What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
The main intuition was to have something short and simple, so I was listening to one of my favorite songs from Opeth (The Moor) and realized that there’s The Moor of Venice, the Tragedy of Othello, which is our hometown (well we are all based in the countryside), and then The Moor is intended also as Moorland, in Italian it’s “brughiera”, which is a common landscape on the Prealps here in the northern regions.
Concerning our musical influences, they are various, from historical 70s progressive rock to raw black metal, or even some 80’s pop. On the heavy metal side we grew up with in the bay area thrash metal years and the death metal one, with bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Testament of course and then Death, Atheist, Cynic on the US part and then all the 90s Swedish death and melodic-death explosion.
Except for music, when it turns out to be some mind-blowing obscure or psychological stuff, we are in.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
It depends by the moment, in the latest years and especially after the pandemic, the writing process has become more like a “ritual”. Due to also life related stuff, the writing “evening” is pretty much planned on the calendar, but I constantly keep track or take notes (vocal notes or just hints) during the normal day. I start to think about a mood, and the main focus of the song, and depending on these, the song writing can start from a guitar riff, a drum pattern, or a vocal line.
There aren’t particular themes like a main concept through all the songs. Mainly the songs theme and lyrics treats personal stuff, then I would like the listeners to give their personal interpretation of the song.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
Because I cannot imagine my life without it. Actually, I’m writing also other not-metal songs, so the main thing for me is making music.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We just see how the people react and what the fans asks. We are a small band so we can almost talk with everyone in the room haha. Most of the songs are pretty much well suited also for a live setting, without the needs to re-arrange stuff. The set list is made depending on how much we will play, then we have three or four well tested set lists ready.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
We just see how the people react and what the fans asks. We are a small band so we can almost talk with everyone in the room haha. Most of the songs are pretty much well suited also for a live setting, without the needs to re-arrange stuff. The set list is made depending on how much we will play, then we have three or four well tested set lists ready.
What plans do you have for the future?
Releasing new music soon, maybe another single, and hopefully releasing a new album in 2022.
Thank you for this interview! Enrico.