.png)
1) Can you give me a short history of the band and the musical background of the band members?
At first Tom was only a bass player, but after many failures in the choice of singers he decided to start singing. We really liked rock/hard rock , but Tom’s voice was so different from other rock singers. He liked screaming.
The real change for us was to play another kind of music: Death Metal.
We wanted to play much more powerful songs with heavy guitar riffs and groovy drums.
We decided to look for another member who liked Joyless Joker’s sound .
Joyless Jokers is band of three brothers and for the first 2 years we never asked Jader (keyboard) to join the band. Many metal bands don’t want the keyboard in their sound but for joyless jokers the sound is the key to changing the sound as we wanted.
We started playing around but we felt the need for a more powerful sound. Another guitarist was the best choice for us to improve the impact.
On the 24th of December 2008 Michele Brunetti came to a Joyless Jokers show and after that he entered in the Joyless Jokers line up.
Our past drummer didn’t really like our sound much, so he decided to leave the band very soon in September 2010.
I particularly remember that Thomas and I were really angry about the drummer’s decision. So we started to look for a new drummer. We found Matteo “Giove” Ioverno after few months…he loved metal music and it was very easy to get in tune.
Everything became simple with Giove :: playing around , writing songs etc , and after one year of concerts (2010) we recorded our first EP “ARMS OF DARKNESS ” . Our first work written entirely by ourselves. It was amazing and we were so exited!!! We didn’t want to sign contract with a label so we started to believe in ourselves and in our music! We played in every pub ,club, place, square …every place where people could listen to our songs. Many concerts and a lot of satisfaction….
We were so motivated that after a year we had already written all the songs for our second album
“TASTE OF VICTORY” (2012) . it was better than the first record and we decided to promote it by ourselves always looking for some labels interested in.
We are still playing TASTE OF VICTORY during shows to promote it , and at the same time we are writing new songs for the third record…… the story continues……
2) How were the reactions on your latest album, both nationally and internationally?
Well, fortunately we have had a lot of good reviews for our latest album “Taste of Victory”. Many reviewers argue that we have a good personality in terms of creativity, and we think that is a really important thing when you compose your own music. Obviously we have all our influences that have inspired us, and continue to have this, but compared to our first work “Arms of Darkness” now we mostly try to detach ourselves from all our favourite bands. Fortunately this effort was heard also by reviewers that have already listened to us in the past. However we also received some criticism. The most common defect is that almost every song in Taste of Victory is fast and heavy. There are only few moments on this album when you can “take a breath”. This is true but we are young and angry so the result is in line with that. Maybe with the next album we’ll try to include more calm riffs.. We’ll see..
3) How is it to play with three brothers in a band?
There are both positive and negative sides. Fortunately positives are the most! First of all with three brothers you can do almost everything that a band needs internally, “in the family”. For example you can compose a lot of riffs, or communicate together easily and quickly. In our case the brothers had set up the band and this is important to establish the core and establish a balance point for the first period when the band is young and not so solid yet. Fortunately we haven’t had too many changes in the line up so it’s a robust formation and the fact that we have three brothers in the same band is a great added value.
4) Which are your biggest influences?
The bands that have inspired us the most are Arch Enemy, Carcass, In Flames, Children of Bodom and in general all the Swedish style bands. If you listen our first work “Arms of Darkness” you can hear it clearly, but going forward we evolved and try to explore other styles. We try to include more aggressivity to our songs with melodic parts as well. Our influences are continuously in evolution and when we compose something we could try to put something new into it each time, maybe this change is not so clear after only two albums, but it’s still “work in progress”.
5) How does the normal composition process looks like? What is first, the lyrics or the music?
In general we play a lot at home, composing and developing many ideas on our own and after that we try to set up the structure of the songs together. First of all we prefer to finish the structure of the song and after that Thomas starts to compose lyrics. It’s difficult for us to jam together and find something that we like instantly. It only happened a few times. When you compose new riffs or songs your instinct is important, your first feelings and ideas. It’s not a quick process at all. When we find some riffs that sound good together we try playing them and see, but also if we like the final result we pass a lot of time thinking where we could improve that song in terms of passages, parts, note and also timing until we are completely convinced by that song. I remember a song called “Back to Ashes” ,from our first EP “Arms of Darkness”, where we passed six fucking months for a final hit. Fortunately that is not ordinary for us! But it was an example of what we mean for working on a song until we completely like it. However not only our style in terms of music changed over the years, but also our way of composing a song. Now we have found the right “formula” for us and the composition process results much easier for us.
6) Is there a tour coming up?
Unfortunately we don’t have any tour planned for the next months. We have some contacts in Europe, also in Germany and we are trying to organize as many lives as we can abroad. However we play here in the North of Italy for the next period, and we will be doing many live sets with a lot of great bands from the underground. A few days ago we received a some information about our possible participation in a festival with a historical death metal band but it’s not sure at one hundred per cent. We hope that it will work out and we’ll communicate it to you if that becomes official!
7) Which country do you want to tour to? (Could be a country you already have visited or a "new one")
Well we think that every country is good if it’s not your own country because there’s always a special taste in playing abroad wherever you do it. But if we can choose one of the first countries where we like to play is absolutely Germany, but also the Scandinavian countries like Finland, Norway or Sweden, and also in the USA. We think that also the East Asian countries will become good places to play, like Japan or India.
8) What do you do when you are not involved in music?
We have a quite different lives. Rudy organizes many musical events and collaborates with people in other activities like cineforum. Jader studies classical piano at the conservatory and he is also an actor in a theater company. Michele goes to see a lot of concerts in the underground scene to see new bands and live clubs where we could play. Matteo passes most of his time studying for his exams at university and Thomas is the most “free thinker” in our band. He likes going out with his friends and play in another side project only for enjoyment.
9) How often do you practice/rehearse?
Actually we practice once a week. But as we say before our “work” doesn’t finish with that session, we play a lot at home and also we play together for example in two or three members to develop new ideas or work on the last songs. It’s still a passion, that occupies a good part of your life so even if you practice only once a week you are involved in musical activities almost every day.
10) Can you tell me your 5 favourite albums (They must not deal with metal)
It’s very difficult to answer to this question , Each member has different music tastes. We don’t always listen to metal music, we really like having an open-minded approach.
We answer… “using more heart than head” because our favourite album is something absolutely personal.
Rudy
I have loved rock and blues since I started to play guitar and I love the feeling that this kind of music gives…
There would be too many albums to mention but I really love QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS VOL. ONE.
I know ... it’s not a true album, but I remember the first listening of the record, I was really impressed with the powerful and melody of Freddy Mercury’s voice and the awesome Brian May’s guitar solos. I still like listening to the album now from start to end.
Thomas
I usually follow the metal scenes and I go crazy for a Slipknot album ::: Subliminal verses. I am big Corey Taylor fan, he’s one of the best metal singers of the last 10 years.
I started to sing growl/scream thanks to him . This album is always in the top ten of my i-pod .
Jader
I usually listen to a different kind of music ::: classical, jazz, blues but the best album I’ve ever heard is PERMISSION TO LAND – THE DARKNESS
In this record you can find everything you need for a great rock band ::: charismatic singer, really good songs, power guitar riffs, melodic solos… what I say….. awesome!!!!!!!!
Michele
I love Ozzy Osbourne , I think he’s written one of the most important pages of rock history.
I was really impressed by his axemen (Randy Rhoads, Jake and Lee), but Zakk Wylde was the best of all.
I was 14 years old when I listened to Ozzy Osbourne’s records with Zakk Wylde, and I started to think of buying a guitar, I wanted to play this kind of style.
The best album for me: OZZY OSBOURNE – LIVE AT BUDOKAN
I learned every one of Zakk Wylde’s fucking solos and riffs on this record
Giove
Dream Theater is my favourite band. They’re “progressive rock” surgeons. I am still impressed by their technical ability and management of sounds.
My favourite drummer, Mike Portnoy, played for 20 years in this band and wrote wonderful
Albums. One of my top albums is SCENES FROM A MEMORY.
11) Do you have any funny stories/anecdotes concerning your career/bandlife?
We have a lot of funny stories to tell. Each situation is particular because each person and each band we play with relates differently. There is always something funny at the end of the night.
I remember a gig in the North of Italy, we had to be hosted at friends’ home at the end of the show, but we drank too much that evening and my brother Thomas took another bus with people completely unknown. He was very lucky because each person in that bus saw our show that night. We had no news of him until when he arrived with our new “bus-fans” singing and smiling.
Unbelievable!!!!!!
12) Which plans for the future do you have?
We have a lot of plans for the future, we have been playing “TASTE OF VICTORY” for 1 year at every gig, in every club, everywhere!!!!!! but after an amazing year we decided to start writing new songs again, new guitar riffs, new lyrics .We’ve just written four new songs until now and we can’t wait to play the new stuff around Europe.
We are going to shoot our first video at the end of march in Switzerland and it will be available on every Joyless Jokers channel (facebook, youtube, ecc) But the main targets are::: recording the new album for the next year, playing as much as possible, people must know who we are!!!!!!!
We are working hard with our agency, MUSIC SOLUTIONS AGENCY to organize tours for the coming months, maybe we’ll play in your country very soon ...
13) Can you tell us the best and the worst gig you have ever played and why?
It’s a very good question, let me think…… oh yes……. the best gig ever played was Ferrock 2010, a big festival in the North of Italy. We had just recorded our first album ”Arms of Darkness”, and we were looking for chances to promote it... it was an amazing show.
None of us had ever played in front of two thousand people, we were so excited … I remember that two minutes before the show my legs and my hands were shaking and I was afraid of making some mistakes on the first songs and Michele…. was so nervous…. and he vomited.... Jader was relaxed, differently from Michele and me, he is a classical pianist and it’s normal to be quiet for him.
Giove, the drummer, couldn’t stay calm, he beat his sticks on every back he met….
Thomas continued to shout in order to warm up his voice….. but when the intro finished and all of us were ready, all our fears disappeared, and the Joyless Jokers’ show began…….
The worst gig I remember is when we drove 4 hours by car to the centre of Italy.When we saw the club where we had to play that night it was so fucking horrible. The club’s windows were all broken, and it was snowing.....
There wasn’t a true car park, there was only a field near the road and there wasn’t a true entrance, a little door behind the building. I thought it was a nightmare.!!! When we entered in the club, the stage was the worst that I’ve ever seen, there were no technicians and the right staff for the sound check and no one came to see the show.... I don’t wanna talk about the dinner in the club …… you can imagine …
The show didn’t go well , we had a lot of trouble with the equipment and as for the temperature
….. 7 degrees inside ….. I want to forget that night…
14) How is life in Italy as a metal musician especially in the area where you live compared to other regions of Italy, i.e. the south of Italy?
Here in our region we are relatively fortunate because there are still some live clubs that are not forced to close due to peoples lack of participation or local administration policies. In general in Italy it’s difficult quite everywhere . Unfortunately people don’t move from their home or if you propose a show, not only in metal music but in general, you still have difficulty to fill the place with 20-30 people. In addition to that a lot of music clubs have had to close in recent years for economical difficulties. Not only small or medium places. Also historical clubs that were in life also when we were young. This is the situation in the majority of the North Italy, but in the Centre and the South of the country it’s not better. There they have even less places where you can play or go to see a live show. In general it’s hard, really hard to find good dates and even if you have it your are almost sure that there will be not so many people. Sadly people have changed compared to the past years. Here the people are not so open mind to other genres outside of commercial music, so alternative music like metal and others are destined to be a part of the underground, even if we have a lot great bands that deserve much more attention and respect.
15) I have seen that you have an endorsement. Which and how did it begin and why?
Yes we are really happy for our endorsement with Gold music. Gold music is a famous Italian company that sells different brands of guitars and basses. For this reason we can play actually with two important brands: DEAN GUITARS and BC RICH GUITARS/BASS
The story started 6 months ago ,when we were selected for the Sun Valley Metal Fest, there was a competition during the festival because Gold Music was looking for new underground bands for its brand. After one month we received a phone call from Gold Music’s artist manager . he was really happy to do a deal with us. we decided to go to TORINO (where the Gold Music staff are based) to sign the contract and try some beautiful basses and guitars.
Now we are playing with new instruments at every show!!!!!
16) Why do you play more or less Swedish style?
The right definition for us is: it’s the way to communicate directly what you think to other people. Over the years we have really appreciated this kind of music , I think there’s something special in it.
The amazing side of this style is the mix of heavy parts and melodic parts. When we started to play metal , we found it cool to create different parts in the same song, it is usually called “Swedish style” , but from the beginning and until now we prefer to think that it’s very important to write and play good music and there’s no need to classify music.
17) Are there any bands from your region or/and Italy that are worth being mentioned?
We are Italians and in our country there are many cool bands, with really good musicians. The first one KILL THE KLOWN , the coolest live band I’ve ever seen, (they’re crazy on the stage). The second one THE MODERN AGE OF SLAVERY the best heavy extreme Italian band in our opinion, AMASSADO this band that will go on tour very soon, and the last one EMPYRIOS prog metal band with the most talented guitarist and drummer we’ve ever heard.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento