SANDY:Let's talk about SL : what brought you inworld?
Laura: We started because a customer of ours asked infos about SL and this was really the first step cos we thought that this "non traditional" media could have a nice impact on peolpe all around the world, at least for the music. It actually is a nice way to diffuse your tunes touching all the continents.
SANDY:Did you ever think to use your real name for what you usually do in Second Life?
Laura: Sure we usually use the real names during the gigs, well Anto is also registered using his real name and I registered as Rola cos I had too many difficulties to find the combination I wanted with my name Laura, but actually I always use my real name when I present myself and of course we have a site , facebook and my space related to our SL activity so I think it’s right to use a real name for us real musicians, this is not a game for us, well of course I am talking about professional bands or artists, not about people that makes it for fun.
SANDY:Where are you from?
Laura: We are from north Italy, Lago (Lake) Maggiore, 40 minutes from Milano.
SANDY:How long have you been playing music?
Laura: Anto started in the late 70’s and grew with the progressive music that put the basis to the actual productions that he mixes with electronic music, pop soul, dance and R&B.
I started to sing in 1996 and took my influences from Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Cher. Now am naturally transforming my chant very much in R&B style. This permits me to touch all the modern music styles and genres. I think it’s very important for an artist to evolve and sometimes transform but without loosing his or her characteristic style.
SANDY:What instruments do you play?
Laura: Anto is pianist and I play my voice hahahaha
SANDY:What you like to do here in Second Life when you are not playing?Do you like shopping or going to music concerts or art exhibits?
Laura: I seldom enter SL when I don’t have gigs, but if I do is only to talk with some nice friends I have on met in the inworld. Anto lieks also to build and make videos and explore new places…maybe t shoot videos for UKD. We use to have a lots of fun when we organize one week long video shootings.
SANDY:What has influenced you to get your to where you are today musically?
Laura: Well as I told before my influences comes from soul singers but I love my own way to perform and I think that if a singer has the talent and the experience and power infront of the mic well gosh…she or he does not need to imitate but will find the own way as I think I did.
Anto got his influences by genesis, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dreams and Enigma and now some early style rock bands like The Keene, Kino and so on. We both mix our experiences together so when we compose we got a perfect combination of what we want to reach in our expressions.
SANDY:Do you think SL can be a valid showcase for your RL works?
Laura: Well we have produced 2 cds since we play in sl and we are working on our third double one so…yes I think it is a valid showcase.
In 2007: Beyond Two Worlds
In 2008: The Moon and the Water
And now in 2010 “A voice from the future” and “Surrounded by dreams” so divided because we are working on a cd totally played in dream stylewith some original ideas that we can’t talk about now obviously because we would like this to be a sort of innovative idea. Hope people will appreciate this J
SANDY:How would you describe your style?
Laura: We use many styles in our music cos as I told before we don’t want to be scheduled in only one genre. We are pop, rock, dance, soul and R&B trying to mix together those styles in one album. This is very exciting and never boring. I can’t listen to an album that has the same genre from the beginning to the end.
SANDY:Which are the sources of your inspiration?
Laura: Well I can write about everything except politics…I hate songs about politics and I don’t like too honeyfull lovesongs. I love intelligent and hidden meanings in songs and I have fun in writing lyrics about what I feel inside of myself, whitch is nearly always happiness so I love to write about positive feelings, trying to transmit them to the listeners.
And Anto composes the music from his inside inspiration too.
Sometimes our songs starts from my melody and sometimes from his melody, in this way we mix styles and have fun.
SANDY:Do you use other kind of digital promotions?
Laura: Basically we count on our website to promote all our works: http://ukdproject.com
We have a youtube channel for the videos:
http://youtube.com/ukdproject
MySpace, Facebook and so on and we have our music on all the principal stores like itunes and Amazon and so on.
SANDY:Where do you see yourself a year from now:will Second Life still exist?
Laura: Sure it will exist. SL Is only in the beginning of its journey and I think the future will help us for exemple to reach a higher audience without crashing sims and also probably get he instrument stronger by streaming videos easily. By now we go on like this….crashing.And …as everybody tells me about my laughter I would end this interview first of all thanking You Sandy and then ….hahahahahha keep on smiling! See you all on our gigs.
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