I interviewed LOU QUINSE

I interviewed Dennis Anzalone, known here for being a HENDERWYD band member before, 

and now a full member in LOU QUINSE band.

01. Hi Dennis! You were part of the band HENDERWYD when I met you and then, you left the band... Have you got some nice experiences with HENDERWYD ?

Sure I have! HENDERWYD was the first band wherewith I played live for the first time in my life and it was also the first band wherewith I recorded the first songs. In the past, I had only one hard rock/ heavy metal project that never saw the light so I can say that HENDERWYD was my first real band. It's important to say that thanks to this band, I was introduced into folk metal. The nicest experience with them was playing at Fosch Fest 2012, for the first time I played on a big stage in front a lot of people and that was truly a blast! I'll never forget it!

02. So, you and Michèle Tron, also from HENDERWYD, have joined LOU QUINSE sometimes after quit your previous band, What happened inside HENDERWYD for you two leave them ?

Inside the band, there were some misunderstandings between some of us already before Fosch Fest 2012, about the way to work for the future of the band and the genre to play. At the same time, I found work in Switzerland that forced me to leave the band but unfortunately, this work didn't go in the right way and it never started so I stayed here in Italy. Then I decided not to rejoin the band due to the problems I said above. Our ways and ideas were too different to continue together and that was the same for my mate, Michele.

03. LOU QUINSE is up for some years now. How long do you know them, band members, and their music ?

That's a funny thing! Michele and I went to United Club in Turin to see one FOLKSTONE show back in 2010. The support act was a band called LOU QUINSE and that was the first time I heard them. It was also my first folk metal live ever! I was captured by the fury they unleashed in that club when they started to play, it was folk metal but with a fury typical of extreme metal, I was fascinated about that! After the show I bought their CD and they became one of my favourite band of the genre. I went to some of their shows and I talked a lot with some of them especially with their drummer Simone. When the guitarist Luca Braga left LOU QUINSE Simone wanted me inside the band and after some auditions I became their new guitarist and here I am! The same happened for Michele, already known for his ability with tin/low whistles and bagpipes.

04. October 26th of 2013, LOU QUINSE had a show, with FOLKSTONE and others, have you got good responses from the crowd ?

Very good responses! It’s always a pleasure to support FOLKSTONE in their live shows! We are really happy to see that our music is well received among the folk metal fans. And then we played near Turin, our home, so at the show there were also our evil fans! We thank them all, the best satisfaction for a band is to receive energy from the crowd and to give energy to the crowd, so we are very happy.

05. Your previous band, HENDERWYD, was also part of the line-up for the festival. Nowadays, are you two in good terms ?

We are in good terms. Me and Simone from them especially. They’re working on their new stuffs and they’re continuing to play and that makes me happy, the important thing is that everyone of us has found his own right way to make music!

06. When LOU QUINSE introduced you to their listeners; they also announced they 'd enter the studios for a new album. How things going for the album ?

Things are going well! We are working on this third record since January as you said, it will be our second full-length after Rondeau De La Forca. Actually we are working on pre-recs making arrangements on the songs and we are finishing to compose the last tracks. It’s a big, long and hard work, the new tracks are in some ways different from the previous records, they’re more mature, “dark” and introspective. The sound remains the same, the idea to mix our extreme sound with traditional songs, but it’s all more “studied”. We are becoming perfectionists! Or maybe not!

07. What is the studio chosen for the recordings ?

we are composing the album at Alarm Studios in Turin and in this place, the album will born! Alessio Sogno from the studios will take care of recordings, mixing and mastering for this new record.

08. Haven't LOU QUINSE met some particular problems during the recordings ?

Well, yes. The songs are now more mature and for that reason they need more arrangements than in the past, so the work in every single track is taking us a lot of time. The life in studio can be hard, we are working a lot and spending a lot of energy but we hope that the final result will not disappoint!

09. What is the name of the sound-engineer working on the new LOU QUINSE album ?

Luca Braga is now our sound engineer, especially for live shows, of course he is helping us also with the album and the work in the studio. As I said above the sound engineer Alessio Sogno from Alarm Studios will take care of the recordings, mixing and mastering. We had the chance to see how he works and he did a great job with local bands like the brutal death metal act Godless Enthropia so we’re excited to work with him!

10. Can we already know the title for the upcoming album ?

I can’t reveal these details yet but we promise we’ll do it soon!

11. Well, before you entered the band and for their first album entitled Rondeau de la Forca self-released, LOU QUINSE have sold cd's but for the digital version, they have chosen some free and legal download spaces like the well-known Jamendo website. Will LOU QUINSE process that way again for the new album or will it be different for this time ? 

That’s an interesting question. If you look at the music business nowadays you can see that the CDs are selling less copies than the past. The music business is changed a lot and if a band wants to spread his music nowadays it has to adapt to these changes. Until now LOU QUINSE have self-recorded and self-distributed their works, we would like that this new work will be out under a record label but I can’t reveal nothing about these things yet! Of course, the record labels want to print CDs and to distribute stuffs from the bands so we’ll surely do physical copies of the new album in CDs and vinyls. About the digital stuffs, they’re very important, nowadays a lot of people prefer to download the songs from the internet. However I think that’s in some ways a really shame. A work of a band consists not only in the music, but also in the artwork, the paper, the booklet, the lyrics, the physical copy of a record. That’s important. But these things are not dead, I know a lot of people that still buys the music they like! For that reasons LOU QUINSE will of course spread the new songs on the internet via digital platforms like ITunes, Spotify, etc. We will have more distribution than the past.

12. What is the LOU QUINSE opinion on the repressive laws for copyrights onto the listeners and people in some countries ? Do all the bands members have one personal opinion on that matter or do you all think the same about ? 

The music must be free. That’s a common thought among us. In our music we use a lot of traditional stuffs that are free and available to everyone because they’re folk songs, songs from the people. We think that these songs must be played and must be revisited and replayed in a modern way because they have a lot of meanings and teachings that works also nowadays! However I think the copyright could be useful if his aim would be to prevent the stealing of the musician’s work, but not to make money or to censure things like in some circumstances it’s used to! It’s a very long argument that can’t be resolved in only one question, too much things to say! Eheheh

13. Hehe indeed, that's one big topic. Tell me... When do you plan the release date for the new album ?

We’ll release the new album in 2014 for sure! Don’t know the release date yet.

14. Will you unleash some previews of the incoming record for your fans ?

We’ll do it! For now I can’t reveal- nothing but of course during the next months, we’ll release a teaser for the new album with some previews!

15. Thank you for your answers, Dennis! The last words are yours.

Thanks to you Krissy for the questions, thanks to all the Sword Chant Forum community, thanks to my bandmates, thanks to all LOU QUINSE fans and to all the metalheads that continue to support the artists, the events and music! Thanks to everyone of you we can continue to play the music we like with passion! Hope to see you at LOU QUINSE shows for some beers! Cheers!