Endless Roads & New Beginnings: The Story of Mayhem Mavericks

Endless Roads & New Beginnings: The Story of Mayhem Mavericks

Mayhem Mavericks aren’t just a new name on the melodic hard rock map—they’re the sound of two lifelong friends refusing to let distance, time, or even a global pandemic dull their creative spark. Built on the chemistry of vocalist Marcello Spera and multi‑instrumentalist Andrew Trabelsi, the band’s self‑titled debut on Street Symphonies Records / Burning Minds Music Group is a testament to resilience, reinvention, and the kind of musical partnership that only a decade of collaboration can forge.

Recently, Highwire Daze caught up with the duo to dive into the stories behind the songs, the evolution from their earlier projects, and the creative bond that has carried them through Alchemy, StreetLore, Füel For Tunes, and now Mayhem Mavericks. From the soaring redemption of “I Can Feel the Heartache” to the cinematic melancholy of “More to Ask,” the Mavericks deliver a record shaped by real life, real emotion, and real friendship — the kind of album that could only come from two artists who have grown up, grown apart, and grown stronger together.

Introduce yourselves and tell us what you do in the band. Let’s start with you, Andrew.
Andrew: I’m Andrew. I play guitar and keyboards, and I write songs together with Marcello. Sometimes I also play bass when needed.

Marcello: I’m Marcello, the lead singer. I play guitar too, but not on the record—there’s no competing with Andrew there. I also write songs with him.

Where are you based, and what’s the local music scene like?
Marcello: We’re from a small town in northern Italy called Brescia, between Milan and Verona. We both grew up there and met in high school. Since then, we’ve worked on different projects together. I actually live in Switzerland now for work—I moved a few years ago—but thanks to modern technology, we still manage to write and record together.

As for the music scene, Brescia used to be great when we were younger. There were lots of clubs hosting live music. We spent almost every Saturday night listening to bands.

Andrew: Sadly, it’s not like that anymore.

Marcello: Yeah, it’s definitely less active now, especially for hard rock. Our genre isn’t the easiest to find regular gigs for these days.

How did you end up signing with Street Symphonies? You’ve worked with them on other bands as well.
Andrew: We met Stefano Gottardi back in 2016 and signed with him for the first Alchemy album—Alchemy was our first band. He did such a great job that we wanted to continue working with him. In my opinion, he’s the best. What do you think, Marcello?

Marcello: We’ve known Stefano for a long time—since 2016, but even earlier because he used to organize Battle of the Bands events. We’ve always appreciated both the quality of his work and who he is as a person.

We’ve recorded all our albums with him, whether through Street Symphonies or Art of Melody for certain collaborations, but it’s all part of the same family: the Burning Minds Music Group. Working with him again was the natural choice.

You mentioned your previous band, Alchemy. What did you find in Mayhem Mavericks that you didn’t have in Alchemy?
Marcello: Good question.

Andrew: A tricky one! Alchemy was our first band, and it will always be in our hearts. But in 2020 the pandemic hit, and it really drained our enthusiasm. We’re all still friends—we still play together. In fact, Cristiano Stefana appears on the Mayhem Mavericks album, and Matteo Castelli plays bass on it. Nothing “went wrong”; we just stopped because of the pandemic.

Marcello: Exactly. The pandemic killed a lot of momentum. There were also some differences in vision. Some members wanted to focus more on live shows—which wasn’t exactly ideal during a global shutdown. Andrew and I love playing live, but we also wanted to keep writing and recording new music, and not everyone shared that priority.

So we decided to start a separate project where we could move in the direction we wanted, and at a faster pace. With just the two of us steering the ship, decisions are easier and quicker. As Andrew always says: Alchemy was a band; Mayhem Mavericks is more of a project.

Let’s talk about a few songs on the new record, starting with the first single, “I Can Feel the Heartache.” What inspired it musically and lyrically?
Marcello: I wrote that one, and it came out very naturally. Sometimes you struggle for days to write a good song, but this one was done in about half an hour. It just flowed. It had that great ‘80s vibe—the riff, the melody, the epic chorus. Lyrically, I went with a redemption theme. It’s about someone whose life has been hard, but who’s finally ready to rise again because they don’t feel the heartache anymore. The main line says “I can feel the heartache,” but the backing vocals answer “no more,” which symbolizes someone who used to be sad and heartbroken but is now overcoming it.

The second single is “Killing Eyes.” What’s the story behind that one?
Andrew: “Killing eyes” aren’t literal eyes—it’s symbolic. It’s something dangerous that stares at you, something that threatens you. I like the contrast between the meaning and the very ‘80s vibe of the song. The video is pure fantasy—a woman going around making mistakes—and it ties back to the idea of bad things watching you and ruining your life. It’s actually a sad song, but it doesn’t sound sad.

The third single is “More to Ask.” Tell me about that one.
Andrew: With “More to Ask,” I was thinking again about the pandemic in 2020. There was so much sadness running through my veins at that time. I remember a day with no sun, a really dark day. I turned on the piano in my home studio, started with a D minor chord, and everything came out easily. I wrote a couple of lines and then told Marcello, “Write whatever you want—this is a sad song.” It’s a mirror of what we were living through in 2020. Marcello did an amazing job with the lyrics. I’ve always loved ballads, and I’m very happy with how this one turned out.

Marcello, anything you’d like to add about that song?
Marcello: Just to echo what Andrew said—it’s a very cool song, one of the best on the record in my opinion. It’s a ballad, less heavy, but full of beautiful melodies and meaningful lyrics. It’s about loss and everything surrounding that, but I added a little silver lining toward the end. The chorus says, “Nothing lasts forever in this world,” and while that sounds sad, the idea hidden in the song is that the fact nothing lasts forever is exactly what makes things important and worth loving. That duality is what makes the song so powerful for me. And musically, it’s amazing.

Let’s jump to the end of the album: “Road With No End.” What is the road with no end?
Andrew: Life, I think. But Marcello wrote the lyrics, so he can explain it better.

Marcello: When I wrote this song, I started with the music first. It’s half heavy, half melodic—the verses are super heavy with big riffs, and the chorus is very melodic. Lyrically, I imagined someone escaping from a life full of sadness and problems. They finally break free, and suddenly everything is open to them. They’re on this huge road—like a desert highway—with no end, full of endless possibilities. The contrast in the music reflects that: the heavy, darker verses represent the old life, and the open, uplifting chorus symbolizes the new beginning and the freedom they’ve found after escaping their pain.

Has Mayhem Mavericks ever played live, or is that something you’d like to do in the future?
Andrew: Never—but I’d love to. The problem is that we all live far apart. I’m still in Brescia, Marcello lives in Switzerland, our drummer lives near Milan, and we don’t currently have a bass player. So rehearsing is… tricky. I’d love to do it, but I don’t know if it will ever happen. Maybe one day—maybe a festival, something themed around hard rock. But I don’t think we’ll ever play regular gigs or club shows. Who knows, though.

Let’s talk about a few of your other bands and what’s happening with them now. I grabbed three names—let’s start with Füel For Tunes. Is that project still active?
Andrew: Füel For Tunes was born from the mind of Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti. One day he called me and said, “Andrew, I need some guitar tracks, some keyboard tracks, some ideas for a melody I have in mind.” He sent me everything on the phone, and I started working in my home studio. Then we sent the tracks to Alessandro Del Vecchio for vocals. Right now, there are no new songs in the works—at least none that I know of. Maybe Pierpaolo will surprise me; I hope so, because I love recording and writing for that project. I love the sound, that street‑rock vibe. But for now, everything is quiet.

Next up: Kastadian. Tell me about that one.
Marcello: Kastadian is a side project created by our friends in Soulseller, a hard rock band. Their guitarist, Dave Zublena, had a lot of ideas he wanted to develop, so he started this project to bring them to life. We were invited to participate on one song. I recorded backing vocals, and the lead singer on that track is Toby Hitchcock, who tours with Jim Peterik from Survivor. I was thrilled to be part of such an incredible recording with such amazing artists. And Andrew, you played guitars on that one too, right?

Andrew: Yeah, I did—together with Dave Zublena himself.

And finally, StreetLore. Tell me about that project.
Andrew: StreetLore is the first project where I was involved not only as a musician but also creatively alongside Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti. The project is built around the songs of our friend Lorenzo Nava, a keyboard player and songwriter. He had these songs in mind for a long time but wasn’t in a band, so he needed musicians, engineers—basically a whole team. He found that in us. The album came out in 2019, if I remember correctly, and it was quite successful. Lorenzo was very happy, and for me, that’s what matters most. We brought his songs to life—me, Marcello, and all the musicians involved. It was a great collaboration within our genre.

You’ve worked together on Mayhem Mavericks, Alchemy, and several other projects. What makes the two of you work so well together after more than a decade?
Marcello: It’s easy to work with Andrew. We exchange ideas naturally, and whenever I send him something, it always comes back better. There’s no ego, no fighting—working together elevates everything we do. We don’t limit each other or put up boundaries. We simply make better music together than we would alone. And we share a long history. I wouldn’t say our backgrounds are identical, but we grew up listening to the same kind of music. We’ve been talking about music since we were sixteen, sharing everything we discovered. That history is crucial, and it really pays off.

Anything you’d add to that, Andrew?
Andrew: Marcello said it all. We both bring ideas, but we also know the other person can add something special—a different angle that makes the song better. We’re never jealous of our ideas. We never say, “No, you didn’t understand, my version is better.” That’s not how we work. We’ve never had a fight about music, not in Alchemy and not in Mayhem Mavericks. I’m not saying the songs are perfect—I’m saying the process is perfect.

Your new album is out now. What’s next for Mayhem Mavericks?
Marcello: We’re already talking about meeting up to work on new songs. We don’t want to stop. It’s important to breathe and enjoy this moment—we’ve been working on these songs for a long time, some dating back to the Alchemy days—but we’re also thinking ahead. We already have material written over the years, and I think it’s time to start refining it and maybe recording some demos.

Andrew, you get the last word.
Andrew: These songs on the first Mayhem Mavericks album were written back in 2020 during the pandemic. Since then, I’ve written a lot of new material, and Marcello has too. We have to look forward. Honestly, I’m ready to record the second album right now—but of course, we need to take our time and enjoy this first one. Still, we’re quietly working on what comes next. I can’t wait. And now with AI becoming such a big topic in music, everything is changing fast. I don’t want to lose ground. I have so many songs written on a real guitar—I don’t want them to go to waste. That’s why I can’t wait to record and release new music with Marcello, Andrea, and whoever joins us on the journey.

🔥 In Conclusion

As Mayhem Mavericks step into this new chapter, it’s clear that their debut album is only the beginning. What started as a creative refuge during uncertain times has evolved into a project fueled by passion, trust, and a partnership that has weathered more than a decade of music, miles, and life changes. Marcello Spera and Andrew Trabelsi aren’t chasing trends or trying to fit into a scene—they’re building something authentic, rooted in friendship and shaped by the music that has defined them since their teenage years.

With new ideas already taking shape and a second album quietly forming in the background, the Mavericks show no signs of slowing down. If their first record is any indication, the road ahead—endless or not—is one worth following. And as the landscape of music shifts faster than ever, one thing remains certain: Mayhem Mavericks are carving out their own lane, one heartfelt melody and hard‑won lyric at a time.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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