Marco ―

Hey, Tony and Brian reporting, up next: this week’s Neapolitan adventures. We were overjoyed to find, while wandering through Naples, an entire store dedicated to drums. We are both drummers, and decided that we must do an interview in this drum shop. A man named Marco was working there, and he was very interested to talk to us because he was a drummer as well. The store where he worked, called “Acoustica” on the “music street” just off Piazza Gesu, was open continuously throughout the day (they didn’t close for siesta). However, when we arrived at the store at 2:30 in the afternoon, there were no other customers at all. Marco moved to Naples from a small town near Bari five years ago, and has worked at Acoustica ever since. He said that his passion in life is playing the drums. We could relate, and began to ask about his favorite drummers and albums. He said that, overall, the jazz great Steve Gadd was his favorite drummer, but Billy Cobham was a close second. He loved the old fusion classics of bands like Tower of Power and Mahavishnu Orchestra. A very interesting thing about Marco is that he thinks that drumming is almost all in the hands, meaning that he thinks a great drummer doesn’t necessarily have to have a good touch on the bass drum or hi-hat pedal. Brian told him that he thinks a more holistic approach is required, but Tony agreed. Marco told us that’s because, in the jazz, funk, and classic rock styles, the emphasis is on the hands, but in the metal style that Brian plays, the emphasis is on the feet and the interaction between the hands and feet. The three of us then sat down in the otherwise empty drum shop and all played drums together for a while. This was by far our most fun interview.

batterista - drummer

ritmo - rhythm

Giovanni –

Giovanni is a guitarist; that is, first and foremost, how he defined himself. We met him at an unnamed Guitar shop in the heart of Naples. Brian, being a guitarist, and me being a fan of guitarists, had a lot of fun interviewing this guy. He has lived in Naples for all of his life, and founded his guitar store ten years ago. When asked why he thinks that Naples is a center of music of Italy, he said that there is a great youth culture here and a lot of opportunities for making it. He told us that many of the people who study at the conservatory of music or the university have their own projects outside of school as well. There are many clubs around, and all of these factors come together to create a real community for musicians. His favorite guitarist was Eric Clapton, and his favorite band was Rush. He said, laughing, that he didn’t mind their singer because he loved their guitarist so much. He has been playing guitar since he was five, but he is not in a band right now. He thinks that independent music in Italy is difficult to do and is still not very popular, and needs to find its feet. He said that there is a lot of talent in Italy that comes to Naples to become popular. He let Brian try a gorgeous Gibson Les Paul guitar through a classic Fender blackface amp, and seemed to be willing to go on for hours about Gibsons—they are his favorite brand of guitar. He, maybe in jest, told us that if he doesn’t sell that Gibson Les Paul in two weeks, he’s going to take it home as his own because he’s in love with it. It’s his store; we suppose he can steal what he wants from it.

chitarrista – guitarist

carriera – career

popolare - popular

Sorry dear readers, no photos this time because Brian's camera ran out of batteries in Naples!