Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 06:41 AM by Nikos Nakos
“Better late than ever”. That saying matches Astral Crossing’s case, which are now living a second youth, fulfilling all that they left unfinished in the 90s… We spoke with the two band founders, Dimitris Goutziamanis and Panos Stayrou, who had a lot of interesting stuff to share with us…
Hello guys and welcome to Metal Invader!
We’re glad to be here!
Astral Crossing is a new band… or shouldn’t it be considered new? Tell us your story…
Dimitris: It’s a big story split in two parts. It starts in the middle 90s, when we were young lads and just wanted to play music, get it out of our system. We produced nice stuff, wrote good songs and started making some fuss over our name, but due to stupidity, as I see it, we managed to split up. Panos: I would say it was all coincidental…at the beginning we were very active and our efforts were fruitful, because we used to play countless hours –sometimes we used to rehearse for twelve hours and finally sleep among the instruments– and we managed to record a demo which was never widely released, named “History”. From there and on a lot of setbacks came to life, like the constant departure and arrival of band members, finally leading to our split-up in ’99. Then we were non active for a long time… Dimitris: …and then suddenly we just got back together after many years and all of us having made families etc, as the itch for music never leaves you! We got together with Panos; I had some music ready to go and we thought of putting a new band together. As we were thinking how to name the band, someone threw the idea:”why not name it Astral Crossing?”, because it was a dream that never came true and we just wanted to give it a second try and see what happens…
Were you individually taking part in other music projects (bands etc…) those 15 years that the band was split up?
Dimitris: We had some bands here and there that we spent our time with individually….
After the reuniting, things seem to be moving faster for you… Let’s start with your new record. Where did the recordings take place?
Dimitris: We recorded the drums in our former drummer, Dionisis Konstadinidis’ studio, Headroomrecordings. Essentially, as there was no budget at all, we were recording in our own houses and the idea was to make this a “homemade” production. Suddenly, New Dream Records got into the picture and we co-produced it in Valve Studio, Thessaloniki. We managed to do the reamp there –luckily we had kept the signals untouched, guitars, bass etc- and the vocals were recorded in various studios, some in Thessaloniki, some in Athens, as our singer at the time, Kostas Maris, was staying in both cities.
What is the feedback by the press and fans for “Revenant”?
Dimitris: The critics are positive at the most part. We haven’t heard any negative criticism, though it is often good to listen to some negative comments in order to witness our own mistakes. Panos: Things are moving generally in the right direction… There is a positive aura. Dimitris: In the sales section, ok, there is some interest, but we live in Greece, you know how things are here… We do not expect enormous sales whatsoever…
Where would you place the band musically? What are your biggest influences?
Dimitris: If I say everything will that sound bad (laughs)? It really could be anything, whatever we feel like at the time… It might be Lizzy Borden, it might be Nevermore, might be Death, might be anything. Saying that we will play exactly like this, that narrows our perspective. Panos: Different eras bring different musical influences. I started listening to UFO and all the hard rock people used to listen to back in the middle 80s and slowly, as metal evolved, we ended listening even to death and black.
Konstaninos Maris’, who is not a band member any more, voice brings in mind Matt Barlow. Is this a blessing, a curse or a little bit of both?
Dimitris and Panos: It’s a curse! Dimitris: We thought it would be easy to fill his shoes with a new singer. A simple voice, not one that could reach notes high as god, neither a brutal one. Working with Costas stigmatized us in some way. It’s a curse, as you have already said… Panos: Anyway, we weren’t looking for someone close to Iced Earth’s vocals, it just happened…
Do you have material waiting for the new singer?
Panos: Yes, of course. There always is and will be new material at hand.
Dimitris: It’s just that, in one hand the search for the new singer, on the other the live shows and the record promotion, we are somewhat behind schedule, but I think that after March we will start recording.
Who is the main composer? What is the process of making a song, if there is one, of course…
Dimitris: There is no specific procedure. Anyone can write… as long as it serves the band’s spirit. Panos: Whatever sounds good to us is incorporated in our songs. Meaning, Vaggelis or the new guitarist may have some parts of their own that stick with the rest of the music… Dimitris: The “band-leader” thing is kind of out of date nowadays… it’s pointless. This is for youngsters. We are grown men and we can’t view things so selfishly any more. If there is something good why not put it in the songs, why not promote it? Just to be able to brag: “I’m the only writer in the band”? Panos: Saying that two or three members are the founders of the band, –in our case me and Dimitris- well, that is the truth. But that’s all, no one is in charge of the band. The decisions are taken by all of the band members.
What are the lyrics mostly about?
Panos: I always thought that the lyrics are the singer’s duty. We can always bring themes on the table, but from that point on it’s his task to write the lyrics, as everyone has his own task in the band.
You shot a nice video clip for the song “What Lies Beyond”. Details please…
Dimitris: It was shot in Valve Studio by Philimon Armenis. He was commented to us by Eva Skoupra, New Dream Records’ manager and we just wanted to do a video-clip without showing off, without complicated script etc, or what everybody seems to be doing lately, putting a beautiful girl in the video running, crying and being in trouble… We just wanted to do a video in a closed space with us playing.
You took place in some I-tunes’ collections. I suppose this is an unusual way, for a Greek band, to promote its work … Tell us something about that…
Panos: It just happened. It was our manager’s idea and we just did it.
Let’s go to the live shows part now. About a year ago, at your first show after the reunion, you hit 8ball’s stage…
Dimitris: The first live we gave as Astral Crossing again was at the stage of Fix, short before the live at Eightball. We really wanted to play, once we had rehearsed a lot and we were ready. Wherever we were invited, we played.
How was the decision to take part in “Battle of the Bands” taken? What did you gain from that experience?
Dimitris: We weren’t particularly interested in the competition itself, we just wanted to play wherever we were summoned. We were told: “do you want to play for 35 minutes” and we thought: “Why not? Let’s go and have fun…”.
Have you ever played away from Thessaloniki?
Dimitris: No, we are just getting started. We have played live only in Thessaloniki, in our beginning and now again. We will go everywhere we are invited and wherever our label tells us to go.
What do you think of the scene in Thessaloniki and Greece in general?
Dimitris: There are plenty good bands and many good musicians, but there are not the right people in Greece to promote the bands and set things in order. We have, for instance, a 20 year old kid who is already a great player; this guy has to be led in the right path, because until he becomes aware of the how music business (btw organized music business in metal does not exist in Greece) works it may be too late for him and that’s a pity.
Is the new generation of musicians more self conscious than before?
Dimitris: I’d say they are more studied because of the internet. There are great players in every instrument and great vocalists, as today one has a lot of options to study through internet, like I said above. Internet, however, is a two blade knife, because on one hand it has destroyed the record sales, but on the other hand it has broadened the musicians’ minds.
We can find a lot of bands playing hardcore and death metal in Thessaloniki, but only a few heavy/power ones…
Dimitris: There are a lot of hardcore and brutal death bands and some others that play power metal. There is no middle ground. There are only extreme bands from both ends.
Are the fans supporting enough the scene?
Panos: The metal fan base is strong, but the fans don’t attend the gigs as often as they used to… Dimitris: We can’t ignore the money issue; even the students that are the foundations of the city life are having financial problems lately. So, things are difficult on the one hand, but on the other there are always fake friendships and adversities of the kind: “he didn’t come to my show, so I won’t go to his…”.
Perhaps there are just too many gigs taking place lately?
Dimitris: You know what? There are a lot of gigs but concerning different genres of metal music. There will be the heavy metal and the thrash and the death metal show and so on… You can always choose which one you want to watch… So, there is the financial part and there are also factions, there are a lot of reasons… Panos: I think that the financial part is the most crucial one…
What are your plans for the future (live shows, releases, etc)?
Dimitris: A mini tour abroad might take place in middle or late June for a week or so. We will probably go to Balkan countries or Italy, somewhere near Greece… We still haven’t set any dates. Chances are we will go together with Breakthrough. We gave our last live together and it’s quite possible that we’ll do the mini tour together as well.
Thank you for your time! Good luck in your next steps!
Dimitris and Panos: Thank you for this interview!
