MindAhead is an Italian Progressive Metal who are set to release a new album on the 28th of October. MindAhead already released singles “The Last Tide” and “What You Are”, with the former being released with a music video. As we wait for the sophomore album from the Italian band that will resume the band’s story that began with their debut, we interviewed vocalist Kyo Calati and asked her about her band’s music as well as her take on different industry and social issues. Enjoy this wonderful chat with Kyo Calati!
Hello, Kyo. It’s really wonderful to talk with you. How are you doing today?
Hello, I’m fine, thanks, and it’s a pleasure for me too.
Your new album is coming out next month and your fans have already been able to get some appetizers with the single “What You Are”. How did you feel about the reaction the single received?
I think “What You Are” is a wonderful song, and the feedback we got both online and face-to-face with people that follow our band confirms that. A lot of people liked it, our usual public but also some new followers who discovered us thanks to this song and were curious to know something more about the story of 6119
How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard MindAheaD’s music before?
This is a very difficult and controversial question, our sound is a mix of a lot of musical influences, and we have never been able to label our music under just one musical genre: you can find some melodic parts that can refer to some big bands from the 70s, like Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Genesis, and we have hard parts and techniques inspired to more modern bands like Opeth, Haken, Tesseract and many more
Your upcoming album “6119 Part 1” continues telling a story that started in your debut album, and from the title, we can feel your next album will also continue that story. In your opinion, does writing music under a certain concept limit your ability to widen the topics you want to talk about or expands it?
In this case, I think it gets to expand it, inventing a story and creating a whole world where the characters can move. I think this has an incredible power on people’s minds, it unleashes creativity and brings you to be interested and learn about things that maybe you didn’t know. Furthermore, we wanted to tell a story made of fantasy and mystery, but this is just a way to tell about the man, his fears, and his desires. This is a path through deserts and visions, with strange characters and lands, but simultaneously it is the journey into the mind and soul of the man. So, it is a boundless territory of stories, music, and inspirations.
Brilliant! In order to get to know you better and from a different point of view, how about playing some imagination game? I will set a scenario in an alternate universe with new rules and see how you’d react to the different situations. Ready?
Yeah of course!
In a universe where you are made the queen of a country, what would be the first law you’d make?
I am a coffee lover, so I would like coffee to be served for free everywhere! Lol
Wonderful law! In a universe where humans can choose either to be able to teleport from one place to another or travel back and forth in time, which superpower would you pick?
I don’t know if it could be actually defined as a superpower, but I would like to live forever and to be able to see every historical time and the changes that have occurred, and why not, go back in time to re-live the events of the past that people loved.
In a universe where you’re the statue of liberty, what object would you be holding instead of a torch?
I surely would keep a full coffee mug. Hahaha.
HAHAHA! In a universe where money does not exist, but instead, people pay for things by making other people laugh, how rich would you be considered?
That’s a question only my friends can answer, and I assure you I have a lot of them
In a universe where the senses of taste and hearing are mixed up together, what food would you imagine MindAhead’s music would taste like?
I think it could be pizza flavored, I mean, who doesn’t like pizza? : D
Yum! In a universe where making magic is real, what would your favourite spell do?
It could be interesting to be able to create illusions…it would be fun, wouldn’t it?
Definitely would! Thank you for playing, Kyo! I hope you enjoyed this!
We live in an era where social media became essential for musicians to reach fans and promote their music. In your opinion, what are the cons and pros of social media having all that power in the music industry?
Social media aren’t absolute evil like a lot of people think. I think they could be a great way to connect people and create wonderful things. On the other hand, I think they can ruin some stuff because not everyone uses them to do or say good things, and to share their art. Sometimes they’re used to create hatred and offend people of every age and culture, and share shocking things just to get a minute of fame. The music world is no exception. Through social media, you can reach your followers everywhere in a blink of an eye everywhere, keep them constantly updated and share with them a lot of info, news, music and so on. On the other hand, I’m afraid that all could be too much easy and the risk is to not appreciate little things and to be bored very fast. Then, we love metal and metal is real, metal is flesh and blood, not just pictures and messages in a chat; metal is to play on stage and sing out loud all together…you know? Gunpowder is not bad…it depends on what you do with it.
Those are some very important ideas, thank you for sharing! Have you ever faced any kind of sexism in your professional or personal life? How would you deal with sexist behaviour and what advice would you give young people around the world who face any kind of discrimination?
I’ve had some bad moments in my life that could have destroyed me, but I decided to be strong and get up again after every fall. The advice I want to give is to not share and increase the hate, cause it’s like a fire that destroys everything it touches…but if it’s not fed sooner or later it will blow out. Don’t get carried away by insecurities and meanness, try to use your brain and always be yourselves
Thank you for your valuable advice and experience, and thanks for giving us this interview, Kyo. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
The last thing I would like to say is that each of us is incredible in our own way. Whatever we create, feel, and are, is what comes from within us and I think everyone should be free to show it to the world without fear of discrimination. I really hope that our music also conveys this message of love as well and that every listener can get emotional, cry, laugh, and sing their hearts out, capturing the spirit of our music.
