SERENITY are no strangers in the symphonic world. They have released fist-pumping tracks that are not only memorable but educational too. Following the success of Lionheart in 2017, SERENITY have recently released The Last Knight. Rock Out Stand Out’s Becky Weale speaks to Fabio D’Amore about The Last Knight, their crazy antics on tour and tunes to sing along to in the shower.
The band’s recent release The Last Knight has a historical theme. What inspired the band to write about this subject?
The Last Knight is inspired by Maximillian The First whose 500th anniversary of his death was last year. The band wanted to dedicate the album to him as he is a national and local hero. The band thought this would be a different concept from other bands, it makes it unique and original. This will encourage the fans to research into history and learn more about Austrian culture.
Is this an era you would like to visit and why?
This era was a complicated time with a lot of battles. I’m not part of Austrian culture and not sure about this question. Maybe someone from the band would answer this in more detail especially George [Neuhauser] as he is a history professor.
If you asked this question three albums ago for Codex Atlanticus, in which I contributed more to the lyrics, I would of able to reply in more detail since Leonardo Di Vinci is my nations character.
When touring, do you have any favourite locations/venues to play in?
It is difficult to remember every single venue we played in after fifteen years of touring. I do have some favourites around the world and they are beautiful. For example, Aera in Switzerland.
I also have great experiences in Vienna, Germany, the Netherlands and USA. In the Netherlands, they paid special attention on how a venue was organised. They would hire a person to concentrate on a specific job, everything was clean and beautiful. This made touring life so much easier.
What’s the craziest thing that has happened on tour?
During the 2014 tour in Utah, we pulled into a motel car park not sure where to go for a shower and rest. We went into a small Mexican restaurant for food. On the table behind me was a family, Herbie [Langham], lead singer of our support band Beyond the Bridge, somehow started talking to these people behind us while I was busy having a conversation with the guys from the band.
I overheard the conversation he was having; Herbie was telling the family that they should talk to him and he was pointing at me. It turns out the husband knew who I was. He recognised me from being on tour with Xandria.
This guy wanted to talk to me and take pictures with me with him and the kids. His wife later messaged me the pictures. She said to me that the children couldn’t sleep because of the excitement. I was really surprised that this guy recognised me in a small Mexican restaurant in the middle of nowhere and he didn’t look like a metalhead.
Do you sing in the shower? What tracks do you sing?
Yes, I do sing in the shower. As a vocal coach I need to keep practising. Today I picked to sing Misunderstood by Dream Theater. I think this is the most underrated song that they have written. They have played this song live. Unfortunately, I haven’t had to chance to hear this live. This is a great song and I’ve sang this two or three times already.
Thanks, so much Fabio for speaking to Rock out Stand out today
