Phantom-X
Phantom-X is a new band
consisting of some veterans in the metal scene and a while ago they released
their debut album with the title "Rise Of The Phantom", having as their
goals to create good and interesting music and to help towards the revival
of the glorious 80s classic heavy metal. Let's see what Kevin, the band's
singer told us about the band and their future plans...
1. HI KEVIN! FIRST OF ALL MY SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS
ON “RISE OF THE PHANTOM”! HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT AFTER SOME MONTHS FROM
ITS RELEASE DATE?
Hello Christine. Good to hear from you again.
Thank you very much for your congratulations. We are receiving great reviews
and the album was ranked #7 in Heavy Magazine, so we feel good that people
are enjoying it and giving it a chance.
2. LIKE I WROTE IN MY REVIEW, IF I HADN’T LOOKED
AT THE RELEASE DATE OF THE ALBUM, I WOULD HAVE BET MY HEAD THAT “RISE OF
THE PHANTOM” IS A CLASSIC DIAMOND RELEASED BACK IN THE 80S. HOW IS THIS
POSSIBLE? I MEAN TO REVIVE THIS EERIE AURA AND ATMOSPHERE AND YET MANAGE
TO CREATE FRESH COMPOSITIONS?
Thank you for the compliments. This is exactly
what we were going for with this CD. We wanted to be fresh but at the same
time let our influences from the classics come through. We all 4 come from
the metal scene, but have leaned towards different types of metal. So when
we meshed together, this is just what came out. hahaha
3. WHAT KIND OF PROCEDURE DO YOU FOLLOW WHILST
COMPOSING THE SONGS? IS IT A GROUP WORK OR IS IT ONE MAN’S JOB?
PHANTOM-X is definitely a group effort. One
person will come in with a riff or idea and then we all start throwing
out ideas until we feel the song arrangement is exactly where it needs
to be.
4. NEEDLESS TO SAY THAT YOUR INTERPRETATION IS
SIMPLY BREATHTAKING WITH ITS PASSION AND MIGHT. WHAT DO YOU THINK OR FEEL
WHILST SINGING THE SONGS? HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE THIS PERFECT FEEL AND AESTHETICS
FOR EACH SONG?
Thank you. I try to live in the story of the
song when I am singing it. I try to never just sing the words. To me, the
whole feel of a song is the emotion portrayed whether it comes through
the vocals or even the wail of the guitar.
5. MOREOVER, 2 OF THE GREATEST METAL MUSICIANS
APPEAR AS GUESTS AND I MEAN ROB LOWE OF SOLITUDE AETURNUS AND JASON MCMASTER
OF WATCHTOWER. HOW DID THESE COOPERATIONS TAKE PLACE?
I am friends with both Rob and Jason. They
both live fairly close to where PHANTOM-X lives. We wanted to make a good
impression with our first release and we wanted to reach as many people
as possible, so I called on my friends and fellow metal musicians to ask
if they wanted to contribute their styles to those particular songs. We
all had a lot of fun with it.
6. DO THEY INTERPRET SPECIFIC ROLES DIFFERENT
FROM YOURS?
I think we interpret the roles the same way.
We just tried to have a good time and make something great.
7. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE COVER ARTWORK
WHICH IS INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL. WHOSE IDEA WAS IT AND PLEASE DESCRIBE IT
FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET.
Well, hahahah, I actually have to credit our
record label for the album cover. We had something different picked out,
but the artist he hired came up with what was released. The cover is a
demon overlooking ruins. The demon is our PHANTOM before he finds the mask
that empowers him.
8. IF YOU WERE ASKED TO WRITE A REVIEW ON “RISE
OF THE PHANTOM” WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
WHICH ARE YOUR FAVORITE SONGS FROM THE ALBUM?
Hahaha..Ohhhh…that is a hard one. Every musician
wants to think that their music is just the most amazing music every heard.
Hahah..So being objective would be very hard. I can say that it is a great
bunch of songs that are all each their own and the production is very well
done. My personal favorites are Rise of the Phantom, Enchanted, and Metal
Warrior. I think we all have our own favorites for different reasons.
9. GIVE US SOME REASONS WHY THOSE THAT HAVEN’T
LISTENED TO YOUR ALBUM SHOULD CHECK YOU OUT. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE
TO OFFER TO THE CONTEMPORARY METAL SCENE?
I would hope people would give it a listen.
We have something on the CD for everyone. The headbanging songs, the more
doom metal songs, the classic and traditional songs, the ballad... it’s
all there. As far as the contemporary metal scene, I feel the tides are
turning and the more traditional types of metal are coming back and going
to get a chance to shine again. Maybe this is just my hopes, but I truly
feel like it is time. I hope that all of the bands similar to PHANTOM-X
will get a chance to show the kids of today what it was like back in the
day!
10. CONTINUING ON THE SAME MOOD, I’D LIKE YOU
TO TELL ME WHAT’S ACCORDING TO YOU THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART IN
YOUR MUSIC? ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH IN THE FUTURE?
You know, the funny thing is... Every CD has
what we call “filler songs”. These are the songs that weren’t your best,
but they made the CD. Usually the fans have certain songs they love as
a whole and the others they like, but just not as passionate. We get letters
all the time from fans all over the world and they tell us which song is
their favorite and the interesting thing is, everyone has such a different
favorite for so many different reasons. For instance, a lot of people have
said they like, “Rise of the Phantom”, we have a huge base that likes “Metal
Warrior”, then we have the people who like “Pain Machine”, others who like
“Enchanted” and so on and so on…I like hearing which song is someone’s
favorite and their reasons for it...It is very interesting.
11. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE LYRICS OF THE
ALBUM. WHICH ARE THE TOPICS YOU MAINLY DEAL WITH?
I enjoy science fiction and horror movies,
songs, etc. So those styles tend to come out in my lyrics. We included
songs as part of a concept as well on the first release and will release
other chapters of the concept on the next release and so on until the full
story is complete.
12. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE TO SIGN TO MAUSOLEUM? HAVE
THEY GOT A GOOD DISTRIBUTION? ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THEM?
We chose Mausoleum because I have worked with
them in the past. We would like better distribution.I feel this is very
important. It is fairly easy to find our CD on the internet, but I would
love for our fans to be able to walk into any CD store and pick up the
CD.
13. WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THIS
RELEASE AND THE BAND IN GENERAL? HAVE YOU BOOKED ANY LIVE SHOWS? WILL YOU
APPEAR IN A FESTIVAL PERHAPS?
We actually just toured with ANVIL in November
2005. We are working on the 2nd release now and will begin recording next
month. It is scheduled to be released the first week of September and PHANTOM-X
will go back on the road and do more European dates at that time as well.
We are actually touring together with OMEN and will be doing several Greece
dates, as well as playing Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland,
and more.
14. IS PHANTOM-X A FULL TIME BAND OR IS IT MORE
OF A PROJECT FOR YOUR FREE TIME?
PHANTOM-X is definitely a full time band.
We have high visions for what we hope to make of this band, so we do all
put full efforts into PHANTOM-X. I would love nothing more than to see
PHANTOM-X end up a headliner at these great European festivals some day.
15. WHAT DOES PHANTOM-X’S MUSIC STAND FOR? WHAT
DO YOU FEEL AND THINK WHEN YOU LISTEN TO “RISE OF THE PHANTOM”?
We all feel much pride when we listen to “Rise
of the Phantom”. It was a lot of blood, sweat, and heart that went into
that CD. To us, our music stands for true metal. We feel that metal in
the styles of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest is ready to come back into the
mainstream. We hope we can help push that along and be a part of metal
history.
16. BY THE WAY, HOW AND WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND
PHANTOM-X? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
The demon, PHANTOM-X is our mascot. We conjured
him up and put a story with him. The story can be heard in the chapters
on the releases.
17. THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE
TO SAY TO THE METALLERS OUT THERE?
I want all the metallers out there to look
at each band member and see what I see. I see a flashy and in your face
mad man guitarist in Eric, I see a solid drummer with thunderous beats
in Danny, and I see a great performer and one of the best bassists I have
ever worked with in Glenn. I think together we make a great team and have
a lot to offer fans of traditional/power metal. Join us!
www.phantom-x.net
www.myspace.com/phantomxmetal
Christine Parastatidou
|