It's been such a loooooong time since we haven't updated our "Pics" section of our MySpace, and today we hopefully make up for this delay by uploading LOADS of new Belladonna pics!!
Live shots, press clippings, photos from our recent trip in the US, video stills: you name it, we have it, all neatly diveded in suitably named folders!!...
Click here to go to our "Pics" section and check them out!! And don't forget to leave us your comments!!!... :-))
As a taster, here's a great pic of our pianist Alice's left eye, taken (as most of our pics!) by our drummer-and-photographer-extraordinaire, Alex!!
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA to play Milan with Scars on Broadway!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA to play Milan with Scars on Broadway!!...
On Tuesday the 2nd of September we'll have the honor of playing THE most prestigious Italian rock club, Milan's Rolling Stone (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Iggy Pop, Prince, Duran Duran, Robert Plant, Alanis Morrisette, Oasis are amongst the artists that have graced its stage)!...
We've been invited to play as Special Guests of US band Scars On Broadway, a new group featuring System of a Down members Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan.
For all the details on the show click here!! And to all our Friends and fans from Milan: SEE YOU THERE!!... :-))
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA to play 3 festivals in Italy next week!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA to play 3 festivals in Italy next week!!...
We've only just returned from the USA where we've recorded the most of our 2nd album in Tool and System of a Down producer Sylvia Massy's awesome studio in Northern California - videos and pics from the sessions will be posted very soon on this Blog! - and we now hit the road with no less than 3 festival appearances in Italy!!
On Friday the 4th of July we'll have our own celebration of Independence Day by headlining RockCity, an open air show in our hometown Rome! RockCity is in Via delle Tre Fontane (EUR) and our show will start at 10.30pm.
Two days later, on Sunday the 6th of July, we'll have the amazing honor of supporting one of our fave artists, the legendary Siouxsie and the Banshees! We'll play before them (hitting the stage at 6.50pm) at Metarock, a festival that will take place in the Giardino Scotto in Pisa (yes, the town of the leaning tower!)
Last but absolutely not least, on Saturday the 12th of July we'll play - alongside awesome bands like In Flames and Opeth - the Evolution Festival at Milan's Idroscalo. We'll headline the "B" Stage at 7.50pm prompt!
And if you've never seen a Belladonna live show and you want a little YouTube preview of its sheer rocknoir fury and fire you can check out the taken-from-the-front-row amateur videos below, featuring incendiary live versions of "Black Swan", "Foreverland", "Mystical Elysian Love" and "Resurrect my Soul". Play loud and enjoy!!...
..
..
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA featured in Rolling Stone!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA featured in Rolling Stone!!...
Belladonna are featured with an interview in the latest issue of the Italian edition of legendary music magazine Rolling Stone!!
Once again our band gets recognized by a major entertainment magazine, and it's of course a great, GREAT honor for an independent, self-produced band like us!!... :-))
The Belladonna Rolling Stone interview
The front cover of the Rolling Stone issue that contains our interview
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA’s "Foreverland" on Virgin Radio!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA's "Foreverland" on Virgin Radio!!...
Last Sunday we were driving back from having played an in-store showcase in Rome's record store FNAC and we were chatting away when all of a sudden Luana exclaimed pointing to the car's radio: "hey, this is us!!"
We turned the volume up and there it was, our "Foreverland" blasting out of the car's speakers!! We were so surprised and thrilled that we had to pull the car to the side of the road to avoid crashing the car!!... :-)
We can hear you thinking: "why so surprised?". Good question: you all probably know that so far our music has already been played by hundreds of radio stations, so why should this time around be so special? Here comes the answer.
The radio station that was playing "Foreverland" is a household name, Virgin Radio. Surely many of you are familiar with the Virgin brand name: Virgin is a record company, a soda drink, a US airline company and many other things, and amongst them Virgin Radio, the most popular Italian rock radio station by far, with over 1.600.000 daily listeners.
When a radio station is this big and popular, many commercial and business considerations usually go into choosing what gets played and what doesn't. Roughly translated, this means that self-produced and unsigned artists don't get a chance of getting their music added to these radios' playlists: the preference invariably goes to very well-known or label-supported artists.
Virgin Radio has totally broken this unwritten rule completely by adding to their playlist Belladonna's "Foreverland". An incredibly bold gesture that has left us truly amazed and has single-handedly given us again the hope that, in this age of rampant consumerism and blatant cynicism, there's still people out there that choose to follow their heart, regardless of what "the rules" advise them to do.
So yes, it was an amazing surprise, one of those surprises that give you lots of joy for the present and lots of hope for the future!!... And, come think of it, it would have been worth crashing that car to celebrate it!!... :-))
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
Tutti i nostri amici sanno che - per farci comprendere da tutti - le nostre comunicazioni, blog post, bulletin etc. sono sempre in lingua Inglese. Stavolta però facciamo un'eccezione e pubblichiamo questo blog post anche in Italiano vista la sua rilevanza particolare per i nostri connazionali!
Abbiamo una grande notizia!! Il nostro album di debutto "Metaphysical Attraction" (da cui sono tratti i due brani dei Belladonna che sono entrati nei ballot dei Grammy Awards 2008, "Black Swan" e "Foreverland") il 9 maggio 2008 finalmente uscirà nei negozi di dischi italiani!!!...
Questo grazie ad un accordo che abbiamo siglato con il distributore Venus, che ha ritenuto che un album che ha raggiunto un tale traguardo dovesse essere reso disponibile anche nei negozi italiani. E, assolutamente in linea con la politica di una band al 100% indipendente e autogestita come i Belladonna, "Metaphysical Attraction" sarà in vendita al prezzo imposto di soli 10 Euro!!
Importante: se il vostro negozio di fiducia non dovesse averne una copia in stock, potrete ordinarla con facilità, facendo presente al negoziante che il distributore dell'album è la Venus!
La copertina di "Metaphysical Attraction"
E, per tutti i nostri amici romani: siete tutti invitati alla speciale festa per l'uscita del disco che faremo il 18 Maggio alle 18.30 alla FNAC di Roma (cliccate qui per indirizzo e mappa!)!!!
Hanno già dato la loro adesione tantissimi nostri sostenitori capitolini, e si preannuncia come una bellissima festa alla quale non potete assolutamente mancare!! L'ingresso è ovviamente gratuito!!
Per l'occasione i nostri Luana, Dani e Alice suoneranno eccezionalmente alcuni brani di "Metaphysical Attraction" in versione acustica, rendendo l'occasione ancora più ghiotta per tutta la Belladonna Family romana!!! Ci vediamo tutti lì!!!... :-))
I Belladonna nel programma della FNAC di Roma!
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
All our Friends know that all our Bulletins, Blog Posts etc. have always been written in English. This time around we are making an exception and we are publishing this Blog Post in Italian too, because of its special relevance for our Italian Friends and fans!
We have great news!!!... Tomorrow, the 9th of May, our debut album "Metaphysical Attraction" (featuring the 2 Belladonna songs that have been included in the Grammy Awards 2008 ballot, "Black Swan" and "Foreverland") will at last be on sale in Italian record stores!!!...
This is thanks to a deal struck with Italian record distributor Venus, who felt that an album that had reached such an awesome status just had to be made available in Italian shops! And - in true self-produced and independent Belladonna style - "Metaphysical Attraction" will be on sale at only 10 Euro!!
The "Metaphysical Attraction" front cover
And all our Roman Friends are invited to the special album release party that we'll hold on the 18th of May at 6:30pm at Rome's major record store FNAC (click here for address and directions!)!!! Very, very many of our Roman friends will be there and it looks like it'll be a party you just cannot miss!! The entrance is of course FREE!!
In this special occasion our very own Luana, Dani and Alice will also play a rare unplugged show featuring never-heard-before acoustic versions of "Metaphysical Attraction"'s most loved songs, surely a very special treat for the Roman Chapter of the Belladonna Family!!
See you all there!! And don't forget to come and say hi after the show!!... :-))
Belladonna in the FNAC programme!
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
We've just uploaded some brand new very noirBelladonna pictures on our profile, both on the main page and in the Pics section!!...
Shot in a very moody and spooky area of the Italian countryside, they were authored by our very own multi-talented drummer and photographer Alex, with the invaluable (since Alex couldn't obviously be behind and in front of the camera lens at the same time!!) help of the once again awesomely awesome Val Monteleone of Dying Diva!
First of all, I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to you all for your very interesting and thought-provoking contributions to my previous Blog post!!...
I've also indulged, like all of you, in a deep reflection on the given matter, and little by little I realized that on one hand I felt a very positive sensation in relation to the mysterious contents of the box, and on the other hand I felt that knowing the contents of the box - whatever they were or could be - in themselves had absolutely no relation with the triggering of this very positive feeling.
And it felt like a private, internal revolution when I then understood (not only in a rational way but also in an emotional way) that often we wrongly attribute a special causal power to things and events: the power to cause our happiness (or our sadness).
For instance, we can find a positive or negative meaning in a map - one of the most mentioned objects in your answers to the question of what was in the box (and one of the many very witty answer BTW!) - which in itself it's only a mere graphical representation of a given place, and certainly not by any means - if you think about it! - an explicit suggestion to explore or not explore that very place.
So, since we can be either happy or sad (or even indifferent) because of the very same thing or event, then the real cause of our feeling in that certain given way must surely lie within ourselves.
And the mind goes to a day in the life of that then 26-year-old boy that contributed to make the lives of so many of us so much more full of light with his creative, musical and soul powers: John Lennon.
On the 9th of November 1966 he read the word "yes" in a London installation by Yoko Ono (whom he had just met): it was written in tiny words on a ceiling, and it was visible only when climbing the ladder below it and using the magnifying glass provided (check out this Lennon Playboy interview to read his tale about that fateful day).
Some people might have dismissed that installation as worthless or useless, but Lennon immediately felt it as a very positive message and was so impressed that many Beatles' historians identify that very moment with the beginning of Lennon's emotional and creative turmoil that led him away from the Beatles and into his (and Yoko's) own world, and into creating some of his most positive and inspiring work, as "Imagine", "Give Peace a Chance", "Mind Games" and so many others.
"Mind Games" actually features the line "yes is the answer" and I guess that John Lennon in a simple line encapsulated what has just taken me me an entire full-lenght Blog post to convey.
Luana
A picture of the Yoko Ono's "YES" installation mentioned above
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
LUANA’s BLOG: "What’s in the box?!"
Category: Music
What's in the box?! 28 April 2008
After we've uploaded our brand new "Foreverland" video we've received MANY messages and comments with the one and same question: "what's in the box?!"
It's a question that I now put back to you all: "what do YOU think is in the box?" Think deeply about it and then write your answer down in a comment in this very Blog post!
And no: this is not supposed to be a guessing competition: it can actually be a strange and exciting inner search within ourselves, within our needs and desires. Armed with your pen (or rather, with your computer keyboard!) try to dream up, visualize and express what you feel is secretly hidden under that snow... if we let our writing dig deep, discover and then open that box we may find out something about who we are and where we are going!...
I am now going to look for my own answer to the "what's in the box?!" question too: as soon as I find it I'll post it here in our Blog!!
Looking forward to reading your visionary answers!!!...
Luana
BELLADONNA "Foreverland"
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA "Foreverland" video online NOW!!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA "Foreverland" video online NOW!!!...
The music video for "Foreverland" - the Belladonna song included in the Grammy Awards 2008 ballot for Best Rock Song is on our profile NOW!!!...
Filmed on location in the mountains of Central Italy, it was directed by our own Dani with the invaluable help of the awesomely awesome Val Monteleone (frontman in smashing new band Dying Diva) as video coordinator and camera operator.
We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!!!... Don't forget send us your comments!! And, as usual, use the html code below the video to add it to your own profiles!!!!... :-)))
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA’s "Foreverland" video: World Premiere tomorrow!!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA's "Foreverland" video: World Premiere tomorrow!!!...
The music video for "Foreverland" - the Belladonna song included in the Grammy Awards 2008 ballot for Best Rock Song - will receive its World Premiere tomorrow here on the Belladonna MySpace profile!!!...
Filmed on location in the beautiful mountains of Central Italy and directed by our own Dani, the "Foreverland" video is a very noir tale featuring Luana walking around through the snow carrying a shovel!! Where is she going? And what is the shovel for? You'll have to see the video tomorrow to know these answers!!... :-))
Come back to our MySpace profile in exactly 24 hours from now and be the first to watch and comment this brand new Belladonna video!!
As a little preview to whet your visual appetite, here's three screen captures from the video!...
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
BELLADONNA fly to the USA to record next Album!!...
Category: Music
BELLADONNA fly to the USA to record next Album!!...
When we published our latest Blog Post asking you to help us find a title for our next Album we did not expect such an awesome response: well over 100 comments, with some awesomely creative and inspiring suggestions!!... THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH with all our hearts to all of you that contributed so enthusiastically and in such a talented fashion to our quest!!!...
The Album should be coming out sometime in late 2008 and on the eve of its release we'll finally announce the chosen title!! As usual you'll read it first here in our official MySpace Blog so stay tuned, and you if are not subscribed yet to our Blog click here and do it!... :-))
As for now, we are thrilled to announce that our trip to the USA to complete the recording of this much-awaited (by ourselves above all!!) next Album is now 100% CONFIRMED!!
We will be in California from the 12th till the 29th of June, and we will be recording again - as we did last November - with legendary alt-rock producer Sylvia Massy (Tool, System Of A Down, Skunk Anansie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash and many, many others have been produced and/or engineered by this diamond rock'n'roll lady) at RadioStar, her unbelievable studio in Weed, Northern California!!...
Click here to read the wonderful things that we were thrilled and honored to read on Sylvia's MySpace Blog upon our return in Italy after our November sessions with her!! We had a magical time in the studio with Sylvia and we absolutely cannot wait to do music again with her!!!... :-))
Sylvia Massy with Dani and Luana in RadioStar Studio C
Sylvia listening to a Belladonna playback in RadioStar Studio A
Sylvia and Luana pose for Alex's ever-present camera!
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
Find a title for the next BELLADONNA album!!...
Category: Music
Find a title for the next BELLADONNA album!!...
Maaaaany of you have been recently asking us what's going on here in Belladonnaland: it's been a while since we haven't published any Blog posts or sent any bulletins... so what's happening with our band?!...
SONGWRITING FOR OUR NEXT ALBUM...
We actually are in our busiest but also happiest and most creative period ever!!... Dani and Luana are spending most of their days writing music and lyrics of many new rocknoir songs for our much-awaited second Belladonna album, and they are sounding very haunting, romantic, passionate... very noir indeed!!...
Here's for you the titles of a few songs that may appear in the album: "My Golden Dawn", "Lust Never Sleeps", "Till Death Do Us Part", "The Best Tears of Our Lives", "Love Me Till I Die".
...RECORDING OUR NEXT ALBUM...
We have actually already recorded some of these songs last November with legendary producer Sylvia Massy (famous for her work with Tool, System Of A Down, Skunk Anansie, Johnny Cash and many others) at RadioStar, her fabulous studio in Northern California. We've published a video Diary of these sessions, check it out here on our YouTube page if you haven't already!!
We will be back to Sylvia's studio in June to record a few of these new tracks, and hopefully by the end of the Summer we will have a new, awesomely noir, Belladonna album completed!!...
...LOOKING FOR A TITLE FOR OUR NEXT ALBUM!!!
And this brings us to a question/competition we have for all our Friends and fans!! We are already thinking up possible titles for our second album, and we've already come up with some that we would be really happy to choose from! But before making our final choice we'd love to hear your suggestions!!...
Send them in by commenting this very Blog post!! If we'll end up using a title you've suggested here in one of your comments we will credit you on the album cover as "Album title by (your name)" + we'll send you 5 FREE copies of the CD!!!... Hey, if you'll name it it'll be your CD too, so it's only right that you'll get to have some complimentary copies for you and your family and friends!!... :-))
Send your comments with your suggested titles NOW!!! We can't wait to read them!!... :-))
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
After a brief trial period, from today Belladonna are officially present on iLike!!Click here to check out our iLike page!!...
Now just one year old, iLike is already one of the fastest growing music services in the world, with 15 million users worldwide and 3 million more being added monthly. It's the Web's leading social music discovery service and the dominant music application on Facebook and Bebo.
Of course MySpace is and will stay our main direct channel of communication with our friends and fans, but since many users had already uploaded our songs on iLike before we even knew of its existence it was absolutely inevitable for us to make our presence felt there too!... :-)
But even our most faithful MySpace Friends might find it useful to connect with us on iLike too! For instance, the iLike platform allows us to upload more songs than MySpace does: almost all our "Metaphysical Attraction" album is right now available on streaming on our iLike page, and - for a limited time only - our song "Password to Heaven" is even FREE TO DOWNLOAD!!...
Become Belladonna's friend on iLike: just click on the button below, sign in on iLike, and come deeper into our world!!... :))
Click here and become our friend on iLike!!...
The Belladonna iLike page
If you haven't subscribed to our MySpace Blog yet, do it now!! Contribute to one of the Top 10 Music Blogs in MySpace!! Click here to subscribe!!...
