OF INFINITY - Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/aeazine2/OF

OF INFINITY
Interview with Alessandra Zinicola and company

Of Infinity was conceptualized in July of 1999 by Alessandra Zinicola (vocals, synth) and Nazareth Sando (guitarist) who was previously in an Arkansas black metal band known as Fallen Empire. After traveling back and forth from New Jersey to Arkansas, Alessandra and Nazareth moved around the country a lot while searching for a stable lineup. From 2001 to 2003 they hired bassist Kurtis Kyllo, based themselves in Utah (Salt Lake City), Arkansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and finally Texas, where they've remained since December 2003. Their first demo The Essence of Infinity was recorded and mastered in September 2003 while they were still in Utah. The band made their radio debut on 88.3 KABF Little Rock, Arkansas in January of 2004, The Essence of Infinity was released in September 2004; in October they completed their lineup by hiring drummer Carlos Teller. Of Infinity's first appearances in national metal magazines were in December 2004 and January 2005, in Metal Maniacs in Pit. However new, the band is a unique voice in the metal underground, combining death metal and gothic metal in more than a few interesting ways. A few comparisons have been made to Lacuna Coil, Nightwish and Evanescence.

Provide the details of how you hooked up with former Fallen Empire member Nazareth Sando to form Of Infinity. You hail from the New York/New Jersey area and he hails from Arkansas. What were the circumstances of you first getting in touch and then meeting face to face?
The Internet! Yeah, he actually found me off the net after he left Fallen Empire…why he left the band is a whole other story to tell… but, we were both looking for a band to join and it just seemed right, so we started collaboration online and a couple months later, we started taking monthly airline trips back and fourth to each state. I think the plans had been he was going to move up to NJ, but at the last min. plans changed and I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and so he moved there instead which is where we met Kurtis our bassist.

What style of metal did you intend to play? Being that you play synthesizer and Sando's old band was black metal, what kind of band did you think would result from your meeting?
I know that Naz had gotten sick of constant blast beats and no-melody screaming, and he wanted to start something that was more melodic and a little slower, so although he keeps some black metal elements in some of his songs, for the most part, he was ready to move on from that and start making something originally his. I had previously been in a punk/alternative cover band where I played lead guitar (Which should tell you how bad the band was being that I don’t even play guitar), and I just wanted to get out of that and into metal, which is what I love. I wrote a lot of piano music, and it just seems like my slower and more melodic style of writing really meshed well with Naz’s new vision. I think we pretty much knew what we were going to be making as far as music goes after we had exchanged some of our own pieces, so there was no surprise there, we both really liked what we were doing and I think working together has made both of our material even better.

Were there any bands you were a member of before Of Infinity? Are any of these bands still together?
Well obviously for Naz, Fallen Empire. Naz also had a few smaller bands before that though… mostly rock I think. I of course had “Chocolate-Chip Wal-Mart”…uh… so embarrassing…hehe. And Kurtis and Carlos were both in smaller punk and death metal band before they joined us. None of them are together anymore I don’t believe.

Are Fallen Empire still together? Have you ever kept in touch with them?
I’m not sure you could call them “together” anymore. I know one guitarist has gone to play with Vore, (www.vore.org) the keyboardist has married one of the guitarist from Vore and moved away, the drummer quit flat out, and the vocalist now growls/screams for Epoch of Unlight. Naz is still friends with drummer Greg Grunwald and we keep in touch with him… we’ve actually talked about doing shows with him and his kin. And we recently just had a fair amount of conversing with the guitarist, Jeremy Partin, that went to play with Vore, as he is the metal reviewer for the Arkansas Free Press, and he just did an awesome review on us in the November issue…he was also kind enough to provide us with one of Fallen Empire’s old CDs from 2002 which we had not heard fully, Through The Blackened Gates Of Immortal Hell.

What is the current lineup of Of Infinity? Has the lineup remained stable over the years?
The current line up is: Nazareth (Guitars, Songwriting), Myself; Alessandra (Vocals, Piano/Synths, Songwriting), Kurtis (Bass), and Carlos (Drums). The band has been together since 1999 and since then, Nazareth and I have always been there. We picked up Kurtis almost 3 years ago and he’s been a loyal band mate since. Carlos is actually fairly new… only a few months new as we picked him up in San Antonio, Texas, our newest home.

What bands are each member of Of Infinity most into? What different influences in music does each member bring to the band?
I’ll let everyone answer this one….
Nazareth: Most of my favorite bands are gone now… The first real influence I had was Soundgarden. I also liked Alice In Chains, and most other bands from the Seattle era. After that, I moved on to stuff like Zakk Wylde. A lot of other influences aren’t even metal. I listen to many different genres of music… can’t say that I delve into country, but most others I’ll listen to.
Kurtis: I try to diversify what I listen to for the purpose of maximizing musical efficacy. As far as metal goes… I’m big into Cradle of Filth, Dimmu, I also enjoy the older stuff; Iron Maiden, Sodom, Venom. Every now and then I’ll run into a great band that nobody’s ever heard of like Crystal Abyss, from Russia, they kick ass. I listen to everything from death metal to Nordic folk music. I try to incorporate a lot of influences into the stuff that I write. As far as my bass parts… most of that just comes from me and my punk background.
Alessandra: I’m always interested in hearing other female-fronted metal bands, so I listen to stuff like Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, and Theatre Of Tragedy… but aside from that lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Type-O, Children Of Bodom, In Flames… oh and when I was first introduced to metal, I listened to a lot of Ozzy and Pantera as well as some Slayer and such. I also have a soft spot for the Beatles and Billy Joel.
Carlos: Well, my main influences are King Diamond/Mercyful Fate and Blind Guardian. I try to bring those aspects to the band. Also, I am starting to get into the progressive drum techniques (Mike Portnoy), and try to incorporate some of that into the music.

Who writes the band's lyrics and what inspires them?
On this past CD, it was mostly Nazareth’s lyrics and lyrics we collaborated on with Steinbeck Award winner, Paul Greulich. I’ll let Naz tell you about his lyrics, but as for Paul… Paul is a writer... a poet… he’s crazy and artistic and very talented… who knows what goes on in the mind of a writer?
Nazareth: For the demo, I wrote the lyrics for "Shadow of a Lie." There are several songs on the full-length CD that I’ve written lyrics to. Most of them are inspired by spirituality and other concepts that I find to be of importance. Valor, Honor, Remembrance, etc. drive most of my lyrics.

Why did you choose B.R.A.T. studios to record your debut CD? What circumstances led to B.R.A.T. Studios going under that same month? Was it difficult for the band to find another studio to finish recording the CD?
B.R.A.T. studios was a sure mistake. We used that studio for our first instrumental CD, not realizing some of the problems we were going to have there. The one good thing that came out of it was that we were much pickier about finding the right studio for recording our newest CD, The Essence Of Infinity. The guy that ran B.R.A.T. was somewhat of an armateur in recording technique, he took smoke breaks on our studio time, and he did an awful job mixing the thing to the point where at least one of the songs was completely unusable. Little did we know he was struggling to keep the thing open, (And our experience with him probably says why) and shortly after we had finished recording, a matter of weeks, I think the whole place was actually repossessed. On the other hand, the latest studio we used, The Annex, was a great experience for us and the reviewers have said, “The production is almost flawless”… needless to say, were very happy about that

Your band history makes frequent mentions of the band relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah. For what reasons did these relocations prove advantageous to the band? Can you describe what sort of an environment Salt Lake City was for metal fans looking for bands to join?
Hehe… actually, we were constantly trying to get out of SLC, but for various different reasons at various different times, we ended up having to go back. I would have liked to stay in NJ, but the first time we moved to SLC, I was under 18 and had no choice but to go with my family members. I remember once (after I had become of legal age) we went back and were all the way in NJ/PA and I had got really sick and was in the hospital… we had to go back to a place where we had more people we knew and more family while I was recovering and SLC happened to be that place at the time. Luckily we have finally broken loose of SLC and now all reside in San Antonio as of about a half year ago. For the people in SLC looking for bands to join, I feel sorry for you as I felt sorry for myself while I was there. Some might say that the metal scene in SLC is ok… I guess for the average metal fan it is, but coming from the east coast, I think it’s pretty sad, even Nazareth coming from Arkansas though it was pretty bad. The band members even tried to make it better while we were around, but I honestly don’t think there’s enough of a metal spirit there, people there either weren’t interested in making it better or we were misunderstood in our intentions. Either way, SLC was not a good experience for Of Infinity. Hehe, oh and I could go on and on about the Mormons and all the state’s religious cult based laws and ridiculous views on things, but I’d be talking for hours… lets just leave it at that!

How many other locations has Of Infinity been based from since getting together?
Let’s see… aside from UT there’s been NJ, AR, PA, and now TX. There’s also been like month stops in places like Florida and stuff but, we’ve stayed a matter of years in the 5 states I’ve mentioned. We move around a lot, sometimes for personal reasons and sometimes, like this latest move to TX, for band opportunity reasons… the scene in Utah was dead, so we moved somewhere known for is metal crowd.

Are there bands you've done shows with that you would recommend to the readers?
It’s hard to find really good unsigned bands that we’ve played with that we’d want to recommend to others. There are however a few underground metal bands that we wish we could play shows with that we thought were really awesome; Ash&Elm, Utopia Banished, and EnChoir are all bands that we’ve heard over the years that have impressed us with their music. All are from different parts of the country or world though, which has made it impossible for us to do more with them.

In what ways did Of Infinity improve translating their vision to record between your first CD and The Essence of Infinity? Are there still aspects of your music that you want to improve?
Well for one thing, we added vocals! That’s the most audibly obvious new improvement on the CD. But also, the drums are live on this new album where we were using electronic drums on the first… the production is 110% better on this CD... this CD has just been polished up in every way. Most people will tell you, “There is always room for improvement”… and that is true with the band’s music. No matter how good it is, we will always try to be better.

What are the band's best songs so far and for what reasons?
We have a lot of songs that have not been recorded, so although some of the band members think that some of those are the best we have, out of the ones that people have been able to listen too, I like "Shadow Of A Lie" and "It’s Only For Forever." Shadow is one of Naz’s great compositions… its epic with awesome violins and guitar themes. The songs so layered and beautiful, but so hard and thrashy at times… it’s just a very good song, very metal. I like It’s Only For Forever because… well I’m bias... it’s my song, but I like it because it’s simple… more simple than most of the stuff that we write, but it somehow incorporates blues, metal, classically piano, and this funny “medieval swagger” as it’s been called, and yet, it fits together perfectly… its really interesting.

Since making your radio debut on 88.3 KABF Little Rock, Arkansas back in January of 2004, how much more well known has Of Infinity become? How often have you been heard on the station?
We’ve gotten a lot of radio airplay since in a lot of different states as well as in the Netherlands and the UK and of course, on the Internet… so that has helped a lot in having people hear us. It was very exciting to hear ourselves on the radio the first time… they played “It’s Only For Forever”… and I think they played the other two songs the following shows. I know they play us in Utah maybe once ever 2 weeks or so, so that’s good too. We’re on a lot of stations now it’s hard to keep up with who is playing us when!

How much press has Of Infinity gotten this far? Has the press you have had mostly been positive or negative? Which interviews do the band think best represent Of Infinity?
Oh man…we have been getting tons of press these past 3 or 4 months since the new CD came out and all of it has been very positive. Were really happy, we’ve had reviewers and interviewers say things like they can’t believe were not signed yet and that were better than Evanescence, Nightwish, and Lacuna Coil. We don’t want to get big heads about any of the stuff people are saying about us, but were very happy about all of it. Oh, and were very excited because were going to have a story on us done by UNRESTRAINED! Magazine this coming Feb, so look out for that! The band has done around 17 interviews so far and the way each one comes out depends on our mood… hehe... we’ve had really funny interviews where we talk about “Naz and Kurtis shooting squirrels in the front yard with marbles from their nostrils” and then we’ve had serious ones where we actually explain in depth about who we really are and what is the meaning of everything we do. So… maybe a mix of all the interviews together would give someone the best representation of the band.

Which female metal vocalists do you most admire? Are there any female vocalists you don't admire as greatly as those you do? State your reasons for both.
In true metal, I admire any female vocalist that has made something of themselves as long as they are truly talented. I don’t admire female vocalists that aren’t really good at what they do despite their popularity… I actually went to see Evanescence live a while ago because Nazareth, being from Arkansas like the band, knew a couple of the original members (before they recently split). And I was so disappointed in Amy’s vocal performance….she couldn’t hit notes, she would be flat sometimes, and she was very boring to watch on stage… and instead of admiration, I feel anger and slight jealousy that she gets to be doing something like that for a living, but at the same time, I feel like she must have some talent in something, perhaps songwriting, or she would not have gotten anywhere…that is, if there is any justice in the music industry. So… yes, there are some female vocalists that I don’t admire... but there are some that I do… I would add Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil and Liv Kristine from TOT to my admiration list as well as Tarja Turunen from Nightwish and a few other underground metal band’s fem-vocalists… oh, and Janice Joplin! We can go outside the metal realm as well I think! I recently saw that new movie/documentary “Festival Express” and even though she’s not a trained vocalist, I was in complete awe of her performance featured in that film.

How soon can we expect another CD from Of Infinity?
Were currently working on the music for our next full length release which should be ready around this time next year… hopefully sooner.

Do you hope to be signed to an indie label in the near future? What label would the band most like to be on?
Many smaller indie labels have approached us about signing with them, but so far we have not found any of them to be exactly what were looking for in a label and they have all be a little too small for us. We would like to start looking at labels in the near future to possibly be signed with, and we all have ideas about who we would like to be involved with, but really we have been so busy with this new CD release we have not even begun to try to gain the interest of any labels. Maybe in early to mid 2005 we’ll start on that as we would like to be signed in the future.

Any final comments?
Yes! I want to let all the fans of our genre of metal to know that they can get the band’s new CD, The Essence Of Infinity online at our site at http://www.ofinfinity.com or at CDBaby.com at http://www.cdbaby.com/ofinfinity. Both are easy and secure sites to order merchandise off of and the CD is only $5.00 so its not a big investment and its well worth the small amount of money J Thanks a lot for giving us this interview Dave… it was a lot of fun, and thank you for all your support!

Of Infinity
PO Box 780224
San Antonio TX 78278-0224
USA
http://www.ofinfinity.com
Email: OfInfinityEmail@aol.com
Contact: Alessandra Zinicola

Of Infinity
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- Dave Wolff

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