Blog Archives
Metal Excess Q&A with… IDOLS ARE DEAD
Last month, I had the pleasure of reviewing Idols Are Dead’s debut album Mean and I thought it was great. So, of course I jumped at the chance to have a little Q&A session with band members Mana & Ico!
1. For those who don’t already know, tell us a bit about Idols Are Dead: where are you from, how did the band form, which band member is most likely to send naked girls running out of his hotel room and screaming into the night, etc. That kind of stuff.
(Mana – vocals) Yeah, here we go… we’re Idols Are Dead coming from Italy, Europe. We have formed in August 2006 from the ashes of other bands like Folder, Gzero and Violent Diva! We were doing all different genres but we all loved thrash metal and I think you can hear it in IAD tunes he he…
About the second part of the question I would say Maxx C. (Bass) for sure… he is the playboy of the band and he loves make girl screaming he he…
(Ico – guitar, vocals): Hi guys! What to say in addition? We started it all as a joke and 11 months after we were on the same stage with Iron Maiden, Slayer, Stone Sour, Mastodon… Then other 13 months and the gig was with Opeth, Gammaray and In Flames. I guess it’s time for Idols Are Dead to believe ALSO in miracles!!
2. With one album already behind you and plenty of shows under your belts, what are your plans for the rest of 2009?
(Ico) We’re planning to come there to see the screaming girls u’re talking about…
(Mana) I can easily agree with Ico he he… seriously, we’re starting to write new stuff but we sincerely want to continue in strongly believe in what “Mean” could do y’know. In other words we really wanna find a licence deal for the U.S., we got an ultra cool manager there and we hope we can reach this goal! It’d be very important to help us coming there in tour obviously… see what happens!
3. Your sound is a blend of old school thrash & heavy metal and modern metal that could go over quite well in America, so when can we expect Idols Are Dead to storm the shores of the United States?
(Mana) I’m very glad to hear you to say that… I think that U.S. are pretty important for our genre! Most of the bands we love are coming from there. I can say Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, and logically all the Historic Bands like Metallica, Slayer and Testament obviously…
I hope we can come very soon in America and we’re already negotiating it with our manager Alex Gilbert. But I can’t add more details right now, just keep the finger crossed!!!
(Ico) Wait&Bleed guys… we’re coming!!
4. Walk us through the creation process of your songs. Do they generally begin with a single note? A lyric? An idea for theme & mood?
(Ico) They just came out man. We don’t have a writing-process or something like that, some songs were born from a jam, some from a riff, we play and they come…
And now we’re reading all the impression on the album and working to adjust our sounds eventually…
(Mana) I think it often starts from a riff… we have great writers! Alley, Ico and Maxx all write cool riffs and later we all build together the final structure of the song. It is a really easy process I have to say…
5. If there is one song you had to pick from Mean to tell the world “this is what we are about”, which song would it be and why?
(Ico) It’s really hard to choose only one song… You’ll need at least two to understand in my opinon. I’ll tell you only the first pair of our “this is what we are about”: Pain for Sale – Let’s Do It. (other pairs are top secret, object of a massive marketing campaign J) You’ll find out why while listening “Mean”…
(Mana) I pretty agree with Ico y’know… It’s really difficult to pick just one track… but I try: Pain for sale! Even if we will shoot our first Video for the track “Dance with the devil”… it is the more “Thrash & Roll” song on the Album… I think our new direction will be more in this way. Pretty original I think…
6. On Mean, you a do a great version of Guns N’ Roses’ “It’s So Easy”. Has anyone from GNR heard the cover? If so, what did they think of it?
(Mana) Thank you very much! We’re very proud of our version of this classic. Which GNR you mean? That new “Axl Rose project” or the REAL Guns N Roses? In both the cases I have to say no anyway… They did not heard our version! I think it’s pretty difficult to reach these HUGE stars for a band like us. I’d love one day to have Slash or Duff saying something on this song of us! It would be meaning we’re getting pretty famous he he… p.s.: I’ve named Slash and Duff because I consider ‘em the most real GNR around nowadays! I’d like to add I really don’t like “Chinese Democracy”…
(Ico) Oh, yeah… it has to be a surprise but… I’ve had a brunch with Slash a couple of weeks ago… and he said that he was totally impressed by that song!! And he would have wrote that masterpiece… maybe he will suddenly appear on our stage… ahah! It’s time to believe…
7. Any fun “rock ‘n’ roll” stories to share from your careers? You may change names to protect the innocent!
(Ico) Stories like someone been kicked out from a club, not having the chance to perform cause of the invention of :“ The Sexy Step Diving” by a friend of that someone? no. we’re not those kind of men. (ahah)
(Mana) Yeah… it is difficult to explain. I can add we were on tour with Figure of six (Locomotive Records artist) and Slowmotion Apocalypse (label mates on Scarlet) and there was a roadie who was really too naked to stay on the top of a van doing the step thing y’know…
8. What would your ‘dream tour’ look like? Which bands would you like to play with and which venues/countries would you play?
(Mana) Nice question! Uhm… let me think. I would like to say a Tour like Taste of Chaos maybe… I really loved the line-up of last year! It was amazing: Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, and Bullet for my valentine all on the same stage! If you add Idols Are Dead it will become perfect J … talking seriously I wanna say I REALLY hope to come over and perform all around the States… here in Italy all people say we have one of the most intense show of the country so we’d love to take it overseas! Anyways, thank you very much for the chance of this ‘view… we have appreciated sooo much!!! IAD.
(Ico) Maybe also with Metallica would be nice…
Well, that’s it, folks! Short and sweet! I want to take the time to thanks Alex Gilbert for putting this together, and of course, a very special thanks to Mana and Ico for taking the time from their busy days to answer my silly questions!
Oh, and if you haven’t gotten your hands on Mean yet, I definitely recommend you do. It’s a great metal album and well worth your time tracking down!
www.IdolsAreDead.com
www.myspace.com/idolsrdead
www.youtube.com/idolsrdead
IDOLS ARE DEAD – Mean
Idols Are Dead – Mean (2008, Scarlet Records)
Track Listing:
1. “This Is Not The End” … 4:05
2. “Let’s Do It!” … 3:27
3. “Dance with the Devil” … 3:34
4. “Pain for Sale” … 4:16
5. “Dirt” … 3:50
6. “It’s So Easy” … 3:08
7. “The Name of the Rage” … 3:18
8. “Proud to be Sick” … 3:13
9. “Twiggy” … 3:45
Band:
Mana – Vocals
Ico – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Alley X – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Maxx C – Bass, Backing Vocals
Luca – Drums
Produced by: Gabriele Ravaglia, Simon Mularoni, Maxx C
YES! Now this is some modern metal I can really get into! I’ve been wanting to try out some heavier stuff than my usual 80s-inspired hard rock and this is just what the doctor ordered! Idols Are Dead are heavy, but not *too* heavy. They are a melodic blend of good old-fashioned heavy metal, thrash metal and modern metal, so they keep things interesting and don’t just pummel your ears. The songs are really catchy and have stuck in my head after listening to the album.
And you know these guys’ hearts are in the right place because they do a cover of Guns ‘N Roses’ “It’s So Easy”… and it’s pretty good! But this album isn’t some 80s heavy metal throwback, the band has taken old thrash and metalcore and made it work. I’ve seen others reviews comparing their modern touch to Avenged Sevenfold or Trivium and that sounds about right.
This Italian band is trying to break in the U.S. and I really hope they do because this is a really strong record that the States needs to hear. Definitely looking forward to hearing whatever they come up with next.
Highlights: “This Is Not the End”, “Let’s Do It!”, “Pain For Sale”, “Dirty”, “It’s So Easy”, “Proud to Be Sick”
www.idolsaredead.com
www.myspace.com/idolsrdead
www.youtube.com/idolsrdead
Metal Excess 