If you’re wondering what mother would be cool enough to name her kid Fly, and that kid then grow up to become a rock and roll musician, well Fly Rinoma wasn’t actually born with that name. It’s actually an anagram for his real name Flavio Marino, who has recently started a career as a solo singer songwriter after years of gaining his chops as a guitarist in a series of rock and metal bands. But we’ll call him Fly anyway. Feeling the need to express himself more, in 2009 Fly finally decided it was time to break out on his own. So now it’s just him and his guitar, as he says, “just me with my feelings, ideas and no limits.” He’s a very personal songwriter, saying that his songs are all linked in some way to specific moments in his life. And like many artists, he gets inspiration from the darker periods of his life. He takes his varied musical inspirations and his experience on grunge, metal, and blues guitar to craft his own personal story. He says he tries to keep his mind open when constructing new songs, so as not to pigeonhole himself into any category. If you want to get a feel for his music, he’s got four original songs that you can stream on his Soundcloud, all expertly recorded at home on his PC. The first one “Schopenhauer e il Pop” starts off with a kind of Velvet Underground vibe on just guitar, with a soft, almost spoken, simple vocal melody. Then at just after three minutes into the song, Fly breaks into a hair metal guitar solo, with the upbeat acoustic guitar going steady along in the background. “Near Love Experience” shows off his more metal influences with distorted, technical electric guitar riffing and toned-down industrial style of vocals. He’s got a loveable kind of chaos to his song structures and yet still manages to write songs that are memorable. He proved that on stage in Milan for Emergenza Festival in December. Stay tuned to find out if he's made it through to the next round!  

MC