It's been months now,
since Gonzales played their last concert ever, celebrating the official birth
of Tytus. This brand new heavy metal beast is taking every possible rock n'
roll stage by storm to spread their verb of power chords and dual lead guitar
solos, sounding tighter and sharper than ever. After the recent release of
"White Lines", a double A-side single too good to be true, Tytus are
working hard on their next steps to cement their reputation as one of the most
exciting hard rock outfits around.
Hi Mark! What’s up in
Tytus camp?
Hi
Alle, in Tytus camp things are going fine, our first 7” EP “White Lines” has
just been released and we’re getting a good feedback both for the two tracks EP
and for the live shows.
This is a question
you cannot avoid…which are the reasons behind the decision of changing the name
of the band when, after years of hard work as Gonzales, you had made a name and
a cult following throughout Europe?
After
ten years, crucial line-up and sound changes that we could look at as an
evolution or maturation, we felt it was right, most of all me and Markey Moon
(bass player and the other only founding member), to change the name of the
band and to end the project known as Gonzales.
Aren’t you afraid of
confusing the older fans?
This
is another reason that made us realize it was the time for a change…imagining
some fan interested in the new sound of the band and looking for a Gonzales’
video on Youtube, just to find a live performance from 2005 with Markey Moon on
vocals and guitar (he switched to bass in 2010, leaving the vocal duties to
Tilen Durden) playing with a more punk rock approach…that could have been wrong
and confusing. No one could say : I prefer Gonzales with the first singer, with
the new one, with the old bass player, with the new one, when they were more
punk, less punk etc…they could only say to prefer Gonzales to Tytus…well,
that’s a possibility.
As you said before,
you’re back on the market with a brand new single “White Lines”, 300 (100 by Kornalcielo Records, 100 by Ghost Highway Records,
100 by Self Decostructo Records); tell us more about
the feedback it’s receiving?
Visits
on Bandcamp and sales after just three days are good, the reviews till now are
all very positive, and the feedback to our last four live performances promoting
the new material is beyond the greatest expectations…very good indeed!!
Do you think that the
classic metal turn of your new sound will leave more room for the dual lead
guitars panache, or the original “straight to the point” punk attitude will
remain one of your trademarks?
The
lead guitar hero (or guitar nerd) syndrome was very much present also in
Gonzales, for sure this new heavy rock approach gives us more chances to
explore new possibilities but, even if now we have tracks reaching the six
minutes mark, we are not going to stuff them with never ending guitar solos.
Listening to the new
material I find strong similarities with bands like American Gypsyhawk, with
their brand of cock-out hard rock with a melodic sensibility a la Thin Lizzy; nowadays,
which are your stylistic reference points?
All
the British heavy metal and hard rock of the 70’s and 80’s…Thin Lizzy, Maiden,
Judas Priest, Black Sabbath…but we also look with interest to all the new wave
of retro rock bands coming from Scandinavia like Witchcraft, Graveyard,
Horisont, or American bands like Gypsyhawk, Valient Thorr, Sword, Scorpion
Child…
As the years went
passing by, with the stylistic evolution, you have very much matured as
musicians; how do you and Ilija (Riffmeister, guitar) work together to compose
and define your guitar parts full of harmonies and twin leads?
Mainly
in the rehearsal room…we send the other guys to drink some beer down at the pub
and we take our time to fix the harmonies, the solos, split our parts…
Generally speaking, how
Tytus gives birth to a new song?
With
an improvised riff in the rehearsal room, or sometime with one or more members
of the band coming with an almost fully developed idea to be shaped. Tilen (vocals)
mainly handles the lyrics duties, working in team with Markey Moon for the
vocal lines and melodies.
Do you think that
outside Italian borders, most of all in Germany where Gonzales was a well known
name, changing the name of the band could cause some misunderstanding?
I
don’t think so, we played a gig in Wien, where we had been three, four times as
Gonzales, and our old fans very much appreciated the change!!
At
the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re into punk, hardcore or rock…we
are all Maiden fans, that’s where everybody comes from...if the attitude stays
the same and you don’t take yourself too seriously, like metalheads sometimes
do, people enjoy the show. Playing this kind of music brings me back to my
teens and I hope that our show could give the audience the same feeling.
The space-rock intro
of “New dawn’s eve” opens new horizons in your sonic landscape, what about
using a regular keyboards player in the future? Or maybe a naked dancer, like Stacia in those legendary
Hawkind’s shows?
(Laughing)
If she’d have Stacia’s boobs I’m up for it! I would like to use some synth
parts but not a keyboards player on stage…we’ll see, everything could happen!
After all these years
as a champion of the rock n’ roll underground scene, looking back, would you
change something, or are you happy with your actual situation?
I
personally have no regret and I consider myself lucky enough…I’ve been playing
everywhere, I’ve seen places and met people that I could have never imagined
when I started it all. Some friends of mine never went beyond their city
borders, and I’ve been playing throughout most of Europe, United States, Scandinavia,
why should I complain?
How organized your actual
set list? Do you have a full on Tytus repertoire, or do you still play some
Gonzales classic?
At
the moment we are playing all new originals and a couple of cover songs, but we
are writing new songs on a daily basis and they are almost ready to be soon
part of the set list.
We
have been asked to play some old stuff from the old repertoire, but we strongly
refused…Gonzales are dead and gone!
All is ready for
Tytus first full length then?
As
I said before we are working on it effortlessly, hoping to record it by the end
of the summer and to find a record label that could promote it in the best
possible way.
See you on the road,
Mark!
Sure!!
Thanks a lot for this interview and for the support!! Global Texan Chronicles was
the first to review “White Lines”, months before the official release!! A big
thumbs up for you guys!!!
TYTUS: Facebook. / Website. / Bandcamp. / Kornalcielo Records.
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