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What are your idols of yesterday and your inspirations of today?
‘Guitaristically, they are still the same: Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert and Marty Friedman are my biggest influences. But nowadays there are also a lot of classical musicians that inspire me: Arcadi Volodos, Boris Berezowsky, Midori, Laurent Korcia.’ As far as composition wise goes, twentieth century composers such as Kryztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawsky, Pierre Boulez, Arnold Shoenberg, Béla Bartok.’
The awesome art work of the album was done by Guilherme Sevens from Brazil, how did you made contact with him?
‘He is a friend of our previous singer, and when he heard the name of the album for the first time, he sent an illustration of what it represented to him. As we all liked the idea a lot, we asked him to add more details, and he did a great job.’
What sets you apart from all the other neoclassical power bands is your dark edge to your music, was that done deliberately?
‘No, I’ve always been into a darker kind of harmony by taste so it is natural that my music sounds like this.’
You did a great job in mixing the album together with Kevin Codfert in Paris. How difficult is it to send the master tapes to Björn Engelman in Sweden? It’s your ‘baby’ they are messing with more or less?
‘We knew Bjorn’s work on Meshuggah and some other bands, and we were absolutely confident in the quality of the master he would do. Of course we were far from being disappointed, we were even more satisfied than expected, the album gained so much power compared to the un-mastered version, it’s incredible.’
Why was decided to put out Archangels In Black in February 2009 and not earlier?
‘Because Adagio have never worked properly outside France and Japan, so as it is a “newcoming band” in Europe, we thought it would need some time for promo and slowly introduce the name to the media so that when the album comes out, people at least know who the band is.’
Are you still a guitar teacher?
‘Yes, but as I have a lot of other activities, with Adagio and mostly with the guitar magazines I’m working with, sometimes I can’t teach for a while. But I have great students, which are very patient.’
How many students have you got?
‘Approximately 25, 30.’
Are you endorsed by any brands?
‘Yes, Lag Guitars, Hughes & Kettner amps, Line 6, Di Marzio, Elixir strings, and New Rock shoes.’
Why did you pick them?
‘Because they were my favourite brands in their respective classes of product. Lag is definitely the guitar brand which has supported me for the longest time, I signed to them 10 years ago, and after 5 prototypes, they have just finished my signature model, which is the ultimate guitar of my dreams, it’s a real shred oriented guitar, with 7 strings and 27 frets, the flattest neck radius possible (they broke two wonderful necks while doing the tests) and a ultra thin and profiled body. Pickups are custom made by Di Marzio just for this guitar. It will be available worldwide at the end of the year, and introduced at Frankfurt Music Fair in April.’
Which band would you really like to go on tour with sometime?
‘A dream come true would be Metallica or Maiden of course, but a more realistic one would be to do a longer tour with Kamelot, we just did 4 shows together, and it was great.’
Put together your favourite band with your favourite all time musicians.
‘Vocals: Jorn Lande (in Beyond Twilight, not solo), guitar: Jason Becker, bass: Tony Franklin and drums: Sean Reinert.’
Your official website www.adagio-online.com is not easy going since it’s in English and French mixed together, have you considered an UK site and a French site? The site isn’t really up to date either, it still has a picture of you former singer Gus Monsanto in your bio. Is the site owned by you? Or do you think your MySpace site is much more important?
‘No, I am not personally working on both websites and the MySpace, but it’s true that since MySpace is providing all the information on one page, and in my opinion is much more attractive than a normal site, we are putting more energy into this. But you’re right, the website should be more updated.’
What are your plans for the near future?
‘Finishing the promo, then go on tour.’
Hope to see you then, thanks for this interview and hope to meet you soon! Good luck!
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