TUG
Playing emotional music is
not an easy task to accomplish and this becomes even more difficult when
you belong to the punk-rock scene. TUG play and create their own definition
of emo-punk and what counts the most for them is the melody as an interpretation
of the feelings The feelings and emotions are the reason why we exist and
this is one of the things among others thaBehind The Veil tries to explore
along with The Unforgiven Guy (TUG)...
1.WHEN DID YOU START THE BAND?
HOW MANY RELEASES DO YOU HAVE? CAN YOU NAME THEM PLEASE? I'D LIKE YOU ESPECIALLY
TO FOCUS ON THIS SPLIT CD WITH KGB AND GIVE US SOME FURTHER INFORMATION
ABOUT IT.
I first started in 1996. I was
16 years old and I suddenly felt that guitar should be my way to express
my inside. I started writing songs without even knowing "good" guitar,
and about a year later I released my first demo. I have over 8 releases.
They are :
1) Problem of the ear (1996)
2) Without bass (1997)
3) Memories (1998)
4) Sensitive humour punk (1999)
5) Traveler in incumbency (2000)
6) Tug / Kgb split 2001 (2001)
7) For a dream (double demo cd
- 2001)
8) Kgb / Tug split cd 2002
My last cd it's the split cd with
Kgb (our second split cd). Kgb is a friend of mine, he is also an one man
band (we play all organs by ourselves or even use pc computer for programming
the drums) and we decided that we should do another split cd, because we
feel the same way about many things and because it's easier to run things
when you are not running alone. It finally came out to be my most emotional
cd and my most straighter view on how' s life.
2.WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND TUG? WHAT
DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO "TUG" WITH YOUR MUSIC?
When I was 11 years old I listened
to a song of Metallica which we all know now (the unforgiven) and it really
changed the way I was living. It was like taking everything from the inside
and throwing it back at me and I was only eleven. That 's when I started
discovering my self, my inner emo-ego that preexisted and this song took
it out. That's when I started calling my self the unforgiven, because I
felt like a boy that everything were wrong around him. You know I felt
like an alien. Friends started calling me for abbreviation T.U.G (the unforgiven).
With my music I want to make people (whoever will be able to listen my
music) think straight from the heart, maybe feel what I have felt and how
feelings have shaped in my eyes these years. Feelings I think these are
the reason that we exist for, and all I see is people throwing them
away, people just fucking and sucking much easier than loving and sharing.
Everything is good, but when you are afraid to go further ,than you lose
your life. What's the point without feelings? And I don't want to talk
only about sex-love feelings, I generally try to make someone see that
things in this world are very very cold. And we are the ones who could
change it. I guess I suggest that we should look in other people to find
ourselves and not live for the moment because the only thing that you will
find there is misery.
3.THE FIRST TIME I GOT TO LISTEN TO
YOUR MUSIC WAS THROUGH DEADSPOT COMPILATION. HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE?
DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE OUT THERE ARE STILL INTERESTED IN COMPILATION
CDS?
I don't know, I guess people are
really interested in hearing something underground, it's in the dna, what
you don't know creates curiosity and that's good sometimes. I decided to
be in this collection because Apostolis who did this is an emotional guy,
I am sure for that and the whole production of the cd is in the diy way
that I love and support (diy is do it yourself - I guess it's the hard
way but it worths the dream).
4.HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT FOR THOSE
THAT AREN'T AWARE OF YOU? NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS AND ALBUMS.
Well I think that I play melodic
emotional music, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but always melodic. I
really love bands like Erevos, Mora stin fotia from Greece and from other
countries I really love Nada surf, System of a down, Guano apes and Pearl
Jam.
5.PUNK ROCKERS AND METALHEADS ARE NOT
OPEN TO NEW IDEAS AND EXPERIMENTATIONS WITH THE MUSIC THEY LIKE. YOU, AS
A BAND, USE SOME ELECTRO ELEMENTS ALONG WITH THE PUNK ROCK YOU PLAY. DON'T
YOU THINK THAT SOME FANS OF THIS MUSIC MIGHT ACCUSE YOU OF "DESTROYING"
THIS MUSIC OR OF LACK OF RESPECT?
It's true that metalheads and punkheads
(especially the punk guys) are not so open minded. They only look at speed
of the drums and words like "burn the cops and destroy the police cars".
But it's more than that. There are people (punks and metallers) that listen
to my music and change their opinion, open their minds and even tell me
things like "I think you destroy me , I 'll start listening to ballads!!!"
. I can't think anything better than this and it has happened many times.
But there are also these people that keep looking me weird because I sing
melodic and I don't fart in a microphone. You know, I guess it's hard not
being "hard" in music but it worths when you finally open minds.
7.HOW DID THIS COOPERATION WITH KGB
OCCUR FOR THE SPLIT CD? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THEM AND WHICH IS YOUR
FAVOURITE KGB SONG?
As I said before Kgb is a friend
of mine and I think it's a very weird person sometimes, thing that is coming
out through his music, but normal as all the others. You know, he is the
weirdest guy in music and the way he sees the world but it's the classic
anti-love guy, not anti-love, I think realist is a more appropriate word.
Well in this section we are in the furthest spot in an imaginary map. One
of my best friends and my favourite song is "lytrosi mesoi tis lithis"
where a girl also sings with him (Chrysa).
8.WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO
GENERALLY? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS? DO YOU HAVE TO BE IN A SPEICFIC
MOOD IN ORDER TO PIPE ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELING AND TRASFORM
THEM INTO WORDS?
My lyrics refer to human beings,
to situations where emotions collapse, to a world that doesn't fit us or
even to an optimistic future that we should all try to reach out for. All
these things that everyday keep on beating you down motivate me to sing
out my inside. The words just come. It's like a hand divided from the body,
my body feels and my hand writes in it's own way. It is totally from the
inside.
9.IN ONE OF YOUR SONGS,T HE LYRICS
WERE WRITTEN BY YOUR FATHER. DID HE WRITE THEM FOR YOU OR DOES HE LIKE
TO WRITE LYRICS/POES IN GENERAL? WHAT DOES HE THINK OF YOUR MUSIC?
My father is the most clever person
I ever met and I guess that I will ever meet. He writes these amazing thoughts
and poems in his own anarcho-way and I really like that. So, when I feel
that too many emosongs are in the cd, I try something different, something
more straight forward on reality and I steal lyrics from my father. He
really likes it, but he prefers my slow songs...
10.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS OR
ARE YOU JUST A STUDIO BAND? IS IT POSSIBLE IN THE FUTURE TO FIND SOME MUSICIANS
AND MAKE SOME GIGS?
I have done many live shows but
not as TUG. I used to have a band called "the Parkinsons" which was pretty
much punk, I wrote many songs, I really was enjoying it and we did many
shows. I don't know why but we did a fucking good impression in the Greek
diy scene. Well I guess, what's punk is perfect for the punks. Nowadays
I am playing with Reality Bites, a band that I and 3 other guys formed
6 months ago. We play alternative, we are touring now, and we will release
our first cd demo next week. Many friends want to help me so I could play
live even for once (as TUG) but I am not interested for now. Maybe next
year I'll try it.
11.IN SOME OF YOUR SONGS, YOU ALSO
HAVE A FEMALE SINGER, WHO IS SHE? IS SHE A PERMANENT MEMBER OR DOES SHE
SING IN OTHER BANDS TOO?
She is called Lia and she is a
friend of mine. She has tried some groups but I don't think something permanent.
Now she is a permanent singer for me, she is my friend, she is also as
clever as Ainstain, and I admire her. She has a great voice also.
12.ARE YOU IN A SEARCH OF A LABEL OR
ARE YOU AN UNDERGROUND BAND AND YOU ARE AGAINST OF THE IDEA OF FINDING
A CONTRACT? ARE YOU AFRAID THAT IF YOU SIGN TO A LABEL, YOUR MSUIC MIGHT
CHANGE?
I am not afraid about signing and
changing, I don't think this is true. I am afraid that signing would change
me inside, it would feel like I am selling my emotions, my inside, because
for me, my music is my inside, it's me. It's a personal mind stuck, I just
wish to go the hard way and try to share my music, not sell it. It has
to do with my character, I don't judge those who see it as a job. There
are other things that I love and I could sell for living, things like writing
a book, things that are not emotional but fictional. This is how I see
it.
13.WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?
DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW SONGS READY? ARE YOU THINKING OF RELEASING A FULL LENGTH
ALBUM OR WHAT?
I have many new songs, better sounding
and more emotional but I don't know when am I going to release them. I
think that until the end of November they will be released on another demo
cd (my ninth). I also would like in the future to record something in a
studio and not at my home as always. I just want to try that to see the
difference..
14.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO TRAVEL
BACK IN TIME, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND
WHY?
I hate history! Anyway, I would
choose to visit the Adam and Eve period so I could be sure that I will
have what is called "the one and only" and I guess I wouldn't feel insecure
about someone cheating on me! Ok, I am joking, I would visit the prehistoric
period so I could watch it all from the start...
15.DO YOU THINK THAT PERHAPS GOD GOT
SO FRIGHTENED OF WHAT HE CREATED THAT HE MOVED TO HEAVEN IN ORDER TO KEEP
DISTANCE FROM HIS CREATIONS? :))
I think that god is something humans
created. I don't believe in god. I can only say that god is feelings, and
we shouldn't form him in our own stupid will. Like Pennywise say in an
older record "if there' s a god why do you say "I believe" ???"... indeed...indeed.
16.LET'S SUPPOSE THAT WE LIVE IN A
WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN SUCH A CASE?
Oh...difficult to answer. We would
have propably died of boredom or uncreativity. Or maybe we would have sex
all day and play our playstation 2... (this was very Blink182..eh?)
17.THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE...
Share your inside to build the
outside...
Nick "William_Kidd" Parastatidis
|