MR. MARCO AIMASSO (METAL.IT)

 

Name: Marco Aimasso

Country: Italy

Age: 45

Name (and link if present) of your website/magazine:  Metal.it ( www.metal.it )

Position in your website/magazine: “Senior” (sob …) editor

Online since (year when your website went online): June 1999

Introduce you as editor and your website with a little bio (year and how you started to write reviews, possible previous versions and/or name of the website, more you want to add): Hi to all the melodic rock addicted! I started writing about music in 2004 for the Italian webzine eutk.net (the old “incarnation” of metal.it, linked to the Italian edition of Rock Hard Magazine …), obtaining, in this way, two important results: being able to vent all my “compulsive graphomania” and share with the “world” my huge passion for rock music (which started long before, actually ...).

Favorite rock sytles (AOR, Melodic Rock, Hard-Rock, Westcoast, Glam, Sleaze or so on): Melodic Rock, Hard Rock, AOR, class metal, …

Other music styles you like: I consider myself as a music “omnivore” … the only things that really matter are quality and attitude!

"THE" band / artist that fully embraces your tastes in music: Probably Journey, overall, and then I have a special affection for Starz, Yesterday & Today and Legs Diamond, great bands very important for the hard rock history, often underrated … but, by the way,  the choice is veeeery difficult J …

Your personal TOP 5 of all times: Only five Impossible … ok, I try, limiting the “investigation” to melodic rock:

1.       Journey “Escape”

2.       Michael Bolton “Everybody's Crazy”

3.       “Loud & clear”

4.       Boston “Boston”

5.       Dokken “Under lock and key”

Your personal FLOP 5 of all times: Disappointments in about thirty years of “militancy” are too many (and too painful … ) to be remembered in details ...

Your biggest delusion in music (a crap album, a missed interview, a bad concert you've attended, etc): The last Bon Jovi is a big delusion, but, as said earlier, there are too many crap albums and bad gigs in my personal “musicophile” history ,fortunately counterbalanced by a lot of amazing albums and exciting concerts ...

Your highest point reached in music (a long awaited interview, a meeting with one of your idols, results reached with your website, etc): Having the opportunity to review bands such as House of Lords, Giant, Journey, Night Ranger, Stan Bush, Jimi Jamison, Unruly Child, etc. and interview, even if only in a “virtual” way, artists such as Jim Peterik, Billy Greer, Bruce Turgon, Van McLain, Lenny Wolf, Jeff Scott Soto, Eric Martin, etc. was a dream came true and I consider each of these circumstances a great personal satisfaction (hopefully shared by our readers …) …

Your most successful / favorite review: Mmmm, let me think … the Charming Grace review is not so bad J… actually, I love (more or less …) all of my reviews, and ehm, … as a lot of musicians when speaking about their songs, I consider all of them as my children (a large offspring … lol) ...

Your bitter regret about one of your reviews / interviews: My regret concerns a concert: I’ve missed, due to trivial reasons, the Journey Italian tour in 2011, with Foreigner, Night Ranger and Thin Lizzy, after waiting it for years … I’ve been “depressed” for months …L

Your 5 most promising acts / artists of the "new" generation:

1.      Houston

2.      Work Of Art

3.      Miss Behaviour

4.      Wheels Of Fire
5.      Diamond Dawn

Your vision for the next years about the music biz of our music styles (possible death of the cd format, thoughts about digital releases, evolution of rock labels, etc.): I hope that the cd format can survive even in the face of the overwhelming power of digital releases and file sharing, and that listeners can be less superficial and less hasty in their judgments … it's just a hope, however …

Your personal suggestions for today's labels and artists: By nature I do not like very much to give “wise” suggestions to anyone and so the only thing I can say to today’s labels is … look around and be more selective! The “underground” is full of young musicians who want to stand out and that can give to melodic hard rock an important contribution in terms of vitality … we don’t need “followers” but potential “leaders” …

To the artists, especially to the younger ones, I say do not settle to” imitate” their “teachers”, even in times of revival like these …

Anything you want to add: I’d like to thank Zorro for this significant opportunity to let us know to the melodic rock community , and then, obviously, congratulations for Shining Line and Charming Grace!

So, please take a look to our webzine … its name is metal.it, but do not be afraid … we love melodic rock!
Don't stop believin' guys!

YOUR LIFE IN ROCK SONGS! (name one song for a particular moment of your life)

The one that changed your life:  Hold the Line – Toto / Hydra - Toto / Eye Of the Tiger - Survivor

The one for your birthday:  Rock and Roll All Nite - Kiss
The one for the love of your life: Heaven - Bryan Adams  /  I'm Not That Man Anymore - Survivor  / Only You Can Rock Me – UFO
The one for your beloved ones:  Forget Me Not – Bad English
The one for the best moment in your life:  More Than a Feeling – Boston / Don't You Know What Love Is – Touch
The one for your worst enemy:  Fuck You  - Overkill
The one which represents you and your vision of life:  Keep On Runnin' – Journey / When the Heart Rules the Mind - GTR
The one which helped you in your saddest moments:  Holy Touch - Foxy Shazam
The "Rock Music Manifesto":  Edge of the Blade – Journey / Liar – Signal / Can't Turn It Off – Michael Bolton
The one to say goodbye:  Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
The one for your funeral:  Don't Fear the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult / Dust In The Wind - Kansas