Roberto Priori (Danger Zone) – Interview

Roberto Priori (Danger Zone) – Interview

28 Dicembre 2016 0 Commenti Denis Abello

interview by Alessandro Lifonti
italian version

MR: Danger zone are pretty famous in Italy, but many rock fans around the world do not know this amazing band. The story of these guys is unbelievable. In the eighties they even packed their bags and moved to the States. Roberto Priori is the mighty guitar player of the band and he is answering our questions. Roberto welcome to melodicrock. I know you have already told this story many times before, but please tell it one more so all the fans around the world can get the chance to know danger zone. How did you start the band?
RP: We started in 1984 as Danger Zone and after a while we released the first record called “Victim Of Time”, at the time we were very influenced by the NWOBHM sound. After that we changed several members of the band and in 1986 we moved to a different kind of sound, more inclined to the American hard rock. After a show opening for Saxon, we were contacted by a big italian management and we started to work with Jody Gray and Mark Cobrin for the recording of “Line Of Fire”, our first attempt to get a major deal.

MR: We know the band went to California. You played at whiskey a go go among the other things. You spent quite some time in the US. Would you please sum up the story?
RP: Yeah, unfortunately the management made some bad choices so we ended up having a great record in the closet and not released. We decided to try everything we could. We sold almost evertything we had, moved to L.A. and started do some showcases. It was 1992, as you all know Nirvana changed everything in the business and in a while there were no more space for melodic hard rock. We couldn’t hang on longer so we were forced to quit. I stayed longer there, but after few years I also ended up coming back to Italy to play as session player.

MR: Back then you recorded a great album called “line of fire” which unfortunately didn’t see the light until 2011. The album is considered a masterpiece by the fans and it surely is. How did you come up with those awesome tracks?
RP: That record was a mix of songs written by the band between 1986 and 1989 and some songs written with Jody Gray during the rehearsals before the recording of the album. Also we included some covers by request of our publishing company, because they thought it would help the band on getting a deal in the US. But they were very wrong.

MR: On a personal note I think “walk away” is one of the greatest ballads ever written. A few months ago you re-recorded that song for the melodicrock festival compilation. The new Version is even better than the original. What do you think about that song?
RP: That’s one of the song came out during the rehearsals, right before the recording of “LOF” from an idea of our producer Jody Gray that we arranged together . We liked it a lot so we decided to include it on the record.
When we’ve been asked to be part of the Melodicrock.it record , we decided to give this song a second life with a newer, more A.O.R. arrangement, thanks to the new keyboard parts by Pier Mazzini. It’s great fun to arrange a song in a different way, it’s like a brand new one but with the same melody!!

MR: Why almost twenty years later you decided to give the band a second chance?
RP:Because we were forced to give up by the events, not for any fight or any problem inside the band.
When we had the chance to get back together, we all felt we had to get back from were we left, releasing “Line Of Fire”, finally, and move on from there. That was the plan and it’s what we’re doing right now.
Being in a band at our age it’s not always simple but we love what we do and we try it to do our best.

MR: “Line of fire” is unfortunately out of print. Are there any chances for a new print in the future?
RP: We don’y know yet, it might be possible in a future, we don’t have much control over that record but we’ll definetly try to get it back for our fans.

MR: Your second album “Undying” came in out in 2012. What’s the difference between line of fire and undying? I heard some rumours lately…LOL
RP: Undying has been the starting point of DZ 2.0, we put together some songs we wrote before and after “LOF” and several new ones written after our comeback.
Undying has a more edgy, heavier sound compared to “LOF”. In that moment we felt the passion, the urge to get back on track and those songs somehow reflect that attitude.
Yeah, you’re well informed 😉 , we are planning something about that record but I can’t say anything yet!!

MR: A couple of months ago the band has released a brand new cd called “closer to heaven”. I believe that you have changed the style a little passing from hard rock to melodic rock. Do you agree?
RP: I think that the major difference is on how we arranged the songs, with more keyboards than before. That’s why we asked Pier Mazzini to join the band, we always had some keys on the records but this time we felt that the new songs would have been better with more keyboards and Michele Luppi and Pier Mazzini did a great job!
We never planned to change anything, we just started to write songs and soon realized this album was kind of more melodic maybe, but still in the style of Danger Zone, with heavy guitar riffs as before.

MR: Danger zone played at some festivals this year plus did some headliners shows. What’s the difference between a festival and a gig? Are you enjoying being on the road again?
RP: We definetly enjoyed being on the road last summer, it’s been fun! Being headliner means having the possibility to play more songs, a full show… But festivals are great anyway, you share the stage with many bands and friends, watch other bands play, hang out, it’s real rock’n’roll!

MR: Any dates already confirmed for 2017?
RP: We’re just laying down some shows starting from the end of January, soon we’ll be back on stage!

MR: Roberto, we know you have your own studio in Bologna, and we also do know that you are a great producer….right?
RP: Thanks!! 😉 Well I can’t say if I’m good or not, all I can tell is I love my work behind the desk, I’ve always been a guitar player and a sound engineer. It took me a very long time through the years but I finally ended up by having my own studio here in Bologna where I produce and arrange the Danger Zone records. I worked in more then a hundred records so far, this also give me the opportunity to work with different stiles of music and musicians, you never stop learning…

MR: Which are your favourite bands and guitar players?
RP: Oh, tough question!! …so many… Ok let’s try. Guitar players: Van Halen, George Lynch, Warren De Martini, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson. Bands, even more difficult: Winger, Whitesnake, Toto, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Dokken.

MR: What’s your plans for 2017 and are there any important news that need to me mentioned?
RP: We are definetly going back to do some live shows, we have a very interesting news we can’t say yet 😉 and we are also going to do some writing for a new album we would like to release in 2018 maybe. Also, DZ featured some music within a cartoon broadcasted in the USA by NBC called “Space Racers” , a great honor for us!!

MR: Roberto, thank you so much for your time. Looking forward to rocking with Danger zone next year.
RP: Thank you for this nice interview, it’s been a pleasure! Hope to see you guys at the next Danger Zone gigs, follow us on www.facebook.com/dangerzoneweb or www.dangerzoneweb.com for news and upcoming shows. Keep on rockin’!

CONTACTS

http://www.robertopriori.com
http://www.pristudio.com/
http://www.dangerzoneweb.com
http://www.facebook.com/dangerzoneweb

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