I was born in the great 80s—not early enough to fully remember them, but not even that late to just to be “a rite of passage.” I grew up in a small town near Rome, spending my youth playing any musical instrument I could put my hands on, as well as disassembling and reassembling an old IMB 186 I had been gifted. I remember the joys of reconnecting all these wires and seeing that blinking light coming back to life.

That old computer wasn’t capable of much more, but it was the spark that ignited in me the passion for technology. Since then, I have spent a considerable amount of time on computers and musical instruments.

Years later, I founded a progressive metal band named Nefasto. Together with a very dear friend of mine, we built our first recording studio, and here we spent most of our weekends making music, laughing, and building memories I cherish still to these days.

Together with my partner, after university, we decided to open an IT, Music, and Photography shop: my three greatest passions. Almost when I was turning 30, we had our daughter. Everything seemed perfect—a job we loved, a family. What could have gone wrong? Well, after a few really good years, Italy went into a deep recession, and we started to see fewer and fewer customers darken our shop’s doorstep. With the future of our daughter in mind, my partner and I made the difficult decision to go abroad to seek fortune. Naturally, we could not leave together—not with a baby who, at the time, was 7 months old. We then took the hardest decision we could ever take as a family: I would have left on my own to try to lay down the road for my partner and my daughter. After endless nights spent doing research on the internet, I decided that Edinburgh, in Scotland, would have been my destination.

I had less than 200 pounds in my pockets. No Job. Only temporary accommodation (almost) in the middle of nowhere. The first week has been so overwhelming that I am literally unable to describe with words. I had my first panic attack, walking every day for 2 hours under the snow to get to the house where I was staying to the train station and then to the call center job I had found. It took months to get to a better situation, but eventually, I did it. I managed to buy the flight tickets for my family 3 months after I left, and since then, it’s been a constant evolution. Endless nights spent learning English, new skills, becoming a better and recognized professional.

Now, after almost 10 years, another kid, a little boy full of energy, we are harvesting what we sow. All the tears, blood, and sweat. Almost 10 years of challenges and difficulties, faced together. I never stopped writing and thinking about music, even when I did not have space, money, or energy to do it. The first thing I did, as soon as I could, has been to rebuild my home studio. And as soon as my home studio was ready, I did the only thing that seemed logical to me: tell our story. Tell what we were 10 years ago and what we are now. Our path, our story. How we, as a family, danced at the notes of “The ballad of the expat”.

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We welcome Stefano to the Hot Rocks Radio Family and wish him much success on his musical journey!