Interviews: FROZEN SAND

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Progressive Metal/Alternative Metal band FROZEN SAND 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, did you plan it, or came out just like that? 

It was during a discussion on our name when Tiziano, our bassist came up with this name. We were looking for something that was capturing both our sound and the images that our singer Luca was describing in our first songs. We found that this sort of oxymoron was working pretty well with the context, and as it sounded nice to our ears, we were happy with that since that day!

2. Why did you want to play this genre? 

As young musicians trying to improve and make music interesting to ourselves we always thought that prog metal was a good fit, but it goes even deeper into the roots of our music tastes. As our parents were first into classic prog rock bands, we followed those steps by looking at bands of our generation such as Dream Theater, Symphony X, and, later, Periphery, Protest the Hero. But we managed to mix into that influences from metalcore and hardcore as well.

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

Yes! Guitarist Mattia and bassist Tiziano were in the same classroom before the band started, which happened one year after drummer Simone and Mattia. Simone managed to involve the singer Luca, who was the brother of Simone’s classmate. And of course, guitarist Federico and Simone himself are brothers!

4. Each band member's favorite band? 

Difficult to have it in one shot, but probably Dream Theater and Pantera at the same place for Mattia, while for Tiziano is Karnivool and Meshuggah. For Luca would be Breaking Benjamin, while Simone and Federico the best pick would be Dream Theater.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

It can be events of our personal real lives, or simply results of practicing, both alone and together. We don’t just wait for inspiration to kick in, yet when it happens it brings the most interesting musical ideas. When ideas are not flowing, we search for inspiration in different kinds of music: movie soundtracks, and classical and jazz music being the top references.

6. Where was your last gig? 

Our last gig was Wings of Bea metal fest, where we opened for Necrodeath, a few years ago. Covid-19 put a very hard stop on live activities, but at the same time allowed us to focus more on the writing of our upcoming album “Fractals: a light among shadows”, which will be out late next year.

7. Where would you like to act? 

Wherever people would like to hear our music!

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

Because of musical similarities, we would like to have a feature with Polyphia, Plini, Sithu Aye. However, people like Mick Gordon, Tigran Hamasyan would be on top of our list.

9. Whom not? 

No one, specifically. Even featuring very different artists may bring something interesting to the mix.

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

The only advice we would have for that would be to play as much as you can live. The more you do, the less you will feel uncomfortable in your live playing. Other than that, be prepared: everything becomes harder when it’s life, so the more solid you are with your playing the better it will be. Also, try as much to be uninvolved emotionally, and focus on the delivery of emotions.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

All the bands of the prog metal of the last decade, as aforementioned.

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

Back in the day, when we were playing cover songs, a fan of ours asked us to play some Renato Zero, a very famous Italian singer whose music has very little to do with what we play… Still to this day, we think about how someone would request us to play something like that!

13. What do you think of your fans?

We believe they are open-minded people who search for novelty, as our music can be very different from song to song. We like to experiment a lot with our music, which can be challenging for the listener.

14. What do you think of our site?

It is definitely well-made and gives a lot of visibility to underground music. Great job!

15. Something to add?

Stay tuned to our upcoming releases: we just released our latest single “the aftertaste”, but there’s way more that we have prepared for you before the album release.