Michael Kiske

 

The full album of Infinita Symphonia can be purchased from today on at iTunes: : Click here , it can also be ordered as a normal edition here: Click here

Luca Micioni (vocalist) and Gianmarco Ricasoli (guitarist) from Infinita Symphonia did an exclusive interview for the Kiske Fanclub to explain some details about the new album which included a performance of Michael Kiske on the song ‘Fly‘. So I hope you enjoy the interview.

Kiske Fanclub: Do you plan to release a Japanese edition? Do you have any bonus tracks ready to use in another different edition than standard?

Luca: Actually we still haven’t got news about Japan… but if they will ask,we will be ready… we have a bonus track..and I hope you will like the surprise!

 

Kiske Fanclub: Do you plan to release another video clip and do you have plans for a tour to promote the new album?

Luca: Yes,of course… we will soon share the second video… so let’s keep in touch!

Kiske Fanclub: Can you tell us a little more about the cover of your new album? It shows a clock, so what is the meaning behind?

Gianmarco: There’s a teddy bear in a wood… it’s a static picture in which time is frozen… the representation of one moment in a life, but the watch reminds us the passing of time… the album deals with moments of life during which time seem to be suspended… a moment of love, a regret, a dream, a night of insomnia.. the wait for a change… and in ‘Limbo‘ you will find the reason for the woodland…

Luca: I know Gianmarco widely answered this question… but I would like to propose you a little enigma… to fully understand the meaning of the cover… you need to take  a look to the watch… especially to the minute band… and to the title of the song 9 of the album… and than..and to connect this to the Selva Oscura… I’m sure Dante’s Inferno will help you to reach the solution

 

Kiske Fanclub: Why did you want Kiske as guest in your new album and how did you manage to get him? Who came up with the idea?

Gianmarco: Luca wanted to have Michael on the album with all his soul…and when he accepted he only  could  make us happy and honored! Especially when we listened the performance for the first time…it was great!

Luca: Why Michael?… The answer is simple… because he is Michael Kiske!.. (hahah)… you know, I dreamt to duet with him, one of the greatest voices  of ever, one of my idols since I heard his voice for the first time… I fortunately met him on the stage of the Italian Gods of Metal festival, and has been very kind… accepting to consider the proposal.. so… He realized my desire!

 

Kiske Fanclub: I think you’re the responsible for the arrangements and orchestration of the new album, was it difficult to evolve the basic instruments with the orchestration?

Gianmarco: Oh,yes..I’m the responsible… the hardest challenge when you are trying to creategood orchestral arrangements is to create a deep connection between notes and emotions, between the shades of meaning,both in notes and words… the difficulty consists into create the perfect sound, a musical framework which can perfectly contain the message you want to transmit. There are always a lot of possible solutions and it’s always hard to choose

 

Kiske Fanclub: I don’t know if you wrote the song ‘Fly‘ but… How did you write the song for Kiske and did you originally have his voice in mind for the song?

Gianmarco: No… we were not thinking to Michael… but when Michael confirmed his specialappearance we worked at the song adjusting and adapting some details thinking to the duet… and even if I’m not so objective… In my opinion… the work is successful!

 

Kiske Fanclub: Please tell us some words about the song ‘Fly‘ and the Kiske performance?

Luca: I wrote the lyrics concerning the strength we need to realize our own desires, the message that come out is that we all need to keep on trying, even when everything seem to be lost… And Kiske,in this song, represents my inner voice…and tells me to go on. What can I say about the way he did it? Perfect!

Gianmarco: ‘Fly‘ is a deeply felt song… I wrote the music and Luca created the lyrics and the vocal line… but what is incredible is that during the composition I had a clear idea of  the message emerging from  that music… when Luca sent me back the song with the voice..I found he had expressed the same concept! It often happen something similar between Luca and me… sometimes I think we read eachother’s mind! Michael Kiske was flawless!… it took me some time to get used to listen his voice on a song of mine… it’s not a usual thing!… but then I realized how he  is a complete artist more than beeing “simply” a singer… he interpreted the song as it was HIS song… the bridge  surely represents the deep meaning of the song…”If you don’t dream you don’t fly“… and Michael surely makes us dream with his voice.

 

Kiske Fanclub: How easy was it to do that duet on ‘Fly‘? Did your voices mix easily or was it very complicated? How did this duet work in the end? Who recorded first?

Luca: We sent him a demo of the complete song… he recorded his parts giving it his personal interpretation… I recorded my parts. The quality of his performance was so good that we hadn’t to do more than mixing the tracks together…

 

Kiske Fanclub: A question regarding your English, did you have some singing lessons like helping with the pronunciation? Vocalists of Italy, Spain, and Germany usually have problems with the pronunciation but you sound very nice.

Luca: Oh,thank you very very much! I’m very happy for your words… but,no!I didn’t… I listen at metal music… and this is my lesson! (hahaha)

 

Kiske Fanclub: What are your favorite songs of the new album?

Luca: ‘Fly‘, of course… But even the ballad ‘In Your Eyes‘, for its simplicity and for the emotions it evokes in me… and than ‘The Last Breath‘, on the contrary, for the complexity… of the structure, of  the sound… and maybe of the message.. that leaves you free to imagine that particular moment of life in your own way…

 

Kiske Fanclub: Are you following/followed Kiske career? What are your favorite releases of him?

Luca: Probably you expect thatI talk of Helloween’s albums, and of course I loved  and still love them! But when I listen at Instant Clarity, even today, after thousands of times I’ve heard it… I keep thinking it is a very masterpiece!… and now Unisonic… Especially ‘Over The Rainbow‘!… the Important collaboration with Avanatsia (even thanks to the genius of the young and great Tobias Sammet!)… And why not?… Infinita Symphonia’s ‘Fly‘! Hahaha.

Gianmarco: I loudly say: KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS!

 

Kiske Fanclub: This is more a guess or an advice than a question… did you watch the Avantasia show at Milano? Maybe you could have used for a little promotion of your new album with some pictures together or whatever…

Luca: Unfortunatelly I wasn’t there,due to personal commitments…

 

Kiske Fanclub: You are a vocalist but can you live only from the music? Do you have another job? Is it easy for you and the band now to live only from music?

Luca: Absolutely not!… we spend a lot of money to realize our albums… and we are not famous (not yet! hahaha)… so we all have a job that give us the chance to don’t give up themusic…

Gianmarco: Unfortunately I don’t live from music. I have a work and I’m even a student at the University… a work is needful to keep on writing and playing our music.

 

Kiske Fanclub: This is a “standard” question that we usually do to all musicians… What do you think about Michael Kiske as a singer and musician?

Luca: As I wrote before He is one of the greatest voices of ever… I hope to have other occasions to collaborate again with him…i have a lot to learn from him!

Gianmarco: I think Michael Kiske is a great singer, has made history with two of the most important albums of heavy metal (Keeper of the seven keys 1 and 2) and is a musician with  the heart as well as with a great technique! I was born in 1989 and when I was 14-15  I discovered Helloween and Michael Kiskefor me he became a hero (not to mention the fact that with the Unisonic now he  is really doing a great job)!

 

 

Thanx a lot to you and to all your readers! Ciao!

Luca Micioni, Gianmarco Ricasoli

Infinita Symphonia Official Webpage: http://www.infinitasymphonia.com

Infinita Symphonia Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InfinitaSymphonia

Infinita Symphonia Official Twitter: http://twitter.com/I_S_band

 

After their indoor shows in Europe, they continue with the festival season. After Spain their next stop was Sweden Rock Festival, where they played together with Kiss, Rush, Status Quo, Saxon, Accept, Candlemass, Ufo, Krokus, Amon Amarth, Sonata Arctica, Doro, Demon, Paradise Lost, Hardline, Amaranthe, Vader, Civil War, Axxis and many more. Avantasia was scedule to enter the stage at 00:00 o’clock for a 2 hours show. (pic by Jonny Gustavsson)

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the set-list:

The setlist:01. Intro ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra‘ (A Space Odyssey soundtrack) & 02. Spectres (Sammet) 03. Invoke The Machine (Atkins/Sammet) 04. Black Orchid (Sammet/Atkins) 05. Prelude & Reach Out For The Light (Kiske/Sammet) 06. Avantasia (Kiske/Sammet) 07. The Story Ain’t Over (Catley/Sammet) 87. The Great Mystery (Sammet/Catley) 09. Dying For An Angel (Sammet/Eric Martin) 10. Promised Land (Eric Martin/Sammet) 11. Farewell (Sammet/Somerville) 12. Shelter From The Rain (Kiske/Sammet/Catley) 13. The Scarecrow (Atkins/Sammet) 14. Savior in the Clockwork (Atkins/Sammet/Martin) 15. Twisted Mind (Atkins/Martin) 16. Lost In Space (Sammet) 17. Introduction of musicians & The Sign Of The Cross & The Seven Angels (Everybody) __________________________

Comments/review

Mickael Andersson commented on his twitter account: “Avantasia thank you guys for an incredible show once again at Sweden Rock Festival. The best act on the festival, as I expected. Tobias rules.” Dennis Brattefelt said: “Tobias, holy shit that was a good show. Thank you so much for making my Sweden Rock-experience so fucking great!” Una Aleksic commented: “Avantasia at Sweden Rock last night was beyond words. I don’t know what else to say. Perfection. Great job.”

 

Pictures

You can check a photo album by Livepixxx-event of Avantasia here. And here are a lot of pictures of audience of Sweden Rock Festival 2013.

Videos

Amanda Somerville Blog

Reach out for the Light

Sign of the Cross/The Seven Angels live

 

Check this report about the Full Metal Cruise and it features some live minutes about the Avantasia show in Amsterdam, Melkweg. From 56:00 on they show the report and one live song ‘Invoke the Machine’. Click here.

Here is a Tobias Sammet interview in German from Avantasia, which was done before the Amsterdam concert of the Full Metal Cruise. It was cut out completely of the final ZDF.Kultur special.

This is a pity, because at the time of the interview, Michael Kiske is warming up his voice. You can hear at 03:26.   Click here.

 

The Official Michael Kiske Fanclub thanks Tobias for signing Avantasia – The Mystery Of Time digipack edition dedicated to the Fanclub. The special dedication was added by Michael Kiske and other Avantasians like Amanda Somerville, Oliver Hartmann, Sascha Paeth, Thomas Rettke and Ronnie Atkins signed the digibook as well. Now the contest is over today on 01.06.2013. Since I was travelling to Sonisphere, it took a little more time to announce the winners. We had some people with 4 correct answers. Some had a perfect 4th answer with an exact explanation. I added all of them in the final drawing.

 

 

 

The winners are:

 

1. Prize: Signed Avantasia – Mystery of Time CD: Nicolo Pedrotta

2. Prize: Tour Shirt male L: Motorist

3. Prize: Tour Shirt Female XL: Ramona Rotter

 

It seems the questions were not very difficult because I was forced to make a drawing between people who knew the 4 answers, so unfortunately a lot of people with 3 right answers didn’t have a chance to get any prize. Anyway, here are the explanations about the question of the contest.

 

1 – Excluding Tobias Sammet, who are/is the musician/s who were in all albums of Avantasia? (not EPs)

Michael Kiske and Oliver Hartmann are in all full-lengh albums.

In 2 minutes you can check on our fanclub site the answers, or in wikipedia, but I was really surprised with how many people failed this one, really?. You can also knew it because it was the 4th question of our latest interview with Oliver Hartmann, and also Tobias talked about that during The Mystery Of Time promotional interviews. So more easy imposible.

2 – What musician organized a meeting with Tobias Sammet and forced Tobias to travel. In the end, he let him wait for 8 hours and told him that he never does such collaboration? (The Scarecrow album)

Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.)

Another question easy because it was commented a lot by fans during our interview-marathon on fanclub facebook account. And it was on Kiskelized blog “Lost Avantasians” which was re-produced in a lot of sites around the web. Tobias Sammet said: “Blackie let me travel to Frankfurt and then let me wait eight hours and told me he did not want to do such things, what a disrespectful guy.“

3 – Who gave/got the Michael Kiske telephone number to Tobias Sammet in 1999 to get his collaboration in “The Metal Opera Part I”?

Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween).

That question is easy because in one of the most known interview with Kiske ever. That interview was done by Tony Webster ex-webmaster of Helloween official site in 2000 to promote Kiske’s Readiness To Sacrifice album Tony explained that Tobias phoned him asking for Michael’s telephone number but he didn’t know if he should give it to him so he gave to him the phone of Roland Grapow, so Tobias phoned Roland and he got it. Tobias also commented the curiosity on several interviews, for example: Hardheavy magazine & Heavy magazine 2001: “I could not get Kiske’s telephone number through Gamma Ray fanclub and finally it was Roland Grapow, who gave me his phone number.“

4 – The high notes at the end of Farewell were not planned for Kiske, why did Michael sing there?

It was a joke of Tobias.

That question was the most difficult and I wanted to do it because the higher prize it’s great so I don’t want that anybody could answer all questions easy, only for true fans, but I have to say that I failed, I was really surprised when I saw that a lot of people knew it (but some failed the 1st one! the easier!!!)

As it was a difficult question I would accept “a joke” as answer, it was not needed to explain everything, but some people did! In 2008 we did an exclusive interview with Tobias Sammet to promote The Scarecrow album and we asked to him about the rumour that Tobias cried when he heard the final notes of ‘Farewell‘ that Kiske did and he answered: “Come on, the part isn’t THAT bad that you have to cry, haha. Seriously: No, I didn’t cry. But I had goose bumps when I heard Michael’s recordings of ‘Reach Out For The Light’ the first time over the telephone when he played it to me. ‘Farewell’ was more a funny thing, because Michael told me in advance I shouldn’t come up with too high vocal lines, so I just squeezed out some incredibly high lines at the end of “Farewell” and sent him the demo. And for some reason he took it seriously and sang it. It was funny, but it was so good, so we had to take it on the album.“

So here you have the answers, congratulations if you’re one winner and if you’re not, you can try it again in the future. A final thing… here is the most funny answer I’ve received.

4. Because Tobi had a sore throat during the recording?

After their indoor shows in Europe, they continue with the festival season. Their second stop is Barcelona, Spain for the Sonisphere Festival, where they played together with Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Anthrax, Ghost and many more. Avantasia is sceduled to enter the stage at 1:45.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the set-list:

The setlist: 01. Intro ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ (A Space Odyssey soundtrack) 02. Spectres (Sammet) 03. The Scarecrow (Atkins/Sammet) 04. The Story Ain’t Over (Catley/Sammet) 05. Reach out for the Light 06. Breaking Away (Kiske/Sammet) 07. Farewell (Sammet/Somerville/Kiske) 08. Dying For An Angel (Sammet/Eric Martin) 09. Twisted Mind (Atkins/Martin) 10. Lost In Space (Sammet) 11. Shelter From The Rain (Kiske/Sammet/Catley) 12. Introduction of musicians & Seven Angels & The Sign Of The Cross Medley (Everybody)___________________________

Comments/review

The show of Avantasia in Barcelona, at Sonisphere Spain Festival 2013 was amazing. The show started at 2:07 and finished at 3:15… it was really hard to stay until so late, I know of somebody.. who had to take too many beers to stay awake but I will not tell names XD… Like in Madrid Avantasia did one of the best shows of the festival. Kiske sounded like a God, with a more than perfect performance note by note. A lot of people were joking after the show that Iron Maiden really need to hire the sound engineer of Avantasia because is a genius. My few comments about it, despite that it really was very late, it was worth waiting every minutes. Kiske was again in perfect vocal shape and sounded fantastic. There were many ‘Kiske,Kiske’ shoutings before and after he sang ‘Reach out for the Light’.

 

Videos

Reach out for the Light

Breaking Away

 

 

Press/Media

Here is my album here. Moocher photo album here. Lasendadelcaminantesolitario Blog live report here. Hardforce.fr photo album and live report here. Elladooscurodelaluna blog did a live report, read it here.

 

After their indoor shows in Europe, they continue with the festival season. Their first stop is Madrid, Spain for the Sonisphere Festival, where they played together with Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Anthrax, Ghost and many more. Avantasia is sceduled to enter the stage at 1:45.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the set-list:

The setlist: 01. Intro ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ (A Space Odyssey soundtrack) 02. Spectres (Sammet) 03. The Scarecrow (Atkins/Sammet) 04. The Story Ain’t Over (Catley/Sammet) 05. Reach out for the Light 06. Breaking Away (Kiske/Sammet) 07. Farewell (Sammet/Somerville/Kiske) 08. Dying For An Angel (Sammet/Eric Martin) 09. Twisted Mind (Atkins/Martin) 10. Lost In Space (Sammet) 11. Shelter From The Rain (Kiske/Sammet/Catley) 12. Introduction of musicians & Seven Angels & The Sign Of The Cross Medley (Everybody)___________________________

Comments/review

Elsusurrodelascucarachas Blog live report of the festival here. Mariskalrock.com live report here. Rafabasa.com did a mini-report, you can read it here. Memorias de una cinta VHS blog live report here. Zeppelinrockon Blog live report here. Hellpress.es live report here. Maxmetal.net live report here. Telecinco.es live report about the festival here. Rafabasa.es live report here. Themetalcircus.com review rated as 10/10 here. Alricolibro Blog live report here. You can read the live report of Rockdospuntocero.com here.

 

Videos

Tobias and Kiske talking with the audience

 

I just want to remind you that the Avantasia contest is running only a few more days and until now we only have some people with all 4 correct answers, so you still have a chance to win.

I have a big surprise for all the members of Michael Kiske Official fanclub. During the first leg of the new tour of Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia titled “The Mystery World Tour” I’ve managed to get some interesting and exclusive stuff to make a contest between all  the fans.

I want to know who are the best fans of Michael Kiske & Avantasia in the world so I propose 4 interesting and a little difficult questions (not too much). If more than one people answer all questions, I will do a drawing between them and if nobody answers all the questions right  it will be a drawing between the fans who had more right answers.

The contest is open now! and it will finish on May 31th (31.05.2013 at 11:59 pm)! Good luck!

Here are the prizes:

- Gold prize: Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia – The Mystery Of Time digipack edition signed and dedicated to the Fanclub by Michael Kiske but also signed by the mastermind of the project Tobias Sammet, Amanda Somerville, Oliver Hartmann, Sascha Paeth, Thomas Rettke and Ronnie Atkins.

- Silver prize (2nd and 3rd price): 2 Tshirts of Avantasia new tour. One male tshirt L and another female XL. Please tell us with your answer if you prefer the male or the female shirt, since we only have these 2 shirts and only in the mentioned sizes.

So here you have the 4 questions:

1 – Excluding Tobias Sammet, who are/is the musician/s who were in all albums of Avantasia? (not EPs)
2 – What musician organized a meeting with Tobias Sammet and forced Tobias to travel. In the end, he let him wait for 8 hours and told him that he never does such collaboration? (The Scarecrow album)
3 – Who gave/got the Michael Kiske telephone number to Tobias Sammet in 1999 to get his collaboration in “The Metal Opera Part I”?
4 – The high notes at the end of Farewell were not planned for Kiske, why did Michael sing there?

Please send your answers to this email: nightangel@kiskefanclub.com

Right after the Avantasia concert in Amsterdam on 10.05.2013, Metal Blast did an exclusive interview with Michael Kiske where he talks about Avantasia, Place Vendome, Kiske&Somerville and his point of view about many things. You can watch the video interview here:

The full album of Timo Tolkki’s Avalon – ‘The Land of new Hope’ can be purchased from today on at amazon as limited CD+DVD edition: : Click here , here as standard edition: Click here and as digital edition: Click here or at iTunes. Additionally you can order a special T-Shirt + CD/DVD package at EMP: Click here. Here are all other editions at EMP:  Click here.

In the USA it will be released on 21. May 2013 and you can preorder it:  Click here.

In Japan the CD will be released on 26. June 2013. It includes the bonus track ‘I’ll sing you home’ as (ACOUSTIC ORCHESTRAL VERSION) and can be preordered:  Click here.