Grey Gallows are a
darkwave duo from the town of Patra, Greece. The band, consisting of members Konstantin (vocals / keys) and Dionisis (guitar / bass / keys)
first released their debut mini album "Beyond Reflections" in June
2017. In September 2018 their first full album "Tears" was released
by the Peruvian In Club Records on tape format.
Tell us in brief a few things about
how the band began? Was it a conscious decision to follow the darkwave genre or
was it something that evolved from your musical collaboration?
Dionisis: First of all, we would like to thank you Nick
for your invitation! I met Konstantin back in 2014 in Patra, where I had
already moved in from Athens. We started hanging around at first and later we
discover that we have a similar taste in music. At that time Konstantin was
playing in a group, while I was trying to find members to form my own band, in
order to complete some ideas that I had.
Therefore, we decided to
form Grey Gallows in 2016 as a duet, something unprecedented for us, given that
we had participated as musicians in full bands only until then. So, first of
all we wanted to play something that we would love to hear as listeners. Our
influences come from the broadest spectrum of ’80s and ’90s dark music, so our
music style came naturally…It just happened…
You first released your debut mini album "Beyond Reflections" in 2017? It was a self-release. What can you tell us about it and what was the feedback the band got from its release?
Konstantin: At first, let me thank you, Nick, for
this interview. Well, indeed, we self-released our debut mini album
"Beyond Reflections" back in 2017. For us it was like a
self-introduction of who we are and what kind of music we want to play.
Furthermore, with our debut mini album we wanted to present our aesthetic and
some deeper thoughts, that have to do with the lyrics. The feedback we got from
this release was, and still is, very powerful, both from Greece, from Latin
America and Europe. Of course, this warm reception encouraged us to go on and
to fully concentrate on the band’s new songs and the preparation for live
performances.
Although you are a two piece, we see
that you like performing live. You have participated in many local festivals
and have also supported foreign acts like Spiritual Front and Antimatter. Do
you find it challenging preforming your songs live? Any memorable moment from a
concert you would like to share with us?
Dionisis: Well, I strongly believe that for all
musicians every live appearance is a unique moment. I also think that we have
been quite lucky as a group, given that we had the honor to support two great
foreign bands, like Spiritual Front and
Antimatter, in a short time period. Of course, we had the privilege to play along some great Greek bands
too.
We both enjoy every live performance we give, from the
rehearsals in the studio until the last song of our set list. I personally love
when someone from the crowd come to us to express his opinion about our music.
It’s really beautiful to know that your music touches someone’s emotions and
quite interesting to be given someone’s
perception from his point of view.
Living in an age where Youtube is a
big deal, you made your first official for your digital single "Autumn
Leaf". Do you feel that videos are so important for band to present their
work?
Konstantin: Well, although, music has
always been the most important, we believe that videos can play a major role
for a band to reach its sound to new listeners. Given the massive amount of
music information from YouTube, we feel that a band has to merge its music with
the icon, in order to make the difference, by presenting something which
characterize them.
Your first full album "Tears" was released
by the Peruvian In Club Records on tape format. How did this come about? Will
the album also be released on another format like CD or vinyl?
Konstantin: We can’t hide that we are in favor of old school
format, like tapes and especially vinyl. So, when In Club Records proposed us
to officially release our album "Tears" in tape, we thought that this
was the right offer at the right time. Now, as far as our new album is
concerned, which we are currently working on, we have thoughts of releasing it
in a vinyl format, but it’s very soon to say it for sure.
In March 2019 you made another official video clip for
your song "Ice", this time done by the videography team Press Eject and Give me the Tape. What can you
tell us about its production?
Dionisis: After our first self-produced video clip for Autumn Leaf, we decided to make another
video for Ice, which we consider it
to be the essence of what we are musically as a group. Our aim was to have a
professional production, so as to present our aesthetic for the sound we think
it describes us the most. So, we decided to have the production made by someone
who combines both the technical knowledge required for the production of a
video clip, as well as to be an expert in the aesthetic of the genre of the
music we play. We had already seen and admired the work of our friend Nick
Hantzis for bands like Paradox Obscure and Ding An Sich. Bearing that in mind,
we contacted him and proposed this collaboration. I personally consider the
result of being really good and I have the hope of us collaborating once more
in the near future with Nick! Speaking of the making of our first official
video clip, we feel the need to sincerely thank Leonidas Skiadas, for his
kindly allowing us to shoot at Death Disco, and our friend Ermis for his
valuable help.
We have seen lately in your live shows and on the
track, you participated with on the "Stimmen Der Seele" compilation,
that you have started collaborating with female vocalists. Tell us something
about this?
Konstantin: Well, as a band we really want to explore
different kind of emotions, by experimenting on the dark ’80s and ’90s sound,
blending dark wave with cold sounds. So, it comes for us naturally to propose
to Katerina Kontopanagou and Fai Tsiga to sing Where Joy Hides and She Ends
Herself, respectively. We are
more than honored to have the last song on the "Stimmen Der Seele"
compilation, among other great bands!
In addition, we recently
released on internet Nothing Will Remain,
our second song sung by Fai. We consider that male and female vocals can reveal
slightly different kind of emotions, other times outlining the darkness more
and other time the coldness.
What are your future plans? What should your fans
expect from you in the near future?
Dionisis: We are currently preparing for our two forthcoming
performances, which will be held in Patra and Athens, on 1/6 and 15/6,
respectively. In the first gig we will play a set list, which will include
almost all of our songs. The second gig will be at the Low Sun Festival, which will take place at Death Disco,
where we will have the honor to share the stage with two great Greek bands,
Mosquito and Cold Remembrance. In parallel, we are
working on the songs of our new album and on a single, that will be released in
our bandcamp, which will have two songs, one of them unreleased. We also would
like to make another video clip for a song from the "Tears" album.
At last, we would like
to thank you, Nick, once more for this interview and mostly for your support,
as well as our friends and people we might not know, for all of them having
supported us in any way until now!!
Photos 2,3 by John Kokkonakis
Photos 2,3 by John Kokkonakis
Interview by Nick Drivas.
Categories:
INTERVIEWS
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