Living Stilts is a musical project conceived by composer Luca Mavilia with the intent of creating evocative sounds and allowing the listener to make an imaginary journey.
Living Stilts’ compositions are inspired by the fantastical, more imaginative art, fiction and poetry all combined.
Their influences are from progressive rock, hard rock, romantic classical, baroque and Renaissance music.
The creations of Living Stilts should be considered genuine suites that do not end in a single song. For this reason, the composition of a concept album is preferred. Voices and instruments are chosen in relation to the desired color to give the music, and so pieces acted, instrumental or with more male and female voices abound.
The band consists of Luca Mavilia on keyboards, Alfredo Cassotta on drums and percussion, Alberto Abate, voice and guitars, and Francesco Girone on bass.
Ben McGuire also collaborates with Living Stilts for translations and acting, Frank Capra for graphics and design and Giacomo Esposito for the lyrics.
Band
Luca Mavilia
From an early age, fascinated by the world of music, he learned the first rudiments of piano and guitar from a maternal uncle.
He studied classical piano for a few years and learned guitar, bass and some drums skills as an autodidact.
He loves baroque music, especially Bach and Vivaldi, and rock and progressive rock music and in general all the great bands of classic rock such as Pink Floyd and The Doors.
Alfredo Cassotta
He began to play the drums thanks to the intuition of some friends who decided to put the money together to buy him his first used Kingston (egg-yolk color) drumkit for his 18th birthday (though he had already begun to play keyboard). From there, he began to play with the “Leakers”, a local pop rock band, then, together with his friend Gerry Litrico, he started his first progressive rock band, later better known as Malibran band (still active). After Malibran he played in different rock, blues and jazz bands, expanding his tastes and his musical experiences, until he met Luca Mavilia playing together in a Pink Floyd cover band (Cymbaline).
After the Cymbaline experience ended, they created Living Stilts.
He prefers vintage acoustic kits made of real Japanese wood, accompanied by oriental cymbal kits on compact, classy hardware.
Alberto Abate
He started playing the guitar at the age of 9. After playing in various heavy metal bands in his teens, he founded the prog group Meijah in 2006, playing live throughout the Catania hinterland with entirely unreleased pieces. He writes for others and sets to music some theatrical writings by a Ligurian director and writer, with whom he often collaborates creatively.
He joined Living Stilts in 2015, as a guitarist, and then took over lead vocals in 2017.
Francesco Girone
Self-taught on the four strings in the early 90s, he joined the indie rock Hyperspaces Group with whom he had his first live experiences.
After a break he entered the ten-year project Urrlo Primordiale, a rock group with unreleased originals and covers with which he produced two EPs, and in the same period collaborated with the Fighters Five One, a Foo Fighters tribute band. Since 2015, Living Stilts has been his only musical project.
Giacomo Esposito
In the 80s and 90s he played in Blackboard Jungle, a historic band of the Puglia scene, with which he released a mini LP and a single.
In the 2000s, after moving to Emilia Romagna, he joined the group Le Mecap, with whom he published a CD and a single, and with the Elettromoka who released a single for Sony and opened three Vasco Rossi concerts in 2001.
He collaborates as an author with Stadio, for whom he has written songs on seven of their records.
He also penned some songs on the first album by Bolognese singer Senit.
Ben McGuire
Based in Rome from 2007 to 2016, where he met Luca Mavilia, he now lives back in his native Ireland. As a voice actor he has also worked with Barry Flynn of Big Green Bin Productions.
Frank Capra
Art Director and Graphic Designer
He loves Storytelling in all its forms: spoken, written, drawn, filmed, sung and playful.