Elysion (en)

It is always a pleasure to meet the future stars of the metal scene and personally I believe that everyone will hear about Elysion sooner or later. The very charming, but what is more important, a very talented owner of a great voice and the vocalist of the band Christianna presented her personal approach and opinions to music and creating.

interview Elysion (GRC)In Greece you are quite popular but how would you present your band and your music to someone who has never heard of you?
I guess we would just like to invite everyone rather than talk about Elysion. We would like to invite everyone to come see us perform so someone would get a better idea what Elysion is about. But still we play kind of atmospheric metal mixed with rock elements and some gothic and electro elements. I think that we don’t like to place a label upon what we play. So we would best invite everyone to take a listen to what we are about and feel free to explore our side of feelings and music.

I know you weren’t in the band when it was created, but why name Elysion? I’ve heard it has something to do with hell, but what exactly does it mean and why did the band choose this name?
Elysion is kind of a reference to ancient Greek history. We were inspired by Elysion Fields which was an ancient Greek a place of rest for the virtuous souls after their death. We thought that this whole thing is a very dreamy concept and very romantic and we all like the fact that there was a hidden promise behind it. So that was our inspiration but other than that there is no reference in our lyrics to any Greek mythology or anything like that.

Your first concert outside Greece is just in few weeks. What are your feelings and anticipations about this concert in UK?
We are very very excited about this. We still can’t believe that we’re gonna share this stage with huge bands and this invitation to join this festival was a huge honour. I think that we could not have started our concerts abroad in a better way. We will do anything possible to introduce ourselves in the best possible way. I’m looking forward not only to performing but also seeing all the other huge bands perform. And I think that this is a huge opportunity and we just cannot wait to make the best out of it and make everyone proud and thank everyone for supporting us and being here for us.

Would any other European countries be following? I would definitely love to see you play live, on some tour for example.
Yeah of course, we have been waiting for something like that to be organised for the past months. Truth is that we have fallen a little bit behind but we’re not sad because we got to do a lot of touring in Greece and that was very important to us because we got to honour as many concerts as we could and play in front of people who have been here for us in our very first steps. So we really wanted to tour Greece as much as we could before leaving and performing abroad and this is what we did. So apart from the festival in December and for the time being, I don’t have any dates, but this will definitely be the start of many concerts to go, outside Greece I mean, and of course there are plans for other European festivals so we just keep our fingers crossed and hope that everything will go great.

What are the countries or festivals that you would like to play at the most?
Ah, well, we don’t have a preference. Of course there are festivals that we would definitely love to attend or perform at but we cherish every chance that we are given to play in front of an audience because we don’t think that it matters when you play how big the stage is or how great the crowd or how many people see you. We just see every chance we have to play as a huge opportunity. And we honour people who come to see us exactly the same, no matter if there are too little or too many. I think that things like that have no difference. You just have to give one hundred percent, no matter where you play, because even if we get to communicate with just one single soul down there, this is a huge reward for us. And anywhere we’d play will be a huge honour so we’re just looking forward to following our dream which is to perform live, and that’s it.

Imagine a concert of your dreams to play on – what bands would you like to share the stage with?
That is a list that could go on forever. But if I had to really explain a dream or something, I would definitely describe our guitarist’s and founder’s of the band dream, of Johnny Zero. I think that his greatest dream ever in the whole world would be to share the stage with Iron Maiden, because that is the reason why he started playing the guitar. And Iron Maiden have been a huge influence in his life and performance. So although that would seem like an awesome and very very difficult to happen, I think that would be our greatest dream. I think that if that ever happened, on the next day we would all go and have a tattoo with the date of the concert on our skin! You know, to have it on us all the time.

After releasing your first demo you attracted attention of many labels. Why did you choose Massacre Records and looking back, do you think it was a good move?
That really wasn’t a “good move” because I really think that it is very important for a band that starts its career to start by making important and strong little steps. However little they are they have to be stable and help you to have a good base, so you can start building from that point on and continue to evolve. So once Elysion recorded their demo, we did attract some attention from quite a few labels, which was an honour of course, and Massacre was one of them so I think that we needn’t think that much, we just took the first step, we felt very responsible about the fact that the label which is a lead label in its field has interest in us. They put all their heart and faith in us so we felt really responsible and we wanted to do the best we could to come up with the best possible result, I think which is what we did. Signing up with Massacre wa
interview Elysion (GRC)s both a gift, but it also was a responsibility because if we didn’t do our best and if we hadn’t put all our soul in the album it could have worked in the opposite direction. It could have buried us. But I think that we just got so enthusiastic about this all and we really did our best and we’ll just keep on doing the best we can, to keep on making everyone proud.

Your first album Silent Scr3am came out year ago. Do you already have any new materials for a new album?
Yeah, actually when Silent Scr3am was released, which was like you said about year ago, we already had some new material we had been working on. Because this is what we do, we write music 24/7, so we don’t believe in deadlines and we don’t start to compose songs just because we’re running out on the deadline. So we have been composing new stuff for the whole past year, but of course they still are sort of a demo version and we haven’t recorded them properly. We’re still working on details and trying to see how things will be for us. We’re trying to see what new elements we would like to present in our second album because we wouldn’t like to repeat ourselves. We would like to have something new to say, something new to offer. Right now we are in stage when we are pre-producing our second album and getting to see how it all sounds so we can start adding new things and making everything better. But it’s a very creative time for us again and we are very very glad about it.

How does composing of your music look like? What is a work of whom?
We’re quite lucky because we all have home studios and we can all work on ideas. Most of the times Johnny Zero comes up with the riff on the guitar or a mandolin and sits down and he records it. So he brings it to us and the next thing to do is to start adding things. I’m working on melodies and vocal lines mostly. Everyone participates in adding new things according to an instrument that each one of us plays. So it’s really a team work and we also work on the lyrics at the same time because we want each song to be a complete work and not work on everything later on, which is a very specific about the feeling that each song brings out. But we work together mostly; I mean we all feel free to contribute anything we can to the final result.

For the booklet artworks you were cooperating with Natalie Shau and Seth Siro Anton. Would you choose them to work with on the new album as well?
We were very lucky for Silent Scr3am about a lot of reasons. We got to collaborate with Natalie Shau like you said, and Seth Siro Anton and we’re truly grateful about these collaborations. Especially on the cover, we wanted something that would match the inside. We wanted it powerful and also something beautiful. I think that Natalie did a wonderful job with the cover. The girl on the cover, I think it’s something that attracts the eye, and also gives you a preview of the feeling that you’re going to meet on the inside of the album, hearing the songs. And it matches the title of Silent Scr3am because the girl is just sitting there and is so still and calm but yet there is something very strong about her. So I think that we couldn’t have picked a better artist to work with us. We would be very very lucky if we get to collaborate with the same people for our second album.

If I may ask, how it works with the artworks? Do you first send a song or ideas to the artist or just say “this is a name of the album, do something with it” or you choose complete artworks..?
Well we had been following Natalie’s work for years and we had been her huge admirers. She has done a great job with Lacuna Coil and Poisonblack and so many other bands. So once we got in touch with her, we just wanted her to decide what she would do with the cover. We did have a feedback on the atmosphere to give to her, but we just let her hear the songs and feel free to create whatever she wanted. So once we saw her work there was no change or correction and we didn’t even tell her to correct anything because I think it was just perfect the way it was.

For a band only with one full length album you are very successful. Your sound, visual side of your album and the website, your approach, everything is very professional and eye catching. What would you advise to do to a band that wants to start with such a success as you did?
First of all thanks for all the compliments. Don’t know if was any boom about us making our entry on the scene but I’m just happy that we have made some great friends and that we have come to grown to some people’s hearts. This is what we wanted to do with the first album. It was just the first step and we planned to present many many great things to the future. As for the advice... I think that giving advice is a hard thing to do because one thing that has worked for you might not work for someone else. So each one has to find their own voice, their own dream and just stick to it and be true to themselves, so that they can obtain their goal the best. But my best advice which I which I also give to myself even today, and I hope that I will always be able to be true to this advice, would be to never let go the dream. Because no matter what happens and no matter how difficult it is, if you try to follow your dream, you will be a happy person. No matter if you succeed or not.

Listening to your songs, your voice sounds very versatile and it sounds that you have a great range, but what about the genre? It’s nothing unusual that many metal female singers don’t stay only in metal. How is it with you? Do you have any genres you would like to try to work with?
In Elysion we are very open minded about music and we all listen to all sorts of diffe
interview Elysion (GRC)rent things. We come from different backgrounds as do I. Over the years I have sung in numerous bands that come from different backgrounds. I have sung in rock bands, funk bands, blues bands, power metal bands, and all this require a different vocal approach. And I have loved every single thing that I have done. The great thing about singing is that you can never say that you know everything; there are always new techniques to try and new stuff to do so I just wish that I will always be a student when it comes to music and I’ll always try to learn new things and try to be good at new things. And I like all sorts of music that have something to say to my heart. And as long as this happens, I willbe very glad to also find new elements to contribute to Elysion, because we are a mixture of different things so it’s always a good thing to have more general approach in music, rather than have your mind stuck on one specific style only.

From singers, not only metal singers, who are your biggest inspirations or idols? Who you admire the most?
When I was growing up, this whole female metal blast had not happened yet so I did not have much to copy from, and that was rather good because I got to explore my own voice and I could not imitate anyone even if I wanted to. So that was a good thing. And I mostly focused on my favourite male voices which are the classics I guess. I love Bruce Dickinson, Freddie Mercury, everything... I also love Eric Clayton from Saviour Machine. All my inspirations come from these backgrounds. Then later on, I got to fall in love with the huge names of the female industry, all the well known ladies that have contributed so much, and I respect them individually for what they are and the different things that they had to offer. But yet, my growing up, which was the time when I established my identity as a singer, had more to do with the male voices rather than the female ones.

Like a relatively young band with all the future in front of you, where do you see yourself in about 10 years?
Well, you know, this is hard to predict, where the paths might take you, so we do have high expectations but we just try to take everything one day at the time, not get lost in the process, just try to do our best and each day write a good music and not worry about where the things are gonna take us. Our greatest dream, like I said, is just to perform live and share our things with everyone. So if we are lucky enough on keep on doing that, we will be blessed.

What’s your view on opinion and the people who say that women don’t belong to the metal scene?
I think that over the past years this was clearly dropped and the whole female fronted industry started to grow so greatly so I don’t think there is any doubt left about whether women suit into metal. But you know, again it’s up to someone’s taste to either embrace something or just not like it. And everyone is entitled to have their own opinion so opinions are always respectable. But I think that someone who really adores music and has an open mind about it would be open minded enough to try to see whether something is worth listening to, no matter whether the singer is a woman or a man or whatever.

Personally I must confess that I’m not a such a huge fan of female voices in metal, but as I heard a first song by you, I thought “wow, this is just awesome!” So tell me, what are the strongest sides of your music? What do you think makes people like your music?
What we play is very very simple and this is what I love about our music. That it is strong but we have not tried to make it very complicated or anything, it’s very simple. The same goes with our lyrics, we try to stay emotional and play as we feel like, not worrying about sounding any more complex than we want. I think this is very important, to help yourself to bring out whatever you have to say and not worry about anything else. I think what someone can love about us is the fact they could relate to something that we have to say or they can explore our music and just explain our lyrics in the way that best describes you rather than us. And this is the concept, just to create an emotional platform for you so that you can interpret everything that we have to say the way that suits you. But still, as goes for all bands, I think what makes people attracted in a band or not is just the magic that comes out of it rather than something that we can explain with the words. So sometimes, no matter what band plays or what they say, the magic is in the air, or sometimes it’s not however good the band might be. So we just wish that we have something magical to offer.

Okay, we’re coming to an end. Our website’s name is Spirit of Metal, so the question is – what does a spirit of metal mean to you?
That’s a great question! I’ve always believed that metal is about being free in the heart, so spirit of metal to me would be free in your heart and soul, to be free to be whatever you want to be and free to dream whatever you want to dream and make it happen.

Thank you very much for an opportunity to interview you! Do you have anything you would like to add to your present or your future fans?
Well I would like to say a huge thanks to you first of all, for your time and your support in us. It was a great pleasure for me to share this time with you and also for the rest members of the band. We have always felt grateful for the peoples’ support in these very first steps of ours. We hope that we will be soon able to make live dates with everyone so we can get to see them in person and share magical live moments with them from the stage. We do keep on inviting everyone to listen to Silent Scr3am and share our dream with us!
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Interview done by Nastasia

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seigpinig - 21 Listopad 2010: Yeah ! Its cool
Nastasia - 12 Grudzień 2010: Thank you
aminem - 07 Styczeń 2011: thanks
 
nasric - 16 Kwiecień 2011: great !
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