MPc: Let’s turn our attention to your current solo album, ReMarcoble. It is an amazing collection of guitar-driven songs that span a variety of rock, prog, and fusion styles, much like the other work you do. What was your approach to writing and recording the solo album?
Marco Sfogli, ReMarcobleMS: Well, I came from the experience of my first solo record, which was titledThere’s Hope, which came out in 2008, and as much as I loved that record, I wasn’t really satisfied by the diversity of songs. I mean, to me it was great because it showed all my experience and influences over the years, but it wasn’t really what I wanted to do because it sounded a little bit fragmented, in a way. There was the prog moment, the rock moment, the fusion, the country… even the country moment. With ReMarcoble, I actually wanted to make a more straight-ahead record. So getting my influences back, but more in a modern key.
In terms of writing, I started soon after finishing the first record. Some songs just came out, you know, like always happens, out of the blue. Just, I had maybe melodies in mind, and I tried to build the core of the song around that melody. And some songs were just leftovers from James [LaBrie’s] records. Maybe some that weren’t, um, maybe modern enough to end up on James’s record and, particularly “Far From Me” and “Save Yourself,” those two songs were written for James, and didn’t end up on Static Impulse. So I used those for my solo record. And also, on that level I chose the musicians according to the songs. I just sent them files, scratch arrangements, early arrangements, and I just told them, “Do whatever you want with this song. Just make it shine. Just use your musicianship to make this song shine.” And this is pretty much it.
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