YtseJam Kr - Dream Theater Tribute Band

Biography

YTSEJAM KR have been the ITALIAN OFFICIAL TRIBUTE BAND FOR DREAM THEATER from 25th Nov. 2006 to 31st Dec. 2007, the day the Italian Official Fan Club (Italian Dreamers) closed down.

YtseJam Kr are: Davide Calabretta (drums), Luca Marconi (vocals), Fabio Mangano (guitars), Giorgio Barozzi (keyboards) and Paela Zaccaria (bass). They won this title at the end of the Official Tribute Band Contest, a competition organized by Italian Dreamers for several bands all around Italy which had been chosen by Dream Theater during some preliminary stages through demos, video recordings and live exhibitions.

The Final act of this Contest took place on 25th November 2006 at the Teatro Tarkovskij in Rimini. That day YtseJam Kr succeeded over Progeny from Milan and were proclaimed the Italian Official Tribute Band directly from Jordan Rudess, the keyboardist of Dream Theater who was invited to chair the Jury.

Other members of this Jury were musicians like Cesareo (Elio e le Storie Tese’s guitarist), Roberto Gualdi (drums teacher at CPM in Milan and musician for Lucio Dalla and PFM), Marco Sfogli (on guitars in a solo album of James Labrie), Daniele Liverani (Twinspirits, Empty Tremor, Khymera), Dario Ciccioni (Twinspirits, Hartmann), Tommy Ermolli (Twinspirits), Elio Bordi (promotion manager at Frontiers Records) and many more.

As the Italian Fan Club closed down on December 31st 2007, fan club staff has decided that the Italian Official Tribute Band's title was to return vacant. This means that YtseJam Kr remain the last Official Italian Dream Theater Tribute band ever.

Touring in both North and South Italy clubs and open venues, YtseJam Kr have had the chance to be opener band for two concerts of Uli Jon Roth (legendary guitarist of Scorpions and UFO) in August 2007, while between 2006 and 2009 they have been opening acts for Vinnie Moore, Kee Marcello, Mike Terrana, La Drummeria, Pino Scotto’s Firetrails, Nathaniel Peterson (Eric Clapton’s bass player), Twin Dragons and Graham Oliver of Saxon. On December 2009, they toured the most important italian venues and cities along with Twinspirits, for the first Italy in Progress Tour.

Besides live sets, up and down Italy, studio reharsals are the other focus of the band: all covers and details are studied very carefully before bringing them on stage and, just like Dream Theater, most compositions are also enriched with variations.

The constant updating of their live sets allows the YtseJam Kr to keep up with the production of Dream Theater and offer on all occasions new, long and precious set lists, just like Dream Theater have always been doing through the years for the joy of their audience.

The live shows of YtseJam Kr include all Dream Theater albums from “When Dream and Day Unite” to the last “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”, combining the usual classics with the most particular, long and challenging songs (like “Octavarium”) and with the plus of instrumental solos and amazing medley.

Again, just like Dream Thetaer, YtseJam Kr surprise very frequently their audience by adding covers of bands like Iron Maiden, Pantera, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin etc. to their set lists, so that every concert is a very special and exciting experience for anybody.

With the aim of rendering their sound as close as possibile to Dream Theater, YtseJam Kr have always been paying much attention in choosing and upgrading their instruments and stage equipment, which mirrors the one in use by the American band during their career.

Of course, this would not be enough without the passion, the talent and the commitment of YtseJam Kr in offering live performances which combine a high technical level and the ability to involve and deeply move and excite the audience.

"The Music of Dream Theater is a challenge for every musician: we humbly try not only to pay our joyful and respectful tribute to the band we've always appreciated, but also to improve ourselves as musicians, confronting with such masterpieces of technique, composition and sound. That's our concept of Tribute Band".

The Story So Far

Davide Calabretta (drums) and Fabio Mangano (guitars) met in Crotone at the beginning of 2001 and soon discovered that they shared common musical tastes and were both big Pink Floyd fans. They started jamming together in a studio and invited Fabio’s friends Francesco Corigliano (vocals), Marco Pupa (bass) and Francesco Godano (keyboards) to join the project. After some months of Pink Floyd covers and long jam sessions, these five guys decided to start playing one of their favourite band. Pull Me Under was the very first Dream Theater song they played together: at that point the direction of the project became clear.

YtseJam Kr was the chosen name for the band, with KR standing for Kroton, the ancient Greek foundation name of the present city of Crotone, in the South of Italy. Besides studio rehearsals, the band began performing live in many local clubs and some festivals like Rock Fest and Art Power.

In January 2003, YtseJam Kr recorded their first demo, featuring a medley of “Lines in the Sand”, “Overture 1928” and “Strange Déjà Vu”. This demo received very good feedback and gave the band a bit of fame. A second demo with covers of “Metropolis pt.1”, “As I Am”, “A Fortune in Lies” and “Strange Deja Vu” was recorded in October 2004 and was sent to the Italian Dream Theater Fan Club for the Official Dream Theater Tribute Band Contest they were organising to select the new Italian Official Tribute Band for Dream Theater.

The Fan Club collected all demos from the many bands which had decided to take part in the contest and sent them directly to Dream Theater for they to listen and evaluate them. At the end, the chance to access the semifinal was offered to the bands Progeny and YtseJam Kr. In March 2005, Pupa (bass) and Godano (keyboards) left the band and were immediately replaced by Davide Schipani (bass) and Alex Di Donna (keyboards). With this new line up, the band started working and rehearsing for the Semifinal act of the Contest, which was scheduled for May and had to be a live act in front of the staff of the Fan Club.

On 18th May at the Excelsior Bar in Crotone the complete exhibition was filmed and recorded to be sent on a DVD to Dream Theater, who had to compare the two bands and finally decide who was the one to compete with Astra from Rome, the previously appointed Official Tribute Band.

The final decision was taken in July: after consulting with the rest of the band, Mike Portnoy announced that both bands deserved to access the Final Act and compete with Astra for the title.

These are the words from Mike:
"Both bands are very impressive and very talented and deserve all the best. PROGENY do indeed seem more "professional" and experienced, their performance is at the top and they made up for it in their musicianship, on the other side, there was a certain charm to the youth and enthusiasm of YtseJam KR. The singer has an excellent voice which of course is very important to the overall presentation and sound of the band. We collect also the calls of the Italian Dreamers Staff members who attended both semi-final shows and at the end we came over with the decision to give to both bands the opportunity to challenge ASTRA in the final night." Mike Portnoy

However, in February 2006 Astra were forced to withdrew from the contest, as they were signed by an independent label, which was not allowed by the rules of the contest. Some months afterwards, the Fan Club announced that the Final was to take place on 25th November 2006 at the Teatro Tarkovskij in Rimini and that both bands had to perform in front of a Jury made of musicians and experts and chaired by Jordan Rudess, the keyboardist of Dream Theater who would have come from the US especially for this event.

On 25th November 2006, after a long and exciting final night with the two bands giving their best for two hours each, Jordan Rudess and the whole Jury awarded YtseJam Kr the title of Dream Theater Italian Official Tribute Band.

On 15th March 2007, the new Official Tribute Band was presented to the audience during a party organised by the Fan Club at the Nord Wind Pub in Bari.

After this night, Davide Schipani announced to the band that he was going to leave YtseJam Kr and start new projects. A last concert with Davide at the Teatro Apollo in Crotone and then the band was again in search for a new bass player. This search ended quite quickly with the audition of Paela Zaccaria from Alberobello, which was so successful to convince the band to ask him to join YtseJam Kr.

Live performances were becoming more and more frequent and were scheduled in both North and South Italy. In May, during another party of the Fan Club at the Sottosopra in Padua, the band celebrated the 15th anniversary of Images and Words by playing the complete album. After this, they also had the chance to be opener band for two concerts of Uli Jon Roth (legend guitarist of Scorpions and UFO) in August 2007. Between 2006 and 2007 YtseJam Kr have been opening concerts for La Drummeria, Pino Scotto’s Firetrails, Nathaniel Peterson (Eric Clapton’s bass player), Twin Dragons and Graham Oliver from Saxon.

In November 2007, Alex Di Donna was replaced by the young talented keyboardist Giorgio Barozzi from Cutro (KR): this allows to YtseJam Kr to express their potential to its greatest extent. Giorgio made his debut on November 29th at Que Me Meo in Bologna. For the occasion the young talented guitarist Tommy Ermolli, performed with the band as special guest.

Beside the live touring, on July 2008 YtseJam Kr took part at Rockampus 2008. An unforgettable experience with three living musical legends: Simon Phillips, Andy Timmons and Billy Sheehan.

During summer 2009, at the fourth edition of RockOn Festival in Martirano Lombardo (CZ), YtseJam Kr played as opening act for such legends like Vinnie Moore, Kee Marcello and Mike Terrana: for the event they played a special setlist, including covers from Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple etc.

On December 2009, they toured the most important italian venues and cities along with Twinspirits, for the first Italy in Progress Tour.

Just before the tour, Frank Corigliano leaves the band and he has been replaced by Luca Marconi, from Teramo. Luca made his debut on November 19th at Go West in Roccaforzata (LE).

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