INTERVIEW
Q: What Kind of music do you like to create and record?
Antonio: Growing up in the late 70’s and 80’s I was exposed to an incredible amount of music genres from disco, funk, pop, and R&B. I guess that’s why everyone always talks about how great the music was in the 80’s. I was very fortunate to have grown up and listen to music in that era, it heavily influenced my writing. The music was very melodic driven, so what I love to do is mix old sounds with new sounds, creating a blend of dance pop and R&B soul.
Q: What inspired the song “Someone Just Like You”?
Antonio: “Someone Just Like You” is a song inspired by a man’s search to find true love, with that one special woman he was destined to be with. So the true inspiration came from when I actaully met my wife and getting to know her while we were dating.
Q: Who are your musical influences?
Antonio: Clearly anybody who knows me, knows that George Michael has been my biggest musical influence and idol. I admired him as an artist, songwriter, producer and performer. He had an incredible ability to write songs with edgy lyrics and catchy hooks, that he performed flawlessly with raw emotion. He had a remarkable voice and was deeply connected to his lyrics that moved you and left you wanting more. He was an iconic legacy that will remain forever unmatched.
Q: What was the first song you wrote?
Antonio: The first song I ever wrote was at the age of 13, it was a song written in Italian. It was my very first time in Italy and I met a girl there who I was in awe of. When I came back home I wanted to express my feelings for her so I wrote her a poem in Italian. My cousin who was an inspiring musician/guitarist encouraged me to turn the poem into a song. During the recording of this song on his 4 track mini studio he was impressed on the fact that I could actually sing, so he encourage me to pursue my musical singing ability.
Q: What’s your ideal venue to perform in?
Antonio: I really enjoy performing at all kinds of venues, from very intimate to a fully charged crowd at a stadium. But if I had to pick one it would be the large crowd because of the energy that is felt of thousands of fans just enjoying music all together. It’s a humbling experience to share my music with my fans, and each venue allows me to interact and connect with them on different levels. I strive to one day be able to perform for my fans in stadiums around the world.
Q: Do you play any instruments?
Antonio: I taught myself to play the piano while I was majoring in Vocals at the Humber College Jazz Music Program. They had these piano practice rooms and I used to lock myself in there for hours.
Q: What kind of music do you want to bring to your fans?
Antonio: I want my lyrics and music to jump out at you, exhilarate your soul, push the boundaries and pull at your heart’s strings. On a massive scale, I want my songs to bring hope, love and peace to my fans. Help them escape the stresses of society, forget their troubles, let loose and have good time. Ultimately, I want my songs to bring happiness to their hearts and revive their souls as other artists songs have done that for me.
Q: What is your favorite holiday of the year?
Antonio: Christmas is my favorite time of year, maybe I’m a little bias since it’s so close to my birthday. I’ve always enjoyed getting together with family and that’s extremely important to me. Growing up Italian, our family get-togethers was something I always looked forward to during the Christmas Holidays. The whole process of buy presents and all those traditional shows i grew up with like Rudolph and frosty the snowman its a very special time and reminds me of nice good times as a kid. Plus I’m Catholic, so I remember our parents taking my brothers and I to church on Christmas eve or Christmas day. It’s the real reason for celebrating Christmas the birth of Jesus.
Q: What is the one message you’d want your fans to know?
Antonio: My whole purpose besides loving to sing, create and write music is to influence the world to be a better place. This biggest compliment an artist can get, at least from my stand point is to make a positive change in ones life. Even if it’s one single person, who’s life I can influence to be better human then I did my job. When I die I hope to leave this world knowing I made it a better place. So my message to my fans is learn how to LOVE each other. That doesn’t just mean a romantic love. It could be a love towards your friends or neighbor or even a stranger.
Q: Who’s your inspiration?
Antonio: First and foremost I’m inspired by my creator God and Jesus, I try and strive to make decisions in my life that God would be happy about. When I was a kid, my mom, was the one who taught me to have faith and be spiritual. Anytime I found myself at a cross road during my life, I always got answer by doing one thing. I asked God, what would he want me to do in a situation like this? I always came out with the correct answer.
Q: Besides music what other passions do you have?
Antonio: My other passion began also when I was a kid, airplanes!! Not quite sure where it came from exactly, perhaps every little boy is obsessed with airplanes when they are kids. I still remember the first time going on a plane. It was a trip to Florida and I was so excited heading toward the airport because I couldn’t wait to get on board. I also remember when I was a kid my dad would take me to the airport every Sunday afternoon and we would watch the planes land and takeoff. Sometimes it was just me watching them as my dad fell asleep and took a nap lol ( I guess you can blame that big Italian Sunday lunch lol). Finally in my 20’s I started taking flying lessons and wow I was hooked, it was like so addictive. I did eventually get my private pilot’s license with a rating to fly at night. I almost even thought about becoming a professional pilot at one point. Another passion of mine which began at the age of 5 was playing hockey. I think it was mandatory being Canadian to start playing hockey at age 5 lol (Just kidding ) I still do play hockey whenever I get the chance.
Q: Do you speak any other languages?
Antonio: Can you guess from my name what language I can speak ? lol My parents immigrated from Italy, so when my brothers and I were born our parents first taught us Italian as our first language. It wasn’t till I went to school that I really learned English. Being from Canada we learned French in school, so I do understand a bit of French but it’s been a long time.
Q: What is your favorite type of food?
Antonio: Oh boy this is a difficult answer cause I consider myself a foodie lol. Maybe I’m bias but I love Italian food and probably one of my favorite pasta is Penne alla Vodka mmmmmmm so good lol. I also have a sweet tooth, so my favorite is a tie between cheesecake and tiramisu.I also must say I absolutely love salmon sashimi, I treat myself to salmon sashimi at least every two weeks lol
Q: Are you a beach or lake person?
Antonio: Well that’s another tough question. I grew up fishing with my dad and brothers, and till this day I still fish every chance I get whenever I’m at the cottage. But I would have to pick the beach if I had to pick one I love being on a beautiful white sandy beach with blue water. My favorite place to visit for beaches would have to be between Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.
Q: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Antonio: The one thing I can’t stand is traffic, I think that’s such a waste of human life. People spend so much time in traffic, that time can be used to be with family or the people you love. Maybe it’s because of my schooling of being an engineer but I’m always looking for efficiencies. The fact that traffic even exists is a failure on our government’s infrastructure planning. That’s another story lol