Interview с Firewind : DARKSIDE.ru

Since our webzine already did an interview with you after the release of “Burning Earth” (2003), let’s start from there and talk about what happened later. First of all, how did you get a deal with Century Media for “Forged By Fire” (2005)? Why did you choose this label, and how do you evaluate their work so far?

Basically we owed the third album to Massacre and Leviathan Records, but me and Leviathan Records owner David Chastain spoke about the third album, and we both started to believe that Firewind needs to take a step further, and for that we need a bigger label. That’s when I talked to the people from Century Media about buying us out from that record contract. My experience in working with Century Media from Dream Evil and Nightrage was very good, and I have a very good relationship with people who are working there, they’ve had a lot of input in my career. We were talking for a while, and finally they bought us out from that contract, and that’s how we ended up releasing “Forged By Fire” via Century Media.

You were previously signed to Massacre Records in Europe, and we heard that you were totally dissatisfied with their work. What went wrong with Massacre? Did they fail to comply with contract obligations?

Actually we were licensed to Massacre Records, our mother label was Leviathan in America. And they didn’t care that much about a licensed band, of course, they paid much more attention to the bands they signed directly. They didn’t really do such a good job for us, we did all of the distribution, the promotion was very small, and there was no tour support. Even though we got very good offers, we never managed to get on tour. Everything was very bad right from the beginning, I was never happy with that label, and I was actually very happy when we got out of there.

When you were with Massacre, your releases were published in Russia by a label called Art Music Group. What can you say about their work, if anything? Do you get any fan mail from Russia, do you know any sales figures?

Oh, I didn’t even know our albums were released in Russia! I don’t know any sales figures, I haven’t read any reviews, I haven’t seen anything like that. Of course, we get mail from our Russian fans, we get mail from all over the world, but as to the business side, I’m totally unaware, maybe you guys could tell me a bit about it? (everybody laughs)

Well, if you don’t know your records are released here, that pretty much says it all! But let’s now pass on to line-up changes in Firewind. Before the recording of “Forged By Fire” you decided not to continue with singer Stephen Frederick and brought in Chity Somapala (ex-Avalon). How did this change influence the situation in the band? What effect did it have on the songwriting process and on the recording process?

Working with Chity was a bit easier than working with Stephen, because we lived closer, we’re both from Europe. Chity’s from Sri Lanka, but now he lives in Germany. Me and him shared a lot in terms of background and musical influences, and we worked very well together on “Forged By Fire”. I think we created a lot of good songs. The way we worked was a bit different, because with Stephen we had more of an Internet-relationship: I would send him stuff in mp3, and then he would send the stuff back. When Chity joined, I finally had a chance to work with the singer face-to-face, we actually did the pre-production for the vocals here in my own home studio in Greece.

As far as we understand, the main reason for changing the vocalist was your desire to play live more often with Firewind, but Chity left the band soon after the recording due to some “personal reasons”. What actually happened to Chity?

We did tour with Chity a bit, we did a big European tour with Hammerfall and a couple of festivals. But soon after that we realized that we didn’t really get along on a lot of personal issues. He was not happy with the way we handled things in the band, he was maybe not comfortable with a lot of things and the way we were deciding on them. Eventually he changed his mind and he wanted to leave. We tried to bring him back, but it wouldn’t work, and after that we just realized that he was not the perfect singer for us, and that we would have to find somebody else.

The new Firewind singer is Apollo Papathanasio, former member of Majestic and Time Requiem. When and how did you get to know him

? How did he end up getting the job with Firewind?

I’ve known Apollo for many years, even before we played together. He lives in Sweden, and I used to live in Sweden, so I met him in Studio Fredman, when he was mixing there with Time Requiem. He’s also a native Greek, we enjoyed hanging out together, and whenever I was in Sweden, I would call him up and get in touch with him. We have been good friends for many years, and when the time came to find a singer, I remembered about Apollo and just gave him a call. Luckily he was not doing anything and had no commitments to other bands, so he was very happy to join us. We sent him some of our new songs, he put his vocals down, and we were really stunned by his performance. I think his voice fits way better than others.

For many bands, if they change the singer, they lose most of their fanbase, and it’s very difficult for a new guy to gain acceptance from the audience. But with Firewind, it doesn’t seem that you suffer from changing the singer for the second time in just a few years. How do you manage to do it – change the line-up for every album and come out even stronger than before?

I don’t know! (laughs) I think I’m very determined. When I lose somebody from the band, obviously it hurts a lot, but at the same, this makes us, because I want to make an even stronger comeback, find better members, write better songs and record better albums. I don’t give up, I’m not that kind of guy. It also helps that Firewind is mainly my own band, and people relate the name Firewind to my own name. It generates interest, the fans and the press want to see what I’ve been up to, and maybe that’s why a lot of fans are not so disappointed.

You now have a fully Greek line-up. When we talked last time, you said it’s very difficult working with Greek musicians, because you can’t stand unprofessional people. Does it mean that over the past few years the situation on the Greek metal scene has changed for the better?

Yeah, you’re right! The Greek scene has changed for the better in the past few years, it’s still a bit underground, but it’s growing slowly. More and more bands are getting their albums released worldwide or at least in Europe. In the past it was really impossible for me to find Greek musicians, but after I found Bob (Katsionis, keyboards and guitar) and Petros (Christo, bass), the core of the band was created. It’s the three of us that have been the basic members over the years. To be honest with you, I never expected that I would ever have a fully Greek band, like now, so I’m very happy that it finally works like that.

Is it difficult nowadays to be a full-time musician in Greece? Is it difficult to survive just by playing music? In this aspect, can you compare Greece to Sweden, where you also lived for a while?

It’s very hard to make a living from music, it’s almost impossible if you’re playing in just one band. I’m very lucky to make a living from music, because I have a big back catalogue already, I have a lot of royalties coming in every six months. (laughs) But when it comes to the other band members, most of us do make a living from music, but that’s because Bob, for example, is a very experienced studio guy, he has his own studio and he produces a lot of bands in Athens. Marc Cross, our drummer, is teaching a lot, and Apollo is playing with some cover bands. One way or another we all make a living from music, though not entirely from Firewind. As to comparing the Greek scene and the Swedish scene, you can’t really compare. Sweden has a very big music industry, a big market, much bigger than in Greece and much better organized. There are good video directors, good producers, radios, they had more support from the government, but that’s something that doesn’t exist already. I feel very privileged to have worked with Swedish musicians, I value their guidance and help for my career, and maybe thanks to them I was able to break the barriers in my home country.

By the way, how did you like living in Sweden, and why did you eventually decide to return to your home country?

There’s no place like home. (laughs) I spent a few years wandering round the world, before Sweden I lived in America, but after six or seven years on the road, moving from one place to another, I just decided it was time to return home to Greece. I have my own studio and my own office over here, and I travel whenever I need.

You have been playing in quite a few Swedish bands, and the most famous of them is Arch Enemy. Why was your cooperation with this band so short? You only did a series of summer festivals last year and that’s it…

Arch Enemy is a full-time band, and the time came to make a choice whether I would play only with Arch Enemy or continue with my own band. There would be really no time for Firewind if I played with Arch Enemy – the guys tour all the time, they are constantly on the road, it’s a very busy band. It was a hard choice for me, but at the same time, I preferred to play with my own band than to play in the band of someone else. It was all very logical for me.

What did playing in Arch Enemy mean for you personally? Was it more like a favor to the people you know, or was it like a step up in your career?

It was definitely a step up in my career. I got a chance to go to America and play on the biggest tour with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, it was my dream coming true. It was amazing, and I learned a lot from the guys in Arch Enemy. Michael Amott is a professional, and I learned a lot working with him, his management and the guys in the band. They’re all very good friends of mine, and I will not forget this, it was an amazing experience.

You have said in recent interviews that you are no longer into death and black metal. Does it mean that your musical tastes have changed over the years? And what do you listen to nowadays?

My musical tastes haven’t changed, I was always into what I’m listening to now. I love old heavy metal of the 1970s and 1980s like Black Sabbath, Scorpions and stuff like that. Of course, I like some extreme music, but mostly I’m not so much into it. In the last year I’ve lost interest into death and black metal, it doesn’t really mean that much to me anymore. I prefer melodic vocals.

Another Swedish band that you were involved with for a long time is Dream Evil. But it seems that nowadays nearly everybody has left Dream Evil – first, you, then drummer Snowy Shaw, and also a couple of other guys left and then came back. What is happening with the band nowadays? And what made you quit?

Dream Evil, although they sell a lot of records, were never a serious band. It was more like five guys doing comics. It was never really an option for me to continue with them, because I wanted to take the band to the next level and become huge, but in the end I realized that they would never do that, they would never take that chance. So instead of kicking everybody out I decided to leave and continue with my own band. Yeah, it seems that after I left the band went downhill very much – they could not keep a stable line-up, they could not put their shit together and write new material, and it’s been over two years since their last record. They have actually just finished a new album, Fredrik (Nordstrom, guitarist) sent me a copy, I listened to it, and it’s pretty good. Maybe it’s lacking some of the magic we had when me and Snowy were in the band…

Until recently you played in three or four bands at the same time, but now you concentrate on just one band – Firewind. Why did you abandon all other activities? Was Firewind taking too much of your time?

I decided it was time for me to really build one band and make it really big. I figured out I can only try it with one band, and I decided that Firewind was the band that I want to do it with. Playing with all the other bands was great, I had a lot of input and a lot of fun, but being from one tour to the next and from one recording session to the next really made me tired, and I was not so focused and not able to give my 100 percent to each bands. It was not fair for them or for me, so I decided I gotta stop it and concentrate on one band.

What were the most memorable moments of your time with Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage and Dream Evil? What did you like the best about playing in those bands?

They’re all very special in their own way. Each guy there is a very close friend of mine, they are great musicians and good songwriters. I had a chance to collaborate with many great musicians and make a lot of great friendships, and I had a great time with all my bands on the road. A lot of cool things happened. Some bands had more success in certain territories than others, and all of them together helped me to build my own name. Without them I wouldn’t be here today. They gave

me a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. Maybe some bands did their mistakes and others didn’t, and this helped me to avoid them with Firewind. It’s been a learning experience from the beginning, and it’s been really great.

Let’s now pass on to your new album “Allegiance”. You recorded it in a totally different way this time – you previously used three studios for different instruments, but now you recorded everything in just one studio. How did you like working that way? Will you continue like that in the future?

Yes, I think so, because we found out that this was the key, this was what the band was missing. We really needed to be all together in one place this time, and that’s why, I think, the album sounds more compact and stronger. This time I really needed input from everybody else. It brought the band closer together, and the member got to know each other even better. I think we’re gonna repeat it on the next album as well.

“Allegiance” is your fourth album, so you can look back a little on the previous ones. When you hold the master disc with the finished record in your hand, are you always 100 percent satisfied with the sound and the playing? Or do you always think you could have improved something?

Actually “Allegiance” is the first album that I’m very very satisfied with. I listened to it, and I wouldn’t want to change anything. On the previous albums I was not so happy with the guitar tones - mainly I had to record them here in my home studio, because the budget was not so big, and I had to do a lot of compromises. But this time we didn’t compromise, we went into the studio, we booked a big room for everybody to stay there and live, we got state-of-the art studio equipment, we worked in Sweden with Fredrik Nordstrom on all the engineering. We did things the way that we wanted, and I’m very pleased with it.

Who is now responsible for the lyrics? And what are the songs about this time?

Mainly Apollo writes the lyrics, and I also wrote some lyrics this time, though it’d been quite a while since I wrote lyrics. Usually our lyrics speak about the things that happen to us and feelings that people have in their everyday life. They have a lot to do with human psychology and the things that bother us on an everyday basis. It’s more like realistic stuff.

On the song “Breaking The Silence” you have guest singer Tara. Who is this girl, and why did you decide to incorporate female vocals in this song?

Tara is a friend of mine, I’ve known her for a few years. She’s from Holland, but she’s moved to Sweden a few years ago. She comes from a different background, she’s more into pop, R&B and soul stuff. She did release a couple of albums about 10 years ago via labels like BMG or EMI. But nowadays she’s not doing much. I knew she had a great voice and a lot of songwriting talent, that’s why I gave her a call when we were in Sweden. I asked her to check out some of our songs, she came down to the studio, and when she heard “Breaking The Silence”, she liked it very much. We asked her, “Why don’t you write your own melody and your own lyrics for this and maybe bring it back a few days later to see what happens?” When she did come back a few days later and sang her own version on top of our version, her version was much better than ours. We immediately erased Apollo’s vocals and decided that it’s gonna be a duet between Apollo and Tara. It came out really fantastic.

And it’s very surprising – you don’t usually expect female vocals from a band like Firewind…

Yeah, this makes a difference. Like you said, no one would expect it from us, but at the same time, it doesn’t go away from our sound. It still sounds like Firewind, but it has a little bit of spice, it’s something different.

It seems to become a tradition for Firewind to use guest musicians on studio albums. Last time you had Marty Friedman and James Murphy, and this time you have Tara. Are there any other players or singers you would like to have on your records in the future?

I don’t know, I never gave it so much thought. With Tara it just happened, we were not really planning on having guests on this album. It just happened that Tara was around, that she wrote great vocal lines for that song, so we decided to work with her. But I don’t know who will be on the next album, if there is somebody.

In June you rele

ased a single called “Falling To Pieces” with two non-album tracks on it, and one of them is “Teenage Idol”, a cover of Blackfoot. As far as I know, it is only the second time Firewind are doing a cover version, and the first one was by Scorpions, one of your favorite bands. Why did you choose Blackfoot this time?

It was actually our bass player Petros’ idea. He suggested this song when we were at a rehearsal with the band. I didn’t remember that song, but I knew I’d heard it somewhere, and when he played it to me, I recognized the song, of course. It’s one of these songs you always listen to on the radio or in the club. It’s the song that we all love in the band, so we just thought we should give it a try and make it a cover.

You have recently shot a video for “Falling To Pieces” with very famous director Patrick Ullaeus. How did you get this person to work with you? We guess his services cost a lot of money… And how did you like the experience?

I’ve known Patrick since the Dream Evil days, because he did the video for “The Book Of Heavy Metal”. As it often happens, we’ve been in touch ever since, we’ve become good friends, and is really respective of what I do and how dedicated I am to my music. We have always talked about working together in the future, and when the time came for the new album, I gave him a call and asked if he could work with us. He was very excited about this. Like you said, Patrick is a very expensive man, but if you want to have a great video, if you want to look great, if you want to have your video on a lot of TV stations all over the world, you need an expensive video. We were willing to make that sacrifice, and the same goes for our label. We’re happy that we did this.

Let’s now talk about Firewind’s live activity. How much are you planning to tour with the new line-up? When shall we expect you to tour Europe?

We’re gonna be touring Europe about October or November. We will announce new dates pretty soon.

Last year you played in Germany and Sweden with Hammerfall and Lordi. What are your impressions from that tour?

It was a very good tour for us, because, first of all, it was our first European tour, and it was a really big arena tour. We played for an average of 3,000 people every night. All the bands on the bill – Lordi, Thunderstone and Hammerfall – treated us very nice, and we gained a lot of new fans. We made our name a bit more visible and popular in Europe, so I think it was a very good step for Firewind.

You have played live with nearly all of your bands. Do you get different emotions from playing with Firewind and, for instance, Arch Enemy?

Yes, of course, you get different emotions, because you’re playing with different musicians. I personally have been enjoying everybody I played with, but of course, playing with my own band is really special, because it’s something I’ve built from scratch from the beginning, and it will always feel different. Other than that, it doesn’t make any difference, because it’s all been nice people to work with and good musicians. I feel very lucky to have played with all these guys.

Firewind now has a fanclub in Greece. What does this club do for the band and for the fans? What are its activities?

I don’t really know, to be honest. I know that the guy that’s running it has been gathering a lot of members lately, and he plans to do some kind of special contests for the members. When we have time, we go and meet the fanclub, and whenever we can, we arrange private meetings and chat with them. Maybe we will have some special garments for them in the future.

And in general, what is the status of Firewind in your home country?

Just today we released a newsletter because our single has reached number 11 in our country’s charts. And this month we are the cover story in the Greek editions of both Rock Hard and Metal Hammer magazines. I think things start to happen for us finally.

You will be playing at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Bulgaria in August (as you must know, the festival never happened – ed.), and you have already been on a promotional trip there. Do you think that Eastern Europe is a promising market for Firewind?

I don’t really think so, I think it’s more of a bootleg market. (laughs) I understand that people there don’t have much

money to buy CDs, so there’s a lot of bootleg copies flowing around, but I know for sure there’s a lot of great fans over there. If we have a chance to go there and play for them, we’re gonna do it, we don’t care if we sell a lot of records or they copy a lot of our records. We wanna go and play everywhere.

Special thanks to Gerrit Mohr (Century Media Records) for arranging this interview

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov, Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
July 5, 2006
10 сен 2006 the End

Firewind

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