ROOM EXPERIENCE :Gianluca Firmo: Keys, Backing Vocals

Sometimes the best thing arrive just about when you’re not really looking for them It just so happened that Metalzone.gr’s Stratos Jester Talagkas discovered a melodic rock band from Italy called Room Experience and we’ve been inlove with it ever since! Given the chance we talked to Gianluca Firmo, and he introduced the band to us...

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First of all I would like a brief bio of Room Experience.

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Hello Hellena. Room Experience has a short bio, even if all band members have a long one, because the band was put together only couple years ago, after i met Davide Dave Rox Barbieri (the lead singer of Wheels of Fire and Charming Grace) and Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti (who played drums on Shining Line, Charming Grace and Lionville). The band was born with the specific aim to bring to life some of the songs that I have written along the years. I never thought before about recording them with a professional team: I just used to write them for myself….my friends….maybe to piss my neighbors (just kidding….i love you neighbors!)

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Anyway…after i met Dave and Zorro and decided to turn those songs into a record, the basic line up of the band was done: me, Dave, Zorro, Amos Monti on bass and Steve De Biasi on guitars : only the singer was missing. Actually, I wrote the songs for my own voice, but one thing is singing for your friends and one other is singing for the world. My voice could be good on some of them (if it is), but sure not on others that needed more power and vocal control. So we thought about David Readman: we got in touch with him through our mutual friend Alessandro Del Vecchio, who also took care of mixing the album. The rest it’s history: after hearing a couple tracks, he said yes and now he’s the singer. During the recording works, we thought about making the work even better, involving more great musicians to play on specific songs and give them a special touch. The list is very long, so I’ll just name them: Ivan Gonzalez, Sven Larsson, Stefano Zeni, Alessandro Del Vecchio, Boris Matakovic, Andrea Gipponi, Minna Ora, Aurë, Nicoletta Tona. Enjoy them!

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What feed back have you gotten from your latest release Room Experience

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Very good, indeed. Reviews around the world are being very positive and, even more, we’re getting great feedbacks from the people who listened to it.

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You know…as i told you the record comes after songs that i wrote in years only for the passion of doing it and while we were recording the record we had this very clear: it was not a market oriented record, but a passion oriented one. It was our precise goal, because I really think that one will never be able to please everyone around the world so the first way to measure your own work is your personal satisfaction for it. My thought is that people have to like you or dislike you for what you are, not for what you pretend to be, also in music. Of course it’s not a perfect record and also bad critics can help us to make even better records in the future, but until now the only “bad” critics have only been side notes to wonderful reviews. Go and check some on our Facebook page, if you’re interested: there we post all the reviews that magazines and webzines sent us. Wanna have a laugh? We even posted a review from a pirate site (keeping the name of the site hidden), because it’s really one of the best reviews i have ever read…

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What inspired you to name your band Room Experience?

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Does it sound naughty? it isn’t, I swear….

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Well….the name is a tribute to the place where all my songs were born….in my room, where I’ve spent hours through days and night writing songs, playing, singing…

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My brother came up with the name, though: he gave me a Christmas present and along with it he wrote a card saying “for Room Experience”, referring to the newborn band that back then had no name yet. I laughed when I’ve read it, but thought it was perfect to “tell the story” behind the record. And it also has a subtle taste of naughtiness, which is never a bad thing ;)

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I like the name, many don’t…..what about you? Who’s side you’re on?

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Is it easy to be a hard rock/AOR band from Italy?

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Italy has a long history and tradition in music, but not in rock music, because it was not part of Italian DNA, so in the past only very few bands had the chance to emerge, even if those who made it were really awesome.

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Nowadays the situation has changed a lot: with years rock has become part of our history too and lately the Italian scene is very lively and a great reality: one of the most important AOR scenes, i guess.

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That said, the genre itself has not much visibility, so that’s a problem everywhere. If not for a few devoted magazines, sites or radios like yours, mainstream media don’t care about Hard Rock or AOR….we’d need something groundbreaking to get these styles back to people’s attention. Personally i have a very wide range of styles i like to listen to, but i’m sick and tired of hip hop, rap and all that kind of junk where melodies are banned.…

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What is really hard in Italy is earn the trust of italian listeners, who tend to think that what comes from abroad is always better, no matter what…We’re more appreciated outside our own country, but that’s the way world often goes…

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I mean…It would be unfair for us to say that a band is good only because it comes from italy….but the opposite is unfair too. I can’t say anything about Room Experience, because it’s my band, but try listening to Hungry Hearts, Wheels of fire, Shining Line, Soul Seller, Edge of forever, Lionville, only to name a few….. or if you are looking for some fresh-sounding prog, try listening to Kezia….I bet none of these bands will disappoint you and there’s a high chance you’ll fall in love instead….

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Do you think that the addition of your singer David Readman (Pink Cream 69, Voodoo Circle) was critical to adding that melodic rock feel to your songs? Did it bring you more exposure?

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Definitely yes to both questions. The choice of the vocalist, in particular, was absolutely one of the hardest. As you may think, i wrote all songs for my own voice, but one thing is singing for myself and my friends, one thing is singing for the whole world: my voice can be good for some songs (if it ever is) but not on those that need a lot of power and a lot of control….

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The problem is that songs go back and forth from very hi to very low. Also, there are a lot of different melodic rock styles covered in the album. Not any singer has the warmth and the power that David has…and not all the singer that have the warmth and the power have the ability to cover a lot of different styles the way David did: he was very respectful of the melodies, but added his own personal trademark to each song, like only talented singers can. Last but not least, sometimes AOR is too clean, classy, refined….a rocker voice, like David’s, turned it into something which is halfway between hard-rock and AOR….and i like it rough :)

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And yes…he also brought us more exposure, which is always a good thing: David is a top singer and many people follow his career, so they stumbled into Room Experience

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I guess it’s been a great deal for both, because he had the chance to test himself on something quite unusual for humor if not unusual, different from what he does with PK69 and Voodoo Circle.

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Are you planning live appearances in support of your release?

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We would like to. There have been a few contacts, but no dates have been set until now. The problem with band like ours is that there are many musicians from different countries involved and all have their own bands too, so it’s harder to find the right moment for all to rehearse and tour.

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But we’re confident there will be some chance to bring it live, maybe with just the basic lineup. Let’s see what the future brings and keep your eyes peeled…you might see live dates appear all of a sudden.

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We all wish it can happen, because we love live and because it would also be a great chance to meet new people and make Room Experience more known.

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What are your upcoming plans are you already working on new material?

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Yes…I’m always working on new material because writing songs is my biggest passion so i keep on writing all the time. Beside that, since the songs gathered on my hard disk during the years, there are already enough for a lot more records….Room Experience 2, 3, 4….you count and I’ll stop you when i have no more song enough….ahahah

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Beside that, anyone of us is doing something different: Dave and Zorro just started a new project called Runtimes, which is inspired by the sound of The Storm, it features also Ivan Gonzalez and Sven Larsson and got me involved for some songwriting; David is about to release a new album with Voodoo Circle; Alessandro Del Vecchio is always busy, being one of world’s top producer…I’m also working with Bruno Kraler and the Landslide guys: i wrote a whole song and lyrics for a few others….everyone here tries to stay busy :))

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Send a message to Greek listeners who are just getting a taste of Room Experience

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First of all thank you very much to Metalzone and Hellena for for this interview. I would like to invite any of the readers to get in touch with us through our site www.roomexperienceofficial.com or through our Facebook page www.facebook.com/roomexperienceofficial to let us know what you think of the album…

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And thank you to all of you who are still awake after reading my answers: stay awake just a little longer because if you’re only getting a taste, the best is yet to come. 

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