Introduction
After a fantastic performance and set at SOS Festival I had the opportunity on behalf of CGCM to chat with 2 of the guys from the wonderful Shape Of Water. The band who are quite unique, especially within the new classic rock scene (it is great to see fans taking to newer artists who are a tad left of centre rock wise) merging electronic music and effects along with some heavy riffage creating an almost cinematic vibe at times. Otherworldly is one way I could also put it. This is how the conversation went…
The Conversation Begins
CGCM: If I could ask you firstly if you could tell folks who you are and what you play?
Shape Of Water (SOW): My name is Rox Capriotti and I play bass, keys and sing in Shape Of Water. // My name is Luca De Falco and I am playing just basically guitar… (points at Rox and says…) and he is playing everything. (Everybody laughing).
Rox: Yes but he also does the artwork…
Luca: Yeah, all the videos and artwork and stuff, I do that.
CGCM: Now these are interesting accents I am listening to, can I ask where you are both from?
SOW: Italy (both say it at the same time)
The Band’s History
CGCM: So did you form the band in Italy or over here in the UK? (Luca points to Rox to explain)
Rox: We moved to the UK in maybe 2015. At that time we had another band with a different name. There were 5 of us, then 4, it was a bit more progressive metal, something a bit different but at the same time a similar vibe. We struggled a bit to work with the other guys who were in Italy.
Basically, we are all good friends but at some point about 2018 here in the UK we decided to stop that band and start brand new, from scratch with this band Shape Of Water. We felt that we needed a change, we needed to do something exactly of what we wanted in terms of genre. Mainly me and him, we are both very different but we share a lot of things musically, in common, you know listening to the music we like. So we really needed something new that represented us as musicians.
We struggled for a bit to find the name (he mentioned the name of their previous band, not sure but it sounds like “Blotus“*** on the recording) and we came across Shape Of Water. The film had been out a year but that wasn’t the reason we chose it. We chose it because water has no shape so we don’t have a genre basically (Luca comes in with “we are trying to be genre-fluid“). Yeah we would say genre fluid.
*** Had this clarified they were called The Lotus. Blame the recording device😁
CGCM: There are a few bands around at the moment who definitely try to mix things up…
Luca: We like to experiment a lot especially when we write the songs, we like to put all our influences and mix different cultures, to bring something that really talks about us.
CGCM: I did notice a few influences listening earlier tonight, but they were very varied
Bringing In Pieces Of Culture
Luca: Yeah, cause you know there is so much good music around the world and so many good musicians, it is impossible not to empathize with almost all of them. It is nice to bring little pieces of culture that you find and then basically they become part of yourself. You then start to express yourself in that way.
Rox: I think that with music or art like every other part of your life, you know (he pauses to consider his next words) you know there are times when you could be happy, sad or even angry, all these emotions can be in one single individual, so sometimes in SOW we can be anyone of these. Sometimes we can be happy other times sad…
Luca: We want to be able to represent the human being in our music. All the complexities, the lightness and heaviness that a person can have
Rox: And most of our lyrics come from our experiences. Like everyone else we have different experiences whether it be love or death and so forth.
CGCM: On at least a couple of your song introductions there were comments which show you to be socially aware of the modern world, is that something you feel strongly about, you know making people think perhaps?
Luca: We write the lyrics on experiences and society or what we see in the world. Sometimes its not personal but rather something that touched us in some way. As artists I think we have the burden, we have to talk a bit about society and what is happening around us.
CGCM: Something that really took me by surprise, if you don’t mind me saying was your piano work before the last song (“The World Is Calling Me“)… wow that was quite something
The Piano Player
Rox: Well technically I am a pianist, not a bass player, well I am a bass player now. I started very young as a piano player and that is what I was doing in the beginning. Then I became a singer and then we decided you know what we don’t need a bassist I’ll do it. (laughs)
CGCM: I saw that you had keys obviously, like Geddy from Rush who isn’t really a keys player, at least that’s what he says about himself and I thought you were similar, or at least till you suddenly played the intro which was brilliant. So are you classically trained?
Rox: Yeah, I am classically trained, I was playing since I was very young, it was all I did. When I was in Italy I was in a couple of bands that were influenced by bands like Dream Theater and Deep Purple and in those I was just the keyboard player.
CGCM: That’s cool. Interesting to hear that. So when it comes to the band is it a set lineup? Has it always been the 3 of you as it is now?
Finding And Keeping A Drummer
Luca: Yeah, Tom has been with us for years, // Rox: Since Covid // Luca: We were lucky as we had been struggling a lot for drummers and basically he came after a lucky event, it was going to be a different drummer. That drummer cancelled last minute but luckily for us Tom came in last minute as a replacement and in 3 days he learned all our songs and that was I think July ’21 and from that we say to him “You stay” (Lots of laughing even from the drummer sitting across from where we were as Rox says to him directly “so you are not going anywhere“).
CGCM: This could be an awkward question having heard you, but what are some of your influences, indeed are there any that you haven’t maybe used or ones you would like to in the future?
Luca: I think so yeah. Sometimes when we write songs, let’s say I am writing one, most of the time it turns out very different in the final product.
When we start working together we bring basically all that we have, sometimes things are good and other times not, so we try to arrange things in the best way possible to maintain a line on an album. There are a lot of things that we haven’t touched yet but we probably will in the future…
Where They Could Go Next
Rox: We could do something completely heavy metal or completely electronic. We love both. Maybe some ambient, a bit Pink Floyd perhaps. These are all things we love. We are not just musicians, we are fans of music as well like everybody else. I really love Depeche Mode so doing something in the style of them. We love Slipknot (everyone laughing at idea of doing something like them)
CGCM: So are there plans to wear a mask (laughing)?
Luca: (laughing away) well… // Rox: we are just trying to be awkward, it’s what we like to do. The thing is we are trying to be unique but at the same time doing what we like. Say some point we think that something is really a pop song we can do it as a pop song. It’s fine. //
Luca: We like the form of song as a form of expression so sometimes while we are writing we realise some things are too awkward so we try to simplify in order to have a clearer message for the listener. Sometimes this is difficult at other times it is natural and easy. Thats it really.
CGCM: I do like that live both of you move around plenty, working the crowd, or indeed as you did tonight (I point at Rox) get in amongst the audience with some serious headbanging going on. You are good at putting on a show as well.
More Than Just A Band
Rox: Yeah, the thing is to do it and make it bigger. We are trying to put on a video show as well // Luca: Yeah, when we paly a place where we are lucky enough to have big screens we can use video as well. I think that works well
CGCM: Is it video or artwork that you use?
Luca: Both, it’s both. I do animation and cinema and 3D art so its basically a mix depending on the song.
CGCM: Did you study that kind of thing?
Luca: Well I started by myself in about 2012 with photography and I fell in love with it. I then started making videos and during lockdown, I started making artwork as I had the free time, and the animation as well.
CGCM: So can I ask what the plans are for the future?
Future Plans
Rox: So we are trying to play as much as possible because thats what we really want to do. Hopefully play way more festivals next year and do some gigs around the UK hopefully and even Europe. We have played some gigs already over there like Belgium and Italy. We are also writing new music, officially writing music, to be fair, in terms of ideas we already have a lot.
So the plan is to finish a demo of each song and hopefully by around September we will record everything. This time we will also try to be a bit less standard in terms of releasing. Of course I am saying this but we will have to check with all the parties involved. We don’t want to do that thing of single, single album, we want to do something different. We shall see..
Luca: The thing is that the music industry is changing so much that I think it is time for bands like us to start releasing things in a different way. We are still in the process of understanding what we want to do but we do want to try something new.
CGCM: So are you thinking of just releasing an album or EP without all the singles coming out and then being repackaged?
Rox: We are trying to see if we can focus on events, each song being an event. With all the songs we have just now…
Are You Ready For This?
Luca: (takes over laughing like mad) I could put out a spoiler. We got this crazy idea and are writing a song called “Naked” and have this crazy idea to present the song all naked with an all naked audience making it an all adult event. We have to figure out how to do it to make it safe for everybody… it is an idea
CGCM: If I get an invite can you make sure it is warm? Being on blood thinners you could lose me to the cold (laughing at the idea)… Whole band start laughing and Luca replies laughing “we will do our best”. I suppose this shows that you as a band are pretty artistic as well, not just musicians.
Luca: Yes there is the music but if you have the visual, the smell (laughing), that in the end all these different sensations bring you to the final understanding of the concept, so it is good to try different things.
Concluding Thoughts
At this point the band started playing down the stairs so we stopped at that rather than shout at each other. The guys were really good to listen to and they really care about their art and in wanting to put on a show.
I loved the idea of how other parts of culture can become part of you as a person along with the idea of representing the human in their music. They certainly made me think. The idea of the band and what they hope to achieve impressed me greatly. They were funny and warm and easy to chat with.
On behalf of CGCM, I want to express thanks for their time and their answers. We wish the band all the best for the future but warn them if they do go ahead with their naked idea that a naked collection of CGCM writers is the stuff of nightmares, that is why we have a radio station😂. Thanks again to the guys!
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Check out my other reviews/articles here. Tom
