A NEW WAVE OF U.S. THRASH METAL

PYTHON

THe truth is that the only classic Thrash Metal that we listen from U.S.A lately is coming from the 80's bands that somehow managed to survive from all th trends. With PYTHON the things seem to change, since 4 young guys decided to compose songs that continue the legacy of Bay Area Thrash School without adding any new or modern elements. The 3 songs that I listened from their demo convinced me that a great future awaits them, so read the interview and support them as much as you can!!!

1.HELLO JOE AND THANKS FOR THE KILLER DEMO YOU SENT ME! SINCE YOU ARE NEWCOMERS, PLEASE TELL US IN A FEW WORDS THE STORY OF THE BAND SO FAR AND PRESENT THE LINE-UP. WHICH DO YOU CONSIDER THE BEST MOMENTS OF THE BAND TILL NOW

Hey Nikos, glad you like the demo. The story of the band goes like this. When my brother, Kurt, and I were little kids we used to go and watch our father play drums in a band that he and some friends from work had started. Kurt would set up crates for drums and I had one of those preprogrammed guitars. My brother and I would go in our basement and make believe we were in a rock band. As we got older our passion for those instruments followed us and the dream of having a band of our own became a reality in 2001. In 2003 we hired on Ken Decker to play bass and our cousin, Jeff Garrison, to play lead guitar. We lost our cousin during the recording of our first demo in early 2004, but within two months we found a replacement in Chris Heilig. Chris stayed with the band for 7 months. Much of 2004 was spent going around to different venues trying to get our name and material out to the public. We had a lot of success and started gaining fans from each show we did. The band spent the last week of December in the recording studio with Kol Marshall, recording our debut album Good & Evil. Unfortunately, due to creative differences Chris left the band in February of 2005. By March we hired Geoff Allen to play lead/rhythm guitar. Geoff is an amazing guitar player that we knew from a show that we had done with him at Saratoga Winners. Geoff had shown an interest, after the loss of Jeff, in joining the band but the timing just didn’t work out then. But things are looking good now and we feel he is going to be a great asset to the band. The best moments for the band would have to be playing live shows!! There is no experience that could compare to it!
The line up of the band is now:
Joe Holzapfel: Rhythm/Lead guitar and Lead vocals
Kurt Holzapfel: Drums
Ken Decker: Bass guitar and back up vocals
Geoff Allen: Lead/Rhythm guitar and back up vocals

2.SOMETHING THAT IMPRESSED ME IS THAT THOUGH YOU ARE OF A YOUNG AGE YOU PLAY 80'S METAL SOMETHING THAT IN U.S.A SEEEMED TO BE FORGOTTEN. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE TO DO THAT AND NOT PLAY NU-METAL THAT IS MORE FAMOUS IN YOUR COUNTRY?

I think that one of the biggest reasons that we play the type of metal that we do goes back to our childhood. We used to listen to the 80s and 90s metal a lot, because that is what my dad had around the house and that’s what he played and listened to. I guess without realizing it, it stuck with us and we couldn’t stand to listen to anything else.

3.HOW EASY IS IT FOR A YOUNG METALHEAD TO FIND 8O'S HEAVY METAL MUSIC? HOW DO THE PEOPLE THAT COME TO YOUR SHOWS OR LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC REACT? ARE THERE STILL PEOPLE INTERESTED IN MORE CLASSIC HEAVY METAL FORMS OF MUSIC?

The 80s metal music is still around, but you have to look for it. The people that come to our shows and listen to our music have told us how much they love it and that they are glad to hear some honest to God metal again. The band believes that there are people out there that do want to hear the old school metal and the feedback we keep getting is confirming that for us.

4.I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT YOU HAVE YOUR DEBUT ALBUM READY. SO WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO RELEASE IT? WHY DO YOU SEND TO THE PRESS A DEMO WITH ONLY 3 SONGS?

Our debut album, Good & Evil will be going on sale sometime in April, and will be available for sale on CD Baby for everyone to purchase. The reason we send out only a 3 song demo is that it has been our experience that we only have a short amount of time to catch the attention of the person on the other end. They are to busy or don’t want to take the time to listen to an entire album so, we are trying to keep it short and to the point but we also want to peak their interest.

5.ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE MANY SONGS READY, YOU HAVE INCLUDED ON THE DEMO THE SONGS "ANARCHY", "VENGEANCE" AND "LOST THOUGHTS". WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM? DO YOU CONSIDER THEM AS THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE OF YOUR MUSIC?

We chose those 3 songs because they are our newest material, and they definitely represent the direction that we are going with our music.

6.I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE A BAND THAT LOVES TO PLAY LIVE ON STAGE. SO I WANT YOU TO TELL ME IF YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU PLAYED AND HOW YOU FELT? DO YOU REMEMBER SOMETHING FUNNY THAT HAPPENED WHILE YOU WHERE PLAYING ON A LIVE SHOW?

We definitely love to play live! There’s nothing like it. The first show we ever played was a battle of the bands at a local high school that didn’t care for metal that much. We had only one day to prepare for it, and to say that we were nervous and scared is and understatement. The funniest thing to happen was at that first show. My brother, Kurt was so nervous that he dropped his sticks 3 times and almost hit our bass player, Ken, in the head one of those times. Some how he managed not to miss a beat, and no one seemed to notice, which was good for him.

7.THE NAME OF THE BAND IS PYTHON, WHICH IS A VERY DANGEROUS SNAKE. SO HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME? DO YOU THINK THAT THE NAME PYTHON FITS PERFECTLY TO THE KIND OF MUSIC YOU PLAY?

Python came about after many nights around a campfire, internet research, looking in books, watching movies, just about any place that we could get ideas from. The biggest thing was it had to be one name. We didn’t want to go with numbers or a lengthy name and PYTHON fit the bill. The amazing thing is that no one had ever used the name Python, which we felt screamed 80s METAL. I don’t think we could have come up with a name that was more representative of our music than PYTHON. When you hear it and see it I think it creates an image in your mind of an 80s - 90s metal band and that’s exactly what we wanted.

8.ONE OTHER POINT I WANT TO STAND IS YOUR LYRICS WHICH I FIND VERY REVOLUTIONARY AND MATURE. WHAT KIND OF THINGS DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT? DO YOU AGREE THAT THRASH METAL IS THE GENRE OF HEAVY METAL THAT TALKS MOSTLY ABOUT POLITICS AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE MODERN SOCIETY?

Thanks for the compliment. I take great pride in my lyrics. I like to write about emotions and sometimes I use my own feelings as inspiration for the lyrics. I’ve also been inspired to write theme songs based on movies that I have seen. For example, the song "Cursed" from our debut album Good & Evil, was inspired by the movie Underworld. I don’t want to put a limit on the genre of thrash metal. I feel that thrash metal allows you the latitude to express a wide range of feelings about a wide range of subjects.

9.NOW REVEAL YOUR SECRETS AND TELL US WHICH BANDS HAVE INFLUENCED YOU AND ALSO NAME 5 OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE ALBUMS...

In the beginning Metallica and Megadeth were our biggest influences. Now I would have to say Iced Earth and Testament. As for our favorite albumbs It would be Iced Earth All of them of course. Testament - Low, Megadeth - Youthamasia, Angel Dust - Of human bondage.

10.LET'S TALK ABOUT POLITICS NOW. HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT MR. BUSH IS ONCE AGAIN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? DO YOU THINK THAT HE MISLED YOU AS A COUNTRY ON THE TRUE REASONS OF THE IRAQI WAR? I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT WAR CREATES MORE PROBLEMS THAN THOSE IT SOLVES. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT IT.

Well, when it comes to politics it’s a subject that we all like to leave to family discussions over coffee. We all feel that it can’t be a win - win situation and we don’t want to alienate anyone that could potentially be a fan of the band because our opinion may differ from theirs. We are musicians and entertainers first.

11.WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE MP3 MUSIC FILES AND THAT FANS CAN DOWNLOAD ALBUMS FROM THE INTERNET? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU LEARN THAT PEOPLE DOWNLOAD YOUR ALBUM FROM THE INTERNET? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS WAY MIGHT HELP YOU WIN EVEN MORE FANS?

This is a question that I think is touchy. We made our songs from our first demo available for download in the past, and that seemed to work out O.K. But it was only three songs and we were using them as a means to get our music out there and get the band known. People told us that they downloaded them and played them over and over. However, as the musicians that put in so much time and hard work to produce an album, you want people to buy it. I think if they really love you and your music that much they will show their support through the purchase of albums and other items that may be available for sale. I’m not against making one or two songs available for download. It may help to entice the public to buy the album if they like what they hear.

12.THE NEWS OF DIMMEBAG DAREL'S DEATH SHOCKED US ALL. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE FANS OF PANTERA SO I WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT. AFTER THAT INCIDENT AREN'T YOU AFRAID TO PLAY LIVE IN U.S.A.? DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF DIMMEBAG?

Dime’s death was tragic, and like my brother and I, he and Vinnie were brothers. I can’t imagine watching my brother being killed in front of me. And our sympathy goes out to Vinnie and the entire Abbott family. As far as being afraid to play, there are risks in everything we do. I would rather death or injury doing something I love, than be stuck safely away in some dead end job I hate. You only live once and we don’t want to miss out on anything that life may have to offer us. We have put a tribute to Dime on our website and just recently there was a big tribute concert that we were scheduled to play at, but due to the loss of our other guitarist, at the last minute, we had to pull out.

13.WHAT KIND OF EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS DO YOU WANT TO EVOKE TO THE LISTENER?

I want the people that listen to our music to be able to relate to the material. I want it to be exciting and a form of relief for them. A feeling that their not alone, that someone else understands and has put into words an experience or feeling in their life that they can relate to, but don’t know how to express in their own words. I think we can all say that we have a song that has so perfectly put into words something that we just couldn’t manage to express.

14.THANK YOU VERY MUCH JOE FOR THE INTERVIEW AND GOOD LUCK WITH THE BAND. THE LAST LINES OF THE INTERVIEW BELONG TO YOU. LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF BEHIND THE VEIL...

Your welcome and we have enjoyed speaking with you. To the readers of Behind The Veil, we would like to invite you all to check out our website at www.pythonband.com Please write us, tell us your thoughts on our music. We are looking to build our following all over the world and are hopeful to one day come to Greece and do a live show for you, but in order for us to do that we need your support. Help us show the labels and theworld that old school metal is not dead, and that there is an audience out there that wants to hear it!! Only with the help of our fans can we convince the labels to help bring our music to you. So, thrash your asses off and scream it loud and clear!!!! METAL FOREVER!!!!

Nikos "William_Kidd" Parastatidis

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws