• Battleroar might be right now the best epic metal band Greece has. They have a strong underground feeling, which means that they play the music they like and they will make no compromises, in order to sign to a big label. This is how the true artist are and act. they don't make compromises for their visions. This is a band that has nothing to be jealous of the great epic metal monsters.

• NICK:In September 2000 we made this band and from that point on we released in March 2001 our first promo containing 5 songs. It was mainly a rehearsal recording. Later on comes our second release which is the 7'' in March 2002.
• KOSTAS:The band started like this...One knew the other and so on. The band was founded by Nick papadopoulos, Manolis Karazeris, O Vaggelis Krouskas came a month later, Christos Remoundos and me, Kostas Tzortzis. So were became friends and started playing and practising from one house to another and we realised that we could actually do something. We started as a banch of friends who gathered to drink some coffee, discuss and play music. we played the music we like to listen to.

2.HOW HAVE YOU SELECTED THIS BAND NAME? DOES IT HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING FOR YOU?

• KOSTAS:Our previous bass player Christos Remoundos came along with that name. We have changed two members. He took the name from a HEAVY LOAD track "Singing Swords" which says in the lyrics "I love the Battleroar". He put it nicely, the roar of the battle. It came as an inspiration to him and he said "Hey! This is it!" and we all agreed.

3.YOU JUST MENTIONED ABOVE ABOUT SOME LINE UP CHANGES. CAN YOU TELL ME SOMETHING MORE?

• NICK: In May 2002 the singer and bass player left the band and now we have two new members. One of them is Fotis Anagnostoy (Casus Belli) and we have an Italian singer Marco Concorezzi.

4.HAS YOUR SINGER SUNG IN AN OTHER BAND PREVIOUSLY?

• KOSTAS:Look, his past activities was an one man band, HYRKANIAN BLADE, were he composed some ideas and writing them in his computer. He used to compose songs in our style. Now, about his voice...many say that it reminds them of bands like ADRAMELCH, DOOMSWORD, WOTAN but he has his personal style. He is involved with vocal lessons for quite many years now.

5.TELL US SOME THINGS FOR YOUR 7'', WHICH CONTAINS 2 DEMO SONGS. IS IT SELF FINANCED?

• KOSTAS:A full rprcedure took place. Itwasn't just a simple rehearsal. We used many channels. Yes, it's self financed.
• NICK:The songs in this 7'' are the way we wanted them to be in the first place. Now you can listen to everything.
• KOSTAS: This is what we wanted to release. The studio helped us a lot with 2 very good friends of ours, who owe it.

6.HOW DID THE PRESS RECEIVE THIS 7''? WHICH WERE THE REACTIONS?

• NICK:The reactions were very very good and encouraging.
• KOSTAS:We haven't yet had a bad review. Metal Hammer review made by Tolis Palatzas gave us a good mark and besides that the fans seemed to like it. They are the ones that stay by your side.

7.NOW LET ME GO THE THE LIVE YOU PERFORMED SUPPORTING OMEN. I DIDN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE A GREEK ABND. YOU HAVE PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE AND YOU SEEM TO REALLY ENJOY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

• KOSTAS:Thank you! I'd say what Kenny Powel (OMEN) said "It's a matter of attitude". To be honest I was in a hurry to finish playing and go down to see OMEN perform live. Do you understand me? If you have this feeling that you are above all a fan, then it's different. And to be honest we didn't play under the best possible conditions. We had problems, but we forgot all about it when we got on stage. The reactions of the fans is an amazing feeling.

8.HOW DID YOU FEEL HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO PLAY WITH 2 HEAVY METAL MONSTERS BROCAS HELM AND OMEN? WHICH WERE YOUR FEELINGS/THOUGHTS?

• NIKOS:It's not a matter of being nervous. We adore these bands and respect them above all.
• KOSTAS:From a point on you realise it. the first realisation came when we saw the posters with our name on. If we go back a few years we wished to have one day the chance to see those bands perform live and here comes the moment that we don't only see them play live but we also support them. It was a huge thing for us! Brocas Helm have never ever before played live outside their country. The only live outside San Fransisco was here in Greece.

9.WHAT DID THESE BANDS SAY FOR YOUR PERFORMANCE AFTERWARDS? BROCAS HELM TOLD TO AN EZINE THAT THEY LIKED YOU VERY MUCH.

• KOSTAS:Hahahahhaha...I will check it out! If you visit their site you'll be able to see some photos and you will be able to understand what a great time we had outside the club. It's a matter of humans. From a point on we stopped thinking of them as a way to obtain some famacity but we said, hey lokk how amazing this is being together with them and having fun!. Both BROCAS HELM and OMEN said good things to us. When Brocas Helm were asked about it they said that Battleroar was the band they liked the most among the other also playing that day.

10.THE BIG LABELS DON'T SIGN EPIC METAL BANDS. WHY DO YOU THINK?

• NIKOS:Believe me this is the last thing that interests us. We play what we like.
• KOSTAS:You are right! the big labels don't sign epic metal bands. I think cause these bands have a specific audience and the labels have big expectations. If they for example believe that we will sell 10.000 cd's, they will lose. We simply love what we do and we are not after the big labels actually.

11.YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH RAGING STORM...

• KOSTAS: Hahahahahha!With who? Thos dirty dogs!!!(laughter!)

• NICK:Personally I like it a lot!
• KOSTAS:Me too. This ios not a secret.

12.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM? DO YOU WRITE FOR REAL OR IMAGINARY EPIC BATTLES?

• KOSTAS:We all write lyrics more or less, but mainly lyrics were written by Vaggel;is our former singer and me. But we all added to a theme. Regarding our thematology, is mainly moving in epic stories and novels. But nothing in specific. There is only one song of ours written for a specific theme and this is inspired by a R. Howard book entitled "Almurik". "Morituri De Salutant" is talking about the situation the gladiators had to face in ancient Rome, their psychology before and in the arena.

13.HOWEVER BESIDES MANILLA ROAD THAT YOU MENTION AMONG YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCES I ALSO FOUND IN YOUR 7'' SOME RUNNING WILD IINFLUENCES AS WELL.

• KOSTAS:Personally I am a big Running Wild fan and as I know Nick too. Eeemm..you play what you listen to.

14.NOW SOMETHING OUTSIDE MUSIC. DO YOU PREFER CONAN OR LORD OF THE RINGS?

• KOSTAS:Hahahahhaha!Do you know what you aske me now??? This is very difficult...Since I was a kid I used to involve with epic thematology. We are takling for 2 completely different worlds here. In Conan the collision between good and evil is not that straight, which means that in the same character we can find good and bad elements, and on the other hand Lord Of The Rings is better set as a background, as a story. There are two different things that if you get in the procedure of comparing them, I think you'll be confused.

15.WHAT DON'T YOU LIKE IN THE GREEK METAL SCENE AND YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?

• KOSTAS:Let Nick speak about it, cause he likes talking about it more.
• NICK:There is no support among the bands and there are many times that one bands tries to harm another. Things are a little better now.

16.DO YOU CO-OPERATE WITH DRAGONKNIGHT AGENCY?

• KOSTAS:Yes...you can say that!They support us.

17.ARE YOU IN FAVOR OR AGAINST THE USE OF MP3?

• KOSTAS:Mp3's are good up to a point. I don't agree of course with the bands that put only a small sample, for example half a minute of their work. If you put a song put it all. This will help you more. Someone will play your song to a friend of his to listen to it all and not just a half minute sample.
• NICK:Mp3's give the chance to eevryone to listen to a band's work, but only if the band has agreed to put a song online.

18.WHICH ARE YOUR 5 ALL TIME CLASSICS ALBUMS?

• KOSTAS:Hahahhaha...Seperately? 5 most beloved albums? We have done long long talks about that. Nick tyou say...
• NICK:OMEN "Battle Cry", MANNILA ROAD "Deluge", JAG PANZER "Ample Destruction" amd BROCAS HELM "Black Death".
• KOSTAS:I can't really tell you. This is a hard question. What should I say? For sure BATHORY "Twilight Of The Gods", RUNNING WILD "Death Or Glory", MANILLA ROAD "Open The Gates", BOLT THROWER "For Victory" and...what can I say? You tell the fifth one...Ok! DOOMSWORD's debut album.

19.THANK YOU!LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE...

• KOSTAS:What can I say? I wish all the webzines helped the Greek scene like you do. We need it. We will soon meet and drink a coupe of beers! Thanks for everything Nick!