Alex Castelli interview. New single Tremenda

Alex Castelli, an Italian singer-songwriter and musician, returns to the spotlight with his new single Tremenda, which explores the authentic dynamics of love, made up of ups and downs, acceptance, and mutual growth. After his experience with the Manzella Quartet and a musical journey between pop and singer-songwriter rock, Alex tells us in this exclusive interview the genesis of his project, his inspirations, and the deep meaning behind each note. Let's discover together the more personal and artistic side of a musician who has made authenticity his trademark.

Welcome to our magazine! Introduce yourself to our readers and tell something about yourself that will bring you closer to Ukrainian fans.
Hello and thank you for inviting me to do this interview. I am a rather reserved person, even shy, but music is the most suitable means of expression to tell about myself. I tell everyday things, stories that anyone could identify with. This aspect is for me the interesting thing about music: knowing that a song can be an inspiration. By listening to songs we can all take something from it, I hope that my songs can be useful for this.

Tremenda seems to tell a very personal story. Can you tell us how the idea for this song was born?
The main inspiration for all my songs is my direct experience, my life, the relationships I live, and the people I meet. Today I am living a complex, fulfilling, sometimes difficult, certainly intense relationship and in this song, I tell what I feel in a light and light-hearted way. But don't be fooled, behind the irony that I like to use, there are many experiences of couples linked to heavy comparisons caused by misunderstandings that often result in suffering. This suffering paradoxically leads to personal evolution, the strengthening of love, and a greater union of the couple.

The song explores mutual acceptance in relationships. What do you think is the key to building authentic love?
It takes years to understand it, but maybe I haven't understood it 100% yet... I think I've understood that sincerity and confrontation are necessary for an authentic relationship. Confrontation hurts, I always try to avoid it only because it often ends in conflict, which brings even more pain to our hearts, especially when it happens within the couple. But it is necessary.

What are the main challenges you faced in making this single and how did you overcome them?
I enjoy writing songs and when I enter the studio I enjoy it even more. The challenge for me in creating a song is always the detachment from previous productions, I don't want to repeat myself. So 'Tremenda' could be a unique pop episode for me. Listening to it, all my influences are there and I really care about the fact that they can be heard. Overcoming the fear of the fateful question "What if they don't like it?" is a stumbling block for every single and I overcome it by working at my best, trying to create a product that is easy to listen to but with lyrics and harmonies that are catchy but refined.

You have a very varied musical background. How has your past with the Manzella Quartet influenced your current style?
The Manzella Quartet for those who have never heard it was a band that played instruments made from recycled material, from scraps, from broken objects, reinvented as musical instruments. This group was a bit of an outlet for me to experiment: since I was the singer I had a bit of control of the situation, creating improvisational situations, talking to the audience, writing songs, etc... but also having command of the harmonies (I played the only string instrument surrounded by unlikely percussions) I could create medleys by improvising harmonic turns, mixing parts of songs, inventing solos... in short, a real gym and often the band's training took place in the street, like real buskers, playing "a hat" for passers-by. Here I created my style of guitar accompaniment, with a "one-man band" approach, which I sometimes use in current songs.

The sound of Tremenda mixes pop-rock and singer-songwriting. How would you describe your creative process to reach this balance?
Usually, a song starts from a text idea, which is sometimes thrown on the sheet with a "good first time" approach, to ensure its freshness. I then try to match this text with a harmonic progression that among the many that I have recorded over time, when I listen to it again, seems to fit best for this new song. The style is then created during the recording phase, even if I often have pretty clear ideas right away in terms of influences and styles. Here, with the help of a producer friend who knows me (in this case Fabio Doria, with whom I have been working for years) and helps me to concretize the ideas, with the addition of usually simple tricks (I like minimal, not redundancies...) we manage to give shape to the songs. Tremenda was born in a simple way, from a few sessions in the studio.

Which artists, Italian or international, have most inspired your musical journey?
Too many to list, I am influenced by any genre, even by artists whose production I don't know very well. I am also very moody, so if I overindulge listening to songs by a band, I can't listen to their songs again for a while. I have been listening to music since I was a child, at home with my parents we listened to a lot of records, 33 rpm records that have made a big comeback in recent years, but back then, together with cassettes, they were the listening channel par excellence. So from the music of the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s, I took inspiration listening to Battisti, Battiato, Dalla, Finardi... but then in the '90s, '00s, '10s... with the arrival of Nirvana and grunge

Personally, is there a message you would like to convey to those who live in complex relationships like the one you describe in the song?
Love is complex in itself, relationships are complex, and life as a couple is complex, let's not make it more difficult by complicating our lives.

If you had to choose a city or a country to perform in, which one would it be and why?
I would like to take music outside of Italy, to countries and situations where there is real listening to what artists play. I happened to play a few years ago in Stuttgart, for strata, an exciting experience. I like to travel and meet people from new cultures. I would still like to do an international tour, I would start from Northern Europe, but I would also like Ukraine as a stop on a tour.

Have you ever thought about taking your music to Ukraine?

Yes, I often think about it, I would love to.

Is there an aspect you would like to share but that we have not had the opportunity to ask you?

Yes, maybe in the next interview, we can talk about mine EP Donna. 4 songs inspired by stories of violence against women, was listened to in an anti-violence center. It would be useful to address the issue of violence against women in Ukraine, as in Italy or in any part of the world. I think I'm quite a feminist, it would be useful if all men learned to be one.

Could you bring a question and share the answer with us?
I would like to know how to understand women and their world, but how? The question is unanswered, I think that men also have a part of women inside them, which they try to repress out of 'shame'. In reality, it would be useful to draw on it to understand the female world, too complex for us simple men.

Thanks again for the space you have given me, a big hug, and have a good evening.