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Aldo Nova Interview
Twenty-five year old, Canadian born Aldo Nova is riding high on the charts
with his debut album, Aldo Nova (Portrait/Epic Records).
He's been touring the country opening concerts for Hall and Oates, and
Sammy Hagar.
We spoke with Aldo Nova recently about his super success.
Q. You were here in Syracuse not too long ago with Hall and Oates.
A. Yeah, it was a decent bill, but it was misbilled. You know, the Hall
and Oates crowd is so lame, it was their crowd. We did extremely well with
them. Their crowd is so tame; you'd think they're all on quaaludes. With
Sammy Hagar, half the crowd I can attribute to be my own, 'cause they know
the songs. It's a lot more enjoyable, the kids are there to rock, instead
of sitting down.
Q. Who was your guitar hero?
A. Jimi Hendrix. . . and still is as a matter of fact. I'd hope to make
an album as good as Jimi Hendrix ever made. I just bought a Hendrix record
the other day, "The Essential Jimi Hendrix" and I hear stuff on
that album which is awesome. You hear stuff going in and out of your ears,
guitars fading away, voices talking. I mean Jimi was a genius. Jimi had
a super image. He was a great singer, a great composer. He had a talent
far beyond a lot of the guys around today. Those guys were real stars. Today,
I can't attribute that quality to anybody, not even myself. Jimi is still
the ultimate guitar hero.
Q. What do you mean when you say you visualize the songs as you write
them?
A. I don't write 'em as I visualize them. They come to me as if someone
gives them to me. It's as if someone opens up a faucet in my head, and that's
the honest truth. I'm only trying to re-produce what I hear in my head.
I never even attempt to go to a guitar or piano until the song is a perfect
picture, a perfect tape in my head, in the sense that I can hear basically
where it's going. The look, the verse, the chorus, and stuff like that.
Q. What's your favorite guitar?
A. I play a Gibson Les Paul. As a matter of fact, I'm endorsing Gibson.
They gave me a brand new guitar the other day. It's a Chet Atkins, which
I'm playing on stage. It's a classical electric guitar. Isn't that strange?
It looks like a classical guitar, but it's made like a Les Paul. It's like
solid body. Man, you can get it to sound like a classical guitar and then
when you raunch it up it can sound like a fuzz tone, no feedback.
Q. An A&R man once said, "maybe only one out of every ten records
succeeds in a major way." Why is that?
A. Because there's more to records than records themselves. There's more
to a record than vinyl. If the artist is willing to sacrifice three years
of his life, totally, to commit himself to what he's doing, that record
will make it. All you can expect from a record company is that they distribute
your record in the stores. The actual sales of the records are attributed
to the artist. I do myself, between ten to thirteen interviews a day. It
takes a lot out of somebody to do that. It's like you have no personal time
to yourself.
Q. I'm going to read you a quote by country superstar,
Roy Acuff. "Some
of these rock performers are just disturbing the audiences. They get the
youngsters all riled up. The next thing you know, they're all doped up.
They jump into a car, and crash into a telephone pole." Would he be
talking about the music of Aldo Nova?
A. Tell Roy Acuff, that George Jones got arrested for possession of cocaine
two weeks ago.
Q. What would you say to Frank Sinatra Jr. who when
asked about rock music, said, "I won't call it music."
A. I'd say to him first of all, I'm sitting on The Charts with an eighteen
with a super bullet and soon to be gold in a month. If he doesn't think its
music, there's about 500,000 kids out there that don't think its music either.
So which one is right?
© Gary James All Rights Reserved
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