Italian metal rock band NEЯEIS formed back in 2007. Since then, they have released content, including recent single "Breaking Bad", off their upcoming full-length "Turning Point". The band talks of this album, it's single, and how they want to spread the word about it!
1. Let us start off by getting our readers up to date on what the band has been up to so far this year.
Many things happened during the last few months. The most notable one of course is the completion of our album, "Turning Point". We finished it in August 2017 and started right away looking for a label that could appreciate and properly valorize our hard work. We finally found our mentor in Eclipse, which does an awesome work with its bands and with which we are sure we will make a great team.
However, the birth of this collaboration has not been a walk in the park. In fact, while signing the contract, we were struck by a sudden lightning: the original name of our band was already present as a registered trademark in the world of music. In fact, a few months ago everybody knew us as "Black Star". We chose that name when we were still teenagers and, even if we were bound to it, deep inside of us we knew the time would come when we would have to change it. It took us two months to find the right, still unused name that could efficiently represent us and the concept we created for the album. It is insane how many bands exist around the globe! After endless research and thinking, the name Nereis came out.
After we signed with Eclipse, we put all our efforts to produce the video clips to lunch the album. We recorded both of them in Milan, with the producer Maurizio del Piccolo, who did an incredible and very professional job. The video clip of “Breaking Bad”, the first single of the album, was released by Eclipse a few days ago.
2. Can you help us get to know a little bit more about the band. How did you meet and get started in Metal? What ís your story?
As it probably happened for countless other bands, "Black Star" were born when a group of kids decided to play metal. Everything started in 2007 and passion for music lighted up the fire that brought us here today. At that time, we played just for the desire of playing and making music together. After some years, two of the original components of the band decided to leave "Black Star". However, the rest of us were stubborn enough to keep playing and look for other musicians. That is when the lead singer Andrea Barchiesi "Andy" and the guitarist Mattia Pessina "Pex" joined "Black Star". After this change of formation, the band begun to consider playing as something more than a hobby, and from that moment the idea of transforming the passion for music in an actual job started to take form.
3. How did the name Nereis come into the picture for the band and does it have a meaning to it?
We are all very fond of the concepts of travel, adventure and discovery, and these themes reflect our music and the way we write lyrics. To represent the band, we chose an image evoking a maritime environment from the 1800’s, the time of sail ships, and therefore we had to find a name that could be integrated in this vision. When "Nereis" came out, we were all fascinated by this name and decided to use it. In the Greek mythology, Nereis is one of the many daughters of the god of the peaceful sea, benevolent creatures that protect sailors. We think at ourselves as sailors on a ship called "Nereis", which crosses the sea towards the discovery of new horizons, towards our future and the future of whoever listens to our music becoming part of the ship’s crew.
4. "Turning Point", is your upcoming full-length album, so disclose said details about the recording process for it?When we finished to write the songs of "Turning Point", in 2016, we started to record them at the NOLOGO studio in Laives, a small city close to Bozen, in the north of Italy. There, together with the sound engineer Fabio Sforza, we put a lot of efforts in making the arrangements of the songs perfect, working meticulously on the details. In this creative and enthusiastic environment, we set up collaborations with various musicians, some of whom also played in the album. One of the most relevant musicians that played with us is for sure Isabella Turso, an internationally known pianist. We also composed some orchestral parts with Giacomo Gamberoni, expert keyboard player, some exotic percussion's with John Salins and also some electronic interludes with Vestera. Last but not least, we also had the privilege to have Davide Dalpiaz as guest in our album, a really excellent keyboard player who literally transformed and boosted some of our tracks with his incredible arrangements. Once we finished the recording of all the songs, we commissioned the mix and master to Mauro Andreolli, of the "Das Ende Der Dinge" studio, located in Trento.
5. What does the title "Turning Point" reference?
Actually the title of the album speaks for itself: a change of course. All of us at one point need to turn and change direction towards something unexpected, a brighter future, towards calm waters. Humanity probably needs these abrupt changes too. Everybody deserves the opportunity to point towards the best, a second chance, redemption. The album speaks about this, it reveals that all of us have the possibility to change our existence, fighting against the whole world, but also against ourselves.
6. How about the accompanying album artwork, how does that fit into the title and music found upon it?
As I previously mentioned, the concept of this album comes from the 1800’s maritime environment. The "Turning Point" is exactly the moment when the ship Nereis with its crew changes course to follow what will bring it towards its future. A new course out of the storm, a second chance to change everything and become masters of ourselves. On the artwork, we can see the inside of the deck of the Nereis, where the plans to change course are made. An interesting detail is the small toy boat enlightened by a candle: it projects the shadow of a great sailing ship on the wall. That is a metaphor to point out that everyone, even if lost in the storm as a small boat, hides a grater potential inside of himself.
7. What was it like working with producer Mauro Andreolli?
To work with Mauro has been a great pleasure. He has been very professional and precise (almost insane in the care for details), showing real passion for his job. You don’t find such professionalism anywhere. Musicians obsessed with details such as us could not find any better! It took a while to finish the recording, but it was totally worth it! Mauro did a great job.
8. "Breaking Bad" was a track to come from the album, to receive a single and video release, why was this so?We chose "Breaking Bad" because it has a definitely explosive sound and has a catchy refrain. We thought it was the best way to introduce ourselves to the public. And incredibly, we all agreed to this choice (it rarely happens), therefore it had to be right!
9. Will there be any other tracks from the album to be made into the same format?
Yes, together with Eclipse we planned to publish other singles with video clip in the coming weeks, prior to the release of the full album on June 8th.
10. What are plans set for this year, from you guys that we can expect to see?
Our plan now is to promote our album, trying to spread it as much as we can especially through the internet. After its release we planned some gigs abroad and even if we do not know yet where they will bring us, we can’t wait to get started!
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