Dear Luca thank you for speaking to our webzine. I would like to congratulate you first for your excellent album.

Hi Giannis, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity and for having listened to our album, we really appreciate this.

What are your impressions about the album so far? Are you satisfied with the final result and the feedback you have gathered so far?

One thing I can surely say is that the most important thing for me is to perform something funny to play and I really like to play songs from Flowing Portraits, especially Inner War and First Creature! The final result to me is awesome, thanks to the time spent in the studio (especially Lucio's!) after the recording days.

Though you have a stable line-up there is still a missing piece in your puzzle and this is none other than the vocalist.  MArk Basile recorded the vocals, but he is not considered a regular member of the band. Do you have any thoughts of recruiting him as a permanent member?

No, we haven't. I think MArk Basile is a great singer and a great composer. He is now working with DGM and I think that's the right place for a musician like him. I wish him all the best.

What are the main themes of your lyrics? Many prog metal bands write about a main issue or story. Do you have ever thought of doing a concept album?

They're not focused on a main theme because all the lyrics are talking about visions and dreams. Our friend, Michele, did an excellent job in my opinion with them. There's only a reference to water in two tracks: in Dance of the Waves (I put some sentences like "caged into water forever" on the introduction to recall "in water prisoner" form the first verse) and in Tears of Kalliroe (Actually, I put some drops at the beginning for this reason). About the concept album, I can say that for me is the perfect expression for a progressive album. I would really like to do a concept album with Soul Secret, there is a particular care in their making of.

You have stated that you began as a tribute band to Dream Theater, is that right? What was the crucial point where you took the decision to turn to a real band and start composing your own material?

Yes, we started as a Dream Theater tribute band and performed some live shows. The feedback was great but that was not what we were searching for.  We understood that music is not "repeating a message written by somebody else" but  "communicate and share your own message". Once we understood this, we started to work on our first creature: First Creature (the title unveils it all). Performing it live and receiving a really positive feedback convinced us to continue on this way, heading to our first full-length album.

It is clear that you have no fear admitting your influences. But aren't you afraid of being accused for lack of personality as a band?

No, I'm not afraid because there's absolutely no shame about having an influence. I think that listening to an album is like reading a book. When you read a book, it's useless to find some similarity with E.A. Poe, for example, or with some other writer you only know. This will only distract you from your main task: understand the story and feel the atmosphere.

What is your opinion about today's progressive metal scene? How do you think Soul Secret contribute to the empowerment and the advancement of the scene?

I think that today's progressive metal scene is really full of great bands with fresh sounds and experimental solutions. We're only a band formed by guys that wants to share their music and humble ideas to other people... I really hope one day we'll contribute with our works!

Can you tell us a few things about the cover and how it relates to the title?

Everything started with a very macabre idea of mine: on the first page, a girl trapped inside an hourglass with photos falling from the top, on the last page the same hourglass full of those portraits and the same girl choked inside. Luckily the rest of the band took only the first part of the idea, because the second was too dark for our type of music :).  Suddenly, beginning from this, the other members of the band started enriching the idea and made it so cool. After, we submitted all the ideas to Nello Dell'Omo that did a great job. The relation with the title is obviously given by the photos flying all around in that strange dimension. One of this photos is taken by the girl that is passing through the door, while watching herself caged into the above-mentioned time machine. There are some thing to dig into inside the cover... for example, have you found the face of Kalliroe? :)

In a market that reliable record labels are few, you found a contract with one of the most significant pro-rock/metal labels. How difficult was for you to find this contract?

It was so unreal for us because everything happened so suddenly. After finishing our work in the studios, Davide Guidone, our actual manager, noticed us and proposed to contact some labels. Some of them replied him but the best offer came from Shawn Gordon of ProgRock Records. It's an honour for us that he's trusting in this project.

What are your future plans? Do you plan any touring or maybe a new album?

Hmm... both! We're planning some touring to promote Flowing Portraits and we're already on work for our next album. Two tracks are already complete (I really LOVE playing them!) and who knows if we'll perform them during this summer as a preview :)

If you could tour, then which band would you like to support or even better support you?

I don't think we're ready for being supported by someone, because a supported band is generally important, and we're not important at all! Vice versa, I would like to support the three band I love the most: in order Symphony X, Pain of Salvation and Dream Theater!

Dear Luca this is the end of our interview. Thank you once again for sharing your time with us and our readers and I wish you all the best.

Thank you too, Giannis! Thank you for this interview and thank you all that spent your time in listening to our album! I hope we'll see again... maybe touring in your country!