Interviews: ONELEGMAN

This is a new interview with the Heavy Rock band ONELEGMAN from Italy. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or came out just like that?

CECCA: “Well, in order to reply to your question you must know how the band was born. It was a boring autumn Sunday in 2003, I was in a bar full of old people, draining a bottle of Nocino (a typical liqueur of our city) when a pimply little boy approaches me fearfully asking “Sorry. Are you Mr. Cecca, the infamous singer? I play in a band of rookies without dreams of glory but with the need to prevent our guitarist from singing… would You come and give us a try?”. That pimply little boy was Pinna, the guitarist who had to be stopped from singing was Ricky, Nocino was finished and Pornodrome was born! We used to play grindcore and we had a single song about 30 minutes long on a man who had his penis transplanted out of a horse, the song was called Onelegman. We don’t know what happened to that man neither or the horse so we decided to change the name of the band, start all over again and forget that sad story.”

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Ricky: “We are all grown adults and we listened to almost everything that was released in the past 30 years. All the great classics of Hard Rock, Glam, Grunge, Black Metal, and New Metal until the modern Prog movement. We love also funky, classical, and jazz. It comes out naturally for us to pour all these experiences into the music of Onelegman, trying to create our own way to have a crossover between all these genres.”

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Pinna: “We are all born in the same town and always lived in it. The metal scene wasn’t that big and all the members of different bands used to know each other. I, Ricky, and Lollo (our bass player at that time) were close friends and decided to start something new together. Cecca arrived a little later and saved us giving to the band a more defined direction. Even before he decided to join us we already knew the other bands where he used to sing and how good and powerful was his voice.”

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Cecca: “Almost impossible to focus on only one band. Right now I fell in love with Leprous. Ricky is a bit weirder so I will guess he will say Mr.Bungle and almost everything comes out from Mike Patton’s madness. Pinna’s nickname was Dr.Mastermind and bands such as Porcupine Tree are definitely something that satisfies its musical tastes. A mention of honor goes to Faith No More, Devin Towsend, Alice in Chains, System of a Down, and Korn: bands that we all love unconditionally.”

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Ricky: “Our first album “The Crack” took birth from years spent in our studio jamming and creating music together. It was raw, genuine, and experimental. “Do You Really Think This World Was Made For You?”, the second album, was our way to show a more mature attitude both in the songwriting and in the lyrics, inspired by the big earthquake that stroke our land a few months before we started to write that album. “Event Horizon” is our new target in developing musical skills and powerful messages through words. Cecca was always fascinated by the space and the studying of astronomy so he decided to put those passions in its lyrics in perfect harmony with the music we composed.”

6. Where was your last gig?

Pinna: “The last that is worth to be mentioned was probably an opening act for Lacuna Coil in our town. We suspended live shows for a while to focus on the new album then Covid arrived and everything became more slow and hard to set down. We hope for us and all the music scene a new great start leaving the pandemics behind so we will have something fresh to talk about next time you will ask us again this question!”

7. Where would you like to act?

Cecca: “We learned over the years to give all our strength in every single concert, from the smallest to the greater stage and crowd. The only relevant thing is to play while having fun. We shared stages with top-level musicians and huge bands like Deep Purple, earning us the favor of an audience not accustomed to our sounds but we still remember with love and gratitude thousands of other not so relevant gigs where we had some of the best times of our lives! So... the answer is everywhere there are people ready to be involved in a true and powerful live show!”

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Ricky: “We discussed it while recording the last album and we immediately thought about having a feature with singers like Mike Patton, Devin Townsend, or Asger Mygind from the band Vola. After we recorded the track “Magnetar” we knew that this would be the perfect song to have the guest in it. Our good friend Roberto Meglioli, a musical agent that helped us to play an opening act for Deep Purple, was the manager for the Red Army Choir so we begin to deal with him for having the whole choir singing in this song. We were pretty close to doing it but Covid arrived. Every opportunity to make it happens was delayed so we chose to wait until the end of the pandemic. But after Covid was under control Ukraine and Russia started their war. Political matters apart we missed the opportunity to work with such a big group of artists like the Red Army Choir. We hope to find a new way to release something in a near-future involving them far from war and violence, bringing back the Army to their musical mission.”

9. Who not?

Pinna: “We don’t dislike any kind of music or sound. That’s why we’ll be ready to have a musical collaboration with almost any artist having the right skill to make a good song in their own genres. What we don't like is to mix politics to our musical message so... we will definitely say no to Nazi shit or religious fanaticism.”

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

Cecca: “Not at all! We faced some of the weirdest troubles that could happen on stage to musicians and we came out of the broken but never as losers. We learned not to take ourselves too seriously, that’s something that helps us to be comfortable on any stage de-escalating bad situations while creating a sincere connection with the audience. That’s our recipe to a great live show.”

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Pinna: ”All the bands we mentioned before were a huge inspiration on how we want to create our music. We can add to the previous list Pantera: even if we are a bit far from their sound we always loved their attitude on stage. A band able to give one of the purest performances in the metal scene delivering rage and power to the listener!”

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Ricky: “I signed myself some quite expensive guitars to some fans but Cecca was definitely the winner of this competition: the first time we played in Ukraine at the kRock u maybe Festival in Kherson he was asked to sign a pretty beautiful girl on her boobs. Kudos.”

13. What do you think of your fans?

Cecca: “At our gigs, you can see fans with t-shirts of Korn, Mayem, Halloween, Napalm Death, or even Depeche Mode. This is something that tells a lot about them. We like to believe that they are curious and ready to be surprised by our music and how we like to move between different styles and genres. The best compliment we frequently receive from people at our concerts is "You know, I’m not into your genre but I really like coming to see you live!"

14. What do you think of our site?

Ricky: “It’s a great site, updated to all the new releases in the metal underground. Great to see you also link everything on your Facebook profile giving an opportunity for the band to reach all your followers on different social networks. Also, the Spotify section is good to increase the number of fans through your playlists! Very well done!”

15. Something to add?

Pinna: “It’s been a long time since our last album and it’s great to have all the old fans still waiting from us for new music to be released. We always focused more on the quality rather than on the quantity so we waited to have a product good enough to elevate our own standards. Once we finished recording the album covid arrived so we decided to put everything on standby, waiting for a better moment to unveil the new album. That time has arrived and we are grateful once again to all the old fans and to the new listeners that will give us a chance. We hope to see all of you soon at our gigs!”