OGT (Országos Gothic Találkozó) is only a few days away (you can find our interview – in Hungarian – with the organizer here), on this occasion we had a chat with the frontman of one of the main acts, Christian Miconi of Vlad In Tears.

-The past two years were extremely challenging for musicians – how did it go for you?

-It’s been hard. Being all alone and realizing that everything has stopped all of a sudden, made all of us feel a bit lost, even a bit useless.

But that was exactly what gave us the strength to start over, to find a way to rebuild, to start fighting again. 

-Your new album will come out on the 16th of September – how could you work on the new material during these challenging times?

-I have written this album three times! My first attempt was two years ago, it was an album very close to the previous “Dead stories of forsaken lovers”, but I wasn’t too happy about it, so I started over.

My second attempt had a more rockish sound, I liked it better, but between the music and the lyrics, I still felt a bit far from my goal.

The third (and last) attempt was something different, something completely new.

I’ve written those new songs using mostly synths and dark tunes, less classical piano elements, and I wanted a very heavy touch of “NuGoth” metal guitars.

I wanted to talk about the whole lockdown experience I’ve been through, and I wanted to tell it right, I needed something real, sometimes too cruel or scary to be real, but that’s what Porpora is about, it’s a deep dark story we all have in common.

I felt relieved after writing it. 

-What inspired the new album?

-I have been struggling with so many dark thoughts in the last two years that I almost believed I would end my existence to escape a cruel fate. I thought it was the end, maybe for all of us, maybe for me, I felt lost and I couldn’t find hope around me.

Even though you hear every day about depression and suicide, you’d never think it might happen to you.

It has not been easy, and I don’t even know how exactly, but I’ve found the strength to start writing again and look for some kind of salvation, maybe I only wanted to tell a story that is not only mine, that somehow it brought all of us together, and whoever felt this way at least once in their life, would feel comforted and understood by listening to our new album.

-What was the most challenging thing during the working process and how did you get over it?

-I thought it was all over. Every day I was reading about people dying, by sickness or suicide, so many people were losing their loved ones, so many others were losing their jobs… I’ve been living these two years under constant fear, I’ve been stuck in my head with the feeling that one day or another something very bad would happen to me or to someone really close to me.

Among all, when the music “stopped”, I thought it was the end of a dream, my dream, and acknowledging that so many musicians needed to give up, it put me really down, but somehow, it also gave me a reason to keep fighting… 

-What should we expect from “Porpora”?

–A deep dark red story, of real pain, sorrow, desperation, and salvation.

Porpopora is not only my story, it’s everyone’s story, whoever felt at least lost once in their life. All are put together with a NuGoth metal sound, dynamic vocals, and a true melancholic dark ambiance.

-If I know well, you guys are brothers from Italy, but after the band formed you decided to move to Germany. Why did you make that decision?

-We had a guy here in Germany who really wanted to work with us, and the best way to do, it would have been to be physically here. We never regretted that decision. A new life has just started for us back in 2012.

-Your first show in Hungary was in 2016 – have you been back here since then? What is your dearest memory of our country? And are you excited to come back?

-We haven’t come back there yet, but we are very excited to do so!

Our dearest memory of being there? The warm welcome of all the people who were there supporting, loving us, screaming, and singing along with us!

-What should the Hungarian fans expect from you guys at OGT?

-A big show, a new sound, a new look. The band as its best!

Be there for us, be loud, be passionate, because we will! Love you, stay Vlad!