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Joined: March 04 2008
Location: Retirement Home
Status: Offline
Points: 3658
Topic: Delirium Posted: November 15 2010 at 13:40
Delirium from Italy does not really need an introduction. They are one of the most popular and most revered RPI bands, both past and present. Their albums has a lot of fans around the world.
Delirium has just released a DVD and ProgArchives through myself and Jim Russel aka Finnforest (error corrected - tf) took the opportunity to talk to Martin Grice and Ettore Vigo through their record label Black Widow Records.
Delirium is a band which is held in
high regard in our community. Please tell us briefly how this journey
started and by whom.
Martin Grice: The journey
started in 69 with a band called Sagittari formed by Ettore Vigo,
Pino di Santo, Mimmo di Martino, Marcello Reale and new arrival Ivano
Fossati, they changed their name to Delirium in 71.
You were a big selling band in the Rock
Progressivo Italiano scene in the 1970s. How do you remember the
scene at that time ?
This is not
easy to answer because though Delirium was intended to be prog. they
were also considered “pop”due to their prescence at the famous
San Remo song festival in 72, which ended up with the critic’s
prize and a million copies sold, the song was of course “Jesahel”.
This was followed other top ten entries like “Canto di Osanna”,
“Haum”…
Were you ever tempted to do as Banco
and PFM did with signing to Emerson Lake & Palmer's Manticore
label and release English speaking versions of your albums ? What was
your forays into the music scene outside Italy ?
No we didn’t
have any aspirations to record in English as we didn’t feel any
need to do so, “Jesahel” was copied in about 20 different
languages by various artists. As far as gigs outside of Italy we did
a few things in Switzerland, Germany etc.
Straight over to your albums. Please
give us your long or brief views on......
Dolce Acqua from 1971
“Dolce
Acqua” I think was a milestone in Italian pop/prog because in the
era of heavy rock this band came up with this very acoustic sound
though also very rhythmic, not an electric guitar to be heard. Adding
little tastes of jazz some very melodic numbers like”Dolce
Acqua”wich we are practically forced to play in every concert even
today!
At the time
the band was influenced by J.Tull, Blood Sweet and Tears and Chicago
but the general sound was DELIRIUM.
Lo Scemo E Il Villaggio from 1972
“Lo Scemo e
il Villaggio” Was my first album with the band and most critics say
this was a turning point in our career.The album was decidedly prog.
and for the first time the sax was in the front line though the
guitar again was acoustic. Like all our albums this was a concept
album which had a story to tell. All the lyrics were written by Mauro
la Luce who till this day is our lyrics writer.
Delirium III: Viaggio Negli Arcipelaghi
Del Tempo from 1974
Delirium 3
Was I think the result of the maturation of all the members of the
band ,an album considered today as one of the top ten prog albums
ever to come out of Italy. An album which included a full orchestra
with some beautifull arrangements from maestro Farinati. An album
were all very proud of.
Il Nome del Vento from 2009
Il Nome
del Vento. Was again almost forced upon us by Black Widow without
whom we would not be around today and I wouldn’t be here writing
for you.I personally thought they were crazy, but non the less Ettore
and myself decided to try after all these years to write some new
material. We did so separately at first 4 or 5 songs each. We then
put them together arranging each others, then with help from the
other guys it began
To make
sense. Of exstreme importance was that Mauro la Luce once again wrote
all the lyrics creating the story. Plus we got the incredible voice
of Sophya Baccini (her solo album “Aradia” is a masterpiece) to
do the choruses and last but not least a beautifull all female
string section. (which we often use in theatre concerts).
We must
add our praise and gratitude to Verdiano Vera of Studio Maia Genova
who did an amazing job recoding and mixing the album. We were all
overcome by the exsremely positive response by all the music
critics.
Vibrazioni Notturne Live from 2007
Is a result
of Black Widow (Massimo Pino and Alberto) who liked the idea of
doing a live album. These guys are amazing!They just picked the gig
got the mobile studio and there you go. It was done quite simply but
the result is astonishing because the atmosphere is electric, we
played to our best, a great crowd. even we were surprised of the
outcome.
The compilation box '71-'75 from 2005
The other
albums you listed are all compilations or remakes of the old songs.
The one I think deserves a mention is Delirium 70-75 a double CD
which contains all 3 albums plus some unknown singles for a total of
35 songs.
You have just released a live DVD + CD
called Il Viaggio Continua - La Storia. Please tell us more about
this release.
As always
thanks to B.W. I honestly don’t know what we would do without
them(we love u 3 guys).
They
chose the concert in our home town in the right theatre for the
acoustics, bought in an expert film crew from Milan and we did our
best to look fotogenic but failed miserably. But at the end I think
we came out with a very live”live”. Plus there are lots of
exstras like old TV recordings from 70’s, foto gallery and two
extras from concerts after our reunion where we play a piece we all
love “Kings’ road” and “Viaggio negli arcipelaghi del tempo”
from DELIRIUM III.
In your view, what is the best studio
album Delirium have released ?
My personal
choice would be between Delirium 3 and Il Nome del Vento there are 34
years between but I love them both..
Which periods of the scene do you
prefer. The 1970s or these days ? What is the differences when it
comes to promote and run Delirium ?
Well if you
think about the 70’s we were young, very popular .music was our
bread and butter. Now were far from young and we don’t really
promote ourselves at all. Luckily we have BWR and a name that is
still a trademark here and abroad
So we always
have something to do.
What is your plans for the rest of this
year and next year ?
Our future
plans are that we continue to play concerts, our dream is tom play in
some big prog festivals to USA and Mexico..lately we have done a
couple of smaller venues unplugged and I personally loved it. We
still get invited to TV shows and BWR are always finding prog
festivals wordwide. What is important is still wanting to play and we
still get a great kick out of just playing.
To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want
to add to this interview ?
We would like
to thank Prog Archives for this invitation and for your interest in
our story.It a great satisfaction to be still considered by such a
noble magazine.
Pino
and Ettore go all the way back to Sagittari. Tell us a bit about
this group and your fond memories.
We
were all very young and full of hopes, were covers of groups to which
we were in love like Genesis, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Manfred
Mann, King Crimson, Chicago ... when we changed the name to DELIRIUM
and recorded his first single "Canto di osanna to " some of
our hopes really began to happen ... then with the album" DOLCE
ACQUA "and the hit" Jezahel "really happened the end
of the world. We were ahead of all the charts, great time,
definitely unique ...
Ivano
Fossati joins the group. Tell us about the Fossati era, and what you
felt was good and bad for Delirium as a band.
Ivano
was our singer and front man, there was a good atmosphere between us
all, even though they often quarreled.
IVANO
then went to the military and no longer fall in the group because he
had in mind his successful solo career that continues today. Us
with the arrival of Martin Grice decided pointing sounds more
progressive.
How
do you feel about Ivano today? Is the band on good terms with Ivano?
We
talk often with Ivan, but we saw recently at a concert. We
are still friends.
Is
there any chance Ivano might join Delirium on stage for a brief
reunion in the future?
VERY
DIFFICULT BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE.
Enter
Martin in 1972. How did the band meet Martin and what were you
looking for in him as a musician?
MARTIN
was the perfect man we were looking for!
I've
read of many English prog influences on Italian prog. But what was
your relationship with your fellow Italian bands? Did you feel you
had common goals and friendship with other Italian groups?
With
other groups there were no pop or prog Italian special relationship,
one could see at concerts and festivals, we talked about music and
politics, of course we all felt united and form part of a new
movement that was growing.
Which
Italian Prog albums do you feel were the best from the 70s era?
Which Italian bands do you guys enjoy most?
Surely
the first album of the unforgettable AREA of Demetrio Stratos, then
"Palepoli" Osanna "COLLAGE" footprints ... even
the "Concerto Grosso" of New Trolls ...
Roberto
and Fabio are the "new" members of the group. I believe
you made great choices based on the new Delirium DVD. What do they
bring to Delirium?
The
two new elements have brought freshness and energy in delirium. Fabio
is a great bass player and also has a beautiful voice, Roberto is a
rock blues guitarist, he loves Gary Moore, Steve Ray Vaughan, Thin
Lizzy and Jimmy Page also his vocal timbre is perfect for our sound.
The
string quartet was used on the DVD and the previous studio album. How
did you find these delightful ladies and how do they enjoy playing
with a veteran progressive rock band?
The
idea of the female string quartet is mine. They
are friends of my daughter and all musicians absolutely prepared, you
have seen and heard on the DVD. We'd
always take them in concert with us but unfortunately it is very
complicated. I
think they are fun to play with us, it was still a great experience
for everyone.
"Il
Nome del Vento" is an absolutely fantastic album by anyone's
standards. How did you accomplish this level of composition rather
late in your career? Where did the inspiration come from?
I'm
glad that our last studio album you like, the work comes from some of
the tracks that we recorded in the 70s and never used .... we have
taken, rearranged and then echoed other new songs were born but it
took a long time,
after so many years we were not trained much like the old days.
Mauro
La Luce, our hystorical writer, wrote some great lyrics and
concept. In
the end we were all satisfied and we would be able to present around
the world, but the opportunities were far too few.
I
assume in the old days before the Internet most Delirium fans were
Italians. How does it feel in 2010 to have fans all over the globe?
GREAT!
We love them all and we’d like to play live for them, we’d like
they can see us in concert!! Concerts are the blood of music!
You
have mentioned a great desire to play in the USA. What other
aspirations do Delirium have? Do you wish to make another studio
album?
We,
despite the great success of some of our individuals, we have
sacrificed our lives to the progressive, the sound we love the most
and why we think you deserve the affection of all lovers of
prog.Other Italian groups, who call themselves progressive, but
instead they insist on the shopping street, maybe they do not like
the prog so 'much. Currently
DELIRIUM after the reunion, have a live album, a new studio album and
now a DVD, I think it's enough for now. We
must work for the promotion of these three important projects, with
time ... then maybe think about a new album in the studio when the
BWR will think that the time is right ones.
I
was very moved by the Genoa performance on the new DVD. I sensed it
was very special to the members of the band, to have this chance for
collection expression, when so many other RPI bands have not. What
does it mean to you to be able to play Delirium music to a packed
theater,
and
share that energy with guys you played with three decades ago? Is
it still as much fun as the old days?
Playing
for us is always a joy and that concert was a very important date
because we played in Genoa, in front of our audience, but also
because we played the first of a phenomenal group as the footprints
and then we knew that the concert was recorded for a DVD ,
so we were all very excited but very tense under the strain. We
hope that during this concert, we managed to convey our feelings to
the public.
Does
Roberto feel much pressure when it's time to sing "With a Little
Help from my Friends?" I imagine that is a very demanding
vocal.
Roberto
loves this song, he like to sing this song but i’d like to sing and
play some more hard blues numbers….
What
are some of your current day favorite Italian groups? I imagine you
enjoy some of the other Black Widow bands very much.
We
like OSANNA, we like IL BACIO DELLA MEDUSA a young band very
brilliant and energetic on stage…we also like IL TEMPIO DELLE
CLESSIDRE with the very talented Elisa on keyboards and our old
friend Lupo Galifi of MUSEO ROSEMBACH.
Another
band we like is IL CERCHIO D’ORO from Savona., we played a couple
of gigs with them and they are great on stage!
We've
heard much about the important Italian rock festivals of the early
70s. Tell us a bit about these festivals, and about the youth
culture in Italy at that time. What do you remember about these
large outdoor shows?
The
atmosphere was magical, as I said before it was like to participate
in the birth of a kind of magic that could not be touched but are
felt in the air. We
all lived very spontaneously, without thinking too much, for us the
most important thing was to be there and play the music that we liked
and continue to do so today even though the times have changed.
Tell
us one of your favorite memories or road stories about Delirium in
their heavy gigging days.
Too
many stories, episodes too, it is a story as if you forget all the
others, making you prefer not to answer a sample in a single episode
but know that at that time everything was mixed in and out of us:
Joy,
excitement, anger, jealousy, love, politics, music, food and drink
but no drugs. here's
the worst thing in those days was the discovery of drugs because of
what we have all lost friends less fortunate than us. The
drug has been a loss for music and for life, stay away from drugs,
listening to good music and hope to see you one day during our
concert. We
love you all really. Ettore
Vigo
Joined: September 05 2005
Status: Offline
Points: 4411
Posted: November 16 2010 at 16:11
What to say more?
Torodd you have to tell me your secret... what do you eat??? You're untirable!!!!
I have all the studio material of Delirium (plus singles). I only missed their recent live output... have to check it out... and it's your fault!!!!! You Delirium fanatic!!! ah ah ahah
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