Personal Use On the Making Of ‘A new era’
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives in 'A new era?'
Perspective is a word I like a lot, I would start with this: the name of the project "Personal Use" and the title "A new era" reflect a need precisely "personal" i have a very varied background, i have been playing and producing music since 92, i have worked as an electronic musician in England, italy, Norway with more or less experimental projects, even getting to remix Peter Gabriel with the project at the time, for 4 years I produced soundtracks for German cinema with a composer, then I dedicated 8 years of my career as a sound engineer and producer for Italian mainstream discography working with many Big artists of the scene and receiving several platinum records and in the last years as a manager for cutting edge music production facilities. .. this is to say that I have apparently achieved considerable goals, but I felt a disconnect between my need to make music and the world around me. The market has always been divorced from music, no problem about that, I simply felt it was back to the time for me to freely experiment with the musical form. This record is the first chapter toward this Old/New World that I want to reclaim.
Which song do you like the best and why?
May I give a "stereotypical" answer? Every song is like a child, you love it differently... Having said that maybe I would say, "Lullaby" because it is the piece from which it all started, it was composed and arranged in 90 minutes, on the spur of the moment, after a total stop to music of almost 2 years. from there I realized that a little bit at a time something was being born.
Have you noticed any particular interpretations or connections that listeners have made with 'A new era?'
It is still too early to tell, the project is really just born and, consequently, still very unknown. From the first live shows I have to say that the feedback from people has been very, very positive. and anyway, not being a mainstream project, I don't expect big numbers, my interest is to build an international community that will allow me to be able to play in Europe, in places and festivals that deal with this kind of music...
Can I add one thing? The live shows are very special because the project is a duo, but not a musical one, as the second man is a video artist, so live we offer a very immersive experience based on music and videos made piece by piece ad hoc and reinterpreted live every night, all seasoned with a double player of projections. I am very proud of the work done with Marco Usuelli, the video artist.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in music?
For me music was a thunderbolt, at 7 years old I wanted to do this and at 12 I had my first "concert" with my first band. I was born as a drummer and have always been fond of technology, in fact, my older brothers had a rehearsal room in the house, and one day wanting to do like the "Beatles" and record with 4 tracks, I thought of disassembling 2 of their cassette recorders to connect the tape transport motors together and thus synchronize two tape machines. of course, it didn't work and I was banned from the rehearsal room for a long time. but that approach is still very much alive in me and from there I put things together by becoming a producer for other artists, from 1995 to 2018.
Have you ever encountered resistance or pushback when experimenting with your art? If so, how did you handle it?
Always! and I realized one thing: listen only to your belly and your heart!
Making music is a painful process that exposes you to many emotional and mental frailties, at least for me it has always been that way. Working for other artists, even big ones, I understood how to separate this emotional thing from the rational because in that case the "ass" was theirs and I couldn't afford mistakes.
Too many times in the past I have been influenced by the judgments of friends and colleagues, only to find out later that, as always, you can't please everyone. Now I simply choose to listen to the subtle voice of my heart and gut, make "my own use of it," and make mistakes myself!