With:	Carmelo Orlando [Guitars, vocals]
Conducted by:	Dream Taster (e-mail)
Published:	04.11.2007
Band profile:	Novembre

Buon giorno Novembre! First of all, thanks for this interview. I am really impressed by your new album, "The Blue". Tell us a little bit about how this record came to be. Also, can you explain the title of the album?

Well, thank you! Right after the release of MATERIA and the following European tour with Katatonia and we started the writing sessions for THE BLUE immediately after. For some reasons we've been really prolific. We could have made even 20 songs if they fit the CD format, but we stopped "just" at 12. Everything came so easily, no major troubles, as it always happens when you're writing/recording. Couldn't really explain how!

The title is quite generic; there are 12 songs indeed and they're not related as a concept-album. So we thought a generic title would fit. The blue is sort of the backdrop for those songs, it's the color of the mood we felt writing them. It's the color you synesthetically see when you play those songs.




You have a new member, a full-time bassist Luca Giovagnoli. Novembre has been a trio for a long time. What motivated you to draft a new member?

We needed a stable 4th member. We were tired of session bass-player. Many of which play unimpassioned. Luca is such a spontaneous and frank guy; He doesn't ever say things at your back. That's probably his best quality; he's like our conscience; if something is wrong, he tells you boldly; no compromises and we learned to trust his advises. A real great bass player and a strong element, then he's a great musician with our same attitude and musical tastes.
He settled right way participating to both the song-writing and recording sessions.

How big was his impact on your latest album?

Huge impact on the morale side; Regarding the song-writing well, he still have to get deeper into the alchemy of the band. But we have time. We're still kids after all

You recorded the album in Finland with legendary producer Mikko Karmila. How was it like working with him, the studio experience, and the trip there?

It's great up there. Amazing gals!!! Breathtaking environment also!

We needed to play safe and Finnvox is the best studio we have in the continent. It has a company-like management, meaning there's a chief who hires sound-engineers that cannot fail or make an album according to the mood they have on that day or else they're fired, if you know what I mean. It's 100% guaranteed result and Mikko is such great guy to work with




In terms of inspiration, how important is your environment in your songwriting? What inspires you most?

Maybe we don't fully realize it is important. We live here day by day and it all seems the same crap as anywhere else in this world. We daily deal with traffic, shitty people who rise the prices every week; we hardly have the time to look around and see the unbelievable arts springing out from every place in this country. So I guess it is important. Maybe that's why in Texas they play NU-metal???

I read that you are about the record a video of 'Anaemia'. Tell us how you feel about that or update us about the progress on it.

It's been done for the song "Anaemia", and it's been shot in Rome and Gothenburg from the Swedish director Tobias Martinsson.
The video tries to follow the lyrical patterns; the song is about this blood disease called Anaemia indeed, where the red cells are missing and you feel weak and your skin grows dead pale. But it's a metaphor for an inner weakening. Not really regarding the actual disease;
So the video is an on-going strain of fading ins and outs of shades, us playing, me singing in a blue scenario and the song-main-character represented by a girl (our gorgeous friend Karo) wandering helplessly through the shadows of the city. The result was totally amazing.

Do you think you have reached your perfect balance in terms of clean/harsh vocals? Which ones do you enjoy recording most?

I don't see us as an unbalanced band searching for a balance on something. We make music and we respect whatever we dig up from our inner selves, not changing anything or it would sound artificial. We can't predict the percentages between clean/scream vocals; It all depends on the song, the context and dozens more variables. As far as it goes for recording, I'd spare myself the both if it was possible!

On a more general note, what are your proudest musical achievements with the band?

Touring with Kreator! After that I said to myself I didn't need anything else.
Signing with Peaceville is another. We really felt part of a elite, even if I hate elites;
Being considered the most important band of my country; Being my girlfriend fave band

And if you had to pick one single song to play to introduce Novembre, which one would it be? Why?

Now I'd go for Zenith. I'm crazy for that one. I don't really understand where that song came out from! How we did it! It's perfection and yet, perfection doesn't define it..

Your probably get this question a lot, but anyway, what is the possibly having a Novembre song sung in its entirety in Italian one of these days?

We already have one. It's in the "Dreams d'Azur" version of "Night/At Once" (originally recorded in '94 on the "Wish I could dream it again?" album). In "Dreams", it's entitled "Nottetempo" and it's totally re-sung in Italian.
As for a new one; I dunno There's so many things I don't and don't wanna know. I prefer to wait for the right time, to know.

I am a huge fan of yours, and I was wondering if you will have the opportunity to release a live album in the future? Maybe for the 15th anniversary of the band?

Maybe it's too soon yet. Novembre might have born in the end of '94 but we've been 5 years in a coma. Then our first album for an internationally distributed label was late '99. So it's still like this is our 4th album, not the 6th, and as if Novembre is 3 or 4 years old instead of 13. Meaning we have lots of ground to recoup before we can think of a live album, DVD, whatever.

Ciao Novembre, grazie mille e buona fortuna? Do you have any last words for our readers?

Thank you everyone, see you on the road and get in touch with us at,
http://www.novembre.co.uk
http://www.peaceville.com/novembre (lot's of nice things in there)
http://www.myspace.com/novembre1

Thanks to Jeff and to Peaceville Records for making this interview possible.