Interview: Dark Quarterer
at Courts of Chaos festival 2023
Igor: Thank you for doing this interview with us and we're both very happy to have seen you live. That was amazing!
The whole band: Thank you!
Francesco Longhi: So you will subscribe?
[laughter]
Igor: You released the last album during the pandemic. Was it inspired by the pandemic or did you write it before?
Gianni: We started before, because for realizing one album, we need 2 or 3 years. So we started before [the pandemic],
but we had the possibility to complete [the album] early compared to others, because the previous album, Ithaca, came out in 2015.
So after five years we have Pompei and usually we spend seven years from one album to the other. And at this time now, we are
preparing a new album. Maybe it will come out next year.
Francesco Sozzi: Maybe.
Igor: Wow! That's impressive, we’re so looking forward to that!
Gianni: Yes, it was released during the pandemic, and quickly because we had all the time, but the tracks
were quite ready [already before].
Igor: Because it kind of fit perfectly for the pandemic with this whole destruction, one would think, because lyrically…
Gianni: It is a tragedy. Yes. But [the topic] we decided before the pandemic. So it's just a coincidence, it was not our
conscious decision.
Francesco Longhi: And probably you have seen our concert because when the album was released, and afterwards, in 2021…
Anna: Yes, when you played in the empty theatre, yes, we saw that!
Francesco Longhi: Yes, due to the pandemic, since it was it was impossible to go on tour, we decided to play in a theatre,
and it was touching for us, because it was something really new and in a certain way it was really moving,
because we were feeling that we were doing something different and something that had a really special meaning for the
period we were living in. It's not exactly related to the subject of the album, but anyway, for me it was a special thing.
Gianni: It was a good idea.
Francesco Longhi: Yes, I remember it with pleasure. Even though, of course, it was a difficult period.
Gianni: Yes, and we did that for giving some money to the theatre that was closed for one year.
Igor: Yes, it was very bad for a lot of musicians.
Gianni: We put the video directly on Bandcamp, and people who watched, could pay.
Igor: So it was like a ticket sale?
Gianni: Yes, and we obtained €2800.
Igor: Oh, that's good.
Gianni: Yes. And we gave it to the theatre.
Anna: That's really nice.
Paolo: We have also a new video, a live movie from when we played in Populonia,
in Tuscany near Piombino. And the last song is in Italian. We went also to the studio to record
Red Hot Gloves and…
Gianni: Oscuritá
Paolo: in Italian.
Gianni: It was during the pandemic, so we had all the time to do that.
Paolo: The band is not stopping, we’re working every day. There is new material, for the first time…
Gianni: No, no, aspettiamo [wait]. The subject is a secret for now, but it is something epic.
Paolo: It’s an interesting project, it’s about an Italian important person…
Francesco Sozzi: Don’t say it, it’s a spoiler.
Igor: That's okay. You can tell us afterwards off the record.
Anna: It makes us even more excited!
Igor: But how is it for the band now? Are you still facing the aftermath of the pandemic when it comes to
touring, with increased costs and stuff like that?
Francesco Longhi: Of course we stopped for a couple of years…
and Francesco Longhi
Gianni: Yes, two years, but not only us. Now everything is started again, but we don't have a lot of shows
to play, I don't know. Now, we will be in Athens. Maybe we will be in Barcelona because we lost that
opportunity, because I was ill. But other shows as of now, nothing yet. So I think that the crisis, the
pandemic, creates some problems for the organisers, I think.
Paolo: Yes, at the same time it also created problems for Gianni and me, for our school, for teaching,
for other projects.
Gianni: Yes.
Paolo: But I don't stop working. As for the band, we rehearse two times a week. And the new project,
the new album, we dedicated a lot of time to composition, and to rehearse all the instruments.
Gianni: And a book will come out, our biography, in September. In the beginning in Italian.
But we have found a person to translate to English.
Igor and Anna: Nice!
Francesco Longhi: Unauthorised… [laughter]
Anna: Who wrote it?
Francesco Longhi: Prince Harry [laughter]
Francesco Sozzi: and us together, it will be a bestseller! [laughter]
Igor: Of course, having been around quite a while, there are stories to tell. So we look forward to reading it.
You are by many described as the originators of epic progressive metal. What led you to begin writing music in
this style?
Gianni: We were searching. We were in 1980; ‘79-‘80, and we were searching. We played a lot of styles,
from Gentle Giant to Grand Funk Railroad and Led Zeppelin. So we were searching for something new,
and it was very difficult because a lot of styles were just done. So we were searching for something that
could integrate together two or three different styles. And progressive was one style that we liked.
But we like also Manowar's epic sound. And we come from a country that is full of history: Tuscany, the
Etruscan people. We live inside Etruscan tombs and towns. So inside of us it is full of this period with
strange heroes and civilizations, without a complete knowledge about their history, a lot of strange situations.
And we like [that] a lot. So maybe it's the combination of where we live together with the taste of the music
and metal because we like metal. So put all together epic progressive metal. When our first album came out,
we didn't have the perception to have invented something new. We did that because we liked it and it was a
journalist that told us: you have invented a new style of music, it's epic progressive metal. And he wrote that
in the newspaper and we said 'yes, could be, could be, but we are not so sure'. We know that we are doing
something different, but not exactly what.
Paolo: The first composition was by Fulberto Serena, he was the first guitarist of Dark Quarterer, it was a
very interesting composition. Now I remember this person with another perspective. He was a great guitarist
and his compositions were the best. He was the mind of the band and I respect this person. For me, he is very important.
Gianni: Fulberto, yes. Now he has some problems with the arm. I don't know which kind, he is older than us,
two years older than me, so 72 years old. So he started to have some problem, but I don't know if he plays again or
still does not. I don't know.
Paolo: The next concert we will play old songs from the first album, the first and second album. People loved this
project, the first and second albums, Etruscan Prophecy, and Dark Quarterer. And tonight we played two songs
[from those albums]. The last two were Devil Stroke and Dark Quarterer.
Gianni: The last one was from the first. I think that Dark Quarterer was the first song that we composed.
Paolo: Yes, Dark Quarterer was the first composition, and Devil Stroke the second.
Igor: And then some albums later you decided to add keyboards, which we think is really cool.
What made you decide to have keyboards in the band?
Gianni: We were talking about a new sound when we were writing Violence. At that point, Francesco was not yet
in the band, but we asked him to play together.
Francesco Longhi: We had been playing together for many years in other bands because we had been playing
blues for at least twenty years.
Paolo: Good music!
Francesco Longhi: So when we were playing together we were spending time playing other kinds of music, so we
knew each other very well. They were playing with their bands, with Dark Quarterer. And on the other hand we were playing
together with other music.
Paolo: Francesco was the leader of this band and he was ready for Dark Quarterer.
Paolo Ninci demonstrating the bands need fro violins
Gianni: We were not searching for a keyboard, we were searching for new sounds to include in our music. So we needed
something new. Flute, violins, something like that. We knew him, so we asked him: please help us. Not a lot of things,
but just flute. Just some violins at some point. We wrote 'thanks to Francesco Longhi for having helped us' but [at that point]
he was not a member of the band yet. We started with him, and after one hour we decided to play with him.
Paolo: An important song from when Francesco started to play [with us] is The Last Bridge. The Last Bridge is a very
epic song where the piano and the keyboard is very important. [It does] important work, very important work.
Igor: Now there is a keyboard-specific question.
Anna: Yes! We have to talk about the keyboard. So in your opinion, what is the role of keyboards in heavy metal or epic
metal or progressive music?
Francesco Longhi: Yeah, I would say in the beginning I was playing with them because they needed to play some parts
like violins and flutes and all this stuff because they recorded this album as they said, Violence. And [at the time of] the album
[I] was not a part of the band, but they recorded some parts of violins and flutes and so on. So I recorded these parts in the album
and that was it. And then we began to play together in the band. But in the beginning I was the one who was playing the parts that
they decided to record for their album. And then we started to play together and my role, I don't know - I told you yesterday,
when I was younger, I was more into classical music and and then when we were playing together in other bands, we were playing
like funky music or all this stuff and it was not metal music, you know, Actually, I have to say I'm not really into metal music, from my
background and even with the music I listen to, I have to confess, I'm not into metal music. But I like to play with Dark Quarterer, and I
like to be a part of this band because I hope that my role is to grow, to arrange the music harmonics-wise, because normally I think
metal music, it's a very powerful kind of music with all these chords: major, minor and sometimes that's all. But if you introduce
some keyboards, you can have an even wider sound because you can add something more, with like major seventh or even some
more complex music in a harmonic way. It's nice because we are open to every kind of solution. You have listened to our music.
There is even a space for some piano parts that could be more similar to jazz music or blues music. So that's the part I like that
it's not just metal to me, [at least] it's not metal in a way I knew before when I was young, but it's broader, you can add some of
what you like, if you think, oh well maybe now it's nice to put some piano solo or organ solo or or some soft parts, and different styles.
Gianni Nepi and Francesco Longhi
Gianni: On Pliny the Elder there is a point in which you remain alone and you start to play classic in the beginning
and then it becomes jazzy. And we play jazz for for one minute and a half and then it grows, grows, grows back into rock.
We can do that only with the keyboard, it's the only instrument that can give this impression.
Paolo: So Francesco Longhi and Francesco Sozzi are two musicians, young musicians,..
Francesco Longhi: No, no, we're not young.
Paolo: No, but for us. They are young, full of new experience. Jazz fusion is a different influence, and it works for our music.
Igor: Yeah, I think it fits very well.
Francesco Longhi: See, I don't think I will feel like playing in a metal band or playing runs from the beginning to the end.
But with Dark Quarterer, there is enough space to explore other things and that's the way I like it, so I'm enjoying very much
playing with Dark Quarterer and this kind of metal music that is a bit different to the classical method.
Paolo: It's open for other influences, a new experience.
Gianni: All our music is searching, searching for other sounds.
Francesco Longhi: Yeah, in the metal context, but we convert all kinds of music into metal music.
Paolo: During our rehearsals, we are having a great time, fantastic, we are relaxed, it is fun, so this is perfect for composition.
Gianni: in harmony.
Paolo:Yes, exactly.
Gianni: Exactly. I'll tell you one thing without giving the new name of the album or subject but for explaining what happened.
No, no, I won't say it. Francesco proposed to us one song that is a strange song.
Paolo: A strange song, a crazy song. Mario Bros.
Gianni: In the start, and during the song, you know, all is in diminished state, the melody, chords, riffs.
Everything is diminished So it's a very strange sound.
Igor: Yeah, I can imagine.
Gianni: It's difficult to understand very well, but believe me, it's full of tension from the beginning to the end.
Igor: So I think this is a part of what makes you progressive, this search and the willingness to bring..
Gianni: no major, no minor, only diminished.
Igor: Hard to sing?
Gianni: [laughs] It is hard to sing. But I like when it's complicated.
Gianni Nepi singing
Igor: While we talk about that you're a bit progressive, but you're also very much a metal band, do you see yourself
as an underground band?
Gianni: Yes. Yes. We are an underground band, but it's normal. We come from a very little town; if we were born in
England, in Liverpool, or in New York, it could be possible that we would have become rich and famous. But we were
born in Piombino. In Tuscany.
Paolo: Exactly.
Gianni: [There are] no [such] possibilities in Italy. So one or two bands, like Lacuna Coil or other bands have this big success.
But only two or three, no more.
Igor: Yes, but I've been quite surprised about that since you have a lot of great bands. Well, even just this festival has shown a lot
of great bands from Italy.
Gianni: No, no, there are, we have a lot.
Igor: But they seem to have a very small following nationally.
Gianni: But not sufficient to become a super famous band. We are not commercial you see. Our songs must be listened
to three or four times just to get into the mood.
Paolo: Otherwise some bands pay a lot of money to get out of the underground, and come into position, becoming bigger.
Gianni: Yes. Sometimes they pay money just for being the second band in a big tour and so on. But we don't have money.
Yeah, we have all our music..
Paolo: Production, production is important.
Gianni: If we paid, it could be possible. Okay. We fix a tour with, I don't know, Rush, and you play before Rush or you pay
€30,000 and you go for ten dates. We could do that but we don't have €30,000, this is the reason. Because it's a business, you see.
Igor: But being this underground band and of course you have a position in the underground because you have been around
for so long. Do you feel a responsibility for the scene, like how it turns out? What are the important things in the metal scene?
Gianni: Yes, we have a responsibility and we know that we have a responsibility to maintain our level in the underground scene.
And we know that we have a lot of fans in this underground scene. But I know also that it's impossible. Okay, tonight maybe we
gain 20 people that never knew about us and they became fans. Okay. 20, what is 20, it's nothing. Also if there are 100 also if there
are also 300, 400 people, it's nothing. We never have the possibility to play in front of 10,000 people. Yeah, because they told us,
the organiser told us sincerely we cannot put you on big bills because you are too strange. This is the reason we don't do it, we
prefer keeping our originality rather than change what we do for having an opportunity. And now, especially me and Paolo, I am
70 years old. He is 69 years old. What we have is that we are very happy with our careers. Our careers in music and in life too.
Paolo: We have satisfaction.
Francesco Longhi: If I can say something, thinking about responsibility. Thinking about Paolo and Gianni. To me it's a good thing,
the message to have the the energy to go on with the music they like even though you are not young anymore and to go on practising
and experiencing things you like and to bring the music you are making to others. It's a great thing. You're not young anymore.
And I've seen a lot of people saying I'm not young, [so] I'm relaxing in my house. So I think that is to be admired. To me, the energy
to go on doing what you like and that you are focused on what you think is right and it gives you satisfaction. And I think for me,
for Francesco [Sozzi], for them, most of all, it should be a source of satisfaction because there are a lot of young people enjoying
our music.
Paolo: We are on the radio.
Francesco Longhi: I mean there are no other things as important to me now than to go on doing what you like and to feel that it's
something, a message that has reached out.
Paolo: Francesco wrote as a thanks on the album Pompeii, he thanked me and Gianni for the energy in the project.
Francesco Longhi: I really don't think it's common.
Paolo: Thanks Francesco.
Francesco Longhi: So the meaning to me is it's important to go on with things you like and to enjoy your life doing what you like
and and and to have the satisfaction of doing what you like. That's all.
Paolo: Norway, your country, how would it be to come play there with Dark Quarterer?
Igor: We would be very happy to have you come to play!
Gianni: But during which season?
Igor: Well it depends: we have mostly been organising stuff in winter..
Gianni: But why in winter!?
Francesco Longhi: It's cold!
Igor: It's because we are a student city. So for us in summer: first we have the exams for all the students and then they leave.
So that has been the response. We can look into it.
Gianni: Is it possible to fly there [to Tromsø]?
Igor: Yes, there is an airport in the city.
Gianni: [Is it possible to fly there] also in the winter?
Igor: Also in winter, yes.
Paolo: How cold...
Gianni: How many degrees below zero is it in winter? 20?
Igor: No, We have quite warm winters since we're by the coast. So at worst it's minus ten. But usually it's around zero to minus four.
Gianni and Paolo: That we can do.
Igor: So, metal in many ways started as a protest genre, do you still feel it is a protest genre and do you yourself feel that you're protesting against
something with your music?
Gianni: Yes, always. War Tears is against all the violence. On War Tears, there is a song called Rape, which is about rape. Black Hole is a song
about people on a Saturday who die after they go dancing in discotheque. You see, they drink and they drive and they die. So on that album, on
all the albums we talk about problems, about injustice in society. War Tears is against war, so therefore War Tears. Then there is Darkness, it is
about that the sun is not here anymore, and the protection of the atmosphere was gone and people were constricted to live underground with
artificial light and there is a new child that had never seen the sky, never seen flowers. And the father explained to him how it was beautiful then,
100 years ago, but now they lived underground, they are obliged to do that. And this is the subject. So what we talk about is always a protest against
something. We create a situation like a film, to propose to people that this is not a solution, only the description of what could happen if we don't
change something. But we don't want to change it. The politicians don't want to change. They don't want to, I don't know why, because they won't
be safe either. Also if they are rich they won't be saved, because if everybody dies, they die.
Igor: They believe they won't.
Gianni: No, no, no. They can construct a bunker. Yes. But you live alone. You live alone after. Then, what do you do?
Igor: So yeah, that brings us to the topic of inclusion in the scene. Because not everyone feels that they can participate in
the metal scene and we see for example, there are much less people of colour for example, in some venues, women feel that they can't go.
What can be done about this kind of inclusion in the metal scene? Do you have any thoughts on that?
Francesco Longhi: Again, I'm not a metal man. Maybe because normally what I can see in metal scene I am not into. What I can see is that
metal music normally is tales about heroes, men that tell stories about men that are strong. To me the message of metal music is of men that
are heroes, strong men and this kind of stuff. So maybe because of this, there's not enough space. It's just sometimes it's black or white.
Yeah, there's not much space. I mean, I've never really listened to metal music, but I don't think there is metal music where they're telling about a gay hero.
Gianni: Also in Italy there are some people who speak about this problem, but in metal? Not yet. It could be an idea for the next album.
Igor: So we can expect more than one album from you? Now you're committing, more than one album from Dark Quarterer!
Francesco Longhi: Not the next one, but the one after that...
Gianni: The one after, this is something to think about.
Francesco Longhi: Metal music never tells about fragility. It tells about the suffering and psychological problems.
Gianni: “I cannot live together with other people”; fragility, generally fragility because we..., see, we address this, we address it.
We are fragile, but we have to present a mask to others. You see that part is not true. And it's difficult for me to include this world that
feels a little fragile or different, because of the style of music. If you speak about something fragile, you have to play fragile.
You cannot [growls] “I am so alone”, something like this.
Igor: Actually, that could work. I think you could make that work. If you think of Queensryche, they did something like that. But do you think,
like more heroic stories, like for example with women or LGBT people could help with kind of making it more open?
Gianni: On Symbols, we talk about Giovanna D'Arco, Joan of Arc, she was a woman. As an episode, we discussed her difficulties, going against
the church and [how] she was condemned by the church, so we have discussed this kind of but in general, against the church, talking about
Giovanna D’Arco, but the church was the problem. Up to now I've never talk about this, it's an interesting question, thank you!
Igor: It's always interesting to see that new thoughts come from a discussion. So speaking of how you get new ideas, I would very much
like to hear about your songwriting. Do you all write together?
Gianni: No, no, the first thing that we think about is the subject, we have to know what we are talking about, so until we have decided on
the subject, we don't start with the composition. We were talking about 2 or 3 different subjects. 'Yes, I like', 'no, I don't like', only when
all the members of the band say 'okay, we like this one', we start, otherwise we cannot play. You compose a song that must have an atmosphere
that corresponds with the subject. If you prepare a song just to prepare a song, it's very difficult to include something new. So always first is
the subject, then comes the music, depending. Sometimes Paolo has an idea, or Francesco [Sozzi] or me, Francesco Longhi has not yet...
Francesco Longhi: Not yet, no. Mostly arrangements.
Gianni: Yeah. Yeah, you prefer working on arrangements. So he suggests something, and during the arrangement a lot of things, yes,
but not ideas in the beginning. And then we cut a lot of ideas we don't like, a lot before arriving at the seven, six or eight songs. It is a lot of work,
we abandon [lots of ideas], but also the songs we decide to do, they start in one way, but in the end it is another song. So we change a lot of things
during the composition.
Igor: Do you compose by playing together or is it just sitting and writing?
Gianni: No. We start for example with one idea, propose a riff and starting a melody and we start from that and then continue.
Paolo: Step by step.
Gianni: Step by step.
Igor: All together? So very much kind of in the old way.
Gianni: Yes, we never come with all the tracks ready, everything, we compose together.
Igor: Well, we're getting to the end. I want to ask you, is there any new band that has impressed you or that you would like to mention especially?
Gianni: Yeah. There is a band that is called Caravaggio. It's an Italian band, a new one. But the members of the band, one, two members of the
band were coming from Adramelch. Caravaggio is a painter. And I like that music. More prog than metal. And really, really good composition
and good ideas. Caravaggio is a good band. I like it.
Paolo: Same for me.
Igor: Yes, great, thank you for your time. It was very interesting. I'm happy that we finally managed to meet this way.
Paolo: Thanks!
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