Every Italian Municipality boasts of musicians born or lived in their own lands. This is certainly a source of pride for all citizens. However, it happens that many of the people living in the same country are unaware of this treasure. Here begins a series of interviews aimed at making these artists known!

Tony Fontò, also known by the nicknames “Mad” and “Captain” is a native of Cavazzale, Municipality of Monticello Conte Otto. Guitarist known in the Italian heavy metal scene, he was the founder of the metal band “White Skull”.

Here are the answers to some questions I asked him about his relationship with music:

1) How did you approach music? how was your passion born?

I started playing as a child, I was 8, I went to the after-school, and there I did singing and solfeggio. Intrigued by Maestra’s violin, I asked to try it and that was my first instrument … Crescendo began my passion for Rock and approach with the guitar …

2) Was it easy to follow this passion for you, or did you have difficulty? If yes, which ones?

The road has been uphill. When I started with the violin at home we didn’t have the money to buy one, so my teacher would lend it to me. After the elementary school and the connected after-school period, I had to leave the instrument because there was no money at home to let me study. The desire to play was so great, thanks to my cousin, the rock came into me and the desire to play it exploded. I had no money to buy a guitar and my parents couldn’t afford to buy one. I put aside every Lira I was earning by doing small jobs and at 13 I bought my first guitar. I could not afford lessons from a teacher and at the time (1978) there were no facilities that a boy today has thanks to the internet or various programs and aids that can be used with the PC.

3) What is your biggest success? And what made you most happy?

The third career album “Tales From The North” still remains the biggest success we’ve had as a Band. What made me happier was that thanks to this success I could play all over Europe and beyond, on dignified stages and at festivals alongside really important artists.

4) Have you collaborated with other successful artists? important collaborations?

The only important collaboration in the studio was with Chris Boltendhal (the singer of Grave Digger), while at Live level, as I said before, we shared the stage of real international stars, it’s also a sort of collaboration …

5) In the course of your musical career have you understood what people like or understand it is like the search for the sacred Grail?

People have different tastes, and the music is varied. I don’t ask myself what people like, I hope someone likes the music I write. I don’t write music according to what people like but I write what I like, my expression.

6) What do you think about today’s music scene?

It is rich in millions of bands that thanks to today’s media can be freely expressed and seen by the masses. Compared to once the way of marketing the music has changed, the visibility of the bands has changed, the media has changed. I do not express a judgment, I only say that it is part of evolution. As a kid, you were lending the LP and you were recording the cassette, today you download, but maybe even there is no more Spotify listen to free streaming … The way of listening to music has changed, you can listen to the iPhone, the PC or from the iPod. I stayed at the Jurassic, bought the CD and put it in the stereo, maybe even a quick preview to see if I liked it, but once again you could glance, I remember the days spent in record stores listening to the news to decide what to buy,

7) What does it mean to you as a musician?

Writing about music means transmitting vibrations and emotion to other people.