Orion's
Reign
Orion's Reign is a new
band and recently participated in the compilation "Greece Attacks - The
Next Assault" with an amazing composition. Taking this opportunity we thought
it was a great chance for us to have a talk with the band and introduce
it to the public. The band's drummer, Noel Kardaris, revealed many interesting
things for Orion's Reign and their future plans. Check out what he told
us...
1. WELL FIRST OF ALL SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST
TIME WE PRESENT YOU IN BEHIND THE VEIL EZINE, I THINK INTRODUCING YOURSELVES
AND ORION'S REIGN IN PUBLIC IS NECESSARY. PLEASE POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT
MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY UP TO NOW.
Hello and first of all thank you for this
interview. The band is active for almost 3 years now and we are together
with the current line up since 09/2003. The band began as a project between
myself Noel Kardaris(drums), Themis Katsimichas(guitars) and Haris Kostopoulos
(guitars) under the name "Defiance". The group stayed with this specific
line up for some time, working on already available song material by the
two mention above guitarists. All other members of the band come from magazine
ads and next to be filled in to our line up was Kostas Porfyris under the
Bass interests. We stayed like that for quite some time and the line up
changes during the autumn of 2003 with Haris going off for personal reasons
and the welcome of two brand new members Michael Batistatos (guitars) and
Kyriakos Gazouleas (keys). The band changes its name due to another existed
band under the name defiance. The band enters the GREECE ATTACKS II competition
with the song "Steel Horizons" and apart from that release two more demos
made available for promotional use. One of those is the one I sent you
entitled "The guiding Light" with the participation of a session vocalist(Giorgos
Likakis). Future plans are the recordings of a full length demo and the
quest of signing to a Label.
2. YOU ARE A NEW BAND, HOWEVER YOU SUFFERED MANY
LINE UP CHANGES. WHY? WHICH ARE THE REASONS THAT DON'T ALLOW YOU TO FORM
A STABLE LINE UP AND DEDICATE YOURSELVES TO YOUR MUSIC?
Well to start with we are a democratic band.
That means that something to be played and recorded has to be accepted
from all the members. During our time together we are working in such way
so nobody is left unsatisfied and I think that this kind of relationship
is the most important aspect in a group. Things like that show that we
are dedicated to our music but as set of musicians. The only line up change
is our first guitarist which is not actually a change, because he still
writes songs for the band and he is considered as a hidden member. All
the other musicians played with the band are session or tested musicians.
3. PLEASE FILL US IN ON THE BAND RELEASES. HOW
MANY DEMOS-PROMOS HAVE YOU RELEASED? COULD YOU PIN POINT THE MOST IMPORTANT
DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES AMONG THEM?
The band has released two promos; "Sound &
Vision Promo" which had been sent to some record labels and zines but its
actual existence was the Greece Attacks II competition. The promo had some
fair enough reviews and all spare copies were sold straight to fans in
a surprising for us short period of time. Second release is "the guiding
light" - the one you will shortly have in your hands- including the two
instrumental songs and another one with the vocaling help of Giorgos Likakis.
Apart from those two personal releases there is also our attendance to
Greece Attacks II.
4. I THINK YOU ARE VERY SKILLFUL MUSICIANS AND
I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE TO BE VERY CONFIDENT OF YOUR MUSIC AND
HAVE A REALLY GOOD COMPOSITION IN ORDER TO RELEASE INSTRUMENTAL SONGS.
DON'T YOU THINK INSTRUMENTAL SONGS ARE MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE THERE IS
NO VOICE TO "HIDE" THE MISTAKES OR SAVE THE DAY?
Thank you very much. From our point of view
the vocalist is the member who does the most important job in the group.
If we are talented or skillful he has to be twice talented than us. Instrumental
compositions are more difficult indeed and to keep the attention of the
listener focused is quite hard without the existence of any vocal line.
For my humble opinion the voice is the most characterized element in a
band which doesn't cover the music, just brings it to its limits.
5. SO, HAVE YOU FOUND A VOCALIST OR NOT YET? WHY
IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO FIND A SINGER? ARE YOU OVER DEMANDING PERHAPS?
I can't say for sure if we can call ourselves
demanding or not, but it might be the right word to use. We have experienced
rehearsals with very good singers, very hardworking persons but they were
not the type we originally had in our minds. No we have not got a stable
person for the position yet but our needs are: a voice to touch some high
notes and a good English accent. Whoever is interested be free to get in
touch with us at [email protected]
6. IF A METALLER CAME ASKING YOU TO DESCRIBE YOUR
MUSICAL SOUND, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? TRY TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE
AND PLEASE ALSO MENTION SOME OF THE BANDS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED YOU.
We play power metal with lots of heavy metal
sounds and riffs. We are trying to be as melodic as possible so the best
tab might be Heavy-Power metal. Every single person of the band comes from
different backgrounds with different musical influences. We may find similarities
to Iron maiden, Helloween, Stratovarious, Rhapsody and generally the German
power metal scene.
7. YOU PARTICIPATED IN THE SOUND AND VISION COMPILATION
"GREECE ATTACKS - THE NEXT ASSAULT". HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? DID YOU OR THE
LABEL SELECT THE SONG? PLEASE TELL US BRIEFLY HOW EVERYTHING HAPPENED?
We just saw the competition one day and we
said "why not?". We recorded two instrumental songs in two weeks time and
we tried our luck. It was up to the label which song was to be put in the
compilation. I just want to point that the deadlines where closed and the
result although was not bad, it was not the desired one. We might record
the songs again in the future although people seemed to like them.
8. WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE AND WHAT
DO YOU DREAM AND HOPE FOR ORION'S REIGN?
Although we where playing to satisfy our personal
needs in the first place, it would be good and we are willing to be an
active band in the present Hellenic metal scene. Every member though has
his personal unique dreams for the band and I am sure about it.
9. HAVE YOU SENT YOUR PROMOS TO ANY LABELS? WHAT
KIND OF FEEDBACK HAVE YOU RECEIVED? ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH IT?
We have sent some material but we haven't
focused ourselves on that matter so strongly. First priority is to find
the right voice for the group. I think no record label wants a band with
no stable members under its disposal.
10. BY THE WAY, HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY COMMENTS
FROM THE METALLERS THAT HAVE LISTENED TO THE GREECE ATTACKS COMPILATION?
WHAT DID THEY TELL YOU?
Most of the feedback we get is better than
we expected and I want to thank everybody who has written something nice
in a zine, a review or even to our guestbook. I think that is the most
important thing for a band, it gives us life and will.
11. WHAT IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHAT'S
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? IN WHAT FIELD DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
It is hard to criticize our music because
if we were thinking that something doesn't seem right we would have changed
it for sure. I admire though the absence of self promotion in the songs
by any member of the band although I think that every single member has
to live some space for self improvisation. If could change something in
the present scene it would be the production of the songs. It is a pitfall
for most of the groups.
12. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN TO ORION'S REIGN
AFTER YOUR PARTICIPATION TO THIS COMPILATION?
It was a good chance for promotion and that
only. Some people are aware of us right now, it is up to us to give the
right impression for once more and climb higher towards our goals.
13. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? CAN
YOU DESCRIBE HOW YOU'D LIKE AN ORION'S REIGN LIVE SHOW TO BE, IF YOU HAD
THE PROPER AMOUNT OF MONEY?
We have some plans for live shows but no dates
have been confirmed. After our participation to the compilation we have
some propositions to play in several places around Greece. We are working
on that factor and we are trying to keep all doors open... as I told of
course we need a singer to do all that.
14. IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE
IN YOUR ALBUM OR AT LEAST IN ONE OF YOUR LIVE SHOWS, WHO WOULD YOU INVITE
AND WHY?
I think that like every other power metal
band an unreachable dream is to play with Michael Kiske; Tobias Sammet
and Ville Vallo are my inner desires. Apart from foreigner famous musicians
though it would be nice to point out some Greek musician that came to our
attention lately. It would be nice to play sometime with Theodoros Ziras
or the singer of Emerald Sun who I am not aware of his name.
15. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Nice question!!!! As a musician I should say
"hearing" but I would say "sight", it is the most valuable emotion as valuable
is our music to us. If it was a painting it would be surely something epic
with loads and loads of bright colours.
16. WHICH EMOTIONS LACK FROM YOUR MUSIC AND YOU'D
LIKE TO ADD THEM IN THE FUTURE? ARE THERE ANY OTHER ELEMENTS YOU'D LIKE
TO EXPERIMENT WITH?
Although the basic idea for each song comes
from a specific person at each time, the outcome is a result of us all.
It is simply Orion's Reign and it is a mixture of each person's emotions.
I can't think of something we are missing but it would be nice to add a
violin in our dynamic.
17. WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK CAN DESCRIBE YOUR
MUSIC AND ORION'S REIGN'S ESSENCE THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY?
Melody, Fantasy, Dragons, Epic, Will, Speed.
18. IF YOU COULD BE A HISTORICAL PERSONALITY FOR
A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE AND WHAT PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE WOULD
YOU LIKE TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
Alexander the great or to make it more interesting
as a band it would be iron Maiden at 1993 at live at Donington.
19. THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE TO THE READERS
AND TO THE METALLERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD?
Support the metal scene and give a chance
to each upcoming group to leave its unique mark to our metal hearts. Hold
up to metal!!!
Christine Parastatidou
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