Former members, and other stuff:
Biography Reflections Revert was formed in September 1997 but became an active band in June 1998. The story goes like this: I had been into a metal band before called Ensemble and had lived the experience of being in a metal band, giving gigs, rehearse, write stuff etc. It was definately one of the most precious experiences I have ever lived. When my band split due to our studies I had since always wanted to get into the whole thing again. I never gave it much thought though. then I went to a metal concert in the town I live (Heraclion, Crete). There was a band playing and honestly, it was terrible... In Heraclion there is nothing going on around metal. Few metalheads, a dead scene and no interest at all. Metal bands are regarded as childish as the metalheads... The band I saw playing live although they have my greatest sympathy for doing what they like unfortunately supported this... I decided that day, that I am going to form a metal band that will do things right. That will play quality metal and show everyone that metal isnt what they think it is. To do this I had to bring members that would stand up to this. Now this was my first problem, because as I said Heraclion has few metalheads and even fewer musicians who like metal and even more few are the people who are serious about it. Only one place was certain. My friend Manolis Stagakis. I had known Manolis for quite sometime. I knew he was an excellent guitarist, a great song-writer and above all a true (with the serious meaning of the word) metalhead. I discussed it with him in September '97. It was something he really wanted too so we immediately agreed. That was it! The first hint of a band was formed! Next was finding members... Actually this took quite sometime and the credit goes to Manolis for finding them... I was in England studying computers and he was in Heraclion searching for the perfect people for the job. Nikos Tzortzakis is a guy we both hadn't met before. Actually he approached Manolis first! Without knowing anything about the band, they got together and jammed a bit and Manolis told him about what we wanted to do. Being a thirsty metalhead, Nikos joined immediately! Nikos, as me and Manolis had previous experience in band. Nikos used to play guitar for a band called Solemn Oath but the band had split shortly after they had recorded a 4-track demo. Now, the drummer vacancy was more difficult to fill, cause metal is a very demanding music as far as drums are concerned and Heraclion is as I hve said dry of musicians... Nikos saved us by suggesting Solemn Oath's former drummer Minas. I had never heard of Minas playing so we gave it a try. Both me and Manolis were very impressed by his playing, plus he had room for us to rehearse for free at the back of his house! For a bass player the truth is we had one for the job but he let us down and until this moment I write this Reflections Revert never had a stable bass player! Anyway! For a first name we used Furtive Revert, a name Manolis had in mind for years to use in a metal band. I liked the sound of it but not the meaning of it... We kept it for a bit but the night we discussed seriously about the name we decided Reflections Revert would be what our band shall be called. i will explain the meaning behind our name some other time... With the line-up of me (v), Manolis (g), Nikos (g) and Minas (d) we started rehearsing some songs Manolis had written in the past on his own. A little help from Nikos in the composition, some lyrics from me, arrangements from me and Manolis and beautiful drumming from Minas, the songs took their final shape by the end of the summer '98. We desperately wanted to record the songs cause Minas would soon leave for Athens to study and Nikos would leave for England for the same reason. With lots of hard work and determination we got into the studio in early September 98... Now I could write up a whole book about the problems and the difficulties we faced during the recording sessions. But I will not... We finished the mixing process in early December 98. This does not mean of course that we spent as much as 3 months in the studio just for 4 songs! We simply wrote the vocals, lead parts and keyboards very slowly... 2 hours at most a day in the studio because me and Manolis both work here at Heraclion during the day... The final product is not exactly what we hoped it would be but I can honestly say we are quite satisfied with it under the circumstances it was done. I think the sound of the demo is quite superior compared to other local bands I have heard from Greece and we did the whole thing (composing, rehearsing, recording, mixing) in less than four months! I know that our next work will be much more high in the quality field because now we have time for it and we know how to avoid mistakes we made in the past... Unfortunately, after recording the drum parts, Minas had to depart from the band because not only he had to study in Athens but basically because he wanted to concentrate on a progressive rock/metal band he now plays with. So here we are today, January '99, just about to release the mini-CD, empty pocketed and still short of a bassist and a drummer. But I tell you this. We still have the determination and the love for metal and you will soon be hearing from us again, I expect late April-May. Manolis and me have never stopped writing stuff (Manolis is a riff machine, take my word for it) and we are making our plans about our next strike... And that strike is going to be even harder! Metal On! January 21st, 1999 Vic Mailing Address: Manolis Stagakis Papagianni Skoula 7 71305 Heraclion, Crete Greece E-mail: [email protected]
