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 This friday will see the release of his debut solo artist album on the legendary Vandit label so i:Vibes went to have a chat to find out more about GO!...
Giuseppe Ottaviani has started to release tracks on Vandit Records, Paul Van Dyk’s renowned label, in 2001, and since then can be considered one of the most talented producer and influential recording artist in trance music. His musical education started at the age of 4 years in Viterbo, a small Italian town near Rome when he first started to play the piano. After music school in his early childhood and studies of classical music as a teen, he discovered electronic music and started to spin his first DJ-sets at clubs and on local radio stations.
His deep enthusiasm for anything related to technology led to him beginning to use his computer to make and produce his own music and when he met Andrea Ribeca and Giacomo Miccichè in 1999 (two electronic music enthusiasts and also DJs) quickly decided to start their own music project: NU NRG - Giuseppe’s starting point as a professional musician and producer.
Since that time Giuseppe Ottaviani released club anthems like Dreamland, the Spaceflower EP, Butterfly, Casino, Connective and the smash hit Free Fall and won numerous awards like the Trance Award in 2004 and 2006 for Best Live Act. No wonder why he is playing on the biggest Festivals and greatest events while touring all over the world.
Since 2005 Giuseppe Ottaviani has started his solo career with big success. His solo-productions like Linking People, Through Your Eyes or his compilation The Vandit Sessions 4 receive an outstanding feedback from all around the globe. The tracks La Dolce Vita and Far Away on Paul van Dyks new album In Between again show his quality as one of the most creative artists in this scene. He also keeps on performing live with more enthusiasm as ever before:
“Playing my own music live is something special, something that really touches me.” Giuseppe says, “it is an electronic music concert, performing on stage allows you to get through to the people, they really breathe the music, you can establish a two-way bond with them and the music itself changes and reacts to the people, this is why each show is different, unique.”
i:Vibes: Giuseppe, thanks for taking some time to talk to i:Vibes. You are about to release your debut album “GO”. How excited are you about the release and what was your inspiration between this musical work?
Giuseppe: Frankly I’m very excited about it, I’ve been waiting for this release for a long time and after over a year of work the album is finally ready to go!
Regarding the inspiration, well, everything that happens in my life inspires me and each single track tells a story of my life and is connected to a specific experience. Each track gives me a particular emotion and the idea behind the album is just to share all those emotions with other people. It is simple as that.
i:Vibes: How much freedom did you have on this album and any particular reason why Paul van Dyk did not return the favour by producing a track with you as you helped him on In Between.
Giuseppe: 100% freedom. No plans regarding my sound, this is just what I had in mind and this is the music that I like most. Why I didn’t have a cooperation with PvD here? I don’t know, there is not a specific reason, maybe it’s just because I didn’t ask him, but for sure I would love to have the chance to make some new track together with him in the future.
i:Vibes: You took a catchy title for your debut album with “GO”. Is there any background story to taking such a name for your album?
Giuseppe: There are many reasons why I have chosen the title GO!. For example since my name is quite difficult to remember for all those people who speak English I wanted to have an easy title and GO! was the best choice. G and O are also the initials of my name and using them as a title is like saying Giuseppe Ottaviani – The Album. I also like the word GO which could be understood as a definitive starting point of my solo career.
i:Vibes: The album photo is very nice. A city with an airplane and the sun setting. Does that photo reflect your life in the last few years as more hectic with more travelling and gigs?
Giuseppe: Well, airports became my second home in the last few years. The picture has something to do with my life of course and it has something to do with the title GO!.
i:Vibes: You have been producing as Giuseppe Ottaviani since 4 years. When you were producing this album, how much influence from your old project NU-NRG did you incorporate into the music? I doubt you could say that there is no NU-NRG influence in your new album?
Giuseppe: It’s quite impossible to make a completely different style, I mean NU NRG is still part of me and my sound comes, for the 50%, from NU NRG sound. For example you can compare my track Third Dome with NU NRG – Connective, or the track Thermopile with NU NRG – Casino. Music is evolving of course but cannot be completely different from the origins.
i:Vibes: The album starts with a beautiful instrumental opener “One Day”. You can hear your classical music influence in this track. Is the classical feeling something that is your main focus when making a track or can you incorporate other influences besides classical in other tracks?
Giuseppe: It’s all about melody for me so classical music is the most influent part when starting a new track. One Day has a good blend of classical sounds and rock influences, especially the drum, which is pure rock style and the main lead that remembers me of a distorted guitar sound.
i:Vibes: “Where I want to go” is a beautiful piece of music. Many producers just pick a name for a track without having a real reason fro the name. So what was your idea behind this track? Where do you want to go?
Giuseppe: It remembers me one of the most beautiful trip I ever had in my life. It was South Africa a couple of years ago and there is place where I want to go again, one day.
i:Vibes: On “Fallen”, you introduce Faith on vocals. What was it like working with her. What special quality could she give the track besides her breathtaking voice?
Giuseppe: I like to experiment and Faith, whose real name is Federica Sciamanna, was the right choice. She’s the singer of a rock band called The Shiver and she gave me the right vibes for that track. We had a good time together in the studio and it was easy to work with her since Federica already recorded 2 albums with her band, so she’s not new to recoding studios.
i:Vibes: “Sunward” is a rapid, straight forward trance track that you did with Gate 4. The melody is very beautiful in the break after the vocal. How difficult was it making this track? What was the most difficult thing that you had to get correct in getting this track perfect?
Giuseppe: That was a very funny experience. Gate4, whose real name is Fabrizio Fanelli, is a great producer but definitely not a singer. Despite that I wanted to use his voice on the track and that was the funniest and most difficult part of this production. I love the result, but there was hard work behind that track.
i:Vibes: On “Third Dome” you have produced a gorgeous track that would fit perfectly to a sunset on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The atmosphere is perfect in this track. Where would you like to be the most when listening to this track?
Giuseppe: I was flying over an amazing sunset around Buenos Aires when I’ve got the inspiration. Even if it’s not allow on the plane I had to switch on my mobile phone for a few seconds to record the melody that I had in mind, once back home I played that melody again with my keyboards and Third Dome was borne. So the melody comes from that flight but the title comes from a different experience. This is gonna be a long story: I’m always been amazed by the San Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Rome and I wanted to include the word dome in some of my production. Why Third? It’s just because if you take a closer look at the San Peter’s Basilica you can notice that there are two others small domes on the right and the left side of the big one, and the big one is the one that you can see from all around the city. That one is the third dome for me.
i:Vibes: Non stop goose bumps each time the voice of Steven Pickup comes in with “No more alone”. This track is just amazing. What is it with this track that keeps it so unforgettable?
Giuseppe: Maybe the melody, maybe the vocals or maybe both…sorry I don’t have the answer but personally I’m still so addicted to this track, sill loving it like the first time I played it.
i:Vibes: “White Empire” is a driving trancer with a somewhat melancholy melody, but very raw. What mood were you in making this track?
Giuseppe: I just wanted to use a different sound from my synthesizer and the main idea comes from a guitar sound. I wanted to make a kind of epic atmosphere in the breakdown of this track and watching some great movies like Troy or Gladiator inspired me.
i:Vibes: “Thermopile” brings out the experimental side of Giuseppe Ottaviani. This is something that Sven Väth would take a closer listen to. What is the biggest difference for you in the studio making a track like this compared to a typical Giuseppe Ottaviani track?
Giuseppe: Basically the approach changes. I usually start with a melody using some simple sound like piano and pads, but for tracks like Thermopile I start with the groove first. Don’t forget that my first approach to electronic music was Techno, which I still love and which is the dark face of my project.
i:Vibes: “Unplugged” is another track taking a 180 degree turn to what we are usually used to by you. How much fun was it making this and how much of a challenge was it?
Giuseppe: It’s always good to test new sounds and I had lots of fun making this track especially because as you said this is something unusual from me. Unplugged was born as a live dedicated track, then I decided to put it on the album to deliver a wide range of music to show to the people what’s my vision of music in general.
i:Vibes: You produced “Our dimension” with the Irish trance star John O Callaghan. Did you guys actually get together in the studio and make this or were you just sending files back and fourth?
Giuseppe: Even if I personally prefer to work in pair into the same studio, like I did with Marc van Linden some years ago, I understand that is not easy to find the right time for two busy people like us, so we decided to work by sharing files through the internet, that was much easier.
i:Vibes: “Our Dimension” has a beautiful break. The baseline sounds more like an Ottaviani, but on the other hand, I could imagine it come from John O’Callaghan. What were the producing duties on this track?
Giuseppe: Actually we really worked in pair and we influenced each other so every single sound you hear now is far from the original sound. I’m happy about this collaboration because it’s a perfect blend of both, GO and JOC sound. You cannot actually recognize which sound comes from me and which one from John but for sure you can tell this track comes from both of us.
i:Vibes: Even though “Silver Sand” is a trance track, one gets the sense that you experimented here also with the innovative sounds. Have you found silver sand on the Italian coast?
Giuseppe: Yes even here I was testing some new sound of classic keyboard from Korg, and again I tried to be a little out of the standard using a sound that no body else uses. It’s definitely something new for the listeners, it can be good or maybe not, I don’t know but the thing is I love this track and I wanted to let people listen to it.
Sometime Italian people think that in order to find a silver sand you need to fly over 10 hours far from Italy and sometime we don’t see that silver sands are not far from home. Have you ever been in Sardinia?
i:Vibes: On “Changing Ways”, you team up with Francesco M. What is your personal love behind using male vocals in tracks?
Giuseppe: Maybe I prefer male vocals to females because all my favourite rock bands have a male singer? For me there is not a specific reason, I just like it more. Same thing when you like a specific sound more than the other one.
i:Vibes: If I remember correctly, you played “Changing ways” in the Techno Club in March 2009. The crowd went crazy. Your style with this track reminds one a bit on “No More Alone. The music is really incredible. Is there a story behind this track?
Giuseppe: Changing Ways has something to do with the “new way” I took after NU NRG split. I know it could probably remember people of the No More Alone style but this is just because I used a male singer and I put vocals mainly on the break. I’m still not into a full vocals track and the way I used vocals for both tracks is probably the way that I like most. But Changing Ways it’s definitely not the follow up of No More Alone.
i:Vibes: On “Love Mission”, you came together with the pride And joy of New Jersey Tom Colontonio. The break and melody is fascinating. Are both of you on a love mission or just one of you?
Giuseppe: Everyone has a love mission I believe, but sometime we are to blind to see which one is the ours.
i:Vibes: You close the GO album with “Angel” with Faith on vocals. A nice track to end the album with a beautiful track that gives the listener a little taste. What kind of feeling did you want the listener to have when ending with this track?
Giuseppe: I just wanted to make a song using what is for me the most atmospherically sound. Piano, strings and voice, this is all I need to enjoy a song. Some of my favourite songs are made just like that. I can give you link to better understand what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5kEDrf5o68 Actually I can’t understand what she says but this is not a problem, just listen to it, it’s one of the most beautiful atmosphere I ever heard. Her name is Utada Hikaru and the song is called Passion.
i:Vibes: Do you have a window in your studio in Rome? What sight do you have when looking out and do you ever just look out the window looking for inspiration?
Giuseppe: My studio is not in Rome city, it is situated on a lake where I live. I can see the lake and the beach from both, my studio window and my house windows and this inspires me a lot. Sunsets are always right outside the windows. When I’m back home from touring this is the perfect place to relax and to recharge my batteries.
i:Vibes: What kind of experience was it playing at Amnesia this summer?
Giuseppe: Great as always, I had so much fun with a completely packed club and an amazing crowd. I played for Cream at Amnesia on June 25th , August 20th and I’ll be there again on September 3rd together with PvD.
i:Vibes: When will you come back and visit the Technoclub in Frankfurt, Germany? What was your impression of this club?
i:Vibes: Thanks Giuseppe and good luck with the album.
Giuseppe: Thanks for the interview, see you soon on the dancefloor,
Yours Giuseppe
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