Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands? “Victims Of Our Same Dreams” was written, composed and recorded all by myself, except for the bass track on “Black Leaves Of Solitude” that was recorded by my friend Christian Thomas Castorina who helped me also on recording sessions. Of course I had some other experience with small town bands, but nothing important like Ergot. It’s hard to find people with your same ideals and available for sharing time to make an album, that’s the reason why I started this project alone.. 

How is it that you started playing music? Music is my passion since I was very young. One day I’ve tried to take in hand a friend’s classical guitar and I remember that I've played “smoke on the water” main riff and it was so exciting…so I've started to think to buy my own classical guitar and start to emulate my favorite songs.. 

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? My real name is Riccardo De Piccoli, in art “Lord Ergot”. My principal instrument is the guitar but I like also to play also bass guitar and use the MIDI keyboard to arrange other parts. Actually I’m 23 years old. 

Did you make music even when you were young? I ‘ve started to make music just when I was ending high school. 

Where are you from? I’m living in Trieste, the northern-east city of Italy but my origin is from Venice for the part of my father and Sascut, a small village located in the east part of Romania for the part of my mother. 

What year did the band form? I’ve started to compose first songs for a demo in 2010. 

What's your style of genre? Black Metal. I think it’s the only sub-genre in which freedom is the mainstay and you can decide exactly what  to do without other opinions or judgments.

What inspires you? The rage against people without moral values; The mysterious side of nature and, of course, a lot of music from other artists

How often and where do you rehearse? I dedicate all my free time to music and in the years I’ve built up a little studio in my apartment that allows me to rehearse when I have free time.  Actually I ‘ve met other people interested in join the band and we started to play once for week all songs from the album . 

How have you developed since you started with the music? I’ve started to study about audio recordings, sound cards, programs like Cubase, Logic, virtual instruments and all these kind of things. Now I record everything in my little apartment and after that I bring all tracks in a studio to elaborate, mixing and mastering till the final product.  

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? For the moment is enough like that, unfortunately I don’t have enough free time to think about other interests. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? 

Till the “live” band will be not ready I prefer to wait. 

In any way, music is a passion and I give a lot of time and money for buying gears, pay the studio, graphics, ecc…I will never buy slots to these kind of booking agencies just to deceive myself. You cannot buy success, success has to arrive alone, If it will arrive.. and this depends about how many people will like your music. 

It's also true that is not so easy to spread the music. For what I see, especially when we're talking about black metal, the most part of the public follows what is marketed by magazines, social networks and promotion.. 

The reality is different, anyone can pay promotion to get more views, more likes, reviews ecc ecc...but honestly, how can you be proud for your work if you need to act like that?? Business is the rotten part of this world.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? I’ve already signed for the label De Tenebrarum Principio, a branch from ATMF, known as Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum. Besides the first Full Length, I will make other 2 Full Length with them and later we'll see how proceed ahead.

What made you decide to make this music? At the beginning was just an experiment .

What are your songs about? I like to compose lyrics with a poetic shape and many times I study to connect the meaning of the lyrics with allegories that bring the reader to imagine the wanted feelings. Lyrics talks about devotion, nature, states of mind, anti-religion, social problems and all things that I find online with this profile.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? I always start with the music and after it's ready I focus on the feeling that transmits to myself and finally I start to imagine about the lyrics. 

Do you compose in a certain environment? As I said before,  I make everything at home but for inspiration I like to play the acoustic guitar outside, near the sea or into the wild. 

Have you done any covers live? No "live" for the moment, I’m working on…and maybe yes, I will do some cover just to keep alive some attitude from the past, why not? On the Ep "Empty Waters Down The Mist" you can hear "Lost Wisdom" by Burzum as bonus track.

What language do you sing in? I've started with the standard English but actually I’m a little bit confused because I have to say that also my mother language fascinates me and that's the reason why the last track on the Full Length is in Italian...maybe i will sing some songs in English and other in Italian, depends by  feelings.. 

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? We will start to play some concerts in our city next year, if we'll see that will come good we'll plan some gigs around Europe.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? With first works I've started to think about merchandise…everyone is able to download music for free in mp3 through internet but the merchandise is done just for fan and followers that want to have something to collect about the band and to give a little support. Consider all costs needed in the production of a cd, t-shirts, shipping cost ecc ecc.. Just to make an example, I’m selling the album for 10€ plus shipping, but if I divide all money that I’ve spent for the copies that I’ve got  from the label, the single price is about 15€.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Band camp is where I've put all stuff for sell directly through myself. You can find also the album on Amazon, EBay and other sites but we will not earn nothing from them so i hope that people interested in my products will buy from our official band camp site, also because the price is cheaper .. I've found the cd on amazon and it costs more than 20€ instead on my band camp is just 10€. Otherwise they can buy the cd also on label's site.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? When I was young and I didn't have money I downloaded a lot of music or listened on YouTube. Today, when i discover a new cd that i like, i like to buy also the physical copy and support the artist. I prefer to buy stuff from emerging artists instead commercial stuff and i think that it motivates artists to go ahead making new stuff . 

What do you think of my work? I think and I hope that you are doing your work more for passion than anything else and i really appreciate it.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? In his little part i think that yes! I often like to read interviews on other bands and I'm always curious to read interesting aspects and opinions. I will share this interview also through my channel so who is interested can read something about Ergot.

What have been your biggest obstacles? There aren't big or little obstacles, obstacles are obstacles so there is always a solution for them! 

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Try to be always yourselves…be kind and don't follow the masses…try to be original!

Do you have any new material? I’m working on Ergot's second full length and also I have 2 side project, the first one is with the Austrian band Aus Der Transcendent in which I’m working on a new album while the second one is a new music project that will be called "H" in which i'm working on the debut album with the same friend that helped me for Ergot. 

What are your web sites? Offical Site with merchandise and music: http://www.ergot.bandcamp.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ergotproject YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ErgotOfficial

How can people reach you? Through mail, bandcamp, youtube, facebook… I choose this kind of free communication way!