Olaf Thorsen: “We Don’t Have to Prove Anything Anymore”
Is there something in the water in Italy?
Italy, roughly the size of Arizona, boasts an impressive list of metal, prog metal, and power metal bands that are known and loved worldwide. Consider Rhapsody, Thy Majestie, Labyrinth, DGM, Lacuna Coil, Secret Sphere, Skylark, and Vision Divine just to name a few.
Of those aforementioned bands, Olaf Thorsen is the guitarist and driving force behind not one but two of them: Labyrinth and Vision Divine.
Olaf made his mark with Labyrinth during the mid 1990s. alongside the amazing Italian singer Fabio Lione whose web site dubs him “The Voice of Italian Metal.” Since 1998, Olaf has made Vision Divine his home, first with Fabio on lead vocals for two albums [Vision Divine and Send Me an Angel] and then, following Fabio’s departure, with the extraoridinary Michele Luppi on vocals for the next two albums [Steam of Consciousness and The Perfect Machine].
I recently called Olaf at his home in Italy. Our conversation follows. NOTE: I could have “Americanized” Olaf’s syntax. But I left what he said virtually as he said it to prove that his English is vastly superior to my Italian.
OT: Hello?
BM: Is this Olaf?
OT: Hi. Bill?
BM: This is Bill Murphy calling from the states.
OT: Hi, nice to talk to you. How are you?
BM: Doing great. How are you doing?
OT: I’m fine, man. Here, it’s springtime. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah, finally it is here too.
OT: Very sunny, very warm. Feeling good.
BM: What is the weather like there when it’s springtime? What’s the temperature?
OT: Well, you know you have different calculations, but Centigrade, now we are around 25.
BM: That’s not bad.
OT: 25, up to 30 maybe, so it’s very warm. You know, summertime, we reach 40. That’s very hot. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Do you really? That’s great. Well, I hope you have a few minutes to chat with me today, otherwise I could try back tomorrow.
OT: Sorry?
BM: Do you have time to talk with me today?
OT: You know what? The line is kind of distorted, I don’t hear very well. I mean, I cannot understand your words. Yeah, it’s a little bit distorted.
BM: Would you like me to call back, see if we can get a better connection?
OT: It’s fine, I mean, you know what, maybe it’s the telephone. It’s a Motorola, it’s not that cool. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
OT: It’s an American brand. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Do you want me to try your land line, the other number you gave me?
OT: No, no. It’s ok. If you could please, to try to speak maybe a little slower so I can hear out the words. You know, I’m not American. I speak very bad English, so.
BM: No, actually, it sounds pretty good to me.
OT: Serious? [laughs] If you can understand, that’s enough.
BM: Yeah. Hey, you know, I just read on your website that Andrea [Tower], your bass player recently left the band. Did that come as a surprise to you?
OT: Yeah, no! No, it’s not a surprise. Since he had his child, so it’s almost two years ago, we realized it was getting very difficult to him continuing to play with the band. So it was every tour, every show, it was more difficult. And every album I was writing was going to distance from his taste. He’s very not involved with progressive stuff. He likes to play a more straight kind of music. He likes the typical Italian power metal from the 90’s, you know? [laughs] Double bass, double kick, and he was not really involved in the songwriting anymore. Altogether was slowly, slowly bringing him away from the band. Now we are planning a South American tour, and this means to be away from home like one month, and well, we took seriously, we faced the problem finally and he couldn’t stand anymore the situation with his family. He had to make some choice, and he preferred to change a little bit his life. Well, no problem, I think all this things, it’s a good sign. It means things are gonna change for this band, things are getting more serious. So it is better to know now, so I can fix the line up once for all. And I don’t know if the news is already online, but we got Chris Breeze from Labyrinth, so I’ve been playing with him like for more than 12 years. So I know him very well, he’s very talented. His level of experience, he’s fine.
BM: Yeah. You’ve had some personnel changes in Vision Divine before.
OT: I do, I do. [laughs]
BM: One of the biggest ones to me was when Fabio left and Michele came in. Was that change difficult for you, or was it a smooth transition?
OT: No, you know what? I got the biggest compliment just a few days ago. I was talking with Metal Hammer, the biggest magazine we have here in Italy. And of course I was discussing about this. I did get anticipation because I know the director very well. And after all, you know what he said, he said, “After all, it’s not people cares that much because you are Vision Divine, and honestly, I don’t care if you change the drummer or not.” That is not really what I like to do, but I think more or less, that’s the way. There are some bands who have the luck to start and continue with the same line up. I think of Edguy, for example. And there are other bands, like me, and I think of Annihilator. [laughs] Who maybe change some of the members and after all, things hopefully don’t change that much. What I need, maybe the reason why it is changing is because of my approach with the band and the music. I need, and I pretend to adjust, 100% focused people. If someone is playing with my band, I want them to be focused on the band. If too many problems are coming up, it’s logical to think the band is gonna be stuck. So this is not good for a band like Vision Divine. We are not Metallica, that we can stand and wait. We have to rush. I prefer to change, of course, every time I change, hopefully, I think I always change with somebody better than the previous one, so the quality of the band is not compromised. And that’s enough to me. [laughs]
BM: Oh yeah. I agree. What it Michele’s biggest strength as a singer? What do you see as his biggest asset?
OT: How ‘bout the singers, you mean, the situation?
BM: His voice, his vocal abilities. What does he do best in your opinion, that if you’re correct, in that he’s a better replacement than Fabio, what makes Michele such a good singer? Why did you want him?
OT: Yeah. Well, the singer, it’s a little bit different. If I think it is even better to change the drummer if the previous one can’t assure 100% of involvement in the band. The singer is likely different. People like to identify with the singer. So it’s not I wanna change Michele. [laughs] With Fabio, things happened, because he signed a new deal with Joey DeMaio, and the new management. Magic Circle Music, I think is the name. I don’t even know. And well, things change a little bit. Things were getting difficult. I got this call from Joey DeMaio telling me that wouldn’t be that easy anymore, that before signing any future deal for Vision Divine I should have first talk with him, and blah blah blah. It felt a little like Vision Divine was not a free band anymore. So for the survival of this band, I thought and Fabio also thought the same, that best would have been to go and separate ways of each other. And that’s what happened. But then, I think I had luck, because Michele is a very talent, very gifted singer. And definitely, I think also that popularity of this band now is thanks to Michele’s voice. Which has nothing to do with Fabio. I don’t like to make, to compare the two singers, they’re too different and it’s too difficult to compare a very well-know singer as Fabio with almost unknown singer as Michele was when he joined the band. So I don’t know what to say. I don’t think one is better and the other is worse. I just think they are very different. I think for Vision Divine maybe Michele has been a big luck, because he was completely unknown, and people could figure out Michele’s voice with Vision Divine since the very first. Well, I think his voice fits perfectly with the direction we took from Stream of Consciousness and now with Perfect Machine and the future releases. So, I cannot be other but happy about what happened. I’m sorry, ‘cause I lost a friend, I lost in the band, one friend. But nothing change in private life, this is just music. I think we found a very good balance. Now Vision Divine are definitely a band with an identity. Rhapsody are another band, Fabio is a singer, I am guitar player from Vision Divine. That is part of the last changes Vision Divine had to do in order to make Vision Divine a real band. That’s what I think.
BM: I agree with you, and I think Michele has a great voice. He’s a really good singer.
OT: Yeah, yeah. I don’t know if you got the chance to watch Stage of Consciousness, the live DVD we release. You should get the chance, do that, because it’s amazing. You see the band exactly as we are on stage, I mean, it’s not a big budget DVD. So it’s kind of a bootleg. What you see and what you hear there is what the band is on stage. And that’s exactly how did we want to release the DVD. We didn’t want a big production. It would have been even ridiculous, you know, we’re not Iron Maiden, and so would have been stupid to take a shot back in Open Air, 40,000 people, that are there not for Vision Divine but waiting for Iron Maiden maybe, and present the band with a big production release. It would have been a fake. We just wanted to make a, it’s a kind of document we wanted to release just to show people from United States, you never saw the band, so you wanna check out, there’s a DVD, check out and see. I mean, that’s how Michele sings, that’s how we play, not fake. It’s the sound, everything. It’s a normal, live show. Everybody attended at least one show from the band, who’d confirm, that’s the band on stage.
BM: Yeah, I can’t wait to see that. I have it on order.
OT: Yeah, yeah. We are rehearsing very hard right now. [laughs]
BM: Do you guys, do you feel pressure as a European band, to sing and write songs in English so your music can be heard around the world? Like especially in America? Or do you ever perform songs in Italian, or is it always in English?
OT: Well, you know, honestly this is a question I already have been asked, but I don’t feel any kind of pressure. I don’t see music or playing as a competition, you know? There is nothing I have to show. [laughs] What to prove? I’m just enjoying my shows. I like to be on stage, I like to play music, and well, of course United States are, or I should say unfortunately they have been a very important country [laughs] about this kind of music. And I know all the people are very, they pay a lot of attention to the bands. I know the language can be a little problem, compared to other American bands, but what can I say. Michele is working very hard to make a better speech, album by album. He tries to manage the English on stage and in studio, trying to evolve, to grow up, album by album. Well, personally, I don’t think is gonna be a big problem. If it’s gonna be, what can I do? [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
OT: You cannot pretend in Italian to sing in a perfect American accent speech. That will be very difficult. It will sound unnatural, that’s what I think.
BM: No, I think he does a great job, and I think your English is very good as well.
OT: [laughs] Oh, thanks a lot. I don’t know. You know what the funny that I’m used to speak a lot of English, but most of the times I speak with German people or French people or Spanish people and their accent is not perfect. What can I say, it doesn’t really sound American, you know. [affects German’s English accent] It’s like German, when a German talk English, they speak like this. [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
OT: But I think everybody has a different accent, of course. To an American guy, to an American listener, somebody will always sound stranger, I think. So the balance, the limit, is just to speak or pronounce English in a good way, so that you don’t sound ridiculous. That’s what at least I’m looking for when Michele records. And you know, we always laugh, because many times we find at the end, some strange pronunciations, like ancestors blood, that’s you know, I know it’s not ancestors’ blood, but when you’re recording an album, you have so many things to focus on that something is gonna miss, always. And when you realize it’s too late, [laughs], so it’s fine. At least, I don’t know this, you should say, but I hope that it doesn’t sound ridiculous. If it doesn’t sound ridiculous, that’s enough.
BM: No, it doesn’t. In fact, your latest CD, The Perfect Machine, is fantastic.
OT: Thanks a lot.
BM: Many critics have said it’s the perfect album. When you listen to it now, do you hear anything that you would have changed, or does it sound exactly the way you wanted it to in your head before you made it?
OT: Oh, this questions always opens to two ways you can answer. The typical one is, you can always do better. So, this way I could answer that you can always do something better. But honestly, about Perfect Machine, I think I can say it sounds exactly as I was figuring out before starting the recordings. That’s a perfect album to me, honestly. Something can always be done better, but I would save this for the next album, then. [laughs] What can I say? There’s a point when you have to say, “Ok, this sounds good to me. It’s enough for this time.” Or you will never stop recording or remaking something. That’s exactly the point I reached for The Perfect Machine. After spending so much time in the studio, mixing, first session, second session, change this, try to change this, version a, version b, and at the end say, “Ok, everything I chose, it’s ok.” I show, one man from the Italian label come to the studio, I show three versions of the same song, and then I realized, he didn’t know my mental trip. He say, “To me, A, B, or C, it’s the same.”
BM: [laughs]
OT: And then I realized I was just turning around the bush, you know? I just say, “Ok, it sounds good to me, it sounds good to other people, that’s enough.”
BM: [laughs] What are your favorite songs on Perfect Machine? Which do you like to listen to or play live the most?
OT: Well, we generally play live the whole album. We are used to playing everything live.
BM: Oh really?
OT: Yes, but our shows last around two hours, so we generally like to play for people the entire last album we released. I think it’s fair. People bought the album, so they deserve to see the whole album from on stage. Personally, if I have to chose between the last album’s songs, it’s kind of difficult because some of the songs are very different. [laughs] But I think “The Perfect Machine” is a very good song. It’s a very good opening song. It’s very good. We saw on stage, if we open the show with that song, people get really excited. Another very good songs I like, maybe the last one [”Now That You’ve Gone”] is a very good one. Very strange, very strange, I mean, we are coming from a path that’s made of a lot of speed songs, so when we play something a little slower, in the beat, people seems to appreciate that. I’m enjoying to play that. And, well, I don’t know why, because it’s not I don’t like, but I think I already recorded a lot of songs like this, but people always like, so “God is Dead” is the song that people show to appreciate a lot.
BM: Well, I like everything about the album. The guitar solo in “Land of Fear” is great, and I love the riff that you played in “Rising Sun.” There’s a lot of really cool sounds there.
OT: [laughs] Yeah, well thanks a lot. What can I say. It’s difficult for me to say, “Yes, this is good.” Of course to me, everything sounds good. If I left the songs in the album, that means I was satisfied with how they turned out.
BM: That makes sense, yeah. The Perfect Machine was produced by Timo from Stratovarius. How did you hook up with him? How did that relationship come about?
OT: Well, the fun is I was talking by phone with Timo yesterday night, also. So we are very good friends. We became very good friends with time. I got a chance in the past to meet him in the hotel or in the backstage during some festival, some show and when you’re in the hall waiting for the bus to bring you to the stage, you chat a little bit, you talk, you discuss about music, this things. And Timo, I think surprised from the first. Because, once he told me he was enjoying a lot my lyrics, because he thought they were very close to what he was writing with his band. That’s how we started talking with each other. But that’s it, we just started talking by email. And when I was thinking about the production for The Perfect Machine, I wanted this album to sound really cool. I wanted to improve. Stream of Consciousness had very good critics, but I knew the sound could have been better. So one of the things to improve was definitely the sound. That’s why I got in touch with Timo. I offered this, not I offered, I asked. And he was really enthusiastic to do that, since the very first email I wrote, he answered me back, consider himself involved with the project. And that’s it.
BM: Really?
OT: Yes. And yesterday we are already talking about the new album, the new production. I don’t know what the website already wrote, but I’m already writing down songs for the new one.
BM: Great.
OT: Yeah, and yesterday he was talking to me, going, “Ok, I’m gonna produce the new one also.” So the next one is gonna be with Timo again.
BM: That’s great. Tell me something about Italy that I find fascinating. There seems to be a lot of power metal bands there: Rhapsody, Vision Divine, Labyrinth, Thy Majestie. What is it about Italy specifically that seems to produce all these kinds of bands?
OT: Hmm. You know, I have no idea, exactly why so many Italian bands do this, but I think it’s the same story everywhere. I think of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, for example, in the 80’s. I think when one, two or three bands opens something important for a country, as it happened in Italy in the second half of the 90’s, you know, Labyrinth Return to the Night album, Rhapsody Legendary Tales, have been very important albums for Italian market. So I think it’s natural that the newcomer bands, when they start doing something after they got influenced by this albums. And even the labels from Italy, probably, when they saw this could have been a good business to them, then maybe they suggested to the new bands to do something to approach to this music. And I could give you the example of other very good bands that do a negative thing. Like, Athena, if you remember them, they were in the first two albums, they have been a very good progressive band, and I found them in the last release they did, trying to approach to the power metal style was definitely different. Very distant from what the band was supposed to be. So I think it is natural in every country. If United States, you have one or two bands having a boom in trash metal, I think in a few years you will find 20 bands playing trash metal.
BM: [laughs]
OT: That’s business. [laughs]
BM: Yeah, you’re actually right. That’s a very good answer. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but that’s probably the answer. I tend to think –
OT: And I tell you, the most interesting things that happened to me, it happened likely not that often, is when you have a young magazine writer who maybe listen to just the last two years of releases from Italy, and listen to The Perfect Machine, say something like, “Why you decided to copy bands like Secret Sphere?” [laughs]
BM: [laughs]
OT: And you know, I am around music since ‘94, so that’s a difficult question to answer. [laughs] Or to explain.
BM: Well, you know what’s interesting, is when I read your bio on the website, it says you started playing guitar when you were about 20 years old?
OT: Nineteen, yes.
BM: That’s amazing, ‘cause you’re considered one of the best guitarists in the genre now.
OT: [laughs]
BM: That’s amazing to me that you started that late, and now here, look at, you just sound great.
OT: Yeah, but you know, there’s a little trick. There’s a little cheat beyond the story. It is true, I started playing electric guitar at that age, but I already knew music, so I was already playing classic guitar. I just had to focus on the instrument, you know? That’s a little different. I didn’t have to study the scales, the harmonies, the theory, specially. So I could spend every single hour playing hard on the instrument. That’s different.
BM: That’s true. Who are your personal guitar heroes? Who do you like to listen to and admire?
OT: Whoa! This is a check I do with every magazine writer, because I see if you know. My favorite guitar is Josh, from an American band, Toxic.
BM: Really?
OT: Do you know them?
BM: Yeah, yeah.
OT: He has been the most influencing guitar player. I listen to when I started really playing the guitar. And if you listen to my style, I think somehow, it’s not a copy, but somehow you can listen that some stuff, especially in the solo stuffs, comes from that guitar player who didn’t have much luck in his career. Then, personally talking I have been in, specially the first years, I have been influenced by a very aggressive kind of music. I was listening mainly to the Bay Area thrash metal. So I could tell you bands like Motorhead, Forbidden, all the kind of bands, Testament, whatever. I was heavily involved with that type of music. Then I got the luck to listen to a guitar player, maybe you hear of him, Yngwie Malmsteen. Well, then I understood there’s somebody who can play good guitar, but do something even melodic and that’s when I started together with Fates Warning, who’s still my main band, that yeah, I think Malmsteen and Fates Warning definitely changed my approach with music.
BM: That’s great. The origins, tell me something about the origins of Vision Divine. I know it started as a side project to Labyrinth, but what I don’t –
OT: Yeah, it’s not really as side project. Originally, the first album, Vision Divine, was supposed to be my solo album. Because Labyrinth Return to Night sold very good, Metal Blade was pushing the band very strong, and then I started receiving pressure to release a solo album. But honestly, I’m not the kind of guitar player who likes to be seen as a guitar hero. I don’t care about that. I like to be the guitar player of a band. So I slowly moved things so that could be a real band, not toss in album. And that’s how things happened. Simply, in the very first promo, I realized most of the songs were supposed to have a singer. And I am a very good friend with Fabio since the very start of the career, so I just offered Fabio to join back my band after Labyrinth, and he was very happy to do that. And with a very well known singer, as Fabio is, then it came natural to name the project as a band, and not as a solo album from the guitar player of Labyrinth. And that’s how things evolved. First two albums has been very difficult to me to make people understand it was not a project, it was a real band. But I think now it’s done.
BM: Yeah. [laughs] Speaking of your albums, Vision Divine has four albums out now. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of each one. Like, is there some anecdote, some story you have about how it came together? Or is there some word, like difficult or wonderful? What do you think of when you think of each one of your albums, individually?
OT: Well, it’s difficult to me sometimes to realize it’s already four albums.
BM: [laughs] Time flies.
OT: No, no, it’s not a matter of time. I know time runs, as I wrote in a song. But it’s not that it just, honestly, I see the band, like in two eras. The first two albums, to me look like a project band, even if it was not, because I was also involved with Labyrinth. And of course, when I was writing material for Vision Divine, I was also thinking about Labyrinth, so I was trying not to repeat the same cliché, I was trying to change something. I was keeping one song for Labyrinth another song for Vision Divine. It was not confusing, but I hope you know what I mean.
BM: Oh yeah, yeah.
OT: And the last two albums, of course, they are different. My mind is free now. Everything I write now, it’s completely 100% for Vision Divine. And new singer, new story. It’s like I feel the band is a band with two different eras. The first one ended with the second album. And the new one started with Stream of Consciousness, and still goes on. That’s how I feel. That’s how I perceive the band.
BM: Oh yeah. I can understand that. Tell me, when you create an album for Vision Divine, let’s say in Vision Divine Mark II, the second part of the –
OT: Yeah, let’s go like that, yeah. [laughs]
BM: How do you, do you start with a concept for the whole album, or do you start with individual songs, or even lyrics or riffs? How does a Vision Divine album come together?
OT: That’s again another part, related with Vision Divine Mark II. It is true that since the Stream of Consciousness release and on, I always think first of the concept. Then, depending on the concept, I start thinking about the music that will have to be the soundtrack for the story I’m gonna tell. So, it’s really a different kind of process I use to write down the album. So even in the new case, the new album I’m gonna write down, I already have a story written down, and now I’m writing down the soundtrack. It’s gonna be the music for the story I’m gonna tell.
BM: That’s a very interesting approach to that. You phrased it in a way I’ve never heard before.
OT: Yes. And after so many albums I did in my career, maybe the reason why now I’m doing this is because I find kind of a new way for me to approach with music and it’s a new way, totally new way. I enjoy really, to write down the story and then think about the music I’m gonna need for telling the story. It’s fun to me.
BM: How do you think that way? Do you read a lot of novels? Do you watch a lot of movies? How do you think that visually with your music? Where does that come from?
OT: Oh, many, many. I read a lot of books. I’m completely addicted with philosophy and history books. I like to read a lot of philosophy and history, so that’s the two main inspiration. Where I take the idea for a story is just, most of the albums I write down are consideration I do about life, about time , about religion, whatever. But they take inspiration from philosophy or history mainly. I don’t like movies. I’m not that much into new movies or cinema. I don’t watch that much TV.
BM: Oh really? What about The Da Vinci Code? Are you going to watch that movie when it comes out?
OT: I don’t care. Honestly, I don’t like it.
BM: [laughs] Did you read the book?
OT: No, I did not. ‘Cause I read the story, what it talks about, and the fact is, I already read some book, some real book, about what it is supposed to happen that way. And it’s different from what the movie or the book tells. So I’m not interested, because it’s fiction, it’s probably fiction and I don’t like fiction that much.
BM: [laughs] Yeah. You know, that surprises me, ‘cause the Vision Divine albums sound like little books. They sound like little movies with music to me. They have stories –
OT: Yeah, but they are not fiction, they are not fiction. I hope they look like really, how can I say in English, it’s like I’m telling a real story. It’s not a fiction. It’s not something totally invented. It’s a mental trip. They are connected with a different kind of story that’s not a movie.
BM: That reminds me of, I think it’s Thy Majestie has that album out about Hastings 1066 or something. It’s some –
OT: Yes, yes, medieval stuff.
BM: Yeah, that’s very historical. What can audiences expect — and I’ll let you get back to your life there, I don’t want to take up your whole day — but what can audiences expect from Vision Divine at ProgPower this year?
OT: Well, for sure, you can expect a band coming there, choosing what we think is gonna be the best show we can perform. So we have one hour there, I think. And in this one hour, we will chose from our albums all the songs we think are gonna be the best for your audience. So that’s the luck. When you have to play two hours, two hours and half, you have to play long. When you play one hour, the good is you can choose what you think is gonna be the best for the band to present yourself to people. So that’s what we’re gonna do over there. We’re coming, as I told you before, we are not coming to show people, we are not coming to make a challenge with anybody. We have nothing to show. We are around since many years, so we don’t have to prove anything anymore, I think. We are coming there just to present ourselves to people. We are coming there to show that there are good bands coming from metal even from Italy. [laughs]
BM: Well, I think people know that. They love the bands from Italy. So you’re ok with that.
OT: Well, I’ve been surprised since the release of the new ProgPower website, we are receiving a lot of emails from people from the United States, saying they cannot wait for us to play at ProgPower fest. So this is exciting to us. But we will really take it as our first chance to play the United States, so we’re gonna come there to represent Vision Divine the very best. That’s what we hope. That’s it.
BM: Oh by the way, one last thing. Are there any bands playing at ProgPower that you personally can’t wait to see?
OT: There are many bands that I am glad to see on stage. There are some bands that I don’t know that much, but I know how Glenn is used to work and to chose bands. I definitely believe all of them will be good bands on stage, so it will be very interesting to us to check the whole show, the whole event. It will be very interesting to see that.
BM: Oh, that’s great. Well, I appreciate your time today, Olaf. I love your music, you’re a great guitarist, and I’m looking forward to seeing you at ProgPower myself.
OT: Yeah, there will be some nice surprise. Here in Italy, in Europe, we of course have the chance to play more shows, so people are used now to see that. But for an example, before Michele was playing on stage, after the release of the first album, Stream of Consciousness, many people were thinking the things he did were thanks to computer technology, you know.
BM: Really?
OT: Yeah, you know, like the end of “La Vita Fugge” where he sings very high and keep the note for twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three seconds. Well, there you will see it’s not computer cheating, it’s real nature. He will do that of course. He will do that. We are used to do that, and we are used to joke about it. So that would be something nice, something funny I think for the people and they will appreciate. ‘Cause after all, heavy metal is done also all these kind of things, if it’s a good show. [laughs]
BM: [laughs] Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Olaf. I appreciate it.
OT: Thank you very much. I appreciate it a lot, and see you then in Atlanta, Georgia. [laughs]
BM: Thank you. Take care. Have a good day. Bye bye.
OT: Ok, you too. Bye.
You can find Olaf’s CDs at www.LaserCD.com. Or Amazon. The official Vision Divine web site can be found at www.visiondivine.com. And if you really want to know what Michele Luppi is capable of, check out the last couple of minutes of “La Vita Fugge” on Stream of Consciousness. One word: Stunning.
