PLAYTHING
Plaything is the kind of
band that gives a strong headache to all those who will try to deeply understand
their music and its extensions. However, once you get into the trip, you
are pleasantly consumed little by little. Plaything also aren’t and can’t
be labelled under any specific genre. The only branch that suits them is
the one of unconventional and original music. I think I said too much,
so here we have Tryfon and Evangellos clearing out the essence of their
band and their music.
1. FIRST OF ALL POINT OUT THE MOST
IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE
READERS
Tryfon: Well, being a new band,
probably the most important moment was when I and Evangellos met. After
that, and after many line up changes, we managed to record our first demo
under many non-pleasant incidents. Another important moment is that our
track "TAKE" will participate in Sound & Vision's "Greece Attacks -
the next assault collection”, to be released late January.
Our line up at this moment is:
Tryfon Lazos: Guitars, Vocals
Evangellos Vasilakos: Guitars
Stefanos Koranakis: Bass
Nikos Kontogiannis: Drums
2. WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND PLAYTHING?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE PLAYTHINGS? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST
BY NAMING THE BAND THIS WAY?
Tryfon: I think you’ve got that
correctly. Plaything refers to the situation of humans being manipulated.
Humans being playthings to some people’s hands. These hands could be your
government's, your girlfriend’s, your boyfriend’s, your father’s etc… That
is also what our lyrics are all about. About this whole manipulating game
that is going on in every part of our lives. I mean it is obvious what
is happening nowadays. You know, you’ve got to believe or reject the same
things as every one else, you must protest against everything they would
like you to, or accept everything they like you to. You’ve even got to
smell the way they want you to… They tell you what to dream and then when
your dreams don’t fit any longer you are becoming dispensable and useless.
The worst thing is when some people want to be used and feel satisfied
when what happens. The bottom line is that regardless whether you like
it or not you are a part of this game. The thing that matters is
whether you do realise it. And if you do so, what are you doing about it.
We decided to write music and express our thoughts and feelings for this
matter. I think that everyone has felt sometimes being manipulated. This
is the feeling that grows out from our music and lyrics… And after all
we are things that play music. So Plaything is a very suitable name?. Also
it is a name that doesn’t limit the way the music is going to be.
Evangellos: We all sometimes feel
like plaything. Some want to, some others don’t. It is a state of need.
Sometimes it is good to fall low and touch the bottom. It is complicated
and difficult to explain what “plaything” means for me. If I believe
that human beings are plaything? In a way… Imagine that people live in
a big, dark, filthy hall, and they enjoying it and be happy about it. As
for us… We are surely things that play…
3. PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOU WOULD DESCRIBE
YOUR MUSICAL STYLE? IT DOESN’T FIT TO A SPECIFIC GENRE BUT LET'S TRY TO
MAKE THE READERS REALIZE A BIT WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. DO YOU AGREE
WITH MY REVIEW? THAT YOU ARE A HEAVY DOOM AND OBSCURE BAND? WHICH ARE YOUR
INFLUENCES? NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS AND ALBUMS.
Tryfon: It is difficult to describe
our music. All the reviews we have received are different from each other
about the style of music we play. Some people claim that we play Alternative,
others that we play heavy Rock or Doom-NU metal. We even heard that we
play New Age. Even we can't put a label in our music. I think it is only
Rock. Rock with heavier guitars… We all listen to different things and
try to put them together in our own way. For example my favourite bands
are: Tool, Metallica, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, System of a Down, Pantera,
Korn, Radiohead, Loreena McKennitt, Queens of the Stone Age, Placebo, Tea
Party, Audioslave, Enigma, Sting…And some of my favourite albums are: Master
of Puppets (of course), …And Justice for all, Load, Reload, Aenima, Lateralus,
Californication, Songs for the deaf, The mask and the mirror, The book
of secrets, Toxicity, Far beyond driven, The great southern trendkill,
The Bends, Ok Computer…
Evangellos: Well through the years
I have listened to all kinds of metal.Now I am more into Folk, Dark Wave,
Industrial Metal, NU Metal, Rock, Dark electro, Industrial, Noise... Some
of the bands I listen to more are: Marilyn Manson, Die Form, White/Rob
Zombie, Wumpscut, Sopor Aeternus, Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim, Clan
of Xymox, Hypnoscull, Rammstein...But I don't think that all these influences
are obvious in our songs. I think that wherever there is a guitar and the
right feeling it is Rock' n Roll.
Tryfon: About your review now, it
is obvious that you have listened carefully to our material and it fits
well. It is probably the most appropriate we’ve had so far. Except for
the Bands part, I think.
Evangellos: I don't think
we are a heavy doom band. It depends… Everyone classifies us coincidently
with bands from the music he listens to the most.
Tryfon: I am not sure anymore if
we are not some kind of Doom band cause I have heard this opinion from
many people?.
4. TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE RECORDINGS
OF YOUR DEMO. ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT? IS THERE ANYTHING
YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
Tryfon: The recordings took place
into “Esoteron” Studio between 20/06/2003 and 14/07/2003. I am not very
satisfied with the result. The whole production is not very good and what
we expected it to be. I mean I do like the songs very much but I think
the production could have been in better levels. It all happened very quickly,
in less than 30 hours. I think we could achieve a much better production,
able to reveal all the emotions that our music has. So I would probably
change the production in some parts, perform mastering (listening to “producer’s”
advises, we didn’t do this), and correct some mistakes that I have done
in the vocals section. You see we had very limited resources, which resulted
to limited time that could be spent in the studio, so almost everything
had to be done in one shot. Almost every mistake stayed in. But you know
it is only our first demo. It shows only a little part of what we want
to create and express.
Evangellos: It was difficult and
fast. I am not very satisfied and I look forward to record a second demo.
If I could, I would record it again from the beginning. Now we are more
mature in the whole recording procedure.
5. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR A BAND BEING
RESPONSIBLE OF EVERY SINGLE DETAIL? THE ARTWORK IS SIMPLE BUT VERY SUITABLE
TO WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO. WHICH ARE YOUR GOALS IN GENERAL WITH THIS
RELEASE?
Tryfon: It is difficult but also
very important and interesting. It is a good thing that we have control
over everything that has to do with our band and our music. But there is
another parameter. If you do everything on your own you can’t go as far
as you probably would with the right help. For example our budget is limited.
And, of course, our knowledge of the whole production procedure. We are
not producers. So with the right producer and the right budget probably
the final result would be a good one. Another example is the manager thing
etc… The artwork is simple. I believe that the hardest thing is simplicity.
That is also what we are trying to do with our music. Play simple and essential.
Our goal with this demo release is to find a suitable record label that
will give us the opportunity and the help we need so our music will obtain
the dimension and quality we want it to.
Evangellos: Yes it is very difficult
indeed. And especially for us that was never on our side. Our goal is a
contract, and to make this band not just a hobby but a way of living.
6. WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING
TO AND HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY FOR YOU? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE
LYRICS?
Tryfon: Lyrics are as important
as the music. It is all about expression. I can’t sing something that I
don’t feel. Even more, I can’t write about something that I do not feel
like it. It is the same as with the music. I believe that a very good music
can be ruined by some very bad lyrics. What inspires us to write are things
that go on around us or in our lives, things like those I mentioned previously
in your second question. And that is what our lyrics refer to. Situations
going on around us that we feel are worthy of mentioning…In our own way…
Evangellos: My lyrics are referring
to and inspired by personal experiences. Things that I feel and think.
It’s very important to me (even if Tryfon doesn’t sing them?) because I
leave all bad memories and scary thoughts in the paper and move on. It’s
a way of healing all wounds.
7. YOUR MUSIC IS WEIRD. HOW DIFFICULT
WAS IT FOR YOU TO FIND THE RIGHT MEMBERS AND MOREOVER HOW DIFFICULT WAS
IT FOR YOU TO CREATE A COMMON GROUND WHILST COMPOSING THE SONGS?
Tryfon: Now this is the story of
our life?. We have changed line-up for over 10 times. The whole drummer
and bass player situation wasn’t very pleasant for us. In the beginning
no one wanted to play the way our songs were turning out to be. Then when
an open-minded bass player showed up there wasn’t the right drummer and
the opposite. We even got to the point visiting Thessaloniki to make rehearsals,
cause there was my dearest friend (Antonis Georgiadis) who is a drummer.
You do realise that the whole distance situation didn’t make things easy.
(If it wasn’t for that we would probably still play with him…)The first
and the third song of our demo have been composed 2, 5 years ago and we
never managed, until now, to get in the studio and write them. If our music
seems weird and different now, imagine how it would have seemed had we
managed to write our demo then. As you can see our line-up has changed
again after the recordings were finished. This time the reason was that
the rhythm section did not take the whole thing seriously. I mean this
is what I and Evangellos want to do in our lives. If someone is not willing
to work with the band the way we do then they only slow things down. We
are not someone’s hobby.
Evangellos: This is the main problem
of the band. Most of the musicians put a label in their music before they
start playing.
Tryfon: About the composing procedure,
all the songs until now have been written by me and Evangellos. It wasn’t
very hard for us to combine our influences. Most of the time, we put together
riffs that we think have something in common. Other times, there is a very
good riff and we build a song upon that riff.
Evangellos: Common ground exists
only between me and Tryfon.
8. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS?
WHAT SHOULD THE METALLERS EXPECT FROM A PLAYTHING LIVE SHOW?
Tryfon: Well at this very moment
we show our new drummer the songs. So there isn’t some scheduled date at
this moment, but of course we are planning to do lives. Maybe in one or
two months we will start to. In a Plaything live show I think you must
expect a little different kind of music that you have been listening until
now. We will try to perform our songs as good as we can and the whole feeling
I believe will be fun and discovering. Of course there will be and a lot
of our favourite bands material.
Evangellos: We do have plans for
live shows but the plans don’t have us?. If we finally keep a steady line-up
the first thing to do is to play live. As for our show, being a new band,
we will go out and play songs hoping to create an atmosphere just with
our personalities. I don’t know how we are gonna act. It depends from the
mood.
9. WHICH IS YOUR BEST AND WHICH YOUR
WORST ELEMENT? WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER IMPROVEMENT?
Tryfon: Our best element is that
we can still dream and create music that satisfies us. The worst for now
I think is the production of our demo. As I mentioned earlier there is
a lot of room for improvement in this area.
Evangellos: The best is that there
is something different about this band. We are not like most of the Greek
bands, and this will be more obvious in the future. The worst is our production,
I will agree with Tryfon to that.
10. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION,
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Tryfon: As an emotion, I would
probably describe it as sweet melancholy with a lot of anger within. If
it was a painting it would probably be the one we have in the artwork.
You see this painting was made based specifically on our music and lyrics.
We gave our cd to the artist (Iris Vestaki) to listen to and create something
that is coming out of our sound and sayings. I think she managed well.
Evangellos: Someone can’t have only
one emotion. The same goes for the music. Well I paint and it is the same
thing for me as making a song. If I could show you the drawings you could
understand.
11. IF YOU HAD A PROPOSAL TO DO A VIDEO
CLIP, WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO
BE?
Tryfon: I like all the songs the
same but probably it would be “TAKE” cause until now is the one with the
highest level of acceptance by listeners and critics.
Evangellos: It doesn’t matter which
song we like most. The smartest thing to do is to choose the most “catchy”
or the song that people like the most. As for the video I don’t want to
be a typical cheap, old school, rock – metal video, with he band posing
all the time.
12. DO YOU BELIEVE THERE ARE AND MUST
BE LIMITS IN MUSIC? IF YES, WHICH ARE PLAYTHING'S LIMITS?
Tryfon: It is obvious that we do
not believe in limits in music. I do not think we have some. If I say we
do then in two years I will surely become a liar.
Evangellos: No there are no limits
and that is for sure. “Plaything” limits? If we like something we will
play it. Even now me and Tryfon have ideas that everyone says “it doesn’t
fit, don’t play it”. Of course we do not care.
13. ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK
YOU GOT THIS FAR? IS THERE A COMMON STATEMENT YOU SEE REPEATED IN ALMOST
ALL THE REVIEWS YOU RECEIVED?
Tryfon: The reviews until now are
very good. The common statement is that we gave a hard time to the critics
and listeners to put a label on us and I think this is good?
14. WHICH IS THE MOST ANNOYING OR EXTRAORDINARY
THING SOMEONE TOLD YOU ABOUT MUSIC (THAT OF COURSE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH
REALITY)?
15. DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR MUSIC COULD
BE SUITABLE FOR A MOVIE? IN WHICH MOVIE SOUNDTRACK WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE
TAKEN PART OR HAVE COMPOSED?
Tryfon: No I don’t think it is
suitable for a movie. My favourite movie-soundtrack is Braveheart’s. I
definitely would have wanted that one to be my composition.
Evangellos: Yes, I think that every
musician would like to do that. My favourite movie is Nikolaidis’ “Singapore
sling” so this is the movie I would have wanted to compose for.
16.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
Tryfon: No I do not think so. Your
questions were very interesting and onto the point. This was our first
interview so thank you for your interest.Good luck with your site!Evangellos:
No, thank for your time spending on us! We really appreciate it.
Christine Parastatidou
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