BURST Issue #18 June 2014 by BURST Magazine

June 2014 Issue #18 | $1.99

Sons of Anarchy An Outlaw’s Guide

Leonardo DiCaprio

is the Wolf of Hollywood

The Harp Twins

Loreena Inside BURST

McKennitt The Artist, the Voice, the Human 30’ with the magnificent Goddess of Celtic music!

Camille& Kennerly have the whole package!

Epica’s

Simone

talks new album and motherhood ISSN 2241-5386

9 772241 538000

Photography is a miracle. Do you believe?

www.argophotography.com Burst www.afternoiz.com

3 Burst Magazine

pages 6-23 Articles

pages 24-50 Interviews

pages 52-55 Albums Reviews

page 64 Director’s Cut

Loreena McKennitt Having the chance to interview one of the brightest artists out there, is not something that occurs very often. Loreena McKennitt is a magnificent human being that I’ve had the chance to spent 30 minutes of my life with. Hope you enjoy reading this, as much as I did living it. Read the whole story and interview on page 24

page 66 Film Reviews

Introducing

Cover photo by Ann Cutting

Confessions Of a blockbuster Addict

by angie rouska

e On pag

page 68 TV Series Beginner’s Guide

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publisher

Raphael Aretakis

editor in chief

Spiros Smyrnis

senior editors

Christina Alossi Sissy Fanouraki Jo Gogou Angie Rouska Panagiotis Tsoutsis

editors

contributing editors

proofreaders photographers

Gabrielle Koch Helen Marie Joyce Kostas Krasonis Eleni Lampraki Korina P. Barbara Pavone Kostas Tsotsanis Dialekti Angeli Giorgos Kotrozinis Paschalis Koutsogiannis Alexia Lampropoulou B|S|Orestis Joe Prostredny Mike Ritchie Helen Marie Joyce Matina Katsarakou B|S|O Jo Gogou Raphael Aretakis

USA photographer

Joe Prostredny

special guest

Karolina Pacan

Design & Layout

Raphael Aretakis

advertising

Eleni Lampraki

art advisor

Aikate D.

2 Ag. Theodoron str, Athens 14451, Greece

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Malcolm Young Takes Leave From AC/DC By Mike Ritchie

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7 Plans were underway for a new studio album, AC/DC’s first since 2008′s Black Ice, along with a ’40th Anniversary’ world tour spanning 40 shows across the globe. Singer Brian Johnson confirmed earlier this year that progress on a new record and tour had been delayed due to a band member’s illness. It was reported by Australian journalist Darryl Mason on his blog, The Orstrahyun, that the founding member, rhythm guitarist, the driving force Malcolm Young had suffered a stroke leaving a blood clot on his brain. When AC/DC reunited in early April to begin a month of rehearsals, prepping for new album recording sessions, Young discovered he couldn’t play. At least, he couldn’t play like he used to. With friends and family believing the blood clot being the reason he couldn’t continue working. Although Young’s condition has been described as serious, it doesn’t mean he won’t recover and regain his skills. It was widely rumored/ firstly reported that the band decided to call it quits, causing the Australian media to go ballistic, getting ahead of a planned official announcement from the band and management. A press conference on Tuesday, April 16 was scheduled with the speculated official announcement that AC/DC would not continue playing and recording without Young. While brother Angus is the more famous and recognizable of the two for his guitar style and school boy stage clothes, AC/DC has always been Malcolm Young’s band. He started it under the tutelage of older brother George Young encouraging younger Angus to join him, and pursue world domination. Malcolm Young has been the quiet motivator and boss of the band for four decades, co-writing virtually all of AC/DC’s classics and dedicated protector of the band’s reputation and legacy making sure the fans were always happy with the music. His passion for the band, its music, and integrity were so intense that in the 1970s he had fistfights in the studio, with Angus, when disagreements about a sound or certain riffs couldn’t be resolved peacefully, resulting in bloody knuckles and lost teeth.

Australian Choirboys’ front man, Mark Gable, a good friend of the band, has backed up claims of Malcolm’s illness, telling ABC Radio, “Malcolm is sick. From what I understand, and it’s even been confirmed in part by his son Ross, that it would appear Malcolm is unable to perform anymore. It’s not just that he is unwell; it’s that it is quite serious. It will constitute that he definitely won’t be able to perform live. He will probably not be able to record.” Years ago, the band made a pact not to replace any members. So is that it? Is AC/DC coming to an end? The band has confirmed via Facebook that Young “is taking a break from the band due to ill health. Malcolm would like to thank the group’s diehard legions of fans worldwide for their never-ending love and support. In light of this news, AC/DC asks that Malcolm and his family’s privacy be respected during this time. The band will continue to make music.” Gable has said that AC/DC was not calling it quits and floated the possibility that Stevie Young, Angus and Malcolm’s nephew who has filled in for Malcolm in the past, could step into the fold this time. The bands management and record company, Columbia, have chosen not to comment on the reports, while other insiders have said retirement rumors are false. The group is said to have booked six weeks of studio time in early May in Vancouver, where Black Ice was recorded. Brian Johnson told UK’s The Telegraph that despite earlier reports, AC/DC are not retiring; “We are definitely getting together in May in Vancouver. We’re going to pick up guitars, have a plonk and see if anybody has got any tunes or ideas. If anything happens we’ll record it.” Concerning rumors of illness and the bands future Johnson said “I wouldn’t like to say anything either way about the future. I’m not ruling anything out. One of the boys has a debilitating illness, but I don’t want to say too much about it. He is very proud and private, a wonderful chap. We’ve been pals for 35 years and I look up to him very much. The world will just have to wait and see and wish Malcolm a speedy recovery back in black to good health, the studio and the grand stage. For those about to rock, we salute you! Burst www.afternoiz.com

The Black Keys Are you ready to ‘Turn Blue’?

By Kostas Tsotsanis

Photos by Danny Clinch Burst www.afternoiz.com

9 The duo from Ohio has been the center of modern rock for a long time. Starting from small clubs and gigs, The Black Keys has grown bigger and bigger, record by record, offering us some of the most influential rock records of our time (El Camino, Attack & Release). Dan Auerback (guitars, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums, percussion) were always aiming to compose the music they were fans of. They treated rock n roll as a goddess, who they, as persons, admired. Right after their success with El Camino, the band did not stay inactive. The El Camino tour was something that kept them busy for years, constantly promoting the record. Within their breaks from the tour, the band jammed; and to be honest, Dan and Patrick jammed a lot, creating again, just like a never-ending machine. What was the result? Turn Blue, of course, the band’s eighth fulllength record! In May the 12th, the release of Turn Blue made the fans go crazy once more and created even more hit-songs for The Black Keys, who aimed at conquer the charts once more. Making of Turn Blue: As it was stated before, Turn Blue was the result of the constant jamming between their tour dates and during the breaks of El Camino tour. As Patrick states in some of his interviews, the band needed something different from

their previous records. The Black Keys aimed to create a record, which would be darker and expanding, heavier and powerful. Indeed, Turn Blue is a record that reflects a feeling of sadness and loneliness and the songs in their majority contain melancholic guitar melodies and powerful lyrics. On the other hand, songs like ‘Fever’, balance the record a bit, as they are songs which will definitely cheer the listener up. There’s a great amount of passion given in every tune and every beat. That’s what The Black Keys always presented in fact and that’s the main reason of their success; to create passionate music. The first songs popped up during the winter (January) of 2013, two years after the El Camino release. The band had been staying in a studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They lived above the recording studio and stayed there for twelve days. During those days, the band was always rehearsing and they never really left the studio for the outside world. The first three songs became a reality and the record started to form shape. The first songs the band composed was ‘Gotta Get Away’, ‘Fever’ and It’s Up to You Now’. Those three tracks are among the most popular on the record, while ‘Fever’ was the band’s first single. A video clip for this song has also been made, with Theo Wenner as the director.

The recordings were delayed till the summer of 2013 (July, August). The band hit the studio in Los Angeles (Sunset Sound Studios). During those rehearsing months, the band started to perform freely and create songs which were different from what they were used to create. Songs like ‘Weight of Love’ or ‘In Time’ which are more progressive, more dark than ever. Dan and Patrick are still amazed from what they created during those sections and are also really proud, as they state in interviews. As far as the lyrics are concerned, the band claimed to have worked on personal matters. Auerbach’s divorce was a main issue which turned his world upside down during the making of Turn Blue. As a result, he wrote emotional lyrics, really touching ones. In a recent interview with NPR music, Dan stated that music has always been something that he loved deeply and that has been making him feel great, but he has never actually relied on it for healing. However, the last year, music was very helpful to him. The specific statement totally reflects the thoughts he has given into the songs and the emotions he let flow through his heart, while composing some of the record’s hit-songs. A New Era Is Beginning…: Turn Blue was finalized in Easy Eye Studios, in Nashville. It was

mixed by Tchad Blake and mastered by Brian Lucey. A great personnel of engineers have worked for the record and the result is totally amusing; solid sound, great vocals and guitars and a large number of mixed instruments and melodies. What we have here and what The Black Keys have created is more evidence for the band’s importance in today’s music scene. While other artists create records with a ‘plastic’ sound and music which is totally compact and meaningless, The Black Keys turn their backs into specific music structures and run after originality and inspiration. The release date of the album was May 12th, with an artwork which presented blue and purple spirals. Turn Blue’s welcome from the music critics was a blast. The record got great, positive feedback and the band couldn’t be happier about it. A new tour is planned during the 2014 and a great amount of dates has been announced. The rocket which is called The Black Keys is ready to take off and march again worldwide. Now that Turn Blue is finally released, we are only even more curious about what will be the band’s next step and how the successor after Turn Blue will sound. The only thing we know for sure, is that The Black Keys are here to stay!

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XStorieS Ray Hitler: Τhe artistic side of a dictator by Jo Gogou

Burst and its members do not relate or associate with anything similar to Hittler’s ideology, nor do they follow his views.

This is one of those moments that make you wonder: How would the world be if... If certain situations have turned into another direction? This is how it went for this part of history too. What would have happened if the man that caused one of the largest genocides had become a painter? What would have happened if he hadn’t ruined his dream? What would have happened if he had never read that racist book? Thoughts, questions and many many clues about his life that were left behind in the course of history. He was born to lead people, although his name would bring destruction to the West and to the whole humanity. It is one of those personalities that hide themselves behind a tragedy, a black page in the history books; something that stinks of death and sorrow until today. Burst www.afternoiz.com

1889- Adolf Hiedler: The child of the Austrians, Alois Hiedler Schicklgruber.& Klara Pölzl (Alois’ niece and his third wife). The name of his village was Braunau am Inn and it was where he developed his early skills. Also it was the place he suddenly erased after gaining power and the leadership in Germany. His life was not exactly what he wanted it to be, especially his parents origin. It is uncertain that they were Austrians, they may have had Jewish roots, a fact that is not mentioned in the Mein Kampf- just as the fact that his mother was actually cousins with his father. Especially the changing of the family’s last name*, something that had to be done, was what closed this story for ever, at least in his own writings and biography.

[* His father, named Alois Hiedler, offspring of Johann Georg and Maria Anna Schicklgruber, was an illegitimate child and suffered in all those tough years with his mother, Αnna. It was rough, not only financially, but even growing up without a father and not being recognized as well. He took his mother’s last name and later on he decided to change that once and for good. In 1876 he turned it from Schicklgruber to Hitler. From a plain mistake an employee did at the time, he was named as Hiedler. All this would later confuse Adolf, as he did not know exactly who his father, grandfather was. A shameful thing for a man that talked about the Aryan race: not to know his own family tree.] Till today many believe that the destruction of his own village

was not a random act. He had stated to his opponents that none should find out about his roots and family, (1930) He makes many references in his own book, but not all of them are

11 true. History investigators that studied his course and his unhealthy psychology (diagnosed in his teen years but ignored) have found his writings inaccurate. His parents’ struggles and the death of his father (he was 13 years old) made him lazy and he defined himself as a “free spirit”. Rumors were spread about his mother’s work, his father was authoritarian as long as he lived and additionally the financial hardships made him spiritually still. But he managed to gain energy and strength that later on would lead to death and violence for many. What exactly is true? He himself reports of a violent and strict father and at the same time a strong bond that lasted until he was 13 years old. He claimed that he was pressing him and made him give up painting, something he loved, to become an employee too. That is a lie, as his father was never able to stop him from doing anything. He got sick and died before all that. 1903: At the age of twelve he was forced to repeat the same class due to laziness and non - participation to the school activities. He accused his parents for this behavior. 1906: Three years later he will drop out of school and any kind of education. He will still be accusing the past, his authoritarian father that he lost at the age of 13. His excuses grew as his hate did, hate over anything. All that turned into the little “eggs” that would hatch when the time came. So, he remained, without studies, with too much time at his hands and a talent he gave up soon enough. Time passed and his inactivity came to an end when he decided to take the exams for the art school in Vienna, in 1907. The outcome didn’t meet their standards and he was rejected. At the same year he loses his mother from cancer, a shocking event for him. A year later, after practicing in painting and architectural design he would once again take the exams for the same school. He got rejected for the second time, his knowledge and grades were just not enough. His dropping out of school and not having a diploma made him lose ground. He made his own mistake- a mis-

treating from others in his mind. Giving up all his plans he started working as an errant painter, traveling to villages and towns. Many saw his talent and advised him to become an architect. But, he chose not to, as the government “allowance” was higher than his paycheck would be. Having no profession or education he supported himself only from government allowances. Caring only for himself he started working here and there and created a disturbed image for the world. In 1909 - 1910 he moved into Vienna, he was homeless. He lived in the Meldemannstraße institution for the homeless, kept on selling paintings and postcards in order to survive. And the irony? A Jewish friend of his helped him sell some of his paintings. “In January 1913, a man whose passport bore the name Stavros Papadopoulos disembarked from the Krakow train at Vienna’s North Terminal station. Of dark complexion, he sported a large peasant’s mustache and carried a very basic wooden suitcase.

“I was sitting at the table,” wrote the man he had come to meet, years later, “when the door opened with a knock and an unknown man entered. “He was short... thin... his greyish-brown skin covered in pockmarks... I saw nothing in his eyes that resembled friendliness.” The writer of these lines was a dissident Russian intellectual, the editor of a radical newspaper called Pravda (Truth). His name was Leon Trotsky. The man he described was not, in fact, Papadopoulos. He had been born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, was known to his friends as Koba and is now remembered

as Joseph Stalin.” As the BBC reporter, Andy Walker, mentions Trotsky and Stalin were not living alone in Vienna in the same year, 1913. Sigmund Freud was already practicing as a psychologist and was known in the Vienna cycles. Α young Yugoslavian, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, was working in the worked at the Daimler automobile factory in Wiener Neustadt, a town south of Vienna. He would become the leader of Yugoslavia after WW2. In the same neighborhood, a 24 year old Austrian lived, a man dreaming of becoming a painter in the Academy of Vienna. His name was Adolf Hitler and he lived near a building in eldemannstraße, near the Danube river.

From the book Die Aquarelle Hitlers: Quite apart from the rather understandable curiosity they incite in viewers, Hitler’s water colors offer considerable food for thought. An examination of these works offers some stimulating insights into the aesthetics of Nazism, particularly as to how the emphasis on classicism related to ideas about racial purity. These banal little watercolors also offer a look at Hitler’s own personal tastes, reflected in his obsession for paintings that were almost exact reproductions from life, with very little room for imagination or interpretation. With the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II coming up in 2005, this is sure to be a timely and important book.

That lasted until 1913 when he inherited his father, moved to Munich and became a volunteer in the German army. His downfall had begun. He read and visited racist meetings, discussing the superior race issue (Herrenrasse). Art turned into ashes compared to what has been born in his head, a race yet unseen. It’s been said that dropping out school and the reluctance towards work, made him face difficulties with the state and society, the ones that were “unfair” to him. The next step was the army and governmental organizations (NSDAP) that put him in the parliament and would later make him a chancellor. His psychological assessment was that he was a psychopath, absolutely inappropriate for any leadership positions. That was mentioned by the doctor that treated him in 1918, he was actually temporarily blind (hysteriarelated blindness). The assessments, the tests and other articles concerning Adolf Hitler’s psychic and psychological balance, all ended up to the same result. After this his paintings were saved, praised and sold in auctions for many millions. Strangely enough his art does not resemble his actions. It is mostly still life, architectural formulations with excellent prospect and light coloring that leave the “ego” of the artist behind.

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To Venus and Back Fall - Winter 2014

#nikolaostsironis

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Linkin Park

Ready for the NEXT STEP? By Gabrielle Koch | Photos by Brandon Cox

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14 Since their inception in 1996, Linkin Park has created a conglomeration of different musical sounds to design their own unique style. From the gravely vocals of Chester Bennington and the impressive rapping of Mike Shinoda, to the electronic beats thrown in by Joe Hahn, Linkin Park has always had an interesting “Nu Metal” feel. After they released their second studio album, Meteora, in 2003, and Bennington underwent vocal cord surgery, they were left unable to pursue their famous style and had to change things up a bit (Or so we thought!). Despite Bennington’s surgery, it didn’t slow Linkin Park down! Their third album, Minutes to Midnight (2007), still featured the singer belting his heart out on tracks like “Given Up” and “Bleed It Out.” The album was slightly different from their past albums and showed that the band was slowly working towards a new adventure. In comes A Thousand Suns in 2010. Yet again, they have altered their style, but have kept those idiosyncratic elements that have become fixtures in their ways of musical creation. The

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question that plagued me when I first heard this album was: where are the guitars?! Out of fifteen tracks, guitars could only distinctly be heard in “Blackout,” “Wretches and Kings,” and “The Messenger” (which is acoustic). As the journey continues, fans of Linkin Park can kiss the band’s classic Hybrid Theory (2000) sound good-bye (Can they?). No longer can they be called “metal,” even if they were loosely called that in the first place. That’s an obvious fact. They’ve downgraded a bit to “rock” and the only things that keep them hanging on to that genre title are Bennington’s raspy screams, some guitars thrown in here and there, and Rob Bourdon’s drum skills. What is amazing is that they’ve taken the classic rock line-up (vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer) and infused their own style into it. A Thousand Suns was throwing out these electronic rhythms and the fans were still catching them because, let’s face it, they’re catchy. “When They Come for Me” has this unrivaled electronic Africantype beat that gives you a reason to rock out. Older fans breathed a slight sigh

of relief when Living Things came out in 2012. Whoever has been on the bus with Linkin Park since Hybrid Theory, has watched as their roller coaster took off, did some crazy things, and is now coming back down; but it hasn’t stopped yet. Their single from Living Things, “BURN IT DOWN,” ferociously chants, “We’re building it up to break it back down.” So I pose this question to you all: is this what they have been doing in building the anticipation for their sixth studio album The Hunting Party? Will all the hype be for nothing? Brad Delson, the lead guitarist, has promised that their newest album, out June 17, 2014, will be an “alternative Hybrid Theory.” The two singles that they have already released, “Guilty All the Same” and “Until It’s Gone” corroborate Delson’s statement. “Guilty All the Same,” their first single, is mesmerizing! There is a return of the heavy guitars which evens out the memorable synthesized beat. What stands out most, though, besides Bennington’s vocals, is Bourdon’s drum expertise. The whole mixture

makes you want to head bang, something that hasn’t been done to a Linkin Park song since Minutes to Midnight. The minute and a half instrumental introduction is pure rock adrenaline. Even during Rakim’s rap, the heavy guitars blast through his lyrics. The song puts Linkin Park right back into the rock genre. Despite Bennington’s softer vocals on “Until It’s Gone,” both songs are aggressive and forceful with their guitars, making a statement for fans worldwide. The track list shows that Linkin Park has collaborated with some pretty notable rock idols on this album like Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) and Daron Malakian (System of a Down). A cooperation with such artists can speak for itself: it will be awesome! I think the fans are ready for The Hunting Party. It could possibly show that Linkin Park’s journey has come to fruition and they have found the sound that works best for them. Most fans seem to agree, according to all the reviews surfacing on the Internet, that this will be Hybrid Theory: Part II. The anticipation continues to rise and hopefully Linkin Park will not disappoint us.

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Tim Lambesis Trial by Fire By Sissy Fanouraki

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17 Known for his humanitarianism and love for kids, Tim Lambesis was arrested on Tuesday May 7th, 2013 upon suspicion that he had his estranged wife killed. He was later set free on bail and on October 22nd he returned in court. During these months, since the initial arrest, Tim Lambesis pleaded “Not Guilty”. However, on February 25th, 2014 he pleaded guilty and faced up to nine years imprisonment.

adopted and I’ve visited their country; they’re from Ethiopia, and that was eye-opening to what the world is really like, at least a third of the world. I think that just influences my entire worldview. Even if I’m not necessarily writing a song about humanitarian work, I’m writing a song about what truly makes us happy in life, and those types of things that have been influenced by my experiences.”

But let’s take things from scratch… Meet Tim Lambesis (born on November 21st, 1980)

In his last interview at AltPress, Tim Lambesis admitted that the first signs of problems in his relationship with Meggan appeared after the adoption of their three kids, and of course he was frequently on the road, while she was in the house with the kids.

As a vocalist… He is the founding member and vocalist of the metalcore band As I Lay Dying. The band, formed in 2000, was originally a two-person act. “Awakened” was its sixth studio, released in 2012 and was very successful, peaking at #11 on Billboard 200 chart, #3 on Independent Albums chart (2012) among others. As I Lay Dying have also received various awards, as such of the Artist of the Year 2005, 2007, and 2008 and have been nominated for the Grammy Award of Best Metal Performance for the song “Nothing Left” in 2008. Tim Lambesis has a side metal project (since 2008), Austrian Death Machine, which was in fact a parody of and a tribute to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was also the guitarist of hardcore band Point of Recognition. In addition he was a judge in the 8th and 10th Annual Independent Music Awards (IMA). As a Christian… You didn’t think Tim Lambesis to be a religious guy, did you? Well, think again. Whenever he had the chance he stated that he is a Christian. “I can only really write about what I’m passionate about in life, so naturally my faith, my belief in the teachings of Jesus and his resurrection come across in our lyrics.” (2010, Tim Lambesis radio interview, The Full Armor of God Broadcast) He attended Santa Fe Christian School in Solana Beach, and was voted “Most Like Jesus” by his classmates. He majored in Religious Studies, at Liberty University. Some of his tattoos are, amongst others a “rocking Jesus”, a cross, and Jesus Christ in clouds. In 2012, Tim Lambesis’ religious statements on various social media indicated a change in his beliefs. As a husband and a father… In August 2012, while he was on tour with the band, Tim Lambesis sent an email to his wife, Meggan Murphy Lambesis in which he stated his adultery and his “alienation” from God. Afterwards, the couple separated and in September 2012, she filed the divorce papers in San Diego Superior Court. She then stated that Tim Lambesis was “obsessed with bodybuilding, and spending endless hours at the gym, while wasting money on tattoos”. She alleged that Tim Lambesis had become “dangerously distracted” while watching their children - two daughters and a son all adopted from Ethiopia. The funny thing is that in January 2013, in an interview with Loudwire, when asked about humanitarianism and whether it is a source of lyrical inspiration, he commented “Yes, it’s definitely a part of my life for me. My kids are

His arrest and trial… On Thursday, May 9th, 2013 Tim Lambesis pleaded “Not Guilty” to the accusations of trying to hire a hit-man to murder his estranged wife and the court ordered a bail of $3 million and if convicted he was facing 9 years in state prison. Prosecutors initially requested that Superior Court Judge Martin Staven set Tim Lambesis’ bail at $20 million because he remained “substantially motivated to kill his wife”. Deputy District Attorney Clausia Grasso stated that on April 23rd, 2013 “the defendant met with an individual from his gym and asked him if he knew of someone that could kill his wife.” […] “On May 7th, 2013 the defendant agreed to meet with ‘Red’ who was an undercover agent posing as a hitman. The defendant told Red that he wanted his wife gone and to never see her again. When asked if he wanted her dead, the defendant replied, and on recording, ‘Yes, that is exactly what I want.’ The defendant told Red that he wanted his wife killed when the children were with him so he would have an alibi. The defendant then handed the undercover agent an envelope with $1000 cash for expenses, pictures of Mrs. Lambesis, her address and gate codes — how to get into her home, to her complex and specific dates when this could be done, which were the same dates that he was due to have the children.” To make a long story short, Tim Lambesis told a guy at his gym, Brett – who, according to trial records, is a trainer but was described by attorneys as a steroid/drug dealer – that he wanted his wife killed, because she was making his life miserable, almost impossible with the divorce papers. In addition, he mentioned that she wouldn’t let him take their kids on tours, and of course would get about 60% of his income as part of the divorce settlement. However, Defense attorney Anthony Salerno stated that Tim Lambesis had no intention of harming anyone and was “framed” by another person, a “snitch” according to his statements. His bandmates, representatives from management and Metal Blade Records as well as the band’s attorney Ian Friedman attended the first trial on May 9th 2013 where his lawyer stated that Tim Lambesis’ “thought processes were devastatingly affected by his steroid use.” According to the District Attorney of the case, there was an audio recording of the

transaction between Tim Lambesis and “Red”, the undercover detective that would reportedly be used at the trial. A readiness conference was scheduled for June 10th, 2013, and a preliminary court date was set a month later, on July 10th, 2013. Meanwhile a new bail hearing was held on May 17th, 2013 and the bail was reduced from $3 to $2 million. According to various statements at that time, Tim Lambesis was suffering from steroid deprivation in jail and he was therefore released on bail on May 30th. He wore a GPS monitor, being on house arrest, unable to see or communicate with his wife and children. It was then that Tim Lambesis started writing and posting various ideas on his personal blog… He noted “after my incarceration, I found myself re-evaluating topics that I had previously sworn I would never waste my time looking at again.” On February 25th, 2014, Tim Lambesis changed his plea from “Not Guilty” to “Guilty” admitting that he actually hired a hitman to kill his estranged wife and will allegedly serve nine years in prison, plus a $10,000 penalty. The final decision will be made on May 2nd, 2014. Probably Tim Lambesis “has acknowledged his guilt and clearly made some bad decisions in a period of time where he acted contrary to the person he’s been most of his life.” Is that so? Nobody but him, and maybe his attorney, really knows. Guilty or not, throughout the years the body transformation of Tim Lambesis was becoming more and more noticeable. In 2000 he started out with As I Lay Dying as a skinny young man with lots of energy and was transformed into a muscled man with a six-pack (yeah the groupie magnet!). It is said that it wasn’t completely his “fault” as he was having a bad divorce while he was abusing steroids. Those who actually knew him quoted that he wasn’t a violent person. However, lately they reported a great change of character, his tattoo and gym mania, all caused by steroids… So, are steroids the only ones to blame for all this mess? Did the steroids cause this emotional distress? Needless to say, when the news of his conviction spread out, some fans chose to blame his ex-wife for his actions while others refused to even believe he’s guilty as charged… Tim Lambesis legal drama came to a conclusion, at last. On May 2nd, 2014 the scheduled hearing was once more delayed and took place on May 16th where he was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

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Knockin’ On

Heaven’s BY helen Door marie joyce

Fact File Days on Earth: July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010 (aged 67)

Associated Act: Dio, 1982-1991, 1993-2010. Heaven & Hell, 20062010. Black Sabbath, 1979-1982, 1991-1992, 2006. Rainbow, 1975-1979. (Elf, Ronnie Dio & The Prophets.) (Heavy Metal // Heavy Rock).

Biggest Influence: Richie Blackmore, Deep Purple, Operatic music.

Quoted: “I just disagree so much with the way the Catholic church says things like if you’re not a good person you’ll die and go to Hell, there’s a purgatory there . . . if I was talking with a Holy Ghost, it would scare the living Hell out of me. . . . instead of really explaining it all, I think, at least from my perspective, they frightened us first, and then we’re supposed to just believe everything, and follow the rules or you’ll burn in hell or something. And I just totally disagree with that”

All photos are property of their rightful owners. BURST is using them to accompany this article. We have no right on the photos.

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Dio is, in my column, the First Knight of Metal. Dio was a petite man, with a massive voice; a man with tremendous ethos and enormous strength of character which should not go unmentioned during a time when the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” justification was used for all sorts of (and sometimes fatal) star shenanigans. Dio’s physical presence ceased to exist after half a century’s worth of music; his musical presence will continue to grace our ears for as long as the old school Heavy Metal still has fans. Ronnie James Padavona. Sorry, who? RJ was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to the Padavonas, an ItalianAmerican family. He grew up in Cortland, New York for the most part. Being in the cosmopolitan New York meant RJ was exposed to a more sophisticated side of music, if you will: opera. His love for the genre surfaced early, as, from a very young age, he had singled out tenor Mario Lanza as a being a bit of an idol. At the age of 5, he started trumpet lessons, and this is the only formal musical training RJ has admitted to. In fact, it is his trumpet playing skills that paved the way for his voice to sound the way it does. RJ became committed to music in school. He shone through the various school band formations, and was an exemplar musical prodigy being one of the youngest to be a part of official school performances. Gradually through his school years, RJ added bass

guitar to his skill set, and in 1957, at the age of 15, he formed his first solid band, Vegas Kings, later renamed to Ronnie and the Rumblers, and Ronnie and the Red Caps in the years to come. With the Red Caps, RJ was able to release 2 singles, which featured him on vocals, putting that voice on the musical map. It was after this that RJ was beginning to get tired of his commonplace name, as it did not capture the grandeur of his voice. Ronnie James Dio. The voice of God? RJ’s grandmother always used to tell him that he had the voice of God. (Mine used to tell me I sing like an angel – that’s family for you) Info Alert! It is this same grandmother that all fans of Rock and Metal owe the typical ‘devil horns’ sign that Dio started using and is now an international sign of Metal! She used it to protect

against demons; he used it to stick it to them! Around that time there was also an A-list mafia boss going by the name Johnny Dio. Still, the initial inspiration for the name has not been confirmed so cutting to the chase, ‘Dio’ means ‘God’. To rename himself as such, was bold and daring. However, it was not unsubstantiated! Looking back at a 50plus year career, what appeared to be an arrogant pseudonym is actually a fully deserved title. The name Dio was first used in 1961, and he was the frontman of Ronnie Dio and the Prophets that spanned over 6 years, before becoming The Electric Elves and introducing some keyboards to their sounds. Under this line-up, the band suffered a misfortune that killed their guitarist at the time, and sent the rest of the group to be hospitalized. Seemed like a legit time for a name change to The Elves, and finally Elf in 1972.

For Elf, Dio drops his bass and concentrates solely on his powerful voice, which is the only instrument he will ever need. With Elf, Dio completes 3 records before disbandment, and starts a musical love affair with Deep Purple, a band he was never a part of, rather Elf opened for their shows on a regular basis. During this period, and while Deep Purple line-up was interchanging, Dio and Deep Purple’s Richie Blackmore form a bond; they spend hours jamming together, and their sessions produce an LP, effortlessly. This is later solidified as the birth of Rainbow in 1975. With Rainbow, Dio released 2 monumental albums; Rising (1976) and Long Live Rock n’ Roll (1979). Rainbow’s genre is still Hard Rock // Heavy Metal, staying true to the pioneering roots of Deep Purple, but Blackmore’s musical approach was more neo-classical, incorporating instruments such as the cello, to obtain fuller chords. This approach was a total match for Dio who was quite the lyricist and generated epic thematology, often

drawn from medieval times. Dio was a proficient vocalist by this time. His trumpet training days had paid for themselves a dozen-fold; the breathing techniques Dio claimed to have been taught through trumpet practice are to thank for his singing technique. He can shrill out at the top of his lungs and get your skin crawling, or mellow down and make you feel all warm and soft inside. This attribute gave him a great advantage overall, and put him in Blackmore’s good books. Dio was considered an integral cog in the Rainbow’s machine, without having any claims to the music – only the lyrics. However, Rainbow was Blackmore’s band and he often dictated line-up changes, keeping himself and Dio as the only constant members until he decided to take Rainbow in a totally different direction, away from the dungeons, the wizards and the dragons. Dio was not of the same mind, and so they parted ways in 1979. While at The Rainbow Grill & Restaurant (the name being cosmic irony of some sort) Dio meets with Black SabBurst www.afternoiz.com

20 bath’s Tony Iommi, just at the time when Dio was looking for a new musical project after leaving Blackmore’s Rainbow, and Iommi was on the look-out for someone to fill Ozzy Osbourne’s shoes for a while. Both needed each other’s musical endowments, with Iommi owning the riffs of Sabbath, and Dio owning a voice chiseled precisely in between Heaven & Hell. After a jam session, they wrote ‘Children of the Sea’ which made the cut for their first album Heaven & Hell, 1980. The second album, Mob Rules (1981) featured new drummer Vinny Appice, in which Dio found a supporter. Troubles for this line-up started soon, and the rest of the band accused Dio of secretly mixing the Live Evil album songs to make his voice sound more, in your face! Within one year Dio and Appice left Black Sabbath although Dio returned in 1991 for the Dehumanizer album which didn’t receive much critical acclaim, before quitting again in 1992, when he and Appice form Dio. He last participated in Sabbath material in 2006, contributing new 3 songs for the compilation album Black Sabbath: The Dio Years. But the Dio-Sabbath blend also manifested itself through a touring formation under the moniker Heaven & Hell created in 2006, accomplishing a staggering 98 shows on a world tour in their first 2 years. The touring band did not break up until Dio’s death in 2010. The debut album of Dio, the band, Holy Diver (1982) featured the two hit singles that gained them immediate attention. Song Alert! Rainbow in the Dark lyrics “Do your demons, do they ever let you go, When you’ve tried, do they hide, deep inside, Is it someone that you know” are so poignant, and speak of internal strife which so many fans could relate to. It is no wonder that Dio’s self-titled band saw such success. With the original line-up Dio completed 3 albums, and then through a course of around 18 years until Dio’s death, Dio, generated 10 studio albums, with over 10 million copies in sales. Burst www.afternoiz.com

His own demon? The Big Dreadful ‘C’ Despite the ‘devil horns’ he propagated to the entire metal world, he failed to fend off the demon that would pursue him in the shadows, and consume him deviously, from within. The Big ‘C’ would be diagnosed in November 2009 to be prevalent in his stomach, which shocked the metal populace. Dio had chosen the healthy rock star lifestyle. No drug use, no erratic behavior, no scandals and no dirt. He has said of his exemplary choices to lead a normal life: “I was raised by great parents whose respect I never wanted to lose, and abusing myself was certainly not the way to keep their respect… I saw how destructive [drug abuse] was, and how it dulled your sensibilities and ate up your talent and your life.” A philanthropist as well, participating heavily in the 1985 ‘Hear ‘n Aid’ project, a compilation of various artists joining forces to raise a cool $1 million in funds for Africa. But I guess you can never escape your fate, no matter how hard you try; and then you have metal dinosaurs like Lemmy Kilmister & Ozzy who publicly admit to having consumed copious amounts of drugs, and booze, and in combination, for many years, who are still rocking out with their cocks out. Dio left a 50 year career legacy behind him. He received ‘Best Metal Singer’ award at the Revolver Golden Gods awards in April 2010, 1 month prior to his death, a great honour for his contribution to the genre. He continues to affect people’s lives, through the ‘Stand up and Shout Cancer’ fund, which has been funded by sales of posthumous tribute material, is living proof that he truly deserves the title the ‘First Knight of Metal’. Dio’s cancer fund found here: www.diocancerfund.org

Enjoy Dio

would you kill for a photo? www.argophotography.com

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Smack My

Prodigy Up Written / Photos by Jo Gogou

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23 1990 was the beginning, or better still the continuity of the musical Pop electro 80’s culture, that managed not only to keep a large part of their audience, but to multiply it. And all that, in a decade in which musical experimentation had begun to take on a somewhat more electronic attitude and form. Many artists like Faithless, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy got into rave, hardcore techno, industrial, break-beat, Drum & Bass elements and of course a variety of electro sounds. The Prodigy were one of the first bands to excite a demanding audience, mainly affected by the fashion and mentality of Pop & Rock, as well as to maintain that interest until today. The first Dancers & Clubbers’ clubs warmly welcomed this band that had started becoming a phenomenon even before it fully developed itself musically. The outset and the end of the 90’s was stigmatised by

a lot of dancing, drug substances and many Drum & Bass – Rave sound. One of the songs that was prominent at the time was the Out of Space, from the album Experience, 1992. The fan had the chance to enjoy the intense dancing as well as the intensity of the rhythm. Two years later, another album-phenomenon comes, the Music for the Jilted Generation (it was re-released in 2008). Everywhere, from clubs and parties to concerts, that album reached No 1 for a whole week in 1997. It is an example and it has many tips for all those who would like to follow their footsteps. The music, the stage performance, Keith Flint’s frantic hair; all that combined led to a bigger fan base for the next album, The Fat of the Land. They surely affected their audience and proportionally affected the upcoming DJ’s that would adopt parts of them, like the bass and dynamic of each song,

the unique identity each one shared. The appearance, the internal strength, the songs and the poignant lyrics as well as the drum & bass rhythm, brought a new trend towards the end of the millennium. The covers were numerous, some of the most heard hits were: No Good (Start the Dance) by Perpetuum Mobile, Modulate, The Omen by Caramba Cover, MessA, Weesp, Novgorod street band, Jimmy Eat World, Elizabeth Postol, Cybercage (all between rock to symphonic, acoustic to Metal), Voodoo People by InNoEnd, Jacob Zytecki, Breathe by SIDILARSEN with Mouss, Digimortal, Firestarter by the Brazilian Sepultura and by Jimmy Eat World, Out of Space by J-J Bingz, Invaders must die by Mantas Vitkus, Mechanibal, Tazar Is Going To The Basement, The Poison by Razed In Black e.t.c All that is a tiny sample of what you can listen to, not sticking to one musical genre. That is the way they left their mark and gave birth to many more sounds, based on electro music, creating an identity that most probably none else would be able to recreate but The Prodigy themselves. Are they a category of their own? Well, probably not, but they certainly belong to the few that almost anyone listens to. Their tours are also successful; they gather the largest crowds than most. Although the mixture of sounds they play in festivals may not be so “appropriate”, it definitely proves to be their strongest asset. It affects well known DJ’s, performers (less or more famous) and even anyone of us who can find ourselves humming that song when returning home.

WordsOf Wisdom by Karolina Pacan

Loretta Phillips asked Karolina: If you had 3 wishes for the whole world, what would they be? Answer: ‘3 wishes for the world’’ Thank you Loretta Philips for this great question! 1st wish would go for Peace, there is too much of anger everywhere, fear has squeezed humanity to the limits. We need peace, we need to breathe again, and feel free. We need to be able to leave our houses without locking the doors, and turning our backs in case there is something evil following us on every step. 2nd wish goes for Empathy, we need to be able to feel the other human and all Nature around us. If you look on the news, there are many things that makes us wonder ‘’how can they be so ignorant on ‘this’’ or ‘’that’’. We need to resurrect our sense of compassion and unconditional help for each other. 3d wish goes for True Love, we all dream about it, and yet many of us in fact deny its existence, its beauty. These days, Love turns to ‘possession’’, many people give up so quickly, and break up ... while Love is all about passion and continuation of a mutual support. In fact all those 3 wishes connect with each other; We need True Love, not only in relationships but also for humanitarian support, and that will lead to Empathy and Peace.

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Loreena McKennitt

Listening, whispers “’Tis the fairy. Lady of Shalott.” Maybe this is how we should call her instead of Loreena McKennitt. Her full name is Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt and she was born on February 17th, 1957 in Canada with Irish and Scottish roots. The first time I listened to her voice, I didn’t know who she was. It was back in the ‘90s while watching the movie “The Highlander III”. She sang the song “Bonnie Portmore”. I fell in love with her soprano voice and the Celtic music ever since, although she has music influences from all over the world. I searched and I searched. Information was hard to get back then, but I was lucky enough to purchase all of her studio albums (Elemental, To Drive the Cold Winter Away, Parallel Dreams, The Visit and The Mask And The Mirror). Then I found one of my favorite songs into a TV movie “The Mists of Avalon” (2001) “The Mystic’s Dream”. One summer night of 1998 I was there, in the theater of Lykavittos hill, for her first concert in Greece of her “Book of Secrets” tour. She was breathtaking, aria-tic, gentle and yet powerful on stage. Her hands were on the piano, on her harp, on the accordion and her voice all over our hearts and souls. I remember her soft and kind voice talking to us about her inspiration and her travels. She told us her research about her

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Celtic roots and her travelling from Canada to Scotland. Time passed like gold, summer sand through my fingers. I was left enchanted. It was like I had lived all of her voyages in those moments while she performed for us, experiencing the pure magic of music. Since 1998 McKennitt has released “An Ancient Muse” (2006) and “A Midwinter’s Night’s Dream” (2008). Then in summer of 2009 I had the second chance to experience her live performance once again in Athens in the “Melina Merkouri, Theater of Vrahon”. Although she had postponed her concerts, due to her mother’s health problems, I could do nothing more but admire her professionalism while she apologized to us about the delay of the concert. Once again another journey began, there under the summer night’s sky. Feeling like I belonged there, to that moment of time. “The pounding sea is calling me home, home to you”

Loreena McKennitt respects music and she also respects her fans. These are the reasons she will always be admired and loved. She is a great talent, an incredible musician, a unique performer and a sensitive human being. She has lived a tragedy by losing two of her loved ones in 1998 and yet she lived through it with dignity, keeping as always a low profile. She has founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety in the same year of her loss. Her music with her singing is a portal to different and exotic worlds. Some have been discovered and others have faded into myths. I fear that she is the last of the fairy world still walking and breathing among us. Whenever you have the chance for one of her live performances, do not hesitate. For you will enter a parallel universe where: “The stories are woven and fortunes are told The truth is measured by the weight of your gold The magic lies scattered On rugs on the ground Faith is conjured in the night market’s sound”

Her last studio album was “The Wind that Shakes the Barley” (2010). She has released 5 live albums and one best of album “The Journey So Far” with two Cd’s was released on the 3rd of March this year. Her sales have been over 14 million albums sold worldwide, to date, over a catalogue spanning to eight studio recordings, Article by Sophie Dermati one double live CD, a DVD/two CD Interview by Raphael Aretakis set and two DVDs. She hasn’t an- Photos by Ann Cutting & Richard Haughton nounced a new tour yet.

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26 Hi, Loreena, how are you? I am well, thanks. How are you? I am fine. Thank you and thanks so much for this chance. Oh, it’s great to speak with you. You grew up in a farm in Morden, Manitoba which is a small prairie community. In other words you actually grew up in a rural environment. How did that influence your music expression in the future? My music expression, well I suppose it was certainly the place and time that I became exposed to folk music. So, that was a very strong influence. It was also a very musical community. There was a large German Mennonite community there. So there was a lot of music in the churches and the schools and the music festivals and apparatus. So that set up a broad content for me to be in a community where the music was really celebrated, actively into people’s lives. Not to say that I went on to make my career out of the kinds of music, that was going on. It set the landscape for it. That sort of answers my next question, did you choose music or did music choose you? Oh, music did really chose me. I took on to be a veterinarian and I still maintain that I have

performer, would I be a soloist or in musical theatre. So, I embarked upon an exploration of what relationship I might have with music, in a career sense. But I certainly, when I look back now, I certainly feel that it chose me. For many artists, and people in general, you have one of the most unique voices out there and you are considered a teacher of your musical style. Do you have someone that was your teacher and pushed you into what you are now? Not really. I think my teacher was in a sense, an insatiable curiosity. Em, I think that being exposed to, first of all, a strong broad foundation of music when I was growing up from a very young child. Then as I grew to be a teenager my focus became more narrowed on folk music. Even more so than the Beatles (laughs) and other artists of the time and then when I moved to Winnipeg, when I became involved in folk music, I was laterally introduced to Celtic music through a folk club and various members that were part of that folk club came from Ireland and Scotland and England. Then I was really smitten particularly by the Celtic music and more particularly by the Irish music. But it was also the time that, I also was aware that you couldn’t really be involved in the traditional folk music from wherever it would come, without really understanding the political, economic and social circumstances from which

such a surprise to learn that the Celts came from across Europe and into what we would now refer to as Asia Minor. Including in a brief Italy, Turkey, and that there were archaeological sites that corresponded with that. So it was in that way that my teacher was really somewhat or I was led very much by my curiosity of matching the music with the history and then later on creating music to reflect some of the history.

just go to bed and I opened up the window and look at this incredible scenery and hear the sounds and smell the orangery and it was absolutely amazing, (laughs), probably one of the most glorious travel experiences I’ve had with research to, doing research and then for the amount of the effort that I put into, the Greek connection towards the Celts, I wish I had created more. But it just didn’t work out that way.

Being a Greek, myself, I wonder, how could the Celtic music be combined with the Greek mythology into creating something new?

Well, maybe it will in the future. You never know.

Well, I did that in a very loose sense, when I wrote the piece, Penelope, on my last studio recording, “An Ancient Muse”. That was as a result of the discovering that there has been one Celtic tribe that has tried to ransack Delphi in about 275bc and I was very surprised by this Celtic behaviour. I had, in actual fact had hoped to develop something in even more substantive with the Greek connection than just that piece, but in insight when we were rehearsing and doing some creative work leading into the recording; and when I made the recording on “Ancient Muse” I brought in and used a few Greek musicians to give that quality and texture in the musical fabric of the recording. But I felt that again I had barely scratched the surface of what could be possible if for example I was devoted to full recording

“I want the people to know that they are an important part of my equation”. the emotional and internal disposition of a vet, rather than someone in a career path that has such a public dimension, and I tried, I went to university, at the university of Manitoba, for about three months, entering the department of agriculture. But at that time there were various musical opportunities that presented themselves, and I always wanted to see how far I would go with music, whether I would teach it or play in lounges or whether I would become a Burst www.afternoiz.com

it derived. And I then developed an appreciation for history. I took a course in Irish history that went back to prior to 1800s. And in what exactly later I would find myself at this exhibition in Venice that was the most extensive exhibition on the Celtic artifacts that has ever been assembled. This was about 1990, 1991. That must have been nice! It was incredible, because it was

to the connection of the Celts and Greece. I mean it’s mind boggling to even think about, so exciting to think about. I visited the island of Chios a couple of times and I stayed there for a few weeks. One time I know was around the end of April, beginning of May when the orange blossoms. I stayed in a wonderful, wonderful, kind of bed and breakfast type. It was a garden cottage in the middle of this orchard, this orange orchard and at night I would

Yes, yes... (Laughs) You are a really passionate person, from what I hear, with many talents and interests. What’s your life philosophy? And how do you implement that philosophy in your music or everyday life? Well, what is my life philosophy, well I suppose there is a variety of philosophies. I mean one is to try to discover one’s potential, one’s capacity. And to try to realize that, certainly has been one philosophical path that I’ve taken through my life… but I realize that my success and my ability to enjoy a very enriched life has been as a result of many, many people, who have lived before me, who have done things, not just for themselves, but also for the community, for the common good. So, one of my philosophies is to continue to put back into the common good, and I hope that other people will do that for many things, that I do. I mean those are my two. (Laughs) Really nice though, it’s really nice to hear that you are thinking like that. Well I genuinely believe it. And I feel the music industry is just such a wacky kind of place. Then, and this many years down the line, I see how unstructured the music business is and there are many characteristics and qualities, that, had I known in advance, I’m not sure that I would have had the nerve to perceive in this career path. The good news is that it

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I realize that my success and my ability to enjoy a very enriched life has been as a result of many, many people, who have lived before me, who have done things, not just for themselves, but also for the community, for the common goodâ&#x20AC;?.

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28 has turned out quite well for myself. And it is one of those kinds of career phenomena, it is a bit like the lottery. You know, I think a lot of people work very, very hard, but they may not be in career paths which may pay the relevant dividends that it can come in music. And very luckily my career has paid off, in so many ways for myself. Personally I do feel that people, you know, have a duty to pass that forward and around. And that is why I am involved in various non-music industry

things. I purchased a heritage school and turned it into a family center. I have a water safety fund, I’ve been involved in privacy advocacy, as well as copyright reform. And now I am up to my ears in actually things to do with the educational system. Wow! You keep your hands busy. Yes! (Laughs) And it’s good that you do things in order to help

others. It is really good, I think we need that now. Yes, I believe more than ever. Exactly. Let’s go to your latest album, “The Journey So Far”, what is the feedback you got, so far? You know, because it hasn’t sort of formally been released yet, there hasn’t been very much feedback. I mean I’d said to myself, this is one of the major inspirations for this project

this time was really to support territory school would never have or had very little of my catalogue. And we thought this could be one way to catch them up quickly. For example when we toured in South America, particularly Argentina and Brazil last fall, it was important that we released this because my catalogue had not been available there. But most of the territories realized we were releasing a ‘best of’ for some territory they felt they wanted it too. So we were releasing it around the world, but my feeling is that most of my devoted constituencies, this is not the thing that they’ve been waiting for. They are really waiting for new recordings and I’m very aware in my influence that at the same time as they stay there, other territories that we have been focused on with this particular recording. The thing about the songs themselves, I did select them, but in actual fact, most of the public did that selection for me. Because, they really are the songs that, over the years, people have written to us and said, oh, you know, I listen to this song all the time or would you perform this in concerts. So, it wasn’t a huge casting game as to what songs should go on. Ok, I understand that. Do you, since you mentioned a new recording, do you have something in your immediate plans? Well a year ago I actually made a trip to India, to Rajasthan, to explore some of the very ancient connections between the Celts and the Northen India. And came across a lot of very, very interesting information, and what it does, it starts putting, just like another piece of the jig saw puzzle, and then you stand back, and when you look at it from, you know, across a very wide history. There is a book that I just picked up that talks about an unbelievable research, that would connect from this earliest period of time going straight into the area of Turkey, Greece and then waft from there. So that is the project that I started research on, and actually am more involved in (laughs) that I thought I was

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29 going to be, so I hadn’t been able to get on with it. I hope you do soon. Thank you. Ok, I’m gonna ask about you fans. I mean, you’ve been around for 30 years in the music industry, you must have a certain relationship with your fans. Yes, I do. Mostly because sometimes they feel the word fan denotes the kind of person that has a blind adoration that it is almost like a fashion consumer type of person. Over the years when I match people who come to my concerts, they are very, very thoughtful people, very intelligent people, very curious and considerate people. So, it is hard to attribute the word fan in a conventional way of the title to them. They are, but I have met quite a number now over the years. Because I said a lot of times, needing people after my concerts or during in stores, it wouldn’t be uncommon that I would spend at least a couple of hours meeting people after a concert. Sometimes, it’s been more time meeting people than

doing the concert (laughs). But I find it interesting; I don’t find it a chore or a task. I find the whole touring, performing and meeting people, that it sort of consummates the relationship from the stand point that you really get to meet personally the people that have played an important role in your life. I recognized for as many people my music has been used for all kinds of circumstances, for weddings, funerals, to births, to you know soldiers when they’re in Iraq or religious leaders or surgeons when they are doing surgery. So I recognize that my music has meant a lot to other people. Similarly I want the people to know that they are an important part of my equation, and that they are not something like “Oh that’s my fan”. (laughs). That they are very, and I had a lot of very thoughtful, insightful and very helpful feedback, suggestions, comments, all kinds of things over the years. So it’s impossible to have a very deep relationship with so many people from all over the world. But to the degree that you can touch each others lives briefly, in a meaningful way, I feel that I had a lot of very rich feedback.

“My success was never going to happen the way the industry is set up now. No way.” Are there any weird stories, something strange that a fan did to you? Or gave you? Oh, from time to time there are some odd things. But from the whole people are quite respectful. And there have been a few situations that there have been actually some people who were just mentally ill. But then there are other people who have sent me interesting things. But I appreciate that everybody’s life is so unique. (Laughs) OK! You don’t have to say anything further! (Laughs) I’m gonna ask you something, if you don’t want to, don’t answer it. That’s OK. Yep. Back in 1998, you faced a family tragedy. I don’t want any details on that of course. I would like to know how did you manage

to stand back on your feet again and if from that day on, your music changed? The way you think about you music. Well, I think anyone who’s experienced a huge personal loss of someone they’ve loved will know that it truly is a life changing event. Particularly if it is unexpected or traumatic. You know, it’s one thing when people are ill or elderly, for these events are considerable. The professionals say that it qualifies to something called complicated grief. And when this event happened I was very endured to understand as much as I could about the side of things. Not just for myself, but also for the families that had been affected by this. I think when I look back at this avenge over the years and what one had learnt about it is that it is a tremendous emotional injury, and I think that, there is no question that close family

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30 or friends or community, will be the thing that will carry you through and get you back on your feet and that it will allow as the adage goes, time heals. It’s like the more positive experiences you have, it’s kind of like an onion skin that wraps itself around these kinds of emotional injury. And you get to the point where you really get back on your feet and function. I didn’t find that I was, I mean really some of the moments of the event I shifted straight into a gear of; I guess I was very, very lucky. I had enough resources, either in money or staff that helped me set up a water safety fund immediately. And for a couple of years that was the focus of a lot of our time. And it’s very complex because we set up, in order to have a charitable and both legal and financial things, setting up a border, advisory border, application process, etc. It was quite time consuming. Then in 2000 I purchased this heritage school and turned it into a family center so for a year or two we were doing physical renovations to bring it up to prod and get in the appropriate tenancy and so on. And then it was about 2003 that I started researching for “An Ancient Muse” that it took me a couple of years to creatively work my way through that and record and set up the tour. So, from the public stand point, I know that it was a gap of public activity in the musical world from 1998, to let’s say 2006, but behind the scenes I was extremely busy. But we were focused on initially the water safety fund and then the family center. You are an example to follow, in many cases. Music in a film plays a decisive part. Has there been a movie that you wanted to participate but didn’t? Well, there have been some opportunities. You know, I would say there’s been a variety of films that I would have been interested in participating in. But you know, I don’t really think about it much. There have been some interesting and unusual films I wouldn’t have expected to have been, I was brought to Burst www.afternoiz.com

Los Angeles a couple of times, one to work on a theme for the Santa Claus movie, more than a decade ago, which starred Tim Allen. And then the Tinker Bell project for Disney. But I’d score music for some documentaries for the National Film Board in the 1980’s and I just, I loved and appreciated the opportunity for a film and working in a different way creatively, where the project wasn’t my project. I was playing a supporting role. And that is a different challenge on your creativity. And where you put reposition, you’re no longer the king or the queen of your domain. You are only to collaborate, refer to other creative vision. So, again I find that all those challenges are a welcome thing. We are living in a digital era, and copyright violations are more often than ever. Have you had such an experience? Yes! I would say that by the nature of my music, the people who like my music are not, on the whole, the first early adopters of illegal downloading or piracy. I think where it’s occurred; it has been in intermediate areas who are, just, you know, they are just facilitators of illegal downloading. Like bit torrent or that kind of stuff. And then you have a younger generation who might like the music, but who are not instructed or educated in the business model or the law. And where illegal downloading becomes just a very common process, a habit. And it becomes enormous. So the lines became extremely blurred, for I would say a younger demographic, but I would say an older demographic, a digital file is not their preferred way of listening to my music to begin with. And secondly, culturally there are generally more respectful. But, certainly I’ve been a victim of it and one can’t underestimate the degree to which this is caused, really, the utter collapse of an ecosystem of the music industry. Unfortunately it’s a story I don’t feel as really told, little corners of it are being told and often it is the stand point where this will show the major record com-

panies, you know, whatever. But many people don’t realize that the major record companies are only one player of a vast ecosystem of services that have historically been active to make recordings and quality projects. Just to speak to the ecosystem you can have, well, musicians and arrangers, studios, engineers, their systems, administrative stuff, their suppliers, the masters, the duplicators, the photographers, the graphic designers, the caters, the travel agents, the distributors. You know, the retailers, it’s just goes on and on and on. Yeah, it goes a long way. And it’s a massive collapse of an industry. And when I am seeing now that it’s finally narrowing the spread of creativity; because even though there are many young people who are exploring and their own creativity, once they get to be of age and have families and need to make a proper living for themselves and the family, there is no viable and predictable business model in which people coming into the music industry can actually plan a future. So, there is an illusion that things are all well, because the digital domain is so highly populated, but when you put it under closer magnifying glass there are very, very, very few artists who are able to stay in a career. Yes, I believe, it’s not the best expression, but usually only the bigger names manage to survive in this. And legacy projects. And I mean I would put myself as a legacy artist now and I would never want to start out now. My success was never going to happen the way the industry is set up now. No way. Are you going to visit Greece any time soon? Oh, there aren’t any plans at the moment, but I have to say (laughs) I do think of living in this part of the world, because I think of the time, over the past ten years, I have spent in Greece, friends that I have made there and experiences that I’ve had. I feel a very

strong affinity to Greece, and I would love to just come back and spend time there. But I don’t have any concrete plans at the moment. OK! This is sort of a classic last question for BURST, it’s a bit macabre but I am gonna ask it anyway! Which artist would you like to sing at your funeral? Sing at my funeral? (Both laugh) I don’t know that there would be an artist per se, I love Choral music. But I think funerals can have so many dimensions. And over the years I’ve attended and actually planned a number, and I thought, oh, well, OK! So, at the more reflective part I would love to have, you know, a classical Choral music song. But the next section which is the celebrating part, I’d like as many cultural genres, particularly that I have been inspired by to be playing. Oh, where people are dancing and singing and either telling jokes or sending me up. (laughs). So I did that when my mother passed away a couple of years ago. We had three different kinds of events for her. And I learned a lot about that. You know, when my time comes, I would like a nice spectrum of music. And part of it has to be joyful, has to be fun, and you know! OK! So, thank you so much for this. I should thank you! I phoned to my sister and said, oh I am looking forward to this interview from Greece, because I just remembered that, over the years, a Greek interview sat out above and beyond, I shouldn’t be even saying this, but it has to be from the Greek history and the strength of that culture that the questions are always so interesting. Really substantive ways. So it makes it so gratifying! (Laughs) Thank u! I am honored to hear that! Enjoy the rest of your day, and we’ll be in touch. Bye Loreena. Bye.

Giving life to your instincts... www.argophotography.com Burst www.afternoiz.com

Epica’s

Simone on BURST! By Joe Prostredny Photos by Tim Tronckoe

When symphonic metal bands are being discussed, there are always a few names that consistently rise to the top of the list. Epica is definitely one of those names. Hailing from the Netherlands, they have been rocking the world with the ir unique symphonic sound for over 10 years. Last year was a big year for the band as they celebrated their 10th anniversary with their fans at a huge concert called Retrospect. Their charismatic lead singer Simone Simons also gave birth to her first child last year. This year promises to be another big year for the band with the release of their sixth studio album, “The Quantum Enigma”. Plans for a world tour following the album release are also in the works! We recently caught up with Simone to discuss Epica’s past and future plans. Here is how it went! Burst www.afternoiz.com

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34 Hi Simone. This is Joe from Burst magazine. How are you doing tonight? I’m doing great. How are you? I’m good! Thank you so much for talking with us today. Thanks for having me. You’re very welcome! So you and Epica have been together for a long time. You have released five studio albums to date and have a sixth one arriving soon. When you first got together, 12 years ago, did you expect the degree of success and longevity that you’ve been enjoying? No. I was hoping for it, but I was just enjoying the moment and waiting to see what the future would bring us. And… I can say that I am positively surprised! I mean, we worked our asses off, we toured like crazy, every 2 years a new record, and.. yeah… I think we worked hard to be where we are now, but still…. that we would get so successful… it’s definitely a nice surprise. For our readers that may not be as familiar with your past as some of your bigger fans, how did Epica come to be? And what were the early years like? Epica was born in April 2002 and it was basically Mark Jansen’s band. He was the founder of the band and the only original band members that are left are Mark, Coen Janssen—he’s the keyboarder—and myself. We have gotten three new band members; the latest addition is Rob van der Loo, the bass player, we have Isaac Delahaye, our lead guitarist, and our drummer Arien van Weesenbeek. We’re a symphonic metal band, around since April 2002, touring around the world, and…. you know… we’re gonna be around for many years to come! Well, we certainly hope so! How do you feel that Epica’s style has evolved over the years? What has changed and what has stayed consistent? I think we became more professional; we found the style in which we feel comfortable. I think with the arrival of new band members, new influences come Burst www.afternoiz.com

to the band, because they are all included in the writing process. So the consistency of Epica would be the metal sound and the orchestra and the choir…. all things we’ve had since the beginning. It still sounds epic and bombastic… but, you know, the drums have changed over the years, the guitars have become more melodic, and the bass has become more groovy than ever before. Now, last year, Epica celebrated their first decade with the Retrospect concert in the Netherlands with a full orchestra, a reunion with some of the former band members, and your fans travelled from all over the world to see you there. What was that experience like for you and the band? It was definitely one of the highlights in our career. It was the biggest project we’ve ever done. Preparing for the show, rehearsing… so many people involved in this project…. and then afterwards the DVD we had to finalize….. it was a big thing for us. It was really wonderful to celebrate our 10 year anniversary together with our fans and…… also the live stream! It was just a really big show and so many things were involved….. but… yeah, also having the old Epica band members onstage, singing with Floor Jansen, all the other special effects that we had….. it was really amazing. I was unable to make it myself, but I saw the video. I

was very sad that I couldn’t make it, but it looked like an incredible show… Maybe next time… maybe in the next 10 years (laughs) (laughs) Yeah… I’ll be there! So.. the big news now is your new album, “The Quantum Enigma”, is due to be released in just a couple weeks, correct? I haven’t heard the full album yet, just a few songs… but from what I have heard I was very impressed. And the album has been getting awesome reviews! What can you tell us about the new album? It’s our best work to date! We switched up a couple of things, we wrote the record more as a band, together with a new producer and a new studio with a new mixer. So … a whole lot of new things for us. The album is heavier than before and we have a new sound… but we still sound very symphonic, very epic. The metal part has come a little bit more forward I think.. the songs are compact, they work really well and they get to you…. The guitar riffs are heavy, the melodies are strong and catchy, and, for this record, we recorded with a bigger choir and string ensemble as well. I’ve heard the two songs that have been released, “The Essence of Silence” and “Unchain Utopia”, and I really, really like them both. So I’m really looking forward

to hearing the rest of the album. Is there an overall concept to the album? What is the significance of the name, “The Quantum Enigma”? Well, the Quantum Enigma is the red line going through the whole record. When research is done in quantum physics, they found out that when you observe particles they act a certain way, and when you look away, they can change completely. So in a way, it means that we cannot be sure what reality is. So, the quest for this record, is like we are in search of reality. How do we create reality, the power of the human mind.. the circle of life.. So those are really the three topics going on in the record. It’s very spiritual, very philosophic and …. yeah… with a touch of science! Do you have a favorite song of the new album? And, if you do, what makes it your favorite? At the moment, my favorite song is “Natural Corruption”, because it’s a very uplifting song, catchy melodies, and … I just like it… It’s one of my favorite songs. It was written by Isaac, the lyrics by me, and …. what else…. it’s almost at the end of the CD, but sometimes I play it even before I get to the end, because I like listening to it and I get in a good mood… and it’s a cool song. Well, you’ve really made me look forward to hearing it! In less than two weeks you

35 have an album release event in Tilburg, on April 30th … and unlike Retrospect, I am going to be at that show. What can you tell us about the show, anything special going to be happening? Well we are going to play the CD in full, and it will probably the only time or one of the few times where we will play all of the songs, and we will do a really amazing stage set-up. We are designing our backdrops as we speak, and the light show will be perfectly matching the music and…. yeah… so a lot of great energy and just an epic show. I’m looking forward to it and I’ll definitely see you there. Oh, you’re coming to the Netherlands? Yes I am. I’m leaving in a week actually, so I will be there in Tilburg on the 30th. Oh that’s nice! (laughs) I’ve seen on your schedule that you’re playing in several summer festivals this year. How do you like playing festivals versus your own headlining tours? I like both, because both have their own charm in a way. Festivals, I like the ambience; I like meeting other bands, and it’s a challenge to make people fall in love with your music, you know. When you do a headline show you know the people, mostly all of them come to see you, they know you already, so it’s easier to make them have a good time. At a festival there are people that like other bands, and it’s definitely more work to make them fall in love with Epica. I don’t have much time to see other bands during my free time, so it’s great that, when I’m at a festival, I can hang out with some of my favorite bands and check out their shows and just enjoy the season. The summer is my favorite season. Club shows have the advantage that the technical side is way more prepared and you can have a longer sound check. During festivals you have a very short time to switch from one band to another and sometimes down on stage you can’t hear yourself, so it’s a little more difficult. With a club show you have the luxury of having a super long sound check and mostly then the technical side is working.

Are there any headlining tours in the works this year, for either Europe or the Americas, or both hopefully?

ing, event in your life! You added a new soul to the Epica family… Congratulations, by the way!

Yes, first we’re going to do the festival season, and after that we are doing a North American tour, a Latin America Tour, and also a European tour. But we will do the European tour in two parts, so the first one will be at the end of 2014 and the second part in the beginning of 2015.

Thank you! (laughs)

Will the North American tour be in this year or in 2015? The North American tour will be taking place this year. Awesome! Unlike a lot of European bands, Epica has toured the Americas several times in the past. Do you find that the fans react differently in the Americas v.s. Europe, or are we basically all the same variety of crazy? Um… (laughs) I like fans all over the world and I like that the cultures are different. Americans, in general, are always very friendly and some of them are a little more reserved, but some of them go completely nuts, and I like that. Another thing I like when we play in America is that it is very multicultural. For example, there are a lot of people which, you know….. well you would think they would like a different style than metal….. but they are totally going crazy during the metal show, so that is cool.

How has motherhood changed your schedule in relation to the demands of the band? Will it affect your ability to tour as extensively as you have in the past…? Well…. for the recording of the album, I took him with me because it was only 2 months after I gave birth and I had to go the Netherlands for the recordings. As far as the tours now, we do keep in mind that we want to be home in between…. we cannot just be away for 3 months, especially not as a mother, but the band understands…. and Coen also has two babies and the other band members have girlfriends…. so everybody wants to be home in between. In the past we toured a lot, you know, to gain more fans and to become a name in the scene. Now we have the choice…. we can say ok, we do a tour like this and then we have so much time in between…. so it’s really great that we

have that liberty to plan our own things. We’re very flexible, so that’s cool. You’ve been touring the world with Epica for many years, do you have a favorite place that you like performing? Uh… The Stage! (laughs) Regardless of where it is? (laughs) Yeah… yeah, totally…. (laughs) it doesn’t matter as long there are people in the audience and they are having a good time and we are having a good time… then it doesn’t matter where it is. Are there any places that you’d like to perform, that you haven’t been to yet? Well, we went to Australia last year for the first time, and also Asia, and…… we had a chance to go to Japan, but due to my pregnancy we couldn’t make the tour too long. All the travelling and all the flying and that’s not so great for a pregnant woman…

You recently came to the United States with Isaac… in New Jersey at Vintage Vinyl to do an acoustic show. How was the fan reception there? Oh… it was … I don’t know… maybe 80 people came over and… yeah (laughs) we were just sitting on stage playing acoustic songs, having a good time, and afterwards we did a meet and greet. We signed CD’s posters, and made photos…. and it was a nice happening. Fans were really excited to hear the new CD and it was nice to be in touch with the fans again after kind of a long break from playing. (Baby begins crying in the background) So… as I hear in the background, you recently had a very joyous, but life changBurst www.afternoiz.com

36 Right! Yeah, so Japan is definitely still on the list, New Zealand…. yeah those countries are… still waiting… I’m still waiting to go too. Well hopefully you’ll get there soon. Yeah (laughs) What do you like to do to pass the time when you’re on tour between the shows? Is there much time for leisure activities or sightseeing, or is it all rushing to the next show? It depends, you know, when we have a headline show we have a sound check and then after sound check or if there’s time before the soundcheck, I sometimes go into the village or the city wherever we are. And when we have days off, if I feel energized, I also like to take my camera and explore the city, go find someplace nice to eat, and…. just have a good time. And if I feel like I have to take it easy, I do a workout and rest at the hotel or the tour bus, wherever we are…. but… yeah, we do try to schedule a couple days off and if someone wants to go explore, they can…and then some people just like to chill. I love watching movies, and I have friends all over the world, so I like to hook up with them as well while I’m touring. So yeah… we do know how to pass our free time. If you were to pick one or two of your best memories of the 12 years with Epica, what would they be? Mmmmm…. it would be our show Retrospect, because that was a beautiful summary of our career up until now. Also for me, when I was pregnant and standing on the stage, that was kind of a special feeling and… yeah, we had like a 7th Epica band member on stage temporarily (laughs). (Laughs)… yeah

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background there….. he’s got a good voice…. (laughs) (laughs) Well that was more crying than singing…. (laughs) He doesn’t want to go to sleep so… he’s a little bit… a crying baby at the moment. But yeah, I guess he doesn’t like to sleep, he wants to be entertained and he wants to have a private show all the time (laughs)… but he didn’t buy tickets. You’re not gonna make him buy tickets are you? (laughs) Yeah, well…. he can win me over with his cuteness! Do have a funniest memory of the last 12 years? Something really humorous that happened in your career with the band that stands out? Well… I have a couple of goofy moments because I’m just very… uh… clumsy at times! Once during a festival, and we had “Consign to Oblivion” as the last song of the show, and we have this nice intro, very symphonic, and then there was a couple of beats, and then the band is supposed to come in…. I was standing on the drum riser and I went to jump and hit the stage right at the moment when the band starts, but I was too early! So I jumped down (makes landing sound effect) and the band hadn’t started, so that was a not so… nicely (laughs) played out moment. I was laughing during the whole song after that, because it was hilarious! That’s what the live shows are for….. it makes it unique, you know? Yeah! (laughs) Well Simone, I want to thank you for spending time with us today and we wish you all the best of luck with your new album and upcoming tours. Are there any final words you’d like to say to Epica’s fans before we leave you?

…and it was really cool… he didn’t do much, he was just there being cute and round in my belly, so (laughs)… yeah… definitely Retrospect and all the shows I did while pregnant, because it was also a….. umm…. a challenge, you know, because the belly is in the way and you cannot just move as freely as you want, and you feel like a whale on the stage… so (laughs)…. it’s not as normal as any other show.

Yeah!.. We love our fans from all over the world and can’t wait to share the whole album with you. Be sure to check out Epica.nl or our Facebook to find out if we’re gonna come tour near where you live and come check us out live and say “Hi” and have a good time with us!

He sounds like he’s gonna be a singer from what I heard in the

Hey!…you’re welcome (laughs)

OK, well I will see you in a couple weeks I guess…. and Dankjewel!

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Camille & Kennerly have the whole package!

By Gabrielle Koch | Photos by Anthony Yoon

Camille and Kennerly Kitt are not your average classical harpists. Oh no; known as the “Harp Twins,” they are an electric rock harp duo that takes pride in their covers of songs like “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica and “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi. They also cover video game and movie pieces like the Doctor Who theme or “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter. They are a talented duet who work hard to produce music for everyone to enjoy. Not only are they gifted musicians, but actors and models, as well. Some things in this interview might just surprise you about these exquisite young women from Chicago, Illinois. Burst www.afternoiz.com

39 The harp isn’t exactly the most popular instrument; how did you get into playing it? Harp has always seemed like a magical instrument to us. We started playing harp in middle school after we had already been playing piano for years. It took us a while to convince our mom that we were serious about learning the harp. We had to show that we were serious by earning some of the money ourselves. We babysat, walked dogs and did office work to earn the money for our first harps, which were pre-owned (used) lever harps. We think that having to earn the “right” to play our instrument gave us a deeper love and appreciation for it. We didn’t practice because someone chose the harp for us, or made us practice - we practiced because we chose the harp for ourselves and loved it. We’re so lucky to play the most enchanting instrument. :) :) I heard that you are both black belts in Tae Kwon Do and “Distinguished Experts” in rifle marksmanship; those are both a stretch from playing the harp. How’d you manage to find interest in such different things? We have always been active and we love trying different activities and sports. When we were kids we were in soccer and swam competitively on a youth swim team. We later joined a youth rifle team and a martial arts club. We worked our way through the ranks and eventually started to teach Tae Kwon Do ourselves. We both competed in the junior Olympics for swimming 5 times, received our distinguished expert ranking in riflery, and got our 3rd degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do. We’ve always pursued the activities that interested us, even if they were outside the “norm.” You perform covers of many classic rock songs and video game/movie themes. Do you like to cover anything else? Our favorite genres to cover

are rock, metal, and classic rock. However, we do enjoy covering video game, TV and Movie soundtrack music, and even the occasional pop or anime song. Besides the songs that we arrange specifically for live performance events, we try to cover a lot of top requested songs/artists from our fans. We have a really special relationship with our fans. We try to answer as many comments, posts, and questions as possible, which means that we spend a LOT of time interacting with our supporters. Their opinions and thoughts truly matter to us and we look for opportunities to implement some of their requests and ideas. You just covered Iron Maiden’s “Dance of Death.” How was it filming that video, along with the other self-made music videos you put together? Filming our videos is always a fun experience! Our videos are 100% self-made - from arranging the music, to finding the location, to figuring out or making our costumes, to filming with a small camera on a tripod, to recording the music at home in our living room, to editing the video. It’s so fun to us to have complete creative control of our musical projects. Our “Dance of Death” was a little unusual for us since we decided to create an in-depth storyline within the music video. Most of our videos don’t have an elaborate plot, so it was a challenge for us to create, direct and edit a story that would make sense to the viewer without any words. We had fun “directing” and filming each other, and acting out the roles. You film, edit, and produce all the videos yourselves (and also record your own music); where did you learn how to use all the equipment and applications? Our video creating skills are basically self-taught. We didn’t take any classes to learn to film, record, video edit, etc., it was just something that we learned out of necessity. We wanted to post “samples” of our arrange-

ments for clients to see and we wanted to do it in a creative way. We didn’t (and still don’t) have the budget to hire professional filmmakers, or costume designers, or record in a studio, so we just figured out a way to do everything on our own. We’re so amazed and encouraged by how far we’ve come just by ourselves. We don’t know of any other creators at our level who do what we do and have never had any help from outside sources/professionals. We’re honored that our fans love what we do even though we don’t have a crew or team creating professional videos with sweeping camera shots and dramatic special effects – we’re just two people with a passion for our music and for our art.

inal EP and hopefully release it later this year. We would also love to create music videos for our original music and we have so many unique and fun ideas for those. We won’t be revealing the theme(s), etc., because we want them to be a surprise for our fans, but we’re very excited to start the process. We now have to find the time to do all the corresponding work!

What are you guys planning on working on next?

concerts are rather low-key environments where the audience can sit and relax while listening to our music. We think that our concerts have a little bit of something for everyone.

We have a lot of new music videos in the works, and we’re always arranging and learning new music. Our next music video will be a fun rock/metal song on our new blue Harpsicle Harps. We are also in the planning stages for our next cover albums. We’re choosing songs, deciding on themes, etc., which is very exciting! Do you compose your own pieces? If so, will you be making an album in the near future? Yes! Releasing original music is definitely on our list of goals for the near future. We have been performing our original music live for years, but we’ve never recorded it and publically released it for our fans online. We hope to create an orig-

What is the atmosphere at your concerts? One of the wonderful things about performing is that every venue, performance and audience is different! One day we’ll be performing for celebrities or dignitaries and the next day we’ll be performing a concert for school children. Most of our

Have you ever performed outside of the United States? Yes, we’ve had the opportunity to perform outside the US, but not as much as we would like! There are so many places that we’d like to visit. We hope our Duet Harp Revolution has a chance to set foot on more continents. ;) ;) Where would you love to visit/perform if you had the chance? Oh goodness, it would be difficult to choose just one place! One of the wonderful things about the internet is that our Burst www.afternoiz.com

40 fan base is worldwide. We would love to meet and perform for our fans all over the world! We suppose one of our top priorities when we’re able to tour would be South America (especially Brazil). We have a large and growing fan base in Brazil, and we’re blown away by the amazing support we receive from our fans there. Touring Europe, the UK, and Australia are also on our wish list. It is a dream of ours is to perform live for our fans around the globe. Hopefully some day!

us. We’re still friends with the director, Bill Dear, as well as other members of the team. We would love to do more acting in the future. We’re rather busy with our music and we won’t take just any project that comes along. However, when the right acting project presents itself, then we would definitely love to pursue more acting.

You also act; what have been your favorite roles to play?

As twins, you both have a lot in common (same hobbies, dressing alike, etc.); do you both have the same interests or do you tend to make compromises when doing things?

Our favorite roles have yet to be played. ;) ;) But as far as our past acting work, we think we most enjoyed filming “Politics of Love”. The cast and crew were so wonderful to work with and we learned a lot on set. Our roles had a large comedic element, which was very fun for

We definitely have the same interests. We’re so blessed to have a built-in forever best friend whom we can share anything with. We never have to make compromises when doing things – we love the same things and life is always fullest when we’re together.

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You both worked very hard in college; what college did you attend and what were some on the honors you achieved? We’ve always been “Type A” personalities and perfectionists, so that definitely carried over into our academic work. We didn’t have the money to attend four years at the university of our choice, so while we were in high school we were simultaneously enrolled in classes at our local community college. During our years at our local college (before transferring to the Conservatory) we were in the Honors Scholar Program, inducted into the National Honor Society “Phi Theta Kappa”, published authors in an academic journal, held a 4.0 out of 4.0 GPA, and were faculty nominated scholars for both years – representing our college at several state-wide events. It was such an honor to be able to travel and present

our research to students and professors from other universities. We were able to finish two years of college during our last years of high school and transfer as full Juniors to the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College. Our high school harp teacher is the harp professor there and she was the main determining factor in us choosing that conservatory. It was actually the only college that we applied to – we guess we were rather confident that we would be accepted, and thankfully we were! At Wheaton we were on the Dean’s list every semester and earned straight A’s. We graduated “Summa Cum Laude” (with highest honors) with a Bachelor of Music degree in Harp Performance. However, we strongly believe that academic success doesn’t determine success in life. Determination and passion are the greatest stepping-stones to achieve one’s dreams.

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Originally the Greek word for “The Beast” and favorite topic of the great occultist Aleister Crowley. The band started in 1988 playing death metal and later adjusted its musical style by adding orchestral elements, including choirs, classical musicians, and even a full orchestra at their concert performances. Christofer Johnsson, the mastermind and Hey Christofer, how are you doing? I’m fine, so fine. Are you in Stockholm? Yeah..

DVD to be released soon from old material, called Adulruna Redivia and Beyond, of a concert we did on our 20th year Anniversary tour in 2007, and so far we have played in other festivals in 2011.

Ok let us start off, tell me your news these days.

Ok, how did you come up with the title of the DVD? What does it mean?

News? Oh well, we’re having a

Well, Alduruna Redivia was the

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founding member of the band dedicated some time to talk to us about Therion’s new DVD, entitled “Adulruna Redivia and Beyond”, which was out on February 21st via Nuclear Blast. Plus, we didn’t miss the opportunity to ask some further info about his personal interests. I hope you will all enjoy this interview, as much as I did! By Labrini Gouma name of the tour we did in 2007 at our 20th year Anniversary tour and since we’re having originally that concert we decided to put on other things, cause it wasn’t released and it would be misleading, so we decided to call it Adulruna Redivia and stuff. So, it will be out on February and it will contain 3 DVD’s, right?

There is a deal that will contain one DVD, Adulruna Redivia and Beyond, that’s 3 DVDs and then we played almost 3 hours, almost the whole Theli album and then we played songs, like, in Oslo we really don’t play and we played in a fest where the fans voted which songs they wanted us to play… so, yeah. Well the company wanted to take the Theli parts from the concert, but that doesn’t bother us to be

43 released now, we mastered personally the Theli album as well. Will we see Therion on the road soon again? We’re not really supposed to tour while working with the rock opera, but we made an exception and made a small tour in December last year. We wanted to test some of the material for the rock opera. We wanted to see the reactions on some of the material on the rock opera. It’s not impossible for us to make a few more shows in some places like Latin America. I don’t think it’s gonna happen in Europe until we finish the rock opera. Last time I saw you in Eindhoven Metal Meeting and I must say it had been a really good time for us to see you on stage again. Did you enjoy it as well? Yes, it was a really good show. A great show! Can you remember the very first show you played with Therion? How old were you and where was it? It was in 1987 in my high-school! Nice, and how old were you? I was 15. Did your parents support you on playing music? Yeah, they’ve been very supportive, they were very keen on that I should also study to have an education. They always told me it’s very good to try to be successful in music, but if you don’t succeed it’s good to have an education to hold back on so you can get a regular job. So I was getting a little bit of education but I didn’t want to go to school because I was convinced one day I will make it and succeed. They were always very supportive and gave money for equipment and stuff. You know I always had a query; does Swedish government support bands either financially or somehow promoting them? Not promoting, but if you are

very young you can get to borrow instruments sometimes and you can get a free rehearsal room, things like that. If you are a teenager it makes it possible to start earlier. I think it’s not only Sweden, Norway and Finland, possibly Denmark, maybe also Holland. They can let you rehearse there for free and you can borrow some equipment; maybe some amplifiers, microphones for the singer and stuff like that. That’s actually nice. In Greece we have nothing like it, that’s why I asked. Most countries don’t. I think it’s a very good investment on youth. It also keeps the youth out of trouble and stuff like this. Yes, let’s move to the lyric themes now. Therion was always inspired by one of the oldest symbols, the Dragon, and you are also a member of the Dragon Rouge. Can you tell us more about this Order and how Thomas Karlsson was involved with Therion? Well, if you want to find more about the Dragon Rouge you should go on the Google, I will not tell you anything which is not on the website. So you can get much information there. I don’t think bands should promote Orders and Thomas Karlsson is one of my best friends, we have the same interests and I’ve learnt very much from him. I borrowed many books from him it’s just natural on the point when he asked me to do some lyrics for Therion and yeah, on Theli album we wrote pretty much 50-50 of the lyrics. But I felt it was very convenient to have somebody else to do the lyrics, because for me it takes a lot of time to write lyrics. Music is very quick but it’s always a stress for me that I always had all the songs finished and when we booked time to record them in the studio I was always much stressed of who would do the lyrics. I express myself better with music and it works and for me, it’s kind of a luxury. But I can decide if I want this or that so it’s easy to have somebody else to do the work. So, for the Vovin album and all the rest Thomas did the lyrics and they had been very well prepared.

You said you read many books, what does occultism mean to you? Having to do with ancient symbols and their meanings or is it something more? It can be both theoretical and practical studies. It’s very personal on what it means to you. For some people it’s just a theoretical thing while for others it’s a life-changing thing. It’s very hard to generalize it that way. May I ask something else now, do you believe in God? I mean this figure made up by the Christians? And what is God to you? Depends on what you mean by “believing in God”. I think God, for a start? There are more Hindus than Christians on the planet this moment. I think it’s a very simplified question, I mean, what is God. You can become as a ‘perfect’ person who doesn’t believe in God and a bad one who does. Many religions have more than one god, In Hinduism and other religions you have several gods, in Japan they worship ancestors and different gods. So what I have experienced so far is believing spiritually, but I totally reject the Christian version of what God is, it’s just one out of many different ways of trying to explain what God is and explain divine things. Also I have a problem with medievalism because they have a strict black-and-white theme of what is good, what is bad and what is evil, like in many other religions this is not the case. Every god has a function and some of them are darker, and some are lighter, but they are all a natural part of the creation. This is how it was in the ancient past, this is how it was in Egypt and this is how it is today in the East. People are worshiping Kali for example. Kali is a very dark and sometimes even destructive goddess. It’s a natural thing that you have to worship her as well. She can also do good things for you, even though she’s very dark and destructive. And that way of thinking kind of senses me more. I’ve never been a worshipper and I’m not a religious person, if I would have to choose a religion, I guess I’d choose Buddhism because I like the

idea of Karma, that if you give shit you’ll have to get shit backbut that’s not God who judges you, it’s just a function. You are what you create and you become what you brought. I guess I’m very interested in different religions, I can take elements from different religions and just put them in my beliefs but you know what bothers some, what would be a complete philosophy and spiritual system for me, what I choose to be. That’s some typical thing in evolution; we’re not dogmatic, it’s important to be open to different cultures. It’s possible to take your own little basket and put things you find useful in it. Yes, that’s so true, it’s important to take elements from each religion according to your way of life. Yeah, if you take elements from every religion the important thing is that there’s no worship in it. Ok, let’s get back to Thomas, he is not regarded as an official member, right? Not an official member... That’s a weird question I get asked sometimes, I mean, how can you be a member if you don’t sing or if you don’t play? We’re a music group, it’s a form of treaty that we do, members of the band are people who perform. It’s a very weird question! Yes but Linnea (Thomas’s daughter) is regarded as an unofficial member now, right? Yes, she’s not an official member, she’s a hired singer. We’ve always had hired singers since, I don’t know, ‘95 and we will always have, it still works good but there’s no guarantee, we will always need to see if she’s available or not, if she needs to do other things we’ll find another person, there are no guarantees. Aha, I think T. Karlsson has a band called Shadow Seeds along with your past guitarist Tommy Eriksson. Are they still active? No, no- that was very, very long ago. I mean they had an album in, I don’t know, maybe 1994? Burst www.afternoiz.com

44 …and then something back in 2007 I think. Yeah, they made something more like Indian type of music, you know, sitars and singing kind of thing. They never played live, it’s just poetry. And the cds’ and stuff, they made about 1,000 copies or something, really underground stuff. Ok, you started as a death metal band and then you changed your style to what we call now symphonic metal. Was it something you wanted, or it just occurred? It just occurred- I just write songs. And how come you stopped singing and fully devoted to guitar duties? I just write songs, you know, I write whatever comes to my mind without a plan. You can say that I have a little demon on my shoulder singing songs in my ear and I write them. If he says, write a ballad, I’ll write a ballad. If he says, write a death metal song, I’ll write a death metal song, if he says, write some symphonic metal, I’ll write symphonic metal-I have no idea,

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I just write the music. If I like it, I record it, and if I like the recording, I release it. What kind of music do you listen mostly? A lot of stuff, but I think what affected me most was mainly heavy metal from the 80’s. I grew up with bands like Accept, Iron Maiden & Judas Priest, and also 70’s hard rock, Black Sabbath and stuff like that. 70’s symphonic rock and progressive rock bands, those were really the biggest influences, also more extreme bands like Celtic Frost, influenced me a lot, not as music but as a way of thinking... and classical music and opera like Richard Wagner and different folk music, from the East, from the North, different places. I remember last time you were in Athens you urged us to listen to any album first before we proceed to buy it. What is your opinion about downloading? Well, legal downloading is ok, I guess, illegal downloading is pretty much the thing. You can always listen free on Youtube or almost for free on Spotify. I mean people download because they want to listen to stuff first

before buying, I don’t have a problem with that. When I was young we couldn’t afford to buy every record. People must be aware though that, if no one buys records, then the band’s gonna have to save money from somewhere and that will affect the quality of the album, it’s going to be cheaper and the band’s gonna have to save from recordings by time, record with fake drums instead of real drums, instead of real amplifiers.. Now everybody uses guitar amplifier emulators and stuff like that. So everything sounds ok, but it sounds more the same, there is no character or diversity that you get from real drums & amplifiers, so everything more string-lined and the same, there’s no feeling in it. I see.. It’s like a factory, like feeding it all down to the machine. The opposite of that would be the 70’s, where people played live in the studio, everybody in the band would stand there, play together and record it at the same time, from the guitar solo to the vocals. But the whole band actually played. So if you listen to something like Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or whatever, the reason

that those bands are immortal is because they made something that people would say, wow, that must be a real band that played. Even in the 80’s, the Maiden albums or whatever- they would do all that stuff, but they really played all the stuff. There’s very little things produced today that’s gonna be called a classic 30 years from now. I mean, a lot of the bands that are based in the 90’s, they’re far from being classic, there’s a lot of people that still live in the old ages, like 80’s, 70s and 60s stuff, early Deep Purple etc. In your opinion, which is your favorite and maybe the most atmospheric album of Therion? I treat them like children, I like them all, and they have different good things. With the early albums I have maybe difficulties to adapt myself today, they are very aggressive and youthful but you know, they were important steps on the ladder. Without them I wouldn’t believe in doing what came later, so I’m very proud of them. And also we worked on a very very limited budget, so it’s much more difficult to do something positive with almost no money, during the first album the budget we got from the record company was 500€. I mean 500€ would cost only to tune the guitars for an album. Vovin album is very special to me because it’s my solo album, actually. It’s the bestselling album and my solo album, since I had no band at that time, it was just me and some session musicians, I had never seen them before in my life before I met them in the studio. So it was basically me, a hired drummer, a hired bass player, hired singers, the most keyboards, we hired some players. For that album it’s been always very special to me because it’s the most personal album ever- I bought everything and delivered it exactly as I wanted to. Theli album is special thing, very difficult to say that one would be favorite, I mean it’s very special to me because we were going completely against the stream when everybody else was going to use samples, drum machines and so on the production it was completely before this naval stuff that came later. I had time

45 things, very important album. My favorite Therion song The King and well, basically I saw it as so special because it was the most technical album we ever did because we tried something to trigger it. Well, in Lemuria we had the biggest orchestra we ever worked with. We had 171 people competing. I will never forget how I was traveling down and checking notes and scores where the orchestra should play. And it was the first time I didn’t have-no actually for Secret of the Runes I didn’t have any help for the scores either, but everywhere in Sweden when something goes wrong there’s people you can call them and get help. For Lemuria and Sirius B we were struggling down, there we had a huge orchestra and enormous amount of money. Normally we record the sections separately. And so if you waste time there’s only one guy you pay, but if you have a full symphonic orchestra, over a hundred people standing there and you have a problem with the score, you have to pay a hundred people for fifty minutes, that’s quite a lot of money compared to that. So, there’s really a lot pressure on me and I had no formal training at all on classical music. One of the things that I am mostly proud of is the extremely high standards of the orchestra playing together. Every record has really had something memorable, very strange to say all.. This is why we call you the mastermind of Therion.. I just write songs that people like. So, thanks a lot for your time, any message to your fans out there? Hang on, keep on listening and hope we can play in a festival or something in Greece sometime in the near future. It would be nice if we can deliver again the songs and hope things are getting better in your country because we’re reading all the time of all that chaos. Thank you for being supportive, we hope to see you soon again here, too! Good luck with Therion! Thank you, bye! Burst www.afternoiz.com

Eyes Wide Open come from Sweden and prove why their country is the proud land of heavy metal. Having the amazing “Aftermath” in stores, Burst Magazine contacted them and Patrik shared with us all the info you need about the band. Interview by Spiros Smyrnis Read it loud! Photos by Christoffer Gisselfeldt Please introduce the members of Eyes Wide Open… Patrik: Eyes Wide Open are: Patrik M. Fahlin – Vocals Kristofer Strandberg – Guitars Erik Engstrand – Guitars Jesper Lindgren – Bass Karl Adamsson – Drums Burst: Give us a brief bio about your story so far. The band was founded a little more than two years ago. We all came from different bands and some of us had played together in other projects before this. We all had one thing in common; we wanted to do this more than anything else! After just one month as a band, we started self-producing our first EP “Revelations” (later mixed and mastered by Rikard Löfgren at Leon Music) which was released in 2012. We had no idea what to expect and well, Burst www.afternoiz.com

what happened then simply blew our minds. In just a couple of months we went from not existing, to having tens of thousands of fans on Facebook, airtime on some of the biggest metal radio shows around the world and the shows were pouring in fast. We also signed a deal with HornsUp Agency (placing us among bands like The Resistance, The Unguided and many more). 2012 was a great year of touring for EWO and in 2013 we entered the studio again, this time recording at Leon Music with Gustav Ydenius and Rikard Löfgren. The album “Aftermath” was also mixed and mastered by Rikard Löfgren at Leon Music. The album was then released in December 2013 and has been revered by lots of magazines around the world. Which are your personal

heroes and your basic influences? My personal heroes are not just music related, but related to lots of other things as well. When it comes to music, my largest source of inspiration has always been Mike Patton from Faith No More, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Mondo Cane and…yeah, well, shitloads of different projects. Another great inspiration of mine is Hideo Kojima, who is a game creator and a genius. He created the best series of games ever made; Metal Gear. Other than that, I have always been greatly inspired by people around me and the chaos called “life” itself. How are you feeling with your first full length album available on record stores?

Feels awesome! The record industry is dying and for that reason I honestly never thought that I’d see one of my own creations on a shelf. It feels a bit surreal, but in a fantastic way. What is the feedback you have about “Aftermath” so far? Simply jaw-dropping! We’ve received so much praise for the album, both from fans and from media. We ourselves are of course really proud of our little “baby” and we take a lot of pride in the fact that both fans and critics seem to really dig it as well. Burst: If you have fifty words to present “Aftermath” which would those be? “Aftermath” is the middle piece in a trilogy about the end of the

47 world. In so many ways, it is the “The Empire Strikes Back” of metal, and we all know how fuckin’ awesome that movie is! If you’re into heavy riffs and melodies – check it out! More info about those who made “Aftermath” happen (production, mixing, mastering, artwork) As I previously said; “Aftermath” was recorded by Ydenius and Löfgren at Leon music. We chose to work with them after having worked with Löfgren on “Revelations”. The mixing and mastering was also performed by Rikard Löfgren and he really helped us perfect our sound on this album. The artwork was made from the bands compiled ideas and then finally created by Christoffer Gisselfeldt at http://www.gisselfeldt.se/ Vinyl has risen up over the last years. How do you feel about it? Is “Aftermath” going to be released on an LP? Being and old vinyl-collector myself, I love the idea of releasing “Aftermath” on LP. As of now, we have no plans on doing so, since it means we need to remaster the entire album and that costs more than a few pennies. But who knows, eh? If the fans demand it, then it is our duty to put it out there. Which is the final number of heavy metal bands in Sweden? I mean seriously is this the land of heavy metal? Haha, yeah, well…it’s crazy. It really is! I don’t know why there’s so many metal bands from Sweden, but…well, I guess it just fits our climate. When you think of it, metal is really diverse. It has high pitched vocals, low pitched vocals, screams, growls, falsettos and everything in-between, and that’s just talking about the vocals. In many ways Sweden is a diverse country as well. We have four really distinct seasons with the coldest winters reaching as low as -50 degrees Celsius and the hottest summer days reaching above 35 degrees Celsius. That’s a span of 85 degrees! I don’t think it’s all because of

the seasons though. I think a lot comes from the fact that we realized that our folk music really fits well together with metal. If you listen to older In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, Arch Enemy etc. you can clearly hear that the influences to the melodies come from classic Swedish folk music, so I guess that contributed a lot as well. But yes, it is fuckin’ crazy, indeed! I found very interesting the fact that you combined the Swedish melodic death metal with N.W.O.A.H.M stuff? Actually, we never thought of it like that, but we’ve heard a lot of people saying that we did. Personally I’ve always seen the socalled “N.W.O.A.H.M.” as a bit of a sub-genre to melodic death metal. Yeah, sure, it’s not the same, but bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall etc. have all said that they are greatly inspired by Swedish melodic death metal and KSE have actually said that they think it’s a bit silly to call it “N.W.O.A.H.M.” since they think the roots to the sound is old Swedish melodic death metal.

though. It also contains songs that stray from the main story and strikes a more personal note. Things like relationships, emotions, illnesses and lots of other things that I encounter in real life. Which are the things that piss you off the most and on the other hand which calm you down? Patrik: The thing that pisses me off most of all is that fact that we are constantly exploiting, destroying and killing each others lives and the planet itself, for our personal benefits. Our greed. The fact that we idolize people who are so incredibly rich, that they impoverish others. The fact that we let companies control the media, politicians, courts and pretty much everything else. Those are the things that piss me off the most. The things that calm me down are many as well; my wife, meditating, playing video games, going to concerts, listening to music and probably the least metal thing of all – interior design.

(Please, dear heavy metal fans, don’t kill me for this!) Which are your upcoming tour plans? You are actually the first ones to get this info, so take pride in that, haha! I am proud to announce that we will be going on a European tour later this spring/summer. We are right now working with our agency on the tour dates and we will reveal a whole lot of dates soon at our official Facebook and our website. The last words are yours... Thanks a bunch for a great interview, man! Hope to talk to you soon again. To the fans; thank you SO much for making all of this possible. We are, just like a lot of you guys and gals, just a bunch of people with a dream and YOU are making it come true right now. So from the bottom of our hearts; thank you!

Personally, I’ve never been one to cling to categories or genres. I like calling it metal. I’m a bit more old-school, I guess, haha! Tell me the stories behind “Aftermath” s lyrics As I said before; “Aftermath” is part two in a trilogy about the end of the world. Revelations was part one and represented the realization or the epiphany that the world was about to end. “Aftermath” tells the story about the day the world ends and the weeks that follow. It takes up some reflections about why we are where we are, it gives some answers to why we might have deserved what happened to us and also, the track “Aftermath” is another epiphany: the realization that the end of the world might actually have been a good thing. And that’s what I’d like to call “the cliff-hanger” for the next album. The album is not all about that Burst www.afternoiz.com

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Meet& GREET

LINKS: www.hellenaofficial.com www.facebook.com/theartisthellena www.twitter.com/helenamicy www.youtube.com/officialhellena www.soundcloud.com/hellenamusic

HEllena By George Kotrozinis

Ladies and Gentlemen it’s.. Hi! My name is Héllena and I am an indie Soul/R’N’B singer/ songwriter from Greece. I started my classical piano studies in 2005 and in 2009 I started writing my own material. My selftitled EP was released in 2012 and afterwards I took a leap of faith and moved to London to work with the MTV-award winning producer Stereo Mike on my forthcoming debut album “Body and Soul”. After a long time of trying… I finally formed my own band in 2012 with professional international players and I am releasing my upcoming single “Dream Big” on the 19th of May 2014. I’m so excited! :) Date of Birth (of )? 24/03 Personal Heroes? Nelson Mandela, mom and Lara Croft...:P The name story? My former name was Helena Micy but I decided to change it

after being consulted by friends and after seeing that here in the UK almost everyone was spelling my name the wrong way so it’s just Héllena now which is simple, easy to remember and more Hellenic as well, since I’m Greek and miss my country. The feedback of “Dream Big” release so far… The feedback is far beyond what I expected! People are already loving it and it makes me so happy that fans are telling me they get inspired by this song. I think “Dream Big” is a commercial song but in a good way. It is Soulful and powerful. The people behind your new single! Mixing , mastering, production, artwork. Stereo Mike is my producer. He produced, mixed and mastered “Dream Big”. He also recorded bass and keys! He is the mastermind really and I owe him BIG time. Also Max Atman recorded all guitar parts and Daniele Giovannoni recorded the drums.

They’re both exceptionally good musicians and they put their soul into it. The very talented Kate K Fairystar did the photoshoot for “Dream Big”, Kostas Kokonos edited the cover and Christina Pagiavla was responsible for the artwork. They all did a fantastic job. Without all these people, I wouldn’t be where I am now and I thank them all deeply. You have 30 words to present us “Dream Big”. Use them wisely! Good one! Well let’s see… honest, straightforward, soulful, melodic, well-crafted, energetic, strong, raw, intense, dreamy, unique, international, unconventional, brave, commercial, authentic, artistic, different, helpful, electric, mid-tempo, free, euphoric, lucky, joyful, luminous, sentimental, personal, deep, timeless. Which is the biggest obstacle in the way of a newcomer musician in order to release an album?

No budget since we live in very difficult times financially-wise. The moment of Glory so far! Giving an acoustic performance on BBC London Radio with my bandmates! On the road to hell! (Upcoming gigs and tour plans?) Doing a release party for “Dream Big” on the 20th of May at the Troubadour in London, on the 30th of May I’m playing the HTLGI festival in Hay on Wye and I can’t wait! I also have quite a few interviews and acoustic performances on radios until end of June (at least) so it’s going to be pretty busy. For all dates and all news please visit my website: www.hellenaofficial.com Which band would you like to play at your funeral? Wow never thought about that. Well it doesn’t matter, does it? I won’t be able to listen to them playing anyway! Hahhah

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Meet& GREET

Slaveatgod By Spiros Smyrnis

Μeet and Greet with Slaveatgod This is a brand new column on Burst Magazine, dedicated to all the bands out there who may not be so popular, but they totally deserve our attention, cause their music will blow your mind and kick your ass! Simple as that! Ladies and Gentlemen Slaveatgod are: (bio and members) A progressive metalcore/ djent band from Athens, GR consisting of Jon Howard (also of Threat Signal, Arkaea, Vise Versa) in vocals, Chris Nanos in Rhythm Guitars, SinniK Al in Lead Guitars, Stelios Nanos in Bass and Keys and Joni Moas in Drums. The band has already released a self-titled EP and one selffinanced CD called “Blank Core Inn”, while their latest release is “The Skyline Fission” CD released by the No Regrets Records label. Apart from that, the band has performed extensively in several live venues both as headliners and as a support act. Date of Birth (of Slaveatgod)? Somewhere around 2007 but please accept my sincere apologies for not being able to provide the exact date. Personal Heroes? Every musician no matter how famous, talented or not who persists, perseveres and pursues one’s own dreams through and despite all difficulties. An obvious exception to this would be anybody who has mistaken lyrics with rhyming hate speech of any kind. The name story? I wasn’t one of the founding Burst www.afternoiz.com

Photos/edit By Athina Tousia

members but I don’t think there’s a special story behind it. It greatly appeals to me as a name too. The feedback of “The Skyline Fission” release so far… Really good!!! We were amazed by the enthusiastic reviews we have got already. This is very encouraging and we truly hope that all the friends of metal music will dig it. The men behind your new album! Mixing, mastering, production, artwork. Recording and Editing took place at CRS’s Growl Studios in Athens. Mixing and Mastering were done by Jon Howard himself at his very own Woodward studios in Canada and the artwork was created by Remedy Art Design. You have 30 words to present us “The Skyline Fission”. Use them wisely!

When the FU-bar is raised to a level beyond contempt and you feel like a joke without a punch line, expect no pity. Face forward or down. Which is the biggest obstacle in the way of a newcomer band in order to release an album? There’s an endless series of obstacles from financial issues to cunning contracts and the overall difficulty to find reliable people to cooperate with, among several else which are too many to itemize. Which of these might feel as the heaviest of burdens is mostly up to the band members’ personality and hence highly subjective. It usually is a combination of things, however. The moment of Glory for Slaveatgod so far! “The Skyline Fission” Live Release Party which was held this Sunday. It was our first show with Jon Howard and it is hard to de-

scribe how energetic and powerful this gig was. Words would fail me if I were to tell how great the whole event felt to us. This line up hadn’t given any live shows before and this added some extra excitement (and by “excitement”, I mean “stress”) to the whole thing, but judging by the live reports we’ve got so far everybody had a great time! On the road to hell! (Upcoming gigs and tour plans?) Nothing fixed yet but hopefully there will be plenty. We want to share our new songs with as many people as possible. Which band would you like to play at your funeral? I would love it if the Residents played the whole “Demons Dance Alone” record. Killer stuff (pun intended)

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MUSIC REVIEWS

The Black Keys Turn Blue

The Black Keys may be one of the most important bands in the modern rock scene, influencing the younger and defending the rock n roll spirit for the older ones. Right after the release of El Camino back in 2011, the band returns with Turn Blue, trying hard to create something better or equally good with their previous releases. For me, El Camino, was a rock master-piece. When the new record was released, I was a bit depressed that Turn Blue wouldn’t have a ‘Little Black Submarines’ within its tracks. However, I gave enough time to this record to appeal for me and interact with my mind. The Black Keys used funky rhythms, playful guitars and less blues parts in this one. It can be characterized as a catchier one, rather than their previous ones, but it got me amazed in the end. The Black Keys surely know how to create inspiring songs, which touch your feelings and mind right away. The two opening ones, ‘Weight of Love’ and ‘In Time’ are a perfect choice to open a record (maybe two of the best intro songs of all time), with catchy choruses and love-ballad lyrics. Turning their heads towards the blues patterns they used to compose upon and turning their backs to aggressiveness and simplicity, the band is headed into paths which allowed them to become more flexible than ever. The result? Songs like ‘Fever’, ‘Year In Review’ or ‘Bullet in the Brain’. The record couldn’t be less great. It will keep you company for all those strange nights, the road trips and the moments when you seek the music which will make you sing along, with a drink in your hand. Dan’s voice and the catchy vocal lines force you to remember all the lyrics constantly and repeat them over to your head. The band may have turned softer, but they surely amazed us with their groovy melodies and the legendary creations, Turn Blue has offered us. If you haven’t listened to the record, do it soon! Kostas Tsotsanis Burst www.afternoiz.com

Photo by Ear Music

Photo by Danny Clinch

Dread Sovereign

Fu Manchu

Epica

Alan Averill’s new project, ‘Dread Sovereign’, is surely one of the most interesting ones in doom metal nowadays. Along with Primordial’s drummer Simon O’ Laoghaire and guitarist ‘Bones’, the band managed to release a powerful and influential doom metal record this year, titled ‘All Hell’s Martyrs’, right after their first ever EP back in 2013.

Fu Manchu has been a big name in the psychedelic stoner rock scene for years, with over ten records in their discography. Their style has been pretty much stable after twenty years and so, having been sometimes repetitive, but also pleasing. Gigantoid is their latest release, ready to get us ‘high’ in the realms of stoner rock music.

The Quantum Enigma is the title of Epica’s sixth studio album. According to the band, the whole album is based on a certain concept being described as an exploration of the subconscious mind.

All Hell’s Martyrs

‘All Hell’s Martyrs’ contains heavy and black Sabbath-ish, doom anthems. Alan’s inspiring and trembling vocals tie perfectly along with the groovy music background and the evil guitars, creating a result that will satisfy every fan of old-school doom metal and mostly epic-doom fans. The record progresses nicely, creating a ritualistic and occult, ambient sensation to the listener. The guitars are orchestrating the whole musical background and remind us sometimes of the doom records of Black Sabbath and sometimes they follow the epic-doom path, which Candlemass first created. I honestly advise the listener to get himself lost inside the music of Dread Sovereign and listen to the record as a whole; it will surely be an experience they will remember for days! Without reaching the best they can give, Dread Sovereign may have released the doom record of the year. The band will continue to amaze us with their devil’s melodies for a long time and let’s hope their future will be a long lasting one! Kostas Tsotsanis

Gigantoid

The recipe for Fu Manchu is the common one; heavy rock, pentatonic riffs, with stoned vocals and psychedelic elements. In many points the music is influenced by the classic bands in the genre, such as ‘Kyuss’, while in other songs the desert rock influence is getting more noticeable. ‘ No Warning’ and generally all the fast- paced parts in the record remind me of a primitive punk rock, combined with stoner, which is particularly interesting. Gigantoid contains a lot of mean and raw songs like ‘Evolution Machine’ or ‘Dimension Shifter’. However, the band does not create the album which will have the fans talk about it constantly or listen to it for a very long period of time. The sound generally is groovy, raw and old-school, but the band’s inspiration is limited, in a music genre which has grown famous pretty much early but ran out of new ideas sooner. The band’s history and importance is surely a fact. However, Fu Manchu should try harder and explore many unknown seas to get something inspired and edgy to come out of their music, something more than mixing fuzzy guitars and dirty vocals. The band need to build an identity once more. Kostas Tsotsanis

The Quantum Enigma

The album opens in a rather predictable way with an instrumental track (Originem) and goes on in a more intense way with The Second Stone, a track that definitely reminds us of Epica’s latest works. The Essence Of Silence and Victims of Contingency are the most typical Epica songs on this album, with the second one featuring more death metal elements than ever. Sense Without Sanity-The Impervious Code reminds us a lot of their Phantom Agony days. Unchain Utopia has been a pleasant treat for the ears as it combines all Epica elements in the best possible and smoothest way. And this is the point that the material of the album slips into becoming more interesting and innovative. The Fifth Guardian includes eastern folk elements and clearly proves Epica’s love for soundtracks. On the other hand, Chemical Insomnia and Omen - The Ghoulish Malady introduce us to their more modern side. Reverence - Living in the Heart is a pure symphonic metal anthem, Canvas of Life is a wonderful ballad and Natural Corruption has a obvious Nightwish feeling all over it. Last but not least, the lengthy self-titled track of course closes the album. To sum up, The Quantum Enigma is a very brave step for Epica even though they have not changed their sound a lot. This album is supposed to be the result of ultimate team work between the band mates and their new producer Joost Van Den Broek and it actually sounds precisely like that. It seems that finally the band succeeded to keep all the symphonic metal elements and at the same time create an album with a certain flow and identity. Korina P. Burst www.afternoiz.com

Nervosa

Victim Of Yourself

Killer be Killed Killer Be Killed

Killer be Killed is the latest unexpected supergroup, which came out of nowhere to stay! It’s line-up justifies this; Max Cavalera ( Soulfly, Ex-Sepultura), Troy Sanders ( Mastodon), Dave Elitch (ex- Mars Volta) and Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan). Those four people joined forces to collaborate and compose in a unique way, creating their own identity, which remind us a bit of all their main bands mixed together. The songs of their self-titled record mix together many different metal genres. Killer Be Killed includes heavy break-downs, melodic ones, fast and aggressive thrash riffs, slower parts, interludes and many more, creating a record powerful enough, that will satisfy every single metal fan. From ‘Melting of My Marrow’ to ‘Wings of Feather and Wax’, Killer Be Killed want to sound unique and amaze us, not only with the music, but with the vocals too. The band mixed together vocal lines from three of their members. Blasting drums, killing guitars and aggressive attitude, all in one record! Killer Be Killed renewed mainstream metal, to influence with their own identity, reminding how modern bands should act and create music. They should be pluralistic, inspired and willing to risk with fast riffs and melodic ones combined. Not many bands know how to experiment with genres and create clever songs like ‘Curb Crusher’ or ‘ Dust into Darkness’. The record is surely a lovely one, a pleasing one, and will be discussed -a lot- for a long period of time. We, as fans, just hope Killer Be Killed will be actively participating in the music scene for the next years, without backing down. Kostas Tsotsanis

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Nervosa, the all-female thrash metal band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, released its killer debut album “Victim of Yourself” in March. For all us Thrashers around the world this album is one of those that we should have in our collection. There are a lot of reasons why you should listen to this album. If you’re an old-school Thrasher you should appreciate these ladies; hostile, raw sound, screams, growls, aggressive riffs, blasting drumbeats… 12 in-your-face tracks, for intensive head banging! These Brazilian chicks made a pure Thrash metal sound and I totally respect them for their ability to have done just exactly what they wanted to do. If “Victim of Yourself” is just the beginning for Nervosa, just imagine what may follow… a ravenous Thrash-Beast!! Sissy Fanouraki

“Blood and Whiskey” and finally the time has come for their third official record under the name of “Anthem of Wasted”. Sludge/Hardcore/Stoner/ Southern/Metal tunes showed me the way! When you name your opening song Asshole’s Groove, then you must be a band I wanna listen to. Pantera riffology plus Crowbar and Pro Pain guitar breakdowns, while the smell of southern rhythms was up in the stoned sky! Anthem for the Wasted, Order of the Pigs plus Burn featuring Babis (Planet of Zeus) and Alex S. (Poltergeist) were definitely the album’s highlights! Do not waste your time, give yourselves the pleasure of listening to this dirty motherfucking dynamite that spits mud in our face. Raise your glasses high and scream Cheers! P.S Parental Advisory, Explicit lyrics, just the way we like’em! Spiros Smyrnis

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It was only a few days after April 2014 had gone by, that I received a link so I could listen to the new Beyond Perception album. I loved the title, which is so cool that even Charles Bukowski could name a poem after it. As far as the front-cover, oh my god! Probably one of the most insanely beautiful ones I’ve seen this year, bringing the Blood and Whiskey cover to my mind. Enough with the chit chat! Let’s talk about some serious stuff now. The band Beyond Perception were originally formed in the summer of 2004. They have already released two albums, “The Final Descent” and

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by Spiros Smyrnis, Sissy Fanouraki & Korina P.

by Spiros Smyrnis

Planet of Zeus Vigilante

It’s Not Greek to Me started as a way to express my admiration to Greek musicians and bands that covered the rock/metal community! I have already written 35 articles and I am happy that I have material for hundreds more. This is the exact same introduction I used for “It’s Not Greek to Me” published on March 2014 trying to write about the new masterpiece of Need titled “Orvam, A song for home”. So I decided to keep this as an introduction to the upcoming “It’s Not Greek to Me” tributes. It was the night of April 10th. I received an email that made me say God, Lucifer, Buddha, I love my job! 12 days before the official release of Vigilante I had the chance and the honor to listen to the brand new Planet of Zeus album! 3 years after the ultraheavy stoner hit of Macho Libre we are finally ready for some sex and violence in the Planet of Zeus (unfortunately, only Greeks would appreciate that inspired line!). Vigilante was one of the most anticipated albums for me along with the new 1000Mods record, speaking of heavy rock. “A Girl Named Greed” had been available a few days before and made me beg for the whole record! So I lay my head down, put my earphones on and pushed play. Just like the old times! I know that we are living in the digital times, but I prefer it the old way and I am pretty damn sure that when I get my cd and vinyl copy I will do the exact same thing. The last time I saw Planet of Zeus was their special guest appearance on the Clutch gig in June 2013! I think that this show influenced them and Vigilante is the Clutch-iest album ever released. More bluesy, with the magical touch of American South, Vigilante spits groove and cool riffs. Still heavy but fucking rock as well! For the next 45 minutes and 24 seconds my mind took a Powertrip, as Dave Wyndorf salutes Neil Fallon, while saying: Hey man we fucking did it! If they’re bands like Planet of Zeus out there, then we could take some rest and let these guys turn the universe upside down! Neil grabbed his beard and nodded ok. I think that was the time that Second Coming had faded out before the story of A Girl Named Greed started! My head was moving to the grooving, when I screamed that it’s about time to “Burn this City Down”. Josh Homme gave his blessings so I searched the whole place up to find a goddamn lighter! We have to do it, otherwise “Tornado” will find us and man, you don’t want that! Trust me, if you are not cool enough, then it will eat your soul! If you wanna stay alive you have to live like there’s “No Tomorrow” pal. It’s the only, it’s the wise way my friend. Just like those Planet of Zeus guys! They’re godsend if you ask me. They face each and every song they write as their last one! So they watered it with sweat, soul, and the pure straight rock n roll feeling which cannot be taught. Their music is not for cowards or all those suited guys you’ve been tired of watching at in your life; but for Vigilante types who’re gonna make you pay for your sins. Planet of Zeus is thy name and machismo thy game. If you’re into “Disappointment Blues” then raise your glass and drink with me cause I’m gonna have another one. Finally, release “The Beast Within”. The next morning you’re gonna breathe easier. Cheers!

Tuomas Holopainen

Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge

The Road of Bones [Disc I]

Nightwish’s mastermind Tuomas Holopainen finally decided to make his big dream come true, by releasing a soundtrack based on Don Rosa’s comic book entitled The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. I couldn’t help but wonder why on earth a metal label, such as Nuclear Blast, decided to release such a concept album. Well, it seems that they have absolute faith on Tuomas’ musical vision and trust me, they are so damn right on this! This album is full of beautiful melodies, folky sounds, grandiose orchestral arrangements and classical but at the same time catchy and brilliant music themes. Definitely a must-have! This is the 10th studio album for the British prog rock band IQ that was released in Europe on May 19th 2014. When you tag a band as “progressive”, you expect no less than 7-minute tracks! Right? IQ have released a 5-track album, with more than 50 minutes of progressive sound. They certainly have evolved thus remaining unique, maintaining their progressive rock signature sound. Boost your music IQ by listening to IQ’s latest album. “Without Walls” is not only the longest track on the album but an epic atmospheric one -more than 19 minutes long - an amalgamation of strong guitar rhythms and dark vibes alongside the profound lyrics and clean vocals of Peter Nicholls.

POEM was one of the best rock bands you’ve never listened to. Mother of Millions consisted of POEM so they cannot be bad. This was the first thought I had when I received their new album. I was so fucking wrong! Mother of Millions are kicking some serious asses as they’ve released one of the most interestMother of Millions ing progressive metal albums of the year blessed by the fathers of us all Dream Theater and Fates WarnHuman ing. Amazing artwork, jaw breaking guitar play and a haunting performance by the vocalist. Question the process… Ask the reason why…

Obzerv Obzerv

Zmerna

Polydirectional Lines

Another diamond release from Trailblazer Records, which has gathered many ambitious music projects and bands in their label like Need, Speedblow, For A Dozen Matters and Obzerv, They are too harsh to call them metalcore but they know how to write melodic riffs enough not to call them deathcore. Guitar breakdowns ‘til your neck hurts, while the bombastic drumming sets a well-built rhythm section. Multi faced vocals, groovy beats, catchy lines and angry lyrics. Somewhere between the metal and the hardcore. Welcome to the moshpit zone. Welcome to Obzerv’s debut album. I truly respect Manthos Stergiou. I cannot do otherwise as the mastermind of Tardive Dyskinesia (one of the best djent bands out there) and Lunatic Medlar is amongst the most respectful figures in the Greek underground metal scene. Zmerna is a dangerous poisonous fish. Dangerous like Manthos’ riffology and his solo music project compositions. Post hardcore or progressive post rock, you name it, Porydirectional Lines is a difficult album to understand, a difficult album to follow as it requires your full commitment plus attention so you don’t miss anything. Cinematic atmosphere and autistic guitars fill the sound puzzle. Isis should be proud of their bastard son called Zmerna. Burst www.afternoiz.com

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In the next pages... Bitchin’ with Barbara By Barbara Pavone

Confessions of a Blockbuster Addict By Angie Rouska

TV Series Beginner’s Guide by Helen Marie Joyce

Worst Movies Ever

By Kostas Krasonis

Also... Articles Movie reviews Director’s Cut Interviews

Photo by Christian Wagner

For the BIG screen... and for smaller ones! Burst www.afternoiz.com

Leonardo DiCaprio

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The Wolf of Hollywood By Jo Gogou

1974: Irmelin and George DiCaprio welcome their only son in November, Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio. Rumor has it that they named him after the great painter Leonardo Da Vinci, a persona they both loved and admired. However they didn’t get along so they broke up. Young Leonardo had Italian and German roots and an artistic vein; his course and life was due to shine soon. He appeared in commercial spots from a very young age. At the age of 5 he played in his very first TV part, in the series Romper Room. One led to another and he got his first offer for a cinema movie, Critters 3 and Poison Ivy, he was about 14 years old. Hollywood seems to love him and he is destined for something bigger. The chance arises in 1993, with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin, in a Michael Caton-Jones, movie: This Boy’s Life. The young teddy boy got excellent critiques for his newcomer appearance, next to De Niro and in general the whole cast and story was praised. The Box Office reached $4,104,962. Hollywood’s great names embrace him once again that year with the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, with Johnny Depp and Juliette Lewis. His role as an autistic earns him more fans and makes him even more lovable. This Box Office reached $10,032,765. In 1994 comes “The foot Shooting Party”, by the The Walt Disney Studios. The next year, the Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman & Russell Crowe co-star in the movie “The Quick and the Dead”. It is a western and L.DiCaprio plays the son of the villain, who is actually killed by his father’s

gun. The Box office reached $18,636,537 “The cinematographer, Dante Spinotti (The Last of the Mohicans) makes the material look terrific. The lowering skies around the isolated town make it look ripe for vengeance of biblical proportions, and there are quiet satirical touches, as when a man stands in a saloon door and his shadow seems about 6 miles long.” —Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times Two more movies come out at the same year. The “The Basketball Diaries” by Scott Kalvert, there he is a young man chasing his dreams that will kill him through drugs. As reported, in 1997, the lawyer and activist, Jack Thompson claims $33 million dollars from the production. He says that this movie pushed young people into identifying with this part and to act accordingly. This happened with the 14 year old Michael Carneal, who killed a group of people in his school. The case was closed in 2001. 1995 and the movie “Total Eclipse” comes, based in the life of the poet Paul Verlaine. It concerns his secret love life, the relationship between Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis) and Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio). Of course a subject like that was considered inappropriate and not consistent with the poet’s real life (some did believe that) and it was a movie-taboo for the time. So was the “The Basketball Diaries”. These two movies in the same year had put him on the stake and damaged him. But that was only a part of the opinions; the audience was already following his steps. In 1996 a smashing opportunity arises: he is Romeo in the remake of the “Romeo & Juliet”, bases of course in William

Shakespeare’s play. Girls all over the world have his poster on their teenage walls, see him through posters and movies. HIs fan base grows and he becomes more famous. At the same year we see the “Marvin’s room”, he plays at the side of Robert De Niro for the second time. Also starring: Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Hume Cronyn, Gwen Verdon, Hal Scardino and Dan Hedaya 1997, Oscar time, multiple nominations and the story of the legendary “Titanic”, a story that is touching until today. A James Cameron movie nominated for 15 Oscar awards. It won 11 of them, 3 Golden Globes and many nominations. Leonardo Di Caprio did not get any of those. This one’s Box office reached $2 billion. No award winning may have been disappointing, but it did not stop him as since then he has starred in 18 movies. He has been nominated numerous times but has not yet won that golden statue. He himself sees it from another point of view that he does not quit, states: “As you know my friend, no one knows what is going to happen. Everyone has their predictions about everything. I’ve no expectations whatsoever for anything or anyone. All I am doing at this point is doing my best to showcase a project I love very dearly and am very proud of. Winning an Oscar, or even getting nominated, can do a great deal for the success of the film. For me I don’t have any expectation. I don’t feel like I deserve anything but it feels good to just be in the conversation and have your peers say, ‘OK, this is at least worth talking about’. As far as predictions I would never be as presumptuous to know what’s going to happen”.

Filmography 1991 Critters 3 1992 Poison Ivy 1993 This Boy’s Life 1993 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape 1994 The Foot Shooting Party 1995 The Quick and the Dead 1995 The Basketball Diaries 1995 Total Eclipse 1996 Romeo + Juliet 1996 Marvin’s Room 1997 Titanic 1998 The Man in the Iron Mask 1998 Celebrity 2000 The Beach 2001 Don’s Plum 2002 Catch Me If You Can 2002 Gangs of New York 2004 The Aviator 2006 The Departed 2006 Blood Diamond 2008 Body of Lies 2008 Revolutionary Road 2010 Shutter Island 2010 Inception 2010 IMAX 3D Hubble 2011 J. Edgar 2012 Django Unchained 2013 The Great Gatsby 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street

itchin’ arbara with

Disclaimer: I’m by no means a superhero aficionado or comic book connoisseur and there are countless things I don’t know about some of the world’s biggest franchises – like why spandex is always THE go-to choice for fighting crime – but despite all that, I hope you’ll believe me when I say that I genuinely enjoy watching movies from the superhero genre. I really, truly do.

by Barbara Pavone

“Superheroes” Burst www.afternoiz.com

Photo by Katherine Dydyk

If I didn’t, perhaps then I wouldn’t be so utterly disappointed and pissed off by the countless half-assed remakes and sequels scheduled for 2014, which are bound to drive the once actionpacked world of comic book characters and stellar superheroes further into the ground. Gone are the days of integrity and innovation – you can try to disagree, but you know I’m right – as they’ve been replaced with an overwhelming desire to play it safe, make a quick buck and move on. Consider the fact that we haven’t even made it halfway through the year and already Hollywood’s biggest studios have gifted us with ‘gems’ like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which were, not at all surprisingly, received with mixed reviews. And that’s putting it lightly. Unfortunately, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers: Age of Extinction and Guardians of the Galaxy are all slated for

release later this summer and promising nothing better. Truth be told, they all look absolutely terrible and I wish I could un-see each and every single one of their trailers. So why is it that, as of late, every single big budget movie seems to do nothing more than rehash something we’ve all seen done usually better - a thousand times before? A quick Internet search will deliver numerous articles, analyses and possible answers to that very question, but the explanation that seems to make the most sense is that producers want to invest their money in a sure thing. After all, there’s no shortage of people willing to buy tickets to see a superhero flick and, as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But does that mean we’re all royally f*cked and that nothing creative will ever see the light of day again? It’s a terrible thought, but that’s the path moviemaking is heading down and releases are only bound to gradually get worse unless you - yes, you – stand up and do something about it. If audiences continue to place their faith in big budget superhero movies, even though they constantly continue to be disappointed by them because, let’s face it, it’s hard to get excited about something that puts you to sleep, we can all forget about the art that once went into filmmaking. Studios will just keep on churning out pictures with low standards and shoddy storylines

because, if enough people are willing to see it, who cares about legacy and quality, right? The way I see it, it really is up to viewers to start calling out moviemakers, boycotting shitty projects as they see fit and demanding better results and more variety at which point, we might start heading back towards cinema’s golden years. You know, that magical time in history when each and every single movie had some sort of thought put into it and bore a major stamp of originality from its creators. If you think it’s not so bad and I’m just being overly pessimistic, consider this statistic: According to reports, 13 out of the 14 biggest movies of 2013 were adaptations and sequels, which is pretty damn depressing, if you ask me. What happened to thinking outside the box? And, even more importantly, when did we become SO complacent that we’re willing to watch whatever lukewarm, pseudo reworked flick we’re offered? Here’s an ideal world scenario that will likely never happen, but that would totally change up the game for the better if it did: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez join forces to write and shoot their very own superhero/comic book fusion feature – I’m thinking Inglourious Basterds meets Sin City - which would obviously be the best thing to ever happen to cinema since the beginning of time. Hey, a girl can dream…

To Venus and Back Fall - Winter 2014

#nikolaostsironis

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62 Hello, my name is Angie and I’m a blockbuster addict or a blockbusterholic, whatever suits you best. My first blockbuster was in the early 90s with Total Recall and then the frenzy continued, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, The Rock, Titanic till now with X-Men, Godzilla, Avengers and many others. The “worst” part is that I have seen many of these movies more than once, either at the cinema or from the comfort of my couch.

Confessions Of a blockbuster t c i d d A

by angie rouska

“1st Blood” Burst www.afternoiz.com

I enjoy watching blockbusters, I enjoy the whole sacred ritual of going to the movies, getting my ticket, standing in line to get my pop-corn and refreshment, getting my 3D glasses (nowadays), sitting on my seat and entering in a “vegetable” mode. Action, explosions, CGI, performances (you know from low to tolerable and even amazing ones), love stories, weird monsters, superheroes, super-villains. Everything that for a couple of hours can transform you to the perfect brainless devouring creature; and when the end credits roll you “wake up” thinking either “what kind of bullshit did I just watch?” or “what kind of masterpiece was that?”. Most probably it wasn’t, but the delirium and the enthusiasm combined with coke’s sugar and popcorn’s butter, clogging your arteries and your brain did not got perfused (true story #1, has happened with The Dark Knight Rises). A blockbuster is not always cinema at its best but it remains cinema whether you like it or not. Movies like these have to exist, either to please the CGI-junkies like myself, or to make you appreciate indie films, low budget ones, films that do not aim to steal your money. I may now sound judgmental, but let’s face it, I am aware of the studios’ hunger for uncontrolled revenues and blockbusters are the main source, I am aware that I cannot compare Michael Bay with Lars Von Trier but I am aware that I know what I want and expect from both of them. It doesn’t mean that someone who watches Transformers cannot watch Melancholia or vice versa. And before some of you puritans out there start complaining and saying that the only CGI you have tolerated and found awesome was in Holy Mo-

tors (true story #2) let me tell you that you probably have watched more blockbusters than you can think of. But what constitutes a blockbuster? Budget, budget, budget! The higher, the merrier. Advertising; it can be in many ways and it can be as manipulative as it gets. Interviews, promos, teaser trailers for the film, teaser trailer for the feature trailer, short clips, even trailers that befool the viewers, but only you realize it after you have watched the movie. And of course profitability for the studios. It can be succeeded in various ways; tickets, special screenings, DVD/Blu-Ray packages, merchandise, theme parks etc. When did all that start? When did we enter the New Hollywood’s Blockbuster Age? You may all pay your respects to the man behind some of the major blockbusters, Mr. Steven Spielberg. It all began in 1975 with Jaws. Although the summer was a weak season for cinemas, the movie’s theme cried for a release in the summer, so it was delayed on purpose. During that time, Universal seized the opportunity and proceeded to an unstoppable promotion. Press and media interviews, sneak previews, TV advertising, even ice-cream flavors! The studio spent $ 1.8 million dollars including an unprecedented $700,000 for the TV spot. The result? Jaws after 11 weeks on the big screen became the highest-grossing film of all time until Star Wars. Jaws opened with a $7 million weekend and recouped its production costs in two weeks! (source: Morris, Nigel (2007). The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light). After Jaws, the studios changed their strategies and summer blockbusters became a trend till today. Only nowadays, someone may say that we are talking about whole-year blockbusters. Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Die Hard, Top Gun and many others were the foundation for today’s blockbusters. We’ve come a long way since then but the triptych of success, coke-popcornCGI, remains unaltered. It’s all an eye-candy.

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Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cut

Panos H. Koutras By Spiros smyrnis

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65 If I didn’t have so much work this year, I would have taken a trip to Cannes, so I could watch the 67th Cannes Film Festival. One of the main reasons I wanted to go is that Xenia would participate in the “Un Certain Regard” section. I am pretty sure that you’d like more info about Xenia. Well, well, well. The only thing I can say is that this is the fourth film of the Greek enfant terrible, Panos H. Koutras. Panos was born in Athens. He went to London Film School, as well as Paris 1, at Sorbonne. From 1985 to 1995 he lived in Paris where he directed few short films which were officially selected for the London Film Festival and Festival du Cinema Mediterranean. The fall and rise of Lydia Von Burer won the first prize. In 1995, he founded the production company named 100% Synthetic Films and started to work his first feature film, the ultra cult saga of The attack of Giant Mousaka! I am pretty sure that you are familiar with famous and very tasteful Greek mousaka, but your knowledge lacks as far as the first film of Panos Koutras. Beware of the Giant mousaka that’s gonna eat you alive. Around the year 2000, a terrible occurence shocks the city of Athens: a huge piece of mousaka appears on the city streets, spreading panic and death. Everyone keeps wondering: why, where, how, for what reason? But no one can give an answer... Koutras had no money, no recognition back then, and no cult history; as Greece’s filmography was very poor at that area. So what were his chances? To sit down and make the most hilarious film ever released in the leg of Mediterranean called Greece. If you are searching for reasons why, then Panos has the right answer for you: It’s a question I ask myself everyday. Today’s answer is because I can’t sing like David Bowie. His second feature film, Real Life (2004), became a critics’ favorite in Greece (won the National Critics Award in 2004) His second feature film, Real Life (2004), became a critics’ favorite in Greece (won the National Critics Award in 2004). I think that family is so close to the Greek society when we are talking about drama. Panos

quoted to me when I had the honor to interview him for a paper I had to write on my master’s degree, when I highlighted the connection amongst his features. Let’s focus on the plot of the second Panos Koutras film for a while. Aris is the rich son of Kalliga family. After a six-month rehab, he meets Alexandra a young and beautiful decorator, who works to pay off her school. Aris is very happy. He thinks he has found his other half, his soul mate. He dreams of a having a new family with Alexandra, who is closer to earth than his eccentric mother. He dreams of a family different than his. Calliga family, a Greek Tragedy. This is the story of an article about Aris’ family written in a high circulation newspaper. The paper refers to the blood-curling death of Aris father that took place on their Villa, at Sounio. Aris doesn’t remember much of that night! Everything’s blurred. All his life tries to find what happened back then in their villa! He seeks answers he doesn’t wanna know! He cannot deal with all these, so he breaks up with Alexandra (the beautiful figure of Marina Kalogirou draws the attention) as he cannot handle a relationship. After a small fight Aris had with his French friend he will find out the real truth, the truth that was covered in lies, lies, lies. Panos Koutras posed a question with Real Life, a dilemma if you’d like, filming a rich family, quite close to the ones we all have watched at tv soap operas. What do you prefer? A real life that would tear apart the family, or a life built in lies that would give you the chance to sleep well behind society’s curtains! The answer is yours. So we reach Strella, the third film of Koutras which is in my opinion one of the top-five films ever filmed in the long history of Greek Cinema and amongst the 10 best European films shot in the last decade. Strella’s screening on Berlin Film Festival was a real triumph. Liberation wrote Strella is a meteor which cannot be followed! The marvelous film of Panos Koutras will read the codes of Ancient Greek Family Tragedy and will provoke us all! Thank God added Le Figaro, while all the critics kneel down in front of Koutras’ talent as they should be. Strella

is the connection of Stella and trela which means craziness in Greek. This is a hint for Greek cinema lovers to see how Mihalis Cacoyannis and his magnum opus Stella (starring Melina Mercury) influenced Koutras so we could say that there is a connection from Stella to Strella. They introduce Koutras as the Greek Almodovar, probably because he is one of the best filmmakers of what we used to called queer cinema. To me, it is so wrong to put Strella under the banner and the umbrella of queer cinema, ‘cause this is a simple and great sample of passionate, lyric, colored cinema. Let’s take it differently this time. Let’s start from the end. It’s Christmas time. Somewhere near the historic centre of Athens. It is the crucial year of 2000 something, few years after the millennium. Around the Christmas table stands Strella ( a pre-op trans impersonated by the jaw-breaking persona of Mina Orfanou) her father, her father’s lover in prison, an immigrant, her gay friend, her gay’s friend infant baby sister (He took custody when her drug addict mother passed away) plus an Ukranian. This beautifully strange family is the reflection of a 21th century Greek tragedy, where in the end all goes well. Or not! I don’t wanna make a statement Panos said to me, I just wanna say that for you people, maybe there is another way. Each and every time I watch Strella’s story, I feel captivated by Mina Orfanou’s presence and Koutras directional skills. George is released from prison after 14 years of incarceration for a murder he committed in his small Greek village. He spends his first night out in a cheap downtown hotel in Athens. There he meets Strella, a young transsexual prostitute. They spend the night together and soon they fall in love. But the past is catching up with George. With Strella on his side he will have to find a new way out. This may be the imdb plot summary for Strella. If these lines are not enough for you, then my words may be useful for you. Do yourself your favor and watch Strella as soon as possible! Get in touch with Panos Koutras filmography and trust me Xenia would be amongst the films of the year. Burst www.afternoiz.com

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Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla awakens and hunts the MUTO.

You know I was very excited about this new installment in the Godzilla saga. I expected that it would be a mayhem of destruction (which it is), surpassing the weaknesses of the Kaiju-friendly Pacific Rim. Did I like this new Godzilla epic? Well by the time I was given what I wanted to watch, I was extremely exhausted to force myself to like this movie.

The plot is not something complicated. Movies like this one do not have the need of a stretched plot, neither of characters’ depth, nor reason to justify unorthodox actions and events. If we start asking “why?”, “how on earth could this happen?” then every blockbuster (if not every Hollywood movie) will be a big nothing. Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla is not falling to the trap of reason and logic, but it tries so much to have a serious, extended plot with characters’ emotions and feelings. It is unbalanced and on this occasion unsuccessful, way unsuccessful. It was the first time I ever saw Ken Watanabe have the same look in every scene. Looking too shocked and worried, saying that nature will rectify the error and at the same time David Strathairn portrays this paper-character of Admiral Stenz who starts nuking incessantly.

By Angie Rouska

The story begins like this. Two scientists discover, into a mine in the Philippines, a colossal skeleton with two egg-shaped pods; one has hatched and the other one found at an exit to the sea. Then we are transferred to Japan at the Janjira nuclear plant where Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) work and on that specific day the area experiences huge earthquakes. Obviously the plant is destroyed, obviously Brody’s wife dies and obviously Joe tries to find the truth about those unusual earthquakes. Fifteen years later, circumstances bring Joe and his estranged son, Ford, together… and the truth is revealed! The cause for that destructive event was a winged creature, a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), which now escapes to the world. At the same time Burst www.afternoiz.com

So humanity, there you are! Amidst the collision of nature’s forces! One is called MUTO the other one Godzilla, just like the title of the movie. So, where was Godzilla in these 123 minutes? Godzilla was just an idea. It was known before the movie’s release that it would be an anti-hero one. Unfortunately Godzilla has the least screening

time of every other character or creature in the film. Instead of Godzilla it could be named “MUTO and the call to coitus”, “Brody’s Truth”, “How to nuke your planet in 5 easy steps”, everything but for Godzilla… As you understand, after I had watched humanity’s failed and indifferent attempts to face the enemy (who actually was not the enemy), I was too bored to like the magnificent fight between the well-known Kaiju and MUTO. And it was a glorious grim fight, with stunning effects and unstoppable destruction, but I didn’t enjoy it because someone thought that everything else in this blockbuster was of higher importance than this!

ship, the movie tries to fill the gap between a male “sex in the city” and an old school romantic comedy. Three best friends, Jason, Daniel and Mickey work and live in New York, spending dog days before maturity. Jason and Daniel are also colleagues in the designer section of a publishing house, while Mickey is

Godzilla is not a bad movie, but it’s a long movie.

That Awkward Moment (2014) By Eleni Lampraki

“That Awkward Moment” is a 2014 romantic comedy film and the directorial debut of Tom Gormician. The protagonist duo is played by Zac Efron and Imogen Poots, surrounded by Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Mackenzie Davis and Jessica Lucas. Set in New York, with an epidemic attitude towards mid 00’s life and friend-

the family guy; doctor and married to his college sweetheart Vera since graduation. The turning point happens when Mickey discovers that Vera is cheating on him and moreover she wants a divorce. Devastated, he is confronted by his friends that his life will be better without Vera and they take a vow that none of them will be involved in a proper relationship. The same night Jason

meets Ellie in a bar, who leaves after sex because he thinks she is a prostitute; Daniel is secretly falling with Chelsea, the female buddy of the company and Mickey is reluctant to obtain another date so he secretly tries to fix the relationship with his wife. After that, all three develop romantic relationships without telling the truth to each other, due to the promise the three friends gave. After confrontations at Thanksgiving, everybody fights with everyone, when a kind of dramatic turn happens: Daniel is hit by a car and Jason abandons Ellie at the day of her father’s funeral. While in hospital, Daniel reconciles with Chelsea, Mickey finally accepts that he has to move on and after a couple of months Jason’s apology is finally accepted by Ellie, spending the night in Gramercy Park; both the opening and ending scene of the movie. Not the best film of its kind, but an honest attempt of what the viewer expects of the film. Young, fresh, a little gross – but it’s about men’s friendship and their point of view for relationships, with beautiful New York scenery. Imogen Poots steals all the light, not only with her natural and clever performance, but with her great style as well. The rest of the cast stays in the expected borders, Miles Teller’s talent is proven to be much more than a sardonic and gross guy in an after-teen movie. It could be a sitcom for MTV as well, so the fans would praise Efron’s shirtless performance with an award once again, as they already did!

The Other Woman (2014) By Eleni Lampraki

“The Other Woman” is a 2014 romantic comedy film by Nick Cassavetes (“The Notebook”), starring a very promising female combination of Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton, opposite to “Game of Thrones” star, Nicolaj CosterWaldau and rapper Nicki Minaj. Despite the cliché storyline and the negative reviews, the film has achieved commercial success.

friends. Although Carly tries to avoid her, due to her own covered loneliness as well, she reluctantly agrees to befriend Kate. After a short time, Kate is upset because of her husband’s fading loyalty, believing that he

Cameron Diaz plays Carly, a golden girl, Manhattan lawyer in her mid-thirties, living a very upper class life with no extreme emotional involvement. The film starts with her one night stand with Mark King (Jaime Lannister’s evil twin probably), who turns out to be her new and very promising love interest, as they both share common views in life. Eight weeks later, due to last-minute changes, as always – Carly finds out the hard way that her boyfriend is perfect, except the fact that he is married to the sweet, a bit naïve and nerve racking Kate. At the same time, Kate discovers that her happy and shiny marriage is not a reality and emotionally withdrawn, she tries to build a strange friendship with her husband’s mistress, as she has no other

continues to see Carly, only to discover that Mark is a typical womanizer, also dating with young and beautiful Amber. The duo team up with the third lover as well, who also thought Mark was her other half and they decide to take revenge. That fact boosts their confidence, especially Kate’s, who is the emotional one. Apart from the funny things with estrogens in his smoothie and hair removal cream in his shampoo etc, Carly discovers that Mark has also committed business fraud, making offshore companies and using Kate’s name as CEO, in order for her to end up

in jail, in case the fraud is discovered. In the end, Mark is of course confronted by all three women at the same time, left broke and humiliated while the others succeed in finding their own happy ending. Yes, it’s just another typical romantic American comedy, which is saved by Leslie Mann’s huge comedian talent, who creates sparkling moments with the rest of the team. Cameron Diaz seems much older than the last time I saw her on big screen, and It’s a bit awkward to find her in the role of the mature or the bitchy one (a comparison with “In her shoes” cannot been avoided), but she plays her part excellently. Waldau just attempts something different, but at the current moment it’s difficult to wash out his TV persona with a mediocre film. Kate Upton and Nicki Minaj play something expected by them, and “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson, along with Taylor Kinney, hold the strings to the positive male characters. Absolutely not a “don’t miss”, but it’s ok for a pleasant cinema evening.

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An Outlaw’s guide By Helen Marie Joyce Photos by PRASHANT GUPTA

The Show

Sons of Anarchy is about the intricacies of the lives of the members of an outlaw Harley motorcycle club, SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original), founded by the Teller-Morrows, taking place in the fictional town of Charming in California. The story line develops around how the MC survives in a constantly changing outlaw status quo, and how they cope with the rise of other outlaw powers that threaten the MC’s well-being, alliances and supremacy. The show centers on golden boy Jackson “Jax” Teller, the vice-president of the club when the series began, who is haunted by his father’s memoirs; he challenges the goals and the methods of the club, while also challenging himself during his rise to Presidency and his later reign at the gavel, which according to many, corrupts the holder. Obvious themes are brotherhood and family, but the backbone is essentially the struggles and sacrifices you must go through in order to protect what you have chosen to love, and how what you love can, in a blink of an eye, turn into something you hate (and/ Burst www.afternoiz.com

69 or vice versa). Once you watch at least 3 or 4 episodes of the first season, I bet my bottom dollar you’ll get hooked on its adrenaline-packed action, its badass nature, the intrigues created between the members, the secrets, the lies, the macho-ness, the leather kuttes, the bikes and the tatts… In one phrase? This show keeps it intensely interesting.

Psychological Profile: Gemma Teller-Morrow

What are the Sons of Anarchy all about? The Sons are a club, a way of life, a code, a family. The SoA reaper is inked on their backs, signifying their commitment when they patchin. As a Son, being ex-communicated from the club (ratting or making deals with authorities are a no-no) will cost your ink to be blacked-out (the methods to achieve this however, vary greatly depending on the weight of the action making you deserve such punishment –could be the tattoo guy covering it up, or it could be a Son using a knife or a blazer torch to eradicate the reaper off your skin and permanently maim you– Fuck!). The Sons of Anarchy are a club with charters all around the U.S. and beyond its borders, with a very significant one in Belfast, Ireland that is exposed in season 3. The Redwood charter has taken upon itself to protect, albeit, control the town of Charming, by influencing relations through bribery, extortion, blackmail, and intimidation. The daily challenges are about maintaining the subtle balances between earning an outlaw living and the consequences of the law when things don’t play out as planned. SAMCRO mainly earns by arms trafficking and gun distribution, also producing porn, ‘mule-ling’ Heroin and Cocaine for the Galindo Cartel, which is one of the biggest shit storms to date, and more recently ‘companion-ating’ (a euphemism for pimping). The show has an intense dynamic, with strong violence and language, but that all comes with the territory. The MC, although highly vested in criminal activity, is made strong by the bonds between members that resemble those of a family, yet these are frequently tested by circumstances and often lead to mistakes made by the MC, that extrapolate repercussions, and which are then followed by moves that have damage control or retaliation as their sole purpose. Apart from the SAMCRO crew, we see other gangs like the Mexican ‘Mayans’, the African-American ‘One-Niners’, the Chinese ‘Lin Triad’ among others, that often fluctuate status between rivals and allies. Furthermore, the club has frequent dealings with local police authorities, with the retiring Head being in the MC’s pocket, also ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms) agency’s presence which very much complicates their outgoings during the first seasons; as well as FBI and CIA involvement in later cases. The plot thickens as each episode progresses and the characters are very well drawn. The success of the show lies in the fact that it depicts a lifestyle that seems so far from the average viewer’s own, yet it conveyed so realistically that the viewer becomes a part of the story line and ends up sympathizing with the MC bunch although they are, technically, a bunch of anarchists involved in skullduggery from sunrise to sunset.

Gemma is not only Jax’s biological mother, the first ‘old lady’, being the widow of the SoA founder John Teller and his successor’s (Clay Morrow’s) wife; she is the matriarchal figure of the entire MC. She acts as a mother to all the close-knit Redwood charter members, supporting them emotionally and being the tender shoulder for them to cry on (yeah, macho biker boys do cry!). “God wants me to be fierce mother” – Gemma, Season 2. In the SoA microcosm, she is like the alpha lioness protecting her pack, and gives a sense of being she is so strong, she is impregnable. In season 1, she is clawing at ex-meth addict Wendy, the biological mother of Jax’s first son, whom she blames for the baby’s condition. She even gives her the incentive to commit suicide after the birth, by slipping her a loaded needle hidden in a copy of the Bible, while still recovering in hospital. When Tara appears, Jax’s high school sweetheart, Gemma is reticent towards her, not giving her a fair chance, as she believes that Tara, who is a surgeon, lives in a totally different world to SoA, and would never fit in. Their relationship oscillates as al-

though they become closer in season 2 and 3, they begin to fall out in 4 and 5, as Tara becomes consolidated as the new first lady next the new President Jax, and Gemma is gradually pushed to the sidelines. Gemma is the queen of SAMCRO secrets; she has been devious in the past, and had an underlying role in her first husband’s death. The same pattern followed with her second husband, which she also wanted dead, and “…by the hand of a Son”, long before it actually happened. She has a Black Widow quality about her. She plays underhanded tricks, she meddles, she manipulates, she judges, she self-justifies, she controls, or always tries to, at least, at all costs. Yet, this is what the club needs. It was this strength of character that made her keep the traumatic experience of a gang rape concealed, in order to protect Jax and Clay as well as the rest of the club, since their logical reaction to retaliate would mean stepping into a set up. Yet, when she thinks she has lost everything, she destroys what Jax has self-sacrificed his freedom for. Stay tuned, for a sizzling new bloody season 7 this September… Burst www.afternoiz.com

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) He arrives at the favourite spot of all alien life (or meteors, robots, monsters etc.), the island of Manhattan! He comes out of his vehicle which is a big glowing sphere wearing a spacesuit made of space placenta and is shot by a trigger-happy soldier who is part of the military defense line set up around the newcomer. Then a gigantic tin-man comes out of the sphere, temporarily disables all electronics in the area and stands his ground to protect Klaatu.

By Kostas Krasonis

W OR ST MO V I E S EV ER

Much like the War of the Worlds, T.D.T.E.S.S. is a remake of a 1950’s film and everyone would expect that some 57 years later the production studio would have done a better job at creating an updated version of the film rather than replicating all that was wrong with it in its first form. The story is about Klaatu (played by Keanu Reeves), an alien ambassador coming to Earth to save it.

Photos are stills from the movie. Burst www.afternoiz.com

After a small surgery operation, the alien escapes from the military facility with the help of Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) who believes that the authorities will torture the peaceful extraterrestrial. Klaatu clings to the doctor and she happily obliges to drive him around to do his alien business. She also takes her step-son Jacob (Jaden Smith) with her, a stubborn 8-year-old who misses his dad who got killed in the Army. Throughout the movie, Klaatu seems to be some kind of space electrician because he uses electric currents for many miracles, from resurrecting a man he killed on purpose (!) to fixing the phone lines and many more. Finally Dr.Benson realizes that the alien has come to save the Earth from the destructive human race and that the spheres all over the world are arks to save the innocent species, like frogs and stuff. In despair, she begs Klaatu to give another chance to humanity and takes him to see an old Nobel prize-winning physicist (John Cleese) who gives him some cliché bull crap about mankind thriving on the brink of

destruction. Meanwhile, the armed forces have captured the tin giant and have locked him up in a test chamber where they try to pierce his armor with a diamond drill. Many failed attempts later, the giant transforms into billions of space, alleating, micro-cockroaches that fly towards the city consuming everything in their path. The president and vice-president of the United States are nowhere to be found in all this mess, hiding in some bunker, leaving the Secretary of Defence (Kathy Bates) in charge. Mankind’s extinction is only minutes away when Klaatu, moved by the tears of young Jacob over his father’s grave, decides to stop the annihilation realizing that people are not completely bad. Struggling through the swarm of the space roaches, he gets to the sphere, stops the attack and flies away. “The End”. Producing a remake of 1951’s The Day The Earth Stood Still began with such promise. The result though is another lifeless performance by Keanu Reeves (since the Matrix it seems that all he plays are soul-less characters), an indifferent performance by Connelly, the tears of Jaden Smith saving the day (that seems to be his trademark from then on) and some special effects to cover up the inconsistencies. The film was nominated in many categories for the Golden Raspberry but ended up losing in most of them to “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull”. Such a pity.

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195 million children worldwide suffer from the effects of malnutrition. In 2011, MSF treated 408,000 children in more than 30 countries. Copyright: Francesco Zizola

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