Intervista Plini

Puoi leggere l’intervista in italiano nella prima pagina

Hi Plini, how are you doing?

Good man, how are you?

Not bad, thank.
This June tour is almost over, how did that go?

It’s been great.
I didn’t really have any expectations because we’ve played a lot of places I’ve never been to before and not a lot of big cities, but every show has been really fun, crowds have been great, and it’s been really nice to see different parts of Europe that I’ve never been to before.

Is this masterclass thing you were doing earlier a new thing for you?

No, I tried to do that on every tour.
I’ve seen a lot of bands starting to do a VIP ticket, I wouldn’t necessarily want to charge money for people just to meet me and take a photo ‘cause it’s I’m a quite boring person, but I think, especially for guitarists, it’s nice to hung out with just a few people ‘cause we all like the same stuff, work on the same stuff.

You’ve already got another European tour planned for later this year, I guess this means you’re getting a good response in Europe.

Yeah, it’s worked out quite funny, I guess, because we’ve based this tour and also some stuff that’s coming out in August around festivals, so we’ve been booked for June a some shows in August.
It wouldn’t make sense to come and do a 3 months tour because there wouldn’t be anywhere to play, but because of that I get to keep going and coming back, then Tesseract invited me on the tour at the end of the year, so back again.

You’ve also played a lot in North America, Europe, and of course in Australia, is there any place you’d like to play but couldn’t manage to so far?

I would love to play in Japan again, I haven’t since 2015, I’d love to see more of Asia and I’d really like to play in South America.

Let’s talk about you, when did you start playing guitar?

I got my first guitar, an acoustic, when I was I think 9 years old, then an electric when I turned 11, so I’ve been playing 15 years now.

Did you take lessons or are you self-taught?

Mostly self-taught, I watch a lot of YouTube videos and I try to learn from people that I like.

Playing instrumental music means your songs have to be much more varied than most music with vocals; when did you feel confident enough with your guitar and songwriting skills to start writing this music?

I guess I started writing music the same time I started playing electric guitar, ‘cause I’ve always found it really fun even if it wasn’t good, so I’ve been writing music for 10 something years and then in the last few years I’ve built up enough knowledge to make stuff that I thought was interesting and maybe sounded more like me than me trying to be Animals as Leaders, or Steve Vai, or someone else.

Was instrumental music your aim since you started writing music?

I used to write funny punk songs with lyrics when I was like nine, but I quickly realised that I definitely can’t sing, I’m not very good at writing lyrics, so I just focused on the instrumental side, but I’d like to write with lyrics at some point.

I’ve never seen you playing live before, but of course when you gig you have other musicians on stage with you; is the show all about you or is there more of a band-vibe?

To me it’s definitely about the band, I try to have the best possible band, people that I really like, I think you’ll see tonight we’re just four equals having fun rather than me on the spotlight and just anonymous people, because I think that makes it a lot more dynamic and interesting than if it were just three people paid to be there and they’re sad, just playing. 

A while back you were endorsed, so to say, by one of the masters of this genre you play, Steve Vai, how did his comments make you feel?

It kind of didn’t feel real, still doesn’t feel real, but I guess it’s just a great inspiration to keep doing what I’m doing, ‘cause it seems to work.

Do you think that opened some doors for you, maybe helped you sell some more albums and tour some more?

I’m not sure that I necessarily sold more albums, but it’s definitely helped because people who might hear about me for the first time will then maybe also be curious to listen to the music.

Something probably many are hoping for now is some kind of collaboration, either in studio or a tour together, is there any talk about something like that?

I would love that, I’d love to tour with him, I’d be more than happy to be a support act, I guess we’ll see.
He knows that I want to.

Can you talk me a bit about your equipment setup?

Yeah, guitars, I play Steinberger guitars, it’s a Swedish headless ergonomic guitar, it’s the first guitar that I played after playing an Ibanez for 10 years and I totally love it.
As far as amplifications I use an Axe effect, for live I run it through a Mesa 4×12 cabinet, but most of the signal is coming straight from the Axe effect.

For many bands the “album-tour” cycle is something inevitable and the only way to go; you, on the other hand, are working in a bit different way, releasing single songs and EPs on Bandcamp, touring without really having new studio stuff to support, do you think that side of the music industry today can work differently?

I guess where’re kind of in the middle and things are changing, like there are still bands that make an album and then go on a world tour, that seems to be the biggest way to have an impact.
But then if you look at the Pop industry and Rap, there are people that are getting famous for a single song and then go on a tour from that, and then put out another song and go on a different tour.
For me, because that’s what I want to do for a long time and I don’t want to turn it into a routine like, “Alright, it’s been one year, I need to make an album again”, I try to just do what feels fun and inspired, like this year I’ve been doing more touring than ever because I’ve got so many offers that like, I have to say yes, like I can’t not tour with Tesseract, they’re one of my favourite bands, I can’t not play Download festival, it’s like a bucket list thing, but then doing it, even though I love it, it’s definitely making me think next year I want to spend more time writing music and maybe doing clinics and stuff like that.

So, do you have already ideas for a new album?

I’ve got an EP that’s finished and will come out at the end of July, and basically as soon as I get home I just want to write more music and see what happens.

Do you have any goal for the near future?

I’d love to expand the way that I play like, I’d love to play with a string ensemble or something like that, I’d love to collaborate more with people who does lights, or projections, I’d love to play more in Italy, I was talking to Mario who organised this and the next time I come in Italy I want to play as much in Italy as possible ‘cause I really like it here.

My last question is, did you manage to make music you full-time occupation?

Yeah.

Great, it was nice talking to you!

Awesome, nice to meet you.

Davide Sciaky