Interviews: The Healing Process

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Technical Thrash Metal band The Healing Process from Italy. Check out the interview and this amazing band!

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

Carlo B.: “The Healing Process” is the title of an album by a deathcore band called Despised Icon, which I used to listen to when I was younger. That’s where the idea came from, even though our band has nothing to do with that kind of music. I thought it was fitting because we strongly believe in the social value of music and in the power of art to “heal” society.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Carlo B.: Thrash has been my religion since I was twelve/thirteen, even though it’s been a love/hate relationship at times. How it started: on a summer camp, one of my roommates had Battery, Fade to Black, and St. Anger on his mp3 player. He pressed play and handed me the headphones. Suddenly, it all made sense! But I had to wait another 15 years before I actually started playing this genre. In the meantime, I had other musical experiences but most of all I think I wanted to focus on listening before getting to write anything. You might say that I’ve been studying Thrash Metal for all these years and the two THP records are the essays I’ve written on the subject!

Enrico M.: For me being involved in a thrash metal band with such a special twist like THP is a dream come true. I grew up with an obsession with bands like Toxik, Dark Angel, Kreator, and Watchtower... and I've always hunted for the most obscure technical thrash gems. So when the opportunity arose, I jumped on it without a doubt - Carlo's riffs were what I was looking for and these two albums are the coronation of my love for this genre.

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

Carlo B.: No, we didn’t. We got in touch via a Facebook announcement that I had written about a group for Italian metal bands/musicians.

4. Each band member's favorite band? 

Carlo B.: You know, I’ve been wandering through the deepest underground of metal for years, but for some reason the band I keep coming to is Metallica, so I guess that’s the answer.

Enrico M.: Depends on when this question gets asked. For many years the answer has been Death, and I can still subscribe to this.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Carlo B.: It’s the music itself. I want to write something that hasn’t been written before, but which is also recognizable at the same time. I think Thrash is a relatively unexplored genre and bands have been repeating the same patterns too much in the last two decades or so. I wanted to prove that you can still make Thrash Metal that sounds interesting and engaging, without necessarily altering the foundations of the genre. Did I succeed? I don’t know, you’ll tell me!

6. Where was your last gig?

Carlo B.: We haven’t had much live activity in our brief history. It’s just the two of us, we live in different cities and we play all instruments. We need other band members to actually start playing live and we’re working on it. But for the moment we wanted to focus on writing and putting out our music.

7. Where would you like to act?

Enrico M.: Our living room is like Anthrax in the TV video LOL.

Carlo B.: Honestly, to be able to play in front of an audience where 40% of people don't know you or each other personally would be quite a big achievement. 

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Carlo B.: In fact, we do have features on both our records. In our first album, we had guest appearances by YouTube bassist Charles Berthoud and YouTube singer Klaraphyll, and in our upcoming album, you’ll hear a great guest solo by Paulius Navickas, from the Lithuanian band Phrenetix, who in my opinion is currently the best guitar player in the genre. In the future, I’d like to feature more female voices, and more guest solos and I’d even like some good hardcore punk Italian vocalist to deliver some fierce lines.

9. Whom not?

Carlo B.: I’m not a fan of mixing genres too far apart. I like to stay within the boundaries of the rock/metal universe, which are pretty wide already. So, you probably won’t year banjos, violins, clarinets or rap singers on our albums. But you might never know.

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

Carlo B.: Well, I’m not sure I’m in the position to give advice, but I can tell you my experience. I used to play classical guitar in my teenage years and I never wanted to play live, I always was super tense and didn’t play well. Turns out that, guess what? I just didn’t want to, wasn’t ready for it, and just wanted to play for myself. I was forced to play live by my music school, which wanted to push its best students (and unfortunately I was one of them!). So my advice is: if you don’t feel like it, don’t do it. You’ll never hear me say (I hope) something like: “Go beyond your limits, nothing is impossible, don’t let anything stop you” and stuff like that. I’m more like: “Know your limits and cope with them” but that’s not quite as catchy, is it? We have to do so many things in our lives that we’d rather not do and music should not be one of those.

Enrico M.: The absolute must for me is not to get intoxicated with anything that might mess you up. It's all cool and fun with a few beers - we're thrashers, right? - but if you really want to do it, my suggestion is to wait before the gig is over or you might end up with your head stuck between the toms on your drum kit (true story).

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Carlo B.: I’m inspired by albums more than I am by bands. Metallica is probably the biggest inspiration, especially the …And Justice for All album, then we have Sepultura’s Schizophrenia, Kreator’s Extreme Aggression, the Canadian scene with bands like Sacrifice and Razor, Destruction’s Release From Agony, Dark Angel’s Time does not Heal and Heathen’s Victims of Deception. My favourite band of the first “New wave” is Violator, from Brazil

Enrico M.: When it comes to thrash, definitely Dark Angel's Time does not heal (we keep talking about those riffs with Carlo over and over again), Coroner's Mental Vortex, Release from Agony from Destruction, all Kreator from Pleasure to Kill to Coma of Souls, and more recently I fell in love with Tourniquet, an incredible band too easily labelled as "white metal" and therefore snubbed by many, author of some true thrash metal gems that all fans of the genre should check out immediately.

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

Carlo B.: Come on, we're not superstars!

13. What do you think of your fans?

Carlo B.: Our few fans are the reason why we keep carrying on. They buy our music on Bandcamp and that’s the greatest sign of support they could show. I can’t describe how satisfying it is to me when someone, in an age like this, actually decides to take out their money and pay for your music. It means they really believe in what you do, your project, your music. It’s great. So thanks to all the fans who bought our first album and those who decided to buy the second one as well.

14. What do you think of our site?

Enrico M.: It's great and keeps us up to date with all types of heavy music from all around the world - keep on! On other occasions you've been the first one to give me a chance with my past projects, so I'll always look at Breathing the Core when it comes to trying and discovering some new talents.

15. Something to add?

Carlo B.: Thanks to Breathing the Core for having us. These kinds of platforms are crucial for us emerging bands and the only way to get some sort of exposure. Keep going!

Enrico M.: Thanks Jon and all readers - thrash 'till death!