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Photo credit: Jorg Schnebele
It was in 2022, when we first had this discussion with legendary guitarist Gretchen Menn. The topic of the article was “Are guitar heroes a thing of the past? Part I. Since then, we followed up with a part II.
The discussion was based upon the extend that guitarists would take to comprehend what real guitar playing was all about. As it seemed there are some that believed, all you need to learn is the basics to become a guitar player. I had a friend of mine, once say “all you need to learn is 4 chords to play the guitar”.
I went on to mention the following:
While that may be true in some circles or genres of music, it certainly doesn’t hold water with many who consider playing the guitar an art form. I personally have shifted my attention from the quality of an artist’s voice to their ability to play the guitar. I have always been a fan of the electric guitar. Even acoustic guitars as well. I suggest that you really put forth the effort to learn how to play, before adding an instrument to your performances. If you are performing before an audience, they are not going to be focused on your guitar skillset. They just want to be entertained. They want to hear a musician with a good voice, onl
Is the interview with Thalia Bellazecca more of the same? No, not really. There is a different level of complexity with her skill set. You see, Thalia Bellazecca is on a mission. She represents heavy metal in a unique manner. One that takes on life as a superhero. She joined a band in 2022 called Angus McSix. With this super energetic fantasy power metal band, the heroes of the band will conquer evil of the primordial demon Seebulon in the biggest stages of the world from 2023.
Did she accomplish what she set out to do? Did it take on a different persona or mission? We shall see. Regardless of what Thallia Bellazecca is doing on and off stage, she is a representation of all the guitar players of the past and present. In many ways she is a hero that emerges for sources unknown until now.
ABOUT THALIA BELLAZECCA
Thalìa Bellazecca is a young italo Cuban professional metal guitarist and content creator from Italy. At the age of 8 years old, inspired by many artists and bands like Queen, Deep Purple and more, she picked up the guitar and one year later also the piano. She went to a private school for the first 10 years and now she continues to learn and practice on her own. Her Metal soul came out soon, at age of 12 years old she started listening and playing songs of Joe Satriani, Kiko Loureiro, Megadeth and Angra. These were and still are her favorite bands and guitar hero’s. She always took inspirations from them.
When she was just 16, she had the opportunity to hit the stage a couple of times with one of the greatest drummer and bassist from Italy, Sergio Pescara and Gianni Cicogna, who worked with Kiko Loureiro for their own album of their duo band called “Groovydo”.
In 2017, she joined her first band ever as solo guitarist, the female fronted power metal band “Frozen Crown”. With them, she released the first two albums “The Fallen King” and “Crowned In Frost”. Toured in Europe a couple of times, first one with Elven king and the second one with Dragon force. They had a concert as the main band in Tokyo, Japan and played big scale festivals like Metal fest, Sabaton Open Air and more.
And, in February 2019, she had the opportunity to open the concert of Kiko Loureiro’s trio at “Il Peocio”, a super cool tiny club situated in Trofarello, a city near Torino, Piedmont.
In 2020 she got the ESP, and Get’m Get’m Straps endorsement and since 2022 Thalìa became a guitar teacher and became also part of the Aexylium family and started to hit the stages again with them and Italian Women Tribute, an all-female rock band that plays the classics of big Italians female artists in a hard rock key.
Guitar Thrills Broadcast
Another big news from 2022 is the announcement of Angus McSix, a new band created by Thomas Laszlo Winkler, ex singer of Glory hammer. With this super energetic fantasy power metal band, the heroes of the band will conquer evil of the primordial demon Seebulon in the biggest stages of the world from 2023. Some of them are Wacken, Leyendas del Rock, Rockharz, Copenhell and many more. Much more is coming soon from Thalìa as a solo project and merchandise.
Always in 2022, Thalia started working as guitar teacher on the platform Fiverr and her username is thalia1904. So, if you’re looking for someone that helps you start your journey with your instrument or get better with your skills, you can check her out and write her privately for starting to study with her.
INTERVIEW WITH THALIA BELLAZECCA AND GUITAR THRILLS MAGAZINE
Guitar Thrills: Hi Thalia. It is awesome to have a chance to chat with you regarding your approach to success in the music industry. However, I want to talk about you first. When did you exactly identify that guitar playing was a strong desire of yours?
Thalia: I realized it as soon as I started listening to hard rock bands and felt immediately in love with how the guitar was sounding like and how many things you can do with it. It was even better since I could be able to play something and I could reproduce what I was listening to.
Guitar Thrills: I know guitarists playing for the fun of it, and then decided it could become something more. When did you personally decide that it was going to become a career for you?
Thalia: I always wanted to be a “rockstar”, playing shows, going on tour and playing around the world. It was always a huge passion and love for the instrument, but I already had the ideas clear.
Guitar Thrills: Did you have any hesitations before getting into the music industry? If so, what were they? What enabled you to overcome any doubts to pursue your love for playing the guitar?
Thalia: My only fear was that getting inside the music industry at such a young age would have compromised my mindset and that I couldn’t understand properly how it worked, but I’m always really curious and excited when it comes to new experiences so I was more than happy to jump inside this new world and actually learn pretty quickly how it works. My love for music and playing helped me to push through and keeping on being curious about meeting new people and living new experiences.
Guitar Thrills: Did you have any fallback plans in case a career in music didn’t work out?
Thalia: Yeah I could continue with my teaching career, develop my graphic design skills a bit more and take care of animals, but I’m pretty confident that my career in music will work out, cause I’m too stubborn and I just love it so much that I’ll do everything possible for building it up even more.
Guitar Thrills: Always great to have a fallback plan. However, I don’t think you will ever have to be concerned. 😊
So tell me about the guitar heroes that inspired you when you were growing up, and those that you listen too now.
Thalia: Thank you for the nice words! About my guitar heroes I can definitely talk about Joe Satriani that was the first guitarist ever I listened to and then I discovered Kiko Loureiro thanks to Angra. Slowly I started to discover other guitarist like Andy Timmons, Lari Basilio, Michael Romeo and others, but Satriani and Loureiro are the ones from where I take most of my influences because of their technique and their sound.
Guitar Thrills: Were you influenced by any of them, that impacted your Superhero status? The band Kiss were always amazing performers on-stage and off. Who there were on stage made them unforgettable.
Thalia: Absolutely, I’m influence by them for who they are on stage and off. I love their styles, the genre they play and how they move on stage as well. Off stage they’re incredible men, really nice and kind, they don’t let their ego come out and are really down to earth.
Guitar Thrills: Tell me more about the “super energetic fantasy power metal band, the heroes of the band will conquer evil of the primordial demon Seebulon in the biggest stages of the world from 2023.” Where did the idea come from, and how has been received by your fan base?
Thalia: The idea comes from Sebastian, our guitarist and producer and as I heard it I was like “ok that’s totally insane, I’m in”. It’s a really fun concept and also the show is really entertaining. My fan base liked this new project and my new character Thalestris, Queen of the Laser Amazons. I think it’s cool to have a band like this where you literally have fun.
Guitar Thrills: Is what you will be known for your music career, or do you think it will branch off to be something more?
Thalia: I think this will be part of my music career as well as any other band that I had in the past and that I have now, I hope that Angus McSix will grow more in the future and we are all working towards this goal.
Guitar Thrills: You are known for your guitar playing abilities. Can you sing, and if so have considered a solo career at any point?
Thalia: I don’t call myself a singer, I like to do backing vocals in Angus McSix and in my tribute band, Italian Women Tribute. But I don’t think I will sing in my solo career, my idea for that is writing instrumental music as the big guitarists out there do. I always loved instrumental albums, sometimes even more than albums with lyrics.
Guitar Thrills: What brand of guitar suits you best, on and off the stage?
Thalia: ESP is the brand that suits me best, both on and off stage. It suits me for the aggressive sound it has, the history behind it and the shapes and colors that this brand offers. Even if I like to play different genres as well, ESP is the best brand for me.
Guitar Thrills: Does adding pedals and other electronics help you or does it get in the way of your authentic style?
Thalia: I love to experiment with different sounds and pedals. I always worked with my digital pedalboard, but since few months I started to appreciate also pedals and how different they are between each other.
Guitar Thrills: I want to thank you for taking the time to interview with me. I want to keep track of your accomplishments. Will you keep in touch, and schedule another interview?
Thalia: Absolutely! It was a pleasure to do this interview with you and I appreciate a lot the fact that you want to keep track of my accomplishments, means a lot to me!
A RECAP OF WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
