Metal Invader - Nightrage Interview



M.I.: That's not your first time in Greece, right? Marios: Yes. We played in Metal Healing this summer and we were supposed to play in a festival in Larisa that was unfortunately cancelled due to rain. That was sad and we would like to return and play there. This is our first night in Athens with Nightrage though and I am very excited about that, because every time I play in my country I want to give everything for the fans. Last time I played in Athens was with Exhumation in Rockwave Festival 1999, long time ago. M.I. : How long ago is it that you left Greece? Marios: It's been 7 years now that I am in Sweden. I had good and bad times, but I managed to keep the band alive and I want to continue writing good songs. M.I: The decision to leave was made for musical reasons? Marios: Exclusively! Most Greek people that I met abroad have left for financial reasons, for a woman or something like that, but I did it for metal only and none believed me. I did so, because I think that in Scandinavia there are more chances to make you dream come true, with a lot of hard work of course. Nothing is given to you just like this. And I think that the things I have done with Nightrage I wouldn't have accomplished them here in Greece. Although we have many great musicians here we are way behind in terms of music business and professionalism. M.I: Exhumation had some success in Greece though. Marios: Yes, especially after the second album ("Dance Across The Past") we had something going on, but unfortunately I didn't share the same dreams with the other guys in the band and so we broke up. Exhumation gave me a boost to do what I really wanted. I keep the good memories, the recordings, the albums, but I think Nightrage is a couple of steps ahead. M.I: Did you have any connections in Sweden before you go there? Marios: Nothing at all. Just my guitar on my back and my passion for music. I believe that you can achieve everything if you really want it. Of course you will have to pass through rough times especially when dealing with metal which is underground and you get few opportunities to survive from it. You really have to believe in yourself and it is really difficult to find people that think like you. M.I: I guess in Sweden there are more people like this than Greece. Marios: It is a matter of culture I guess. I was 30 years in Greece and it is difficult to coexist with a Swede who thinks totally different. But now there is no problem, I have found nice people that are in the band now and the band is doing great. M.I.: You had great people in the band since the beggining. Marios: Sure. In my first album I had the best death metal vocalist (Thomas Lindberg)! What more can you ask? It was something I couldn't believe it. I was a huge fan of him back in the early 90's and his participating in the band was a huge kick for me. It made many death metal fans to discover Nightrage. My music fitted with his voice and I miss his sometimes, but the new vocalist is on the same aggressive level that I wanted to have. M.I.: Now he is back with At The Gates. Marios: I learned about that and I was really happy! I am sure they will do great stuff and there are a lot of people who should learn of what At The Gates can do nowadays. I also believed that Nightrage helped him too at that time, so I am really happy for him and the things he is doing now. M.I.: How is the band doing now? Marios: We are going great! I have great guys in the band and today we are going to give our best! M.I.: There are many nationalities in the band. Are you all living in Sweden? Marios: The singer is Finnish and he lives in the US, the other guitar player is form Sweden and the drummer from Belgium. We are a European band! We study on our own and we get together in Sweden or wherever we appear live, but everything goes well! M.I.: What was the feedback on the latest album "A New Disease Is Born"? Marios: We had great reviews, although many people thought that because we put some clean vocals we changed our style to metalcore. I don't believe that this is true. We may have changed our style to more straightforward, but it's a totally metal album, I love it and I am proud of it! It is better in terms of production, we changed studio and we went in Denmark and worked with Jacob Hansen who helped a lot in making our instruments sound heavy and clear. M.I.: You recorded a new video also. Marios: Yes! We made a video here in Athens with Bob Katsionis. You know, it's like coming back home with gestures like this one. I may still live permanently in Sweden, but I want to do things here and I always have Greece on my mind. I will return one day, but now I want to stabilize things with the band and make my life better. I believe there are great musicians here, but something is going wrong and they are not given the chance to be heard. As for me I want to give a good name in the Greek scene and I am trying my best towards that. I see nice things going on here, especially through the internet but it needs really hard work to move forward. M.I: What are the plans for the near future? Marios: To give as much gigs as possible and we are considering of doing a European and American tour. I also have some riffs ready and we want to find a studio for the end of 2008 and release a new album starting 2009 or even earlier depending on how things will come. M.I.: Will this be with Lifeforce too? Marios: Yes, we have a great collaboration and I am very pleased. It is smaller than Century Media, but they have a good distribution system. I really want the next album to be the best we have done so far. M.I.: Will it be with the current line up? Marios: Yes, except the bassist who is just helping us in the gigs. As for the other guys, I haven't announced them officially yet, I want to see how things will go, but up till now everything is going fine so I hope the new album will be with the new line up. M.I.: For 5-6 years that the band is active there are many line up changes. Marios: That's true. I think that was what had to happen for Nightrage to survive. It's not only a band, it's an idea. And it's hard to find the right people to do that. It's the same thing as making a family. Think of all those broken families that there exist today. M.I.: And it's not necessary to be the most famous people. Marios: That's the last thing that I care about. I only care about of finding the right people who really want to do it. We were never a star-band and we will never be. I just want people that I can get along with, have a good chemistry and make the best possible music we can do. M.I.: Are you looking for any summer festivals? Marios: Of course. We have a good booker in Germany and we are looking for whatever kind of concert possible. That's our goal, to give great live shows and make our fans happy. Those who buy our album and those who want to watch us. I receive many e-mails everyday from people who write to us from the US or from Canada, we have a strong fanbase there. M.I.: The Swedish style in general is kind of famous there. Marios: Yes. The style that we kind of brought in the third album is really catchy there. And if we make a good package with some other bands I think we can do really great there. M.I.: Ok Marios, thank you very much for your time and for the interview. Marios: I thank you very much for this and the support and I would like to thank all of our Greek friends that support us and I promise that we will give everything on stage tonight for them! (P.S. Check METAL INVADER's live coverage concerning NIGHTRAGE's live in Athens here!)