by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
In 2020, we talked about the terms such as “quarantine jam” becoming a part of our journalistic jargon. This year it seems we’ll be talking about a “lockdown effect” in music, this being a huge upsurge in artistic creativity among musicians and songwriters since touring and music festivals were abruptly put to a halt worldwide. Forced to postpone and cancel their concert plans for longer than anyone could have expected, almost all artists turned to writing and recording. That made 2021 an avalanche of new music releases.
Some artists decided to approach their music from a different angle this time around, too, and one of the more interesting cases was the Italian Symphonic Metal band Temperance. After their last studio album Viridian was released in January 2020 – perhaps the least fortunate moment to release an album in history – they revisited the material with the old adage of “something old, something new” in mind. The result was something you don’t come across every day when it comes to Symphonic Metal. Melodies Of Green And Blue is an acoustic EP which includes two new songs as well as six reworked ones from Viridian. We caught up with Temperance’s leader Marco Pastorino to discuss the details of the new release, the diversity of influences within the band and more.
Hardrock Haven: Temperance’s upcoming EP Melodies Of Green And Blue is described as a “gift to the fans.” Were your fans indeed an inspiration behind recording and releasing this EP?
Marco Pastorino: It was an idea that started during the first lockdown, after the first days of the pandemic. We were on tour with Tarja at the time, but after a couple of weeks we totally understood that what’s happening is a very long stop for the band in general. So we decided to do something just to give something new to the fans, of course. And also, it was to promote Viridian a little bit more because we released that album just a couple of months before the pandemic – in January – and we had no chance to promote it with touring. We were supposed to be on tour for a very long time in 2020, but of course, as we all know it wasn’t possible. So, with Napalm [Records, the band’s label], we decided to do something new. And during the promotion of Viridian, we shot an acoustic video and did an acoustic session in a studio and we received a really great feedback about it. That’s why we decided to re-record some tracks from Viridian but also, to inject some new blood (laughs) into an EP.
Hardrock Haven: And where does the idea of playing acoustic come from, since it’s not a style usually associated with Symphonic Metal or Power Metal?
Marco Pastorino: We decided to do it, because as I told you before, when we shared some acoustic version of one of our songs, we received a great feedback and a lot of people asked us to release this song digitally, on Spotify or Apple Music. And basically, again it was a good way to promote Viridian, because as you know, there are as many as six tracks [on the EP] that are taken from the album in totally new versions. But it’s also because for us – especially Michele [Guaitoli, Temperance’s vocalist, also of Visions of Atlantis] and me – it was a sort of a dream because since the band’s early days we’ve been thinking about releasing something acoustic as to try to do something different. It’s also because every time we write a new song, we begin to work [on it] with an acoustic guitar or a piano, so it’s not anything new for us.
Hardrock Haven: Funnily enough, I was just about to mention that many Rock or Metal bands actually claim exactly the same – to use acoustic guitars while writing – so do you think it’s why the whole “unplugged” thing works so well in general as well as in your case?
Marco Pastorino: Of course – but as you can imagine, with some of our songs it’s not possible (laughs) and for some it just wouldn’t work very well. For example, for the opening track which is called “Mission Impossible” – a very groovy and very modern song. I don’t think it’s possible to do it in an acoustic way. But with other stuff, we tried and I think the final result is not so bad (laughs).
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely, it’s awesome. So, were the two new songs on the EP written just for the occasion, or were they outtakes from the previous Temperance albums?
Marco Pastorino: To be honest with you, “Evelyn” is a song I wrote for Viridian, but at the end of the [album making] process we decided not to include this song on the album because of its mood. It was totally different than the other songs – a melancholic ballad which we’ve never done before. It’s different than the stuff we did before also because of the lyrics… Usually we use some positive vibes and we wanna give some positive emotion to people. But this song is a totally different thing ‘cause that story is a little bit sad. It was not the right song for Viridian and we decided not to use it. But when it comes to the acoustic EP, it fits perfectly. So we decided to push this sad, melancholic mood a little bit here. As for “Paint The World,” Michele wrote this song just for the EP. We decided to put one song written by me and one written by him, so that’s what we came up with.
Hardrock Haven: Do you always divide songwriting duties in Temperance like this?
Marco Pastorino: Usually, when it comes to songwriting, it’s ninety per cent done by me. But me and Michele spend a lot of time together to arrange the stuff and discuss the new albums, the new songs, the arrangements, the way to record the songs… Usually that’s the way. Of course, when we have some songs we wanna share with the other guys, we do that and we’re a band, so we’re open to hear a feedback from everyone else. But basically the songwriting part is done by me and Michele.
Hardrock Haven: As we’ve already mentioned, you chose as many as six songs of Viridian to present on the EP these new acoustic versions. Was it an easy choice?
Marco Pastorino: Basically we decided to record the singles – “Start Another Round” and “I Am The Fire” – and a couple of ballads. But during the recording session we decided to add some more tracks, because we recorded everything very fast (laughs) and we had more time, so we decided to give fans something more. As I said in another interview a couple of days ago, it’s not a real EP and it’s more similar to a full-length album because there are eight tracks on it…
Hardrock Haven: Right, it’s pretty long for an EP… And what kind of experience was that to rework these songs, especially that they’re relatively new also in their original arrangement?
Marco Pastorino: It was a very cool one ‘cause we only decided to record four songs in the first recording session. After the first lockdown – in July, I think – we met each other in the studio, me, Michele, Alessia [Scolletti, vocals] and Luca [Negro, bass]… unfortunately, without Alfonso [Mocerino, drums] ‘cause he was not able to reach us in the north of Italy. But right there in the studio we decided how to record and arrange things – and we spend a week together just thinking about the ways to do it and it was very cool… especially after long months [of being] totally alone and with no chance to see each other.
Hardrock Haven: Must have been. The last reworked song on an EP, “Gaia”, seems to be addressed to our planet, or nature on our planet. How much of a concern environmental issues are for you and do you think artists should focus more on these problems?
Marco Pastorino: On Viridian, we’ve written about this problem a lot. It’s not a concept album at all, but we decided to put some questions here and there in some tracks – of course in “Gaia”, but also in “Scent Of Dye” and “Viridian.” But, as we did before with Temperance, in a positive way. I think on the next albums we’ll try to continue talking about these problems too… We as a band prefer not to talk too much about politics, for example, in our music ‘cause we always prefer to give some good feelings and positivity. I know it’s a very hard period not only for Europe, but for the world in general, and I think this pandemic caused many problems not only for now, but also for the next years. And we have to wait for some years just to come back to real life.
Hardrock Haven: We’ve already mentioned the previous album Viridian. What kind of experience was making this one and are you happy with the result a year later?
Marco Pastorino: In terms of writing, it was very cool, ‘cause I spent a lot of months just thinking about the album and writing one note after another. With – I think – sixteen songs, I met Michele in a very cool place in the northeast of Italy, close to the mountains, and then we spent over a week just listening to the songs, talking about the recording session and discussing the details of the album. We’ve had a great time. Also, we wrote the last track on the album – “Catch The Dream” – during this meeting in the mountains. It was very cool. About the feedback on Viridian, we’re really satisfied with it because it’s our first album on Napalm [Records] and we received amazing feedback from every part of the world. But as you can imagine, it was very unfortunate because we released this album at the end of January and just a month later it wasn’t possible to promote the album at all… No tour, no shows, no way to meet the rest of the band… So it was a problem with timing. But I think it was the same for every band which released an album during the last year.
Hardrock Haven: Unfortunately. It was a crazy year for everyone.
Marco Pastorino: Right, also for people like you and every website and every magazine…
Hardrock Haven: Everyone’s suffered from what was going on… Anyway, back to Viridian, there was a bonus track on the album called “Lost In The Christmas Dream”. Have you ever considered releasing a full length Christmas album with songs in the band’s usual style?
Marco Pastorino: Honestly, I haven’t. At the time we only wanted to release a Christmas song in a Metal style, the Avantasia style, ‘cause I love the Christmas vibe. But to release the entire album would be [too much] – also, Majestica has just done a Christmas album [A Christmas Carol, 2020] and I think it’s enough (laughs). I love their album though!
Hardrock Haven: It’s definitely special. Anyway, Temperance has three vocalists – is it any kind of challenge to balance the vocals in each song and leave the space for one another?
Marco Pastorino: No, we have no rules in general of how to divide the parts and which voice is right to choose for a song… We just try to follow the flow in every song. For one song, we might need to work only with Alessia’s voice whereas for another we might need voices of everyone in the band. So we just need to follow the flow.
Hardrock Haven: All band members have a lot of experience in different bands and projects, past and present. How do you think it contributes to what you present as a band?
Marco Pastorino: I think so, ‘cause from every kind of experience we’ve had comes something new to use for Temperance now. For example, Michele’s involvement in Visions Of Atlantis – we got a chance to tour to every almost part of the world with this band and we’ve seen how hard he’s working with it… and of course, now Michele has more power in his voice but also is a better singer than he was before. The same thing [goes] for me – I work for a lot of projects as a songwriter, producer or singer and now maybe I have more skills to use for Temperance. But that’s how it goes for every single member of the band. I think side projects or other bands in general are a good thing for a musician.
Hardrock Haven: Definitely. And speaking of different influences, there’s plenty in Temperance, from Metal to electronic music to folk music. Where does this diversity come from?
Marco Pastorino: A good thing in Temperance is that every member of the band has different influences. Alessia is, for example, totally into Rock music but also electronic stuff a little bit – whereas Michele and me are the metalheads (laughs), but we’re totally into Rock and Pop music too… I’m a lot into musicals too. And the same goes for Luca and Alfonso. They’re totally into extreme stuff, Progressive stuff, Jazz, Fusion… so I think every kind of music we listen to is a good thing to take as an influence and try to create something new from.
Hardrock Haven: Blending electronic music and Metal is something that seems to be quite popular now, so why do you think it works so well for bands like yours?
Marco Pastorino: Oh yeah. I think nowadays it’s not a new thing anymore because, as you say, there are a lot of bands that try to go that way – like Metalite and especially the biggest band who plays this type of music, Amaranthe. So in general, I think, we’re trying to create something new – especially using our three vocals, harmonies and things like that. We try to add some electronic stuff as well, but also orchestral stuff. In general, we have no limits, so maybe for the next album we’ll push a little bit more towards the orchestrations and less electronics. But that depends on each song of course.
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. Temperance is usually classified as Symphonic Metal and this one seems to be quite popular a genre among Italian bands. Why do you think it is so?
Marco Pastorino: I think we have a lot of amazing bands in Italy and a lot of great singers in them – especially for melodic music genres such as Symphonic Metal. I think this is the reason.
Hardrock Haven: And in general, what is the situation of Rock and Metal bands in Italy when it comes to things like promotion or media support?
Marco Pastorino: It’s totally different than in other European countries like Germany or the UK, because the support of media is basically ninety percent totally underground. We have only a couple of medium radio stations in Italy which support Italian music well and a couple of magazines, luckily… (laughs) But in general, the big support comes from the underground magazines.
Hardrock Haven: Having discussed all the things that didn’t work for Temperance in 2020, and the postponed tour in particular, what are the band’s plans for the future?
Marco Pastorino: Right now, after the release of Melodies Of Green And Blue, we’re supposed to go on tour in October and November – I cross my fingers (laughs) – with Leaves’ Eyes and after that, again we will try to go on tour with Tarja next year (February and March). We have a lot of plans, a lot of gigs and a lot of tours and we really hope it will happen. Let’s see – we have a lot of ideas right now, but everything can change every single day. We’ll have to see what will happen in the next weeks and the next months.
Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! So just fingers crossed everything works out well in the end. Any last words?
Marco Pastorino: Of course – thanks for your time and I really hope to see you on our concerts!
Photo credits: Ermes Buttolo
