A Phoenix Rising: Alex Staropoli of Rhapsody of Fire

25 Jun A Phoenix Rising: Alex Staropoli of Rhapsody of Fire

An epically historic moment occurred at the Grove in Anaheim on Friday the 15th of June. The Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire performed for the first time in the Los Angeles area after garnering a dedicated following since forming in 1993. Rhapsody of Fire’s rousing brand of power metal has been lovingly called “Hollywood Metal,” because of its resemblance to epic film soundtracks. The powerful compositions tend to make one feel inspired and remarkably able to go slay a dragon… or, perhaps in my case, face a grueling commute to work. Rhapsody of Fire’s Anaheim audience was the most enthusiastic I have ever bore witness to, singing along to all of the heroic choruses of classics like “Triumph or Agony,” “Unholy Warcry,” “Dawn of Victory,” “Holy Thunderforce,” and “Emerald Sword.”

Of all the shows I have been to, the only other show that came close to the level of inspiration and elation felt amongst the audience during Rhapsody of Fire’s performance, was seeing U2 perform their heartfelt anthems. Rhapsody of Fire singer Fabio Lione is one of the best frontmen I have ever see perform, utilizing his operatic vocal chops and charmingly connective charisma to keep the audience enthralled and involved. Lione doesn’t showboat even though he could with his talent; he keeps the audience involved and engaged by getting them to sing along. On occasion what he asked the audience to mimic vocally was hilarious, because he would sing something quite operatic and ask the audience to repeat. The audience joyfully tried and basically got a mini voice lesson during the show. A favorite moment during the show was when German drummer Alex Holzwarth and his brother bassist Oliver Holzwarth (who has also worked with the power metal band Blind Guardian) showcased their talents in a mid-show jam. They played songs including the theme from Starship Troopers and the “Hot For Teacher” drum solo.

The show was, in one word, epic. Also epic was that I got to interview keyboardist and founding member of the band Alex Staropoli a few hours before the show.

Like many Lord of the Rings fans, I first discovered the band Rhapsody of Fire because they worked with the deep-voiced actor Christopher Lee (who played Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.) Since their 1997 album debut Legendary Tales, Rhapsody of Fire had composed their albums around a high-fantasy saga written by founding member and guitarist Luca Turilli. The band featured dramatic narration in their albums, most notably employing the powerful voice of Christopher Lee as the character the Wizard King in their last four albums, including my personal favorite The Frozen Tears of Angels.  On a side note, Lee has since continued his involvement in metal by releasing two conceptual symphonic metal albums: Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross and Charlemagne: The Omens of Death. The latter was released on Lee’s 90th birthday this year.

In our interview, Alex Staropoli spoke to me about how this tour was historic for several reasons. Firstly, it was the first time they had performed here in the LA area, but, secondly and most importantly, the band has experienced some major changes after their last album From Chaos to Eternity. Luca Turilli, founding member, guitarist, composer and author of the saga that all the Rhapsody of Fire albums have been written around, just parted with the band. Staropoli and long-standing singer Fabio Lione have welcomed the new guitarist Roberto De Micheli to the band for this tour and are continuing to perform as Rhapsody of Fire. Meanwhile, Luca Turilli will now be recording and performing as “Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody.” The split has been described as amicable, nevertheless, it means big changes to the band. The 13-year fantasy saga, which fans came to know and love, is over after this tour and Rhapsody of Fire will be creating something entirely new with their next album.

Staropoli revealed a real dedication to creating “something special” with this next album. Though the saga is over, Staropoli will still be writing music around themes of fantasy and lore. I personally cannot wait to hear what’s next for Rhapsody of Fire. Though the split between Turilli and Staropoli has inspired debate amongst fans, frankly I am happy there are two Rhapsody bands now. There’s enough uninspiring music out there- we could use as much moving symphonic metal as possible to make it through life and slay the dragons we need to.

The end of the June 15th show felt like an end of an epic years in the making, like when I walked bleary-eyed out of the midnight showing of “Return of the King.” It felt like a goodbye of sorts, but a new band will emerge next album, like a phoenix out of the ashes of Rhapsody of Fire.

Interview with Alex Staropoli: (to view some of the interview click here)

What first inspired you to be a musician?
I think the will to make something new. When we started to compose we had in mind to do something special- something that had never been done before, not in the way we wanted. Being an Italian heavy metal band… everybody said you are crazy and you’ll never do it because you’re Italian. We had many ideas in mind and we worked a lot.

Is your music classically influenced?
I studied some classical music but then I moved onto soundtracks. I listen to everything from pop to heavy metal. As a keyboard player, producer, composer I like to have a handle on every instrument.

How is it playing with your new guitarist?
Now it is different, now the band plays more powerful, more tight. Roberto the new guitar player… we played together- Roberto, Luca (Turilli) and I- in the very beginning. Then Roberto left the band. Then after 15 years I asked Roberto if he’d like to join the band and if he was still playing 8 hours a day and he said “Yes I am still playing 8 hours a day.” First of all I wanted to choose a beautiful person and he is.

How did the collaboration with Christopher Lee come about?
Luca and myself were searching for a new narrator, for a new voice. And we said wow this guy has a fantastic voice. So we asked our management to contact his agent and see if he was interested to narrate some parts, and he was. So we met in London in a studio and he started to narrate some parts and, of course, it was a great experience. After he finished narrating, he said “everybody asks me to narrate but nobody asks me to sing.” So it was his idea to sing and then we realized the song “The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream” where he does a duet with Fabio (Lione). It came about as a collaboration in the end. Now he turned 90! Amazing.

Will you work with Christopher Lee again?
No, the saga is over now. It’s an agreement between Luca and myself. Now it’s onto new material.

What’s next for Rhapsody of Fire?
I decided to bring this band on tour because for me it’s very important to establish the band with newer members. We did a tour in Europe, now we are in the US and next we do Latin America and then more shows in Europe from July to December. Then I will collect new ideas and we will compose new music.

Do you compose on tour?
No, never. I prefer to work at home in my own time in my own studio. My studio is my house… I already have some material, some songs, some ideas. I really want to do the best that I can for Rhapsody of Fire. It’s very important that the new music we make is something special. Now the next step is to compose this new album, find a great new label and be on tour again with this new album. It’ll be a tight schedule.

Will you come back to LA next tour?
Oh yes!

What is your songwriting process like?
I always like listening to soundtracks, classical music, movies and going in nature. In the end it’s a mixture of the experiences of life. For me it’s enough to see one kind of landscape like mountains and in the end this picture sticks in my mind forever and I can recall this picture for inspiration.
With Luca we always approached writing a song starting from a title which gave us a vision, narrating certain parts of the story we knew what we were going to talk about.

Now, how is songwriting different (without Luca Turrili in the band)?
Now I am not going to write out a saga anymore. Even Luca is not writing a saga anymore. I like the idea of writing songs that are connected somehow. I like lyrics that are not so clear, more magical, that you can interpret. I will never speak about society nowadays, I would like to keep the fantasy style and keep going in that direction.

Photography by Eric Stoner

Videography by Kale Stiles