"The impact of music is very, very high in our society and always has been since antiquity. We have seen it and continue to see it."

Paolo Zardo: A Blues Rock Journey...

Iadora’s Journey is a four-piece band founded in 2021 by Paolo Zardo (guitar and vocals), Anna Pavan (vocals), Alessandro Scolz (bass synth, keyboards and Hammond organ) and Alessandro Dri (drums). Their contemporary, solid and engaging sound is strongly based on original songs and personal takes of classics from artists like B.B. King, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton or Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, channelling the spirit of the Sixties and Seventies. The new album by Iadora’s Journay is out now, titled “Journey 1” (2024). The album is an introspective journey through hard rock, blues and funk elements, including eight original songs and three covers. “Journey 1” has been recorded and mastered with analog equipment thus catching the warm and brilliant sound of the classic records from the Sixties and Seventies without losing sight of contamporary flavours.                             (Photo: Iadora’s Journey)

A concept album combining hard rock, blues and funk to convey a positive message, an invitation to live life throughly, searching for the essence and pursuing one’s inner calling. Here what Paolo Zardo, mastermind of this musical project, says about it. “Journey 1 is the first of a series of autobiographical albums centered around the theme of life itself, an experience rich growth path. It is no coincidence that the name of the band, Iadora’s Journey, is based on the journey of Iadora Johnson, a character from a book I read while living in Berlin. This mix of blues, hard rock and funk turned out to be the best way to tell her stories through music”.

Interview by Michael Limnios

Special Thanks: Davide Grandi & Lorenz Zadro (A-Z Press)

How has the music and Rock Counterculture influenced your views of the world?

I always thought that music was able to give a freedom of expression that other arts are not able to give. In particular, Hard Rock and Blues have helped me to see the world with the eyes of those who want to tell their story, give emotions, show empathy because I am probably in the same situation as millions if not billions of other people, but especially in the case of Hard Rock, there is a return of that energy, that power, that desire to take what is ours, because it is our dream and our vision, the true inner calling. Rock has taught me to live the moment as a discovery of one's interiority and capacity to love -not only life or a woman- but also and above all what one decides to pursue, because everyone around can benefit from it in a very positive way.

How do you describe band’s sound, music philosophy and songbook? What is the story behind band’s name: Iadora’s Journey?

The four-piece band (vocals, guitars, keyboards and drums) blends a modern sound (where, for example, instead of using a bass guitar, a bass synth is used) that is both solid and captivating, embodying a strongly 60s and 70s spirit, translating it into a unique appeal of original compositions with an autobiographical character and rearranging in a contemporary and personal key pieces of classics that have made history (such as B.B. King, the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, etc.) in a blend of Blues, Hard Rock and Funk. The album was recorded and mastered with analogue instrumentation, resulting in sounds that find the warmth and ‘crispness’ of the glorious records of the 60s and 70s without losing sight of the contemporary flavour.

It wants to send the positive message that it is worth exploring life to the fullest by discovering one's authentic essence and pursuing one's inner calling. It is the first in a series of autobiographical albums that will have as their main subject life as a path of growth full of experiences. In fact, the name of the band Iadora's Journey represents the journey of Iadora Johnson, a character I found by chance between the pages of a book I discovered while living in Berlin.

"My hope for the future is that there will be more and more bands and artists who really know how to play and compose music of a certain quality so as to rout the mediocre and sleepy mainstream music scene, setting a new course and a new rebirth of this wonderful art." (Photo: Paolo Zardo)

What moment changed your life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

The moment that changed my life was in Berlin, during the COVID period in 2021; a panic attack in the middle of the night that almost sent me to the other world. From there I realised that I had to seriously and concretely do something with my life and music, otherwise I wouldn't have survived long. Surely the highlights of my musical journey have been studying at the jazz conservatory in my hometown Udine, deepening my knowledge of the Blues language with Kid Andersen as a teacher, having had the opportunity to see many of my favourite artists live, and then the recording of this album, which has engaged me on all fronts, composition, arrangement, lyrics, preparation of the solos, coordination of the band from a rhythmic and sonic point of view, and the blending of the musicians with the music played. But also, the satisfaction that little by little over time I was getting closer to the idea of sound that I had in my head, experimenting, changing instruments and effects and deepening the rhythmic technique and phrasing of the Blues, the basis from which my idea of music starts.

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I certainly miss that effervescence, that strength, that enthusiasm, that freshness, that inspiration from culture (literary, artistic, musical, etc.), that feeling of novelty and that one could say so many things and invent so many different ways of expression in music from the golden years between 1950 and 1975. My hope for the future is that there will be more and more bands and artists who really know how to play and compose music of a certain quality so as to rout the mediocre and sleepy mainstream music scene, setting a new course and a new rebirth of this wonderful art. Excellence is urgently needed again! I have no fears for the future, despite the gloomy times, I see so many good things taking hold in the music industry beneath the surface (Louis Cole, Vulfpeck, Jacob Collier, Madison Cunningham, McKinley James to name a few) and not only that, that it gives me faith. There is a terrific desire for rebirth and payback against ugliness.

"It wants to send the positive message that it is worth exploring life to the fullest by discovering one's authentic essence and pursuing one's inner calling. It is the first in a series of autobiographical albums that will have as their main subject life as a path of growth full of experiences." (Photo: Iadora’s Journey is a four-piece band founded in 2021 by Paolo Zardo, Anna Pavan, Alessandro Scolz and Alessandro Dri)

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

The impact of music is very, very high in our society and always has been since antiquity. We have seen it and continue to see it. We have had forms of influence on many listeners with image models and lyrics that decant very precise messages; we have forms of influence with certain frequencies (brain waves) that can help on a pisco-physical level; indeed, music should not be a noisy background as it is understood today, but a moment of deep reflection and relaxation, pure enjoyment as well as help for people who find themselves in certain situations that are not easy, but who also want to maintain a high state of consciousness and awareness. Take Keith Jarrett and his 1975 Koln Concert as an example, or John Mayer's lyrics: these are two ways of deeply immersing the listener in the music. Not to mention the huge difference between listening on a hi-fi system and constantly scrolling through Spotify few seconds per song, two completely and diametrically opposed worlds...

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Certainly from my modest (because I still have so much to study and deepen, that I would need three lifetimes!) experience in music, there are three important lessons I have learnt: the first fundamental one to get accepted right away is to study (standard tunes, rhythms and accompaniments followed by soloing) and steal with your eyes and ears from the best musicians, until you are ready to confront yourself at an acceptable level or on a par with that of other experienced musicians in a jam session. The second is the sense of dynamics and communication with the other players, which are the cornerstone of the musical language.

And the third, perhaps the most important to really understand what music is and how it works, is the acquisition of the rhythmic feeling and the understanding that music is at the end of the day just rhythm, the rest scales, chords, etc. are just the finishing touches we give. But the core to making a song work is rhythm: I can play the exact same phrase (notes and length decided and written in musical notation) in different genres such as Funk or Blues, or Reggae or Neo-Soul, but in each of these it will have its respective groove, so the sonic meaning will change completely.

"I always thought that music was able to give a freedom of expression that other arts are not able to give."

(Paolo Zardo / Photo by Daniele Bosa)

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

I try to be as honest as possible with myself first of all; I record a lot of riffs and parts that are then joined together to become a song; I listen to all the new things that can be interesting for my musical development, but above all I try to write songs that come to evoke experiences that can be those of many people who have lived through high times and low times as I have. That is important to me and above all, I would like to communicate with the new generations so that they know what it means to love, to suffer, to want something but not be able to get it for various reasons, and then in other cases to win because it is the result of an enormous effort, working hard with passion and a clear goal or vision in mind.

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