Lorenzo Gabanizza is an Italian artist who predominantly writes music more typical of an American background, making his music sound very distinctive! Check out this interview to find out more – you can also find his track, I Guess I Am The Only One, at the end.
By Jane Howkins
You released a song recently that we reviewed, titled I Guess I Am The Only One. What can you tell us about the track?
The idea came to me as a reflection on what I had to endure while having normal work and being a musician too. It wasn’t easy at all, because prejudices are high in certain close environments; musicians are all junkies, they said. And I sadly realized how people were happy to see my failures and hoped to see me fail even more. There was one guy, for instance, which made fun of me all the time and, smiling, always asked “Hey, genius, when do you start for Nevada?” Thinking that I should have died inside that factory. But this is only the genesis and the personal angle of the story. Because enduring this and other things, it would be too long a list, I thought about all the other people out there who were breaking their noses against prejudices, racism, bullying etc. And I realized the patterns are always the same. The offenders are always the most supported and seems to be printed together. When you’re different they ask you to align with them, to change yourself just to please their idea of ‘What it should be’. So, they do with women. Or with the idea they have of how a woman should be. That’s the core of the message of this song: don’t ever change to please others, stay close to yourself, be who you are, because the only person who you don’t have to deceive is yourself. Don’t betray your nature or your culture. That goes for gender, race, religion etc. It’s a universal message.
Where can I Guess I Am The Only One be purchased and how has the reception been so far?
You can buy the song on iTunes, of course, and all the most common platforms on the net. About the reception, well I say that it goes beyond my wildest expectations. Think about it. we hit #7 in iTunes UK, just one spot behind Shania Twain, we currently are raising in the Euro Indie Charts too and we’ve got at the moment more than 200,000 streams on Spotify. That is hella good man!
The song also features Jeff Christie – how did the collaboration come about and how do you think it went?
I’ve always loved his music, since my youth and even before. I started singing with his famous song, San Bernadino. Since then, many years ago, I’ve never removed him from the top of the list. Back in 2016, I contacted him to see if he was glad that I was releasing 2 of his songs on my album Roses In The Sky. He was so kind to help me with smart, professional suggestions, in order to improve the tracks. Then came 2020, and I lost my mother, who was a fan of Jeff’s music too. I wrote a song for her and I thought the best tribute I could do to her should have Jeff singing with me on that personal message-song. The rest is history. How our collaboration went? Our first single did #1 in South Africa. The second, #7 in UK and it’s still riding the waves… So, I should say that our collaboration is a success, in all the possible perspectives you look at it. But most of all, from an artistic perspective, it was the most thrilling and satisfying experience of my life.
Do you plan to collaborate with anyone else in the future?
Possibly yes, albeit my first in line is and has to be with Jeff. I have other artists with whom I hope to collaborate and with which I already took the preliminary contacts. One above all, Ms Scarlett Rivera, the magic fiddler you can hear in many of Dylan’s successes, Hurricane. I also am waiting for the right time to release a single with a talented Manchester based artist and one of the most beautiful voices of our times: Katey Brooks. Listen to her music, she’s absolutely amazing. We already collaborated last year, with my previous single You’re Not There. Well, stay tuned!
Do you have any more singles planned for release?
Of course. I am currently working on a tribute to Barry Ryan, and a new single with Jeff.
Are there any plans to release an EP/album of your work?
Well, if there hadn’t been the pandemic emergency, I would already have released my new album. I am 2 years late. But in some ways, this wasn’t negative, as many things have happened meanwhile that wouldn’t have been possible if I had followed my original plan and work schedule.
So yes, an album is coming, hang on in there.
You’re an Italian artist. Where are you currently based and what is the local music scene like?
I am based in Italy at the moment and, the music scene here, well it’s not worth your time. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great musicians and songwriters, many great singers, but they are not the ones they push more. If you listen to the radio, you cannot figure out if you’re listening to the same artist or album all the time. They all sounds alike and even sing alike. But this is the fault of major labels, as they are just interested in products and image. They treat singers as models of a fashion show; if someone doesn’t answer to the common present target of beauty, he is forced to adapt or he’s out.
Think if that was asked to Johnny Cash or, an even better example, to Sammy Davis Jr… Also, the live music scene is in the hands of a bunch of rich people, moving the strings, and that’s a shame. Because the little pubs don’t help the young artists at all. They always ask to the artists how many people they bring in, like if the PR tasks were on the artists too, and not in the pubs. And you know, it happens also that the artist, after a long gig, hear the terrifying words: “I will not pay you, because the audience did not drink enough…2There’s no space for young people if they don’t want to expose themselves on those product maker shows called talent shows.
Your music has a country rock vibe. Are you heavily influenced by the country scene? What have you been listening to recently and what are your influences?
Look, if you take a trip into my production, you will see that I haven’t got a specific genre. You find classical music, country, pop and even hard rock and metal. Of course, right now I am releasing some strongly country influenced numbers, but this is just because my inspiration leads me there. Those were my roots anyway, as I was listening to Christie’s music since I was floating in my mother’s amniotic fluid.
I am not fixed on a particular kind of music. I could listen (and I do) listen even to rap music, if there’s not only someone spitting hate over a loop 15 seconds long repeated for 5 minutes. One of my favourites of this kind is Mike Shinoda. He’s a true poet. So you see, even my influences are wide. Linkin Park, Mike Brant, Elvis Presley, Barry Ryan, Jeff Christie, Donovan, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Freddie Mercury, Brian Hyland, Kincade, Stamford Bridge, Johnny Rivers, Kate Bush, Bread and Sibelius, Glinka, Grieg, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, etc. I listen to a great amount of music: Bob Dylan, Christie, Lindisfarne, Edith Piaff, Queen…
Do you plan to tour in the UK at all?
Of course I do. With my previous single, they asked me to perform at the Manchester Arena, but Covid 19 killed that. I hope I will build up something soon.
How did the pandemic affect your musical work?
In a certain way, I already answered this in the previous lines. There were of course negative sides, and it was very hard for us, the musicians, to survive the impact of this terrible disease. If you cut live shows, it is like letting performers eat air, as the incomes of the digital music market, if you’re not someone like Brad Paisley or Dolly Parton, are truly miserable.
Any last words for the fans?
The first and most important thing is: thank you. Yes, thank you for your support, thank you for all the love you show me each day, thank you for all the messages and gifts. You are amazing and you will always be family to me. So, keep following me and share my music. Love ya guys!