DANIELE MAZZA is the keyboardplayer for ANCIENT BARDS, but on his very first solo album he releases an album that could be classified as a huge Hollywood Movie motion picture soundtrack. We had an interview with him to talk about this and other things.
 
First of all congratulations on the release of your solo debut album Immortals, an album that took me by surprise because it is showing a completely different side of you, can you tell us all about how it came to this release?
Thank you for your kind words. You have to know that I’ve been a huge fan of movie soundtrack since I was a child. During the beginning of the covid period, I had more time on my hands, and for this reason, i started working on this solo album. Immortals is actually just an introduction to my world of cinematic music that I called “CineVerse”. After 4 metal albums, I needed to come back to the roots of my passion and create that kind of music I fell in love with so long ago. So, Immortals is only the first album of a long series.

You're best known as keyboardplayer for ANCIENT BARDS, and we could already hear some of the cinematic/movie influences here and there, but on this solo album it really feels like we're heading into the world of Hollywood and Blockbusters, who influenced you?
First of all Hans Zimmer. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t need an introduction. He is the composer of Gladiator, The Lion King, The Da Vinci code, Interstellar, etc.. But it’s not alone, many composers influenced me during my life: John Williams, Ennio Morricone, John Powell, Thomas Bergersen, Brian Tyler, Alan Silvestri and many others.

Do you have any connections yet with the movie world, because I can imagine you could become the next Hans Zimmer or John Williams?
Wow.. you just said the 2 names of the best composers around. Actually I already work as composer for visual media (movies, documentaries, videogames, commercials, etc..). Anyway, becoming the next Zimmer or Williams is a very long way off. I can say that I will work really hard to get better and better every day!

Besides a few ANCIENT BARDS members guesting on the album, we can also hear CHIARA DI MARE, can you tell us more about her? 
Sure, Chiara is a talented italian singer from sicily. As me, she is a fan of cinematic filmscore music. All started because I needed some vocal parts, different from the usual. I needed a voice that would have been used like an instrument, an actual part of the orchestra. And I was pretty sure her voice was perfect for this kind of work. And so it was.

I am quite overwhelmed by the huge sound as if a full orchestra worked with you on this album, but basically you did all of this on your keyboard alone?
Yeah, I didn’t use any “real” instrument except for the solo guitars recorded by Claudio. I usually work with my Masterkeyboard and my computer. I use Cubase Pro and a ton of orchestral and sound libraries. The same libraries used in the film music industry. The hard job is to play and program all the midi instruments in their max level, to make these libraries sound real. It’s a huge work, but super satisfying.
 
Keyboards/Synths were more or less introduced in the popmusic during the 1970s, became extremely popular during the 1980s, but during the 1990s there was a period when it was not done to play this instrument, how do you look back yourself about the involvement of keys/synths in the pop and rock music?
Each era is characterized by a different sound. As you said, in the 80's synths saw their peak moment, then this instrument started to be used differently. Now, for example, synths are used to make excellent sound design parts, in addition to the classic musical use. In addition, synths are often used as layers of real instruments, and thus give a different impact to those instruments. In immortals I used synths to make sound design elements like risers, whooshes, downers, as well as small musical parts. So I think that in any musical genre the synth will always be an indispensable part, regardless of the use (music or sound design).

Recently it seems every band wants a keyboardist in their line-up, especially in the pop and rockworld, but wasn't it the Prog/Power Metalworld that re-introduced it during the late 1990s when bands like KAMELOT, SONATA ARCTICA, WITHIN TEMPTATION, RHAPSODY and such were flirting with the symphonic bombastic keys/synths first?
Yes it’s true. Anyway, in my opinion, i don’t think that every band wants a keyboard player, but I see more and more bands use synths in their songs. And I’m pretty sure in the future, it will be even more used.
 
You're still quite young, where did it all start for you going into the music business and your first experiences with making music yourself?
Well,Thank you, I don’t feel so young, Hahah. Anyway, I started my music career with Ancient Bards in 2009 signing the agreement with Limb Music. But I started making music when i was a child, my first composition was done when i was 11. It was a piano track, after that i wrote 2 or 3 tracks even for piano. And when I was 16 i started composing the songs for the project that you know as “Ancient Bards”. The very first songs were Four Magic elements and The birth of Evil.    

Was RHAPSODY a huge influence when starting ANCIENT BARDS?
Absolutely yes. In 2004 i discovered Rhapsody, and It was the first time that I listen to filmscore music mixed with metal. And i fell in love with it.

What are the plans right now for ANCIENT BARDS? 
We are working hard on the production of the fifth album. All music is composed, the band, right now, is arranging their own instruments. And the good thing is it’s almost done.

Can we expect any more future surprises from you besides this solo release and your band ANCIENT BARDS?
Who knows.. maybe the release of some OST that I’m working on!

We are in the middle of a pandemic, but do you expect to do a solo tour in the future, or perhaps work/perform with an orchestra someday on stage?
I prefer to focus on writing more music for this project, and expand the discography further. After that I will see if there’s a chance to bring this music on stage. It’s not easy, because it would require a whole real orchestra, and it means huge production.

And how will you be able to promote this album and how are the reviews so far?
I’m very surprised! Actually, I made this album not for a “metal community”, anyway Immortals was accepted very well from metal webzines and magazines! Now, yes, I have to promote this album, but also I have to promote the project itself. For this reason I will write more music that will be out soon. In the meantime, who knows? I could see Ancient Bards playing “Time to Go” during their shows.

A few short questions that you hopefully are willing to share with us: 
 - Favorite band of all times: Queen
 - Favorite album of all times: The Lion King OST
 - Favorite music genre besides Melodic Hardrock/Metal: Epicore / Filmscore Music
 - Best concert ever visited: Hans Zimmer Live at Wembley arena in London 2016
 - Last concert visited: The World of Hans Zimmer in Milan 2019
 - Best performed concert by your band: Wacken 2015
 - Last performed concert by your band: November 2019 in Switzerland
 - First bought record (or CD): a musicassette of an italian band: 883 – Nord Sud Ovest Est
 - Last bought record (or CD): In cauda Venenum by Opeth
 - Most precious moment in your life (could be non-music related): Bejing 2019, on the great wall.
 - 2020 is… meditation and consciousness
 - 2021 is so far… most productive year
 - 2022 will be… the evolution
 - First thing you do when restrictions is over and you’re free to do whatever you want to do: an actual big hug to everyone, without thoughts about covid!

Thanks for answering the questions and good luck with all of the great work you do!
It was my pleasure. Thank you!

DANIELE MAZZA ‘IMMORTALS’ (LIMB MUSIC/SUBURBAN)

This has got to be one of the biggest sounding albums of LIMB MUSIC since the days of RHAPSODY. DANIELE MAZZA is a gifted Italian composer who is also part of the Symphonic Power Metal band ANCIENT BARDS, and via his fascination for big movie scores of HANS ZIMMER, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, Classical Music/Opera and the musical THE LION KING, he always wanted to create a symphonic move score like album and now his dreams are fullfilled with the wonderful first solo album Immortals. This album sounds like a big Hollywood movie-score, including a full blown orchestra like bombastic Wagnerish sound, so it could easily fit a movie a la Gladiator or Pearl Harbor. The only difference is the fact that Daniele created it almost all on his own through his keyboardwork. He composed, produced, arranged and engineered all of the 13 included songs, while as guests we can hear on 1 song SARA SQUADRANI, CHIARA DI MARE for the choir vocals and CLAUDIO PIETRONIK plays the beautiful melodic soaring guitarsolos we can hear here and there. All together this album sounds massive and extremely bombastic, so if you're a fan of HANS ZIMMER, then you should get this album a.s.a.p. I loved the huge sound and the way it connects the worlds of Classical Music/Wagner/Opera, Hollywood Movie Blockbusters and neo-classical symphonic melodic metal (NIGHTWISH/MALMSTEEN/ROYAL HUNT/STRATOVARIUS/RHAPSODY). Daniele is an amazingly talented composer, who definitely is up there in the ultimate upper league of modern day composers in a way BEETHOVEN and WAGNER were in the 19th century, so are HANS ZIMMER, VINCE DICOLA, JOHN WILLIAMS and Daniele the ultimate composers for this kind of bombastic instrumental music nowadays. More info at: https://www.danielemazzamusic.com/

(Points: 8.9 out of 10)