William Gray
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=77096
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Topic: William Gray
Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: William Gray
Date Posted: March 28 2011 at 11:16
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William Gray is an Argentine musical project featuring 10 musicians and focussing on three subjects: an album, an audio-visual show and a multi-media website (still under construction). The story on this concept album is about a person called Virgilio who is walking on the streets of Buenos Aires and lives between sane and insanity. I got in touch with the band and Sebastian answered my questions. ################################################################################
When,
where and by whom was your band born ? Did any of you, past and
present members, play in any other bands before joining up in your
band ? Why did you choose that name ?
This
all started in 2005 as a solo project. Later, I met lyricist and
co-writer Guillermo Rubens, we hit it off, and what until then was
just music started evolving into fully fledged songs. I started
summoning the rest of the musicians until the final ensemble was set
up.
Then,
when
Living Fossils came out, I met again with some of the people involved
in the recording and decided to play it live, and that’s how
William Gray became a band. Some of those members left and other came
out. Our current lineup is:
Federico
Zanzottera:
Piano, Moog, Keyboards, Accordion
Juan
Manuel Tavella: Hammond, Keyboards, Santoor
Fausto
Manes: Drums
Carolina
Azcune: Backing Vocals
Joaquin
Angiolini: Bandoneón
Marcela
Muollo: Cello
Agustin
Uriburu: Cello
Federico
Ferme: Guitars
Maximiliano
Rago: Bass
Sebastián
Medina:
Vocals, Guitars
The
people involved
in Living Fossils are part of a varity of other projects, such as
Pez, Rockafonica, Colón Theatre Academic Orchestra, 31 Chamber
Choir, or Astillero Orchestra (tango).
The
members
of the current band play or have played in other projects, such as:
Monos del Infierno Group (tango), Baigón Orchestra (tango), Roberto
Klein Quintet (jazz), Alan Haksten Grupp (tango), Verne, Ecos, Quiz
Titiritaina a Fortiri, Evos, Fonofante, and Frac Popper.
For
those of us unknown with your music; how would you describe you music
and which bands would you compare yourself with ?
This
is a cliché, but it’s true in
our case at least: we compose the music we like, and we are not
obsessed with conforming to this genre or that. Every member of the
band has a different and distinct musical background, ranging far and
beyond prog rock. This becomes clear when you listen to the other
musical outfits they belong to. But this is an advantage when we are
composing, because it enriches the music. Of course we think the
result can be obviously framed under progressive or symphonic rock.
About
the band name, William
Gray (Guillermo Gray) was an unknown Argentine writer who spent all
his life as an ordinary man working in a bank. He was born in the 30s
and died alone and with no relatives. All his writings were found in
his closet and published posthumously. Living Fossils was his last
tale.  Your
one and only album so far; Living Fossils,
was released in 2006. Please tell us more about this album.
It’s
a rock opera: the story takes place in current-day Buenos Aires, and
its arc takes through several real-life city locations, from the
emblematic Harrod’s building to the city zoo, and in between it
spans the traditional Molino café, the National TV terraces, and the
tunnels of South America’s first subway, which still operates
wooden
coaches. The main character –Virgilio, a university professor- sees
his life shattered when his wife and little daughter are run over by
an ambulance. He suffers a breakdown and roams the street homeless
and deranged, thinking at times he’s a medieval troubadour, and
others he’s on a holy quest to fight a dragon. Luck would have it,
he’s spotted by a secret cabal of grey men who take him under their
wing and nurse him back to helath (and sanity). To get there, he will
have to face his fears in the shape of urban battles, the last of
which is against himself.
From
where can this album be purchased from ?
From
our local distributor, http://www.viajeroinmovil.com/" rel="nofollow -
What
have you been up to since 2006 ?
After
the first album was released, we supported it with several live
performances, both in the city of Buenos Aires and other provinces of
Argentina. Some
have been our own gigs, but we also took part of several festivals,
in which we shared stage with people like Caamora (Clive Noland),
Under Linden, Nexus, Chaneton, etc. Switching through lineups and
styles, some shows were acoustic, some more rock-like, and we even
made a forray into tango when playing with the Alan Haksten grupp.
What
is your latest update and what is your
plans for this year and beyond?
We’re
giving the finishing touches to our second album,
titled Silentio,
which will be released in July 2011. Another rock opera, this time
it’s the story of a child with an uncanny ability to communicate
with objects. It’s as eclectic as our first one, with arrangements
for lyrical choir, tango, and strings, etc. Over thirty musicians
were part of the recording, without counting the choir of course. It
includes a string quarter, bandoneón, accordion, mandolin, trumpet,
and Baldwin funmachine!
Our
plan is start playing it live as soon as the album hits the streets,
first in Buenos Aires, then the provinces, and if any
producer appears, overseas. We’re looking into Europe and Japan as
possible destinations, and keeping our fingers crossed.
To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want
to add to this interview?
All
our news are available on http://www.facebook.com/pages/William-Gray-Prog/116421201708731" rel="nofollow - Thank you to Sebastian for this interview Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2826" rel="nofollow - and their homepage's http://www.livingfossilsproject.com" rel="nofollow - |
Replies:
Posted By: avestin
Date Posted: March 28 2011 at 11:32
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Finally some news about this band. Great to hear about the second album in the making, highly looking forward to it. Living Fossils is a spectacular album. ------------- http://hangingsounds.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow - Hanging Sounds http://www.progarchives.com/ProgRockShopping.asp" rel="nofollow - PA Index of prog music vendors |