• David De feis is one of the few people that managed to truly get close and catch the right spirit of the ancient Greek tragedy, giving it a revival touch. With the reissues of their first two cd's we had the chance to have a long talk with De Feis for many not only msuical subjects.

• I felt at this point that the time was right, because of the nature of these recordings they had to come out eventually so it was just a questions when and all the machinery was set and placed to do it now. Personally, I'd waited another 6 months or maybe a year before putting them out but the way the machinery was working with the record company was unstoppable, everything came together and here they are now and they are quite different I mean "The Book Of Burning" you can see some tracks from "Guardians", two pieces of music (one small and one bigger piece of music) from the first album they're getting all kinds of other stuff that they never came out so tones of new material. In "The Book Of Burning" the songs have been re written in a whole different way, anyway it's only a small portion of what was on those first 2 releases. There is also a handful of things of what was in the second album and ep. You're getting enough for the money you give cause there are also bonus tracks and whole bunch of new information.

-WHAT DIFFERENT WILL WE LISTEN TO THESE RELEASES?

• If you have the vinyl of the first or a tape from a friend, you will listen to the same songs, only better versions and there are bonus tracks, interesting bonus tracks.

2.I'VE SEEN AN ADVERTISMENT FROM THE LABEL RISING SUN FOR THE RE-RELEASE OF YOUR FIRST 2 ALBUMS, IN THE PERIOD THAT YOU WERE RELEASING THIS DOUBLE COMPILATION. SO, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON THAT SUBJECT?

• Certain people tried to re-issue them on their own without my approval, they were stopped and now these are the official re-issues that we have now.

3.JACK STARR MADE SOME STATEMENTS AGAINST YOU, THAT I DIDN'T REALLY LIKE, ACCUSING YOU OF STEALING SOME OF HIS SONGS. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO ANSWER?

• I don't know what he said but at the end of the day he's got nothing to say because he doesn't own the right to the name or those tracks. I do! I can put them out whenever I feel like it and he still gets money from that, so he shouldn't complain about it, he is getting money from these recordings.

-HOW ARE YOUR RELATIONS?

• I don't have to speak with him everyday, so I am ok with that!

4.I THINK THAT ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY HAVE BEEN A GREAT INSPIRATION TO YOU AS A MUSICIAN AND AS A WAY OF LIFE. WHAT IS THIS YOU FIND SO APPEALING AND CHARMING? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SOME OF THE ANCIENT SAYINGS CAN HELP THE CONTEMPRORARY MAN?

• That's true! Absolutely! I think all those stories are not just stories or myths, meaning something unreal, they are lessons in philosophy about life as it was then and about life as it is now, today, that's what I enjoy about it and I think those myths were used as an introduction to bring people into these, what they called at the time, these mystery cults they were the outer mysetries which brought people in to get them initiated to what's going on in the mystery cults and then the real secrets were revealed later on and these kind of things kept people in balance with nature, with the universe, with themselves and which were later twisted and destroyed in the later organised religions. Like having a blue print to the past to learn, they are examples to live by, this is what happens to you if you do this, this is what happens to you if you do that, there are lessons in that and pass to us.

5.PERSONALLY I THINK THAT "HOUSE OF ATREUS" IS YOUR BEST RELEASE. I THINK THAT YOU'VE "CATCHED" THE RIGHT FEELING AND YOU HAVE GIVEN A CLOSE TO REALITY PERCEPTION IN COMPARISON WITH MANY TYPICAL THEATRICAL PLAYINGS. WILL THERE EVER BE A CHANCE TO SEE THIS WHOLE PLAY LIVE HERE IN GREECE IN SOME ANCIENT THEATRE?

• I would hope so! I would hope so! Yeah! We did about 50 performances I Germany but I would like, I would love for a Greek theatrical company to say "Hey yeah we want to put this on!" and then we could go ahead and do it. I don't see why not, but I think just from the Virgin Steele persepctive when we will come over we prey a good portion of that work because we are very fond of it as well.

6.WILL YOU COME HERE FOR A LIVE SHOW?

• Yeah, we are actually now discussing the possibilities of the touring and I may know over the next days what our schedule might be. If we do come then we will end up in Greece, yeah!

7.THE SONG "FIRE GOD" CONTAINED IN THE FIRST PART OF HOUSE OF ATREUS, THERE IS ALSO CONTAINED IN A PILEDRIVER ALBUM. CAN YOU CLEAR THINGS OUT FOR ME?

• The "Fire God" is a song that I wrote with Edward for the Piledriver album and then recomposed it again for the "House Of Atreus Act I". It's just one of these things that we had, this is really good and it's a shame that the people can only hear it on this album, which is no longer available anywhere so we said let's do something with it and I rewrote it, added a whole middle section and we recorded that. That's is one of those something old something new kind of things.

-IS IT SOMEHOW RELATED TO THE STORY?

• It fits in with the fact that...hhhmmm...Electra - it's her moment there - the lyrics with soome alterations and some additions are fit into the story.

8.THERE RE QUITE MANY BANDS DEALING WITH THE TROYAN WAR AND ALL SPEAK IN FAVOR OF THE GREEKS. HOWEVER, THE TROYANS HAD ALSO HAD GREAT FIGHTERS SUCH AS HCTOR OR AENIAS. IS THERE A CHANCE YOU MIGHT COMPOSE A SONG FROM THE TROYAN POINT OF VIEW?

• It's possible! It's possible you know...

-HECTOR WAS A BIG HERO AND NO ONE TALKS ABOUT HIM. I READ THE ILIAD AND I LIKED HIM...

• Absolutely! I read the "Iliad" as well and it's a wondeful, wonderful work! Sure, absolutely! Very noble, very beautiful, very well written! I think in the "House Of Atreus" work I tried to show which is what the ancients also tried to show, that nobody really won, people died from both sides and it's just unnecessary the whole experience for this war. They've lost another major city and the winners lost as well when they got back home...

9.YOU'VE TAKEN PART IN 2 ALBUMS. ON IS THE CD OF IMMORTALLY COMMITTED AND THE OTHER ONE IS AVANTASIA. TELL US SOME THINGS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THESE 2 RELEASES AND IF YOU ENJOYED THEM.

• As regards the Avantasia what happened was Tobias called me up one day and asked me if was interested in doing something, some singing in his project and I said "send me the music and if I like it and have time I'll do it". He seemed very nice and he sent me over the music, his little bits and pieces of thing and I said "look I like it so it's now just a question in finding the time and I found time in between mixing and working on "House Of Atreus Act II", I just did it in one day, I sent it over and I said "if you like it use it if you don't Ok! No hard feelings", but he liked everything that I sent him, so that was very very easy to do it. The Immortally Committed stuff, those guys are friends of mine for a long time, so they asked me all the time if I could play on the record, so I've played and contributed vocals also on some of their stuff. We still have to mix that stuff, there's a few other things they want me to play on so I'm involved with them because they are good friends of mine and their guitar player lives a few blocks away rom where I am living at the moment.

-DO YOU LIKE THEIR MUSIC?

• Yeah I do!

10.PERSONALLY I OBSERVE THAT THE OLD BANDS CAN STILL OFFER GREAT MUSIC AND THAT MANY NEW BANDS BECOME CLONES OF THESE OLD ONES. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEW MUSICIANS NEED TO DO? WHAT WOULD YOU ADVISE THEM?

• I think they have to look inside themselves and dig deep and seperate the craft from the songwriting. It's one thing to be a blazing guitar player, can play all the wonderful scales or sing all these amazing notes, but it's combining that with the song that makes sense and has deep emotional resenance. Many times it is a technical excersice, they are playing music that they think they should play rather than music that they perhaps feel really at home with. the power metal is big or whatever you wanna call it, let's do stuff in that style, so they listen to a bunch of records and they try to copy that kind of attitude without really being natural to them, without having feelings for the music and that's the difficult thing. I think they are lacking perhaps in the songwriting department and they need to try more in that direction or maybe present more of what's inside themselves as people, more the emotions than the technical playing.

11.MANY BELIEVE THAT EPIC METAL IS FOR FEW AND THAT THOSE WHO LISTEN TO IT ARE OUT OF REALITY. WHICH IS YOUR OWN BELIEF ON THAT?

• Fantasy is not against reality. It's based on real life. Just because I am talking for somethng happened about 2000 years ago for example in the "House Of Atreus" doesn't mean that all I am talking about, I am not givin you a history lesson, I am telling you about life now, that's why I love those ancient myths because they have meaning and resenance to today. Life hasn't changed, it's the same stuff going on, we still have the same probelms that Agememnon and his people had. On one hand I am telling you that old tale but on the other hand I am telling you what happened last week. It's the same stuff.

12.U.S.A. MAKES ONCE AGAIN WAR AGAINST IRAK. DON'T YOU THINK THAT THIS TACTIC LEADS TO A DEAD END AND DOESN'T REALLY SOLVE ANY PROBLEMS BUT ON THE CONTRARY CREATES MORE?

• I think that war in general doesn't really solve problems, sure! and I don't think it ever has and ever will. Sometimes war is inevitable, but I think it's always wrong for the basic, simple reason that you have a few handful of people in power who can't agree with another handful of people in power and all these poor people like you and I will make up the rest of the country and have no idea what's really going on, who is really runnin the country and we get caught in the crossfire and some have to die. This is not good and never will be good and this is how it's been from time eternal!

13.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?

• Ooohhh...And I not a musician or I am still a musician? If I was a musician and I wasn't a composer then I'd probably be singing somebody else's songs and having a good time doing it. Life perhaps would have been much more simplier!hahahhahaha
• Or maybe work outside...be a grave digger or I don't know...

14.HOW DO YOU REACT WHEN PEOPLE JUDGE A BAND'S VALUE BY THE NUMBER OF CD'S THEY SELL?

• I think it's nonsense! It's total shit because so much crap sells. How many records did Britney Spears sell a million records a day or something like that???

15.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?

• Why?????
• hahahahahaha
• What's the purpose of all these? What does it have to be anything? Why do we exist? Why?? What's the point of it all? No one knows, that's what world's searching for...

16.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY?

• Probably, the earliest days of pre-pyramid dunasty in Egypt. I think ther was an amazing amount of knowledge that was then lost and also the earliest earliest days in Greece, in Italy...in that part of the world.

17.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS A PAINTING WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?

• If it was a painting it would show probably the human soul with the boundless abandon of nature. I think...That's what I try to achieve in my music.

18.THANK YOU FOR THE INTERVIEW!

• My pleasure my man!

-HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• Ooohh...I don't think so at the moment..I think we covered a lot of good ground and I hope that the fans will enjoy the new re-issues and we look forward to seeing them on next dates we come to visit.

-WHEN WILL WE EXPECT A NEW ALBUM FROM YOU?

• Oohhh...not for a while. I am working on things and I think it'd probably be ready at the very earliest the end of the next year or maybe at the beginning of the following year. We did a ot of music in a really short space of time, so we can take our time with the next one.