The Inquisition: 041.threestepstotheocean

1. How did you came up with the name of the band? 

If I remember correctly, during a flight, our drummer Davide saw this 3 little islands in the sea and he came up with the name three steps to the ocean. At the time we thought that it was a very evocative/epic/spleen name and we got that. We recently decided to change it in threestepstotheocean (there's not such a difference but we prefer like that) 

2. Do you have a standard procedure of creating a song? Do you just jam around or is there a main riff and the track is build up on it? 

We usually start with a guitar riff then we jam and record everything. If the result satisfies us we go ahead with the structure. When we have a proto-song, we try to arrange it with something that sounds stimulating to us. Sometimes a song grows up fast and without problems, other times we spent months in one arrangement and at the end we decide to delete everything. So it's a long, and often frustrating process. 

3. What are your influences and what kind of music do you hear when you are at home? 

Everyone who made an interview always answer "oh we listen to a lot of music", so to be different I will say that I didn't listen to a lot of music in this period. For the new album, "Migration Light" we took inspiration from something different from the past. We are an instrumental post-something band and we will be forever compared to some historical bands, which we obviously like, but we really tried to do something different from our previous works.

4.Which is the one album that you can't live without? 

I remember when, for the first time, I've heard "Adrenaline" by deftones, Chino Moreno's screams and Carpenter's guitar riffs literally opened my mind. Since then I started listening and discovering heavier music (I was a huge alternative-rock fan) so it's one of the most important albums of my life, not the best, but a sort of turning point in my music background. 

5. What's the first record you've ever bought? 

Probably "Punk In Drublic" by NOFX. I had a lot of tapes made by my friend but "Punk In Drublic" is the first CD I ever bought with my money. 

6. Name a band that you would like to share the stage or tour with? 

NOFX. Just kidding. For example we never played with Lento, it's incredible. But we will, sooner or later. For sure we'll never play with deftones...and we would like a lot. 

7. Did the internet and specially the blogs helped to spread your music around the world? Name a place (country) that you were surprised to know your music has reached to? 

Internet and blogging are huge help for underground bands. From the beginning we tried to use the social networks (Myspace was the first) to do a fan base and the blogs helped us to spread it all around the world. It was the only way to promote ourselves out of our city, we met people who helped us touring around Italy and Europe. Once again, it's very important for us. We reached places like Indonesia, Egypt but we have 16 likes on facebook from Iran...this is quite amazing. 

8. Do you support the idea of Bandcamp where fans can decide the price or services like Spotify? 

When we released Scents we decided to put it on Bandcamp with the "name your price" solution. The idea was a free download but a lot of people gave us money for the download...we were pretty surprised of that. Our goal was to be heard by the largest possible number of people. Spotify is quite different from Bandcamp, for sure it's the main trend right now, but i think it's very cold and impersonal. For Migration Light's release we'll put it for sure in free download on Bandcamp and in streaming on Spotify but Bandcamp is more rewarding for a band like us, compared to Spotify. It's not fair that bands have no chance to get money in any possible way, in my opinion. 

9. Where do you see yourselves in 5 years? 

In our rehearsal room trying to play something that we like, probably being fatter and for sure older. 

10. Is the artwork of an album important nowadays in the digital era? 

The artwork is an important part of the album. For us it's a way to express the concept and the album's mood. We always spent a lot of time for the artwork and usually we make a different version for CD, vinyls and t-shirts. We're currently working at the artwork of "Migration Light", we have some ideas, and we're collaborating with a really good photographer. We really love to collaborate with different artists for each artwork.

11.What's your favorite album cover? 

Celeste's artworks are amazing. The idea and the contrast between the images and the music are pretty cool. I would have had this idea for our albums.

12. It seems that a lot of people are turning on vinyl again. Why do you think that is and which is your preferable media format? 

Vinyl is the best format for everyone who loves everything of an album. The artwork is huge, the sound is unique, I think that the vinyl forces you to listen with attention to the music. But we are also aware that the digital formats are easier to find and to listen in other situations. So we release everything in all the possible formats: vinyls, CD and digital. 

13. What's the funniest story or moment as a band? 

Usually, in a band, the funniest moments happen in tour. This is also for us, especially when someone is particularly drunk or stoned. Francesco for example is very funny in that moments. But sometimes we realize that what we think it's funny, it's just funny for us.

threestepstotheocean are currently mixing their new album "Migration Light".

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