Monday 07th, September 2009
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Guiseppe Ottaviani: The 'GO!' Interview
Artists: Giuseppe Ottaviani’s ‘GO!’ is off the blocks (it’s out today!) and ready to be digested by the trance nation at large. As good a time as any then we thought for a sit down and chat with the man about the album’s genesis, his hopes for it, and other matters ‘Ottaviani’.
Trance.nu: Thanks for joining us Giuseppe! First off, tell us a little about the production process for ‘GO!’?
Guiseppe: It took over a year because I was always busy touring with my shows and I didn’t have much time for my studio-work, especially at the beginning. But after a totally busy year the album is now ready to, ahem… go! I was looking around to find some artists to collaborate with and I found some great partners in John O’Callaghan, Tom Colontonio, Gate4 and some unknown but great singers like Faith and Francesco M. Faith’s a vocalist from a rock band called The Shiver while Francesco M., he’s more a Jazz singer. But also Gate4, he’s a great producer indeed but not a singer at all, despite that I used his voice on the track Sunward!
Trance.nu: Does the timing of your debut solo album feel about right to you following the split of Nu NRG or would you have preferred something out sooner?
Guiseppe: Well I don’t really care about it. My solo album and NU NRG project are two separate things, so there is not really a ‘right’ time to release my album. What is important for me is to have reached a number of productions that allow me to fill an artist album. Also, what I tried to do was not “more quantity / less quality” but I tried to make what I like most, with no rush at all. The album is ready now, so that’s perfect timing to me!
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Trance.nu: ‘GO!’ has quite a span of trance to it. Is there one type of trance from the established sub-genres (deep, euphoric, melodic, tech, etc) that you marginally favour over others?
Guiseppe: I wanted to make a wide range of music to show to the people what my vision of music in general. In fact you can find some pure trance tracks, some techno / tech tracks and some vocal tracks as well. It’s just the music that I like most and that touches me. I’ve been known as a trance producer but even if I mainly make trance, you will not find only trance music on the album.
Trance.nu: Looking at it from certain angles, there seems to be a loose collaborative association forming between you, John O’Callaghan and Tom Colontonio. What do you think has given rise to that?
Guiseppe: There is not a specific reason behind those collaborations, they are just great artists and I like their sound, so why not to make a track together? They said yes and here we have Our Dimension with JOC and Love Mission with Tom. I also made a second track for JOC’s album Never Fade Away called Liquid Fire and I’ll probably cooperate with Tom again in the next future.
Trance.nu: As you mentioned before Faith crops up on vocals on ‘GO!’ a couple of times. Would you say she’s your vocal ‘muse’ of sorts?!
Guiseppe: She just gave me the right vibes for those songs. I will collaborate with her in the future but I’m always looking for new collaborations and ‘featurings’.
Trance.nu: Do you ever suffer from ‘writers block’ (or the musical equivalent of it!) and if so how do you tackle it?
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Guiseppe: Sometimes it happens. I’ll spend an entire day in the studio doing nothing, no ideas, just a waste of time. But this is normal – I’m reconciled to it now. Making music is a creative job and it’s not like, for example ironing, where at the end of the day you get a result. So I go out, take a walk and have a long sleep. Then I do some boring paper work and after a while I’m ready again for the music.
Trance.nu: In an ideal world, who would be the one person you’d like to collaborate with, one who would you like to remix and who would you like to have remix you!?
Guiseppe: Since we are talking about an ideal world lets be daring! I would love to collaborate with Bono from U2. Listen to the first track of my album One Day, his voice on there would be a dream. I’d like to remix Passion, for me the best song from singer Utada Hycaru. For those people who don’t know her, check her out on www.youtube.com . For someone to be remixed by, I’d have to say Paul Oakenfold. Probably Fallen or Angel from the album would fit perfectly!
Trance.nu: What are the plans for future singles from the albums?
Guiseppe: We will have new single releases on 12” after the album release. The second single should be ‘Fallen’. Also, since the album is mixed we are planning digital releases in order to provide tracks at their full length.
Trance.nu: What do you anticipate (in particular) as being the big crowd-pleasers and best at-home listens from ‘GO!’?
Guiseppe: On the dancefloor: for those who really love trance music, well get ready for ‘Third Dome’. If you like something a little harder, ‘Love Mission’ is the choice. If you like uplifting vocals, have a listen to ‘Changing Ways’ and ‘No More Alone’. For techno-philes there’s Thermopile and Unplugged! At home: One Day, if you like a kinda rock style and Angel, if you just like Music.
I would add an “in the car” category! ‘Where I Want to Go’ and ‘White Empire’ will drive you so far away. Like I said, quite a range.
Trance.nu: Always a tough question for an artist (being so close to a project), I’m sure, but which are your favourite 3 tracks from the album.
Guiseppe: Shouldn’t be too much of a problem actually! I’d go with: Angel, One Day & Third Dome!
Trance.nu: For country with such a rich dance music history, there are now relatively few trance producers hailing from Italy. Why do you think that is?
Guiseppe: Not sure but unfortunately sometimes it is much more easy to follow the fashion playing and producing music according to the scene in your country instead of doing what you really like to do (even if it’s not easy to find a cop-out). Well this is not my case, I do what I feel and play what I love. Unfortunately for this reason you hardly see me performing in my own country, I’m sad about that but I will not change my style for it. And people who really believe in something should keep on pushing their way, too.
Trance.nu: So there isn’t a thriving Italian trance underbelly we’ve just been completely missing!?
Guiseppe: Honestly something is happening, more in the north of Italy, but in my opinion, it is still nowhere near enough. We had Paul van Dyk, Tiësto and Above & Beyond playing, but still the trance scene doesn’t seem to take off. I really hope in a brighter future, we have good chances and I’ll be doing my best to promote this music in Italy!
.jpg)
Trance.nu: ‘Giuseppe Ottaviani Live’ seems to have been a big thing for you and that seems to have a heritage stem from the Nu NRG days. What prompted you to go down that route at a time when very few other trance acts were?
Guiseppe: As I said before, I do what I like most, and I’ve done live acts since NU NRG. It would be much easier for me to play with CDs only, travelling with a small bag and doing DJ sets. But this is not the life I’m looking for. Believe me there is a lot of work and dedication behind live shows and if you are crazy enough to do it for each gig, well, it’s only because you love it. No other reasons.
Trance.nu: Technically, is it a nightmare? What are the complexities of it?
Guiseppe: After 8 years of experience I can say it’s a hard job, but nothing’s impossible to do. I can understand that what seems to be easy for me could be a nightmare for someone else but at the end there are some technical and musical rules that you must apply. Technology does the rest.
Trance.nu: Where has it worked best and where do you think that it might not have connected quite as well as it should?
Guiseppe: It’s working great in terms of crowd response but I always try to improve it. First of all I want to reach the ability to play longer, maybe 2 hours, which also means I need to make much more dedicated music, and I will for sure. We also have some new ideas to improve the show in terms of visuals. So we are working on that and you’ll soon see the results!
Trance.nu: Ibiza’s been getting its share of Giuseppe Ottaviani’s this summer – how’s that been going?
Guiseppe: Ibiza is the craziest place, like every year. I already played two times for Cream at Amnesia and I will have my last appearance on September 3rd together with PvD.
Trance.nu: Where do you see things going for you in the immediate future now? What would you say was your next goal?
Guiseppe: I don’t really know about my next goal but I will focus on my live acts to improve them and I will also work on some new video material for my youtube channel (www.youtube/giuseppeottaviani). Watch out, something very interesting is coming up here!
Trance.nu: Cool, we’ll certainly do that! Many thanks for taking the time to talk to us!
Guiseppe: No problem at all!
Giuseppe Ottaviani Links
www.giuseppeottaviani.com
www.myspace.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.youtube.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.facebook.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.twitter.com/gottaviani
Written by:
sppr
Artists: Giuseppe Ottaviani’s ‘GO!’ is off the blocks (it’s out today!) and ready to be digested by the trance nation at large. As good a time as any then we thought for a sit down and chat with the man about the album’s genesis, his hopes for it, and other matters ‘Ottaviani’.
Trance.nu: Thanks for joining us Giuseppe! First off, tell us a little about the production process for ‘GO!’?
Guiseppe: It took over a year because I was always busy touring with my shows and I didn’t have much time for my studio-work, especially at the beginning. But after a totally busy year the album is now ready to, ahem… go! I was looking around to find some artists to collaborate with and I found some great partners in John O’Callaghan, Tom Colontonio, Gate4 and some unknown but great singers like Faith and Francesco M. Faith’s a vocalist from a rock band called The Shiver while Francesco M., he’s more a Jazz singer. But also Gate4, he’s a great producer indeed but not a singer at all, despite that I used his voice on the track Sunward!
Trance.nu: Does the timing of your debut solo album feel about right to you following the split of Nu NRG or would you have preferred something out sooner?
Guiseppe: Well I don’t really care about it. My solo album and NU NRG project are two separate things, so there is not really a ‘right’ time to release my album. What is important for me is to have reached a number of productions that allow me to fill an artist album. Also, what I tried to do was not “more quantity / less quality” but I tried to make what I like most, with no rush at all. The album is ready now, so that’s perfect timing to me!
Trance.nu: ‘GO!’ has quite a span of trance to it. Is there one type of trance from the established sub-genres (deep, euphoric, melodic, tech, etc) that you marginally favour over others?
Guiseppe: I wanted to make a wide range of music to show to the people what my vision of music in general. In fact you can find some pure trance tracks, some techno / tech tracks and some vocal tracks as well. It’s just the music that I like most and that touches me. I’ve been known as a trance producer but even if I mainly make trance, you will not find only trance music on the album.
Trance.nu: Looking at it from certain angles, there seems to be a loose collaborative association forming between you, John O’Callaghan and Tom Colontonio. What do you think has given rise to that?
Guiseppe: There is not a specific reason behind those collaborations, they are just great artists and I like their sound, so why not to make a track together? They said yes and here we have Our Dimension with JOC and Love Mission with Tom. I also made a second track for JOC’s album Never Fade Away called Liquid Fire and I’ll probably cooperate with Tom again in the next future.
Trance.nu: As you mentioned before Faith crops up on vocals on ‘GO!’ a couple of times. Would you say she’s your vocal ‘muse’ of sorts?!
Guiseppe: She just gave me the right vibes for those songs. I will collaborate with her in the future but I’m always looking for new collaborations and ‘featurings’.
Trance.nu: Do you ever suffer from ‘writers block’ (or the musical equivalent of it!) and if so how do you tackle it?
Guiseppe: Sometimes it happens. I’ll spend an entire day in the studio doing nothing, no ideas, just a waste of time. But this is normal – I’m reconciled to it now. Making music is a creative job and it’s not like, for example ironing, where at the end of the day you get a result. So I go out, take a walk and have a long sleep. Then I do some boring paper work and after a while I’m ready again for the music.
Trance.nu: In an ideal world, who would be the one person you’d like to collaborate with, one who would you like to remix and who would you like to have remix you!?
Guiseppe: Since we are talking about an ideal world lets be daring! I would love to collaborate with Bono from U2. Listen to the first track of my album One Day, his voice on there would be a dream. I’d like to remix Passion, for me the best song from singer Utada Hycaru. For those people who don’t know her, check her out on www.youtube.com . For someone to be remixed by, I’d have to say Paul Oakenfold. Probably Fallen or Angel from the album would fit perfectly!
Trance.nu: What are the plans for future singles from the albums?
Guiseppe: We will have new single releases on 12” after the album release. The second single should be ‘Fallen’. Also, since the album is mixed we are planning digital releases in order to provide tracks at their full length.
Trance.nu: What do you anticipate (in particular) as being the big crowd-pleasers and best at-home listens from ‘GO!’?
Guiseppe: On the dancefloor: for those who really love trance music, well get ready for ‘Third Dome’. If you like something a little harder, ‘Love Mission’ is the choice. If you like uplifting vocals, have a listen to ‘Changing Ways’ and ‘No More Alone’. For techno-philes there’s Thermopile and Unplugged! At home: One Day, if you like a kinda rock style and Angel, if you just like Music.
I would add an “in the car” category! ‘Where I Want to Go’ and ‘White Empire’ will drive you so far away. Like I said, quite a range.
Trance.nu: Always a tough question for an artist (being so close to a project), I’m sure, but which are your favourite 3 tracks from the album.
Guiseppe: Shouldn’t be too much of a problem actually! I’d go with: Angel, One Day & Third Dome!
Trance.nu: For country with such a rich dance music history, there are now relatively few trance producers hailing from Italy. Why do you think that is?
Guiseppe: Not sure but unfortunately sometimes it is much more easy to follow the fashion playing and producing music according to the scene in your country instead of doing what you really like to do (even if it’s not easy to find a cop-out). Well this is not my case, I do what I feel and play what I love. Unfortunately for this reason you hardly see me performing in my own country, I’m sad about that but I will not change my style for it. And people who really believe in something should keep on pushing their way, too.
Trance.nu: So there isn’t a thriving Italian trance underbelly we’ve just been completely missing!?
Guiseppe: Honestly something is happening, more in the north of Italy, but in my opinion, it is still nowhere near enough. We had Paul van Dyk, Tiësto and Above & Beyond playing, but still the trance scene doesn’t seem to take off. I really hope in a brighter future, we have good chances and I’ll be doing my best to promote this music in Italy!
Trance.nu: ‘Giuseppe Ottaviani Live’ seems to have been a big thing for you and that seems to have a heritage stem from the Nu NRG days. What prompted you to go down that route at a time when very few other trance acts were?
Guiseppe: As I said before, I do what I like most, and I’ve done live acts since NU NRG. It would be much easier for me to play with CDs only, travelling with a small bag and doing DJ sets. But this is not the life I’m looking for. Believe me there is a lot of work and dedication behind live shows and if you are crazy enough to do it for each gig, well, it’s only because you love it. No other reasons.
Trance.nu: Technically, is it a nightmare? What are the complexities of it?
Guiseppe: After 8 years of experience I can say it’s a hard job, but nothing’s impossible to do. I can understand that what seems to be easy for me could be a nightmare for someone else but at the end there are some technical and musical rules that you must apply. Technology does the rest.
Trance.nu: Where has it worked best and where do you think that it might not have connected quite as well as it should?
Guiseppe: It’s working great in terms of crowd response but I always try to improve it. First of all I want to reach the ability to play longer, maybe 2 hours, which also means I need to make much more dedicated music, and I will for sure. We also have some new ideas to improve the show in terms of visuals. So we are working on that and you’ll soon see the results!
Trance.nu: Ibiza’s been getting its share of Giuseppe Ottaviani’s this summer – how’s that been going?
Guiseppe: Ibiza is the craziest place, like every year. I already played two times for Cream at Amnesia and I will have my last appearance on September 3rd together with PvD.
Trance.nu: Where do you see things going for you in the immediate future now? What would you say was your next goal?
Guiseppe: I don’t really know about my next goal but I will focus on my live acts to improve them and I will also work on some new video material for my youtube channel (www.youtube/giuseppeottaviani). Watch out, something very interesting is coming up here!
Trance.nu: Cool, we’ll certainly do that! Many thanks for taking the time to talk to us!
Guiseppe: No problem at all!
Giuseppe Ottaviani Links
www.giuseppeottaviani.com
www.myspace.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.youtube.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.facebook.com/giuseppeottaviani
www.twitter.com/gottaviani
Written by:
sppr
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