When shows abide by a certain theme, the level of enjoyment and importance gets taken to new heights. This can be said for a benefit to help a friend in need or to support an organization that provides services to people who are vulnerable in one way or another. This can also be said for really cool concepts where a venue becomes a different world, the atmosphere morphs into a spectacle and the stage transforms into sacred ground. Hartford progressive rock act One Time Weekend are embracing the latter with a “Masquerade Of Madness,” which is taking place at Infinity Music Hall in their hometown on December 2. Along with what should be a unique and fun time, the event is celebrating the release of the band’s single of the same name that came out on November 24.
I had a talk ahead of the extravaganza with vocalist and bassist Ian D’Arcangelo about the making of the single, the creation of the accompanying music video, the vision behind the “Masquerade Of Madness” and what folks should be on the lookout for at some point in 2024.
RD: Where was “Masquerade Of Madness” recorded and what inspired the theme behind the song with the Middle Eastern stylings?
ID: We actually recorded everything ourselves. Alex Giosa has a studio that he built himself in the area and along with producing it ourselves, we even mixed and mastered it ourselves as well. As far as what inspired the theme behind the song, both myself and our guitar player Adam Eytan listen to a lot of System of a Down and I think we just became heavily inspired by that band. I came up with an idea and Adam also came up with one and we just blended them together to create one song, which is actually how a lot of our songs come together. It just sort of came from these two elements and these two different songs that were fused to form this metal meets Middle Eastern groove.
RD: The accompanying music video has you guys performing in a warehouse of some sort while wearing masks. Where exactly was the music video shot?
ID: The music video was shot in the same place where we recorded it in this basement warehouse and it’s exactly what it looks like. It’s a very old warehouse and when we went down there to look at it we instantly realized that it was the spot to shoot the music video at. ‘
RD: Ok, cool. What was it like working with Kevin Bianchi on the video as a co-producer?
ID: We’ve worked with Kevin a lot and every time we’ve worked with him, we get exactly what we want out of our session. He’s a phenomenal video producer, he’s a phenomenal editor and he’s very easy to work with. We kind of have a run and gun style, we actually wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered and shot a music video for this song in a span of about a week and a half. I don’t recommend it if you want to keep your mental health strong, but it was a lot of fun and it was honestly kind of nice having a tight deadline because we got everything done quickly. Kevin also works well under pressure so I would definitely recommend working with him.
RD: I think you guys did a great job together. For this upcoming show, what can people expect? Will there be complimentary masks and other things?
ID: We’re definitely going to encourage people to wear costumes and we’ll leave that open to whatever people feel is the right interpretation of a masquerade. We’ll have masks on site for people to purchase and we also plan on bringing the same energy of that song into the entire show. Our live show is something that we’re known for in general, we put a lot of energy into our music and our performances. You can expect people to be enjoying themselves almost like it’s a festival, it’s going to have a similar vibe. There’s going to be plenty of other stuff to do outside of checking out the music so it’s going to be this cool festival meets live show experience.
RD: Awesome, that sounds great. After the show, can we expect any future recordings to follow up the single in the near future? What are One Time Weekend’s plans for 2024?
ID: We are going to be hitting the road again next year. 2023 has been our biggest touring year, so we’re planning on building on top of that in 2024. As far as new music goes, I suggest that everybody keeps their ear to the ground because we are working on some new material.
Who: One Time Weekend in “Masquerade of Madness”
When: Dec. 2, 2023 at 8 p.m.
Where: Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St, Hartford, CT 06103
Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence, RI who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of the Connecticut Examiner, he also writes for DigBoston, The Aquarian Weekly, The Providence Journal, The Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theatre, visual art, food, drink, sports and cannabis.
