Luca Poma - Guitarist for Moon Reverie

1. Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for MetalAsylum.net. I greatly admire the songs on Moon Reverie’s debut album! Your guitar work is incredible. Describe the regimen of practice and study that got you to this level of guitar mastery.

LUCA POMA: First of all let me thank you for your kind words and your great review of our album!
I'm a self taught musician, i've never went to music schools nor attended any lesson or clinic etc. and this is because since i've started playin' guitar, at 15 years old, i wanted to learn it in a very spontaneous and free way, just like all my heroes did before me. I've always thought that there is no right or wrong way to play electric guitar and, like, you know,to quote Van Halen, “if it sounds good it's good!”
To me developin' my ear was way more important than tablatures or music books or a teacher, i've always avoided them because i wanted to do it all by myself, 'cause it was way more rewardin' and challengin' to me instead of havin' someone tellin' me what i had to do and how to do it. I took the hardest way. So i just started to learn songs, licks and solos by ear by listening to all my favourite albums from Deep Purple, Rainbow,Malmsteen, old Scorpions, Europe, to name a few and a lot of classical music.
I've never had any schedule for my practice or playin', it would have been way too boring, takin' away all the fun, so i just played a lot at home, in bands and at rehearsals just because i felt the urgent need to do so. To me while i grew up it's been very important to play as much as possible with other musicians and playin' live, developing a high level of interplay with others and the ability to deal with the stage and the equipment.

2. Can you tell some of the guitarists who’ve inspired you most?

LUCA: The guitar players that inspired me have never changed from day one and are Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Brian May, Van Halen and Michael Schenker. I still can get to this day infinite inspiration from them...each one created a whole universe with their music and i can always get inspired to do something new just by listening to them on a daily basis. Then there are of course other players that i admire even if they did not inspired me directly, like Ritchie Kotzen, Kee Marcello, Vinnie Vincent, Vinnie Moore, Shawn Lane, to name a few.

3. How do you feel about the comparisons between yourself and Yngwie Malmsteen?

LUCA: Yngwie is of course one of my main inspiration in terms of playin' and songwriting. I've always loved the way he play, very technical but with a lot of feeling and passion, combinin' classical music, Hendrix, Uli Roth, Blackmore and Schenker into something original and exciting. To me he's one of the few true rockers alive and he wrote one of my favourite albums of all time, Fire&Ice. I'm glad that people compares me to him, but i think that the influence of Uli Jon Roth, Blackmore, Hendrix and Schenker are have an equal influence in my playin'.

4. Tell a little bit about the writing and recording of the “Moon Reverie” album, with the rest of the band and the studio engineer(s) (Where was it recorded, how long did it take, etc.). Were you the primary writer of the music and lyrics, or was it more of a collaborative effort?

LUCA: Moon Reverie is my solo project so to speak, so i've written every single note you can hear on the album, from the parts to every instrument, to the arrangements, vocal melodies, harmonies and all the lyrics. Even the basic cover concept is mine. I've always had a very strong and precise vision of what i wanted to hear on this album, and even a stronger vision of what i didn't want to hear and to do. I didn't want to record at home using a computer or plugins or do reamping etc. i just wanted to record the album like in the old days, more time consuming and expensive of course, but much much more rewarding to me. We went to a great studio by the wonderful shores of Lake Como in Italy, Alpha Omega Studios and I worked closely with the engineer/owner of the studio, Alex Azzali, to perfectly realize my vision. We took our time to record it because i had all the time in the world, I wasn't in a rush or something 'cause i wanted everything to be exactly as i wanted. So we recorded the parts whenever we had the time etc. I wanted to record the songs as we play them live, so i didn't want to overproduce it, especially with the vocal harmonies. I've even wanted a live feel to the recordings, so my solos for example have been recorded all in one take and improvised, just like i would do in a live situation. What you hear on the album is just what i played in that precise day,i just told the engineer to press record and boom :)
It's been of course a very very long work but now that it's done we are very happy with the results, my bandmates did an incredible job nailing everything to perfection.

5. Can you briefly talk up the other members of Moon Reverie, and what great things they do for the band?

LUCA: When i started this band i wanted the best musicians around in order to be free to write my music without any technical or expressive limitation. Every member of the band is considered one of the best in their instrument in Italy and they are all very good friends of mine since many years.
We have Manuel Togni on drums. Manuel is a true professional drummer, and a truly exceptional musician. He played on tour with Doogie White ( Rainbow, Malmsteen, Michael Schenker), Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden) and with me on many gigs with Kee Marcello, Uli Jon Roth, Graham Oliver (Saxon) and many others. He's currently the drummer of Mortado and Mortuary Drape too.
Luca Pozzi is on vocals. Luca is a truly wonderful singer, he's really able to sing my melodies exactly as i would like sing them myself, he's very powerful and expressive. Everyone is always praisin' the vocals while listening to the album...when i let someone listen to it the usual first question i get is “who's the singer”:)? That's what Uli Jon Roth or Vinnie Moore did when they listened to it. On keyboards we have Nicola Leonesio. I've always followed Nicola's career through the years and always loved his playin' and his musicality. He also have a great voice, so that in a live situation we ( i sing myself too live) can sing the choruses exactly like they are on the album, with no tapes or whatsoever. On the album i played the bass myself 'cause it was the easiest way for me.

6. Tell us about the instruments you play on the album, including the electric, acoustic, and classical guitars.

LUCA: I've used my regular equipment to record. A Jcm 800 2204 50w Marshall head, a 1960BX Marshall cabinet, a Dod 250, a Univibe, a wah wah pedal and a noise reduction pedal by Boss. 90% of the time i had just the 250 and the noise reduction in my signal chain. I have many different Fender stratocasters,about 15,love them to death, but for this album i think i've used just three, a black '75 all original, a cream colored u.s. made strat with a '77 maple neck, equipped with two Di Marzio hs3 pickup, one '78 middle pickup and various vintage hardware from the early seventies and an olympic white Voodoo Strat from 1997, also with two hs3 pickup and one original middle reverse pickup. I use custom picks made for me by InTune guitar picks.I didn't want any modern “trick” or something in studio, so we just recorded the signal straight with a couple of microphones without any sound plugin or whatsoever...all just like in the old days as i told you before. I've also used a couple of classical guitars, an electrified Eko and a Sakura ( the very first guitar i've ever had) and a Cort acoustic guitar.

7. Over the years, you’ve been the touring guitarist with a number of great artists. Who have been some of your favorites to play and travel with?

LUCA: Uli Jon Roth. I always say that i've never met anybody else so close to the real meaning of Music. He's a true Artist at 360 degrees, always many steps ahead of everybody else,just like the italian artists of the Renaissance era. Playin' with him it's always a truly enlightening experience...plus he's always been one of my main inspiration as a musician and guitar player, so it's always a blast for me the fact that we became friends over the years...we played many shows together and traveled quite a lot, and i hope to do that again in the future.

8. You’ve played quite a bit internationally, but tell me about your roots as an Italian-born musician, and how the Italian music scene (modern and/or classic) has influenced you.

LUCA: In Italy we had some of the greatest classical composers and musicians of all time...i'm extremely influenced by the works of Antonio Vivaldi, Niccolò Paganini, Domenico Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli and Pietro Antonio Locatelli to name a few. We had and have also truly great modern band, but i'm not influenced by them...

9. What are Moon Reverie’s tour plans for 2020 and beyond? Any North American dates?

LUCA: First we need to overcome this terrible epidemic...it's a really tragic situation here in Italy, especially in the area where we live so it's impossible now to make clear plans for the future...we wanted to play around to support the album after January but this hasn't been possible up to now...we will see after the summer now when hopefully the problem will be over...we all need to be strong now and help the ones that are fighting in the first place! i'd really love to come and play in the U.S. In fact through the years I had to say no to an american tour with Uli at least two times 'cause I was busy unfortunately...and in 2014 when I would have been part of Uli's band for Yngwie's Guitar Gods tour we had to cancel unfortunately. So yes, it would be great to finally come...who knows, we'll see!

10. OK - - thanks again for answering some questions, and thanks for the great music! Tell MetalAsylum/net’s readers in your own words why they should be getting into Moon Reverie.

LUCA: If you like melodic metal/hard rock heavily influenced by classical music and with a strong 80's vibe i think this is the album for you. It's an honest album,made without any compromise and without following any trends...this is just what i am, this is Moon Reverie!
Thanks a lot again to you and Metal Asylum, and thanks to all the people that showed us their love and support and to the ones that will do it in the future! ROCK ON!!!!

Official Facebook page: Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MoonReverieLucaPoma/