Egonon

A new band from Venice, EGONON combines the best of the Italian progressive tradition with modern sensibilities and eclectic influences. The band is comprised of Fabio Calo' (songwriter, lyricist, vocals, piano, guitars, oud, sitar, sarangi, mellotron, percussion), Roberto Parolin (drums), Andrea Ghion (bass), David Boato (trumpet, flugelhorn), Luigi Sella (sax, clarinet), and Alvise Stiffoni (cello). Their first album was released in 2011, Risveglio, surprisingly self-produced, partly recorded in Libya. As noted by the variety of the instruments listed above, the band continues in the grand Italian tradition of incorporating Mediterranean (including Middle Eastern) influences, sounds, melodies, and instruments into their songs. The result is a wonderful blend of old and new, exotic and familiar, melodic and jarring--in short an excellent Rock Progressivo Italiano adventure. Fabio Calo' lists musical influences as quite diverse, including Ornette Coleman, Frank Zappa, Igor Stravinsky, King Crimson, and Middle Eastern music.

I got in touch with them and Fabio answered my questions.

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When, where and by whom was your band born ?

The idea of Egonon was born in my heart. It is a by-product of my spiritual life, of my spiritual quest. The communicative urge comes from the will of change, the need of awakening ("risveglio") out of a life which does not belong to man anymore.
Man unconsciously stopped thinking, or rather is thinking with his nervous system instead of his Self, because of the constant distractions he undergoes to: all man does prevents his real, pure, intuitive thinking, allowing only his inferior, logical-rational and sensual thinking. All around, commercials, movies, politics, religions, dry his ideologies and creeds. There's no movie anymore which refers to other that fear of death and sex: normally it is all about a smart blend of them both.
Tension of fear and tension of passion strangle the watcher in a tight grip, convincing him of being an evolved animal instead of a spiritual entity.
Commercials and tv shows create induced wishes and false needs. Medias depict events (problems) not as chronicle but as a novel, which has already included all the feelings and the emotions (reactions) it must stir up. Short after, austere professors appear in tv and talk to watchers as they spoke to children, depicting a military intervention or a tax increase (solution) as "painful but necessary", probably to be introduced gradually, so the sheep can adapt better.
This is our daily life: lies throughout the truth and truth throughout lies.
Man doesn't think anymore and is not even aware that someone else thinks for him, from inside of him.
Therefore, man must raise out of this if he wants to continue his evolution: "Nessun dorma!" (nobody sleep!).
At this time, I am writing a book about Music as an initiation path towards Knowledge, the listening rather than the vision, Akròasis rather than Aisthèsis.

Why did you choose that name? 

EGONON means I DON'T, in latin "ego non". It comes from the Peter's words "etiam si omnes, ego non" (even when all others will…I won't), Matthew 26:33–34.
It was also the german inteligentia's motto from the White Rose movement during the dissent to nazism and it was written on one of their major representatives' house, Wehrmacht officer Philipp von Boeselager's.
It also means NO EGO, the Ego's mortification and sublimation as necessary step towards evolution.

Did any of you, past and present members, play in any other bands before joining up in your band ?  

Yes, of course. Bob Parolin is currently playing with Pushking, a russian metal band, and, together with Andrea Ghion, with El Cuento de la Chica y la Tequila, an italian flamenco-rock band. Myself, I used to play in a jazz band but that was quite a long time ago and a rap-jazz-metal band when I leved in Miami.
Anyway, I am not a technical musician but mostly an intuitive player, singer and writer.
I believed technique is good but it also limits your creativity: thereby I developed my own techniques, based on more esoteric parameters rather than "mechanical" (put your diaphragm like this, your feet like that, use the lydian scale etc). But it is only my personal opinion.
All my life came out of technique: I studied electronics, then I became an airline pilot. All very sharp, uncreative, rational and technical jobs.
So Music was always "the bright side of the moon"!

Which bands were you influenced by ?

Like already stated, influences run from Stravinsky to Frank Zappa, from King Crimson to the italian Area, from Middle Eastern to Indian music, from Ornette Coleman to Ennio Morricone. We all have different lives, therefore tastes and ways to see music: this, I believe, is essential for the result.  
It was well understood by Miles Davis, which always wanted interracial bands, to infuse more "feelings" into his music.

Over to your only album so far. Please tell us more about your Risveglio album from earlier this year. 

First of all, I want to specify that the cd was not merely a self-production, but rather a shared, financially and artistically, target accomplished together by myself and Andrea Valfrè, the italian sound engineer pluri-nominated at Latin Grammy Award. Thereby the great sound you hear in the cd is the result of such cooperation: an absolutely professional and hard-worked achievement. Also the non-technical sound and the arrangements style came from our choices and mutual considerations. Finally, also the great Simon Heyworth contributed to the sound as well, since the mastering was done in his Devon studio. He did great albums as Gong's Angel's Egg, all King Crimson's remasters and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

The music is traditional Italian prog. But how would you describe your music and which bands would you compare yourself to ?

It is actually not very traditional, either italian or else. The usage of electric guitars riffs together with saxophones has been heard in Area, King Crimson etc. But the target here was to reach a musical syncretism, a convergence of west and east, north and south. For this research of crossing styles, you can see this as crossover or progressive music. Though, we didn't want to stick in any specific style, but only to make music with feelings and Light, speaking of highest form of Love rather the usual, passional, pleasant one. The way was to use hard guitars and drums to stir up the "belly response", the energy of rage, to be afterwards transformed in the heart, through strings instruments, into pure light to illuminate the mind, where the winds as flute had to intervene. The approach is more esoteric. In my opinion, spiritual music can not just stimulate the solar part of soul and ignore the lunar, darker ones. Instead, it must really dig into the darkness within each and then to elevate this energy up to hypophysis and epiphysis.
Same as it must be done in a spiritual journey: today one cannot retire on a mountain and live as a monk, because all the darkness remains, it is put to sleep only. But then, when one does not sense it anymore, the lethargic forces manifest and the Self is overwhelmed.
The Hermes words "Know your Self" call for a TOTAL conscience of Real Self, normally named as Superior Self, which since the Golgotha Event contain the Christic Spark.
So the "musical language" draws from everything we have listened.

Risveglio is part one of a trilogy of albums. What can we expect from # 2 and # 3 ?

Yes, Risveglio is part 1 of a quadrilogy. Number 2, named "7 Exusiai", is obviously aiming to a different target.
We are working on it now: after the Awakening, the Rebirth.
You can expect a more direct album, more immediate rock, simpler in a way, but still in pure Egonon style.
It is more about volitive Action, about pulling out the Michael's Sort against the Dragon.

What have you been up to since the release of this album ?

We actually didn't stop playing and recording since Risveglio's release.
We have so many ideas, of which only few were selected to become the new songs.
Interestingly, it seems that Risveglio was appreciated abroad despite it is sung in italian.
It seems that the "message" passes through anyway..

What are your plans for this year and beyond ?  

To go on this way, regardless whether our music will be appreciated, bought or accepted.
It is some kind of a mission rather than an interest.
Of course the goal is to reach everyone on the planet, but I believe that Risveglio and the next works will have to find their own way to reach people's heart: we have only made ourselves "instruments".

To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ?  
 
I want to tell everyone to never have fears, to deepen up rather than lighten up, despite life is already heavy enough.
Knowledge is the greatest defensive weapon, Truth is the only freedom.
Have doubts on what you read, hear and see, trust your intuition rather than your animal instinct.
Be much more than yourself: be your Real Self!
We all developed our Self, our individuality today, thus lost all the Other's conscience to conquer the possibility of Freedom.
Today it is the time of the free Choice, between light and darkness.
It is up to each one of us, to be the Raven or the Solar Hero.
Love to you all!

Thank you to Fabio for this interview

Their PA profile is here and their homepage's here