Crimson Moon: How did the band get started?
Alexandros & Takis: The band was formed in 2011. It was essentially the product of our need for expression using music as a means. Since then, the band has been subjected to many changes with regards to its members. The line-up we have today was not finalized until very recently.
Crimson Moon: What kind of music do you play?
Alexandros & Takis: We consider our music as a mingling of numerous and varying influences. One can trace seeds from stoner, doom, metal, psychedelic rock, grunge, punk etc. in our sound. However, we find that we generally fit under the ‘heavy rock’ title – and we feel that this profile pretty much covers it all for us.
Crimson Moon: How has the band response been?
Alexandros & Takis: In general, the response to the band has been very positive and welcoming. In fact, we’ve just released our second work and we were happy to find out that this continues to be the case; the feedback has been very encouraging so far.
Crimson Moon: Where did the band name come from?
Alexandros & Takis: The band name comes from the book written by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. For more information about the idea of ‘soma’, I’ll redirect you right back to the source. Read the book…
Crimson Moon: Introduce the band members
John: Vocals
Alexandros: Guitars
Takis: Guitars
Nick: Bass
George: Drums
Crimson Moon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Alexandros & Takis: The ideas and structure of compositions usually come from Alexandros. Following, we all work together on them to produce the final outcome. Lyrics are written by John, our singer. There are also two tracks with lyrics by Alexandros in our releases so far (one in each).
Crimson Moon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Alexandros & Takis: The stories or ideas behind lyrics are triggered by our everyday life experiences and the current situation in Greece. Considering that things in our country are in a bad state for the past years, unavoidably this has an impact on the context of our lyrics. Some might find our words pessimistic.
Crimson Moon: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Alexandros & Takis: Our first release was the self titled debut album in 2013. Our second work, the E.P ‘marche au noir’, just got released a few days ago.
Crimson Moon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Alexandros & Takis: We like to believe that all five tracks in march au noir are quite diverse in references and context. Take ‘hitch hike’ for instance where the song is the narrative of a road trip story; or ‘cage’, where at a specific point the song pays tribute to the legendary figure of Jeff Hanneman.
Crimson Moon: Do you have any side projects?
Alexandros & Takis: Yes, John, Nick and George are involved in other bands as well – however, none of these bands is relative to the HGoS sound.
Crimson Moon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Alexandros & Takis: Our influences vary a lot. We’ve been exposed to different kinds of music and this is traceable in our musical compositions. In general, we’ve been influenced by all sorts of elements related to ‘hard’ sounds, from the ’60s psychedelia to the explicit sound of the 90s.
Crimson Moon: Which current bands?
Alexandros & Takis: Let’s bring up a few classical names, such as Black Sabbath, Monster Magnet, Alice in Chains. And with regards to more experimental ones, Sonic Youth and John Frusciante.
Crimson Moon: What is the band like when you play live?
Alexandros & Takis: You should probably have someone from the audience answer that. But as far as we are concerned, we totally feel the emergence of a strong vibe in our live appearances coming from both the audience and our aim to always enjoy the performance and take the most out of it. The urge for live performances was the primary factor for even having the band in the first place – we just wanna have a good time on stage and hopefully we can engage the audience as well.
Crimson Moon: What was the best band you played with?
Alexandros & Takis: We are lucky to have a number of live appearances in our record with cool bands. If we were to select highlights, we would say that playing with Stoned Jesus and 1000mods is definitely on the top of the list.
Crimson Moon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Alexandros & Takis: No, we haven’t played abroad, although we are growing very keen on doing so. It is something that requires effective planning on our part, as we would have to coordinate our schedules and leave back our other job and everyday responsibilities for sometime. When circumstances become supportive, this will happen – hopefully soon.
Crimson Moon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Alexandros & Takis: It really depends on the city we are playing in and of course space capacity. A close estimate is around 200-250 people on average.
Crimson Moon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Alexandros & Takis: People’s response so far has been great. For us it was amazing to find out that there are some who already know our lyrics by heart and sing along – which we find awesome and makes us thrilled!!
Crimson Moon: What is the scene like over in your country?
Alexandros & Takis: Truth be told, the Greek scene has always been fed with amazing bands. What has been changing the last years is the growing acknowledgment of the scene. The word is spreading faster, people get to know about us and support us. At the same time there is support amongst the bands themselves, which was not the case in the past.
Crimson Moon: What made you want to be in this band? And if you weren’t in this band what would you being doing now?
Alexandros & Takis: As already mentioned, the band came together as a vehicle for us to have a good time and to express ourselves via the music we play. This is in its own right enough of great and creative motive to be in this band. Should there was no HGoS, then I guess that we would have more time to listen to music or some of us would even be killing time playing video games.
Crimson Moon: What does the future hold for the band??
Alexandros & Takis: The immediate future holds live appearances around Greece to promote marche au noir. Recordings for the next album will follow later in the future and, why not, a live performance abroad.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/HALF-Gramme-of-SOMA/142360595865442
https://halfgrammeofsoma.bandcamp.com/
