Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 01:35 AM by Giorgos Tsekas
During the mini tour of Italian Wotan with one of the best Greek emerging bands, Ruthless Steel, Metal Invader had the opportunity to make a friendly discussion with the front woman (and great voice too), Alice Costopoulou. Check it out…
It’s the first time that a member from Ruthless Steel speaks to Metal Invader, so for starters, I’d like you to introduce us to the band.
Of course! So, let’s begin with Kostas Papadimitriou on guitars, Nikos Georgakis is on bass, Nikos Miras on drums and… them me, I’m Alice Costopoulou on vocals.
You are active since 2012, if I’m not mistaken?
Essentially, the audition took place during May 2012 and the band was created under this lineup – except for the drummer – in July 2012.
So I get that you didn’t know each other beforehand, but met during the group’s creation.
At first, no. I’d tried to work with other people, with whom it didn’t work out eventually and then later, somebody introduced me to our bassist, who brought our guitarists and I has friends with the drummer…
So the band was your dream?
Yes, indeed.
Your influences are quite obvious, deriving from conventional heavy metal tunes and especially from femme – fronted bands. Doro, Leather Leone, Jutta Weinhold pop in mind… So I guess you do like this orientation.
Yes, definitely. I like all that. My actual first influence was Doro, who I dare say represents me best, mostly with her style, her music – German heavy metal – and I believe that we all have influences as such. Our guitarist, for example is a die – hard Helloween fan.
You caught me on the moment I wanted to ask you about the rest of the band… So you all have common taste.
Yeah! Accept and bands like that.
A question I ask to all the women that are part of this scene, as it is a little unusual, but these few make the difference. How do you explain the fact that they reach such a high level? Due to competition? Did you ever face any difficulty in your path?
I would rather say I didn’t… Okay, most girls are in the symphonic and atmospheric scene…
… Yes, I meant more in the traditional sound’s scene; there are less in numbers.
No, we don’t generally have a problem, we have good relations with the other girls, and we do collaborations, etc. (I was going for something else, but she understood otherwise…)
I cannot deny that in 2013, when I first heard you, I was pleased that a promising band of this kind emerged, but we will come back to that. But first, tell me if you distinguish some groups from the Greek scene, this time, because there is a creation upsurge especially in some scenes.
Look, I love too many Greek bands, so it’s a little hard to pick out some…
Okay, it will not force you to tell names then; it’s just that I see that you’ve done some collaborations, such as the one with Erase …
I have no problem. Surely I love Erase both as a group and as individuals. They are my friends. I like very much – and for the reason that we don’t have a lot of bands in this style, similar to Motörhead – Demolition Train. All this hobo style… Generally, there are many good bands, but since you mentioned Erase, they’re very good kids and musicians and I love them. Simple as that.
Let’s go to “Die in the Night” (the EP) now. I don’t want to make you feel nervous, but it raised great expectations, combined with the fact that you prepare a full-length work, as well. Firstly, when shall we wait for the new album and secondly what to expect from this release.
We expect it to be ready for release in the spring. For the content, all I can say is that it has everything from our influences. That is, you’ll find pieces hard rock and groovy, you’ll find pieces packed with heavy metal, pieces for Motörhead – style party, you’ll find melody … everything that characterize this sound.
I think that if you follow the EP’s footsteps, at least in ‘our own’ scene, it will go well…
The sound has evolved quite a bit. This was an issue in the EP as we faced some problems with the production – no blame on our production guy…
Certainly when it comes to one’s first job, there are similar problems; that’s why I didn’t raise this issue…
Yes this is true.
I saw you in June 2013 for the first time with Air Raid, Strikelight and Gauntlet and I was struck since then. Surely, of course, you were “tighter” than today. Since then, you’ve given many gigs, even abroad. How is the experience?
Generally, there are difficulties. The road is not paved with roses, but it’s nevertheless a very nice experience. You meet a lot of people, who always treat you very positively. Something very interesting that we tested was when we played in Germany in Open- Air (Metalheadz Open-Air). It’s an amazing experience to play in open space. We definitely spend beautiful time in roofed venues, but the phase of the festival is unique.
Well, I wish you good luck (mini tour follows) and I’ll let you pass a message to the magazine’s readers.
Thank you all very much, those who have supported us, have purchased our EP, came to see us live, sent us messages… It’s important that people show up in live gigs, which is promising for the scene’s growth.
