TYTUS: We Are All Natural Born Maiden Fans

It’s been months now, since Gonzales played their last concert ever, celebrating the official birth of Tytus. This brand new heavy metal beast is taking every possible rock n’ roll stage by storm to spread their verb of power chords and dual lead guitar solos, sounding tighter and sharper than ever. After the recent release of “White Lines”, a double A-side single too good to be true, Tytus are working hard on their next steps to cement their reputation as one of the most exciting hard rock outfits around. 

Hi Mark! What’s up in Tytus camp?

Hi Alle, in Tytus camp things are going fine, our first 7” EP “White Lines” has just been released and we’re getting a good feedback both for the two tracks EP and for the live shows.

This is a question you cannot avoid…which are the reasons behind the decision of changing the name of the band when, after years of hard work as Gonzales, you had made a name and a cult following throughout Europe?

After ten years, crucial line-up and sound changes that we could look at as an evolution or maturation, we felt it was right, most of all me and Markey Moon (bass player and the other only founding member), to change the name of the band and to end the project known as Gonzales.

Aren’t you afraid of confusing the older fans?

This is another reason that made us realize it was the time for a change…imagining some fan interested in the new sound of the band and looking for a Gonzales’ video on Youtube, just to find a live performance from 2005 with Markey Moon on vocals and guitar (he switched to bass in 2010, leaving the vocal duties to Tilen Durden) playing with a more punk rock approach…that could have been wrong and confusing. No one could say : I prefer Gonzales with the first singer, with the new one, with the old bass player, with the new one, when they were more punk, less punk etc…they could only say to prefer Gonzales to Tytus…well, that’s a possibility.

As you said before, you’re back on the market with a brand new single “White Lines”, 300 (100 by Kornalcielo Records, 100 by Ghost Highway Records, 100 by Self Decostructo Records); tell us more about the feedback it’s receiving?

Visits on Bandcamp and sales after just three days are good, the reviews till now are all very positive, and the feedback to our last four live performances promoting the new material is beyond the greatest expectations…very good indeed!!

Do you think that the classic metal turn of your new sound will leave more room for the dual lead guitars panache, or the original “straight to the point” punk attitude will remain one of your trademarks?

The lead guitar hero (or guitar nerd) syndrome was very much present also in Gonzales, for sure this new heavy rock approach gives us more chances to explore new possibilities but, even if now we have tracks reaching the six minutes mark, we are not going to stuff them with never ending guitar solos.

Listening to the new material I find strong similarities with bands like American Gypsyhawk, with their brand of cock-out hard rock with a melodic sensibility a la Thin Lizzy; nowadays, which are your stylistic reference points?

All the British heavy metal and hard rock of the 70’s and 80’s…Thin Lizzy, Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath…but we also look with interest to all the new wave of retro rock bands coming from Scandinavia like Witchcraft, Graveyard, Horisont, or American bands like Gypsyhawk, Valient Thorr, Sword, Scorpion Child…

As the years went passing by, with the stylistic evolution, you have very much matured as musicians; how do you and Ilija (Riffmeister, guitar) work together to compose and define your guitar parts full of harmonies and twin leads?

Mainly in the rehearsal room…we send the other guys to drink some beer down at the pub and we take our time to fix the harmonies, the solos, split our parts…

Generally speaking, how Tytus gives birth to a new song?

With an improvised riff in the rehearsal room, or sometime with one or more members of the band coming with an almost fully developed idea to be shaped. Tilen (vocals) mainly handles the lyrics duties, working in team with Markey Moon for the vocal lines and melodies.

Do you think that outside Italian borders, most of all in Germany where Gonzales was a well known name, changing the name of the band could cause some misunderstanding?

I don’t think so, we played a gig in Wien, where we had been three, four times as Gonzales, and our old fans very much appreciated the change!!

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re into punk, hardcore or rock…we are all Maiden fans, that’s where everybody comes from…if the attitude stays the same and you don’t take yourself too seriously, like metalheads sometimes do, people enjoy the show. Playing this kind of music brings me back to my teens and I hope that our show could give the audience the same feeling.

The space-rock intro of “New dawn’s eve” opens new horizons in your sonic landscape, what about using a regular keyboards player in the future? Or maybe a naked dancer, like Stacia in those legendary Hawkind’s shows?

(Laughing) If she’d have Stacia’s boobs I’m up for it! I would like to use some synth parts but not a keyboards player on stage…we’ll see, everything could happen!

After all these years as a champion of the rock n’ roll underground scene, looking back, would you change something, or are you happy with your actual situation?

I personally have no regret and I consider myself lucky enough…I’ve been playing everywhere, I’ve seen places and met people that I could have never imagined when I started it all. Some friends of mine never went beyond their city borders, and I’ve been playing throughout most of Europe, United States, Scandinavia, why should I complain?

How organized your actual set list? Do you have a full on Tytus repertoire, or do you still play some Gonzales classic?

At the moment we are playing all new originals and a couple of cover songs, but we are writing new songs on a daily basis and they are almost ready to be soon part of the set list.

We have been asked to play some old stuff from the old repertoire, but we strongly refused…Gonzales are dead and gone!

All is ready for Tytus first full length then?

As I said before we are working on it effortlessly, hoping to record it by the end of the summer and to find a record label that could promote it in the best possible way.

See you on the road, Mark!

Sure!! Thanks a lot for this interview and for the support!! Global Texan Chronicles was the first to review “White Lines”, months before the official release!! A big thumbs up for you guys!!!

.