Interviews: Interview with SUSPYRE Axeman /Composer Gregg Rossetti
Posted on Monday, November 03 @ 08:36:12 EST
Topic: Interviews
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Gregg Rossetti
Not Fade Away...
by Tommy "Hashman" Hash
As bandwagonesque as it seems it is these days with the whole symphonic/progressive power metal genre being oversaturated, every once in a while there is a release that invokes a striking sense of intrigue, where the music is filled with complex, yet melodic tunes, executing the real intelligent approach to thinking man's metal ? but as we all know, we don't have to think if we want to.
Nevertheless, New Jersey's Suspyre is another band of true symphonic musical nature - blending the overtones of Mind's Eye, Symphony X, Dream Theater as well as bringing a massive classical influence aboard, a real one for that matter. Their third album, When Time Fades... is built upon the foundation with the focus of both the heaviness of a guitar based metal band and the intensity of an orchestra, where there is more to the melodic stance than just 'keyboard strings' playing a series of chords; and a lot of this has to do with the musical talents of guitarist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Gregg Rossetti (did I mention that he produces and teaches as well), who brings a vast knowledge of theory to the table, a true understanding of orchestral music, the love for other types of technical music, and his ability to play probably just about any instrument you put in front of him (be proficient in various woodwinds such as alto and tenor saxophone (heard on the record), clarinet, bassoon, etc... as well as bass and piano). Rossetti speaks about the new album, how his musical training has helped him compose music, how he guides his students, and what holds the future for one of progressive metal's most intelligently technical bands.
"When Time Fades was different in the way it was written," begins Rossetti on comparing the new record with the others, "with The Silvery Image, a lot of the songs were written when I was back in high school and some of them were relatively new back in 2005 when we finally released that album. When A Great Divide was written, Clay (Barton, vocalist) actually gave us the lyrics first and he was so happy to make that accomplishment; to actually have two sets of lyrics - the first half of the album was done and then the second half would be completed. When Time Fades... is a combination of all of those; some of the songs were written before The Silvery Image around 2003 and I would present them to the band and see how they would feel about the music and they thought it was pretty good and wanted to put lyrics to it, so I used some of that, and some of the songs were lyrics that were sent to me and I made them into a song. The whole thing is a collaboration of different ideas."
After being signed to Nightmare records for a couple of albums, the band jumped on to Laser's Edge's division Sensory Records, the division that specializes in the heavier side of all things prog. Luckily, over time, several; things came into play for the inkage with the label to work out, "Our manager knew Laser's Edge owner Ken Golden, who was at a festival in Pennsylvania and our manager gave him a CD with a few songs on it and he was like 'this is good, I'll sign you guys' so we had one connection through our manager," explains Rossetti, "I have also been in contact with him a little bit because we played with Zero Hour, who is on Sensory as well, so we met him at the Zero Hour show, where he got to see us first hand; so that helped. When we released The Silvery Image independently, I sent Ken a handful of CDs that he could sell through his store."
He has extensive musical training, attending Muhlenberg College and John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, even earning an M.A. His studies of jazz guitar, classical guitar, composition, & various woodwinds paralleled his playing of heavy metal - something that would collide into what would become Suspyre. His ability to literally create scores for a full orchestra has helped shape his ability to create lush arrangements for a progressive metal band. "It really helps, because I leaned how to write," elaborates Rossetti about his musical training, "I don't want to call Suspyre just 'metal' music. I look at all my influences, I listen to a lot of metal bands, a lot jazz and classical, and a lot of other genres; but what helps is when I am trying to write a four part harmony, because there are a lot of harmonies that I make Clay sing, but he likes to sing them (laughs); and when I write them, I know what will sound good from studying classical music and then it helps learning how to play a guitar solo from studying jazz - just learning about phrasing and what scales to use, it all makes the process go easier and quicker; I'm not saying that 'extensive training' is necessary, but it really helps because there's not much trial and error. I'll know what a song is going to sound like before it is written, I'll be sitting there and I'll know what chords are going to sound good because being around it really helps. And it's really helpful with the 'orchestral' stuff, which is a big trend in the metal world right now. A lot of the bands who do the prog stuff have the classical influence and the only way to write for every instrument for an orchestra is to know what they are supposed to play; my studies of a lot of 'scores' has helped me."
Rosetti is also a teacher, and he goes way beyond teaching a student how to simply play a song or chords, he really goes into detail on how to get his student to understand the music. "90% of the students when they are beginners, for example, when I am teaching them guitar, I'll show them the guitar, the parts of the guitar, the names of the strings, how to read music, what you are doing when you play guitar - the functions of both hands,' explains Rossetti, "and I teach similar things with other instruments I teach such as saxophone, clarinet, and sometimes piano and bass; but with guitar students, I compare it to a language because you are communicating in a language, not a spoken language but an aural language - when you are speaking in English, writing something down is a good way to continue a story or prove that it's not going to get butchered by someone else and that's one thing that I show them when you are reading the music; it's in front of you and you know what to do with it. I explain to them the importance of theory and also the unimportance of theory at the same time; but it's important to know why these chords sound the way they do and why the human ear likes it that way and also why when you break the rules of theory, why it's more effective that way when you incorporate the two, having atonal music. That the cool thing about progressive music, is that a lot of the stuff is atonal, which doesn't follow a lot of the 'theoretical' rules. I also look into my student's interests, a lot of the kids love the Guitar Hero video game, they love all the classic rock guitar songs and I will show them how to play the songs, show them what they are doing, but I also show them how to understand the music rather than just -play the guitar."
Besides Suspyre, the musician keeps himself busy with various projects; it no surprise that a jazz project is foreseen in the future not to mention that him and fellow bandmate Rich Skibinsky are playing in an indie/college rock band, "I'm always doing something, especially production for other bands," says Rossetti, "Rich, the other guitarist and I own a studio where we do all the Suspyre albums, but we also do some local bands and some not so local bands as well. Rich and I also play in an Indie Rock band, which is completely different; that is just starting, it's just for fun, so we will see what happens. One other thing I am working on is a jazz/fusion album; I already have everything written for it now, but I am working on getting the musician's together for this so I can start that out - I want to say it?s not so 'jazz,' but there is more emphasis on fusion -not so 'jammy.' I have also written a lot of classical music and it's very hard to get that done; what orchestra is going to play my music without money, that's one of the reasons I do so much stuff with Suspyre because people are willing to play the music, but getting an orchestra to do my orchestra pieces is pretty far fetched at this point."
Although there is a show booked in Florida for early next year, at this point nothing is in stone for a big tour, but the band just got back from ProgPower Europe and of course the hopes to tour that continent in the future. "We're trying to book a (little tour), there is a show down in Florida that we are playing right in the middle of January and we are going to try to make that a mini-tour, play some more shows, make it more worth while. We are hoping to tour Europe one day, that was great going there for ProgPower, but the finances, time, and all that, it's just not going to happen right now."
With cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia spawning several metal bands (well, all music in general), as well as the biggest progressive rock namesake NEARfest being located out of Allentown, Pennsylvania - let's not forget the Berklee College of Music either, it's no surprise that the Northeast section United States has been a hotbed for progressive rock, as the guitarist states that being located in New Jersey is a good 'home' for the band, "I definitely see that the Northeast is good, I see that both coasts are good for musicians," says Rossetti, "I just noticed that it might be harder to find an abundance of musicians if you are in the middle of the country. But around here, it not just metal, it all types of music, all musicians; you have Berklee, New York City, and also Rutgers University has a great jazz program; when we go out to find musicians we usually go out and put an ad at one of the local music schools; but if we were living in Missouri, it probably would be a little harder and we might not have that much of an opportunity; so our location definitely helps."
The future for Suspyre beholds work on a DVD and a concept album that will follow When Time Fades...; some ideas are on the table, but the only thing that is for certain is that it will be a concept album. "We were actually discussing doing a computer animated video for one of our songs. I don't know when that will be done, we do have a storyboard, but nothing is set in stone yet. For a future DVD, we did tape the ProgPower Europe show, we did some videos of the pre-release party, and some videos that are candid that are really funny so we are hoping to have something more than just a concert," concludes Rosetti who now speaks of the plans for the next record, "Definitely it's the new album that will be the main thing, we just got back from Europe so we are taking a 'breather' at this moment to relax and then we will get together and talk about what the next album is going to be and when we will start that. It will be a concept album; not like A Great Divide that was two, we want to make a full concept album. We threw around a lot of ideas, one was making it a double disc, like a really in-depth thing - but one thing that I put on the table that I don't know if it will happen, is that a while ago I wrote a ballet for Shakespeare's Othello, I got hired by a company, but that company had some budget problems or something like that, but something happened and they stopped the project. So I had all this music written for a ballet, so we are trying to find a way to integrate it into Suspyre without being way too formally 'classical.' Another idea is possibly writing a sequel to something else, sort of continuing a story of an existing movie or book and making it a concept album - so we are going to see what happens with all these ideas, but the next album will be a concept album - I don't know what the music is going to sound like, it's just whatever happens."
Copyright & Publishing: 2008 Tommy Hash for Ytsejam.com
Please Visit:
Suspyre Website
Suspyre at MySpace
Gregg Rossetti's MySpace Music Site
The Laser's Edge Group
The Laser's Edge at MySpace
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