INTERVIEW FOR COFFEE & VANILLA
with DARIO MOLLO
Dario Mollo - biography
Italian
guitar player, in 1981 he starts his musical project forming a band: the
"Crossbones", with which, after some local experiences, gets to the
final round at the Italian Rock Festival. What follows are some concerts all
over Italy, a part in the compilation ‘Metallo Italia’ and in the
attendant video filmed at the Piper in Rome, some appearences in tv
broadcastings on the national networks. In 1986 he meets the producer Kit
Woolven and he records a song for the compilation
‘Italian Rock Invasion’; this starts a friendship and a cooperation that
will end up in the recording of his first album, in 1989. In the same time the
band plays at the Hammersmith Odeon, in London, meeting the public’s
approval and a good report from the critics. The project ‘Crossbones’
comes to the recording of the first album after constant changes in the group,
with the idea of getting to the best artistic result Mollo wanted to reach.
There has been an important contribution from Don
Airey at the keyboards - he plays not only in the
album and in the two relevant video clips (filmed in a castle in Budapest),
but he
also follows the group in the promo tour in Europe. Afterwards, the
‘Crossbones’ project is set aside and Mollo devotes himself to the
improvement of his technical and artistic
qualities; in the same time he begins to organize a professional recording
studio. So he starts a serie of artistic productions and soon he reaches a
standard that can be considered highly competitive in the international rock
productions field. So a new project starts to take shape: assembling all his
great previous experiences of years of work and relying on the respect won in
the professional field thanks to his high quality standard, Mollo wants to go
beyond the national boundaries. His project is immediately supported by Don
Airey on keyboards and by Tony Martin
(Black Sabbath) as solo voice. The result is the fruit of all the experiences
gained previously and can boast the better musical technology. Mollo compose
all the album, takes care of the artistic production, from recording to final
mixing, plays all guitar parts and keeps watching the whole production process.
Question: Dario, first "The cage", now "Voodoo Hill". Where did you take inspiration for this name? Can you make a short summary of the story behind this work?
Answer: Well, it's simple: "Hill" because the studio is located on a hill, while "Voodoo" because when I play/record the guitar parts I feel "repossessed"! The summary is really short: I've composed and recorded the Voodoo Hill songs, then I sent them to Glenn who composed the vocal parts.
Q: Was it difficult to convince (if was necessary) His Majesty Glenn Hughes to sing on the "Voodoo Hill" project?
A: Absolutely no. The songs would talk.
Q: How does Glenn live the studio sessions? Tell us of his habits, or tricks during the recordings...
A: While recording he's a real authority. He gots great, great technique and feeling; he's really fast in recording, so I personally think there's no one on the Earth like him!
Q: Was it difficult to put togheter songs that could "fit" the Glenn's vocal skills? Or was it accidental?
A: When I wrote the songs I never had a real idea of who would sing on them.
Q: Tell us about your studio. What kind of devices are you using (consider it some advertising...)?
A: My studio is called "Damage Inc." and is always updated with recent technologies. It has a fully digital 72-channels mixer, total recall with flying faders, connected with optical fibres to a workstation loaded with a particularly new Steinberg software "NUENDO", for which I'm a beta-tester. Here's a photo of the studio:
All
I was saying, all the things are again connected with optical fibres to another workstation fully dedicated to mixing and cutting. In a few words, after the first conversion, all sounds are digitally-edited until the final CD, leaving undamaged the sound quality.
Q: Let's talk about the other members of Voodoo Hill project!
A: Roberto Gualdi on the drums. He played with Lucio Dalla, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Elio e Le Storie Tese, and he is famous for his rock-printed drumming! I can say it! Ezio Secomandi played in the "Crossbones" and "The Cage" project, while in Voodoo Hill plays on "Spun in lost wages". Max Matis plays bass guitar, he's a former jazz-bass player, but he likes rock too much, thanks to his brother (he gots an enviable discobiography). Fabiano Rizzi played drums on "Just another monday", he's only 19, and if he will follow my hints he will become a great drummer. Dario Patti is a great arranger-keyboard player. One of the few in Italy able to play keybs on albums like "Voodoo Hill". Fulvio Pedazzini plays harmonica on "Black leather" and matchsticks on "The Match song".
Q: What are your projects for the next future? Something explosive again?
A: Now I'm recording in studio until december for several productions. Then I will start to compose the songs for the new album. I have an idea about some stunning special guests...
Q: The last question is strictly confidential. Would you like to play supporting Glenn Hughes and his band in a probable Italian date?
A: I'd simply like that Glenn would play on stage a Voodoo Hill song, like "Golden One".