Il Volo Interview with EQ

Can we let you in on a secret?  EQ is secretly fans of Il Volo!  Yes, it's true.

Ever since seeing the Italian teen sensations on American Idol last year, we have fell charmed to their powerful world-class voices and their amazing ability to literally STUN everyone who watches them perform.  We recently went to Il Volo's private showcase in London and watched the lads sing to about 100 journalists and let me tell you - it was one of the coolest events we've been to in a long time.  These boys are super special and no matter what type of music you enjoy - one has to appreciate the sheer talent and musicality that Il Volo radiate.

We caught up with Piero Barone, Gianluca Ginoble, & Ignazio Boschetto aka Il Voloafter their London showcase for a chat about life on the road, being compared to The Jonas Brothers and their highlighsts of this year - we hope you enjoy it.  Thanks to the boys too for giving EQ a little video shout out as well!

EQ: Hello guys, how are you? 

A: Hi, fine thanks!

EQ: How long have you been in London? Have you flown in recently?

P: Three days.

EQ: Three days. How are you finding it? 

P: Yes - we are now we’re going to New York to start our American tour.

EQ: Oh really? Cool. How are you finding London?P: We love London. I: It’s one of my favourite cities.

P: This is the second time that we come here in the UK, in London. And for the first time this time I saw, I visited Buckingham Palace.

EQ: You were in London to record your album weren’t you?

I: Yeah, in Abbey Road.

EQ: What was that like?I: We recorded our voices for the album in Rome, the harmonies in Los Angeles

P: Between Rome and Los Angeles, and the orchestra in Abbey Road.

EQ: Wow. Now you’re from Italy of course, maybe for our English readers you could explain your name: what Il Volo means, why you chose it?

P: So we chose this name because, you know, ‘Il Volo’ means ‘the flight’, and because when we sing the music makes us fly!

EQ: So you guys met on an Italian TV programme. Can you explain a bit about the programme and what the experience was like?

I: Yeah, so this programme was a programme for young [people], from eight years old until sixteen or seventeen. And we met there; we didn’t know each other before this programme. And the producer of the programme decided to put our voices together. From there was born Il Volo, and our first song was “O Sole Mio”, and we sang that on American Idol.

EQ: American Idol must have been a big thing for you to do, for you to go on American Idol. You must have been nervous? 

P: Yes, it’s normal, we were a little bit nervous, but the reaction with the people was incredible. But the most beautiful emotion was the day after; someone came at the hotel and told us 30 million people watched American Idol.

  

EQ: I think the first thing people are gonna think when they hear you sing is ‘How do three young guys like you...’

I: Yeah, it’s really great because at first this is new - because [it’s] the first time that three teenagers, of sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old, sing this kind of music.

EQ: So did you have professional training? How did you get to be so good?

P: No, we never started training before. We started training one-and-a-half years ago.

EQ: OK. 

I: With the same teacher.

EQ: So you started out three years ago - what has changed for you since then?I: It’s changed everything.

P: It changed after American Idol.

EQ: Now you’ve been likened to a lot of people; a lot of people say you’re a mix between the Three Tenors and the Jonas Brothers - it’s quite a big combination. Who would you like to be compared to? 

P: I would like to be compared to Il Volo!

EQ: Now you’ve already got plenty of fans - including some celebrity fans I’d noticed. So what kind of people do you think will enjoy listening to your music?P: So we thought before that the people... before the release that people over thirty years old like our kind of music, but now [there’s a] mixture of the young generation, and the girls! It’s incredible.

I: Now we have fans from two years old to sixty, seventy, eighty!

EQ: So do you think you can tap into success amongst young people in a way that other bands haven’t? 

I: This is our goal: to bring our kind of music, our feeling, our emotion through the music, to the people, the young generation.

EQ: And in 2010 you sang on the American charity single for the Haiti earthquake... You must have met some amazing people there?P: Yes, we met eighty stars all over the world: Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, Lionel Richie... Everybody was there! I: Enrique Iglesias!P: Black Eyed Peas...

I: Akon, Usher! [laughs]

EQ: Where did you record that single?

P: In Los Angeles.

EQ: What would you say has been the highlight of what you’ve done so far, the best thing you’ve done?P: I think American Idol.

I: Entourage!

EQ: Oh yeah - you were on the series finale of Entourage! Now obviously you’re quite young, so what do your families think about having achieved so much success so early?

I: Our families always believe in us. They’ve always believed in us and we have to say ‘thanks’ to them, because they always support us, because they helped us follow our dream.

EQ: Did they expect you to become singers?

P: Yes, we always dreamed to be singers but not at this age.

EQ: I don’t imagine you get many days off, but what do you like to do when you’re not flying all over the world?I: So my hobby is everything about flight... Aeroplanes, helicopters... Everything.P: I love cars, you know, sport cars. More horsepower!

G: Football, soccer!

EQ: Do you have much free time?A: No! 

I: Everybody in the family, you know, the father says ‘This year, we are... going to have holidays in Paris, Barcelona...’ But when we have holidays we go home!

EQ: So do you spend most of your time in Italy? 

P: No, we spend it around the world.

EQ: What would be your dream? What do you want to do next? 

I: Now we have to nominations at the Latin Grammys - we hope to win - crossed fingers! We hope to have a nomination at the American Grammys.

EQ: I’m sure you’ll get that. And if you weren’t doing this every day, what do you think you’d be doing?

P: I’d like to be a piano teacher.

EQ: So when you’re doing all this travelling, who do you travel with? Do your family come with you? I: Yes. Piero travels alone...P: Because now I am over age. But for the American tour, for the European tour, for the first tour, it was too difficult so I needed my dad because he helps me. I: And we [Gianluca and I] travel with... Me, me and my mother now. 

P: And Gianluca with his father.

EQ: And do feel a lot of pressure from either your family, maybe other people who expect you to work hard and do well? 

P: No, no, absolutely not.

EQ: Now you already mentioned your American tour, what do you have planned for then, where will you be performing?I: First we’re going to release our Christmas album. P: It’s an EP, four songs. P: And now we’re gonna start our American tour. I: From the east coast to the west coast! The Bahamas, Miami, Los Angeles, everywhere...

P: Washington, New York...

EQ: You’re here in the UK to promote your debut album which is out next month. Can you tell us a bit about that and what we can expect?

I: We know that the UK is the second country - there is a big market. We hope to sell many copies here, to bring our tradition here.

EQ: So which songs are on the album?

I: There are three languages: Spanish, English and Italian. You can find pop and classic songs. It includes three new songs: one Spanish and two in English.

EQ: How does it work, trying to combine the genres of pop music and opera? P: The music is pop lyric.I: Operatic pop.

P: It’s a mix of pop and classic.

EQ: Is that something you think is new to you? Do you have a new way of doing things?I: I think that everyone’s seen the kind of music that we like, you know? P: We like to do this and we love to do this. Our grandfather introduced us to this kind of music. The first time that I heard this kind of music I fell in love. 

I: We love it.

EQ: And will you get a chance to perform in the UK soon?I: This afternoon we’re going to perform on the Alan Titchmarsh show! 

M: That’s big. You’ll like him!

Source: EQ Music Blog