Michael Gresham

Project Bella Italia Blog 10 Monday, 4 June 2018 Like a lot of families in Canada, someone not too long ago had probably immigrated over from somewhere far away. In my family, my mother's side has been here for three generations, but my father moved to Canada when he was 17 from England. The thing is, his Grandfather moved to England from Italy, he also changed his last name from Grascia to Gresham. That means my Great Great Grandfather was Italian, and there are some Grascia family members out there. The last person to reconnect with our Italian ancestors was my uncle Tony. He captured a few pictures about 15 years ago. Tony passed away a few months ago though, and with his passing and our trip ahead, I felt like I should take it upon myself (with the help of Lukas and Laura) to see if we can find my Italian relatives!

Project Bella Italia Blog 9 Monday, 28 May 2018 Today is the last day we're going to be in the studio in Canada to rehearse for the concert! Lukas has just had his last day of work and we're starting to say goodbye to our friends and weekly routines, and hello to new experiences. A big goal is to share our music in Italy but much more than that is we believe that it is so important to see new places throughout our lives, experience new things and meet people along the way. I ...can't stress this enough as it provides an incomparable perspective for yourself and home life. By doing this, you inherently begin to make changes to better suit you and fit into your own skin. Lukas, Diego and I met through the Visual Effects industry in Vancouver where artists have come from all around the world and one thing I've learned from meeting these people is that you never know where your best home will be unless you get out and find it! See more

Project Bella Italia Blog 8 Friday, 11 May 2018 The countdown is on, we are leaving for Italy in less than a month. We've been getting in touch with Lukas's good friend Daniele about organizing the official date and location of the concert. Daniele's has just published the seasonal summer menu at "Serpillo", a restaurant in Torre Del Colle, a 5 minute drive from Bevagna where we are staying. This spot looks beautiful and we can not wait to try Chef Daniele's creations! Serpillo

Working on a old song in a different setting. There's comfort in song writing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt-Q2OnwX0E

Some highlights from Curacao. A change of scenery to get into the musical mind. https://youtu.be/WuMIU-GbwiM

Project Bella Italia - Blog 6 Saturday, 21 April 2018 I flew 6419km to the island country of Curacao to finish writing the new album. I love being in new places and soaking in the culture and vibes. I found Curacao and thought it would have some unique diversity and it does not disappoint. A little Amsterdam in the south of the Caribbean. At home I am a routine person, it can be hard to find real time to write with full focus. Being away allows doors to be open and new ideas... to flow. I don't just think this is a music or songwriting way of thinking either. To me, the perspective on a personal and social level you get is very rewarding. When I first thought of the name Project Bella Italia, it was a bit of a joke name, but as I got off the plane in Curacao with my guitar, ready to finish preparing the songs for Italy, I looked up and there was a sign saying "Bella Italia". It was an Italian cafe, of course, but right then I thought "this names going to work". Time to finish so songs!

Here we play The Owl live from Vancouver at The Recording Suite. If you enjoy the song on YouTube, hit the like and subscribe button. It helps spread the music :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri6gyPR0mp8

Project Bella Italia - Blog 4 Thursday, 5 April 2018 Drums, bass, and guitar tracks are done! It's been a crazy couple of nights putting together The Owl, one more evening for vocal tracks and then it's on to mixing. On another topic, the trip to Italy seems far away but it's sooner than we think and we must get moving if we're going to ready for the show!... Light Machine Records

Project Bella Italia - Blog 2 Tuesday, 13 March 2018 The first sign of spring, the cherry blossoms are out and there seems to be some color outside now in Vancouver. Our friend and music producer Jeff Zipp has booked us in for 2 sessions for this coming week for rehearsals. We need to get practicing if we're going to have the new songs and set ready to go for June.... @lightmachinerecords #musicrecording #vancouvermusic #musicblog

Project Bella Italia - Blog 1 Thursday, 8 March 2018 Here we go... the first blog of Project Bella Italia. Our goal is to play a beautiful show with new music, in the city of Bevagna Italy during July of 2018. We also want to capture and document our experience on camera all the way. I wanted to start this blog off tonight after our dinner at Via Tevere (a great Italian restaurant) in East Vancouver, with Lukas and Diego. We had a lot to talk about as we made it through our... pizzas. We have roughly 3 months to organize and plan the show. The idea is to hold the show at a friend of Lukas's restaurant overlooking the hillside of Bevagna, a small fort town in Umbria. It's in the center of the boot in Italy. We want to record some music before we go, we need to get a hold of friends in Italy, save our money, find transportation when we get there, organize flights and accommodation and just get ready for a wild time! See more