Echidna
Echidna is a new coming
act from Thessaloniki, Greece that has managed to release a highly professional
and very promising work that reveals a band with potential and abilities
to make a name in the extreme metal scene. If thrash and death metal is
what runs in your veins, read this interview, get in touch with the band
and make sure to support them...
1. FIRST OF ALL GIVE US A SHORT BAND BIO AND
INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE READERS…
It all started in the autumn of 2004 when
Giannis (drummer), Panos (guitars) together along with Nikos (guitars)
form the band under the name Echidna. It was not up until the spring of
2005 that there was a major change to the line-up adding two more members…
Nikos (bass) and Theo (vocals). The song writing begun immediately until
we finished our first demo in 2006 entitled “This Suffering”.
2. WHICH ARE THE AIMS AND GOALS YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE
WITH ECHIDNA?
WHAT DO YOU DREAM OF DOING WITH THIS BAND?
Echidna is a dream itself… it is a melodic
way to express our chaotic way of playing music and expressing ourselves
in front of humanity, always with an open mind.
Of course recognition is something no one
ever hated :) … But be sure we will use it wisely to entertain and embrace
a wider audience, and open our fists only when holding fresh ideas.
3. I THINK “…THIS SUFFERING” IS A VERY GOOD PIECE
OF WORK! ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH IT or IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?
We always think there is space for improvement,
especially after you hear your own music playing in the stereo, and of
course it happened to “…This Suffering” we sat down and figured out some
minor mistakes here and there but in the end we came up to be pretty satisfied
with our work. However we continuously work on improving our next song
recordings which may slightly differ from “…This Suffering”.
Hmmm… a major change would be recording the
whole demo to a cold cave of a crystal mountain! (just joking…) :)
4. THIS IS YOUR FIRST DEMO CD AND IF I AM NOT
MISTAKEN YOU HAVEN’T GOT ANY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE? SO, WHAT DID YOU LEARN
FROM THE WHOLE PROCEDURE?
No doubt one can learn many things from such
procedures. We did too. It is true that none of us had major previous experience
on this stuff. We are learning out of our mistakes during all phases and
we are sure or at least try not to repeat them (just as ancient Greek philosophers
wrote to make our life experience better).
For example, it is very important to have
a good producer. He is the one who can boost you or just bury you (We believe
that our Producer, Akis at Underground, belongs to the group of people
that activated us positively and helped the originality and chemistry of
our band to emerge). We should also rehearse a lot and check every detail
on the songs, cause, if you don’t, you just end up thinking… “How *exactly*
am I going to play this?”
5. DESCRIBE A TYPICAL ECHIDNA SONG SESSION. IS
IT A TEAM-WORK OR NOT? YOU INTEGRATE MANY DIFFERENT ELEMENTS IN YOUR SOUND.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN A SONG IS READY? HOW DO YOU FIND BALANCE AMONG ALL
OF THOSE ELEMENTS?
We have adapted and now evolving in Team-Work
where usually the guitars and/or the bassist compose the riffs. Then the
riffs are brought to the studio where Giannis (our drummer) adds his own
ideas for the drum-lines and the rest come up with more ideas on the riffs.
After we standardize our playing style for the song, we make a preliminary
structure. Then Theo takes it up adding lyrics and vocal lines. Altogether,
rehearsal by rehearsal, we finalize the structure of the song and add any
ideas that come up to the last minute. A song is usually ready when adding
more ideas will make it boring or tiring… our final corrections come mostly
in lyrics, as Theo tries to feel even closer to the song’s psychology to
ensure some well told lines.
6. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU WERE ASKED TO REVIEW
“…This Suffering”. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
When we finished our demo we were really excited.
We believe that the production is very close –if not equal- to a professional
work. On the other hand we noticed some mistakes and parts that were not
played that well. About the composing section we believe that “…This Suffering”
has a thrash/death style with new ideas that make it a bit different from
the really classic thrash/death metal. Of course there is infinite space
for improvement and adding more originality and that is what we’re moving
towards to… In general we believe that it is good for a first demo, but
our next release will be a lot better for someone could stare and perceive
a completely new journey.
7. PLEASE NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS
AND ALBUMS. WHO ARE THOSE MUSICIANS THAT HELPED YOU REALIZE THIS IS YOUR
MOST BELOVED GENRE?
There surely are many bands that marked us
giving us great influences and evolving us in separate ways. Starting from
the 80’s thrash metal scene with leading bands like Metallica, Pantera,
Sepultura, Slayer and Megadeth to the 90’s death metal scene with bands
like Death, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, SwordMasteR (R.I.P), In Flames, Cynic,
Atheist and Coroner up to modern metal bands like Meshuggah and Nevermore.
8. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE DEMO CD LYRIC-WISE.
WHAT ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION AND WHAT ARE THE TOPICS THESE
SONGS DEAL WITH?
[Theo] First of all I want you to know that
all of our songs come from a multi-angle and open-minded way of thinking,
the topics reveal as the song is born, ready to take the first steps and
blow on live stages… The only source of inspiration I felt flowing in text-lines
was my inner ego at one side and my way of interpreting the stimulus surroundings
that impressed me.
Where my efforts go is to be honest with myself
and my feelings so I can move forward with Echidna and have a clear perspective
of the affairs that I deal within the lines.
Our first demo flows around of infinity &
chaos by penetrating human emotions in times where every one of us is vulnerable.
There is also a discreet layer of scattered events that occurred in my
past to make listeners affiliate a mood and stab each of “…This Suffering”
songs to their own redemption strain.
9. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE COVER ARTWORK.
IT’S DARK AND VERY BEAUTIFUL. WHO DESIGNED IT?
Nikos (bass) came up with some ideas and Panos
finalized the design using a mixture of useful ideas from the others. We
used some resources on the Internet and… our computers to create it.
10. HOW ARE YOU THINKING OF PROMOTING YOUR DEMO
CD? WILL YOU DO ANY LIVE SHOWS?
Well, in our era the Internet is certainly
a very strong means of promotion, so that is certainly one way. In addition,
we are planning on some live shows in the upcoming autumn. We always chase
remarkable live shows and we are open for suggestions as long as we have
free time to be there.
11. HAVE YOU SENT YOUR DEMO TO ANY LABELS? WHAT
DO YOU WANT A LABEL TO OFFER YOU IN ORDER TO CUT A DEAL WITH THEM?
We haven’t yet sent the demo to any label.
So we cannot really tell what a good deal would be for a new band like
Echidna. By the time we send it we will consider of all the proposals and
take advice from other more experienced persons that are part of the music
industry to take the final and best decision.
12. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK HAVE YOU RECEIVED SO
FAR? WHICH WAS THE MOST SATISFYING AND WHICH THE WORST COMMENT YOU’VE READ?
Generally, we have received mostly good words
and comments. Of course there were bad comments too but these are welcome
as the good ones and are always taken into consideration by the band for
improvement.
The most satisfying so far has been a review
at www.metalreview.com,
which was the first professional review published, and made us very happy.
The reviewer (Jim Brandon) in general says that it is an extremely good
and professional effort for a new band, riveting thrash metal, and that
he expects a debut album from a major or at least a respectable Label.
On the other side, we have got some comments
about our melodies, telling us that they are too ordinary, and that our
style is not something special. The funniest comment was: “go for McDonald’s
and not write songs!” :}
13. IF YOU HAD A BIG BUDGET TO SHOOT A VIDEO CLIP,
WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
We think that it would be “Balance Preservation”,
the second track from our demo.
Its eastern melodies saw the direction of
the video clip! Eastern scenes, maybe some additional sounds of that culture
(instruments for example) and of course the usual band shots! There is
also a band joke that we could have belly dancers. However we have not
yet thought through seriously of how we would actually make a video.
Hmmm, but I guess we could also use a funny
second pick, “Downforce” the first track of the demo. The clip should start
by placing Echidna on the top of a huge skyscraper in the US and as the
song starts immediately all come crushing down and keep crushing until
the song ends… and Echidna is on the ground once again walking unscratched!
… now that will be some serious 7 minute down driven clip (just joking).
14. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Maybe a mix of loneliness, fear and anger.
If it was a painting we think it would show
the cover of our demo!
15. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO
HAVE?
Since it is our first interview it could be
something like “Introducing Echidna” ?
16. THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE
TO MENTION AND I FORGOT TO ASK YOU?
That’s all! We would also like to thank Behind
the Veil for supporting the underground scene!
Christine Parastatidou
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