You released your previous album on a small Italian label. Why did you change label?
We changed labels because our contract wit Northwind was over and we had some other offers so we chose the best one. It had nothing to do with breaking contracts. We are in fact very close to them

How did you get in touch with Pavement?
When we sent out the promotion records for our other CD ("Evillot" - AE) one of the labels that showed interest in us was Metal Blade. Their A&R later became the head of Pavement Europe. We sent promos to every label, maybe to 40 - 50 labels.

Do you feel that the deal has turned out the way you wanted it to?
I think we have a decent deal that is very good for a band now on its second CD. We get a lot of support from them. The only problem I can see with Pavement is that they've just started up here in Europe. They are very small and they don't have that many bands that play the style we do. It is harder for them to get us on a tour.
We feel lucky because we know that Pavement will not treat us as a product. We are a band that they believe in.

Signing with Pavement might still make it easier to get into the American market
In America Pavement is much bigger. In fact we have no problem getting the CDs in the shops and maybe we will go on tour in the States too. The thing is that our kind of power metal don't have that much of a following in the US. I think it is going to be a slow build in the US actually.
We are getting pretty big responses from over there but a really big response from the US is like selling hundred's of thousands albums and we are not selling that much of course.

I would like to talk a bit about your new album "Lightbringer". How did you end up working with Joey Vera?
We got in touch with him through our manager. We had some ideas of people we wanted to work with and then it came out that our manager knew him so we sent him our material and he liked it. That's it.

Was the album recorded in Italy?
Yes, in a place close by.

What did he bring to your sound that wasn't there before?
I think that there were a couple of things to which Joey was important. First of all he was a reference point to us. When we recorded we didn't have to worry about what the record would sound like. We recorded in a more constructive way because we didn't have to worry about the deal but only about producing the album. He also did a lot of psychological work on Michaela when she recorded her vocals, to get a lot of feeling into the sound. You can really hear that on the CD.
Regarding the kind of production choices like having this wall of guitars-sound. That was choices we made with Joey. Nothing was imposed on us, everything was agreed upon.

Do you think that having a name producer will help you?
That has been helping us in many ways. The most important way is the fact that he is a very good producer and a very good person. You can very easily work with him and he's a very hard worker. He knows how to get he very best out of you. He's very much responsible for the good vibes on this CD.
On the other side it was also very good for us to have someone with a bigger name than us producing our CD getting noticed and gaining more interest in the band. I hope people will buy the CD because of this and then enjoy it.

There is no track called "Lightbringer" so why did you give the album this title?
We named it "Lightbringer" because of a line from the song "Lucifer" and also because in Latin Lucifer means "the bringer of light" so that is were the title Lightbringer comes from.

Does this mean that the album is a concept album?
No it is not a concept album. This is a question you should ask Michaela our singer. She writes the lyrics but I know that this is not a concept but all the lyrics are written as an exploration of the darker sides of her personality. She is always talking about what she feels or thinks. Maybe that can be seen as a conceptual link. That might be why you see a concept. We didn't have a concept in mind.

Maybe it has something to do with how the record flows?
You are not the first person to tell us this. But it is not a concept.

In my eyes the Italian metal scene seem to be experiencing a revival. Do you think Power Symphony could gain from this?
No! We are actually not working with Italy anymore. I mean we still do the Italian magazines as we do all the other magazines. It does not matter if we live in Italy or not. Our label is American so on that side there is no help from Italy.
From the other bands here there is a lot of envy between them. The bands here don't help each other. That's how it goes. I have personally helped some bands getting in touch with different people but I know for certain that other bands have been fighting each other trying to spread bad words about each other.
Now is the first time that Italian metal is starting to sell and be professional. Every band is scared that they'll miss out on the action.

Where do you see yourself fit into the global metal market?
I do not know. I think that we are not part of this sort of new wave of metal coming out in Europe. The sort of pop metal bands that are selling a lot of records but don't have the feeling of the eighties. Even though some of them are good I think they lack the real metal vibe.
I don't think we are on that side of metal. We are more traditional. We are a very original band and because we have so many influences we put things together in a very personal way. I think it is very hard to say that we are power metal, or epic metal or symphonic metal. I think we are a metal band with symphonic metal songs, epic metal songs as we are not into this kind of genre thing.

You have more of an eighties American heavy metal sound and I don't mean the cheesy hair band sound.
Yes, like Sanctuary you mean?

Yes.
They area very big influence for us. I do think we are influenced by American power metal of the eighties. I do think that we are a European band too and that you can hear it in our music. So we are putting together two different worlds.

Did you have a vision when you formed Power Symphony?
Yes, actually not when we formed the band but later.

Do you feel that you've achieved the goals you set up?
Partially yes. For example the kind of music we wanted to do was basically the music we are doing now. We wanted to record albums and play in front of audiences. We've done that. The only thing that we really like to do is to live from our music but only a few bands can do that. We will keep on trying though.

The cover to your "Lightbringer album is interesting. What does it symbolize?
Curtis Smith has done the artwork. We are really big fans of his and we really wanted to get this artist to do the cover. And the label did so. He put Michaela on the cover and portrayed her as an angel and at the same time portrait good and evil. Basically what he did was putting together pictures of Michaela and add wings and stuff. It is really his vision of hell.

I can see a devil on there.
Well, actually he said it was a damned and not a devil. I really like the cover because it looks like an ancient painting.
We are very happy with it and we get a lot of compliments for it, which we don't deserve because we are not the artist. I love it though.

How important is touring to you?
It is fundamental. We have been able to tour seriously and do a number of dates during the years. We are quiet well known. We have not been able to tour Europe yet so of course we don't expect the same kind or recognition.
Touring is very important and we are all aware of it. For a number of reasons it is hard at this moment. When the CD came out there were no tours we could get on. All the tours were already booked. We are doing some festivals this summer and then probably we will have a tour in September. We are planning to go back into the studio in October unless a tour comes up.

Is it worth quitting everything just to go on tour?
It is an interesting question. Of course it is hard but I think we have to do it. Having a job is just something in between waiting to go on tour or record an album. It not that you enjoy it that much to be at the job, even less than the common people how have nothing else. We do worry about what to do when we come back but only for five minutes.

So then it is important to have the right members that are willing to give up their jobs and give everything to the band?
It is very important. We have changed a lot of members during the years just because of this reason, not going in the same direction so it didn't work. Once you start changing people you don't stop until you've found the right ones. Now we have a very strong line-up because everybody is very good on his or her instruments and they will give up everything else for the band to record or tour. When we did a mini tour here in Italy it was no problems.
Another problem with going on tour is that you fight. You basically live in this little box for weeks and you start to hate each other's guts but we are really good friends.