it was such great
music. Right now I like to listen to some of my fellow female-fronted
bands like Lacuna Coil and Nightwish… but I’m really into Opeth and Children
Of Bodom too. I listen to a little of everything… all styles of metal
and other genres of music as well, but the bands I mentioned would have
to be my very favorites right now. Oh and yes, I do think that a
musician should know something about the music that he/she plays.
True, a musician can play any kind of music they want, but I think to be
serious in a band of a certain genre, they should know what there talking
about and understand what has come before them and what is happening currently
in the genre.
4.THE OTHER 2 BAND MEMBERS HAVE ALSO ACHIEVED
QUIET A LOT OF THINGS. SO CAN YOU PLEASE PRESENT THEM TO US AND TELL US
IN WHICH BANDS THEY'VE PLAYED BEFORE BECOMING MEMBERS OF THE OF INFINITY?
Actually we have 3 other band members and
they are Nazareth Sando (guitars), Kurtis Kyllo (bass), and new member
Carlos Teller (drums). Kurtis and Carlos were previously in smaller
punk and death metal bands but bother accomplished much in these bands
like recording music for a Mayhem tribute album. Kurtis has been
in the band for almost 3 years now and has been a loyal band mate from
the start. Nazareth had been previously signed in Fallen Empire which
is fairly big Black Metal out of Arkansas and he did a lot of things with
that band such as open for Nile, Danzig, and Morbid Angel. He’s has
also done a lot of studio work recording guitars for commercials and background
for TV and radio, as well as other big projects…Naz is a very accomplished
and talented songwriter and musician.
5.AS I SEE THE BAND DOESN'T HAVE A DRUMMER AND
YOU ARE FORCED TO USE A DRUM-MACHINE. DOES THE BAND SEARCH FOR A DRUMMER
AND HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO FIND ONE? WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU PLAY LIVE
SHOWS?
We have had a new drummer for a while now,
Carlos Teller, but prior to that we had several drummers that came and
went. For our newest CD we had percussionist Randy Herbert from Salt
Lake City, Utah perform drums that Nazareth had written. Any live
shows we have played have always been with a drummer and the ones to come
will be done with Carlos.
6.OK, NOW I WANT FROM YOU TO DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC
TO THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO YOU AND TELL US WHICH BANDS HAVE
INFLUENCED YOU. NAME ALSO FIVE OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE ALBUMS...
Of Infinity is probably best described as
female-fronted melodic/gothic/ prog/heavy metal from the US. The
music is darker with thrashy guitars, catchy piano, and a mix of traditional
electric metal instruments as well as acoustic piano, 12-string guitars,
and other “extra credit” instruments like violin. The band has many influences
in and out of the metal genre, but a few of them are; In Flames, Children
Of Bodom, Cradle Of Filth, Lacuna Coil, Type-O-Negative, Nightwish, Opeth,
and Theatre Of Tragedy. And even though this is probably going to
change and it’s really hard to pick only 5, I think I would name my top
5 albums as: Nightwish’s Wishmaster, Theatre Of Tragedy’s Aegis,
A tie between Type-O-Negative’s Bloody Kisses and October Rust, Children
Of Bodom’s Follow The Reaper, and Opeth’s Still Life.
7.CAN YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION
IN 2004 ZIPPO HOT TOUR COMPETITION? WHAT HAVE YOU ACHIEVED THERE? HOW IMPORTANT
IS THIS COMPETITION FOR THE BANDS AND WHAT KIND OF GROUPS PARTICIPATE?
Sure, the band was chosen as one of the top
20 bands in Texas in all genres out of around 300 that entered. The
competition was a very mainstream contest that was meant for mostly hard
rock bands so consequentially the bands that ended up winning were in the
rock and alternative rock genre, but we are very proud to have gone as
far as we did in it considering we’re fairly underground and not even a
rock band. The competition was a larger competition, but it was not
as important to the band as say, a good review in a big metal magazine
would be. Overall it was a great experience.
8.YOU HAVE ALSO COMPOSED THE BI-LINGUAL OPERA
"FOOLS". IN WHICH LANGUAGES WAS IT WRITTEN AND WHICH IS THE STORY BEHIND
IT? ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR RELEASING IT ON A VIDEO, DVD OR CD FORMAT?
Yes… my mistake on that, the Opera was originally
called “Fools” but at the last second the title was changed to “Illusions”,
which is also the title of one of the songs I had written for it.
It was done with the Utah Opera and is a half Spanish, half English story
about two younger lovers named Sarica and Miguel and the hardships they
go through and the guidance they receive from their grandparents.
Yes, I know the synopsis sounds a little cheesy when I write about it,
but despite that, it is a very emotional and real story and I’m very happy
to have been able to work with all the other writers, lyricists, directors,
etc that worked on this piece. “Illusions” has been scheduled to
be on tour in the mid-west region of the US for three years starting in
2003, so I believe 2005 will be the last year you can actually see it being
performed…as for DVD or CD, I have not heard plans for it, although I think
it would be a great idea to record it that way.
9.THE THING I LIKE A LOT ABOUT OF INFINITY IS
THAT AS A BAND YOU KEEP THE BALANCE BETWEEN MELODIC AND HEAVY PARTS AND
IN SPECIFIC THE VIOLIN AND PIANO ARE COMBINED PERFECTLY WITH THE ELECTRIC
GUITARS, HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE THAT? DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO EXTEND THE USE
OF PIANO AND VIOLIN IN THE FUTURE?
Thanks! We put a lot of time into writing
and arranging our music so it can sound as good as possible. And
yes, because I write everything on piano, we’ll be using more of it in
the future as well as possibly violin and other interesting instruments.
I also want to credit Jonathon Shults, from the Annex Studios in Salt Lake
City for doing such a great job on mixing and mastering the CD with us.
We were very lucky to have found Jonathon because it’s very hard to find
someone as talented as him in Utah and he had learned from his Uncle in
California who has recorded many well known acts including Megadeth.
He was trained very well and I was really pleased with how great he was
to work with.
10.FROM THE SONG "IT'S ONLY FOR FOREVER" IF I
UNDERSTAND WELL YOU ARE AGAINST WAR. SO, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE
WAR IN IRAQ AND THE RE-ELECTION OF PRESIDENT BUSH? HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL
WITH HIM AS A LEADER OF U.S.A.? DON'T YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE OF U.S. HAVE
BEEN DECEIVED ON THE REASONS THAT YOU DO THIS WAR IN IRAQ?
Your right, “Its Only For Forever” is a song
about battle and the history of wars and the passing of time. I’m
not sure if all of us are against all wars for all reasons, I’m sure there
has been and will be a good reason for war at some points in history and
the future, but this war in Iraq is another story. Personally, I
am very angry with everything that has happened with the Iraq war.
I think the reasons for it were wrong, I think their tactics are wrong,
basically I think almost everything about it is wrong. And yes, I
think that the people in the U.S have been deceived. I think I speak
for the whole band when I say that I have a severe hatred for George W.
Bush and his administration and I don’t feel safe at all with him as a
leader (if you can call him that) of the US. We were all upset when
he won for a 2nd term as president, and I had a general feeling of fear
about having to have him as a president again. And not just for his
forgine policy ideas, but for his fundamentalist Christian views and cowboy-esk
ideas on everything. Don’t get me or the band wrong, we feel like
anyone should be practicing whatever religion they want without being bothered
about it. But Mr. Bush loves to insert “God” into every political
speech he can, and that’s just wrong… politics and religion are two different
things and they should stay that way. Thank god a president can only
be elected for 2 terms in the US. But as a closing note to this questions,
I just want to make it clear that Of Infinity is not a political band and
were not out to change anyone’s views on anything... we want to answer
all the questions you have about the band, but we also want to let you
know that we write music for the sake of writing great metal music and
being able to give people something new and awesome to listen to, and that’s
all.
11.FOR THE LYRICS OF YOUR SONGS YOU ALSO COOPERATE
WITH THE AUTHOR PAUL GREULICH. CAN YOU GIVE US A FEW INFO ON THIS AND NAME
SOME OF HIS MOST KNOWN WORKS? WHAT KIND OF AWARD IS THE JOHN STEINBECK
AWARD THAT HE
WON?
Paul Greulich is a great guy and a very awesome
poet, writer, and lyricist. Paul and I go back from the time we were
both in High School and he has a degree in English and Writing from the
Southampton College of Long Island University. The Steinbeck Award
is a prestigious writing award given yearly to outstanding writers in the
genre of poetry, fiction, and playwriting. Greulich won the fiction
award and has won numerous other awards for his writing as well.
Much of his poetry has been published in magazines and you should see some
more collaboration on lyrics in the band’s next release.
12.YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO COMPOSE MUSIC FOR 2
INDEPENDENT FILMS AND SINCE I LOVE CINEMA A LOT, CAN YOU TELL US A FEW
MORE THINGS? WHAT KIND OF FILMS ARE THEY AND DID YOU PARTICIPATE AFTER
ALL?
One of the films we were asked to be a part
of was a horror film where we were offered the music under the credits
as well as in the movie. We were pretty excited about doing this,
but the film makers told us they could only give us a description of the
film and show us the actors and actresses in the costumes they would be
wearing. Before we want to commit to giving them music to use in
the film we at least want to see some of it or a trailer of some sort so
we can see the quality of the film and make sure it’s something we want
to be a part of, so were waiting on that. The other film was a film
that took place in a bar where they wanted us to be a band playing in the
bar. We turned this one down because they wanted us to write background
music for the rest of it but they wanted another female-fronted band (who
were friends of the director) to perform and sing the music we wrote, and
none of us really took to that idea.
13.HAVE YOU SEEN THE OLIVER STONE'S MOVIE ALEXANDER?
WHICH IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT IT? HERE IN GREECE SOME PEOPLE CLAIM THAT IT
IS NOT REALISTIC AND THAT PRESENTS ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS A BAD PERSONALITY.
None in the band have seen the movie “Alexander”…we
don’t get to the movies much because most of our money goes toward band
activities, so I could not say either way as far as that goes…sorry about
that. But on the subject of Greece, I wanted to inject that the band
has a soft spot for traditional Greek music…my father plays in a Greek
rebetiko band in New York and introduced us to the bouzouki so do not be
surprised if this shows up in any of our new music!
14.IF ONE DAY OF INFINITY BECOME VERY FAMOUS AND
START TOURING ALL AROUND THE WORLD AND YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE GROUP
AND THE OPERA WHAT WILL YOU DO?
Oh… there’s no contest between the two!
I would go with Of Infinity for sure. Metal is my number one passion
and nothing goes before it.
15.THANK YOU ALESSANDRA FOR THIS INTERVIEW WHICH
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED LIKE I HAVE! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF THE BEHIND
THE VEIL WEBZINE AND TO YOUR FANS AND MAKE A WISH FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE
NEW YEAR...
Thank you for having me… this was really fun,
I got to answer some really interesting questions I do not normally get
to answer! To the readers and fans, I would like to say thanks for
your support. And also, if you have not gotten a hold of our new
CD, “The Essence Of Infinity”, you can order it for only $5.00 (US currency)
off of our site at http://www.ofinfinity.com
, or CDbaby.com (http://www.cdbaby.com/ofinfinity.com),
and it will also soon be available to be ordered off of http://www.soniccathedral.com.
Hehe… and my wish for Christmas and the New Year is for a lot of great
future shows and for the upcoming full length that band is working on,
to be as great as the EP. Thanks!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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