Fredo Viola profile picture

Fredo Viola

About Me

The Sad Song Video
I was born in London, England and spent my first five years living in England and Rome. After that my family moved to New York, then Los Angeles, where I spent most of my adolescent years, singing professionally as a boy soprano and studying art once my voice changed. Finally I moved back to NYC to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
I studied to be a film director, and during this period discovered the music of Bartok, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, which had an immense effect on me. It has since developed into a passion for the operas of Benjamin Britten, Don Giovanni and most of the work of Alfred Schnittke. I also love the music of Belle and Sebastian, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin’s Permutations, Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, Harry Nilsson (yes, again, I love him this much!) and Odetta. Gospel music rocks my socks off. Oh, and Bach. :)
Out of school first I tried editing and animation design, which I think I did pretty well, as it afforded me the opportunity to save enough money to set myself up with a pretty awesome little home recording studio. I then got to work on making my own music.
I had one of my songs licensed for use in Jonathon Demme’s Manchurian Candidate. Then I made my first music video, The Sad Song, which was pretty huge on the net. I received emails from Roger Ebert, Neil Gaiman, Massive Attack, ABC News Now, and several film directors, all offering opportunities.
I flew to Bristol to begin a collaboration with Massive Attack, who are two of the nicest and most creative guys I have met. I hope this bears fruit!
Watch my videos and join my online mailing list HERE
en français:
Je suis né à Londres et j’ai passé les cinq premières années de ma vie en Angleterre et à Rome. Ensuite ma famille s’est installée à New York, puis à Los Angeles, où j’ai passé la plus grande partie de mon adolescence. Garçon, je chantais professionnellement comme soprano, puis, lorsque ma voix a changé, j’ai étudié les arts plastiques. Par la suite je suis retourné vivre à New York pour étudier à la NYU Tisch School of Arts.
Je suivais des cours de Réalisation de Films lorsque j’ai découvert les musiques de Bartok, Shostakovich et Stravinsky, qui eurent un effet décisif sur moi. Puis cela s’est transformé en passion pour les opéras de Benjamin Britten, Don Giovanni et la plupart de l’--uvre d’Alfred Schnittke. J’aime aussi la musique de Belle and Sebastian, Boards of Canada, les ‘Permutations’ d’Amon Tobin, Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, Harry Nilsson (encore une fois, oui, je l’aime à ce point!) et Odetta. Le Gospel m’envoie au ciel. Oh, et Bach.
Après mes études, j’ai d’abord essayé le dessin et le montage d’animation, ce que j’estime avoir assez bien fait puisque cela m’a permis d’économiser assez d’argent pour me constituer un petit home studio bien sympa. Puis je me suis mis à fabriquer ma propre musique.
Un de mes morceaux a été licencié pour le Manchurian Candidate de Jonathon Demme. Puis j’ai réalisé mon premier clip, The Sad Song, qui fit un assez gros carton sur le net. J’ai reçu des emails de Roger Ebert, Massive Attack, Neil Gaiman, ABC News Now, et du réalisateur Mike Binder, m’offrant tous des opportunités de travail.
J’ai été appelé à Bristol pour entamer une collaboration avec Massive Attack, qui sont deux des gars les plus créatifs et sympas que je connaisse. J’espère que cela portera ses fruits.
Fredo Viola “The Sad Song EP”, déjà disponible en digital et vinyle 10’’
« The Turn », premier album, sortie en 2008

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/20/2005
Band Website: fredoviola.com
Band Members: Fredo Viola - Vocals, programming, miscellaneous musical (and non-musical) sounds

Musicians that I worked with on the recording of my first album, The Turn, are as follows:

Brent Follis and his warm drumming style is present on a good many of the album tracks.

Ike Sturm adds deep upright bass for a number of the tracks.

Tony Morales adds cool, clean guitar to a bunch of the tracks as well.

Guest musicians also including Nami Unreal and Basso Profundo Nils Christian Fossdal doing some fab vocals, Cosmo D on cello, Deltasleep providing awesome beats and keys, Peter Buettner on flute, Dmitri Moderbacher on more flute!, André Canniere on trumpet, Paul Olenick on trombone, Deirdre White on harp... Hopefully many more to be added!
Influences:
In music:
Johann Sebastian Bach, Modest Mussorgsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten, Alfred Schnittke, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, W.A. Mozart, Biff Rose, Ward Swingle and the Swingle Singers Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, Belle and Sebastian, Radiohead, Boards of Canada, The Osbourne Brothers, Odetta, Irma Thomas, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim (yes, love his music a lot!), White Noise, Delia Derbyshire, Silver Apples, Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" and part two of "Hounds of Love",
I love the Animal Collective/Vashti Bunyon collab: "Prospect Hummer"

In film:
Fellini Fellini Fellini... (all his output starting from 8 1/2 up through City of Women), Bergman (especially Fanny and Alexander, Cries and Whispers and The Magic Flute), Fassbinder (especially Berlinalexanderplatz and Querelle), The Night of the Hunter, Baby Doll, The Wicker Man, Scorcese (especially After Hours), David Lynch, Punch Drunk Love... and oh, man I hope he makes more great movies like this! The Old Dark House, and definitely, oh quite definitely, Sweet Movie.

In literature:
Franz Kafka, Jose Donoso, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Tennessee Williams, Robert Walser, Nikolai Gogol, Jorges Luis Borges, Elias Caneti, Jean Genet

Sounds Like: meself!
Record Label: Because
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Friendship Is.. with Nami Unreal

Hello myspacers all,I've just uploaded another track from my upcoming Turn album. It's called Friendship is... and it's an early one, but one close to my heart. I was lucky enough to get the sweet, ...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:08:00 PST

Test of Friendship!

My fourth cluster performance is now online. It's a song called "Friendship Is..." This video is different as one of the voices is actually going through some filters and distortion that cause it to ...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Mon, 19 May 2008 06:10:00 PST

Cluster performance, number three!

Hi there, folksI have just uploaded the third in my monthly cluster performance series. Moon After Berceuse - Hall ClusterIt's a second performance of Moon After Berceuse that I shot with my little h...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:32:00 PST

Sadness... Organ-izized!

Hi folks,I’m on the hunt for a great organ player to play on a song I am finishing up called "Let the Sad Out". It’s actually quite an old and odd one. It’s a track I made with my ...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:20:00 PST

Two interviews with Fredo Viola

CMJ Spotlight sports a Fredo Viola interview done by Scott Oranburg:cmj interviewFor those who speak German, a second interview by Pascal Schulthess can be found here:pasqualle.com interview...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:54:00 PST

my dearest Martha

What a great trip I just had to the Martha’s Vineyard Independent Festival. I’m so appreciative to Jeremy Mayhew for selecting my two videos and arranging for me to perform. Also I&rsquo...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:26:00 PST

Fredos second cluster, with Ike Sturm

Hi there, Moving on with the monthly cluster performance exhibition, I have uploaded my second video to my website and invite you all to come and take a look. A cluster performance is basically when ...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:37:00 PST

the seven mysterious doors

Hi there myspacers,Just wanted to formally announce that my new website is finished. There's a ton of new stuff up there now, a good portion of it hidden, so let me walk you through the main parts......
Posted by Fredo Viola on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:39:00 PST

New website on the way/friend order

Hello myspacers,Just wanted to mention that I have a new site that is nearly complete and will probably launch early next week. It's being done by Mike Grigg at Royal Magnet with the coding assistanc...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:30:00 PST

ass to elbow

Now that my first ep has been released in France and is nearing release in the UK I'm starting to brace myself for reviews. I received a few so far, and the ones I discovered today... well, I'm not s...
Posted by Fredo Viola on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:49:00 PST