Crimson Moon: How did the band get started?
Band: Hello and thank you for your interest! All began on 2013 in Thessaloniki in Greece when two friends, our guitarist Lefteris Zaoskoufis and our vocalist Nick Berzamanis, who shares the same passion in music, decided to be actively involved with it. Their common love on Rock music and their need to express themselves through it, lead them to form our band.
Crimson Moon: What kind of music do you play?
Band: If we had to put a label it could be “Psychedelic Heavy Stoner Rock”, but there are many different elements in our music. We don’t like to put boundaries in our creation, we love to experiment and to let our music evolve and be the result of our personal evolution through time. You can hear this evolution, these musical differences among our albums.
Crimson Moon: How has the fan response been?
Band: This is something that is growing with time…Since the beginning we have seen an amazing reaction especially from people attending our concerts. And we continue to get very positive feedback throughout many airplay’s on radio shows all over the world and many very good reviews from various magazines and websites too. Especially after the recent release of our new album fans’ thoughts was very honorable about it.
Crimson Moon: Where did the band name come from?
Band: We love the idea that our band exists and behaves in the world of music like a Fox, we appreciate that the symbolic meaning of this animal identifies our group. “Grande” was an expression we used a lot for each other at that time.
so, Grande Fox sounded great…
Crimson Moon: Introduce the band members.
Band: The founding members was Nick Berzamanis (frontman-vocals) and Lefteris Zaoskoufis (guitars and audiovisuals). After some collaborations with several session musicians, they found the other permanent members who are Dimitris Loukas (drums) and George Chaikas (Bass).
Crimson Moon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Band: We released our first LP album “Space Nest” in 2016, our second release was the EP album “Kulning” in 2018. In 2019 our single “Documento” came out and in February of 2021 we released our new LP album “Empty Nest”.
So, 4 indie releases so far!
Crimson Moon: Tell me about some of the songs on the latest CD?
Band: “Empty Nest” album has an aggressive approach, both lyrically and musically. In our songs we feel the need to “shout loud” against the greediness and the malice of people who constitute this ruthless system of money and exploitation which leads to the harsh reality we live in today. In “Hangman” you can hear clearly this aggressive call for awakening towards this rotten system, in “Overdose” you can sense the reaching point of revolution after the oppression while in “Golden Ratio” one could feel the need for redemption.
Crimson Moon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Band: The music composition is the result of the cooperation of all the permanent band members-Nick and Lefteris in the beginning but now all of us contributes to it. All the lyrics so far was written by Nick and they absolutely express all of us.
Crimson Moon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Band: Τhe lyrics come from an inner dialogue resulting from our true experiences.
Mainly from social stimuli- themes like violence, racism, fascism, greed, discord, – but also the need to dive inside and find our inner truth.
Crimson Moon: Has the Covid Pandemic impacted the band at all?
Band: Yes, in many ways. As we said we are socially sensitive and this is obvious in “Empty Nest”, so Covid was another stimulus for the album and it wasn’t coincidence that we released the album during the lock-down period. In practical ways, Covid has affected contact among us since it hindered physical meetings. It actually changed the way we run the band, for example the way we communicate and the way we rehearse. Lack of live concerts is the worst. We are a band that love performing live but we could not even present our new album on stage.
Crimson Moon: Do you have any side projects?
Band: At this time, we are working on the creation of our audiovisuals. We put a lot of effort on this – as an indie band we always deal with everything by ourselves- and we hope to cover the whole Empty Nest album visually. The key man on this production is Lefteris who is professional in this field.
Crimson Moon: What is the music scene like where you guys are from?
Band: In Greece there are many interesting independent bands, mostly playing local. There is not a very big scene of heavy rock music which makes things rather unexplored and difficult for our band, but we are made for the hard staff. In fact, with folklore-pop music being the main genre and attracting most media and public attention, all other music genres tend to have a small radius.
Crimson Moon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Band: There is a lot of influence on us by Rage Against The Machine, Limp Bizkit, AC DC, Korn, Tool, Godsmack, ZZ Top, Nightwish, Slipknot Guns n Roses, Corey Taylor, Chris Cornell, Iron Maiden, Korn, Shinedown, In Flames, Tool, Deep Purple, System Of A Down, Jimi Hendrix and really many many more….
Crimson Moon: What is the band like when you play live?
Band: Oh, playing live is for all of us and for sure the best thing in our lives! During a gig each of us is on fire, rocking and giving it all, and especially our frontman who is the soul of our band on stage too. Nick gives an extra boost to the band and as a result Grande Fox has so much energy, we believe that every attendant can feel it.
Crimson Moon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Band: Yes, our first live experience abroad was in summer of 2016 in Cyprus, in a festival headlined by Nightstalker. We also did a concert on October of 2019 in Berlin, in a classic Rockbar called “Blackland”. And we were about to play in Romania on 2021, we were honored to be the opening act on VIC’s concert in Bucharest but unfortunately this live show was postponed because of the Pandemic. We cannot wait and hope to do it in the near future…
Crimson Moon: Do you do anything special warm-ups you do before you play live?
Band: Every one of us does some exercises during the day of the live if not right before the show. The drummer is the one of us who spends the most time in warm-ups. Guitarists have chosen a group of exercises for fingers for this reason, our frontman does mainly some body workout.
Crimson Moon: What made you want to be in this band?
Band: We think is better that George will give you answers to the following questions, as he is the newest member of our band.
George: I always wanted to be in a band, in fact I cannot imagine my life without it. The last couple of years before I joined Grande Fox, was the only period of my life that I wasn’t in a band. I was depressed. Then I found the guys, and told me they were looking for a bass player. I listen to their music and I like it veeery much! It was brilliant! The band was on a good momentum too, preparing the release of a new album and still with time before the next live… I did my best to join them, they accepted, and when I got to know them better I realized we match perfectly. We have so many things in common -beyond music- that is like I am amongst lifetime friends!
Crimson Moon: If you weren’t in this band would you still be involved in the music industry?
George: I think there is little chance for that. I believe without Grande Fox I would have quit that dream. I would probably just be jamming with friends occasionally (which is also great) but not been involved in the industry professionally.
Crimson Moon: As a musician what advice can you give to fellow musicians just starting out?
George: I would like to say to everyone-not only to musicians- NEVER GIVE UP ON MUSIC! No matter what you do try to have music in your everyday life and better still, try to share it with other people. You could be a virtuoso or you can just hit a beat with your hands or make a sound anyhow, but try to play along with people. I am sure that music is a superior form of communication that lifts our spirit. And if you are already into this, keep on practice, what else?
Crimson Moon: What does the future hold for the band?
Band: In the near future we have the production of our audiovisuals and a live show on the 16th of December in Cyprus. Early on 2022 we also have our resettlement and the making of our new base in Cyprus. Later of course we are getting back to live concerts that have stopped due to Covid. Our first priority is a European tour hopefully in 2023.We are sure that in the following years we will be increasingly active and productive.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/outofnesta/
https://www.instagram.com/grande_fox_official/
https://open.spotify.com/album/2YzDXu1x4ic0OnqxCLeGOP
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDFXjbSxD6SkNlcv2LDu63w
https://grandefox.bandcamp.com/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/grande-fox/1165537328
https://soundcloud.com/user-699685715-777881746
