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As May drew to a close, Italian indie-metallers Violet Blend returned to London for a day of national interviews and a showcase gig in Islington. During their visit, vocalist Giada Chelli sat down for an exclusive chat with Devil’s Gate Music.
Right, we’re in London. Spring is in full bloom. We’re in Soho. Just around the corner is the music shop that featured on one of the Oasis album covers. The home of labels and famous clubs, Soho it’s pretty much the home of rock and roll around here. Anyway, we’re joined with Florentine singer Giada from the Italian band Violet Blend, who are in London for a showcase gig. Giada, how are you doing?
I’m doing great. Thank you very much for having me. And big thanks to the team at Devil’s Gate Music for such great support over the years. With so many young bands trying to break through, media platforms like yours are so important to us bands.
Okay, now, tell us what you’re doing in London. You haven’t come for the shopping because the shopping is better in Italy, obviously.
No, we’re not just tourists. This time, we’re over for a showcase gig at the Hope and Anchor. We’ve also had some national newspaper press in the UK, which we’re super excited about. We love coming to the UK and playing our small part to support the UK grassroots scene and local venues.
Last year, you did a tour, you played a couple of festivals, and did a club tour. Tell us a little bit about your story and your association with the UK.
Well, yes, we’ve been a lot of times in the UK. We call London our second home. We love the city. We came over this time last year, we’ve been touring the UK and played a couple of festivals, where we met so many great people. We were voted band of the year on Great Music Stories back in 2023, and the support from rock platforms like Devil’s Gate Music has also helped us to reach more UK fans.
It’s always a great emotion for us to come over to the UK. We are Italian, but we have a British Heart as well when it comes to rock. We’ve been playing together since 2017, we are friends, and we love to play rock and roll. We blend and mix a couple of rock and metal genres together, and we like to call it blended rock.
Yeah, it says indie metal on one of your bits of PR blurb, is that a genre, or is that a kind of crossover or a hybrid genre?
That’s a good definition of our genre, because we will mix together a lot of a lot of genres. We love to mix things up. So indie metal is a cool definition for this, this kind of music that we do. We don’t like tags, but it’s a good definition, it’s a bit symphonic rock with a twist of metal, and there’s some alternative influences too.
I also noticed that as soon as you landed in Gatwick airport the other day, a news piece went up in The Evening Standard newspaper, London’s online newspaper, and you had a great piece talking about technology and AI, and a survey you’d done. Tell us about that.
Yeah, we took a look at UK rock fan views on the impact that AI is having on music – it’s not an issue for the future, because it’s already here, and the impact that it is having on music, on art in general. Whatever people’s personal views on the pros or cons of AI in music, 82% of people expressed concern over the possible consequences of AI in music: 46% of people were concerned about artists having their music copied or used without royalties being paid to them; 40% said they feared more grassroots music venues would close because AI might result in fewer people going to see live bands – and 32% expressed concern over the risk of people deciding not to study music at school and college because they felt career opportunities were limited.
They say that in 15 in 50 years, AI will be able to create art from nothing without copying anything. So it’s well, I’m worried about it, because art is the manifestation of the human soul, the reality described through the soul of the artist. So, if you have a machine doing this, is it art? Is it going to be the same, the same art as we know it?
I’m worried about the impact that AI will have on music venues, on the music business. I guess, people having a career in music, people choosing, say, at the age of 16, whether they want to go into the music industry, if it’s all automated. These issues are also part of the reason why we’re over here again. We want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the hard-working grassroots bands here in the UK. We are stronger together, and we also want to help support local venues by playing shows. Keeping it real matters so much, too many venues have been lost in recent years.
And anything you can tell us about new music on the way from Violet Blend?
Yes, we have four new songs we are working into our live sets. We think the new stuff is the best work we’ve done. They are part of a new album, and we’ll be sure to give you guys at Devil’s Gate Music an early heads up when the new sounds are ready for release. Thanks again for all you do to keep music alive for young bands across the UK and abroad.
Connect with Violet Blend, HERE
All images – Eric Duvet Photography
More on Violet Blend:
Fresh off being voted Band of the Year by listeners of Great Music Stories Radio – which described the band as “one of the most exciting European acts to break into the UK scene in recent years – genre-pushing, theatrical, and emotionally real” – Violet Blend continue to gain international acclaim for their explosive live performances and genre-defying sound. The band’s blend of symphonic rock and alternative metal has earned them spots alongside major acts such as Garbage, Radiohead, and Palaye Royale.
The London show follows the band’s successful 10-date UK Calling Tour in June 2024, which solidified their reputation as one of the most compelling rising acts on the European rock circuit.
