sexta-feira, 7 de outubro de 2011

BaixoNatural (English Version) Interview: The Italian Alberto Rigoni

By Ariel 'Nog' Andrade


Six Months ago I met the work of a italian bass player called Simone Vignola, this guy use the loops like nobody, he is a amazing solo player but he has a band too called "The BassTards". This band is with another Great italian bass player - Alberto Rigoni, i really enjoyed the his work, so we decided to make a interview with him to let you BASS PEOPLE know better this guy.






Yo Alberto Thanks for receive the BaixoNatural Staff for this interview. 


1) You Send us your Brand new Album. It’s really great, we enjoyed so much. Talk about the musicians you’ve work with on this record. 
Hola! Thanks a lot for your nice words! Glad to hear you liked it! 
Well, The first guest I’ve hooked up was legendary Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison. I was not sure he was interested, but it was worth trying! So I contacted him. He said: "Yes, I could be interested if I like the song and I feel it". 

"Wow! That's a great chance", I thought. A couple of hours after reading his email I took the bass in my hand and started composing the tune called "Free". The day after I met the guitarist Tommy Ermolli (TwinSpirits) and we recorded some guitar tracks. Then I sent the tune to Gavin. I didn't write any drums score and I left all the parts up to him. Some days later he sent me back the tracks. THEY WERE AMAZING! His drum playing and parts were stunning. Never heard something like that!! No way! Gavin is definitely on of the best drummer in the world!! 

As the last step, Federico Solazzo recorded some great keyboards tracks.

Some months later I contacted John Macaluso, I’ve always been amazed by his playing in particular on Ark’s album “Burn the Sun”. He is a great drummer and a nice person. We met in Italy during his italian clinic tour and we played together the song “Ontogeny”. You can watch a video clip at the following link: 



Then there’re bassists Michael Manring and Yves Carbonne, my idols! Their playing is unique. I was sure that their tone was going to give a great contribution to the tunes. On “A new soul” Michael Manring played a part that originally I’ve thought as a vocal part. If you hear the result you can understand why I asked him to play. While on “Rebirth” I left up to Yves Carbonne the fretless part. He played exactly what I had in mind without asking him to play a specific written part. 

Other guests (not as famous as the previous but amazing musicians): guitarists Tommy Ermolli (TwinSpirits), Simone Mularoni (DGM), singer Jonas Erixon (Alicate), keyboard players Federico Solazzo, Andrea Pavanello (Centrica), Emanuele Casali (DGM) and Filippo Lui. 

2) We made a interview with another Italian bass player called Simone Vignola a few months ago, I noticed that you have a project with him called “The BASStards”, talk about this project for us. 
Yeah, Simone is a young Italian bass player that I’ve met at Euro Bass Day 2010 (Verona, Italy). I got amazed by his playing, by his sense of melody and by the way he uses bass loop. We thought we had similar taste in music so we decided to make something together. He lives in a city called Avellino which is less or more 900km far away from me. So basically we are working on-line. It’s a kinda of electro dance/pop with many rock influences and of course with a lot of bass (rhythm, arrangements, soloing etc.). We have just released this video clip, check it out! 



We are now working on new tunes! We’ll keep you updated!

3) How is the bass scene in Italy today? Who is the great name there at the moment? 
There are many great bassists in Italy right now. For example check out on youtube Gianni Serino, Roberto Badoglio, Maurizio Rolli, Gianni Gadau.. 

4) Talk about your music history. When you started to study and play bass? Let us know better your career.
I started playing bass when I was around 16 years old (now I'm 29) after a friend of mine introduced me to Dream Theater. I listened to “A Change of Seasons”, a stunning 23 mins song which everyone knows I guess, and I was totally amazed! So I made the decision.. I wanted to play Dream Theater songs! I had some bass lessons with a friend and who helped me to play Erotomania (Awake album) with a 4 string bass. After two-three months I heard some good results and I bought a 6 strings bass… then I continued by my self learning more complex Dream theater songs (and also other prog rock tunes from different bands). Together with drummer Enrico Buttol we founded the DT Cover Band called Ascra and we played together for 5 years, meanwhile I’ve also joined TwinSpirits, an Italian progressive band.. well then many things happened. You can find my detailed biography at www.albertorigoni.net

5) Who are your musical/Bass major influences? 
I’ve grown up listening to bands like Dream Theater, Yes, Rush and Genesis that certainly have left their prints, but through the years my musical interest has developed to all music genres. From a pretty bass-oriented view I have been influenced by players such as Michael Manring, Randy Coven (Ark, Steve Vai), Doug Wimbish (Living Colour), Billy Sheenan (Mr. Big) Adam Nitti, Yves Carbonne e altri. 

6) And what about your rig? Tell us your set up at live gigs and recording (Bass, amps, fx pedals) 
“Rebirth” album was almost recorded with a 6 string Elrick Bass, Gold Series. Robert Elrick makes hi-end handcrafted instruments with their own tone very focused on the notes. A couple of tunes were recorded also with an F BASS BN6 (the one you can see on BASSex video clip.

 

Recently I moved to Dingwall Bass guitars. Stunning! Dingwall basses are multi-scale instruments that use the Novax Fanned Fret System. The tone is unbelievable! They have a 37” scale low B string that sounds deep and clear at the same time, then a 34” that sounds great! That system allows a perfect balance between all the strings and also a great tuning since each string has his own scale. Great balanced tone across the strings and across the fretboard. 

As for the amps, I use Aguilar Amplification. I own the Ag 500 dual channel head and the DB410. I really like Aguilar tone, warm and punchy! I’ve also just added to my rig the new Tone Hammer 500 head and the SL 112 cab: ultra light but powerful products. I’m tired of heavy stuffs.

I also use: Ernie Ball Slinky strings, HipShot bass Xtender (to drop from B to A), Evidence Audio Cables (Lyric HG for studio sessions and The Forte for live shows), Comfort Strapp, Sonuus b2M and i2M (bass to MIDI converters, very useful for capturing ideas and scoring parts), Peterson Strobo Tuners (StroboSoft, Stomp Classic and StroboRack). 


7) What is your plans for your career at the moment and for 2011/2012? 
I’m going to release Lady & the BASS first album very soon (www.ladyandthebass.com). We’ve just recorded a new video clip that is currently being produced. As for “the BASStards” project we are thinking about releasing an EP (www.thebasstards.com). 

I have also some new ideas for my for a new solo album..

8) Do you know brazil? Have plans to visit us to show your music? Do you know any musician or music from Brazil? 
I’ve never been in Brazil and no plans yet to play there but I hope that will happen soon or later. I’ve listened to some Brazilian metal bands like “Angra”. I liked the way they mix metal with original music from brazil. And of course I know samba. Brazilians have the groove inside! 

9) On your new cd, we noticed many different bass tones….which equipment did you use on the recordings?
Well, I think that different tones are made by the bassist on not just by the equipment.. Anyway I generally use a old TC electronic bass pre-amp + Empirical Labs Distressor and then in the mixing session sometimes I add some delays, chorus and reverb effects… On my debut solo album “Something Different” I used more different effects like Whammy, and Envelope. Rebirth is less experimental in terms of effects on bass. 

10) Let a message for all the ‘Baixonatural’ readers and all the young bass players that dream one day became a pro bass player. 
Well, first of all thanks again for this interview. Hope you like it! These days music business is very hard and it’s not easy to support yourself solely through music but anyway… we must keep on fighting…always. 

11) Where on the web we can find your music and your work?
Website: www.albertorigoni.net

Twitter: www.twitter.com/albertorigoni

Facebook: www.facebook.com/albertothebassrigoni


Was a honor interview you, we hope to see you as soon as possible in our country!
Grazie mille! Ciao!

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