Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 09:56 PM by Lilliana Tseka
On the sidelines of the live performance of Sorrowful Angels with Daffodil (January 3rd) in Trikala, we got the chance to speak with the two frontmen, Dionisis Christodoulatos and Vasilis Gougoulakis respectively. It started as a casual conversation, but along the way it turned into a double interview. In the end, every time we’re carried away, interesting things are discussed, if you think about it.
Hello guys! First of all, beginning with our guest, Dionisis, I’d like you to present the lineup of your bands to our readers.
D: We are Sorrowful Angels and feature Nikos Perlepes on guitar, Giannis Litinakis on bass and Stelios Paulou on drums. Including me, we comprise the lineup of our last album, “Remedie”.
V: Well, hello from me, as well. We are Daffodil and feature Elena Kotina on guitar, Stelios Honias on bass, Apostolos Spanos on keys and Sotiris Staurekas on drums. I am Vasilis Gougoulakis.
Good. Now that we’re through with the formalities, I want to come back to Dionisis and go back in time. The band existed in the past as well, back in 1999. I don’t know if you released anything back then, but it would be interesting to tell us a few words about that story.
D: No, nothing was released back then. The story during 1999-2002 is a long one. I prefer thinking of the band onwards 2008, the year when the band was active discographically. What happened then hasn’t left any efforts, besides some live performances that I remember of. Nothing else.
So, after 2002, we return to 2008, when you decided to continue with what you got. How did that happen?
D: Basically in 2008 a new band was created; this is the truth. From the old line-up only one member was left, Dariusz Sipiora, who is also the godfather of the band. Simply, three friends came together, Kostas Katikos, Dariusz and I and decided to create again a band that fits our tastes and our personal perceptions. The name was maintained at the request of Dariusz, who wanted to use the name of his initial effort. Thus, beyond our respect to his desire, we created an entirely new band, different from that which was then.
Vasilis, I know you’re involved with music for many years now. In the past you created something, but it didn’t go well. Your current attempt seems to go well. Tell us about Daffodil.
B: Actually we are a newly formed band. We’ve been active for just half a year or so and as far as our discography goes, we begun writing our demo “The hope for things that never come” a few months ago, which will be released in a few days. We hope by the end of ’16 to have something more comprehensive, i.e. an album. It’s easy for anybody to understand where we are moving hearing our work.
Dionisis, from the few things I know about your style – I admit that this field is kind of out of my league- I can see different influences from Paradise Lost, Sentenced and the Finnish scene in general; perhaps Rotting Christ and Moonspell as well, in the more atmospheric moments. Do you think that those are your main influences? Do you “wink” to more prog stuff as well?
D: Well you got the whole gist just fine (e.n. thank you!). This is exactly the philosophy behind the existence of the band. We are children of the 90s, we grew up with this music and that’s what gave us the impetus to form Sorrowful Angels. And the Finnish scene as well, but I would say the English gothic metal scene more – My Dying Bride, Anathema, etc. But certainly, over time this thing is enriched with new influences or elements that are beginning to influence us, for example, Opeth, or even the Metallica and Rammstein if you want. Of course, when we create, we do not choose to “come out” with this image; it’s just that we’ve grown up with these sounds and they have won us. Everybody listened to bands like Blind Guardian and Bruce Dickinson or Sentenced and Dream Theater. I don’t know if all these things are evident in our music, but we hope so. Certainly there is assimilation of all that throughout all the years. You have your personal sound and through it you pass on things you love.
Regarding Daffodil, obviously your main influences come from the Finnish scene, but personally I see other elements as well. It would be better if you told us a few things Vasilis.
V: Well, the strange thing with Daffodil is the fact that we consist of five people with different sounds. The good thing is that in what we’re playing we managed to find a common denominator, which largely includes the Finnish music – HIM, Nightwish, Sentenced – perhaps with some more rock elements, such as Neil Young for example. Finally, what we wanted to deliver and I believe we’ve succeeded in doing it, is to write melancholic music with easy – flowing vocal lines. Something simple that expresses our words.
Both of you have covered me to some extend with your answers, as the next question concerns your musical experiences…
D: That’s true to some extent but I would say that we’re not confined within the metal scene’s walls. Besides the classic progressive rock, which I love, I am also a fan of the electronic scene. I think there should not be any restrictions to music. Lately, for example, I kept listening to Antimatter. What happens with Sorrowful Angels is what comes out naturally from us.
With a new album (“Remedie”) in ’15 from Sorrowful Angels, how do you like the story so far? What’s the audience response?
D: We are very happy. It’s an album we were trying to release for a long time and it summarizes the experiences gained in all this time, playing concerts in many parts of Greece and abroad. It explores many elements, which we wanted to present earlier, but we had not tried to do so. It broadens our influences, as we discussed earlier. This satisfies our music greatly and it seems that this end has met with the crowd’s. People who until now were in doubtful about our music, have now been won.
Vasilis, we’re expecting the demo from you…
V: As you said, we expect the demo from day to day. Also, the record is ready as well, in which I cannot say that we experimented much. We don’t believe that with our music we redefine this specific sound or something similar. Really, it’s a work that reflects our feelings at that moment and we wanted our first attempt to be direct – in you face – without much experimentation. For the future there is certainly a desire to integrate other elements with our music; for example our keyboard player comes from the classical prog scene, our guitarist enjoys more rock – hard rock, our drummer likes bands like Ozric Tentacles, etc., so I assure you that later on you will listen to other things from us. Besides, we are already on track – writing process for the second album.
If all goes well, however, early in the summer we will have the release of the new (first) album.
As time for your appearance approaches, I would like you to tell me your plans for upcoming shows, in Greece and abroad.
D: There are some thoughts. Actually, there were plans well in advance, but some – financial – surprises (such as Capital Controls) postponed our plans for a while. Now we are in the process of redefining the timeline. The truth is that we are gradually resuming our performances in Greece, like our presence here today, and constantly add events to the calendar. Also something is expected for abroad gigs.
V: We are starting for the first time a mini tour. There are plans to firstly visit Athens at Remedy and after that there are invitations for Thessaloniki, Livadia, Nafplio, Heraklion while discussing gigs in three cities in the Netherlands. We hope everything goes well.
Thanks for your time and I wish you a good gig!
