interview with Hollywood Groupies

Have any of you played in other bands? HG: yes of course we played in many other Bands before Joining HG and actually some of us has side projects, Ace and Mirko have their own solo project, Kelly plays with a band, Out Run, wich makes 80’s disco music in rock’n’roll style and with a female punk rock band, and Condor has an Oasis “ifluenced” Rock band.
How is it that you started playing music?
(Kelly) I’ve always been interested to music since I was a baby, I played piano at the primary school and just at 14 I started to play guitar obviously playin’ punk rock that was a trend for rebel guys in 90’s
(Mirko): looking at my cousin’s rehearsal when I was 13!
(Condor)One day a friend told me he was going to play with a friend in his garage, he gave me some percussions and told me to come with him. after that day I decided to start play drums but i hadn't the place to put a drum so i started to play bass guitar.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? HG: Dave “Ace” Rossi Lead Vocals and guitars, Kelly the Mastiff Lead Guitar, Condor Bass Guitar and Mirko Ferrero Drums
Have you had other previous members? HG-Yes, during our Story we had some changes of line-up but this is the
Where are you from? (Kelly) we are from La Spezia, a little town in north-west of Italy, it’s the best place to be a tourist, but not the best one to be a musician.
What year did the band form? HG: it Was Ten years ago in 2008 more or less
What's your style of genre? Ace: I can’t say it for sure we had explore some shades of Rock Metal during Years...but now we found our dimension inside Alternative Metal /Nu MEtal and stuff like That.
What inspires you?
CONDOR I listen a lot of different kind of music, so, it depends on what i'm hearing at the moment.
ACE: Same as condor it depends on my daily mood
(mirko) I study drums to 360° from rock to jazz so I a large range of influences, actually the drummers that I like are Ray Luzier from Korn/KXM, Chad Szeliga EX-Breaking Benjamin, Matt Halpern from Periphery, Luke Holland EX-The Word Alive.
How often and where do you reherse? (Kelly ) We have a full immersion rehearsal one/two days a week for 10 hours, we decided to cram rehearsal ‘cause everyone has it’s own job (In Italy you can’t be a musician unless you start to sing about broken heart in Italian and you have a recommendation by some “great” influencer of music). We have rehearsal at Rock Tribe Music Academy in our town.
How have you developed since you started with the music?
HG: We start as an Hair metal Band and now we are Alternative...at the very beginning no one of us believed that we would reach such goals. Now we are in the pit and we have to fight
Condor - Well, doing my own music opened my eyes on every kind of music, listen it at 360° and try to understand it in every prospective, like a paint, a sculpture or every other kind of art
Do you have other interests of work outside the band?
(Kelly) I’d like to work in a circus! But actually I’m a computer science teacher
(Mirko) I teach drums for an Italian drum academy called “Scuderie Capitani”.
CONDOR At the moment i work in a warehouse
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? ACE: Booking agencies are good, in modern music it’s very important to have someone who set up your agenda for you...Bands needs help to set up every aspects of the project...too much things to do  like find gigs, go social,manage website, write songs and lyrics, video promo, interviews :)...Musician today need a serious help
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? ACE: Same as bove
What are your songs about? HG: We talk about us...every song written by HG is a mirror of what we are in this particular moment...talk about 4 normal metalhead in a particular moment of their live is the constant since the start of the project.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? HG: all Toghether...i write some riffs or lyrics and then we start to play toghether and try to find the right feeling to play it
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Ace: I start often with music...lyrics is a final prt of my personale music creation Process :)
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Ace:well, actually i compose when i don’t have a guitar to reharse the riffs i have in mind :) often i have to sing a Cappella some riffs, reharsing them on my cell and hope to don’t forget them before  coming home and play guitar :)...by the way the mood is very important for me, some HG Master piece were born when my life was a shit XD
Have you done any covers live? HG: Not so much...we don’t like cover
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? HG: can’t say that for sure...fortunately we had always had a good crowd at our gigs...it’s not so important in the end even if there are 3 people or 500 the important thing is to bang your head :)
What was your first gig like?
HG: In a trailer of a Truck set up like a stage...it was so cool XD
CONDOR My first gig was on the top of a local fortress 15 years ago, the atmosphere was awesome but well... it was still our first gig at the time and we was playn like by one year or so, you know, we wasn't that good (laugh)
Have you had to cancel a gig? HG: unfortunately yes...we are human by the way…
Where have you played live this year? HG: We have some gigs scheduled in italy this summer and after we see
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? HG: We hope to get back on tour, for now we don’t have nothing for sure
Where can people buy your merchandise? HG: Contting us on our facebook Page or going on our Hollywood Groupies Bandcamp
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? ACE: Next Question? :) i think that is a natural evolution...60 years ago there was vynils, then compact Cassette, Compact Disc and now we go mp3 and streaming...i’ om ok with it music find a way to survive :)
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? ACE: it was a Huge Change...now bands have to play live a lot to monetize their Efforts...no more real rockstars who follow the rocker Dream and  everyone need a B plan to Survive. You need to be smart to stay focused on the goal...this is not a really bad thing in my personal opinion.
What do you think of my work? ACE: A supporting Column of musical Industry...indeed.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? ACE: I personally dont find inspiration in older bands i prefer to listen modern bands who try to put something new on the gaming table…
What have been your biggest obstacles? HG: Envy and stupidity...that’s for sure. there are a lot of people out there who dont accept girls on guitars or try to put you down just for envy cause they wish to be on your place...and this is a reality for all the bands who try to make something serious.
What advice would you give other bands or artists?
HG: Be yourself always!
(Mirko) you have to make sacrifice anything you want, if you want to play music you have to study your instrument and give the 110% of yourself everyday. It’s a challenge: you VS you.
How do you get psyched for a gig?
(Kelly)A beer is a good ritual before a gig! Usually we have some relax especially during a tour! To tell you the truth just before to go on the stage we have our secret word to say all together!
(Condor )Just one? (laugh) some warm up for the voice, the fingers and some stretching also help a lot whe you have a lot of concerts in few times like in a tour prospective
Do you have any new material? HG: Yes we actually write new stuff, hope to have some demos ready for summer and start to reharse an album this fall...
Do you have something to add? HG: Thank you for your time and for this little chat hope you enjoied it like we did

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