Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Enrico Testi: lead vocals, guitar

Giulio Testi: backing vocals, bass

Giovanni Zabardi: backing vocals, guitar

Nicolò Tumiati: drums, percussions

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to The Dice? How long has the band been around?

The Dice started in 2009. It was actually the very first band me and my brother had; after a few short collaborations with some other high school bands, which never got really serious, we decided to put up our own group. Nico as well had his first experience with us, while Giovanni, who joined us later on, did play in some others bands, one of them was called “Cheap Luxury”.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

The first name the band ever had was “The Wires”, because we thought about something that could remind us of cables, electricity and so on, but it didn't last long. Then we noticed that allfour last names at the time started with the letter “T”(before Giovanni there was another guy whose last name was “Trentini”), then Nico during the first gigs used to bring a pair ofpeluche dices and put them on his drum set, so combining those two things we came out with the idea of calling the band “4TDice”. We stayed with that name for a couple of years, but from time to time, especially here in Italy, people presenting us during shows, radio interviews, and tv appearances didn't know how to spell that name and usually mispronounce it. We finally got tired of this situation and changed it to“The Dice”, which is much more immediate and easy spelling.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Mainly the songs are written by me and my brother Giulio: we come up with the melody, lyrics and chords sequence; then, of course, we work altogether on the arrangement and so on. As far as topics are concerned, usually it's a combination of descriptions, and they could be about a particular place or environment, a particular moment in time or a particular experience; they are like frescoes created by words and sounds. Of course, love is another main theme, which is dealt in a direct or indirect way, depending on the song.  These topics might change over time, we'll see, for we don't set boundaries of any kind.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

Each and every one of us has a different background in music and influences, although we certainly have some in common. In the beginning, we were strictly a rock and roll band, with some blues and country influences too. Now we are pretty different and more modern I guess, but we still bring with us that “rooty” background. I can say that at the moment our greatest influences are bands like Kings of Leon, The Vaccines, Foo Fighters, and some bands from the punk rock scene.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Well, I can talk for myself: if I have to pick one, in particular, my main, greatest music hero has always been Elvis Presley since I was 8 or 9 years old; I simply wanted to be like him! Then, of course, I started to appreciate lots of artists and bands as I grew older. Both I and my brother were real rock and roll fanatics since the beginning, then, of course, we extended our tastes to other bands.  I know Nico was a great Red Hot Chili Pepper fan for example since we put up the band. Giovanni also likes lots of different genres. I can say by now we all have a really wide open view about music, and literally appreciate several kinds of bands and artists from indie rock to dance commercial music.

What do you do to prepare for a show?

First of all, we rehearse. We're becoming more and more attentive from this point of view: while some time ago we might have been a little more permissive, now we really do care about having everything on point. I'm not just talking about the execution of songs: when you put up a show you need to take care of the promotion of the event before stepping on stage, then you have to take care of the organization of the whole thing, timings, venue, atmosphere and so on. Then when you have the audience in front of you, now you need to keep them there and wanting for more, and you attain that trying not to decrease the intensity of your performance; that's what separates amateurs from real professionals. We strongly believe that if you want to become professional you have to act and behave like one. You need to ask your self: why should people be in front of me tonight listening to what I'm playing instead of being somewhere else? And give reason to that; you've got to have something people cannot find everywhere else.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Here in Italy, we had the opportunity to play some famous stages for contests and shows in general like “The Alcatraz” in Milan, “Campovolo” in Reggio Emilia and “Teatro Geox” in Padova. We had some nice memories from London to dating back to when our “Showcase Come Alive” album was mixed and mastered there; we showed up at some venues and played in some cool places in Camden and central London. We also shared the stage with some accomplished artists during our careers such as Willie Nile, Erin K (who performed for the 2012 Olympics), James Maddock and David Immergluck (guitarist from Counting Crows)

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

If we need to talk about the past, any of the greatest: Elvis, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eagles...the list goes on and on. Now as I said it would be awesome to tour with Kings Of Leon, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, any of them would be a hell of an experience!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes of course! First of all we'd really like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to be interviewed and for keeping the interest for now music alive.

We just released our new album “Showcase Come Alive” and it's available on every digital store.

Here are our contacts:

E-mail: thediceofficial@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedice_official/?hl=it

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thediceofficialpage

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwjMrWveRLpPk0SfnBx8eVQ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDiceOfficial

Thank you again for the support!

Enrico, The Dice