KB Could you give us a brief history of your musical career please?
LS I was born like a drummer and I played in a couple of bands (the first was Hard Rock and the second was Aor) in the 91 my band at time changed to more hard sound for that I leave the band and I began to write my Aor songs making my first demo including 2 songs. I'd maked two other demo after that in the 94, but it was a poor quality recording, until when int he 97 I decided to record into a good studio with some good session man.
KB What are your fave songs of your demo? Where does the inspiration come from?
LS Funnily enough my fav songs are the early two songs I wrote and there are "Every word you say to me" and "Victim of your heart",especially the second give me always a lot of feeling when I sing it,and the inspiration was gived to me from one love story finished. But not all my songs reflected my real life,some yes and some other not, I think depends by the moment.
KB Did you write all the songs on Luke St.Gold by yourself ? Do you plan to go on a solo basis or form a band around you ? Did you play in any other bands before ?Who are the other guys playing on your demo ?
LS Yes, I wrote all my songs by myself but sometime I would have a real guitarist by my side,my plan is if one day I'll have the need to play live, I'll form a band around me.The others guys playng on my demo there are a session men except Mirko Pantano (bass guitar) is a friend of mine that he had played on my old Aor band named Heartless.
KB Have you already been approached by record companies ?
LS Unfortunately not yet , maybe all the record companies don't think on italian Aor singer could sing in english, do you know some labels that it could be intersted to my music?
KB How does the musical climate look like in Italy ? Are there many Aor bands ? Is there a good chance to make it with rockmusic ?
LS I don't think we have a good musical climate here, if you want to play around you must do a italian covers, this can explain very good how is the music here and for this I'm not intersted to play live here.
KB Are you a fulltime musician or how does your private life look like ?
LS Not yet for now, but I hope for the future to become a fulltime musician, hoping well....like all the halftime musicians I've another job.
KB What are your basic influences and why ?
LS I'm influenced from many 80's Aor artists, like Survivor, Bon Jovi (the early), Michael Bolton and one of my fav is Mr. Desmond Child, I think he's the most great songwriter on the AOR-world.
KB Your Top 5 albums for the "lonely island" ? What are you listening at the moment ?
LS 1) Hugo " Hugo" , 2) Michael Morales "Thump", 3) Nelson "After the rain", 4)Desmond Child " Runners in the night" , 5) FM " Indescreet", these five for the lonely island and now I'm listening to 1) Drive She Said " Best of " 2) Norway " Night Dreams" 3) Agent " Evidence", 4) Hush " If you smile" 5) Von Groove " Chameleon".
KB What do you think of the Internet and its possibilities ?
LS Internet it's a great place for each musician and the confirm is that I'm talking to you about Aor music cos the links between people that share the same music is speedy indeed.
KB Do you plan to stay in Italy or maybe move to the US like your fellow Italian Alex Masi ?
LS Yes, my plan is to stay in Italy but if I'll find a record company on some other place in the world, I'll go there.
KB Any message for the reader ?
LS Thanks, and keep holdin'on AOR music, keep in touch.
TA Tu sei uno dei pochi esponenti della musica Aor qui in Italia, hai scelto di suonare questo tipo di musica perchè ce l'avevi nel sangue ?
LS Ho scelto questo tipo di musica perchè oltre ad averla nel sangue è quella che ho suonato con la mia vecchia band ed è sempre stata la musica che ho seguito negli ultimi 15 anni.
TA Com'e maturata la tua idea di cantare da solista? E' stata una tua scelta personale oppure non hai trovato gli elementi giusti per formare una band stabile ?
LS Cantare da solista è l'unico modo per poter esprimere pienamente le proprie idee, sicuramente suonare in una band è molto più divertente che fare il solista, ma il fatto è che in Italia è purtroppo difficilssimo trovare musicisti Aor.
TA Hai imparato a cantare da autodidatta o hai preso lezioni di canto? Hai degli Aor-singer che preferisci ?
LS Si, ho imparato da autodidatta cominciando a fare i cori quando ero batterista, poi ho sviluppato questa passione seguendo i vari cantanti del genere, specialmente Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bolton, Mark Free e Desmond Child. Reputo la maggior parte di cantanti Aor molto bravi.
TA Quale pensi che sia stato il maggiore ostacolo che l'Aor ha incontrato negli anni 90, il grunge,le labels,il pubblico o cosa ?
LS Sinceramente non saprei risponderti a questa domanda, ma mi consola il fatto che ora ci sono moltissime band (naturalmente straniere,specialmente svedesi) che fanno buonissima musica, tipo Bad Habit, Pete Sandberg etc.
TA Cosa pensi di tutte quelle band che si sono convertite all' alternative rock perchè faceva trend ?
LS Penso che, o non avevano le idee ben chiare o avevano bisogno di soldi.
TA Hai un modo particolare per comporre i tuoi brani ?
LS No, non ho nessun segreto di questo tipo purtroppo, solo con la chitarra o con le tastiere cerco di mettere in musica il "feeling" di quel particolare momento.
TA Di cosa parli nei tuoi testi ?
LS Solitamente i testi Aor sono molto melensi ed è così che sono anche i miei.
TA Vuoi lasciare un messaggio a tutti coloro che leggeranno la 'zine ?
LS Ringrazio tutti e spero che un giorno o l'altro qualche italiano riesca ad entrare nell' underground di vertice dell Aor.