NIGHTMARE TOYS

Friday, June 14, 2019

“The Experiment no.Q” INTERVIEW

1.What is the name of your band and how did you come up with it?
What is your name and what do you do for the band?
  • Hi there! The Band is named “The Experiment no.Q” and the meaning it's a secret even for the band musicians. Nobody's knows except me. And I keep the secret!
  • My name is Paolo Vallerga and I'm the writer of the music and lyrics of every songs of The Experiment no.Q. Everything comes from a story I had in mind and I wrote in music. I play a steampunk baritone guitar in the band.

2.Tell us where you are based and describe the scene. How do you think where you are located influences your sound?
  • Basically, we are based in Torino, North West of Italy, but we're an international project... Nalle, bass player and singer, comes from Sweden, Kevin our lead vocalist is from London (but half Polish, half Australian) and Oxy our female vocalist is from Paris. And Andrea Palazzo, one of our lead guitar is from Naples (Italy)... but from Torino, Paris is quite closest than Naples!!!
  • Anyway, Italy is a strange land. Full of creativity, history and culture... But quite deaf. Latins said: “Nemo profeta in patria”, this means: Nobody listen to you in your country of origin... And this is almost true especially in rock and metal scene. You must work a lot outside to have a good eco here. Think to “Rhapsody of fire” in the beginning they were famous but not too much people here know they were Italians... Basically in Italy, I think we don't believe in our self.

3.Who influences your sound that would surprise people?
  • I think one of the most important things in my songs are “changes”. I love combination between different styles. From this point of view The Experiment no.Q is progressive. Even if I don't like exaggerated technicalities. In my lyrics, I like to tell stories and enter the deep... so probably this could be interesting for the audience.

4.Are you endorsed by musical companies, if so who , and if not who would you like to be endorsed by?
  • Andrea Palazzo, one of my guitar players is endorsed by Yamaha and Galli Strings and Nalle is also endorsed by Yamaha but I, personally am not endorsed. I don't think there is a company who endorse poets! In the end, I'm just a poet in music... But if there is one, let me know! I'd love to be endorsed by that company!!! ah ah ah.

5.When you started what was your ultimate goal? And how close to the goal are you now?
  • In the beginning my goal was just to tell a story I had in mind. This was a steampunk and gothic story, but the development required much more work than expected. I've contacted some friends (professional musicians I've meet in my creative career), to play and release the first album... But in my mind, it was clear that only one album would explain the whole story and would need to be completed. So, with some talks with Aenima recordings (the label) and Mattia Garimanno (sound engineer and drummer of the band), we decided to develop more than one album... Now, we have three albums and last year we wrote and put on stage the Musical version. As far as I know, it is the first Musical with industrial metal music... Now we would like to push the Experiment no.Q album and in parallel the Musical... But I don't know how close to the goal we are!

6.In today's digital environment it takes creative strategy to keep things moving. What creative ideas do you have to keep your band relevant over time?
  • I think in part I’ve answered just before.
  • There is 2 versions of The Experiment No.Q, the Musical and the band. We have a good story to tell in a visual way. With the Musical, you get scenography, acting and much more... In order to do the musical, we need a big venue with a decent stage as we travel with a minimum of 16 persons between musicians, singers, dancers and actors. With the band only, we can play a” classic” rock show with our primary 6 band members. It’s not as theatrical but more accessible for tours. We loved to play live in the Musical version of our music. To make the Musical edition, we rearranged the songs with different feelings, good for the theater’s stages... If we can’t do that... I still think people would remember our show!

7.We've all seen a terrible live band that is awesome on CD. Is that cool with you or do you lose respect for bands that cannot pull it off live?
  • Today visual impact is really important. Music respect changed since the Eighties or Nineties. I think the real way to have good feedback is to play live. I love to play live... I love to play and talk directly with the crowd. I'm a modern storyteller and a storyteller need an audience... For this reason, I play theater, and I'm searching a way to play live my songs or my musicals! I think the most important thing in music is soul. If you put your soul into music even if you're not the best musician ever, people will understand you. What I really hate is people who use artificial devices to make commercial things just to gain money... and after if you listen to them live, they're shit. I don’t lose respect if a band don’t play perfectly if I do feel the passion in the musicians. Nick Cave is a fantastic poet but live sometimes he’s a bit out of tune. But can I lose respect for him for that? Not at all.

8.Tell us your “core” are you Metal , Rock , Punk , Pop etc because people just have to categorize these days you know?
  • Ah ah ah, I want to escape from this question! But ok, I'm Steampunk. I'm pure Steampunk! A fucking Steampunk storyteller. Anyway... just to be honest and not escaping from the question, I think my project could be categorized as Industrial poetry metal!

9.This is a tough question but a very real reality, Is your band actually talented or just popular?
Many bands make it with a cliche or publicity stunts etc. Would you accept fame even if it was just because of being the “ in” thing or is it actually important to you that you gain favor with talent?
  • As I wrote for me is important if you have something to tell. Something interesting, something that comes from your soul... And from this point of view I've met in my career “top player” musicians who loved my stories and helped me to tell them in the right way. Musicians who played in my project are very skilled musicians with completely different background. They’ve played with Therion, Castello di Atlante, Lord Byron, etc... And then we have special friends and guests such as Snowy Shaw (Ex-Mercyful Fate), Ellinor Asp, Thomas Vikström (Therion), Stefan Bergtrom (Skintrade) etc…
  • They surprised me with their talent and effort for The Experiment no.Q Project. I’ve reached out to very talented people and this is what’s important to me. To make the best as I can with that project. I’m not about publicity stunt, I prefer to put on stage my energy as I did with “The Experiment musical”. I want to surprise people and I hope to start a Tour with that, that would be a really a great show to attend!


10.Tell us what to expect from you live. Nothing is more boring than watching bands stare at the floor and bob their heads to music nobody but the band knows. What can your band offer in a live setting that people will remember?
  • In this answer, I will appear as presumptuous! Ah Ah Ah... The Experiment no.Q offers ... Me and my songs! That's the heart. When possible a steampunk stage with masks... but the main thing are the songs, the music. We're unconventional project. We're not a classical band, we're a family. This is the reason a lot of big musicians loved to record some parts in the three albums. They’ve added their personal touch and enter in the family. If you come to see an Experiment no.Q show you'll find happiness and theatrical presence and ... me! I'm kidding you but not too much!

11. What releases have you put out , When will we see something new?
  • We released “The Experiment no.Q” in 2014, then “Right After The Experiment no.Q” in 2016, then the 30th of June we will release the third chapter: “The Black Wounds of The Experiment no.Q”. You'll find them on Spotify and in physical release. About physical versions, I love to make handmade wooden boxes with special features by myself.

12. If you have videos where can we see them?
next 14th we will release the new video Taken from the third album.

13.Everybody has Bandcamp , ReverbNation , Soundcloud , etc
Why do you think this is so important? Doesn't it seem like everyone is giving everything out for free?
  • My reverbnation page is not updated since long time, I don't have bandcamp. And two or three years ago I've released just one song on Soundclouds. I prefer to dedicate time to create handmade wooden boxes including my albums and special personal features than lose time to gift my songs. Anyway, I'm old school. I don't have a social media manager; I talk directly with people and I love that.

14.Best moment of your career so far?
  • As Experiment no.Q band, a fantastic show in Lincoln UK, enormous stage! It was a Steampunk festival and all the crowd was dressed Steampunk as we were on stage but also, the Premiere of the Musical version in theater. Theater sold out and lot of good chills. But I'm theater improvisation actor also, so the Improvisation World Championship in Montreal (Canada) is a very high moment too. Different but nice.

15.Your message to the fans?
  • Every single drop of blood, every single gear, every single word, every song was meant for the supreme blasphemy: Life!”
This is the incipit of the Experiment no.Q story, maybe now you love to know more.

Bonus Question who do you bring back
Dime, Cliff , Dio , Lemmy , Randy
  • Hard to answer... probably my father and after R.J. Dio... and the others you wrote, but also Freddy Mercury, and Gary Moore... Tommy Bolin... Stevie Ray... all those people also left us too early.

Thanks for your time, my very best regards to you all. Hallo from Italy.

 This is high impact for radio / press now!! request for interviews can be set up by emailing metalcoffefpr@gmail.com as well as request for music or any other info you need.


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