Biografia Holygold

27/09/2019 - 15:22 Scritto da Holygold Holygold 0
Holygold is the stage name of Marco Massari, rock author, guitarist and singer, but also the moniker of his musical project, involving Raffaele Montanari (producer, arranger, keyboardist) and Lorenzo Salietti (bass guitar and backing vocals), together with many other musicians.

Marco started playing the guitar at the age of 9, and soon got involved into hard rock music and formed his first band at 13. After many experiences, he started a band called GOLDAH with whom he recorded the album “Waiting for something to happen”, where he began singing, besides playing the guitar. Goldah, throughout the years, evolved into HOLYGOLD. With this name, Marco and his mates published the debut cd called “Wounded Memories” (PMS STUDIO, 2012), followed by the single “Find Again the Light” and a second album called “The Great Divide”.

After “The Great Divide”, the works on the third album begun, and it became a concept album entitled “The Color White”, that also included a book published either in Italian or in English.

After “The Color White”, Holygold went back in the studio, working on new songs, and publishing the single “Rise Up (Lead, don’t follow)”.

A new song, called “Beyond” made Marco think that it would be nice collaborating with another singer, so he got in touch with the famous American star "Zak" Stevens, especially known as SAVATAGE's lead vocalist, as well as Circle II Circle and Trans-Siberian Orchestra's member.
Zak, after having listened to “Beyond”, started to like more and more Holygold’s rock sound and accepted to review some parts of the text and melodic line, and to interpret this new song as lead singer.

An amazing collaboration between Holygold and Zak Stevens is therefore born, carrying to the final realization of the catchy rock ballad “Beyond”.
The song is completed in every “take” towards the end of April 2019, after several weeks of contacts and collaboration. Then, the mix and mastering phases are done by PMS Studio and Sound & Light Mastering Studio in May of the same year.

Holygold: “Beyond, similarly to almost all my songs, was written on the acoustic guitar. Working in this way, vocal melodies are always created first, along with the main chords. Usually, in this first phases, some words also spontaneously come into life, and get written down on a sheet of paper, like pieces of a puzzle that I know, sooner or later, will be reconstructed.
So, I had this word, "Beyond", repeated over and over in my head, that seemed to adapt perfectly to the new music. In those days, I was reading a lot books with a spiritual and esoteric slant, so it came naturally to me to follow this inspiration, which led me, step by step, to compose a text based on the search for the true meaning of existence, "beyond" (literally), to the trivial concerns of material life.
I am fascinated by the idea of us human beings who, at birth and in childhood, are perfectly aware of this "message" of joy and love, but then, as we grow up, it comes literally crushed by the "concrete" troubles of the world. The song developed following this inspiration, in a very spontaneous way: the verses have an "indie rock" sound, while the bridges and the chorus hover between the classic dictates of hard rock and a few flavors of American rock inspired by the old Springsteen.
In finishing and arranging the song, I had great help and support, as always, by my trusted companions, Raffaele Montanari (record producer) e Lorenzo Salietti (bass guitar), with the surprising add of Zak Stevens, who without doubts represents one of my main stylistic influences!
I have always followed his career with enormous enthusiasm, therefore collaborating with him is a sort of dream come true. For a long period of my life, Savatage have been my favorite band, and who knows me personally knows very well how true these words are. In the recording of “Beyond” Zak has been unbelievable, not only in the definition of vocal melodies, but also in the improvement of the lyrics, besides of course having sung with his wonderful voice that embellishes the song in a really spectacular way”.

Zak: “I really enjoyed working with Holygold. Their sound has the unique ability to transcend the usual staple rock sounds we've come to know over the years. One thing I especially like is that you never know what you’re going to hear next from them. Sure their sound is within the realm of "rock music", but they run the gamut between hard rock and metal, to alternative sounds and then they'll circle back to traditional mainstream rock sounds and catch you by surprise. At this point in my career when I consider collaborating on a project, I look for something interesting and different to work on. Holygold really caught my interest because they are not afraid to think outside the box. I'm happy to collaborate with them because they are courageous and bold in their approach to exploring so many musical avenues within what we know as the rock music genre. I think they can forge some new ground in the industry, and that's always a great thing".
Il 27 settembre 2019 pubblica il singolo "Beyond" con la partecipazione straordinaria di Zak Stevens, con l'etichetta discografia PMS Studio.

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L'articolo Biografia Holygold di Holygold è apparso su Rockit.it il 2019-09-27 15:22:30