Interview on Soundlyfe – French Magazine

Here’s the English version of my interview with Soundlyfe, the French music magazine.

Semantic Saturation

1. Where does this project come from?

Semantic Saturation is progressive metal project founded by me, featuring world class musicians and progressive masters, such as Virgil Donati on drums, Ric Fierabracci on Bass, and special guests, ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian, and Vanden Plas vocalist Andy Kuntz. So there is no particular base for the project as everyone comes from different part of the earth, I’m from Canada, Andy is from Germany, and the rest; Derek Virgil and Ric are from LA, thanks to the powers of the Internet and all the technology available to us today, otherwise it would’ve been impossible for this project to be born.

2. You are surrounded with big world references of the rock or metal scene : Does it mean that Semantic Saturation requires to evolve in a band? Or certain opportunities just appeared?

It’s really a great honor to work with these guys, they are all virtuosos and amazing people. Semantic Saturation is currently only a project, my project to be precise, it would be awesome to become a band but that depends on a lot of criteria, and since the project is relatively new with the debut album Solipsistic that just launched two weeks ago on January 21, I believe it’s too early to say at this point, but you never know. And again I don’t know if I’d want it to be a permanent band, as I’m planning to work with different musicians in future albums, but that doesn’t mean that I also don’t work with any of the current musicians. A lot of people are asking if there would be any live performances too, again at this point there are no plans for any performances, but I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to play live shows if I have the chance, the biggest challenge then would be adapting and meeting everyone’s busy schedules, as you may know Derek, Virgil and everyone else have their personal projects and bands, they’re always busy touring or recording in the studio.

3. What are the events in the coming months of Semantic Saturation?

As an independent project, I’m currently focusing on promoting the album “Solipsistic”, I’ve been working on it since December 2010 and I’ve put a lot of effort in making it as perfect as possible, so I definitely want to promote it as much as I can, otherwise all the effort and hard work we put in this record will go unnoticed. I had planned a music video for one of the songs from the album, and we are still trying to make that happen. Also I have plans to make a single dedicated to the Syrian people and all the crimes against humanity that are happening there right now, but it’s too early to talk about it.

4. Does Solipsistic have a main thread? What do you speak about musically?

Solipsistic comes from solipsism which is a state of mind, a philosophical idea that can only proves ones own mind or self to exist. The idea came to me as a kid and I kept thinking about it, until I started working on the album and thought it’s the perfect chance to use it. Musically I’m trying to deliver strong expressive melodies and stimulating music that speaks to you and keeps you wanting for more, there are a lot of bands nowadays who tend to forget that music is actually an art and not some kind of competition, a lot of them have overlooked and forgot what music actually is, they’re constantly trying to concentrate on the technical side only. For me that is not music, and playing thousands of notes a minute will not make them any better.

5. Besides Dream Theater or Vanden Plas, represented in your project by current or old former members, what are your musical influences in any kind of genre?

I grew up listening to Pink Floyd, so they have been a major influence, besides Dream Theater with all their side projects and Vanden Plas, bands that have influenced and inspired me are Rush, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, Muse, The Gathering, Steve Vai, Ayreon, Joe Satriani, Transatlantic, Opeth … I can keep on going but I think I’ll just stop by saying thank you very much for the interview! And I’d like to thank you (the reader) for your interest. If you’d like to support the project get your copy today at www.semanticsaturation.com (CDs include free guitar picks and posters signed personally by me).

Source: http://globalgame.wix.com/gam3#!home/c14yj