Rotting
Christ
With the occasion of the
release of Rotting Christ’s “Sanctus Diavolos”, Behind The Veil couldn't
lose the chance and so it welcomes to its pages Sakis Tolis, the band’s
mainman, who willingly and being in a good mood, answers all the questions
we’ve asked him.
1.SAKI I DON’T THINK THAT THIS QUESTION WILL
SURPRISE YOU: WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS CHANGED THIS TIME ON “SACTUS DIAVOLOS”
COMPARED TO “GENESIS” AND YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES?
Maturity, the album’s atmosphere, the time
I had to compose the songs and of course our need and persistence to write
and play music that in a strange way is more intense compared to our past
releases… It’s truly weird and strange. Usually from a point on you say
“hey guys, it’s time to settle down”. I don’t say that you don’t change,
you surely change, but this time there was an intense and weird mood within
the band.
2.YES WHAT YOU SAID IS A BIT OXYMORON RELATED
TO MATURITY…
You are right! With maturity I don’t mean
that I grew up and I am more serious. I grew up and I think that I write
better compositions. I now work based on a schedule and at the same time
with growing up my love for music also grows.
3.I’D LIKE YOU TO TELL ME THE MUSICAL STANDARDS
ON WHICH YOUR NEW ALBUM MOVES. ARE YOU DEALING WITH A CONCEPT STORY HERE
OR NOT?
We move on dark paths, it’s a mixture of everything
we’ve done so far, but I think it’s a step forth compared to “Genesis”.
Like I said earlier maturity and our mood played a really important role
in order to change a few things. For example like you most probably have
already observed by listening to the album, instead of keyboards we have
a choir. I invited Spyros from Chaostar and we added some choral parts
in some songs. Furthermore, I wanted this album to sound warmer and the
instruments to have a more live feeling. This is a result of maturity,
musical maturity, because as humans we become worse (laughter). When it
comes to the concept now, this is the difference with “Genesis”, it’s a
conceptual theme with dark tracks. We don’t want to tire the listeners
with separate songs, we wanted a completed, full dark theme. I have to
tell you here that if you see Rotting Christ as a unity, you’ll realize
that it’s the best therapy for each band member. Whichever bad feelings
we have, we try to take them out in our music and thus “sanctify” ourselves.
People are worried and we out our worries in our music. It’s nothing political
and neither a stereotype nor is based on specific standards.
4.WOULD YOU LIKE TO GIVE US SOME MORE INFO ON
THE “SANCTUS DIAVOLOS” THEMATOLOGY?
It’s, like I’ve already told you, a dark album
that expresses our darkest feelings. Now, what do I mean by saying dark…?
I don’t mean butchering kids in the name of Satan. This is nonsense! We
express our point of view on what’s god and what’s bad, not through the
spectacles of religion, but we offer our personal beliefs. Like the name
of the album that has two different meanings, which collide and form an
antithesis. There are some who might agree with us and others who might
disagree. We tell what we think. Rotting Christ has never been a band with
a specific direction. We’ve always said what we believed and we never tried
to push down the throat of anybody our personal ideologies. Above all we
believe in music!
5.HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO CREATE THE ALBUM
AND PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE STUDIO RECORDINGS?
More than a year. The rest of the guys have
their jobs, families, I’m the only one left and I do most of the things.
However, all the band members put their own stamp and hue on the album
in order all of us to be fully expressed.
6.YOU HAVE A FRONT ROLE AS A BAND MANY YEARS ONE.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THAT HAS CHANGED COMPARED TO THE PAST? BOTH IN ROTTING
CHRIST AND IN THE REST OF THE GREEK BANDS.
I think that all the romance is lost. I remember
myself waiting for the postman to bring me in tape forms the new demos
from abroad. We weren’t many bands but we all new each other. We used to
hang out and have a good time together. The Greek scene is not united anymore.
We never said that we set out in order to create the super band that would
sweep everything in its way. These things don’t happen and above all you
have to love what you do! Be a fan and have solid roots. I like this way
of living, the alternative one. I don’t mean that we live in a different
world. We all live in the same society and environment and we are all confronted
with the same problems of everyday living, but we are humans that love
what we do and we differ a bit from the rest, perhaps we are more romantic…
7.I’D LIKE TO ASK YOU WHAT YOU THINK OF THE HEAVY
METAL EVOLUTION ALL THESE YEARS. PERSONALLY, I REMEMBER A DECADE
AGO THE WORDS OF A FRIEND OF MINE WHO SAID THAT BLACK METAL IS AN UNCULTIVATED
MUSIC AND CAN IMPROVE A LOT. FROM THE “SCRATCHING” GUITARS TO THE
UNSTOPPABLE BLASTBEATS OF THE DRUMS WE NOW HAVE OPERATIC COMPOSITIONS,
ELECTRONIC EFFECTS AND CHOIRS. HOW DID YOU FEEL AND UNDERSTAND ALL THESE
CHANGES? I WANT YOU TO ANSWER ME FROM THE MUSICIAN’S PERSPECTIVE.
I am not in favor of the electronic sound,
because I don’t think it’s suitable for the extreme sound. We surely have
to embody some elements of each era, but we also have to maintain some
standards. Emperor and Darkthrone played very well and offered great albums,
but they PLAYED. I can’t listen to the same sound 15 years now again and
again. If for example Darkthrone release a new album, I’ll definitely love
it because I grew up with this band, but in order to remain in time you
must renew yourself and your sound, but always keeping your roots!
8.WATCHING ON PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS THE MUSIC
SCENE OF GREECE, WHICH ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEMS OF THE BANDS, ACCORDING
TO YOU?
Financial, which you can solve it if there
is a good bondage and cooperation among the members, and live appearances.
I think the best way to promote your work are live shows, neither video
clips nor anything else. For example, they tell us come to play to London
for 1500 Euros… If we were British we’d earn a few money from the live,
but since we live in Athens, most of our money goes to tickets and our
stay there, so not only we don’t profit, but we face a financial “damage”…
The problem with Greece and its music is that we are far away from central
Europe, far away from the centers where decisions are taken. However, I
see that little by little the way we think changes. You have to spend a
lot of money in the beginning, you have to become the support act in live
shows and if people like you then you can move further… Greek bands must
understand that you can’t become a rock star by lying in your coach. You
have to run, involve and don’t have the attitude that everything will go
as planned.
9.SINCE YOU OPENED THE ISSUE… HOW ARE WE FACED
ABROAD FROM THE FANS OF THIS GENRE?
Look, it depends on the country we visit,
some are cold as ice, others are warmer. There are some countries that
they go wild and get deranged in our shows and this is something we as
musicians really like and enjoy of course! What I want to intimate here
is that we are absolutely satisfied with the images, reflections and memories
we have inside of us. We may have not become rich from our music, but we
are richer within our hearts and souls and this is, according to me, the
most important thing!
10.IF YOU HAD THE TIME AND MONEY TO FORM A SUPER
BAND, WHICH MUSICIANS WOULD YOU INVITE AND WHAT KIND OF MUSIC WOULD YOU
HAVE LIKED TO PLAY?
I wouldn’t have invited the best musicians,
because I think they have a serious issue when it comes to composing songs.
What do I mean with that? Most of the famous musicians have a clear and
specific vision of their music, they don’t experiment and their compositions
are based on patterned musical scales... I’d surely invite some Greek musicians
who have personality, some guys that would devote their soul to play music.
We’d play something different for sure. There is no reason to put together
a project that would play exactly like Rotting Christ.
11.I’LL CHANGE MY QUESTIONS. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE
TO COMPOSE MUSIC FOR A MOVIE, WHAT KIND OF MOVIE WOULD YOU SELECT AND WHAT
KIND OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WRITE? FIRST OF ALL, DO YOU LIKE WATCHING MOVIES?
Yes, very much! I prefer fantasy themes, without
any restrictions when it comes to this branch. For example last year I
really enjoyed the movie “The Butterfly Effect”. It was something different.
So, if it were for me to compose music for a movie, I’d definitely be for
a movie like Omen and the music would consist of dark melodies.
12.WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER THE RELEASE OF YOUR
ALBUM? WILL YOU DO ANY LIVE PERFORMANCES?
Rotting Christ without live shows isn’t possible!
We will perform live in Greece and in as many countries abroad as we can
book. We want to feel that we are truly a band.
13.IS THERE ANY MESSAGE YOU’D LIKE TO SEND TO
YOUR GREEK METAL FANS?
I’d like to thank them for their support and
I expect to see the new generation, I expect the scene formed in the early
90s to be regenerated. Back then we ued to speak about the Greek Black
metal way. I also believe that we must create our own school, the bands
should be in touch with each other, we should be more united and we should
create our own sound and not just copy the Norwegian Black metal or the
American hardcore. There is something different and special in the Greeks,
we have a peculiarity – an originality and it’d be good to have our own
style in music and not copying bands that belong to other musical schools.
14.WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE FACT THAT
MANY GREEK BANDS GO TO STUDIOS ABROAD IN ORDER TO RECORD THEIR ALBUMS?
To be honest I don’t like the idea of Rotting
Christ recording their albums abroad. I understand the fact that people
abroad have a certain opinion regarding the music and can help you more
to create what you’ve conceived in your mind, but I insist that this factor
should be part of the Greek music scene too. It’d be good to exist people
with a say in the metal music when it comes to the recording sessions.
It will happen eventually… We should have a label that would have in its
roster 10 big Greek bands and would have 3 big studios for the recordings.
This is how we can create our own school and achieve a unique sound of
our own.
Costas “C.O.B” Meidanis
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