Interview Simone Mularoni

What an excellent surprise to see you in France now in 2026… To what do we owe the pleasure of this mini-tour?

Simply because we really wanted to play live again. I mean, we stopped for quite a bit with COVID and then recorded two albums at the same time. So the time stretch of not playing live, especially in Europe, was too long. We decided it was time to go back.

Is this part of a bigger tour? How did it come to be?

No no, we're just doing like small spots, you know, like these three French dates. And then we have Germany in June, I guess, and then we go to the US in September. Nowadays, for a band like us it's really easier to do this rather than a long tour. You know, you have to pay like now it's crazy, you know, the gas and the staff. It's unbelievable.

How did your participation to the CrickFest happen ?

I think it comes from Julien the singer from Amon Sethis because I mixed their last album and he had already set up a few shows for us in the past. Probably 10 years ago, I think it was him so now he's doing all the agent’s, promotor’s stuff for Vanden Plas and other bands, and he just contacted us, telling us that there was this festival and a few other gigs. It’s good to be back, the first French concert yesterday was great and I think we’ll be back next October for this festival in Toulouse, the Ready For Prog festival.

In October 2024, you released the album Endless that was quite different, not so much a progpower metal album but more of progressive rock with influences from the 70s. It was a bit of a risk… how has it been embraced by the whole band and the fans ?

The band was totally into it. I mean some of the band members were starting to say we're playing the same style over and over. It's kind of boring you know, from an artistic point of view. I mean we love playing the old songs live because they’re fun to play, but you know from an artistic evolution kind of thing we were feeling a bit stagnant, you know, like always trying to get good songs, write good songs, but we felt like we were just playing the same stuff. It's been like more than 15 years that we're playing together. So let's try to do something different, something else that we like. I mean, the style is still DGM, we haven’t completely changed. We’re just doing things a little bit differently and trying new things, incorporating new sounds and influences. So the band was really into it but the critics, you know, some hardcore fans were like, it's boring, we prefer, fast songs with double bass… We’re respecting that, you know, it's always like you lose someone and possibly you gain new fans, but I don't think it's that different. I mean, we're not playing jazz... And I mean, we all listen to total different stuff. Today, we were driving six hours, and everyone chose, you know, one record after another and it was everything except power prog. It’s so good to put some different influences, and keep the freshness alive.

Is this a direction you’d like to follow for your next adventures or do you plan on going back to what you were doing before that ? Or maybe try something new again ?

We’ve been talking about the next album but we don't have a direction yet. I mean, yesterday we were talking about what should we do like more even more proggy and less heavy, but you know, and we said, why don't we do whatever we want? Maybe once all is super heavy and the next one is like Jethro Tull, and I mean, progressive music is not supposed to have limits, right? So why should we limit ourselves? So I'm sure we will do more. We love the flute, for example. So we will definitely want more of this stuff, but maybe we’ll mix it with heavy elements because I still love playing heavy stuff. So there's not a specific direction. I would love to incorporate those elements. You know, it's always I'm thinking while I'm talking, it's always about the song if I have a great song which is heavy. Then let it be. And if I have a great song which is soft prog rock then good, it's hard to choose a specific style and try to do that only. Having different styles together is more interesting, I think.

17 years without any changes in your lineup ! That’s quite spectacular, especially if you take into account that before the album “Frame”, there had been a lot of musicians coming or going… has it been easy to keep this formation steady?

Not easy, no. I mean, like in every relationship like friendship, wife and husband and I mean, every relationship you cannot be, you know, all happy forever all the time. For a long time, at the beginning and even later, it was easy you know, maybe because we were younger and we were like travelling all the time. Then, I'm going to say after around COVID time, I really personally felt that not all band members were putting 100% effort in the band all the time, so I was feeling quite frustrated. We did a lot of band meeting online and you know it's hard when you live far from each other, because it's not like « Oh, let's have a beer together and let’s talk ». So sometimes, we didn't talk to each other for weeks or months and when it happens, you sometimes question your relationship and yes, there has been quite a few times where I felt like « oh, maybe it’s time to move and do something different », but then what happens is that we have a gig and we find each other in the rehearsal room and then, all the time, if I have some doubt personally, I cannot speak for all the other band members but personally, it's like, okay, now I understand or remember why I started with these guys ! As you said, 17 years, it's more than just a band, it's like friendship. We know each other so well that we know all the bad and good sides of everyone. So of course, it's a big effort all the time. Especially because maybe as you’re getting older someone’s bad habits will get on your nerves more quickly, you sometimes get a little less patient with you know, but when we are on stage, even yesterday on that super small stage, the smiles on their faces and it’s like, that's worth all the efforts again.

So, you just told us that you had started thinking about the next record but didn’t really start working… Do you have ideas, some songs already taking shape, demos maybe ?

We don’t have one song that is finished. We’ve had lots of ideas, talks like “Why don’t we do this?”… We’re not even at a demo stage but I’ve got a hundred of ideas on my phone, melodies, ideas for a riff, things like that… We’re not recording anything this year. Probably next year, we’ll see.

What about your heroes and influences ? Still fans of Dream Theater or Symphony X ? Have you come across new references lately ?

Bands like Dream Theater of Symphony X shaped the musician that I am now, but I rarely listen to those bands nowadays simply because your tastes change and I’ve discovered and have been listening to a lot of Opeth or Porcupine Tree especially lately. Artists such as Steven Wilson or bands like Spock’s Beard, Neal Morse have become my favorites these days. You get a little bored if you listen to the same old albums all the time so it’s good to have something new. Still, of course, when I listen to a song by Symphony X in the car, it’s like going home, I still enjoy it but it’s not what I listen to the most. But I can’t wait to hear what they will release next.

You had some guests on some previous efforts : Tom Englund from Evergrey, Jorn Viggo Lofstad from Pagan's Mind, Michael Romeo and Russell Allen from Symphony X… Are there any other musicians you’d love to invite on some future releases ?

I haven’t thought about that lately. There are for sure heroes that I would love to play with but it’s usually the song that asks for it like « oh I have this song that sounds like like Tom Englund so it would be great to have him ». So for now, I don't have a specific idea. But maybe if I have a great song that inspires me to call someone, if he wants, then it would be great. For example I would love to trade a solo with Yngwie Malmsteen… it will never happen, of course ! Ha ha ha ! But just because he’s my hero, you know, and there are lots of people that I’d love to work with.

I love the artwork for Endless, same thing for Life and… most of your album covers in fact. How important is the visual aspect of an album for you?

I mean, for me, for me, I got goosebumps when I got the news that we would work with Travis Smith. He did the last two covers. He’s one of my heroes. He did the artwork for Devin Townsend’s Terria, for Nevermore, a lot of heavy stuff, like Death… a lot of prog stuff too. So when he accepted to work with us to me, it was like a dream. He has this oniric, like surreal kind of style… and we drove him crazy for Endless, because Life was super easy because, it was kind of this minimal thing. But with endless, we didn't have a specific idea. So we tried a lot and when you try like that, artists hate you because they hear « oh, can you try this? Oh, maybe a little more red or this or that… ». But he was super nice and super professional. So and I think if he wants to cooperate with us in the future, I won't change because he's great, and he’s super easy to work with and patient. I think his style really matches with our music his style. So we love it.

Simone, I remember that 10 years ago as we were doing an interview for “The Passage” you told us how demanding the production process was for you as you were a bit of a perfectionist… is that still the case after all this time or have you managed to take it easy ?

I reached the pinnacle of stress with the recording of Tragic Separation, because that album to me was like a nightmare to record. Just for the same reason because I was following everything and from that album on, I tried to do a little less. I mean, I'm still the same control freak, but I ask my assistant, you know, can you record drums for me? I will be there, but not doing everything. So I have had a little bit of help, but I think I’ve learnt to manage that kind of stress. And if I take time and don’t feel in a hurry. I still love to do everything myself. Because it's the only way I have control, you know.

Any Projects on the side? Bands you produce for Frontiers Music or else, guest appearances, anything else?

I’ve stopped doing those records for Frontiers simply because it was not my cup of tea. I mean, I did quite a few in the past. But I still, of course, produce and record bands and many of them also come out on Frontiers Records but not directly from the label. Other than that, I am still playing in Redemption, which is a prog band from the US. It's not an active band so there's no shows happening. So from time to time, they do a record and I just do solos but we will play ProgPower in America too this year, with Redemption and DGM. From time to time I do get solos on other people’s records, but mainly my focus is just mixing. And producing bands in the studio… and DGM of course. I always have this dream of doing, like not a solo album with my name on it but more like a project to explore more of the really different stuff that I like. I have this idea, but I never started. You know, it's just an idea on the back of my mind… So maybe one day. or maybe something with more acoustic guitar, which I love and piano.

Imagine that : there’s a new powerprog fest and you have "carte blanche", who do you choose to feature on the bill ?

I mean, if you stick to prog power, you have to have Angra. And would love have a festival,wit Shadow Gallery… Tyranny is probably one of my favourite albums. Ark also ! But it will never happen, it’s a dream festival, some of these bands are not even active. And also, I think for this dream bill, I don't know if you remember this band Dali's Dilemma from the 90s, the keyboard player was Matt Guillory, the guy that did all the James Labrie records.

I’m not familiar with this band, no…

Okay, I think they did just one record. But it’s unbelievable. You’ll have to check it out. Old stuff but worth it.

Ok, I will. Now I remember a Malmsteen cover from your band 25 years ago… You haven’t really done a lot of those since then. If you were to release a cover album, what would we find on it now ?

Oh that would be great. I would love that. For sure, there would be a lot of Kansas songs, they’re probably one of my favourite bands. A cover album by DGM would be great and also really weird, diverse, because probably Andrea, the bass player would choose thrash stuff, like Annihilator and Mark the singer would choose soul or funky stuff… So it would be really diverse, but for me, probably a lot of prog from the 70s and also some Rainbow.

Anything you wish I asked and couldn’t think of… any important thing you’d like to say, now’s the time, this will be the conclusion to the interview :

I mean… it’s not really a question that I have but what I would actually love to know from fan is what they would like from DGM. I never, you know, even after shows when I talk to people, they never say to me « Oh, I prefer this song, you know » or « I would love to hear you do this or that ». You know, going back to your first question, it was risky doing Endless… I'm questioning myself « Do they like this new style or is just me ? »… Because of course you want to do your stuff, music that you like but at the same time, you care about people, you know, you don’t want to lose your fans. So it would be great to have like some general feedback… It's a dream thing, you can’t have general feedback from everybody. But yes, more feedback would be great.

Thank you for your time Simone !

Thank you !