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Last Eon Frontman Sergio Todisco Discusses the Band, Their Process, and Album ‘Wooden Bodies’

Last Eon frontman Sergio Todisco joins us to discuss the band’s origins, new record ‘Wooden Bodies,’ playing live, and more.

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Last Eon
Last Eon

It’s been a long wait but one that has been worth it for the second album from Last Eon. The Italian post-rock band released their sophomore album Wooden Bodies last month. It’s the follow-up to the band’s debut record Before I close my eyes which came out back in 2018. All of the songs on Wooden Bodies were written and arranged by the band’s founder Sergio Todisco. He did receive help along the way from his bandmates with some of the arrangements and instrumental parts. But for the most part, this is Todisco’s creative vision.

Last Eon hails from Cassino in Southern Italy. They rose out of the ashes of a previous version of the band that was called Shy Eon. Only Todisco remained from that band so he decided to rebrand and rework things. He is now joined by Fabiano Pittiglio on guitar, Emanuele Tartaglia on drums, Alessandro Prete on bass, and Manuel Parisella on synths.

Today we are joined by Todisco to discuss Last Eon’s origins, influences, playing live, and more.

What is the story behind the band name?

Sergio Todisco: “I live in a place where a provincial culture is predominant and people don’t give much value to music and art in general. Giving life to a band in such a place and trying to play your own music is very difficult. For that reason, I’ve been trying to form a band for years, continuously changing members, until I managed to form my first band, Shy Eon. ‘Eon,’ as a concept, was the word I liked.

“Anyway, the band was unstable and members changed several times, again, too many times. So, when I reached a more stable formation I decided that would be the ‘last’ chance for the songs and genre I was working on for that project.”

Who are your biggest influences?

“A lot of different artists and genres influenced my writing. Alternative rock bands, musicians that managed to add something original, in terms of writing and sounds, to the classic pop-rock song format, such as Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Sigur Ros, and Wilco. Post-rock bands such as Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and Thee Silver Mount Zion. Songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. Classical, modern and soundtrack composers, maybe above all Ennio Morricone.”

If you could change anything about the music industry what would it be?

“Maybe I’d like to see a reduction of the impact that capitalistic logic and dynamics have on the industry.”

Last Eon ‘Wooden Bodies’ album artwork

Last Eon ‘Wooden Bodies’ album artwork

Which do you enjoy the most: writing, recording, practicing, or playing live?

“This is a beautiful question because it leads me to go deep into the origin of what I do, the relation between me and music. When I first approached music, I was totally enraptured, and I wanted to know the origin and all the processes that let such a marvellous thing exist. Writing is a deep, internal need, beside that, I became interested in how to produce a song, how to manage all the techniques that allow an instrument to play (practicing), or a device to play a CD (recording and production). And that’s why I like to be involved in every stage of the process. Anyway, I think I prefer the beginning of it all, that intimate moment in which I start writing (playing).”

When you write do you do so with the live setting in mind or do you write a song just for the song’s sake?

“In these years my writing has met both perspectives. Sometimes I think on how I could share what I’m writing in a live set, and that forces me to create from the inside of certain logistic numbers and limits. Other times it happens that during the composing phase, I perceive the sound of a whole orchestra and I go beyond a pair of guitars, a bass, a drum and a synth. Maybe the latter happens more often for the other project I lead, A giant echo.”

Last Eon

Last Eon

What is the story behind the name of the new record, Wooden Bodies?

“I grew up in the countryside and I have been going to my father’s village, in the mountains, since I was an infant, so I feel a deep bond with nature, clean air, trees, and woods. We use technology to write and record music, we listen to music in big modern buildings, in the cities, with artificial materials, and yet a piano is made of wood, and I need to search the contact with materials of the origin. Searching for that contact is a sort of reminder of who we were, who we have become, and who we are going to be. We are antique bodies, living in the present.”

Do you use the same gear when recording as you do when playing live?

“We’re not famous, we do other jobs to live, and when we go to play we are already tired, we have to transport, mount and safeguard, with great care, all our stuff. That’s why we try to reduce our gear when we play live. For example, on recordings, I change electric guitar, depending on the sound I would like to obtain, but in a live set, I try to use only one electric guitar.”

If you had an unlimited budget, where and with whom would you record your record? What about production and mastering? And why?

“With an unlimited budget, I’d probably spend a lot of money on the number of musicians and instruments used. Maybe I would search for strings, woods, horns, percussions, and a large choir. About production and mastering, nowadays and with modern technologies, I guess you can obtain great results in a lot of studios in every country, so, probably I don’t have preferences on that.”

Politics and music. Yay, nay, or what the hay?

“I have never mixed the two things, but I don’t exclude it could happen one day. If you can convey a message functional for society through a song, I think it could be good. If you sing about homelessness, you’re underlining a social problem that can be a political issue, and I don’t think it’s a mistake. I don’t mind artists doing it.”

Tell us about your experience going it alone as an artist. How hard is it to get your music distributed, promoted, shared, etc?

“This album is self-released. As an independent artist, I can say it’s very difficult to get your music distributed, promoted and shared, because you need money to promote it. The more money you spend, the more your music can be shared and listened to.”

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