The13th AÑO: 4
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NÚMERO 38
UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA
A VICTIM OF SOCIETY WE FEEL MORE CONFIDENT
[ Interview With “A Victim of Society” by Benjamín York ]
WE FEEL MORE CONFIDENT
A Vítim of Society is a band that joins this wave of new bands that mix thundering force with psychedelic ways. The band is born Athens (Greece) in 2011 and is a trio formed by Vagelis Makris, Fotis Ntouskas and Padelis Karasevdas. They have now released a new album, the second, Freaktown, released under the label Inner Ear Records. We communicate to meet this band that has surprised us with their new album. Hi guys, thanks for answering our questions. We were researching and for being a new band they have achieved a lot. How do you feel right now? First of all, thanks for having us. We feel very good about the LP we have just released, FREAKTOWN, and we have reached a point where we have performed in almost every venue here in Athens and we have also played some gigs in Europe, so we are ready to go to any place that would have us and play live as much as possible. Why the name of the band? Our name came from an early ‘900 George Grosz painting of the same name, that came across our way, back in 2011 when Vagelis was starting this project named A Victim Of Society, that later on turned into the band that released FREAKTOWN. So, it was more of an impulsive decision, rather than a calculated action. There was no intention of using our name to politically define ourselves. We are playing music that we like, and the references to the political and social situation here, is expressed through our music, unfiltered and raw. When talking about influences, you can name many bands. Who motivated them to compose music? The same bands that made a difference in the world and motivated musicians all around to the world to start playing music. MC5, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd to name a few. Our music though, is not limited to the influence of these bands and artists. Music pioneers that brought new kinds of music to the world, like Kraftwerk, Can, Neu, Spacemen 3, Silver Apples and even Afrika Bambaataa or the Beastie Boys are huge influences and musical role models to us, and we consider them our motivation to write music. Already a few years ago there is a revival of psychedelic music and garage rock, I think you have a lot of these styles. How do you describe yourself musically? And you
feel part of this scene of Neo psychedelia? We feel part of this scene, and we are happy to have been included in collections like the The Reverb Conspiracy - Vol I, released in collaboration by two of our favorite record labels, Fuzz Club Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Musically, we have a lot in common with the bands in this scene, but we always try to be inclusive and think of our music as something that can attract the attention of music lovers of all kinds of music. What other bands of your musical style are there in Greece? The biggest band in the last few years in our musical style, is Acid Baby Jesus that have made an impact not only in Greece, but all around the world since they have been touring all around the world, and have released two LPs with a third one on the way. Of course there are other bands who we consider as brothers from another mother, like Baby Guru and Chickn, and their music contain Kraut, Psychedelic and pop elements that produce explosive results. Lastly, at the edges of this music scene in Athens stand bands like Rita Mosss and Devamp Javu that explore more punk and artistic aesthetics. And there are a lot more bands, this is just a small portion! I've watched videos and listened to their music when they were duets. And the band had a lot of hardness in its sound. What does a drummer bring you? Take these music videos that you watched. Add an explosive drummer that brings more energy and speed to the two of us. Now, add eight songs that were written with the intention of being fast and strong and that rely on a wall of sound approach to the guitars and vocals. We think that the result is a live show that can keep anybody interested and an album that captures the live feeling of the band. All that, is a generous donation by the addition of Padelis as the drummer.
A first album for me is like a Greatest Hits of the early years. As the laboratory of tests and results. How do you see your debut album today after releasing this new work? The truth is that our earlier work that was completely diy, and resulted in our first EP has that “Greatest Hit of the early years” feeling. Our first LP, “Distractions”, was the transition from our diy days, to the form of the band you can listen to, in “FREAKTOWN”. We see “Distrac-
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tions” as a collection of songs that we think are good, but lacked in that extra element that the new LP has. It sounds like a wall of sound that doesn’t end, and while at the time we had a lot of fun with it, now we are happy to consider it as a stepping stone to “FREAKTOWN”. "The Quick and the Dead" is the first single from the new album. How did you decide to choose this song? The same way we decided to place it at the beginning of the LP. It’s raw, with an intro that is catchy to the ear, it has twists and turns, it builds up and explodes, and the lyrics of the song refer to the sad reality all around the world, where religion affects the life of people in a negative way, as it is constantly used as an excuse for war and destruction. It sums up our music style and has a message that is relevant to everyone. Will they edit any video of a song? We are thinking of making a video of one of the songs, but it is still at an early stage. At the moment we focus on our live performances, and we hope to produce a lot of material to support “FREAKTOWN”, but we need to do it our way, so it will probably take some time. The second album "Freaktown" shows a much more elaborate and stronger sound. Do you feel stronger? We feel more confident about “FREAKTOWN” and we feel more confident about ourselves. “FREAKTOWN” is stronger and we have worked hard to make it happen and sound the way it sounds. The sound of the band is some-
thing we have worked on, and we had the help of many people. First of all, our label Inner Ear trusted us and backed us up in the process of making this album. And it was really important that we had the help and support of Nikos Triantafyllou and Iraklis Vlahakis that produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album to make it sound the way it does. Last, but not least, we owe a great lot to Bonebrokk, a friend, colleague and an amazing artist himself, that helped us modify the bass sounds, the pre-recorded sections and the synths to sound the way they do. He is an electronic music producer, dj and performer from Athens that his expertise to electronic music helped us a lot. All these people make us feel stronger. "Would you Care" is where Padelis has his solo moment. And while I think that with two years in the band must be more secure. Is it a vote of confidence from you towards him? No, the vote of confidence was given the very first time we played together. Ever since that moment, he is an equal member of the band and his input is as important as anyone else. “Would you care” is a turning point of the LP, and Padelis wanted to mark that transition with a solo on percussions, he had in mind. In process of recording, what he came up with was more brutal than a solo with percussions, and it turned out to be more in tune with “Amnesia” on the other side of the LP. "Freaktown" sounds seamlessly. It is powerful and addictive. How long did it take them to write the songs?
We cannot really estimate how long it took, because the addition of Padelis was part of the process. But, we had all the songs for about a year and we were playing them live to see how people would react. For us, live performance is the most important aspect of the band. So, after the ideas for each song were laid down, we had to perform each one of them live, in order to find out if they belong wih each other, and make any adjustments. To finish ... What plans do they have for the band in 2017?
We plan to tour as much as possible. In the summer we will be all over Greece, and in the autumn we will try to make our way to Europe. And of course, we will work on new material that will also be “tested� on stage!
Finally ... we give you this space to say what you want. Thank you very much for having us, and we hope we will find a way to play a live show in Argentina at some point! Many thanks.
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The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA