Cry Freedom!

When Amplifier released Hologram in 2023, it was a taste of things to come, and now the long-awaited main course, Gargantuan, is finally here. Mainman Sel Balamir reveals the story behind an album that released him from the constraints of a standard band format and nearly ended up as a four-hour banquet.

Dave Everley

Sel Balamir doesn’t really do ‘inspirations’, but a while ago Amplifier’s frontman came across an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy that struck a chord with him. The Ukrainian President was being interviewed by US historian Timothy Snyder, author of the book Freedom. “He asked the president how to describe freedom,” says Balamir. “This is a guy who has had to deal with so much shit over the last couple of years, who came from a background where he was not equipped to deal with that shit, but stepped up to what he felt his responsibilities were. And his answer was, ‘If you want to know what freedom is, join a band.’ Because if you’re a musician, you fundamentally understand what the values of freedom are. He meant the freedom of just…

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Prog Italia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 158

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