Pictured: Marco with Temperance
Dead Rhetoric: In one of your recent interviews, you mention a desire to tour with the progressive metal band Leprous. Beyond them, who are some of the other artists you would love to go on the road either in a support or headlining capacity?
Pastorino: Yes, I dream about touring with Leprous a lot. I wish I could go on tour every week. With Temperance, we need to go on tour as a headliner because we have a lot of time to create a set list, with all our backline and stuff. We have a lot of dreams about a headliner band to support. We have shared the stage with a lot of amazing bands: Nightwish, Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody, Within Temptation. At the moment, I’d like to go on tour with my favorite band in the European metal scene right now, Battle Beast. They are from Finland, they are totally amazing – not a very big band but I really love their music.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you balance out the work load between the three bands you are currently active in? Do you have to plan things out months in advance to not step on toes?
Pastorino: I have these three bands, and every week I receive proposals from other bands for guest solos, or the possibility to join other bands. In this modern era, all is possible- you can try to have two or three, maybe not more, bands. I need to have these bands because it’s not so easy with a single band today- it’s a sad tale to tell. With a single band, we would go on tour… with Temperance for instance, we would play 200 gigs in a year, and it would be crazy. With Temperance and Secret Sphere I can do a lot of things different and I am so happy about this.
Dead Rhetoric: What types of goals do you set for yourself in the short term or long term? Who do you consider some of the model musicians or bands that you look up to for their professionalism or overall attitude towards the music scene?
Pastorino: In the next year, especially in 2017, I wish to play as many shows as possible. Of course, in my part of Europe, the USA, and the Far East too. My goal would be to come to the USA with Temperance for the first time, as well as going to Japan with the band. Improve our profile step by step. We have a lot of great projects coming up. We work a lot for Light & Shade as well, Adrienne and I have talked about the second album. I don’t know if we will begin to write the new songs until the next spring or next summer, but we will try to put out another album at the end of 2017 or the first months of 2018. We will also try to go on tour with Light & Shade.
In the last few years, I have received proposals to join some great bands in Europe- but at the moment I prefer to work with my own bands, Temperance and Light & Shade especially, because I work with these bands in many capacities: booking, songwriting, production, all stuff that is very close to the band. I’m very focused on these two bands for the future – in the next year our names could create a lot of happiness and interest for the rest of the metal scene in every part of Europe.
Dead Rhetoric: Which has been harder to develop over the years – your singing or guitar playing? What are the key ingredients that you believe make for the best guitarists and songwriters in heavy metal?
Pastorino: In the last few days, I played a show as a singer with a band from Turisa, and on guitar as a guest like myself was Timo Somers from Delain. And I think that Timo is one of the best guitar players in Europe at the moment. He’s amazing and a very good guy. There are a lot of great songwriters – I really love talking the medium and all bands, not necessarily the great big bands because they have a lot of interest for their music. It would be better to talk about smaller bands like Persefone from Spain, Battle Beast from Finland, I really love the songwriting of Magnus Karlsson from Primal Fear- one of my favorite guitarists.
Singing and guitar playing are totally different for me. When I write a song, usually I begin to create a vocal melody and the second time I will work on the guitar parts. It depends, but I am searching to do both in the same band like Temperance when I sing a lot and play a lot of guitar riffs.
Dead Rhetoric: How important do you think the video market is in the internet age? And do you spend a lot of time thinking about particular images and cover art pieces for the bands you are involved in?
Pastorino: I think this is one of the most important things to do- shooting videos. YouTube is a great market for up and coming metal bands. In this moment, it’s so important to stay in contact with all our friends and fans in every part of the world. Every day we receive a lot of good comments and great message on our pages about our music. This is an amazing thing. It’s important to be on streaming platforms – we have received a lot of new fans for Temperance through Spotify.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you describe the Italian metal scene- as you’ve talked to me before online about how tough it is to break out as a newcomer?
Pastorino: The Italian metal scene is an amazing scene. We have a lot of great bands – not only Rhapsody, Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody and Rhapsody (Of Fire), but we have a lot of great stuff. We have many newcomers, Trick or Treat, DGM, Arthemis- a lot of cool bands. In every part of Europe, for a new band to come out and create interest in the music has been harder. Over the last few years, a lot of great Italian bands are more professional, with a good project in the next year we will create a very good fan base everywhere. The Italian scene right now is maybe better than ever.
Dead Rhetoric: What types of interests and hobbies you have away from music? And how would you describe yourself as a person – do you believe playing music brings out a different side to your personality?
Pastorino: Music is a very big part of my personality- I can’t live without music. Every day when I wake up I feel that I need to play, to create, to listen to music. It’s a part of me. My personality is very friendly- I am very caring and a relaxed person. When I play on stage I’m a totally different person, and that’s the cool thing about music for me.
I really love the cinema- I like to read a lot of books about rock stars. I pass a lot of my time with my family and friends in general, that’s a normal kind of thing I guess but it is the best.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the horizon for all of your bands over the next 12 months?
Pastorino: Secret Sphere will have a new album out in May – we are working on the recording side. This morning the drummer began to record his drum parts – I think we will work for all of December on this. We are going to Japan to play three shows, but I think in this month we will finish the album and the plan is to have it out in May of 2017. I’m so happy about it- but before this album we will go on tour in March across Europe with Trick or Treat and DGM. Light & Shade, Adrienne and I are talking about trying to get some touring going across Europe in September or October, if it’s possible the USA as well. By the next spring, we will try to write songs for the second album- because this debut album has received a lot of great feedback from the fans, the audience, and we are thinking about the second record. We want to create a real band, and we need to play some shows next year.
Secret Sphere official website
Temperance official website
Light & Shade on Facebook