Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with an Italian band with a Progressive Metal sound whose debut EP was released in March 2024. We welcome Watermill.
Hello, how are you?
“Doing fine, thanks, we are happy to be able to answer some questions about our music, instead of doing our ‘conventional works for living‘”
What is the meaning of your band name Watermill and how was the project formed?
“‘Watermill’ band was born from the ashes of a previous instrumental prog band, ‘Undertable Dreams.’ Sound in Undertable Dreams was much closer to prog rock/post rock, with a different bass player. We published an album with them, you can find that on every digital store. It is quite poorly mixed, since the band collapsed exactly during the final phases of the production, but still, it’s there for historical memory. When the bass player from Undertable Dreams left the band, Christian Agugliaro’s brother, Giancarlo, came in. They already played together in the past, Giancarlo came from technical death metal. We all appreciated that genre, so we started writing new material, realizing the sound of the mixing influences was really different from anything we played previously. So a new name was needed, a cut with the past, something new. While creating the first songs, our music made us think to a giant watermill,incessantly spinning, both violent and elegant, in its pure, ominous, yet natural strength. Giancarlo used to say “can you feel how it SPINS? THIS WATERMILL IS SPINNING, I CAN FEEL ITS WIND”, in a really excited way, as we created and shaped our music.
The name was decided.“
You offer a sound that combines Progressive Metal and Progressive Rock, how did your passion for this music come about?
“We were literally grown up with the top of the 70s prog (King Crimson, Genesis, Area, PFM, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Gentle Giant, Yes), fusion (Chick Corea, Allan Holdsworth, Tribal Tech, Brand X), technical death metal (Cynic, Death, Pestilence, Atheist, Cannibal Corpse) and modern technical metal (Intervals, Animals as Leaders, Meshuggah, Special Providence, Dream Theater). Why deciding a single genre, when you can have fun mixing everything you like?“
Your debut EP “Origins” was released in March 2024, how would you describe this work?
“It’s the summary of our origins as a band, from there its title. It was shaped half in a very little garage in via Marconi (Rome), half using Reaper and Parsec in “smart working” (during COVID, when we couldn’t physically meet each other), and half in our new studio in Ciampino. This work contains the ideas of me (Danilo), Giancarlo and Christian, before the latter decided to leave the band for artistic divergences. We created these 5 tracks all together, and it was important for us to see it closed from start to finish. It’s a conversation between 3 very different people, but that can still coexist, creating something perhaps strange at times, but that at least we, like to hear, and remember.“
Your music is instrumental, intense and elaborate, how does the creative process of the tracks take place?
“These tracks are the result of 2 very different ways of composing. The Christian way, based on improvisation, music dialogue constantly evolving and experimenting, and the Giancarlo way, based on very lucid study of what is musically
happening, spending hours to find the proper tension in a chord, or resolution in a musical sentence. As you can imagine, these 2 ways of composing can be really opposite to each other, and personally I think that only this “contrast” could create these tracks. These tracks are a photography of that contrast.“
Many of your fans and our readers wonder if there will be a chance to hear you ye, do you have plans in this regard for the near future?
“If you want to know if we are going to play live, yes, we are working on that! Our new drummer, Gianluca Tozzi, is learning both our first album, and learning/creating with us all of our upcoming material. There will be live shows in 2025, we’re really looking forward to that.“
Italy has an excellent tradition in the Progressive field, how do you see the modern music scene in your country?
“There are tons of great bands in Italy at the moment, playing wonderful, experimental and technical music! Had the pleasure to see “JEMMA”, great experimental jazz collective from Rome, win Lazio Sound contest couple of years ago, this is really a sign that both artists and audience are thrilled to listen to something new. Also italian songwriters’ music from today is really complex and experimental, just think about “Iosonouncane”, or “Musica per bambini”, just to name a couple. Met a very young guy at a jam session in Sardinia, “Joshburger”, just 20 years old, already with 2 wonderful, experimental and complex albums released. It’s incredibly inspiring to see all of this experimentation and creativity.
Italian musicians can be really some crazy ones, guess weather and food help.“
How difficult is it (if at all) to establish yourself in the modern music scene by proposing more sophisticated sounds like yours?
“We live in a time where there is almost a “surplus” in art and music. Any art, any music. It’s difficult to make yourself heard, since we are so many. We try not to live it struggling, we don’t have a label, or a PR, we do all by ourselves, whenever we can. It makes us happy, so we know it’s a good thing. Would it be easier if we mad a more commercial genre? Personally, I think not. Maybe it’s even better that our genre is so specific, a little audience is a faithful audience (and I can see it everytime I go to a prog event, it’s great how you learn to recognize faces you have already seen).
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music by proposing a sound like yours?
“Remember that you need to have fun. Music must be fun. If you are not having fun, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, just that maybe you’re focusing on the wrong point of view. Create something that makes you proud. Even if no one will listen to it.“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside music?
“Gianluca Tozzi is a painter. Giancarlo Agugliaro loves astrophysics and mechanics. I work as IT (computer geek).
We are three nerds, when we catch breath in the study sessions, beyond music, we also spend hours talking about movies, anime, tv series and so on. We really never get bored. Lots of times our passions have inspired our music. It will continue being like this.“
I thank Watermill for the interview and wish them all the best for the continuation of their artistic career.
Read our Review of their EP here: [Review] Watermill – Origins EP