HEDON CRIES
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If you belong
to the category of people who are able to find pleasure even in their darkest
feelings or in their melancholic wanderings then this is a band you should
check out. Hedon Cries come to awaken dark emotions and I think this is
the most important thing to do. After all music is essence, music is the
ultimate emotion...
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1.GIVE US A BRIEF BAND BIO AND INTRODUCE
THE BAND MEMBERS TO THE READERS.
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Hedon Cries formed back in 2001 and
from that period we have some line-up changes.For several personal reasons
Prokopis(vocals), George(guitar) and Stathis(drums) left the band and from
then up till now the band has a stable line up with Christopher on guitars,
Andrew on vocals, Gregory on bass guitar, Efthimis on drums and some session
musicians for our live performances.
2.NAME SOME OF THE BANDS INFLUENCES
AND SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS.
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Some of our favourite bands are Dark
Tranquillity, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Saturnus, Paradise Lost, Green
Carnation, At The Gates and whatever is able to emit you dark and hopeless
feelings. Some of our most beloved albums are "The Angel And The Dark River"-M.D.B.,
"The Gallery"-Dark Tranquillity, "The Silent Enigma" - Anathema, "Draconian
Times"-Paradise Lost and many others but from the bands above each one
of their albums is tremendous to me.
3.RECENTLY YOU RELEASED FROM SLEASZY
RIDER RECORDS YOUR DEBUT CD. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT (WHERE WAS IT
RECORDED, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU, WHO WAS THE PRODUCER, ETC.). ARE YOU
STILL SATISFIED WITH IT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?
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"Hate Into Grief" recorded August 2002
at Praxis Studio with Lambros Sfiris as producer and it took us about 2
weeks to finalize it. Of course we are still satisfied with our debut album.
We look forward to getting improved in every single album of ours and this
happens with the experiences we obtain from each one.
4.CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT THE COVER ARTWORK
REPRESENTS AND WHICH IS THE CONNECTION WITH THE LYRICS?
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I think each of our listeners is able
to see it with their own point of view depending their mood and personality.
Basically it represents an ocean of emotions we hide deep inside our souls
and the broken window represents a fury exposure when these emotions "cover"
us. Lyrics are also considering these emotions and so their connection
with the cover is more than clear.
5.WHERE DO YOUR LYRICS MAINLY REFER
AT? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS?
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As I said before most of our lyrics
are about emotions we feel in several periods of our lives. Humanity requests
its own destruction. We can all make it clear every single day with all
these things that happen to this world. The only emotions we can feel watching
this situation can be nothing else but negative ones and we try to connect
them to our music in the form of lyrics.
6.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS? HOW
IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IS FOR A BAND TO PERFORM LIVE? HOW DID YOU FEEL
THE FIRST TIME YOU GOT ON STAGE? WHICH BAND WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUPPORT?
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We have several live shows along with
bands such as Deviser, Obsecration and many others in some festivals
in Athens and Patra and some shows where we played alone. I think performing
a live show is very important for every band because this way you come
closer to your listeners and it is majestic to be able to express your
feelings on the stage. The first live show for me with Hedon Cries was
not anything special in matters of anxiety and things like that because,not
only me but also all the other members, had a long history in many other
bands and had performed many live appearances in the past.The ideal
live show for us would be a festival with MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA, DARK
TRANQUILLITY and SATURNUS.
7. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A FAN TO CONVINCE
HIM TO BUY YOUR RELEASE INSTEAD OF SOMETHING ELSE? WHICH DO
YOU THINK IS YOUR STRONGEST POINT AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU NEED
FURTHER IMPROVEMENT?
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I believe that with our music we express
basically 2 feelings and these are hate and grief. And we express them
in a strong way I think. If these emotions represent some of the lovers
of our music "Hate Into Grief" is an album they must have. This is also
the strongest point in our music and the ability to transfer it on stage.
As time passes by we will be able to notice where we need improvement and
we also expect from our listeners to point us out the parts they
thing we must improve.
8. SO, AFTER ALL IS PLEASURE GREATER
THAN THE PAIN AND LOSS WE FEEL?
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Pleasure, pain and loss are feelings
that come one after other and it is way too difficult to say which one
is greater. We feel them all the time and they are parts of our lives.
They are the strongest feelings a man can feel and because
of this they have a place deep in our souls.
9. IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE?
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"Hate Into Grief"!!! That's all...
10. WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS
BLOODY AND CATASTROPHIC WAR AGAINST IRAQ?
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As I said before humanity is requesting
hard its own destruction and many times they make feel abhorrence for everything
around me. The great powers of our world are only consider about their
own gain and this will lead us to tremendous consequences.
11. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE
CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD
YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?
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I do not know if it is "him" or "her"
but what I would like to ask is why we were created by the time most of
us want to destroy each other...Nevertheless, I don't believe in a creature
like that...
12. WHICH IS MAN’S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?
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People, not only nowadays, want to
gain as more money they can and gennerally whatever can make them feel
more important and of a higher class. That's why they don't care about
other people's rights and harm them for their own gain.
13. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL IN TIME WHICH
HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST
FROM OUR TIMES?
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I would like to travel back in many
periods of our history and with the knowledge I would collect from all
this periods I could be something like a god in our times!!!
14.WHICH SONG OF YOURS DO YOU THINK
IS THE MOST IDEAL TO REPRESENT YOUR WORK? WHICH ONE WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE
A VIDEO CLIP AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
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I cannot stand out a track of ours
because each one of them is a part of myself and I adore them all the same
way. But I think that the most appropriate track for a video clip would
be "My Hedon Cries" which is more easy-listening to the listener. If we
ever make a video clip I would choose one of our new songs because they
do exist and are far better than the ones of our debut.
15. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS
INTERVIEW TO HAVE?
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"The pleasure of the melancholic art"...
16. THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE...
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Thanks too. I wish the best for your
e-zine and be always full of strong emotions!!!
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Bye, Christopher
Christine Parastatidou