Hanna Tsepesh: Yassou (Hello) Vangelis, how are you? Welcome to THE GATES OF METAL and thanks a lot for accepting this interview! The band started in 2007 with you and Achill, right? Can you tell us about the Custom Made Noise history for the guys out there that don’t know the band yet and also make a little introduction about your band members…
Vangelis: Yassou Hanna! I should be the one thanking you for your interest in our music and for this great opportunity to be presented to the Portuguese audience!
Hanna Tsepesh: You are very welcome Vangelis!
Vangelis: Well it is exactly one year since our first rehearsal as CMN! It all started when I moved to Thessaloniki and because my other band (Windfall ) was taking a break I was looking for musicians to start something new. On the first day in college I met Achill, and after a long conversation about our favorite bands etc. we decided to give it a try together. Soon after we heard of another fellow engineer (Tasos) who was drumming for Pulverised and we asked him to join the band. He just fitted in perfectly! The line up completed a few weeks before the recordings with Orestis who offered to help us out cause we were having real trouble finding a bass player! I already knew him from his good work with Drunkard and Mavri Magioneza so it took him no time to learn the songs and adjust to the band!
Hanna Tsepesh: At the moment you guys are looking for a new bass player, what happened with Orestis? What kind of person Custom Made Noise search for be the next bass player?
Vangelis: The bass player curse continues! Well actually Orestis is not even a bassist, he’s a guitarist and actually better than us (Haha)! He was more of a session member and right now he is really busy with his other bands and projects so it was time for us to start looking for a replacement in order to keep playing gigs and rehearsing new material. We are very good friends and he will remain in the band till we find the new guy! Our criteria for the new bass player is as simple as that: passion for extreme music, live shows and good-tasting food!
Hanna Tsepesh: (ahah) good one! What is your inspirations to create the lyrics for C.M.N?
Vangelis: It is not something specific… I could say every day life in general (politics, religion, dead-ends of modern life) . All these things that piss me off when I’m watching the news, or personal stuff that I can’t just sleep over. It is a way to release some steam that’s why i’m not trying to make them more refined. It is just what’s in my head!
Hanna Tsepesh: For you, what is the major influences in the metal music? I think you like Marios iliopoulos(Nightrage) work right? Can you talk a little bit about that…
Vangelis: Yeap, I’m a big fan of Nightrage and Mario’s ex-band Exhumation. And the fact that he followed his dream and achieved so many things is really encouraging for every new Greek metal-musician. He has been very supportive of CMN and that’s an honor for us! As for other influences I would say Dillinger Esc Plan, In Flames, Stampin Ground, Burnt by the Sun, not only in a musical and lyrical level but for their attitude up to day as well.
Hanna Tsepesh: Yeah, you are totally right about Marios and he is a nice men and also a great musician! By the way great taste on music! Talking about your first EP “Custom Made Noise”, you guys surprise me a LOT with this 4 songs, one of the reason is because you guys have only 19 years old and you play with a LOT of mature in your songs , in my personal opinion you guys have a really big and great future in the Metal music! The riffs are so damn COOL (ehehe), really you have great sound in here and i can’t tell NOTHING bad about it, you guys have a lot of talent!
Vangelis tell to us a little bit about Custom Made Noise EP and what do you want to reach with it?
Vangelis: Thanks for the nice words! The reviews till now have been very good but we try to stay down to earth. It’s just 3 songs after all and we need to put a lot of effort in order to find a more personal sound and present a good full-length album. The fact that people like it is encouraging and we hope that the result won’t disappoint them. After that, we will have the time to think of our future plans..It needs also a good amount of luck in order to make a career so you never know.. We will send copies of our EP to record labels but no matter what happens we’re happy that have made our first step.
Hanna Tsepesh: You are very welcome, is only the truth! About the studio recording, you have a special help by Slelth (for ours readers to know, he is the Ex- Thy Flesh, Erectus and Defiler), tell me about the studio recording and what was the feeling to work with him? Everything worked great?! You guys are proud with the final result?
Vangelis: Stelth is a good friend of mine and we used to play together for a short time in Windfall. He is a new producer (our EP was just his second work!) and it seems that he’s gonna have a bright future! He knew exactly how we wanted to sound and he gave us this harsher death-metallish tone compared to the typical sound which most metalcore bands are after. We trusted him and the result is better than we would ever imagine for a first recording! He is going to be the producer of our full lenght as well, he is more like a member of the band right now! www.myspace.com/therundevilrunstudio (check it out!).
Hanna Tsepesh: Also the visual art cover is fantastic, my congratulations for Jim Evdenidis! Can you explain us about the cover idea? It's a very interesting cover in my opinion! The eye is a little bit scared about something…
Vangelis: Well Jim has also helped us a lot. He is responsible for the cover, the logo, the band photos, our music video, pretty everything that has to do with the art/graphistic direction of the band.. and guess what.. It’s also the first work for him! It is like a bunch of rookies trying to give the best out of themselves so that the whole result would sound and look professional. As for the cover I think it matches with the lyrical topic. We were thrilled when Jim showed it to us! In a way it represents the whole concept of being controlled and manipulated by the media. It may be scared, it may be a man trying to escape from this situation..every one can find the meaning that best suits him!
Hanna Tsepesh: The cover is really cool and the idea is great! Custom Made Noise have also a video called “Fear The Architec”, i like it a lot, you guys play like hell(ehehe), in this video you can show to people what bones you are made off! Who was the video director? Did you guys had fun at the video shooting, it was hard?
Vangelis: As I said before Jim Evgenidis is the director of the video. It is not so common for a new band to make a clip for their demo but we wanted something that would make people notice us. There are so many bands around and it is hard to make people spend some time on your page and listen to your music. Hopefully this video will make us a bit more distinctive. The shootings of the band were very hard but funny as well! We did that in G studios in Thessaloniki and it was sooo hot with all these lights. It is a miracle that none of us fainted! (Haha) We were exhausted but at least it was worth it!
Hanna Tsepesh: You are right! Yeah, when we see the video, we see a lot of light in there (ehehe)! what is the plans for the band? Are thinking to record your first album? Can you reveal something to us…
Vangelis: Well right now we are writing songs for the new album. There are many good ideas and if we stick to the plan we will be in studio next April. So we’re hoping for a release in a year from now. Well the only hint i can give you right now is that there are more death metal riffs and tones of groove!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks a lot for the information, we will wait for that! About concerts, can you tell us some dates/places? There's any plan to come to perform in Portugal?Vangelis: We have started talking with clubs around Greece so that we can make a Greek tour and we will also apply for as many festivals as possible. I find it a bit difficult to go on a European tour without having released a full-length but if there are some promoters out there who would like to book us no matter what I can’t see a a reason why we wouldn’t go. We’d love to play in Portugal!
Hanna Tsepesh: Last question, there's any message that Custom Made Noise want to say to the Portuguese fans and all the fans out there?
Vangelis: Well, nothing special… Just visit our page, take a listen to our songs and don’t forget to tell your friends about us! And who knows, we may bring our noise live somewhere near your home pretty soon!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks a lot for your answers Vangelis! THE GATES OF METAL wish you a lot of success for the band and for this GREAT and powerful EP, and hope that we see you guys in Portugal very soon…
Vangelis: Thanks for this interview! It was great answering all these questions for The Gates Of Metal. You guys are doing a great job!
Hanna Tsepesh: You are very welcome Vangelis, and we will wait for more news about C.M.N! Thanks so much!
By: Hanna Tsepesh
http://www.myspace.com/cmngr
