Year 2002 signed the Return of the most talented Italian ColdWave Band: The Frozen Autumn! With "Emotional Screenind Device" Diego and Arianna (previously working together in Static Movement) released a new Jewel...May their Talent be recognized, as they do deserve it!
Simona
Diego & Arianna: Recalling the birth of "Second Sight" requires a considerable memory effort, since its first version -(D)- was among the first tracks to be composed. The Frozen Autumn albums have always contained "ambient" intros, after all, namely "Pale Awakening" and "The Echoes Of My Lies"; but while working on the (D) version, the cues for a definetely different (A) version emerged. We thought the latter one could be the perfect conclusion for our album. Hence, our album couldn't begin or end in an optimum fashion without this track.
The idea of an "unwitting foresight ability" may represent the human qualities that allow you to reach your final goal by evading any interferences from all outside elements.
Simona: Are you still in touch with Claudio? After the „split up“, how did The Frozen Autumn rebirth as „band“start? (or better say the „continuation“ maybe)
Diego: I haven't kept in touch with him since ages ago.
Everything continued in 1998 with our side project Static Movement, a more compact, harmonious duo formed by Arianna and me. That project immediately came out with good results and it was meant to be as a test-bed for the new, current line-up of The Frozen Autumn.
Simona: In this album, Arianna sings the first song in German in The Frozen Autumn career…
Arianna: "Wintertag" was structured upon pre-existing lyrics. As you may have noticed, it's the longest song in the album, and it's among the most "atmospherical" ones. It's frozen in every and each of its elements, I like it very much.
Simona: For the common human beings, „New year“ often means a sort of „taking stock“ of the year that is just gone. Would you like to do that, focusing on your 2002 Live experiences and especially on the one at Gotham NL?
Diego: The year 2002 has been a "magic" year for us indeed under many aspects: several concerts, also abroad, and here we talk about the event that had themajor positive influence on us: the GothAM IV festival at the Paradiso club in Amsterdam. It was a crucial event for us since its organizer is Ronny Moorings, that is to say Clan Of Xymox leader. Playing for them was a huge emotion, we were all of a dither: on top of that, Ronny himself stood at the mixing consolle during our concert, so you can imagine how we were head over heels crazy with joy!!! Everything had been perfectly arranged, the Paradiso is a magnificent venue: skillful technical crew, great PA system, let alone the lighting plant and the fact that for the occasion we had prepared some background videoclips that were projected on a cinema-like screen behind us: the effect was imposing, we were and we'll always be absolutely satisfied about it all!!
Simona: And what about the chance of mixing a Clan of Xymox song?
Diego: It was Ronny Moorings' proposal, it happened during a private meeting of ours. Obviously we gave an affirmative and more than enthousiastic answer, everybody knowing me is aware that this is my dream of a lifetime that has turned into reality. Having the possibility of remixing their song "There's No Tommorrow" has been a wonderful experience; the privilege of editing their original material has really delighted us. We still catch ourselves listening to the single tracks cointaining Ronny's voice in flat modality (no FX) and it's always something that throws us into ecstasies. Ronny Moorings was satisfied with our remix: that's the greatest reward!
Simona: Other collaborations to come in the near future?
Diego & Arianna: There are always some musicians that ask us for collaborations, but now it's really hard to tell what will or won't be carried out in the future.
Simona: „Atmospheres in between Dreams and sharping reflections on Reality“..that’s the way I like to define your Sound, do you agree?
Diego & Arianna: In regard to "Emotional Screening Device" as you've pointed out, well, you hit the mark.
Simona: What about the recording of a new album? I’ve read in some Mags that it will be probably published within the end of 2003, also to celebrate the 10th Year Anniversay of The Frozen Autumn.
Diego & Arianna: In the interviews we gave before last autumn, we had actually told that. Afterwards though, the unexpected mental and physical fatigue due to our September live shows, in addition to some private reasons led us to the conclusion that we're likely to reconsider that forecast.
Simona: My twisted mind would like to ask you this question: have you ever felt the need to sing in duet?
Diego & Arianna: This is lately among our FAQ and we wonder why. Making duets together is something we're not interested in indeed, it's a need we've never ever felt.
Simona: Talkin now about the „hectic Development of New Technologies“: how and in which way has this influenced and/or improved the Sound of The Frozen Autumn? Luckily, your „80‘s approach“ remains intact!
Diego & Arianna: We need some fine distinctions here. From our standpoint, electronic musical instruments alone characterize your style, in most cases, if you do nothing but use the factory presets they come with. On the contrary, we spend a lot of time programming our own sounds while composing, hence whatever electronic musical instruments we had at our disposal, (paradoxically speaking), our style would stay recognizable, even though we prefer some gear rather than some other, like anyone else. We're as keen on technological novelties as we're passionate about vintage hardware, our 25 among synths & samplers cover a 20-year-lapse, we're free from bias.
It's not really, or it's not only or mainly a matter of what you lay your hands on, but a question of working method: that's where the lion's share of the skill probably is; creativity is in your mind, not really in your instrument which is exactly only an "instrument".
While, talking about digital recording for instance, things are much easier now than just a few years ago.
Simona: Now talking about Static Movement: when will the sequel of "NOUVELLE VAGUE" be released? And regarding live shows, will you perform as Static Movement again in the future?
Diego & Arianna: The same as in the answer n°8: unfortunately this is not the right moment for any prediction. However, we don't need to perform live any more as Static Movement since during our live acts as The Frozen Autumn we always include some tracks from "Visionary Landscapes".
Simona: Oki, time to close now, thanx for the interview and my best wishes to The Frozen Autumn, and to Diego+Arianna indeed!
Diego & Arianna: Thank you for this beautiful interview. :)
Contacts:
THE FROZEN AUTUMN official
website
frozen-autumn@libero.it