Hi,
my name is Francesco Azzariti, I was born in Rome March 28th 1987.
Due to my father's job, working for the EU, I had the privilege to travel and live in different places from an early age;starting from Central America to Southern Africa, followed by Peru, Venezuela, Italy and England.
Since a little kid I've been always attracted to music; my father is a big fan of music himself. He owns around 500 vintage vinyls. I was brought up, listening to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, King Crimson, etc. My dad gave me the push into music through Heavy Rock, the genre he loved. But he also showed me other genres; we used to listen to Bob Marley, Beatles, Rolling Stones, CCR, Stills, Crosby, Nash and Young, Bob Dylan, and many many more. My father was an open contemporary music encyclopedia.
My interest in drum started at 15 years old (even though I have somewhere pictures of me playing on a baby drum kit at the age of 6, but it was a "one time" special because I never saw that drum again... I guess my parents couldn't stand my concerts at 7am). We were living in Venezuela, in Caracas to be precise. Here I discovered Latin music. I was already familiar with it after living in Peru, but in Venezuela was different: there was ONLY Latin music. The power and the energy of its musicians and of the audience blew my mind. Artist of the caliber of Ruben Blades, Juan Luis Guerra, Mana, Santana, Celia Cruz, and many many more were just a few of the inspirations that pulled me more inside the music.
So MUSIC was the life I was looking for and the drums were the first instrument that popped in my mind. I've always been a physical kind of a guy, and drums were the perfect symbiosis with my character.
Even though Latin was the main music scene in Caracas, I manage to find a little group of Punk. It was perfect: I could play music with my friends without all the complications and the equipment of a Latin band. My first love was Punk.
I listened to Blink 182, Green Day, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Clash, Sum 41 and many other American Punk bands that were starting to get a lot of attention in the beginnings of 2000.
Finishing high school 2 years in advanced, I decided to go for it: music. First I needed more experience, especially with English. So I decided to go for a year in New Jersey, USA, with the help of my aunt and uncle.
Here I had a lot more music to listen to: Latin was always there (big latino community) and Punk too, but radio opened up new genres for me: Pop, Reggae, Blues and Metal. I know, I was a little bit all over the place, but I was excited.
After the american parenthesis, I decided to go and study in a music school. Destiny drove me to "Music Academy 2000" (now called MA Europe) in Bologna, Italy. They were the best 6 years of my life. I had the pleasure to meet and to be taught by drummers of the caliber of Bruno Farinelli, Dom Famularo, Paolo Valli, Max Govoni, Filippo Mignatti, Gabriele Palazzi, Ivano Zanotti. I also studied guitar (with Aldo Betto, Brad Myrick, Angie Passarella, Alberto Bergonzoni) and sound engineering.
I had the pleasure, in my last 2 years of B.A. Dege, to work as a teacher for the Kids and Teen department. It was a great experience. Taugt me patience and understanding. Espeally with delicate students like little kids of 6 or 8 years old. You just have to know how to get 'em.
Out of Music Academy 2000 I joined and formed hundreds of bands that I actually lost coun. From the "one-gig" last minute bands to the one that still remains: TYRO PROJECT. It was born as a project for my ex-girlfriend of the time B.A. Degree thesis. The band included Sofia Di Vuono on the voice, Paolo Roberto Pianezza on the guitar, Paolo Filard on bass and me on drums. The project felt so good, that we decided to keep on going with the band even after the thesis. The genre is very complicated. It's a mixture of all our favorite music, and I find it hard to categorize it in a specific genre, but let's say that Tyro Project is the band that has come closest to reproducing the kind of music I hear in my head. We still play together and lately added a new element and sound to the band: Davide Guastaroba on Keys and Hammond.
Out of Tyro Project, another band was born: Paul maD Gang, a Rock n Roll band formed by guiarist, Pianezza, with whom I did 2 amazing italian tours playing with no stool. The band included Francesca Alinovi on Double-Bass and Damien Rizzo on guitar too. Playing standing up has been a challenge, but in the end it took me by surprise how much fun can you have playing on your feet.
Since 2010 I started working as a session drummer for Irma Rec. recording a few albums such as "Sweet Caterina" and "Just Bubbles".
After getting a B.A. Degree in Music Performance, a B-Tech Nation Diploma in Drums, Guitar and in Sound Engineering, I decided to go to the place where there are more musicians than British citizens: London.
