Vanishing Point's latest release, Embrace The Silence, went down as one of the most underrated bombshells of 2005. When I hear people today complain of the lack of great music in the Melodic Rock and Metal scene I ask them if they have heard Embrace The Silence. When the answer is no then I point them in that direction and tell them to stop their bitching. I recently conducted a short interview with the singer of this Aussie sextet, Silvio Massaro, whose highly charged mid range vocals and smooth delivery are an integral part of the Vanishing Point sound.
Embrace The Silence is the first album from Vanishing Point in five years. What were the reasons for this wait?
It was definitely a long time between drinks as we say here in Australia. There were many contributing factors as to why this cd has taken so long to be released. I guess the main factors were while we were in our recording stages we were struck with some illnesses. Chris had some really bad kidney problems and I had tonsillitis. I actually sang three fourths of the album with my tonsils inflamed, it was very painful but I had a job to do with the very little time we had to record [Embrace The Silence]. We actually had finished recording the album almost a year before the album was released. We had a pretty hard time convincing label’s that this was a great album (laughs). We didn’t release it through our last label due to a few things that I wont go into right now. While we were on tour in Europe we had met quite a few interesting people and some of those people were the people now founding Dockyard1.
There have been three albums with three different record labels. Do you feel that Dockyard 1 will be a stable home for the band?
Absolutely! It’s truly a great feeling knowing that you are treated well and with a high level of respect. We always felt with other labels we were just a number on a long list of bands in a catalog. The real strong point about this record label is the people running it who are very down to earth and always willing to bend over backwards for you when you need them to do some thing for you. The high level of service given to the bands makes us all feel very welcome.
Following Tangled In Dream and the subsequent tour with Gamma Ray and Sonata Arctica there were many people (media and fans alike) that felt Vanishing Point were one of the brightest rising stars in the scene. Do you think the five year absence has forced the band to now make up lost ground and time?
Oh most definitely. We knew that our absence would make it very difficult to break the metal scene again. What people must understand is that there were a lot of things out from our control that we could not help. So sometimes you have to be patient for the good stuff in life I say. But we knew we had a huge mountain to climb in our absence and in my opinion we’re only half way there. A great man once said “it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll!”
Leonard Kapilis was the guest keyboardist for Embrace The Silence and he did a terrific job. Have you guys considered enlisting him as a full time member or are there other prospects that you are keeping an eye out for?
Leonard did an amazing job. He had to put up with a lot from us and we will always be grateful. We really pushed him to the limit and you’ll be hearing his talents again on the new album. The door is and always will be open for him to be full timer but maybe that’s a question you’ll have to ask him.
Many of the lyrics on Embrace the Silence involve a yearning for something more, whether it is love, redemption, vindication, or hope for a brighter future. What do you consider the greatest aspect of life to want to achieve?
Simply to be happy.
This album is one of the longest in my collection with nary a minute of available space remaining. How old are the songs on the record, were there some whose structures were written following the release of Tangled in Dream or were all the songs “new” in the sense that they were all composed in a writing session before the recordings of the cd.
All the tracks were new. We are the type of band to just come up with new stuff. If it didn’t blow us away while writing it, then it ain’t worth keeping it. There are heaps of music that we have created that you will never see the light of day, so everything you hear is written fresh as an example of what we are feeling at the time of writing.
Tangled In Dream had a nice surprise cover of Pink Floyd’s “On The Turning Away” Are you guys going to record any more covers in the future? Namely, a Sonata Arctica song since they’ve done one of yours.
I ain’t really a big fan of doing covers because it takes up good space on the cd where we could fill in with one of our original songs. I guess maybe you might see another cover from us one day. We keep getting request from fans do some so you never know I guess.
What is the biggest misconception that people have on being in a band with a signed record deal?
You get rich!
As the vocalist do you feel more empowered when singing your own lyrics as opposed to someone else’s?
Oh yeah! I love singing just the way I like to sing. I feel awkward sometimes singing other material, although I can do it with out any problem it’s just that sometimes you don’t get the freedom to have the same flexibility when you have some one telling you how the vocal melody should go, it feels just like singing a cover. Lyrics are a very important part of the music to me, it counts as fifty percent of the song so for me its very important that the lyrics are written well and work well with the music .
Are there any famous (or not so famous) studios outside of Australia that you are interested in recording music in?
No, not really. I like where we record our albums Palm Studio’s in Melbourne Australia.
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