{"id":68928,"date":"2020-12-06T10:47:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-06T15:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=68928"},"modified":"2020-12-14T20:52:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T01:52:20","slug":"interview-with-fabrizio-troiano-of-metal-for-kids-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2020\/interview-with-fabrizio-troiano-of-metal-for-kids-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Fabrizio Troiano of Metal For Kids, United"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Countless Rock songs we all know referred to childhood as a period in one\u2019s life when the dreams are big and possibilities seem endless. But you don\u2019t need Pink Floyd or KISS telling you that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of what happened to their dreams afterwards, childhood was the period everyone dreamt about becoming a President, an astronaut or a Rock star, of meeting their basketball heroes or learning how to fly. Or perhaps… not everyone? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about those whose childhood is dreaming mostly about recovering from serious diseases they battle? \u201cThey should have fun, share good times with friends or, why not, even dream about their future thanks to music or sports,\u201d but \u201cthey fight to survive instead\u201d, says an Italian musician and event manager Fabrizio Troiano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His sentiment becomes especially clear this year, when almost everyone all around the globe experienced isolation, discomfort and fear for their life \u2013 something seriously ill people and especially kids face every day. That\u2019s why Troiano launched a Cultural Association Metal For Kids, United with the aim of helping the suffering kids. The all-star charity jam was held annually for a few years \u2013 and then 2020 came along. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even the COVID pandemic wasn\u2019t able to stop Metal For Kids, United. Instead of organizing another concert, Troiano invited his guests \u2013 including David Ellefson (Megadeth, Ellefson, Altitudes And Attitude, Metal Allegiance), Scott Ian (Anthrax, SOD), Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, ex-Gamma Ray), Brian O\u2019Connor (ex-Vicious Rumors), Rafael Bittencourt (Angra) and more \u2013 to take part in a lockdown video. But before you watch \u201cBurn2K20\u201d and consider a donation to a noble cause behind this initiative, find out more about Metal For Kids, United and the man who put it all together…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hardrock Haven: First of all, could you please introduce the idea behind Metal For Kids United? In which circumstances did it start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: I got the idea back in 2016. I wanted to create something special and related to music \u2013 more specifically, to Heavy Metal. I have to say that until then I\u2019ve never been involved in producing concerts. Of course, I\u2019ve been a metalhead since I was eleven years old and I\u2019m also a guitar player in a band, so music is very important to me, but I haven\u2019t done anything related to music in terms of producing events. My daily job is working in an event company, so I do organize events, but I usually do this for other companies and consumers… Anyway, me and my band Timestorm released the album [Shades Of Unconsciousness<\/em>] back in 2000 and I had this crazy idea of making a sort of reunion with the band and doing a concert and I wanted to create something interesting for the audience. Of course I knew that probably my band didn\u2019t have much following anymore anyway, as it\u2019s been twenty years in between, twenty years of not being around… Still, I had a lot of contacts as a fan and an amateur musician and I started making invitations to people I knew. For a long time, I\u2019ve been friends with Brian O\u2019Connor, who at some point [1997-1999, 2001-2005] was a lead singer of Vicious Rumors and actually replaced their late singer Carl Albert [with the exception of the 1996 album Something Burning<\/em> featuring the vocals of the band\u2019s guitarist Geoff Thorpe] when he died. I got to know him in 2003 during the Vicious Rumors\u2019 European tour with Savatage and we became good friends, so the idea was to meet and invite him to sing in Italy and perform some Vicious Rumors\u2019 songs as well as cover songs. I also had the opportunity to get to know Edu Falaschi [ex-Angra, Almah] around the summer of 2015. He\u2019s actually a cousin of a friend of mine from the university years, so I was introduced to Edu when he was touring Italy. So I asked him, if I was going to organize a concert, would he like to join? He said \u201cyes\u201d. I also became friends with Maestro Mistheria [Mistheria, Vivaldi Metal Project] and he became involved in the first Metal For Kids event too. I started inviting them to play, but it soon became clear to me that I wanted to do something special for Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Any particular reason why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Because geographically, Rome is in the middle of Italy and there are not so many Heavy\/Power Metal concerts here. Of course, it\u2019s usually even worse if you live in the southern part [of Italy]. But back in the day when I was fifteen or even twenty, I\u2019ve always had to travel up to Milan or Bologna to meet my heroes and see concerts. And at the same time, there are a lot of cool Italian bands like Labyrinth, Vision Divine, Rhapsody and others which are around for a very long time now. Most of them are located in regions north from Rome and usually don\u2019t play here \u2018cause costs are too high and the audience isn\u2019t as big nowadays as it used to be in 2000 or 2010. So I wanted to do something for Rome and I decided to invite just a few key musicians instead of whole bands and make a backing band out of very cool and talented professional Heavy Metal musicians from Rome. I thought about a long all-star jam, so the musicians would play the most important songs of their careers and a few rare songs also, to make it more special, plus the covers of the classics from Hard Rock to Heavy Metal. One or two days into doing that I said to myself, \u201cI have to do this for charity.\u201d It didn\u2019t make sense to make money out of it \u2013 perhaps we\u2019d not even make enough to cover the concert \u2013 so as long as I do this myself, I want to do it for charity. It\u2019s really a personal dream come true to organize this concert and invite all those musicians and also to prove to myself that my daily job of event organizer can be utilized to do something that I really care about \u2013 Heavy Metal, music in general and eventually, the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Why did you decide to help children specifically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: It\u2019s about [other children] having the same dreams I used to have when I was a child. When I was eleven years old, I bought my first Heavy Metal albums \u2013 Killers <\/em>by Iron Maiden and Blow Up Your Video <\/em>by AC\/DC. Soon I totally fell in love with Heavy Metal. Of course, at the time I used to listen to Europe too, \u2018cause it was the period of the big success of The Final Countdown<\/em> and it [an album] was probably a present given to my older brother. If you were invited to a birthday party in Italy in the \u201880s, you would give a cassette, an LP or a single as a present. So, I got familiar with Rock and Heavy Metal this way, and since I turned 11, I became a real metalhead. Even though I was still a child still going to school, I was a metalhead \u2013 probably the only one around. Metal For Kids… is a dream of a child which comes true and I\u2019m lucky to do it, \u2018cause I\u2019ve got a job and I earn enough money to put a show on and do it for charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Speaking of that, could you please give more details about a specific children charity you support these days \u2013 the Peter Pan Association?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Now it\u2019s the second year we are supporting Peter Pan Association which offers free hospitality to families who come to Rome to have their children treated for cancer at Child Jesus Hospital. The association works very seriously and strongly supports children since 1994. I find it very unfair that children have to deal with cancer at the very young age while they should have fun, share good times with friends or, why not, even dream about their future thanks to music or sports. They fight to survive instead. I was a lucky child and fulfilled many of my childhood dreams. Now I\u2019m paying it forward. As a reminder, you can help the children at Peter Pan in three ways: donating at: https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/metal-for-kids-united-against-kids-cancer<\/a>, purchasing Metal For Kids United merchandise at https:\/\/metalforkids.bandcamp.com<\/a> and subscribing to our YouTube channel and streaming the new #BURN2K20 video: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lIfWn1C4jbw<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It is unfair indeed, and support is much needed in such a situation. Anyway, back to the story \u2013 what are your memories from the very first Metal For Kids… show?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Honestly, the first show was a big success. I didn\u2019t expect it. It was more than thirty musicians, two opening bands \u2013 my band Timestorm and another one \u2013 plus musicians from Secret Sphere, Eldritch, Vision Divine, Labyrinth, Edu Falaschi, Fabio Lione [Angra, Rhapsody, ex-Vision Divine], Brian O\u2019Connor… It was a huge success and that\u2019s why I kept on doing it also in the following years.  At the beginning, the only way to collect money to donate for charity were concert tickets. So basically we had three hundred people around at the first show, which is good for Power Metal, which is the kind of music we usually play. Some Progressive Metal and classic Metal too, but mostly it\u2019s Power\/Speed Metal, especially that there\u2019s a lot of guest musicians coming from the German music scene \u2013 like Ralf Scheepers [Primal Fear, ex-Gamma Ray], or Italian guitarist Luca [Princiotta] who plays with Doro Pesch, or Roland Grapow [ex-Helloween, Masterplan]. So it was tickets and the number of audience that were the signs of success for a concert like this. Of course we\u2019ve never planned to bring in whole bands like Stratovarious or Rhapsody, but single musicians coming to play with others and jam. That\u2019s why it was very hard to promote it, especially for the first time. Nobody knew me back then \u2013 I wasn\u2019t a big name like Live Nation, All Access or other big concert booking agency or promotion company. I really started from scratch and used the Internet. I guess I didn\u2019t even pay for any sponsored advertising on Facebook then… It was mostly promoted in Rome, but also thanks to the social media it was also promoted, we could say, worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Did this kind of promotion reflect in the audience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: We actually got a few people coming even from Israel for the first edition. It\u2019s no wonder as it was really special. Take Fabio Lione \u2013 his  history before joining Rhapsody includes a stint as the first singer of Labyrinth and during the show, we actually played the songs from the very first album that were never ever played live before. He went onstage with most of the Labyrinth guys \u2013 including the original guitarist and the band\u2019s founder Andrea Cantarelli… so it was very cool, very rare and unique. Also with Secret Sphere, there was their original singer and Aldo [Lonobile], the band\u2019s founder and guitarist. A little bit of reunion, you know? It was probably also one of the last concerts of Fabio Lione with Vision Divine. Anyway, honestly speaking, the line-up was very cool and it was the first time in Europe that Fabio Lione and Edu Falaschi sang Angra\u2019s song together. They used to do this quite often in Brazil, doing some shows together, but this never happened in Europe. That\u2019s something I feel very privileged and really honored to contribute to. Anyway, for the first two years, it was only collecting money from the tickets. Only the last time \u2013 last year \u2013 I decided to start the campaign to try and find more people to donate. I thought about those who cannot travel to Rome to see the concert, but they want to contribute. Or people who are interested in contributing and donating money to kids but don\u2019t like Heavy Metal \u2013 people who just find it interesting that a music concert, especially a Heavy Metal concert, brings something good for the less fortunate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Speaking of that, Metal music isn\u2019t necessarily thought of as family-friendly and there\u2019s a lot of prejudice against metalheads… Do you think combining Metal music with children charity can actually contribute to people changing their mind about that? And do you think it can also show how important solidarity among musicians is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: In Italy, I must say that a lot of ordinary people still believe that Heavy Metal is made by demons or Satan (laughs) and that it\u2019s evil music. So they think people involved in Heavy Metal can\u2019t be good people, do charity and have a great show where everybody\u2019s playing together and jamming without any competition between bands. That was one of the biggest challenges for me. You know, I don\u2019t dress in a Metal style during the day, \u2018cause I work in the office, but you can be sure that my heart is one hundred percent Heavy Metal. At home or during the weekends, I take my shirt and sweater off and put my Iron Maiden or Helloween t-shirt on. And I still have ordinary people looking at me in a way that\u2019s not nice at all (laughs). So I really wanted to fight this bad reputation by demonstrating and proving that we really can be messengers of positive values, solidarity and charity and I can honestly say that I\u2019m getting more and more good feedback from this. I had a very good interview a few weeks ago [done] by the Italian journalist and he ended the interview by saying to all the audience that if Italy was a civilized country, Metal For Kids United would be advertised on TV news or in newspapers regularly, \u2018cause it\u2019s good and worth it and deserves to be spread across the society. Regardless of the fact that it\u2019s not mainstream, it\u2019s still a good thing and that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing for the last five years now. This year was a big challenge as you may understand because of the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. So did the interest grow gradually year after year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Actually the show hasn\u2019t grown as much as I would expect through the years, but it\u2019s probably for some objective reasons too. At first I thought that advertising or promotion was a bit weaker than needed to make this very cool event and motivate people to get out of their houses, jump into their cars and come to see the show. That\u2019s what I was trying to fix when it comes to promotion. But also, I have to say that the venue we\u2019re doing our show at is a bit on the outskirts of Rome, so it takes a while [to get there] and if you\u2019re not really, really motivated or if it\u2019s raining or cold, you may be too lazy to go and see the show. The venue was actually a compromise as I wanted to do the show elsewhere \u2013 in a very cool venue… We always want a big stage with two big drum kits, as you may see in our videos on YouTube, because the jam session and the grand finale of the show involves all the musicians on stage together. Some of them, like seven to nine people, are playing and the rest is cheering, jumping and keeping the audience involved. So, in order to do this big, good quality show, I needed a good venue. Venues like those weren\u2019t really available in Rome, \u2018cause big venues don\u2019t want to have Heavy Metal concerts on Saturday or Friday. They offer shows on Thursday or Sunday, which is something I cannot do \u2013 most of the musicians I invite travel from other cities or even from abroad and we need one day of full rehearsals with all the guests \u2013 which is about thirty or forty people… We also like to break the ice and get to know each other and create a very good relationship with each other, so that we feel like a family. The only venue [where it was possible] to do the show on Saturday was located in a place which might have been fifteen or even thirty kilometers from the centre of Rome. On the other hand, there are people travelling from abroad, like France or Germany, from Sicily or the northern part of Italy… These are not the majority of course, but still they find the concert being worth it. Also, I can say that every year I see different people in the audience. Most of the audience are the same people based in Rome, but there\u2019s also a turnover, so if there\u2019s a year when everybody who\u2019s ever been at our show comes and brings one of their friends, we can grow bigger. We\u2019ve grown obviously, but as I said, not as much as I expected. The average is about 300 people \u2013 last year the audience was the largest, so I was happy, but still not as much as I would like to be (laughs). We had the likes of Roy Z or Gus G and so on, and when you have this really cool line-up, you really expect a lot of people to show up… Unfortunately, this didn\u2019t happen. The 2020 edition, which was cancelled, was planned to be in Rome in a good venue \u2013 a Sunday show though, so it was still not so sure that people travelling from other cities would go there on Sunday. Of course, I know what would be the best idea \u2013 a Saturday, a cool venue downtown Rome… or maybe doing this in Milan, which would be cool with the audience perhaps, but also a betrayal of the loyalty of the people from Rome. So probably in the next years we\u2019d make a Saturday show in Rome and Friday show in Milan… I don\u2019t know. There\u2019s a lot of ideas, also because of the show is totally self-financed and produced by myself. I get some help from sponsors, but they never cover full expenses of the show, so it\u2019s not very easy to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: You\u2019ve mentioned that promotion of the show was perhaps not as good as it should be, so do you have any idea how to develop this aspect? And do you feel Metal For Kids United receives enough coverage from the media, especially music media?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Yeah, sure. Last year we got some advertising in magazines, like Rock Hard. Some of the magazines or major webzines support us for free, some of them ask for money \u2013 but if I have the budget, I put the budget… I also did some sponsored advertising. This year, I got a full Press\/PR agency for the video [\u201cBurn2K20\u201d] \u2013 three different outlets for the US, Europe and Italy, so that was a bigger investment just to promote the video. And of course, I\u2019ve had sponsored advertising on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Anyway, it totally depends on the money, \u2018cause not all the musicians who\u2019d be the key people to promote the show do this. Some of them are very good at social networking, but some of them are just lazy and they don\u2019t do self-promotion. So we still have to work on this and keep people engaged. And I think it\u2019s good with the media, but still not enough so far. Anyway, we are doing our best to spread the word. Recently we have been doing some press and radio interviews and reaching more people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: How do you usually get new artists to take part in Metal For Kids United and is it difficult to convince them to it? Is there anyone you would love to see participating in the project but who haven\u2019t been a part of it so far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Usually it\u2019s a direct enquiry via Internet (social media, the artist\u2019s official website or management) but when it\u2019s possible, I prefer to wait after concerts and try to speak to them in person or via the introduction by other musicians I\u2019m friends with. The decision to join such a charity event is fairly easy when I explain the type of event I have in mind. Now after four editions, I believe we have great case histories to tell and show the musicians. In the beginning, I was very lucky that most of the people who didn\u2019t know me at all trusted my professional approach as I\u2019m a pro in the company events\u2019 business. And about the artists \u2013 of course, too many to mention. I\u2019ll tell you the bands I have in mind\u2026 any musicians from Iron Maiden, Helloween, KISS, Europe, Anthrax, Megadeth, Queensr\u00ffche, Galneryus, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Scorpions, Nightwish and lots more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Quite a wish list, but keeping my fingers crossed! Now fast forward to 2020. As you\u2019ve already mentioned, due to obvious circumstances, the annual charity gig of Metal For Kids United was out of question. Please give us some more details behind an all-star video jam \u201cBurn 2K20\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: I wanted to capture the magic of our live show, so it was necessary to involve people who already experienced the energy and the fun of it. The line-up can be seen as a \u201cbest of\u201d from the past editions with the extraordinary addition of some of the guys whose appearance was planned for the concert in 2020, like Thomen Stauch [Blind Guardian], Jens Ludwig [Edguy], Mistheria, Roberto Tiranti [Labyrinth] or Olaf Thorsen [Labyrinth, Vision Divine]. As a cherry on the cake, I managed to get David Ellefson [Megadeth], Scott Ian [Anthrax], Syu [Galneryus] and Rafael Bittencourt [Angra] involved and I was very enthusiastic about it. As for \u201cBurn\u201d, I believe the energy and the name of this song was the main inspiration to me. \u201cBurn\u201d for us is like a manifesto: our flame and passion for Heavy Metal and life never stopped \u201cburning\u201d during the stormy times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, I believe this was the best way to celebrate our commitment to the charity campaign in favor of children with cancer at Peter Pan houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: What was the feedback after the video jam saw the light of day and how did it translate into donations for Metal For Kids United?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Feedback is great so far. Both audience and musicians involved seem to love it. So far, we raised EUR 4.000 since October 5th<\/sup> for this specific campaign with the aim to reach EUR 7.000 until end of June 2021. Basically, Metal For Kids Untied produced the video and launched it on major digital platforms for free streaming. We know it\u2019s hard times for families\u2019 economy right now, so we encourage people who love music and want to support us to donate whatever amount they can afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Alongside your work for Metal For Kids United, you have your band Timestorm. What is the band up to these days? Any news?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Well, thanks for asking. Since our last concert supporting Vision Divine in March 2019, we have been silent but working backstage. We another singer \u2013 although we haven\u2019t announced him yet \u2013 and we are working on pre-production. So far, we have nine songs that are ready and hope to complete one or two more songs before entering the studio in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Sounds exciting. So, speaking of the future, what are your plans regarding Metal For Kids United?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Honestly, I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re ready to come back with a live show in 2021. To do it again, we must be 150 percent sure we can have the most people in the audience, national and international musicians free to travel to Rome, and no risks for cancellation. I guess we can evolve and explore more jammed music recording either covers or original tunes. We will see. For sure I want to keep the MFKU alive and keep on doing charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Didn\u2019t expect any other answer but that. So is there anything you\u2019d like to add in the end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabrizio Troiano: Thanks for reaching out and giving us a big chance to talk about Metal For Kids, United to a new audience. We want to encourage all people who liked the video to donate, no matter if it\u2019s worth just a coffee. We believe in Metal music and want to show its power of solidarity and brotherhood to the common people. Please help us share the video with all your friends and follow us on our social networks and website: www.metalforkids.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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