Interview with Liva

Author

Jarod Smith
December 11, 2024

Hey, thank you for coming back for another interview! What is new since the last interview?

(Pier Carlo Liva answered)

Well, it’s my first interview so let’s start somewhere.

Ten years have passed since the last album, it is time for Liva's new release, Ecce mundus (“This is the world”)! It was launched in the fall on 2023. It is my most ambitious work since Requiem in 2002.

Extensive sonic explorations elevate the group's characteristic blend of power metal and classical music. Grand and elaborate orchestrations further open up the instrumental universe. Liva returns to Latin texts, here medieval texts on themes from Antiquity and some others, timeless. It talks about the glory of Rome, the story of Samson and Dalila and about human flaws such as greed, corruption and hypocrisy, the same from ancient times to the present day!

Reknown for its symphonic power metal opera sound, Liva is the first group in Canada to blend classical music and metal music.

And there is more of the new! I am now surrounded with new members in the band. Nadine Guertin, who sings at the Opéra de Montréal, brings her unique palette of colours and expression to the female vocal part of the group. The touring experience and the great musicality of Claude Lacroix on drums, as well as solid bass lines performed by Martin Tremblay, worthy of those of Iron Maiden, give the sound this power which is so much appreciated by the fans. I am of course still in charge of vocals, guitars, electronics, composition and arrangements. Exceptional collaborators were invited to participate on the creation of the album: Christophe Pilon on orchestrations and Christophe Viau for album illustration. A long-time collaborator since 2002, Patrick Bouchard, executed the graphic design of the album. The album Ecce mundus was recorded and mixed by Pier Carlo Liva at the Magic Forest studio. The mastering was done at the House of Gain studio by Maxime Lacroix.

Liva came together as a band in Sherbrooke, Québec (Canada) in 1997 and recorded its eponymous four-track demo in 2001. These pieces also appeared on the group’s first album, Requiem (2002). This heavy metal version of a requiem, in Latin, was a hit with many music lovers. Then, in the spring of 2007, Liva released its second album, De Insulis, putting music to the Latin texts of French poet and theologian Alain de Lille, said De Insulis (from the twelfth century). In the fall of 2013, Liva’s long- awaited third album, Human Abstract, is launched with texts in Shakespeare’s language.

Since the beginning, Liva has shown their talent when playing opening acts for international bands such as Voivod, Gorguts, Nightwish, Kataklysm, Therion and Leaves’ Eyes/Kamelot, to name a few.

Liva has been the subject of various reports and articles, one among others in the fall of 2001 on the television program Bande-à-part on ARTV, Radio-Canada’s specialized art channel. Then, on March 8, 2002, Liva performed with a chamber orchestra consisting of 13 musicians and chorus members during a radio concert that was recorded in front of a live audience for Bande-à-part and broadcast in April of 2002. This memorable event gave the audience a taste of the band’s wide-ranging and innovative musical talent.

What has been inspiring you lately?

My musical inspirations since so many years are classical music, opera, contemporary music, baroque music, electronica like dub, ambient, IDM, acid jazz, house, jazz, French music from Europe and from Québec, thrash metal, power metal, death metal and pop music. For our new album Ecce mundus, I focused on my principal musical roots: classical music, opera and electronica. I’ve tried to push the sound of the band to a next level in relation to what I used to do. In comparison to the other albums, the vocal lines are developed in a longer mode, the guitar parts are heavier than ever because of the nine- string guitar low end, and the orchestral parts are majestic, more than ever! On the lyrical side, I made a comeback with ancient poetry from the Middle Age. I guess this is what the fans expected of Liva’s sound.

Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about?

Yes, we have a new videoclip and it's the first in our career: “Samson & Dalila I” from our new album

Ecce mundus released a few months ago. We are very proud of it and it's a gift to all our fans!

Do you have anything else that you would like to talk about or promote?

Contact your local promotor and ask them to book Liva in your town!

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

Keep in touch with Liva on our official page and subscribe to our mailing list at www.livaband.com and check out our merchandise!

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