interview with Leandro Hladkowicz
Have any of you played in other bands? You will notice it, but, I'm not a perfect english speaker:) Sorry. Well.. I've played with several bands since I started to sing. Most of them are not longer active. The most important were Rainfire and Firestorm, both from center Italy.
How is it that you started playing music? Since I was a kid I felt special interest for melodies and singing. My parents are not musicians and they didn't detect it, then, when I was 15 I decided by my own to start singing in a little choir of my town. Some time later, I learned to play some chords with my classic guitar and It helped me to develop my taste and to know my voice. When I was 17, a friend thought I might have some aptitude for heavy rock and metal. I tried it and never stopped since then.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? My name is Leandro Hladkowicz, and I'm 33. You can still find on the web a very old single of mine by the name “Leon – Till the end”. When I closed that project I just decided to start singing with my own name and surname. Like.. I will not hide myself behind a mask. It improved my inner commitment with music a lot.
Have you had other previous members? Nowadays my main activity is music production for the Internet by my Youtube channel. I don't have or had fixed members on this. But I had several collaborators and friends all over the world who participated on my songs.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, I used to write a lot. I have a lot of old stuff in some hard disk thrown somewhere at home. Since I was a teenager I always had big interest on developing melodies, and, as you can see, it didn't change, even when I'm producing cover songs.
Where are you from? I grew up in Argentina, but I've lived in Italy and I'm an Italian citizen for the last 15 years, then.. I'm from both places I'd say.
What year did the band form? I will answer refering to my cover songs production. It “officially” started in 2012.
What's your style of genre? Hmm.. that's hard. I would say I'm a heavy rock singer, but I love power metal as well as hard rock ballads as even classical music. Infact I developed some “tenorish” taste when I sang with a choir in Civitanova Marche, Italy, for a couple years. I'm happy to put some of it in my songs, but I keep myself 90% heavy rock.
What inspires you? I get inspired by melodies. Regarding cover songs, when I hear something that I like so much, I have to develop it in my own style. That song become “mine” and I put all my taste on it, and then It become the piece you will hear later on youtube. Sometimes I put more “tenor stuff” as i did in Wishmaster, or more “glam”, as I did on You shook me all night long. As I love languages, I use to get inspired by my own curiosity about how a song that I love might sound in one of my languages (Spanish and Italian). You can see it in my very last cover: a spanish version of Scorpions' Still loving you, and Sonata Arctica's Tallulah. That's another trigger for my productions.
How often and where do you reherse? Less often than I should, right now. ;) I have my own home studio where I record and rehearse.
How have you developed since you started with the music? I studied basic technical skills for two years with professor Giuliano Bruscantini at TAM SPM, a music institute founded by the big chitarrist Roberto Zechini. After that I sang for another two years ina classical choir with Maestro Isabella Lupi. I didn't study rock singing. I developed it alone while I was getting knowledge about my own voice, taste and skills. But right now I'd say that my most important ingredient is my taste, I never liked cliches. Even inside metal genre. I don't get influenced by the “roughness” the genre “requires”. Infact my elements will always be Melodies and Power.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Well, I do. Infact I put them inside my productions as well. I'm interested about video production, and acting. I direct and produce all my videos. As I never studied, you can see my evolution from zero. Some of my old stuff is quite naive, but I wanted to be creative, even when the final product looked like a crappy 80's video. Hehe. I grew up a little since then.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Are you looking for a label, and What are your thoughts around that?
In both cases, no, I'm not. But I always listen people interested on my stuff. When I will feel confortable and I will see that something will genuinely improve my carreer, and be compatible with my style and ideas, I'll go for it. I'm just waiting for the right call.
What made you decide to make this music? I always admired high pitched voices, but when some friend at high school told me that I should try Heavy Metal, it opened a whole new world to me.
What are your songs about? I'm not writing right now but I used to write some “knights and dragons” stuff in the early 2000s, when Power Metal had its highest peak and I was a big fan. I'm a romantic guy too, and I wrote several ballads. When I will publish my first LP you will confirm all that.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? I produce all my stuff in my home studio, but most of my ideas come from long trips driving my car. I develop big part of my voice arrangements in my head while driving. Driving is boring, and my brain never stops.
Have you done any covers live? Of course. I've been invited to Expo Casting Mexico DF 2 years ago and I played my covers live in front of my mexican fans. It was a great experience. I'm planning to go to Argentina as soon as I can, to meet a lot of friends of fans I got in the last 5 years. Here in Italy, I sang in the main summer event of the city of San Benedetto last July, and recently, well... I sang Bon Jovi's Always in a music contest just for fun and.. I won. :)
What language do you sing in? English, Italian and Spanish, but get better results with my mother tongue. I tried japanese for some anime songs, and even polish. It was funny. I love languages. Infact you can check my craziest stuff: Frozen's Let it go in Symphonic Metal in 25 languages..
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? The least were 3 :) It was with one of my first bands, Rainfire. It was a little place in a town of center Italy, Monsampietro Morico. Our audience were practically just our gfs. It was cold winter and the place was empty. We were so young. The most were.. I don't know, they calculated 2000, for last summer event in San Benedetto del Tronto. Il Bello della Musica was its name.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Between 25 and 45 I'd say..
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? I vary a lot, cause I use to play with guests artists and friends every time. They are never the same.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Well. Not live. But the white wall you can see in the 80% of my videos is always the same:)
What was your first gig like? It was in Italy with my first band Betrayed (Heavy metal). I was so young and excited. It was my second year in Italy and my Italian was so poor. You can see this hispanic guy jumping like drunk (I wasn't) and talking between songs with an awful accent. Marco, an old friend was the bass player and has a VHS with that gig and still laughes watching it..
What was your latest gig? Two months ago.. (I'm in holidays now), well.. It wasn't a gig. I signed up for a music contest in the city of Monte Urano: Il Cerchio d'Oro, just for fun.. there was a great stage, It was awesome and I sang Bon Jovi's Always. I didn't expect that I would win but I did. Another nice trophey in my wall:)
Have you had to cancel a gig? No, but I was planning to go to Poland for a Finnish music party, and I even talked to press about it, but we let too much time go by and lost contacts. I doubt it will happen.
Where have you played live this year? In Italy. I didn't have gigs outside the country, but I didn't look for them. The truth is I focus more on my internet productions and I don't look for gigs too much. It rewards me and I'm happy doing it. My followers and fans ask me for new stuff and I want to please them as much as I can. I'd like to produce even more music and more often than I use to.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? You know, I never focused to much on Italian audience, cause I always had big response from latin america countries, but now, I'm kind of curious about my “hometown”, and what If I have a main band for touring here. I wonder about the response of people. Of course I will continue my internet production and I will go to other countries if they invite me, but I'm thinking about this possibility in Italy too.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? My main stuff is for free: youtube videos. In 2010 I had a low budget single on iTunes but i doubt it is longer available. I plan to remaster my best covers and make a LP in the future and add the whole merchandise. But, we have to wait a little for now. Oh, for people who really want to support me.., I'm about to open my Patreon, then.. stay connected.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Technology changes the world everyday. One day Blockbuster fails cause of movie streaming and the other Google maps replaces Tomtom. We can't get money anymore from cds cause people get it (legally or not) by downloading it? Well.. let's face it and move on. People will support the artists they love, by watching them live and buying their stuff, then, earnings just diversify.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Well.. the CD product lost its value as we know it. The money is somewhere else, as I said before.
What do you think of my work? Your work as all the independent press activity is so important for people know new underground artists. I always praised and collaborated with people like you:) I have good friends in radios in Argentina and Nicaragua. They are speakers on metal music broadcast shows (Siglo Metalico, Almas de Metal) and I'm happy to give them interviews often.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Well.. music is never just music. Look at pop music. It is sold by showing pretty faces, dance, sex, but human stories too. Maybe people know me by my music, but you are helping them to know me as a person. Since Truman Show and Big Brother, people wants to know about real people. About who's the artist. Not only watching him on stage. This interview let people know me in a different way. And that's a nice thing for everyone. People and me.
Do you have any role models or idols? Oh, I stopped being a fan kid long time ago, hehe. But I remember how much I praised singers like Dickinson, Ronnie Dio, Steven Tyler, Tony Kakko and Adrian Barilari, and more.. I can't deny how much of my style and taste come from their techniques and their art on stage. I grew up watching them and I would not be myself If i wouldn't have admired them when growing up as an artist.
Why do you think that they exist? Because this sad and unfair world needs some people able to spread art and emotions to make people little happier. Music and arts are the most incredible things that this selfish and destructive creature, the human been, have done.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Nice question. It made me think a little.. You need to be more open minded to get inspiration from people of your generation, or younger, but it is totally possible. When it is more natural to get it from the music you have been hearing since you were a child. Maybe nostalgy is an important factor. I don't know.. Anyway, you can take inspiration from everything.. I guess that the key is: if inspiring inputs fit your taste or not, and if you are open minded or not to receive them.
What have been your biggest obstacles? My health a little, but I'll say: my fear.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Metal is a genre that exist for decades and it has been extremely developed. The only key is: be yourself, even if you sing covers like me. Look for that thing that makes you different and amplify it 1000 times. Want to be noticed? Well.. give people something different. It's the only way.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Oh.. I'm extremely psyched before a gig in natural way.. infact I always have to find the way of being less psyched:)
Do you have any new material? Yes, I took a break after shooting Still loving you in Spanish, but new stuff is coming: a new big video, featuring two guest artists and a new heartbreaking song:)
What are your web sites?
https://www.youtube.com/c/leandrohladkowicz
https://www.facebook.com/leandrohladkowicz/
How can people reach you? Join me at my personal facebook page https://www.facebook.com/leandroh83
What are your plans for the future? More live shows and maybe my first EP:)
How is it that you started playing music? Since I was a kid I felt special interest for melodies and singing. My parents are not musicians and they didn't detect it, then, when I was 15 I decided by my own to start singing in a little choir of my town. Some time later, I learned to play some chords with my classic guitar and It helped me to develop my taste and to know my voice. When I was 17, a friend thought I might have some aptitude for heavy rock and metal. I tried it and never stopped since then.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? My name is Leandro Hladkowicz, and I'm 33. You can still find on the web a very old single of mine by the name “Leon – Till the end”. When I closed that project I just decided to start singing with my own name and surname. Like.. I will not hide myself behind a mask. It improved my inner commitment with music a lot.
Have you had other previous members? Nowadays my main activity is music production for the Internet by my Youtube channel. I don't have or had fixed members on this. But I had several collaborators and friends all over the world who participated on my songs.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, I used to write a lot. I have a lot of old stuff in some hard disk thrown somewhere at home. Since I was a teenager I always had big interest on developing melodies, and, as you can see, it didn't change, even when I'm producing cover songs.
Where are you from? I grew up in Argentina, but I've lived in Italy and I'm an Italian citizen for the last 15 years, then.. I'm from both places I'd say.
What year did the band form? I will answer refering to my cover songs production. It “officially” started in 2012.
What's your style of genre? Hmm.. that's hard. I would say I'm a heavy rock singer, but I love power metal as well as hard rock ballads as even classical music. Infact I developed some “tenorish” taste when I sang with a choir in Civitanova Marche, Italy, for a couple years. I'm happy to put some of it in my songs, but I keep myself 90% heavy rock.
What inspires you? I get inspired by melodies. Regarding cover songs, when I hear something that I like so much, I have to develop it in my own style. That song become “mine” and I put all my taste on it, and then It become the piece you will hear later on youtube. Sometimes I put more “tenor stuff” as i did in Wishmaster, or more “glam”, as I did on You shook me all night long. As I love languages, I use to get inspired by my own curiosity about how a song that I love might sound in one of my languages (Spanish and Italian). You can see it in my very last cover: a spanish version of Scorpions' Still loving you, and Sonata Arctica's Tallulah. That's another trigger for my productions.
How often and where do you reherse? Less often than I should, right now. ;) I have my own home studio where I record and rehearse.
How have you developed since you started with the music? I studied basic technical skills for two years with professor Giuliano Bruscantini at TAM SPM, a music institute founded by the big chitarrist Roberto Zechini. After that I sang for another two years ina classical choir with Maestro Isabella Lupi. I didn't study rock singing. I developed it alone while I was getting knowledge about my own voice, taste and skills. But right now I'd say that my most important ingredient is my taste, I never liked cliches. Even inside metal genre. I don't get influenced by the “roughness” the genre “requires”. Infact my elements will always be Melodies and Power.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Well, I do. Infact I put them inside my productions as well. I'm interested about video production, and acting. I direct and produce all my videos. As I never studied, you can see my evolution from zero. Some of my old stuff is quite naive, but I wanted to be creative, even when the final product looked like a crappy 80's video. Hehe. I grew up a little since then.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Are you looking for a label, and What are your thoughts around that?
In both cases, no, I'm not. But I always listen people interested on my stuff. When I will feel confortable and I will see that something will genuinely improve my carreer, and be compatible with my style and ideas, I'll go for it. I'm just waiting for the right call.
What made you decide to make this music? I always admired high pitched voices, but when some friend at high school told me that I should try Heavy Metal, it opened a whole new world to me.
What are your songs about? I'm not writing right now but I used to write some “knights and dragons” stuff in the early 2000s, when Power Metal had its highest peak and I was a big fan. I'm a romantic guy too, and I wrote several ballads. When I will publish my first LP you will confirm all that.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? I produce all my stuff in my home studio, but most of my ideas come from long trips driving my car. I develop big part of my voice arrangements in my head while driving. Driving is boring, and my brain never stops.
Have you done any covers live? Of course. I've been invited to Expo Casting Mexico DF 2 years ago and I played my covers live in front of my mexican fans. It was a great experience. I'm planning to go to Argentina as soon as I can, to meet a lot of friends of fans I got in the last 5 years. Here in Italy, I sang in the main summer event of the city of San Benedetto last July, and recently, well... I sang Bon Jovi's Always in a music contest just for fun and.. I won. :)
What language do you sing in? English, Italian and Spanish, but get better results with my mother tongue. I tried japanese for some anime songs, and even polish. It was funny. I love languages. Infact you can check my craziest stuff: Frozen's Let it go in Symphonic Metal in 25 languages..
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? The least were 3 :) It was with one of my first bands, Rainfire. It was a little place in a town of center Italy, Monsampietro Morico. Our audience were practically just our gfs. It was cold winter and the place was empty. We were so young. The most were.. I don't know, they calculated 2000, for last summer event in San Benedetto del Tronto. Il Bello della Musica was its name.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Between 25 and 45 I'd say..
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? I vary a lot, cause I use to play with guests artists and friends every time. They are never the same.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Well. Not live. But the white wall you can see in the 80% of my videos is always the same:)
What was your first gig like? It was in Italy with my first band Betrayed (Heavy metal). I was so young and excited. It was my second year in Italy and my Italian was so poor. You can see this hispanic guy jumping like drunk (I wasn't) and talking between songs with an awful accent. Marco, an old friend was the bass player and has a VHS with that gig and still laughes watching it..
What was your latest gig? Two months ago.. (I'm in holidays now), well.. It wasn't a gig. I signed up for a music contest in the city of Monte Urano: Il Cerchio d'Oro, just for fun.. there was a great stage, It was awesome and I sang Bon Jovi's Always. I didn't expect that I would win but I did. Another nice trophey in my wall:)
Have you had to cancel a gig? No, but I was planning to go to Poland for a Finnish music party, and I even talked to press about it, but we let too much time go by and lost contacts. I doubt it will happen.
Where have you played live this year? In Italy. I didn't have gigs outside the country, but I didn't look for them. The truth is I focus more on my internet productions and I don't look for gigs too much. It rewards me and I'm happy doing it. My followers and fans ask me for new stuff and I want to please them as much as I can. I'd like to produce even more music and more often than I use to.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? You know, I never focused to much on Italian audience, cause I always had big response from latin america countries, but now, I'm kind of curious about my “hometown”, and what If I have a main band for touring here. I wonder about the response of people. Of course I will continue my internet production and I will go to other countries if they invite me, but I'm thinking about this possibility in Italy too.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? My main stuff is for free: youtube videos. In 2010 I had a low budget single on iTunes but i doubt it is longer available. I plan to remaster my best covers and make a LP in the future and add the whole merchandise. But, we have to wait a little for now. Oh, for people who really want to support me.., I'm about to open my Patreon, then.. stay connected.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Technology changes the world everyday. One day Blockbuster fails cause of movie streaming and the other Google maps replaces Tomtom. We can't get money anymore from cds cause people get it (legally or not) by downloading it? Well.. let's face it and move on. People will support the artists they love, by watching them live and buying their stuff, then, earnings just diversify.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Well.. the CD product lost its value as we know it. The money is somewhere else, as I said before.
What do you think of my work? Your work as all the independent press activity is so important for people know new underground artists. I always praised and collaborated with people like you:) I have good friends in radios in Argentina and Nicaragua. They are speakers on metal music broadcast shows (Siglo Metalico, Almas de Metal) and I'm happy to give them interviews often.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Well.. music is never just music. Look at pop music. It is sold by showing pretty faces, dance, sex, but human stories too. Maybe people know me by my music, but you are helping them to know me as a person. Since Truman Show and Big Brother, people wants to know about real people. About who's the artist. Not only watching him on stage. This interview let people know me in a different way. And that's a nice thing for everyone. People and me.
Do you have any role models or idols? Oh, I stopped being a fan kid long time ago, hehe. But I remember how much I praised singers like Dickinson, Ronnie Dio, Steven Tyler, Tony Kakko and Adrian Barilari, and more.. I can't deny how much of my style and taste come from their techniques and their art on stage. I grew up watching them and I would not be myself If i wouldn't have admired them when growing up as an artist.
Why do you think that they exist? Because this sad and unfair world needs some people able to spread art and emotions to make people little happier. Music and arts are the most incredible things that this selfish and destructive creature, the human been, have done.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Nice question. It made me think a little.. You need to be more open minded to get inspiration from people of your generation, or younger, but it is totally possible. When it is more natural to get it from the music you have been hearing since you were a child. Maybe nostalgy is an important factor. I don't know.. Anyway, you can take inspiration from everything.. I guess that the key is: if inspiring inputs fit your taste or not, and if you are open minded or not to receive them.
What have been your biggest obstacles? My health a little, but I'll say: my fear.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Metal is a genre that exist for decades and it has been extremely developed. The only key is: be yourself, even if you sing covers like me. Look for that thing that makes you different and amplify it 1000 times. Want to be noticed? Well.. give people something different. It's the only way.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Oh.. I'm extremely psyched before a gig in natural way.. infact I always have to find the way of being less psyched:)
Do you have any new material? Yes, I took a break after shooting Still loving you in Spanish, but new stuff is coming: a new big video, featuring two guest artists and a new heartbreaking song:)
What are your web sites?
https://www.youtube.com/c/leandrohladkowicz
https://www.facebook.com/leandrohladkowicz/
How can people reach you? Join me at my personal facebook page https://www.facebook.com/leandroh83
What are your plans for the future? More live shows and maybe my first EP:)