NOTURNALL -THIAGO BIANCHI

💿 Hi, it's a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal THIAGO BIANCHI of NOTURNALL, the well-known Heavy Metal band from Brazil! Let's start talking about the early days of the bands KARMA and SHAMAN. When is this all begun? Which bands have influenced you? TB: Hey there, great people from Hardrockheavymetal. It's a great pleasure to be here! Thanx for the opportunity. Yeah, Karma was my first band and it all has started back in the day when I was still a young padawan (laughs), along with my buddy Felipe Andreoli from Angra. We've founded Karma in 97 and it was an instantaneous hit in Japan. Because of that we caught the attention of the two big bands here in Brazil at the time. Angra, who invited Felipe to be their "new" Bass player and later on, Shaman, who invited me to be their singer, enter on the place of André Matos. And then I invited Fernando Quesada, who were my apprentice on my Studio as a "Studio Musician" the best one I had at the time to be honest, to be Shaman's bass player and he wasn't even a bass player, he was a guitar player actually, but he was so good that he just took the bass and learned all the songs for the gig over night! It was awesome! Then we've spent 7 great years with Shaman, doing all kinds of gigs, we even shot a DVD at Prague with an Orchestra in one of the biggest events there, the Masters of Rock. Everything about that band was a dream, but... it was the time for us to follow our on path with songs we feel it was our truth, our message. Than we let Shaman go and assemble NOTURNALL. It was the best thing we have done in our life! Since its creation till nowadays (4 years later), we fell that everything about NOTURNALL is special! From the moment we've conceived this band, we've promised to ourselves that everything we'd put our times to do for NOTURNALL it would be something never seeing before. Of course that's a tough thing to do, but that's the fun with NOTURNALL. For you to know some examples... Our first concert became a DVD, called "FIRST NIGHT LIVE"", something never seeing before, at least here in Brazil, of a band that makes of its first concert into a bloody DVD. We even flew Russell Allen (Symphony X/Adrenaline Mob) from NY to São Paulo to be part of it! Here you can see it's result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etjQWAm84rw Something also very cool about that concert is that we reverted all the door income for a Childs with Cancer Support House. It was more than 2 tons of non-perishable food and donations for those who needed. And we've done it again as the first band of revert ALL INCOME provided of a video clip for Childs With Cancer Institute with the first "9" single, "Hearts As One" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eW7ilUhas0 Some other great accomplishments of the band: The first band to have our singer's mother do a duet on a song (Maria Odette is a famous Brazilian singer in Brazil): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLiWi63Gu84 First band to mix Brazilian Rap Music with Heavy Metal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoOyNBxG91w Fist band to have Michael Kiske as a special guest on the biggest music festival of the world, ROCK IN RIO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nj-i_OEFQw First band to perform at Rock in Rio with the singer's mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noeTXPOir-4 First band to release its music on a new way of media called DLP (DIGITAL LONG PLAY), where you have a Vinyl Cover with a Flash Drive inside of it, bringing all the band's records, DVDs, Videos and unprecedented photos. Material that was invented by the own band for the Brazilian market! One of first, if not the first band to perform a Facebook live produced with DVD quality and consider by many as one of the most relevant FACEBOOK LIVE material of history: https://www.facebook.com/noturnallband/videos/10156464480257668/ And the list goes on and on... All of that because we love what we do and love our fans! 💿On Jan 19th will be out also in North America your new album "9", already available in Europe. Can you tell us something about this platter and its composition process? We had the privilege to review it and we're very satisfied! TB: Oh thank you very much for that! Yeah, we're being released in US, EU and JAPAN by ROCKSHOTS and we couldn't be more happy! About is process, well... its funny you've asked...(Laughs). The entire disk, from its composition to its master, lasted exactly 12 months. But to tell you all about this "adventure "that was the making of the "9", I must start with a phase before its beginning, and as if that makes any sense (laughs). So... there we go... Now, there are two albums that literally saved my life. The first is "LEAVE NOW" of my first band, KARMA, which came to be known, not just because of the band itself and its quality, but also a lot of because it was written when I had cancer when I was only 23 years old. At that point the doctor gave me only 6 months of life and this impacted not only me but also the Brazilian metal scene community, because at the time I was writing the album, I was doing chemotherapy and not only public and media, but also I, felt that this would definitely be my last album, who brought a lot of attention to the work when it was released. Fortunately, it was extremely celebrated and stood out as one of the great pearls of Brazilian Progressive Metal facing the world. There I understood the meaning of "purpose" of life, because I gave my best in that album, because I was absolutely sure that it would be my last album, so I was still alive day after day, only and exclusively to finish that album. Well, what does this have to do with "9"? The following is... I survived cancer and with that, of course, the joy of living invaded my being! Only a little too much joy there... (Lots of laughs). So I've became a heavy, heavy drinker, (to be honest, I've started to drink that way, when I was still in Shaman, because of my poor relationship with it's drummer. So I used to use alcohol as a "social lube" so to speak...). Well... at that point I was consuming about 3 to 4 bottles of wine on daily bases and of course the bill of this behavior would reach me out pretty soon. It was then that, in any day of work, that I was mixing a record here from the studio, I began to feel bad and I was rushed to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with a severe pancreatitis. My pancreas was about to explode and because of that the doctor came to give me only a week to live! So here I was, 15 years after cancer, again disenchanted by doctors, in a hospital bed ... I was hospitalized in the ICU for 45 days and this time, many really believed that I would not get out of this. My brothers and bandmates, Quesada and Carelli, came to visit me almost daily and there, in fact, it was when the "9" began to be written. That's because those visits soon started to become "sessions" of composition. Again I came to believe that this would be my last album and that feeling of giving my best and being able to survive day by day, because I could get to the end of the production of the album, started to take care of my being. Again I understood that my purpose of life at that moment was to make the best record I could, for I would surely be remembered by him, if it became to be the last one. Then there in the hospital, with a lot of the doctors and nurses being part of these sessions (including one in particular, which a beautiful but tough period of her life is told at Heart as One's video story),start to be fundamentally the joy and gallantry of the this unusual process of written a record. That's because on the days when I felt weak to get out of bed, they (the nurses), brought me up, threw me up there and even in sentences of some letters, they helped me, telling some of their lives. Oh! It is also worth mentioning a part of this story, which makes everything even more picturesque, when one of the doctors who attended me, recognized me and declared himself as an old fan, since the time of Karma, which made all this situation even funnier and unusual, because he was a guitarist and often, he used to think about the melodies, while he attended me, dividing himself between doctor and musician! (many laughs) This record had everything to be really different! Well, I finally left the hospital and with the songs already written, it was time to focus on the technical part of the album.

💿The album will be out via ROCKSHOTS RECORDS. Can you tell us something about the relationships with them? TB: Roberto is great guy and very passionate about music, the same way we are, so we feel we're in great hands! 💿 The real "news" in music industry is the return of vinyl. What's your feeling about this classic format and the current music business?

TB: Well, as I told you before, we've released something similar for the releasing of "9" here in Brazil. The DLP (explained at the answer of the first question). And we also released a vinyl version from NOTURNALL's first record. I think it's wonderful that people are starting to give some attention again to the way music should sound, because for sure it's not the way is sounding right now. For some years now our industry has suffered harshly from the changes that the advent of the internet has brought to our market. Please, don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor for modernity, constant updating of the human being and that we continue in a frank ascent regarding spirituality and technology. And why did I mixed spirituality with a subject as "cold" as technology? Because when the subject is music, we are talking about art and art is state of mind, intuition, "God" or whatever you want to call it, materializing through technological tools. Yes, technological! If you think that a pencil is nothing more is that technology, then from a "lyre" to a "compressor", can be considered technologies in the service of music. Thus, however much the internet has facilitated and connected the world from various points of view, unfortunately, as far as music is concerned; there have been great "losses." I'm not even saying so much about the harmonics that "MP3" reaped out from the audio, even because it was a small price to pay for the great gain in the easiness and great speed of switching and consuming music, but in my opinion, two really important and often overlooked by the public, things are being left outside alone here, the pleasure in "taste" the sound of a record and of course, it's cover art. Do you remember the trip that was to look for hours on the covers of "Iron Maiden" for example? Those wonderful "LPs" with its entire "universe" of harmonics and its entire "universe" of the artwork details! Well... I'm all about that! So sure! Bring them back now! (laughs). 💿 Honestly your sound it's hard to classify as Power, Prog, etc...But Is it important today classify music or is it more important the quality of what you're playing? TB: Of course not. One of the most special things about Heavy Metal, is its flexibility! It's the way it welcomes any kind of style and embraces it, giving birth on a totally new generation and still be the good and old Heavy Metal. For me, the only thing you should know is that this is Heavy Fckn' Metal, period.

💿 On "9" you have MIKE ORLANDO from ADRENALINE MOB as special guest. Can you tell us how this partnership came about? TB: Well, our story begins with Russell Allen accepting being part of NOTURNALL's story as a special guest on our Music. When we were there in NY to record our video clip with him on it and record our voices in his studio, he was writing the second Adrenaline Mob record with Mike Orlando also on his studio, than we stated to bump a lot into Mike night after night. So a great friendship started! We've become dear friends and before we know we were scheduling tours and making plains to play together here and there.

He even played at Rock in Rio with us as special guest along with Michael Kiske! Well... To be perfectly honest with you, Mike was still part of the band for one straight year! But because of the impossibilities of the agendas, the only thing we could manage to do was a small special guest on the record. But to tell the truth, I think that wasn't the last chapter of Mike in NOTURNALL's life... at least, I hope not.. 💿 Can you tell us something about your next live projects? TB: We just did a very special LIVE for FACEBOOK as I told you before and to be honest, I think it really changed the band's life! Not just because of the level of attentions this brought towards us but also because of the idea that this gave us! You see, NOTURNALL is on a verge to be ahead of the curve once again... We're about to release the first TOUR of LIVES broadcasted by FACEBOOK of the history. Imagine a LIVE like that the way we've done, but directed exclusively to each audience closed chained in advance. This is something that we're really studding to make it happen for still this year. Beside of that, a "presential" tour for Americas, Europe, Asia, Latin America and of course, Brazil. A DVD for next April. A new record for the second semester. And of course, a lot of videos of all of it. 💿 Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on Hardrockheavymetal! TB: Thank you so much for the space and see ya all pretty soon!!! Thanx everyone and Please, check us more out at FACEBOOK.com/NOTURNALLBAND (Thanks AsherMediaRelations)

(Pics AMR, band's Fb page)

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