1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
- VASSILIS:First of all, thank you for the invitation and the chance to talk
about PROMACHOS and MENEAPNEONTES.Its an honor.
Well, to begin with, I must say that Takis and I, are playing together for almost 20
years, in several bands and several musical styles. Nothing serious, without any important discography. In 2010, we decided to form MENEAPNEONTES and till the end of the year we recorded 11 tracks under the name PROMACHOS.
2.In September you had released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
- VASSILIS: In September we released PROMACHOS and for that I must say a big thanks and respect to MURDHER RECORDS and SATANATH RECORDS , specifically
to Alessandro Nunziati and Aleksey Korolyov, cause without them we wouldn’t have this conversation.
As far as the musical sound, I say that PROMACHOS is definitely Hellenic black metal,
With a touch of n.w.o.s.d.m. from the 90’s.
3.The band was formed in 2011 but waited until 2015 to release and update, can you tell us a little bit more about the first 4 years?
- VASSILIS: At that time, we put aside the band, right after the end of the recordings, due to some personal projects that we both had the need to do. It lasted almost 2 years and after that we decided that the time had come to deal with MENEAPNEONTES in a serious level. So we started to send promo and waited for a label to answer.
4.Your lyrics go very much into depth with Greek Mythology and History, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
- VASSILIS: I don’t want to be misunderstood here or sound cocky,
but I’m coming from a land that is full of legends, gods and heroes. In order to
honor all the above, having music as a chariot, the only duty, the only obligation we have is to sing for them. To tell their stories the way we see them.
We never talked about the lyrical themes of MENEAPNEONTES. It came up naturally.
And it seems to be the only thing for us to do. We never had a choice…
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Meneapneontes'?
-VASSILIS: Very nice question , cause you give me the chance to explain the meaning of this name. No one asked us about it till now.
To be precise, MENEA PNEONTES consist of two words: MENEA+PNEONTES.
But since in ancient greek all the words were without space(in order to train the brain to separate the words and find the meanings), we decided to unite the two in one.
We read about MENEAPNEONTES in Homer at his epic universal masterpiece, Iliad.
The Trojans are marching, making a lot of noise by smashing their swords against their shield, yelling and cursing their enemies, Achaious. They on the other hand
are so possessed by fury that remain silent. That condition is called menea pneontes, in free translation, it means he who breathes fury.
How many times in our lives have we felt this way? The moment we read it, we knew that this was the name of the band...
6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?
-VASSILIS: We started this project, trying to be a full member band,
but it is very difficult to find people who share the same dream with you.
The good news are, that recently a new member added in the band. Its Thomas(Archaios) who will be responsible for the rhythm guitar section and till now we are very pleased and satisfied to have him with us.
7.Has the band done any live shows or has this been strictly a studio project so far?
- VASSILIS: We have been a studio project since now, for the reasons i mentioned.
Its in our direct plans to play live and we focus on that direction.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
- VASSILIS: Till now we haven't read negative reviews and the messages that we receive are positive. I think that metalheads are into PROMACHOS and those who are not, don't bother to write something awful about it.
9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
- VASSILIS: We think that more or less we will move at the same direction, sometimes in darker ways, others more aggressively, maybe the traditional themes might be more obvious, but this is the base of our sound.
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on yuor music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
- VASSILIS: I listen to a lot of n.w.o.s.d.m., the old stuff, many bands from the hellenic scene and some other non metal styles like dark ambient and traditional music. For me, the diamond of 2015 and the album that i'm listening the most at the time, is Primordial "Where greater men have fallen".
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
- VASSILIS: Much much reading and sports(martial arts,gym).
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
- VASSILIS: I will close the same way as i started: Once again, thank you for this interview and if i may i would like to say this: Don't forget your roots, your past in order to built a better future.
.jpg)
