Moonstone Project Interview

29 May 2009

Moonstone Project

Matt Filippini & Moonstone Project are a super foxy rock band from Italy… ooh, lala, I caught up with Matt through the joys of email, to find a little more about the man behind the music.

We are proper 100% loving your super hot new record…tell us a bit about the inspiration behind it…

The moonstone project "rebel on the run" album has been written in a very natural way...usually I write the music, then I leave the lyrics to my buddy producer/keyboardist alessandro del vecchi, who is also a talented singer... inspiration behind it?? We are very emotional and all the lyrics/music are based on passion, love and heart affairs:)

To anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would you describe your sound?

Our sound is heavily inspired by the 60s/70s uk and usa bluesy hard rock bands like zeppelin, grand funk, deep purple, jimy hendrix...but I'm sure it doesn't sound like a nostalgic thing...if u listen to the music, it doesn't sound "old"...I'd prefer to say it sounds "classic". There's a sense of freshness within the music and I think even the special guests on the cd did an amazing job! Vocals from james christian and glenn hughes are just brilliant!!

If you were going to give us just one song of yours to listen to so that you would become our new favourite singer, what would it be?

I would suggest "cosmic blues" if ya want a deeply emotional bluesy driven ballad....or "shooting star" if you wanna go for a funky rocking song...I bet you cannot stop dancing on it :))

If you could cover another band’s song, what would it be?

I personally love to cover strange songs or hidden songs from the past...on "rebel..." we covered james gang "from another time"...james gang has been a very underrated american band from the 70s...joe walsh of eagles has been the founder of the band then replaced by guitarist tommy bolin (deep purple)...I'm very proud of our version of "from another time"...it's a very good song that fits well with the rest of our music and it's our little tribute to the memory of tommy bolin...he's been a great guitar player and left us too young and too soon. God bless him!

And can you sum up your good selves in just five words?

Passionate, musical, crazy, creative, emotional

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

These days there aren't many classic rock bands....with a real classic rock sound...I think moonstone sounds really classic and this album will sound great even in the next 20 years...sometimes if you listen to some records from the 80s or 90s today..they just sound "old"...this is not the case in my humble opinion! Not over here..not heavy metal here..but just real classic sounding rock, that's the real deal:)

You know we’re having a bit of an economic crisis here at the moment, if people wanted to spend their last £10 on a cd this weekend, why should they buy yours?

Yeah..crisis sucks big time...but if u wanna have a great weekend then buy the album, take your car, put the cd into the player, play it looooouuud and gooooood!! :)

What three bands would you have to headline your dream festival?

Deep purple mk3 reunion (the line up with coverdale and hughes), montrose 1st album line up and...moonstone project to play on the same bill:))

What has been your favourite musical memory to date?

When I jumped on stage last year to play a song with blue oyster cult!! Amazing emotion!

If all of the bands equipment was on fire, what one piece would you save and why?

Surely my guitar!! I could not play with an amplifier without my guitar:)

Who do you think is the greatest artist around at the moment?

Around now??? I dunno...I don't think there are artists to be remembered in the next 50 years.... My fave artist? The beatles!!

If you could only listen to one CD for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The beatles "sgt pepper" album.

Okay, now we want to ask you some random questions;

Tell me about the most terrifying experience of your life…