by Alexandra Mrozowska
– Sr. Columnist —
Resurrection Kings interview part 2
One of the busiest musicians and producers on Earth in one, Alessandro Del Vecchio’s had a lot to do with the recent self-titled album by the super-group Resurrection Kings. Hardrock Haven caught up with him to see the content of the record from yet another perspective – of a co-writer and a producer.
Hardrock Haven: Alessandro – as a producer, keyboard player, background singer and co-writer of the material you’ve exerted quite an influence upon the Resurrection Kings album, to the point of being named “the fifth band member.” Do you agree with this statement and feel as an integral part of this band indeed?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: For sure! Well, I don’t know if I’m the “fifth band member”… Maybe in terms of a producer that’s got a heavy hand on the material and on the arrangements and guides a band to the vision – that’s for sure then. I feel very proud and honored to be the “fifth member” of the band with these kind of guys! (laughs) All in all, it’s all about working as a team. If you work as a team, then everybody can be a band member. It’s like George Martin for The Beatles or Martin Birch for Iron Maiden – it’s all about being a team player and working as a team.
Hardrock Haven: How did you hook up with Craig Goldy and in what circumstances have you started working on the material?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: The President [of the Frontiers Records] Serafino Perugino put me in touch with Craig because they wanted to do a record with him. The first day was kind of strange… (laughs) because we started talking about doing something and obviously he didn’t know me and it’s always tough when you send material because it’s like you’re sending something that has to prove what you’re talking about, what people are talking about… Frontiers was very confident in me and Craig working as a team together, so I got in touch with him. The first thing we did was writing songs together. I guess we wrote something, like, five songs together and that’s where we started from. We wrote these songs and we immediately felt like we were a great working couple. And it’s been like that all through the record, because Craig is very cooperative and supportive and he was the first one to get back always… before anybody else! It was great working with all the guys, but Craig’s been just amazing. Really amazing.
Hardrock Haven: In many of his interviews, Craig speaks a lot about how you two got along together. What was it like to collaborate with this guys in general? Did you collaborate anytime before?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: As I told you before, with Craig’s it’s been like those marriages made in heaven… those matches made in heaven. But generally… first of all, it was all about the music because we started to write songs and share ideas before anything else. And when the music does the talking, it’s always better because it’s speaking loud about yourself and about the way you can get in touch with a person. That’s how we started – I’ve worked with Vinny before, but never with Sean, Chas and Craig. So I was like Vinny’s guy, but Vinny wasn’t there at the beginning. So it was like “okay, these are all new guys”. But we really worked great together… And you know, years ago I used to be really star-struck – I was like “Oh my God, I’m working with my idol, so I cannot do anything wrong…” and I was really super polite and careful with saying something… But when you work as a producer – you’re the responsible one. People are paying you because you have to be responsible. So, I’m still star-struck because I’m a fan of these guys but I’m a producer, so I got to work as a producer… I’m very confident now and I think I got the strong character which helps… I don’t fear anything. When I work with people, I’m always very respectful but I’m also very confident in what I do. If I’m supposed to be a producer, I’m not supposed to fear. I guess people see that you’re very strong and confident in your talents and you’ve got a vision and you want to accomplish your mission, no matter what… So that’s what happens when you work with the guys like that. You have to be very respectful and you gotta trust their visions but also you have to make it happen the way you want to make it happen because you want to represent the music and your artistry and your vision.
Hardrock Haven: As an experienced producer and musician who worked with many different people throughout the years, do you think it’s possible to successfully collaborate with people you don’t get along with personally?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Honestly, I think it reflects on the music. If you don’t get along personally with somebody, it’s going to reflect on the music. I want my music and my records to have a very deep, joyful, great, happy feeling and a great, positive vibe… I’ve done records with people that I didn’t get along with and sometimes it still happens. It never got to the point of being really evident on the recordings, but I gotta say that the records that were difficult – humanly – kind of reflected that and the records that were amazing humanly reflected that as well and worked better. That’s why I wanna always have a great experience with people that I make music with.
Hardrock Haven: What was the songwriting process for the Resurrection Kings album like?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: The songwriting process was very solid and fluent. I was writing songs with these guys in mind and I wrote something like six or seven songs; then I co-wrote songs with Francesco Marras and Nigel Bailey and then Craig came in and he put his stamp on the songs… It was all very easy, especially that Craig also had songs on his own. Also, we wrote songs together and we had something like two or three songs that didn’t make the album – maybe we will use them somehow in the future…
Hardrock Haven: While speaking about the songwriting and recording process you went through for Resurrection Kings, Craig often uses the enigmatic term “Goldy-izing”. What do you guys mean by saying this?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: (Laughs) Well, the “Goldy-izing” term means that everything that I was sending Craig, even if I was trying to write or arrange with him in mind, was coming back with such a strong personality. It was sounding so Goldy! I mean, Craig has a very specific sound and style and he’s amazing at what he does. So, everything that I was sending him was coming back with such a strong, deep stamp from him that we were like “Okay, that’s another song” (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: According to Craig, demo recordings you prepared were complete with vocal and instrumental lines – little to develop, so to speak. How different are the final album versions of your songs from your original takes on them?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Well… yes, when I write demos, I always write demos that are complete. I always arrange them as much as I can, even if I leave the freedom to the band to put their stamp on or to do whatever it’s worth to make it sound ‘theirs’. I wouldn’t say “little to develop” because if you hear the demos and you hear the final versions, you can hear how they went into the deep foundations of the songs to make them ‘theirs’ and tried to make them sound, as much as they could, close to their sound and their history. So I wouldn’t say they did little to develop them – they did the amazing job.
Hardrock Haven: If I’m not mistaken, some of the songs on the album were written with Craig and the band’s singer Chas West. How do you think those and those written by you complement each other? What do you think about the album’s integrity?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Right! One of the songs – “Livin’ Out Loud” was one of the first demos that Craig presented and that’s how we chose Chas, because when we heard him on the demo we were like “Okay, that’s the guy that has to sing on the record”. As far as putting together songs from different songwriters is concerned – it’s easy if you have a vision! And also, if there’s a common writer. In this case, it could be me because there are maybe one or two songs I’m not present in, but overall I was a driving force for the songwriting. To keep the integrity, you have just to keep the vision. You know, if the songs is good – it’s good, no matter where it comes from, but it has to keep the vision intact.
Hardrock Haven: While writing for Resurrection Kings – or any other act – do you create songs from scratch, or perhaps develop some older ideas of yours that’s been previously shelved for whatever reason?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: When I write, I always write from scratch and I always write for the particular singer or the particular musicians or for the album. I’m in my studio now and looking at my songwriting folder for the new songs I may have – I don’t know if there are six or five songs there that are unreleased… I always write for the project and for the singer and for the band, and I don’t use old demos or recycle them. Everything has to be fresh – that’s how I work. I know a lot of other songwriters who have some ideas for years and then the idea finds the right home; yet I’m not that kind of writer.
Hardrock Haven: In our 2014 interview, you spoke a lot about the apparent overuse of the love theme in AOR/Melodic Rock songs. What’s inspired you to write for Resurrection Kings and what were the themes you were eager to develop in your songs?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Well, Resurrection Kings’ “Never Say Goodbye” is a ballad, so it’s a usual theme. But in other songs we really tried to get deeper and keep more like a fantasy-towards-reality vision. Obviously one of my favourite lyrics is “Distant Prayer” because it’s a song about peace and about living in a world where there’s no difference between people, between the rich and the poor. And when the single came out, all the craziness related to the recent happenings in the Middle East, in France… everything started at the same time. And those lyrics really came alive then because I was talking about how religion can be such an amazing thing for humans but such a stupid matter when it comes to possession, to money, to wars and to fooling somebody else and exploiting somebody… the speaker, the “you”… It’s the same story repeating, but I was talking about how far the concept of prayer is compared to what we pray today. We pray for peace, but we send soldiers to kill the innocent people, prisoners, old people, children and their mothers… It’s such a crazy world. But also I tried to develop more regular themes like in “Who Do You Run To” which is a song about someone who wants to do something so desperately… but then they realize that life is a circle, so the message is to never leave something behind you because it may come back and you will eat your own words. Obviously, songs like “Path of Love” is more like a funky tune and it’s more like “Okay, let’s get on a path of love”… So yes, two or maybe three songs on the album are about love, but apart from “Never Say Goodbye” it’s not a very usual love theme. But there are also songs like “Wash Away” which is about forgetting the past and starting from scratch a better life – which is, I think, a secret of everybody’s happiness.
Hardrock Haven: Which of the songs on Resurrection Kings album you think came out best? Which are your favorites?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: I love “Fallin’ For You,” “Silent Wonder,” “Distant Prayer,” “Who Do You Run To” and also “Had Enough.” Especially “Had Enough” that was so different at the beginning but we worked so great as a team – me, Nigel and Craig – that we really made such a better tune. It’s crazy – the demo was so different and so not as good as is the final version now. Obviously I love all the songs, but those I think are my favorites.
Hardrock Haven: Some reviewers point out to the fact the album sounds more “American” and perhaps rawer than your previous big project – Revolution Saints. Which bands and what kind of sound aesthetics inspired the material?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Honestly, I wasn’t inspired with anything else than Vinny [Appice], Craig [Goldy], Sean [McNabb] and Chas [West]. I wanted to let the players, the musicians and the singer speak as loud as they could all through the record. I didn’t want the record to be sterile, or “another Alessandro Del Vecchio’s record”. I’m not this kind of producer – I’m serving the music, the players and the band. It’s rawer and more American because that’s the way it’s played, written and recorded, and produced. And it’s so different than Revolution Saints because Revolution Saints set such a different formula and Resurrection Kings is all a different band, different guys, different songs. I always work from the musical point of view and the players’ point of view and the singers’ point of view.
Hardrock Haven: Similarly to some other recent acts put together by Frontiers, Resurrection Kings have this infamous super-group quality to them. Do you think the project will last longer than this particular album and would you like to continue on working with these guys in the future?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: I know there are a lot of super-groups and there’s a lot of discussion going on about the future of super-groups… There have been so many super-groups in history – but I wanna say I don’t care. I just care about the quality – if the record is good, the record is good. If it stands the test of time, we’re gonna do more records. We’ve been talking about that, but we’ll have to see how it’s perceived by people and we also have to consider the sales and the financial side of putting up a record like that. So we hope we’re gonna do that – obviously I would like to work with them again in the future. While working together, me, Craig and Vinny talked about maybe doing something with me on vocals and that would really be a dream come true! But we have to see what the future’s going to bring us.
Hardrock Haven: Apart from Resurrection Kings we’ve discussed, what else are you up to these days?
Alessandro Del Vecchio: (Laughs) Yes, I gotta lot to do. I got almost two years ahead booked. Today [which was mid-February] I delivered the new Sunstorm featuring Joe Lynn Turner master and it came out amazingly good! I’m really proud of this. I wrote all the songs but one and it’s such a great record and Joe’s delivering the goods again like he can do (laughs) And Ted Poley’s new record’s coming out, and I just mixed Drive, She Said’s new record Pedal To The Metal and I also played bass on a track. I’m working on a lot of things now – a new Hardline, a new Edge of Forever. I’m always up to something (laughs). I’m also coming to Poland for another Ronnie James Dio tribute [which is going to be held in Warsaw on May the 19th and followed with a short tour all across Poland] so there’s a lot to do – as always!
Visit the band online: http://www.alessandrodelvecchio.com/ – https://www.facebook.com/ResurrectionKingsMusic/
