Emerald
Sun
Emerald Sun is a promising
and hard working new act that is about to release a great album under the
very eloquent title "The Story Begins...". If you are into classic power
metal, then this is a band you should definitely check out! Read in the
interview that follows what Teo Savage, the band's guitarist told us...
1. HELLO THERE! WE DID AN INTERVIEW WHILST
YOU WERE STILL RECORDING YOUR ALBUM, SO TELL US WHAT HAPPENED TO EMERALD
SUN IN THE MEANWHILE.
Hello Christine!! First of all we want to
thank you for hosting us... Since the last interview a lot of contacts
with promoters, metal magazines, e-zines were made to promote Emerald Sun
in Greece and abroad. Recently we played live on the 1st Bottom Metal Fest
at Rock Bottom Metal Club in Thessaloniki before Christmas. We also represented
Greece on the 3rd Metal Eurovision on-line contest whose results will be
on-line by the 15th of January. As you can see we are a band that never
rests so we have already started collecting new material and composing
songs for our next album...
2. BY THE WAY WHICH ARE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS
TILL NOW? HAVE YOU GOT DREAMS YOU WANT TO REALIZE THROUGH YOUR MUSIC? IF
YES, PLEASE MENTION SOME OF THEM…
As I already told you, you can see that E.S
is a very active band, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Eurovision
contest. In the past we achieved many other things as the success in the
Battle of the Bands contest on May '04, then a record contract with Encore
Greek Booking and a little later a very successful live supporting Edguy
on October '04. I must mention the proposal of Helloweens' Booking office
to support Helloween on a mini tour of 9 shows in the Balkans, Turkey and
of course Greece. Unfortunately it failed 'cause the promoter of each country
had already booked local bands for the shows, but we still hope in a future
cooperation. I think that everyone's dream is to get on that fucking stage
and play the music that loves for the people that support him. If the whole
thing, you know, tours, shows, good time will succeed then I can say that
our wildest dream came true. We want to show to everyone that Greece has
many things to offer to the Metalworld.
3. I’VE FOLLOWED YOU RIGHT FROM YOUR VERY BEGINNING
SO I CAN BE QUITE OBJECTIVE AND I AM CAPABLE OF REALIZING THAT YOU HAVE
EVOLVED A LOT AND THAT YOU CONTINUE TO IMPROVE BOTH YOUR PERFORMING AND
YOUR COMPOSING SKILLS. YOU ARE A HARD WORKING BAND AND THIS IS OBVIOUS!
HOWEVER, YOU HAVE EVERYDAY JOBS, SO THINGS ARE QUITE DIFFICULT. COULD YOU
DESCRIBE A TYPICAL SESSION OR REHEARSING PROCEDURE OF THE BAND? HOW DO
YOU COMPOSE YOUR SONGS?
You're absolutelly right!!! It's very difficult
for us to manage both, everyday jobs and band, but if you love something
very much you can always find the right way! We have our own studio where
we have our equipment, we do rehearsals, we compose, without the limitation
of time as in the common studios. Now about the composing thing... Usually
Jimmy (vocals) writes the lyrics and the melodic lines. Then it's time
for Johnnie and Teo (guitars) to do their job building with the rhythm
and decorating with the lead parts. Here comes Jim (keyboards) who also
plays the role of the "maestro" in the band, takes all the material, puts
it in together adding his stuff. I must admit, he did an excellent job
on the album! In the backline we have two excellent performers Jim Gavan
(bass) and Bill Kanakis(drums) that raise the level of the band even higher
with their skills. This was just the typical way 'cause from the time that
someone comes with an idea, we focus on it and build the song from that.
4. IF YOU WERE ASKED TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR “THE
STORY BEGINS”, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
IN OTHER WORDS, WHY SHOULD THE METALLERS CHECK YOU OUT? WHAT DO YOU HAVE
TO OFFER TO THEM?
If it was to be as objective as possible I
would say that the "Story" is completely different from the albums of its
kind. First of all, if a metal fan will listen to the cd from the begining
till the end, he'll find a variety in the style of the songs. There are
speed, high-speed, mid-tempo songs, instumental, ballads, ultra-speed songs,
epic, mean, melodic songs which, I think, this variety can only be found
in "best of" collections. It keeps you focused and it allows the songs
"flow' the one after the other leaving you with a different feeling each
time. I can't say anything about the performance leaving you decide about
that, considering that it is the first album of the band, but I can say
that by that time we've done our best. In a few words the feeling you get
by listening the "Story" is the true love for what we do.
5. GIVE US SOME INFO ON YOUR RECORDING SESSIONS.
ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO
CHANGE?
The production was made at Nemesis Recording
Studios in Kavala with Tasos Karapapazoglou as a producer. The recordings
lasted from January till May '05, recording only on weekends (since we
all have everyday jobs) and the mix was made on August (while everybody
else were having their summer holidays...! But you can't compare the feeling!!!)
We are completely satisfied with the result, in fact we didn't expect it
to come out so good and the only thing that we would like to change was
the location of the studios...he he! It would be much easier if they were
in Thessaloniki!
6. WHAT SOUNDED REALLY INTERESTING AND QUITE WEIRD,
SINCE YOU HAVE AN EXCEPTIONAL SINGER, IS THAT YOU HAVE LONG MOMENTS OF
SILENCE IN YOUR SONGS, MEANING THAT YOU HAVE MANY INSTRUMENTAL PASSAGES.
WHY? I MEAN MOST BANDS WOULD STRIVE FOR A SINGER WITH JIM’S POTENTIAL.
SO WHAT’S THE DEAL HERE?
We do everything in our songs as long as it
doesn't sound bad. Everything is there for a reason. We had to crop riffs,
lyrics or solos so that we won't exaggerate. Believe me, we looked over
and over the songs, again and again before the recordings start 'cause
then, you know, there's no turning back!
7. WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART IN
YOUR MUSIC, ACCORDING TO YOU? ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO IMPROVE
IN THE FUTURE?
I think that every band wants to improve its
performance and its composing skills. About the best and worst part in
our music we let you decide...
8. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF ADDING ANY NEW ELEMENTS
OR EXPERIMENTING WITH YOUR SOUND? IF YES, WHAT KIND OF SOUNDS/IDEAS WOULD
YOU LIKE TO ADD?
Yes, we will add new stuff in our songs, as
long as it won't change our personal musical identity. They don't let me
tell you what, you'll see....
9. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR LYRICS. WHICH
ARE THE THEMES THAT YOU MAINLY DEAL WITH? WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
We don't have stable or specific thematology,
we can be inspired from anything that attracts our interest and sounds
good. It can be either a fantastic story, the theme of a book or general
truths. It can be also a motivation to the listener to overcome the difficulties
of life. I can't say that we are inspired by themes as war, death ect.
at least not yet.
10. I REALLY LIKED YOUR COVER ARTWORK! SIMPLE
BUT EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL!! WILL THIS ONE BE ON THE OFFICIAL RELEASE AS WELL
OR IS IT JUST FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES? WHO HAS DRAWN IT? HAS IT GOT ANY
CONNECTIONS WITH THE ALBUM TITLE?
We are really happy to hear that! It was designed
by Jordan Lazarides and it's gonna be the official cover of the album.
As you can see it is directly connected with the album & song title,
showing the elf that is writing on the scroll the story that begins...
11. YOU HAD A DEAL WITH A GREEK METAL LABEL TO
RELEASE YOUR DEBUT ALBUM. HOWEVER I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE SOME IMPLICATIONS
AND PROBLEMS. SO, WHAT’S THE DEAL NOW? WILL THEY RELEASE IT AFTER ALL?
IF NOT, WHAT WILL YOU DO?
Yes our label has some problems which delayed
the release of the album. We hope that they will be surpassed and the "Story"
will be out soon. We can't do much since we are limited, because of the
contract, but this doesn't mean that we will stay with our hands crossed.
We are already in touch with many labels.
12. HAVE YOU GOT ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT
SHOULD THOSE ATTENDING IN YOUR LIVE SHOWS EXPECT TO SEE?
Of course we have after some live shows, we
are always in contact with booking agencies and our next confirmed appearence
is on the 25th of March, on the March Metal Day Fest, in Athens along with
Manowar, Rhapsody and other great bands. We will keep you informed if something
else will come up. The only sure thing is that our fans get the best of
ourselves in our shows!
13. WHAT DOES YOUR MUSIC STAND FOR? WHAT KIND
OF EMOTIONS OR THOUGHTS DO YOU WANT TO CREATE TO YOUR LISTENERS?
Our music is mostly hopeful, not depressing
and it makes you see the things from another point of view. Emotions can
be different from person to person. Tell me what you feel when you listen
to our music.
14. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO INVITE
FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR LIVE SHOWS. WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE
AND WHY?
It's every metalhead's dream to play with
Britney Spears!!! He he! Kidding of course! There are so many people we
would invite, every one of us would like to play next to his musical motivation
(Jimmy would definately invite M. Kiske, he would give his life to sing
next to him!!!). We have already contacted Kai Hansen to participate in
the recordings of one of our songs, waiting for him to end his world tour.
15.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THERE WAS NO MUSIC IN
THE WORLD? HOW WOULD YOU CHANNEL ALL YOUR CREATIVE ENERGY?
There couldn't be a world without music....
16.THANK YOU! THESE LINES ARE YOURS SO LEAVE YOUR
MESSAGE TO OUR READERS…
Thank you too Christine! We want to wish the
best to you and to every metalhead out there, a heavy new year and KEEP
THE METAL FLAME BURNING. See you on stage...
King Regards
Teo Savage
Christine Parastatidou
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