Davide

0:00HostWelcome to Interceptor Beyond Podcast. My name is Arthur, and today our guest is David from the Italian hard rock band Kickstarter Ritual. We're gonna talk about his vinyl production experience, going on tour with cool bands, and other awesome stuff. We had a glitch in the system during the recording, so my sound was recorded from my webcam. Sorry about that, scusa. David's audio was fine though. If you dig this episode, don't forget to subscribe, and make sure to rate the show everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify. And now, on to the show.

0:45HostHow are you doing? I'm fine, and you? I'm good. David, introduce yourself to our listeners, please.

0:52DavidYeah, I'm David. I'm the singer and drummer of Kickstarter Ritual, an Italian hard rock band, and we are a three-piece band. We played quite a lot in Austria before this fucking COVID situation, so we had the pleasure to meet Arthur and Interceptor Beyond and all this.

1:13HostI wanted to start with a quote, and I wonder if you remember this, so I will read it now. From my gig notes, hot shit, guys are jealous, girls are wet, the ratio is good, if you want to burn the world, I'm with you.

1:26DavidYes, of course I remember. We played in Arena Vienna, and you put this sentence on Instagram story, I think, with our backpatch on a picture, something like that. And we, yeah, we really appreciate it.

1:43HostThis is just a taster that we will discuss a bit later, you know, for the people, you know, how we met. And we'll discuss it later, but now I want to go back to the roots of how Kickstarter Ritual began. And I want to first ask you to explain to people what is Kickstarter Ritual as a name, because I was surprised to find out.

2:02DavidOkay, so Kickstarter Ritual came out from a passion of mine for vintage motorcycle in particular. But I like, you know, I'm Italian, I came from Emilia-Romagna, you know, the region of Valentino Rossi for Ferrari, everything. So, of course, I'm passionate in engines and cars and bikes. And the Kickstarter Ritual, in my mind, it was like a ritual you have to do to turn on an old motorcycle. So, like, the one that I have, you need like 20 minutes minimum to start it.

2:38HostWhich motorcycle do you have?

2:40DavidI have an Honda 4 from 1974. It both have the Kickstarter and the electronic starter, but it doesn't work, so you have to kickstart it every time. It's not even the most difficult motorcycle around, to put it, running. Yeah, so the name came out from that thing. But then, I have to say, we kindly part away from that motorcycle, the imaginarium and stereotype and whatever. So, it's like, right now it's just a name.

3:15HostYeah, that's what I thought, because in the beginning, with the first album, I think it was like an EP, like Black Mama.

3:23HostRight? It was your first official album, as I understand.

3:27DavidYes. And that was all about motorcycle and riding and engines and rust and iron and everything.

3:35HostYeah, I even wrote it in my notes, motorcycle feel.

3:39?Yeah.

3:39HostYeah, I saw that you wrote somewhere that you're a Stoner Rock-inspired band, and I can see that in this first album, in Black Mama. In the beginning, it was a different lineup, right?

3:50DavidYeah, I'm the only original Kickstarter remained, and yeah, but we've been Power Trio since the very beginning. But then, both the bass player and the guitar player has changed a couple of times, at least. And with them, also, the style of the band changed a bit.

4:09HostWhen was the moment when you started to sing?

4:11DavidI was not a vocalist at the beginning, I was just a drummer. But then I had a bunch of songs in this motorcycle, Stoner, blah, blah, blah style, and I wanted to put them on, try them with some people, and I couldn't find a singer. That's why I easily, I started to sing the songs that I already had, and then I've never found a singer, and I kept singing myself. Then I'm not very technical, and yet it's very hard to play drums and sing at the same time. But yeah, I'm taking some classes and lessons, and I'm studying a bit, so I'm improving that thing, let's say.

4:51HostThere's some technique, I mean, of course there are many techniques, but there's some way how you can improve singing and drumming, because I'm not a musician, and I can imagine that being a drummer and singing is really, really hard.

5:05DavidYeah, what I'm trying to do is, I'm trying to study vocals as it was a part of the drum set, and I'm trying to study drums as it is a melodic instrument. So what I would like to do is to completely mix the two things together, and you know, so maybe I do some exercises, and they are...

5:27DavidBut I don't only do it with the hands, but I also use the voice, so...

5:34DavidI don't know, I use the voice as a part of the drum set, and this helps me a bit into being more free to take other rhythmics, or melodies, not always depending on what I'm playing with my hands and feet. But this is something that I'm researching right now. I have to say, I'm not done with this kind of work.

5:57HostI don't think anyone will be ever done with this kind of work. That's the beauty of it.

6:02?Yeah, it is.

6:02HostThere are not so many musicians in the world that we know in the famous bands that actually do singing and drumming, right? I know who's there. The Eagles, I think.

6:12DavidEagles, yeah. Also, yeah, there are some. For example, Kiss, they were all singing, and the drummer had some, like, three or four songs that he sings completely. Yes, I think it's not that rare. I don't know if I have to compare myself to Phil Collins or stuff like that. But in pop music is more usual, let's say. But there are, like, there was, like, a trash metal band, Exciter, or, no, it was another one, where the drummer was singing, and that new, modern drummer and singer.

6:49HostWhat are the unexpected benefits of being a singer and a drummer? Is there something unusual that people don't even think about?

6:58DavidBenefits. I don't think there are a lot. Yeah, it's easier than, you know, when you have to deal with a singer, you know how they are.

7:10DavidSo we don't have it. Actually, we don't have a singer, so, like, a bunch of problems are already solved. Yeah. I'm a drummer. I love my bass player and guitar player. We are both, we are, the three of us, we are humble persons. If we have to deal with a singer, like, you know, a very VIP person and blah, blah, blah, I think that's the only good part of it.

7:35?For everything else, it's quite hard, but it allows us to have some simplicity in the arrangements and in the compositions of the songs.

7:46DavidYeah, it is hard and easy at the same time.

7:49HostDoes it make it more pop, you know, when you talk about simplicity? Is it some kind of, like, a popular music? Pop music?

7:56DavidYes. And this, let's say, this opened the topic of where are we going? Because we are kindly, just slightly changing a bit in the sound and the music we are going to play. Right now we're working on a new album and it's going to be more bluesy and soul and R&B and less metal. Definitely not metal. Still hard rock, still stoner, let's say, still rock, rock and roll, but more bluesy and soul.

8:34HostBut I never got a feeling that the metal feel, maybe in the earliest, the first album, the Black Mama.

8:43HostThat one was, like, really down-to-earth, rust, motorcycle sound.

8:50HostBut then, when you, what was the next one? The next one was Ready to Take a Ride. Yes. And this was your first official album, as I understand.

8:59DavidYeah, full length. It was an LP, like, 11 songs or 12, I don't remember.

9:04HostAnd the previous EP you self-produced, right?

9:08DavidYeah, all of them. We are all self-produced. Also videos and records and...

9:14HostEverything is done at your point? I mean, at your location, somewhere near? In a studio or is it like a studio in a town or something like this?

9:23DavidNo, we have a good friend that is a quite good sound engineer, a professional one. And we don't record our stuff in a proper studio. We record it in our rehearsal room, in our studio. And this sound engineer came with all the computer and microphones and stuff and prepared the room. So, we can play in a comfortable room. We are used to that acoustic. And we, especially, we can play all together. Because this is the... In the first one, Black Mama, we played all together in the same room. The second one, Ready to Take a Ride, we recorded it in a proper studio. With a sound engineer, with all separated instruments, with the click and everything. And I'm not satisfied at all. It sounds a bit more... A bit less powerful, real. In my ears, you know, it's always different. When you listen to your own stuff, it's always different, of course. So, that's why the third one, Drifting by a Protostar, we came back to the first technique. We recorded it in our rehearsal room with some, you know, panels that divide, that separates a bit the vibration from the bass and the guitar and everything. But it's played in the same room like we are rehearsing. Of course, the vocals are made after.

10:55HostThat's what I also noticed. Because with Black Mama, yes, I could see that it was your first EP, trying with the sound that you can get, being free of you. And then with Ready to Take a Ride, it was more polished, but it was a little bit, maybe, not stiff. I don't want to say stiff. Yeah. I wrote in my notes, more polished, different flavor, proper album.

11:17DavidYes, it is a proper album. But, yeah, as you said, it's a bit more stiff. If, yeah, it doesn't have that feeling, you know, we're not very technical musicians. We are punk musicians, let's say. So, we need that live concert feeling. Somewhere during the Ready to Take a Ride, you have a new logo, right?

11:38?Yeah. The one that you have now, which looks amazing.

11:41HostAnd I have it as a patch on my coat. But when you did the album, you also recorded the music video. And I really liked it. For the one, too old. Yeah. So, how was the shoot? Just tell me a little bit more about the production of the music video.

11:58DavidI was about to leave Italy for five months to do, yeah, for whatever. It's not important. We wanted to have a video clip for the upcoming album. Yeah, it was my idea because I met a girl from a roller derby team in Bologna, Italy. They wanted to be in our video and they are, like, quite huge fans of us and everything. So, we set it up and I just found a video maker. Usually, he's a wedding video maker, you know. But he is good and he has this Ronin, you know, the Ronin machine.

12:41?Yeah, yeah, yeah.

12:42DavidAnd so, I kind of directed it, him, and he recorded it with this professional gears and everything. And then, I edited the video in, like, yeah, a couple of days and it was ready. It's quite simple, if you think about it. It's not that complex video clip.

13:03HostIt looks cool. You know, it looks better than videos from other bands. Yeah. And also, you did the idea that I also wanted to do. I wanted to do with skaters or roller derby people, you know. But once I saw your video, I was like, ah.

13:17DavidAlready done. Already done. I mean, no one creates anything anymore. So, I think you can do whatever with your own flavor and it's going to be different.

13:30HostDid you promote the video somehow?

13:32DavidYeah. We are self-produced and I always try, but I have to admit that I'm not very good at it. So, we promoted the video clip on Blank TV Premiere. It's like, yeah, something you had, a YouTube channel that promotes your stuff and everything. And yeah, I'm quite content with it. But yeah, we didn't have big numbers or stuff, honestly.

14:01HostDid you pay? Because I saw that they have options when you pay to get promoted.

14:06DavidSee, but it was something ridiculous, like 20 euros, not more than that. 25, let's say. It was something like that.

14:14HostAnd they just probably put you at the top of the list, probably.

14:18DavidYeah. For, let's say, for the first week. For two weeks, you're there and then you're not there anymore. Something like that.

14:26HostAre you planning to do more music videos?

14:28DavidYeah, yeah, definitely. But yes, it's not easy if you don't have money and blah, blah, blah. But yeah, of course, we didn't produce a proper video for Drifting by a Protostar because we didn't have the time. We started playing live and then it was too late for that. But for the upcoming album, of course, we're going to come up with some singles. With music videos, let's say a couple of singles before the proper album.

15:01HostHow are you going to release the new material?

15:04?Okay, so this is a hard topic because there are so many options. And as I said, I'm not very smart and I'm not very good at it. But what I wanted to do is to, yeah, come out with a single and a video and promote that one. Then the second single and the second video, maybe. And then the full album.

15:31DavidI still want to do the old school full 11 track album. I know it's not the time anymore. Maybe with Spotify and everything, you can do 12 singles instead of an album and it should be better. But I don't know. I'm going to try some of them. I'm digging into this Spotify thing and playlists. And yeah, I followed a couple of Interceptor Beyond tutorials. But I haven't, honestly, I don't know, maybe because I'm over 30, but it's not that easy for me, not that immediate for me to understand. And it's boring. I don't like that stuff.

16:18HostIt is boring because it's, it's the business part of the music industry. It's music business. It's terrible. It's absolutely soulless and horrible, but you need to know how to do it. Yeah, of course.

16:32DavidOf course. I'm not the, I'm not all the way critics. I mean, I know the world works like that. If you want to, you have to take the compromise. I understand this. But at the same time, I am critic. I don't like it. I don't, I don't, honestly, I really, I don't really like social media, exposition and everything. There is no music in it.

17:03DavidIt's, I think it's a big lie that if you find the good way to communicate your true self to people, you're going to win. But if I'm, if I'm, if I'm, if I'm a lone wolf, if I'm ugly, if I don't want to appear, if I don't want an image, I'm cut out. I'm not for the Instagram. I'm not talking about me. I'm talking in general. How can you express that you're very, uh, timid or how, how is it? You're very shy. How, how do you express that you're very shy on an Instagram page where you want to reach 12,000 million people? It's, it's, it's fake. You know, it looks fake at least.

17:50HostUh, the main idea is just to find, to find inside of you, what do you want to express? How to, how to, how do you want to express it to the outer world?

18:02DavidTo express what? Myself or my music?

18:05HostSomething interesting that people would dig. So it doesn't have to be true you. Maybe, you know, many musicians are completely different off stage. And being on stage is a different personality. So you decide if you want to show your real personality or your stage personality, it depends on you. Social media is, is, we don't decide. The algorithm decides. Yeah. What is good. And we start to think about everything like a computer.

18:38DavidThat, that's the big, the big, uh, problem with it, because they told us that finally with internet, we could have picked our own favorite content. We don't have to eat it from, from the television like this, you know, but at the end is not like that. Internet still give you stuff that he decide that somebody has decide. So it is like that, but yeah, I'm not all the way critics on internet, social media and everything. I mean, I'm still quite young and, and off.

19:12HostYou can still do a promotion analog way. Not necessarily social media. Of course, it's the fastest one, but you can, uh, you, you always start with small things with your local community.

19:25?Yeah.

19:25HostWell, for example, uh, my favorite question that I ask everybody these days is like, what do you think about audio cassettes?

19:31DavidUh, I do like them. I, I own some of them. I still have a hi-fi that has cassette and everything. I decided not to produce them, uh, for like drifting for, uh, drifting by a portal star, because I think that is a plastic support that probably no one is going to actually listen. And so only for, um, sustainable reasons, I decided not to produce them. But I really liked them. It's like a, uh, it's like a card with your name on it and, and a good touchable.

20:08HostYeah. Tactile feel.

20:10DavidTactile feel. Yeah. That, that very good.

20:12HostAnd how was your experience with producing a vinyl for the, uh, latest album, drifting by a protestor?

20:19DavidYeah, not, not very good because as I said, we are all self-produced and everything. So I had to do all the researches, find a service, uh, find somebody who prints the stuff and everything. And I don't know why, but we didn't have a test press. We didn't have all the proper stuff that usually when you have a label, uh, and you're going, and you print a record, a vinyl record with a label, a proper label, usually you have all these things. The, the, the, the option to, to pick between different stuff. And, uh, in this case, I just found this one. They had to send me the test press and then they didn't send it to me. They, uh, and I asked for it and they answered, uh, yeah, we keep it. So if you need some more copies, we already have it.

21:12?That's weird.

21:13DavidWhat? This, this, it was the first, uh, vinyl record I ever produced, but I know usually it not, it doesn't work like that.

21:22HostAm I right? Yes, of course. You need to have a test pressing that you need to. Yes. And where was it? This was company in Italy or somewhere else?

21:31DavidYeah. This company was in Italy and I wanted to, uh, pick a company that was in Italy or at least, uh, in between Europe. And not, let's say China or stuff, because I, I don't really like that kind of cheap stuff, but the concept, I don't like the concept. Sorry. It's not that I don't like the cheap stuff. Of course I like cheap stuff, but I don't like the, yes. I wanted to produce the vinyl record into some proper place and not just look after the money, but also look after quality and professionals and everything. So that's why I picked an Italian company. But at the end, I kindly find out, I like, yes, I find out that they were just producing our record somewhere in Eastern Europe. And then, uh, they, uh, they got, they sent it directly from that Eastern Europe factory to my place. Okay. So it was just, uh, like, uh, some, somebody in between the process. All right. So nothing, nothing actually was made in Italy at the end.

22:41HostSo that was a bad, yeah, that was a bad experience in a way. I mean, you still, you got, got your vinyl, as I understand.

22:49DavidYeah. And it's nice. It has a nice color and shades and it sounds very good because the, the, the sound engineer prepared a proper master, especially for the analog version. And I'm a proper master, especially for the digital version. So it is professionally made, let's say.

23:09HostSo, so you knew from the beginning that you will do a vinyl.

23:12DavidYes, it was my intent.

23:14HostSo, and did somehow the process of recording change or only, only the master, uh, was different? Only the master.

23:21?All right. Yeah.

23:22DavidAnd, uh, yeah, we recorded it and we passed it through, uh, an analog tape mixer, tape stuff. So, yes, we had some analog feel.

23:34HostHow many copies did you make ordered?

23:36?300. Yeah. Classic.

23:38DavidYes. The minimum amount you can order usually.

23:41HostWell, that's why I like the idea of cassettes is that you can get the minimal amount is around 50.

23:47DavidOh, cool. Yes. I definitely going to do like 50 copies will be nice for the next album.

23:54HostWhen you recorded the previous album, the ready to take a ride, you went on a tour. And I went through, uh, your Facebook page from the very beginning of the page to check out how you're doing, you know, and I saw that you toured a lot with whom did you play? I mean, with whom did you share a stage? There are some cool bands.

24:15DavidUh, we, we played a lot in, um, in Eastern Europe, like Czech Republic and, uh, Slovak. Yeah. All around there. We played with, always in a bit more metal situation, a bit more metal than what we are, but we always played with great bands. I mean, when we played in, uh, VN, we played with Dusk.

24:40?Yes. I think. Yes.

24:41DavidAnd then other cool bands.

24:44HostWell, for example, what I saw from the, from the post, you played with Mustache.

24:49DavidAh, yeah. That was in Italy, in Milan.

24:51HostUh, you played with Grand Royale.

24:54DavidYes. As well in Italy. We, we went with them through, uh, five days, five, five gigs, mini tour in Italy. Italy doesn't have a lot to offer to rock bands, especially underground rock bands. But yes, we managed to stay around for a week around Italy and played some good gigs.

25:16HostWhen do you mean not, not much to offer? Uh, you mean, uh, not many venues, cities? Yes.

25:22DavidNot many venues.

25:23HostSo what are the main, uh, cities?

25:25DavidYes. Uh, Milan is a good place, but there is not the same rock culture we saw beyond the Alps. Honestly. Bologna is a bit more alive for live music and stuff like that. And yes, with this pandemic, most of the clubs have closed. We recently played in Milan at, uh, Rock and Roll. It's a very famous rock pub. The, the classic European style, Northern European style rock pub with the bar upstairs. And then you go downstairs and there's like a cellar and with the stage. And that's what I like really, what I really like. I love to play in that kind of places. And there are just a few in Italy.

26:13HostProbably the sound for you should be a bit different. Like for you to play, you know, because usually a drummer is somewhere in the back. That's hard.

26:22?Yeah.

26:22DavidThat's, that's the hard part because yeah, when you play in little stages and little situations with no, no super professional stuff and everything is always hard because you're in the back, uh, the loudspeakers where your voice come out are in front of the stage. And in between there are the bass amplifier, the guitar amplifier, you can't hear anything. But as I was, yeah, again, I'm improving that part and I'm trying to listen to myself from, from the inside. So I don't need to, I don't care about, uh, PA or monitors and stuff.

27:06HostHave you thought about putting the drums in the front? I know it's like a silly question because I'm not a musician, you know?

27:12DavidNo, no, it is not. It is not. It is a very good question. And I always thought about it. And actually that's what we do when we are headliner or when we play by our, by ourselves. But when we play like in festivals or with other bands and stuff like that,

27:34DavidWe're easy, really. We can play everywhere, so I don't care. If we can, if we have the possibility, we always put the drum set in between, uh, the guitars and the bass with just a tiny space in front of the drum. So the bass player can go and interact with the guitar player.

27:55HostDo you, do you practice your, uh, show routine, uh, on stage?

28:00DavidNo, not very, let's say. Yeah, of course we, we really, I do. And, and the people that plays with me as well, we, we really think that is really important the way you move and everything. Yeah. So we always care about it, but we don't actually try it like a choreography. We, we move quite freely.

28:23HostAnd do you have parts when you just sing?

28:26DavidWe have a couple of songs with no drums only. Yeah. You know, clean guitar and like sing along, like choruses that we sing with the people at the end. Let's say when, yeah, like at the third part, yeah, almost at the end of the show, we have this couple of acoustic songs and I take the microphone and I go to the front. We don't always do that. It depends on the situation. Of course, if we have just a 20, 25 minute set, we go boom, boom, boom, boom, and ciao. If we have more time, like a, one more than one hour set, usually we do that.

29:08HostWhat do you do during the, that space? If you have that space between the songs, do you, do you talk?

29:14DavidI, we, we try to not have that space in between songs because I don't like it. I, when I go to concerts, when I go to rock concerts, I love when they, when the songs are one right after the other and no talking and no bullshit. But of course I have to say who we are and thank you for being here. And so I, I say this stuff. And if we have some inconvenience, let's say someone has to tune, someone broke a string, I don't know, whatever. And so I have to feel this space because I'm the singer. I usually sing some classic Delta blues stuff, you know, only with vocals and, and clapping hands and everybody clap the hands. And when I see that the guitar player is right and is ready, I just finish the song and we start.

30:13HostDo you practice the talking? Do you make jokes that you have prepared or just experience?

30:19?No.

30:19HostJust experience.

30:21DavidYes, I, I'm not very good. As I said, um, being behind the drum, it is a bummer somehow, but it's like, it's a safe place for me. I don't know. I am protected. I feel like, and yeah, it's hard. I'm not, I'm not, I'm, I'm not, uh, born front man as a front man. So it's not my place. I, I like, I feel the anxiety and oh my God. But yeah, when I'm behind the drum set, I, I'm, I am truly myself. When I have to go on front, I still can dance and do some stupid moves and everything. But yeah, definitely I don't do like jokes or. You know, you, you toured with some cool bands, for example, one, one of those is Mammoth

31:10HostMammoth, another cool band. And I want to ask in general, like, have you seen how they do it? You know, have you learned something from playing with those bands also?

31:21DavidVery, very, because you, you see how professionals take it, you know, and you, you, it's just some, sometimes it's just tiny, tiny things that maybe you, you've never thought about it. And then you see, can you remember something like, yeah, but stuff, we, we learn everything from other bands, like never, never look down, keep your eyes on the, look, look the, look the, the audience into the eyes or yeah, stuff like that.

31:54HostYeah, but it's, it might be a small thing, but it's actually a big one. It's pretty hard to look in the eyes of the audience.

32:00DavidYes, it is. I mean, it looks like a little thing, but it's not, I agree with you.

32:06HostPractice this thing? Because looking, I know, it's, it's, you need practice also.

32:11DavidI practice it when I, when I play, just when I play, or maybe with friends and everything. I look, I look crazy sometimes because yeah, like this.

32:22HostWhen you did your tour, you did all the booking yourself, probably, right? Yeah. Did you find out something unexpected, you know, like, I mean, you learn a lot each time with the experience, but is there some tips?

32:34DavidYes. What I recently think about all this underground promotion and connection and everything is that you have to build real connections, real friends. And you can't think that a band from Helsinki you played with two years ago and you've never, never, never check on them. How are you? Oh, is it good? Then you text them and they call you and they pick you up for a tour. It doesn't work like that. And in my opinion, pay for play doesn't work as well.

33:12?Mm-hmm.

33:12DavidUh, so what we try to do as long as we meet, for example, with mustache, we try to become friends, but then we separate and we never hear each other again. With, uh, Mammoth Mammoth, the bass player, he's an original, originally he is Italian, even though he lives in Berlin and, and I became a good friend of him. And so we collaborate because we are good friends, not just because, uh, you pay or you do this or you do that. That the thing I understood recently, especially after the COVID situation, if you build strong and real connection, if you don't like him, you can't pretend you're, you're friends, you know, but if you make good friends around, then it's easier and that's how we're trying to do. Uh, we, we're trying to build up a community here in Northern Italy, because there's not many chances as you, as you may see all the underground bands that are touring. They tour everywhere except Italy, or maybe they do a couple of shows in Italy. Not there. Yeah.

34:32HostI know what you mean. Yes. I know what you mean.

34:34DavidOne in Milan, one in Bologna, and then ciao back to Switzerland, Austria and everything where there is a proper scene and venues and everything. So we're trying to do like a collective or a group of people that helps each other. So you come from Vienna and you have to play on Saturday, but you didn't find an, found an accommodation and a gig for Friday.

34:56?Maybe you can come to our rehearsal room. We can record like a little live show to put online and then we host you for the night

35:05Davidand we give you food. And then tomorrow you go to play to your concert. That's what I want to do right now. We're not properly doing it because of the COVID and blah, blah, blah. But as long as this situation ends, I want to, yeah, build strong and true connection between musicians all over the world.

35:27HostThat's what I heard from other musicians, from more experienced, I mean, old musicians, let's say like this, is that you need to build your own scene, your local scene, have some friends, couple of bands and try to move together.

35:43DavidIt's something we are doing lately. We are promoting other bands stuff on our Instagram with apparently no connection with our stuff. But it has a connection because if this band from Italy get famous and go on tour, maybe we go with them. If we go on tour, maybe our, you know, the scene.

36:09HostExactly. It should be one big, nice community, hopefully.

36:14?Yeah.

36:22HostAnd you mentioned pay for play. So it means that in your scene, your local, there's like a lot of pay for play stuff. Yes, it is.

36:35DavidEspecially for cover bands or tribute bands, but also sometime booking agency or stuff like that, asking money to play in Italy. I mean, if you helped me manage all the shit in Slovak, I'm happy to give you money because it's very hard. Yeah. But to book me a concert in a pub 20 kilometers from my home, I don't need that for money. You know, I can go by myself. So, yes, there is a lot of pay for play. There is a lot of people. There is a lot of musicians that things that if you're not pushed by the right people, you're not going to make it. I don't think that I don't want to make it. I don't want to do anything. I just want to do my stuff and have fun. And yes, I don't think that if you pay somebody, all of a sudden you go on stage and there are a hundred, a thousand people. And if you don't pay, there are 10 in the same club. You know, I don't know those booking agency. Maybe they, they build club clubs for you because there are none. Well, you know what I mean? When they offer you like they offer you a 15 days tour in Northern Italy. There aren't 15 venues in Northern Italy. What are you talking about? You're going to make me play at the beer fest. No, beer fest should be good at the Tortellino fest. I don't know.

38:12HostIf you were to choose a booking agent, is there something that you immediately see that this agent is bad or this agency is bad or you just say, fuck all of it. I'm just doing everything myself.

38:25DavidNo, I would like to have some help. I would love to find a booking agency, a serious one, not someone that, that promise you everything and then gives you nothing and just take money. But someone that, as we said before, someone that collaborates with you, someone that believes in your music, you know, someone that takes a percentage or, or stuff like that.

38:49HostYeah. Percentage is the classic way of, of, of how you do it.

38:52DavidYeah. That, that should be super fine.

38:55HostAnd you were touring for a long time, right? In, after the second album, right?

39:00?Yeah.

39:00HostI couldn't find like information of all the shows that you did. That's what I wanted to tell you is that you should maybe, uh, I don't think you have a website, right? No. You need to put on your website all your shows. Uh huh. Because I wanted to talk about if you want to be, uh, signed by a label.

39:17DavidI would like to, of course. It, it, it, it's not, it's not fundamental. I mean, it's not what I'm looking for, but if it comes up, of course, it should be super cool. I want to play festivals.

39:31HostUh, what I'm asking is because, uh, these days my mind completely switched to the business side of the music. So now I look at bands from the practical commercial points of view. Yeah. And I see like, for example, with Kickstarter, I would advise you to make a website, put the list of shows to show that, uh, that you have a lot of experience touring because you tour a lot. It's really cool before COVID of course, but it shows that you are reliable. Okay. Plus you have, uh, three albums, two EPs and one album. Yeah. So it means that you are serious about music. I would recommend you opening a simple website, putting music there, a list of shows, make it an EPK basically. Use your website as an EPK, but listing all the shows, I think it's really important.

40:21DavidThank you for this advice. I really, I really going to improve that part. And you, you think like a simple WordPress site would be fine, should be enough.

40:33HostI mean, you start something simple, just have the information there. And, uh, when you know exactly, uh, like what you want for the next release, you can change everything and make the website look like your album. Yeah. Something like this, but in the beginning it should be just something basic. It doesn't have to, it just has to be convenient for the A&R person to check your music, who you are, how you look like your experience. And, uh, that you're social and that you're active on social media. That's a big one. That's hard. Okay. That's hard to make because they look at you as, uh, I mean, they look at you as a product. It's horrible, but no, no, they, they think like, okay, how many people can you bring to a show? How many people can buy your album? Is it worth it or not? So social media for them or some way to prove that you can get a lot of people. It doesn't have to be social media. It can be something, you know, you have to say, yeah, it, it can be, uh, actually the sales records of, of vinyls or something like this. How many vinyls you sold or something like that, for example, it also proves that you have

41:51DavidThat's cool. We're definitely going to improve that. Um, a new thing, something you probably don't expect from us is that mark the concerning the marketing part. So I don't like marketing, but I do my thinking and everything. What I wanted to do for this next new album is to have a new image and appearance and logo, even though you really like the old one, we're going to make a new one and new colors, new style, new, as I told you, I'm, we're going to, to do some more bluesy, soul, R&B stuff. Don't, don't try to understand that. We're still the same band and we're still going to play the old songs. So we're going a bit more in that direction. And I want to make also a visual change.

42:46?So what I wanted to do was right before the, right before the publishing, the new songs

42:54Davidto like put all the social media down for like for one night. And then you, you seek for Kickstarter ritual and they are disappeared. And then the next day, boom, new graphics, new pictures, new logo, new video, new music. In this case, we're going to make a, finally a website with all the shows and everything that you say to me. Definitely.

43:21HostDo you know when you, when is the new release is coming out?

43:25DavidNo, we're, I think we are already working on the new songs. We have like eight or nine songs, new songs finished, but we will be ready with the music in late spring, beginning of the summer. We're going to have the record recorded, but then there is all, there is all the promotion stuff and blah, blah, blah, release, uh, stuff. And I haven't thought about that already. The only thing I know is that this time I want to record the songs with no stress. And once I'm done with the recordings and I'm satisfied with it, start to promote it because it happened on Drifting by Protostar that we already set up a release date. Mm hmm. Before finishing the recordings.

44:25?Mm hmm.

44:25DavidThen there was something in the recordings I would have changed. And I, I didn't have the time because it was all scheduled. There was even the, the release tour, uh, gig in VN already booked. And so if I would, if I would have changed and record again, that part, we wouldn't made it to print the records and everything. So as long as we are underground, nobody paid us, ever paid us. And we do all by our ourselves. This time I want to do things separately. Once I'm done with the recordings and I'm happy and content with it, I start the marketing strategy.

45:10HostFor marketing, you need to start thinking about it, uh, six months at least before the release of the official release. Yeah. Because it takes, are you going to do vinyls?

45:20?Yes.

45:20HostSo considering the vinyl problem that we have, the situation with vinyls, everything is,

45:28?So. Yes, I know.

45:29HostYou need to think about that also, but I mean, you, you just need more time to think about the delay, uh, in, you haven't tried, like the band haven't tried doing live streams, right? Into 2020, 2021. It's not, it's not your thing. You're a live band.

45:48DavidYeah. I mean, I tried to look some live streams from bands. I like from the rehearsal room and except from the very professional ones. The other things is just awkward. And I don't know, almost ridiculous. The audio sucks. The video sucks. This band is not actually, it's just rehearsing and it's nice to see a band you like rehearsing, but then they, they're all there checking how many people is watching. Okay. It is working. No way. It's not working. I don't want to do that. And I don't like it. Well, it's not your thing.

46:29?I remember like, uh, the first time I saw you, you were in Vienna, you were at Arena Beissel. And, uh, as soon as you started playing, I could hear the energy, the rock and roll, the pure rock and roll. And man, you totally destroyed me because I think it was the first time I heard you.

46:47HostI saw you live. And it was like a, it was like fresh air for me because it was so, uh, classic, the feel of how the rock and roll should be, you know? Yeah. And then I was confused because like, who's the fuck is singing, you know? And then it was singing you. I was like, holy shit. This is so cool. And then the audience reacted so cool. Like everybody were dancing. I got super wasted. But what I remember is like all the good stuff, you know, like you're playing, like in my head, it's like a music video, you know, like, you know, I remember like people going nuts. You like playing amazingly, you know, uh, I'm buying like the patch from you, you know, that I wear still. It's part of my working uniform jacket.

47:36HostI call it working uniform. Yeah. It was super amazing.

47:41DavidDefinitely. We are definitely a little stage band, pubs and stuff like that.

47:48HostYour kind of show is where you need to physical touch with people. Yes, exactly. Exactly. The bass player, especially. I don't know if you remember. And, uh, where can people follow Kickstarter Rachel?

48:01DavidUh, for now you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook, but yeah, we're not, we're not.

48:09HostAre you planning, are you planning to do TikToks?

48:11DavidNo, not really. I checked it.

48:14HostAh, it's completely different based. No, it works. Uh, it works. Yes. But you need to find your way. For example, uh, I can tell you two examples. Good ones.

48:24?Good ones.

48:24HostThere is a, I discovered a band, which is a pop American band called Kitten. And, uh, I discovered Kitten because of TikTok, because the main, because the singer is so charismatic. It's a girl dancing around whatever, you know, and because of that, I discovered. But if we talk about a rock band, there is a band called, uh, I think, Holy Death Trio. What they do in their, uh, TikTok videos, they put a camera on top of the guitar and the guy is going around the crowd.

48:57?Nice. Yes.

49:01HostSo it's still possible. I don't know how it works for them, what they get from it. But as a visual thing, it's pretty cool. So, yes, it's still possible and highly likely you, you have to do it at some point. It's just, we don't know how at the moment.

49:19DavidProbably it is exactly what you're saying. Uh, let me say probably with the next album before the promotional tour for that album, we're going to open a TikTok account and I don't know, do some stupid stuff on tour. Sure.

49:34HostBut at least you have a name of Kickstarter ritual on TikTok, right? You should. Well, you should, I don't know, but you should open.

49:42HostYou should open it. You should open TikTok, uh, not only TikTok, but all social media websites, your name before somebody takes it.

49:49DavidAh, okay. Right. That's right.

49:52HostOtherwise you're going to be Kickstarter ritual one.

49:57DavidRock. Kickstarter ritual rock. All right.

50:00HostAnd we're almost done. And, uh, what song do you want me to put at the end of the podcast?

50:07HostActually, we didn't discuss the Drifting by a Protostar like that much. This is the album that I listened to a lot. That's why that's my main, uh, album, uh, because it's completely different, uh, sound. It's more spacey.

50:23?Yes.

50:24HostWhat's, what's cool about the band is that your voice is unusual. You know, your vocals are unusual. And with this, in a good way, of course. And with this album, I kind of feel there is some Swedish influence, you know, like, uh,

50:40?In the vocals or in general?

50:42HostIn general. It's more like spacey. I mean, like, like in space, like in universe out there, you know, feels like helicopters, for example.

50:52?Yeah.

50:52HostSomething like that. Hmm. Don't know if it was on purpose or not. What's their concept?

50:58DavidI, I, I've always been a huge fan of helicopters and Swedish scene, both the glam Swedish scene, the garage Swedish scene. I, I like, I dig, very dig. Everything comes from there except ABBA. I hate them, but everything else. I love it. And so, yes, I think, honestly, I think you can hear Helicopter's influence from the very first, uh, album from Black Mama, uh, to Drifting by a Proto Star. Uh, talking about Drifting by a Proto Star, the concept, as you said, and I liked, and I'm really glad that you said that because it was our intent. We wanted to, yeah, the, the cover suggested, the title suggested, we wanted to give that sense of emptiness, of space, of void, of, yeah. The songs are all about, no, not all, but the songs talk about being lost and, and never found. And if you think about it, the first, the, the second album, Ready to Take a Ride, the concept was this mammoth, we, there, you, you can see it on the cover, this mammoth that is, it's not extinct. It, it's just still walking, uh, trying to find his place, his own place. And he never found his own place. He's been, he has been on earth looking for his place. He didn't find it. And now he's on some other weird planet out there looking for his own place in the universe, but there's no place for him in the universe. And Drifting by a Proto Star is like an evolution of this topic, let's say. And on the, on the cover, there is a, uh, a woman that looks almost like a ghost, tending, tried to tend to the infinite, to the unknown. You know, this is the usual human, uh, need to discover the unknown, to seek for something higher than the ground you're living on. But on, if you turn the record on the other side, there is a demon keeping this girl from the ankle

53:30DavidAnd yeah, that's the topic. One of the songs talks about a space, uh, an astronaut out in space and he run out of fuel. So he doesn't know if to self distract himself right now and end it or just, yeah, drifting forever in the universe through nowhere to nowhere facing whatever. One day he will end up food and, and water and he will die anyway. So should be better to press the button right now.

54:10HostWell, that's cool because I felt something there, you know, like the, there's a, I call it space. You know, I feel that it sounds like it should be somewhere out there. It's just even how, uh, you sing, you know, it's, it's more from, for outside kind of.

54:28?Yeah. Um, are you going to do something with a, with a new material? Is it going to be also like a concept like this one?

54:36HostYeah. I mean, not like this one, but, uh, is there like a concept that you already like know?

54:41DavidYeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, what I know for sure is that the next one we are, we'll, um, dig more into inner feelings and personal stories and feelings. So yes, in, in some extent it will be more down on earth than up in the space. But yeah, it is gonna be, yeah, a space travel as well, because we have some, as I told you, we have so, so many different tunes and songs from, from the most, uh, stoner-ish to the most helicopter-ish to the most modern pop, soul, uh, R and B, uh, black heritage, uh, stuff, let's say, but of course in our own style. So I don't know yet the, let's say the, the, the concept will be inner feelings.

55:39HostAll right. So that's why it's more bluesy.

55:42?Yes.

55:42HostAll right. All right. Exactly. Super exciting.

55:45DavidAs a band, we never really, uh, expressed that kind of songs and thematics and stuff.

55:56DavidThe need of, uh, be, uh, my true self. That's what changes until ready to take a ride. Let's say there was my stage personality and my off the, off the stage personality. Now, uh, as a communication need, I really need to bring my real true self on the stage, communicate it to people and let it go out because I've been through, yeah, this pandemic, let's say, or personal situations I lived. Yes. I need, I need to, I need some therapy and I'm going to have it through rock and roll this time.

56:42HostNo fakeness shit.

56:44DavidNo shit. Yeah. We, we, we've, we've always been real shit, you know. I know. Yeah. This time is going to be a bit more, you're going to cry this time. Let's say.

56:56HostI want to have the full experience. I want to, I want to go to the concert. I want to, I want to have, be happy and then cry. And then on the floor, uh, by the way, uh, also on the website, don't forget to put the lyrics to your songs because I can't find any lyrics to the songs. And because especially after you said that concept is important, the lyrics are really important.

57:20DavidYes. I'm Italian. So my, my pronunciation is not always on point. So we definitely need lyrics on websites and everything. So people can read them. Yes. You're right.

57:33HostAre there any vinyls left that people can buy on Bandcamp? Yes.

57:37?All right.

57:37DavidOn, on, on Bandcamp, you can find Drifting by a Protostar on vinyl, uh, Ready to Take a Ride on CD and, uh, also, um, a split. No, it's not a split. It's like a compilation of bands. Uh, each one recording one song, uh, totally live at a festival we played in Italy a couple of years ago. A lot of others, other Italian bands, all of them are the helicopter stuff. Yeah. Sound like, they sound like that.

58:10HostGreat. So what are we listening to now? The last song?

58:15DavidBreeze from, from Drifting by a Protostar. Which one is your favorite song?

58:20HostUh, what's the second one?

58:23?Stardust.

58:24DavidThat's the, that, that's the one with the space traveler.

58:29DavidThat is going to die and everything. Yeah. Put that one if you want it. I, I really, I like every of them. So.

58:37HostWell, I mean, uh, put the one that you think represents the band the most or.

58:41DavidYeah. Right now for, in this particular moment, I think the, the last one of Drifting by a Protostar should be the better one. Breeze.

58:50HostDavid, thank you very much. It was a pleasure.

58:53DavidThank you, Artur. Nice to see you again. Really. After a long time.

62:51HostThank you so much for listening to Interceptor Beyond podcast. If you want to quote the show, you can find the transcribed version of this episode at the website, interceptorbeyond.com. Don't forget to subscribe. And if you like what you're hearing, make sure you rate the show everywhere you listen to podcasts. Next one and up to that. Have a great day.