1) Good afternoon! Earliest memory of music, the first song that you recall hearing and also the first song of Desert Near The End. Please recall your memories!
Hello! Let's go down the memory lane then! My very first memory of music is a bit hazy but it was probably something from The Beatles that my father used to play in our home.. Yellow Submarine or Penny lane.. I'm not sure! It was in the early 80's! But the first time that I felt amazed by music and actively wanted to find it and hear it again was when by accident I found myself in a summer rerun of Conan the Barbarian.. my father was again guilty for this, and since I was still very very young(early 80's again) and I couldn't understand English of course or even read the Greek subtitles!, I was completely bewitched by Basil Poledouris soundtrack and I still am!
The first Desert near the end song that I wrote was "The Desert near the End"! We used to call ourselves different back then(2009) and it was a bit difficult time for the band.. we didn't know how to continue or even if it was worth the try! And then this song came into being and it felt more right and more "ours" than anything we have done before. So we renamed the band and we started again!
2) “Of Fire And Stars”, I think, was probably your best work until now...after checking your four albums. How do you view it? Is this just a natural progression from what you had previously created?
I couldn't agree more about “Of Fire And Stars” and the only thing that I want to add is that the next one will be better!! And I certainly view it as a natural progression of the previous albums, the foundation is the same, our sense of melody is still there and in general is a culmination of everything we have done in the past but in the form of better songs! I mean I love all our albums and some of our best songs are on Theater of War but they were a bit single minded.. always on the heavy and aggressive side of things, where “Of Fire And Stars” is more diverse and mix the heaviness with the melodies in a way we haven't done in the past.
3) I assume that would be difficult to express this great album, live? What do you think about your live performances? I saw that you booked some Greek lives with Vektor right now!
Actually no! It works very well on a live situation but unfortunately we didn't have the chance to play these songs as much as we wanted because we had a lineup change right after the recording of the album, one of guitarists left the band, and very soon after we solved the problem the pandemic fell upon us and everything shut down.
We are very happy about for the shows with Vektor but there are almost a year from now and we hope to have many more chances to play until then!
4) You still have a distinct sound that is exclusive and unique to you. What is your opinion and how do you create songs?
First of all thank you for this! I also think that our sound in the way that has evolved is somehow unique but this actually came as a surprise to me! I mean I grew up as a metal fan in the 90's with bands like Iced Earth and Blind Guardian and to blend this with some more extreme elements especially in the drums felt very natural to me at least! It is seems that I am a minority in this but that's ok!
The usual way of our songwriting is that I create a song around a riff or a melody and present the demo of the song to Alex to create his vocal tracks and then we go back and reshape the song if needed. The last thing is for Alex to write the final lyrics on the finished Version of the song. A very common way of songwriting I think but it works!
5) Do you still listen to other bands? I mean, obviously, you have some early influences about the band but do you still listen to new stuff?
Of course! If didn't hear to new staff there wouldn't be a reason for the band to exist! It's not our job we don't make any money out from this, we do it just because we love it, we love Metal and although we still love and hear all our early influences one can't listen to the same thing for thirty years! The only way to keep the fire going is to listen and be passionate for new music. This is the way to keep your music fresh and your relationship with your first music passions alive and to keep them growing with you and not surround you like some kind of music zombies! Things must evolve if you for want them to be alive.
6) Are you open to other musical genres and styles? Maybe to play something different on new projects or just listening to weird stuff?
I am open to every kind of musical genres but that doesn't mean that I am one of the very few people that "listen to everything". I don't. I have no problem to listen and even to be to be inspired be something but I primarily listen to Metal and of course this is very broad spectrum! Metal is huge and diverse, maybe the more diverse music genre, and covers everything from the more extreme sound to the more mellow and lyrical and everything in between.
So no.. I don't have any desire to play something different.
7) Do you have a favorite live or studio album, for example, that you still go back and listen to?
Of course I have and more than one! But just to narrow it down, my two favourite albums of all time and my basic influences are "Imaginations from the other side" and "Burnt Offerings". I will always listen to them and feel the same!
As for live album I will not stray from my previous statement! "Alive in Athens" is my favourite and always takes me back in these two nights.. I was there of course and it was one of greatest experience of my life!
8) Who would you say has been the most underrated band of all time? And why?
Difficult question.. there are many bands that are underrated by fans or just unlucky or even ahead or before their time.. and we must never forget also the bands that are underrated by their own hands (with poor choices and bad moves..)
But the band that always comes in my mind as underrated is Biomechanical. I'm not sure why this happened though.. they combined the classic with the extreme and also the symphonic in a manic way that has never happened before or since! I don't know.. maybe they were too heavy for their own good! Or because the sold themselves in a very normal way and not as "crazy" or "weird" or with any other marketing gimmick. Sometimes life is unfair.
9) What about your future stuff? Plans for another album or new music?
Not just plans, our new album is ready and I hope that we'll be able to share it with our friends very soon! It's called "The Dawning of the Son" and we really feel that is our best effort to date! I know it's a cliche statement before the release of a new album but we couldn't be happier about the way it turned out! Lyrically it's a concept album and it's inspired by the first trilogy of the red rising saga by Pierce Brown.
10) Outside of music, what do you enjoy doing?
I love reading, I always have a book beside me! I also enjoy movies and series but a book always comes first!
11) Okay, that’s great. Thank you very much and good luck.
Thank you for the nice questions! I hope you will enjoy the next album when it is released and as we say always.. "Follow the path across the desert"
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