First off thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me.
1.You started the band in 1996.What did you feel the need to express with Hiems that was being fulfilled in your other bands?
Yeah, 1996...at that time the band's name was different. I released the very first demo as "SN" (that stands for "Senza Nome", that means "nameless" in Italian), then with the second tape I decided to turn the moniker into Hiems. Anyway Hiems has been my very first band, all the other things I'm involved into started some years later, so that's why I can consider it as the ultimate vehicle of expression for me. I know many people think that this is just a side project, well it ISN'T. This is MY band, my music.
2.The new album is brilliant and in my eyes truly unique. What was your initial goal when you began creating WORSHIP OR DIE.
My only goal was recording an album that I would love to listen. Pure egoism.
3.How has the response been for the new album?
I'd like to have an idea to be honest, but I still don't know. However I don't expect so much with this release, since it's a totally anti-commercial album...and considering the amount of retarded people around! People is usually afraid of things that can't be labeled. They need to put this damned names and rules on everything to make their world look more “secure” - that’s a natural behavior of mankind.
4.Hiems features a broad range of inspirations within the sound. Do you have a set vision of how the music will sound?
Sure, everytime I try to get closer to that vision, to that sound, even if I can’t fully control the creative process because of his transcendental nature. Anyway I don’t keep everything that I compose, preferring to be highly selective and just what matches perfectly what I have in mind goes on the album.
5.When you formed the band was it always your intention to work solo or a case of not finding the right "people" to do it the way you envisioned?
My first experiences with local bands where not encouraging…so that’s why I decided to start my own thing. During the first years I searched constantly for someone that could share my thoughts on music - well, no success. After all these bad experiences I just understood that being alone was the right choice for me, as my way of working wasn’t compatible with others’. I think that music should be taken always as a serious matter, and needs total dedication; you have to enter the sound deeply, and feel for real what you’re handling. I can’t stand people that search just fame (into bm??) or wanna get laid, no wannabe rockstars - and sadly that’s what you get most of the time.
6.Besides nature and seasons, (the band’s name meaning winter in Latin) what else is a major inspiration when it comes to all things Hiems?
I chose this name for its metaphorical meaning; winter intended as the inevitable man's decay, our last season. Something that normal guys don't think so much about in their 18, I know; but it's always been different for me. Death obsessed me since my childhood, as long as I can remember. And believe me, that was long before I could even hear the word “Black Metal”!
7.Before I had actually heard the album, I was told it sounded like the missing link between watain and the devils blood. Do you agree with that statement and are you influenced or a fan of either of these bands?
I’ve read many comparison regarding Worship Or Die, but really few of them were even slightly near to my actual influences. You know, it’s a matter of reception; everyone filters music with his own background and taste, so it’s normal to see your work compared to bands that maybe you’ve never heard of. Anyway I know the two you mentioned, especially Watain, and I quite like their latest stuff - but it couldn’t be a source of inspiration for me, because my album was already composed at that time. Speaking of The Devil’s Blood, I just heard a couple of songs and from what I can remember they were ok to me.
8.WORSHIP OR DIE is a razor sharp assault on the ears. How important is the production for a Hiems album and do you do it yourself?
I always choose a real studio production. I know that nowadays home recording has made several big steps, and I’m also able to handle it (sometimes I even cover the sound engineer role in the studio), but I still think that a real studio can provide you that authentic, genuine feeling - and I’m not talking of rawness! The production is essential in music, and I’m one of those that prefer a powerful, groovy sound.
9.When I first listened to this album it was just a solid bm record, but upon further inspection I hear a myriad of influences within, some hidden some very obvious. I hear a doom influence in there. How much into doom are you? I also kinda hear some classic rock vines going on. Was this intentional or do you just wear your inspirations on your sleeve?
When I composed Worship Or Die I was not thinking about a genre or another - I just had in mind an overall idea of the sound and attitude that I needed to reach. It was all very natural, I wrote the songs without caring too much about a possible definition of the musical style or how the stuff could be seen by others. Art is a physical urge, you can’t control it, you can’t drive it the way you want - my only decision was to work freely.
10.I know you played all the instruments on your records. What would you say is your strongest, your weakest?
Well, it simply depends on the period. Since practice is the way to get the best out of your instrument, and I have other bands in which I respectively play each one, it depends on what band I’m rehearsing more with in that moment. Anyway guitar is my first instrument, playing it since 16 years (if we don’t count piano and cello, that I was studying at school in my childhood). Then I started to play bass seriously when I entered Forgotten Tomb, in late 2003. Speaking of drums, I begun to beat some skins in 1999 if I remember right, but it took quite some time to learn decently, since (like every other instrument that I currently play) I didn’t take any lesson. I just seated behind the kit and hey…4/4 was in my hands.
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11.To my knowledge you have never held a live ritual. Is this something you would like to explore or do you feel that you express enough thru the records alone?
I’m sorry but you’re wrong. Hiems appeared live 4 times actually…Rome in 2006, Milan in 2007, Rotterdam in 2008 and Turin in 2009. The gigs were ok, but the main problem is that I obviously had to recruit session musicians, and the ones that helped me were great guys/girls but they live way too far from my basement. I’m speaking of hundreds of KM…so we had ONE rehearsal the day before each gig. ONE! It’s already surprising that we did a good job in that conditions, also thanks to the ability of the sessions. Anyway I would like to bring again Hiems on stage in the future, but this time I really need to find dedicated people near my place - I want to develop that live groove that just a real band reaches.
12.Italy seems to have a very strong scene for extreme music, black metal particularly. How involved are you in the bm scene there and what in your opinion are some strong cults that we should know about??
I’m in contact with several bands from my country, and there are as well many other great acts. In these years Italy is rising in the extreme music field, and I’m glad that this is being noticed. Just to name few bands that deserves more attention: Spite Extreme Wing, Hate Profile, Black Flame, Strix.
13.You had previously worked with ISO666 on COLD VOID JOURNEY, which I feel is a
strong underground label. What convinced you to sign with MORIBUND. Were there other bigger labels looking to work with you. How is the relationship with Odin and the cult?
I got in touch with ISO666 just because of the session “drummer” that “played” that album - he actually knew them. I never exchanged a single word with them directly. I was just exhausted at that time because of the problems I had in the studio while recording, so that’s why I gave the stuff to the first label interested. I’m not exactly a businessman - too bad for me, but who cares. Anyway Moribund contacted me after hearing that first album, proposing to sign the band and I agreed, because they seemed to be allright. Let’s say I’m not interested so much in the size of a label, what I seek is a good channel to spread my music - yeah, it’s true, I compose mostly for myself, but if I would really want to make music just for my personal sake, I would not release what I record.
14.Being Italian, does your country's rich history in literature, art etc have any effect on your composition for Hiems?
I could spend hours talking of Italy’s glorious past, but to be honest I’m living in the present, and the present is fucked up. That’s what influences me. All the shit you have to swallow everyday, living among brainless “football-big car-money” zombies can drive you crazy. That’s my “fuel for hatred”. Here everyone seems to care just about appearances, I can’t stand their dumb way of living, they feel so rich with their prada shoes but all I can see is the poorness of their minds. I really feel myself as a stranger here most of the time.
15.If you had to sum up Hiems in 1 word to someone who had never heard your music, what would it be?
It would be a big “uh”, in the Celtic Frost way.
16.Well that is all I have for you. Any final words for the readers?
That’s all folks. Thanks for the interview, bye!
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