Piers Renfree caught up with Michele Guaitoli from Temperance for an email based interview:

 

Hello I’m Piers from Metal Gods TV, how are you today?

Hi Piers, everything’s fine here! It’s a pleasure for me to answer to your questions!

How old were you when you started listening to rock and metal music?

I think I was 12 when, watching MTV Italy, I fell in love with “Open Your Eyes” from Guano Apes. It was the very first “Heavy” tune I listened to. I started to get involved in heavier sounds since then…in the same year I discovered “Somewhere Out In Space” from Gamma Ray, then Blind Guardian, then Iron Maiden…and in a few listens here and there I found myself to be a metal head.

What bands/musicians inspired you into starting music?

I can mention at least one hundred names. Probably Metallica, as for a lot of musicians in the world, made me think for the first time “I want to play too”. Then I listened to Iron Maiden and thought that I wanted to sing like Bruce Dickinson. Then I discovered Russell Allen and I said to myself “no, I want to sing like him”. Then I listened to Deep Purple and said to myself “I want to play the keys too”…but I can really mention a hundred influences. Matthew Barlow, David Coverdale, Tobias Sammet, Jorn Lande, Roy Kahn, Marko Hietala, Serj Tankjan…I’ve got so many influences.

How did you come up with the band’s name?

Temperance is one of the greatest virtues. It means balance… “equilibrium”. It is something connected with Karma and the balance of the world and of our souls. Everyone of us needs temperance.

When you’re writing songs or an album, what is the process like for you?

This is a very hard question, with a harder answer. The thing is that most of the time, composing is just like “writing down” a song you have in your mind. It happens every time that you just “listen to a song” inside your head. I always figure out myself, to have the complete harmonies and melodies in my mind…there’s a “CD” playing inside my brain. The hardest part is to write it down exactly as I “hear it”, ‘cause there’s no “repeat” or “stop” button there…I never write a song starting from “a single riff” or from “a part of it”. I just “hear it” in my mind, and need to focus on exactly what I’m hearing…and then write it down, record it somehow, before I “arrange it”.

What inspires you lyrically?

My life. Every musician has a lot of things to tell. Some are events that leave a sign in your background…sometimes a smile, sometimes a scar, some are emotions you feel in a specific moment or for a long time, some other things come from the world around you, ideas or social events that have an impact, somethings come from the people around you: they may inspire you in a good or a bad way. When those things leave you something, or when you have something you really NEED to tell about those things…well, there comes the lyrics.

For people who haven’t seen a Temperance show before, what can they expect from seeing you live?

They can expect to have fun, smile and feel a positive mood. Temperance is a band that really brings inside a lot of positive feelings. Our music is based on this, we want to give to those who come to our show 1 or 2 hours of total fun, where you can forget about all the bad we have in our lives and, for a while at least, smile. We are an energetic band on stage, always jumping on the stage and asking the crowd to join in our show with their energy. We need to share our music and our positive way of living life.

What have been your worst moments in the music business?

Every bad moment becomes an experience to improve your way of facing the bad things in the future…so even the “bad” moments never really are “bad”, but they always are good: without them we won’t grow. I could mention a lot of times when I had troubles with some club owner or when I’ve been mistreated, but without these moments I probably wouldn’t be here answering these questions 🙂

What for you, have been your greatest achievements to date?

I’ve played in 4 European tours now, and in some of the most important festivals in Europe: Metaldays, Gods of Metal…I can only be thankful!

What are the plans for Temperance for the rest of 2018?

Every band like us should play non-stop in its “journey”. We have something like 50 shows planned in 2018, and probably 2019 too will be an “on the road” year. We’ll do our best to make every show something great!

What would you still like to achieve, going forward?

Sometimes we joke with the other guys in the band, telling each other that we’d love to play 365 shows per year, playing in all the countries in the world.  Something we really want, is to play and discover new places. Of course we’d love to book some shows in some festivals in Europe, USA, Japan and abroad…we’ll do our best to reach those goals and play the most we can.

And now for something completely different…

If you were to have a meal with 5 other people who would you like to invite to it?

The first five food-less and poor people I meet on the road, to try and help them giving them some food.

If you were to organise a date night for yourself and someone else, who would it be and what would you do?

Since you said “for yourself”, I think I’d ask Tobias Sammet to spend a day with me in my studio and having dinner together. I would just like to understand his way of thinking and living his life in music.

What is/are your favourite animal/s?

Dogs, it may be “classic” but I still think that the way dogs love human beings is something unique.

What is/are your favourite book/s?

“1984” from George Orwell and “The Lord Of The Rings” from Tolkien. There’s a lot about our social life and faith in them.

What is/are your favourite film/s?

Forrest Gump, Interstellar and The Matrix. …again, there’s a lot about our social life and faith in them ahahaha. As you may have understood, I really care about the way we live in this world, the balance of the world and the way we live our faith.

And finally…

Is there anything else that you would like to say to our readers?

Thanks!!! I always want to say to all of those who read the interviews, the webzines, the reviews and to all of those who support the world of music that they are a part of it. All the bands would be nothing without the sharing of our music, ideas and words with you. Too many times this thing is left behind, too many times the members of the bands forget about how much we should care about everyone  in the “chain” of the music world….so thanks, for your support, for your patience reading this interview…for listening to our music!

TRACKLIST

The Last Hope In A World Of Hopes
Broken Promises
Of Jupiter And Moons
Everything That I Am
We Are Free
Alive Again
The Art Of Believing
Way Back Home
Empires And Men
Daruma’s Eyes (Part 1)

http://www.temperanceband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/temperanceofficial/

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