Rhapsody of Fire    Italie Date : 1997 Luca Turilli interview made by phone by Galathrandir on the 5th of july, 2010

Galathrandir : Hi, how is it going ?
Luca Turilli : Everything is beautiful, you know when you have the possibility to release an album after so many years... That's fantastic for every artist!

G : First, I must say we are really glad to have you back!
L.T. : Thank you so much !

G : What have you been doing since the last album?
L.T. : (Laughs) Well.. You know, what we always do, we were working with music! (Laughs) No, in fact we took time to make an album and try to do it in a different way. We decided we would start everything from zero, and this album sounds very fresh to us. I can say we started composing this album one year before entering the studio, around 2008 - we entered the studio during september of the last year. But from "Triumph or Agony" to 2008 we listened to the old songs, and realised that we were not convinced entirely with what we had. And then in my case, I had the possibility to open guitar courses (Note : www.neoclassicalrevelation.com) and these gave me the will to compose longer and more technical solos for the album. So the fact we used more time had not so many advantages but for sure the advantage to have a fresh album, and a different impact on it.

G : There are a lot more solos in the album it's true, and it is also a much heavier album than the previous ones.
L.T. : Yes, absolutely. One half of the reason is what I told you before. The other half of the reason is that this part of the saga, the lyrics, needed a different impact. "Symphony Of Enchanted Lands Part II" and "Triumph or Agony" were representing the first and the second chapter of the new "Dark Secret" saga. As they were introducing the new saga, the lyrics were more descriptive, so the albums could be very orchestral, symphonic because it fitted very well. But not for this particular chapter, speaking of this journey of five main characters moving from their lands to these icy cold north lands. I concentrated not on the description of the journey, but on the emotional journey I would say. So I wanted to concentrate lyrically on the intimate feelings of these people, trying to discover more about this dark secret. But in the end this is also the metaphor of life, because there is always this search for something, that you can always find in my sagas. This is clearly the metaphor of life, the travel of every human being from birth to death. You can ask questions to yourself : "Where do I come from? Where do I go?", and I like exploring this in my sagas. And I wanted particularly in this third chapter to explore the fears and the hopes of the characters.

G : So for you the lyrics are quite as important as the music in fact.
L.T. : The first step when we compose is that I explain to Alex what the chapter is about, which emotions we have to underline in the music, so in the end it is like we were having a script. Then when you have the script it's very easy to decice the way you want to turn it into a movie or into an album.

G : And the orchestral parts of the album can really be linked to cinema. How did you manage to compose them?
L.T. : In this album there is less orchestra than in the previous ones. We wanted to have a more "band-impact" effect. But of course there is always orchestra - here with orchestral samples - because this is Rhapsody's trademark! Everything was born because of this, because of our passion for the cinema soundtrack. The first step as I told you is to write the script, and then we meet with the band. We never meet in a rehearsing room, more likely in a pizzeria, a restaurant, you know ! (Laughs) Then, after we thought about the titles of the song and everyone is happy with the chapter, we meet at home and start the music. We discuss about the orchestral arrangments, if we want here more choirs, etc. After these artistic discussions we do all the basic orchestral arrangments, and then I do all the guitar parts. For us this is the perfect flowing for compositing process.

G : So you said that on this album there were only orchestral samples?  No real orchestra?
L.T. : There was a moment when everybody wanted to record with an orchestra and we did it with the last two albums, but it is very difficult to mix a real orchestra with a metal band. So this time we had the possibility, not having the orchestra, to go for this very metallic sounding mix. We always have this frequency problem between the strings, the guitars... But this time without this problem Sascha (Note : Sascha Paeth) could mix the album in a great way.

G : What can you tell us about Reign of Terror, which this the one most people talk about because of its dark feeling?
L.T. : All this album is very dramatic, more than what we did in the past, if you look for example at the cover it is blue, colder. Everything had to be cold, frozen, romantic. To achieve this result... (Thinking) I can't remember what the question was, sorry! (Laughs)

G : About the dark song Reign of Terror.
L.T. : Yes! Reign of Terror is especially a song people remember because we present this special style, and what I love about this song really is that we used the extreme metal for a positive message. There is a unique contrast to make people understand that you don't have to speak about negativity and the worst things of the human being when using metal. You can also use the extreme metal that we like, very adrenalinic, connect it to symphonic elements like in our case, and use this music to scream your rage against the negativity. This is what we really love, listen to Fabio screaming with his particular voice a positive message.

G : The song Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio has quite new elements in it, especially the extensive use of acoustic guitars, what can you tell about it?
L.T. : Well I composed these acoustic parts but they were played by a guest. I usually tend to compose the acoustic parts but not to play them. And we always like to have special guests! In fact it was played by a lute player. That is why there is this particular ancient sound we love so much. In the end it gives you this nice medieval flavor. And of course there was the normal acoustic guitars we used through the album, it was not often that we used acoustic parts but it helped having this cold ambiance.

G : And like you said before it is very refreshing
L.T. : Yes, and for this album we had one major influence. We inspired ourselves, especially in the mix, from the album of Crimson Glory, "Transcendence". It is one of my favorite albums of all time, Alex too. We love it and we love the kind of cold production giving it a particular feeling.

G : How do you feel about the last song, Frozen Tears of Angels?
L.T. : We love it! You have this moment in the beginning very symphonic, then these particular moments. You have a lot of narration also. I think it is one of the most serious songs we ever composed, dramatic. It tells about a very important moment of the saga, so the music had to follow in the same way.

G : You spoke about narration, was it logical to have Christopher Lee again on this album?
L.T. : Christopher Lee now is part of the saga, he is the official narrator. He is the one who gives more details about the saga. His voice is so professional, so emotional, we love to have him!

G : By the way you surely know he made his own band recently (Note: Christopher Lee's Charlemagne), did you take part in the making of his band?
L.T. : I was really surprised, especially because he promoted it saying he was influenced by Rhapsody! It was a great honor! And I just listen to a track yesterday because journalists told me about it. It was really nice because it reminded me of his voice he was using with Rhapsody. It didn't listened to it a lot yet so I cannot tell you more, but it is very interesting.

G : Going back to Rhapsody, do you plan on making live shows?
L.T. : Yes, absolutely! I think it is our weakness, people were really waiting for us, and I was thinking that after four years of silence nobody would want to see us again! The first thing we will do now is plan a great tour, the longest and biggest tour we ever did, and I think we will start in september or october. We will start from Europe, then we will tour all around the world and we will finish in 2011 with the summer festivals.

G : Great! And how are your side projects evolving, especially Luca Turilli's Dreamquest?
L.T. : You know the great thing when working with a label such as Nuclear Blast is that they do not have problems with releasing a product and they do not have to make you wait to years before releasing another one. They do not say "you invade the market" or things like that. If they like our music they just support us and everything we have in mind. They just needed to hear at first one new song from us, just to make sure we didn't start playing hip-hop or rap! (Laughs) So now we are fully supported, we are engaged body and soul to Rhapsody. It was very important after four years. Now that the album is out we can think about other projects.

G : Maybe you know that in France there are a lot of French band inspired by your music, like for example Fairy- (He interrupts me)
L.T. : There is a great French band called Fairyland!
G : Yes, I was just quoting it!
L.T. : You know this is a great honor. There was a time when I had to produce the band Fairyland, I really liked them and their demo, but at this time we were in our album and there was a little, little fight! And in the end we didn't do anything. But of course bands like these are very talented, it is always great for us to see this kind of bands coming out! I think that the symphonic metal that I love so much to compose comes from emotion. It is something that people either love or hate. When you deal with emotion, with this epic music and orchestra, connected to heavy metal, it is really something big! Nothing existing in music is more powerful, epic, bombastic and emotional.

G : And what could you say to the young symphonic metal bands to encourage them?
L.T. : You can dream something and hope that one day you will reach a goal, but if you spend twenty-four hours a day dreaming you will realise it, it is like nothing. You have to dream but also to work like hell and spit blood. In my case for example, people think "Ah Luca Turilli it is easy for him..." but they must know that I spent the last ten years in front of my PC composing, almost loosing my eyes, to realise all the solo albums, the Rhapsody stuff... There is a big passion behind but also many many hours of work everyday. So do not live out only of passion and dream but work practically. And the thing I say to all the new composers, try to always have something that can be considered new for the market. If you do something that has already been done, people will just put you behind somebody else. Except if you are very very talented or a very good musician. But if you add just one element which is different, then it is something that will stand out from the rest in the market. For example if you take our case, there was already Blind Guardian before us making this kind of folk music. But we added something different, at the time we listened to the Batman soundtracks and I told Alex : imagine if we contaminate our music not with the normal classical music like everybody would do (like Malsteem for example), not typical composers like Bach, Beethoven, Paganini, but instead we decided to contaminate it with soundtrack oriented music, like Danny Elfman's one. This music was for us the evolution of the normal traditional classical music. So this was the little difference, you do not need a big difference, but for the market it was already something new! And then it led to the commercial success.

Audio questions :

G : Do you have a message to the french fans?


G : What would you say to the ones who won't like the album?


G : You have one minute to convince people to listen to the album!


G : To end interviews we like to play a little game. I am going to say words and you will have to say just a quick sentence that these words evoke to you!
To begin with... Rhapsody!
L.T. : (Laughs) Let's say joy and pain, and then Rhapsody of Fire!
- Mighty!
- This was the beginning you know, now we are totally humble artists. In the end "mighty" is more related to the past.
- Dragon!
- The dragon is a very important symbol connected to the saga.
- War.
- I would prefer to see people play on the Playstation than playing war.
- Divine?
- Divine for me is life, life is divine. Life is a miracle and I would like people to realise that just the possibility to breathe is wonderful.
- Music.
- Everything. Music is my life. I could not live without music, music makes cry, makes me think. I can express myself, my emotions.
- Emotion.
- Also music. I am a very emotional kind of person, this is sometimes a quality, sometimes a defect.
- Christopher Lee?
- The goal of our career!
- Saruman!
- Ah, Lords of the Rings! For me it is the first time a fantasy world was represented totally seriously on the big screen. And Lords of the Rings is one of my favorite movies of all time.
- Italy.
- Beautiful sea. Well I know this is a sterotype! (Laughs) And spaghetti pizza mandolina!
- Politics.
- If you ask me from which side I am I will tell you that if a good idea comes from the left, I'm from the left, if a good idea comes from the right, I'm from the right. I don't like people that for example are from the left and hate everything that people from the right say. I think we have to completly go out of this system.
- And thank you!
- (Laughs) This is the greatest thing we can hear you know! If we give just one single emotion to a person on the planet, then we have realised our mission of life. This is what an artist should do.