Can you give us
a summary of how INNER WISH came to be, for those who aren't familiar with the band?
Back in 1996 five friends felt the necessity
to express their feelings via melodic heavy music. So Thymios Krikos, Jonh Papanikolaou, Alex Leventeris, Pavlos Balatsoukas and Jim
Papalexis Formed INNER WISH in order to play pure melodic Metal. With that
line up plus guitar player Manolis
Tsigos INNERWISH recorded the first lp in 1997 titled WAITING FOR THE DAWN which was released by
a small Greek record company in 1998 and only in 500 copies. Since then there were a lot of changes in the bands
line up, we recorded a split cd with an epic Greek
band called REFLECTION and with the current line up we entered the studio in the summer 2001 and made our second
full length cd called SILENT FACES which will be released by LMP music.The official release date for Europe is planned
for the 15 March and for USA, the 20th April 2004. The CD will contain 10 melodic power
songs and the band at this time is working on new material.
After the release we intent to arrange a lot of gigs all around Europe for the promotion of our work.The current
band line up is:
GUITARS:
THYMIOS KRIKOS
GUITARS: MANOLIS TSIGOS
BASS GUITARS: TONY MAZARAKIS
DRUMS: TERRY MOROS
VOCALS: BABIS ALEXANDROPOULOS
Where did you get the bandname from and what's
the main reason take this name?
Innerwish = internal need-deep desire. Our permanent desire is music, the lust
for creation.
That's why we choose that name!
What are some of the main influences for Inner
Wish? I expect you guys are true and true Heavy Metal maniacs, right?
Our main influence is the Hard
Rock and Heavy Metal music of 70 and 80, and of course the melodic Power Metal of our days.
What makes you driven setting up a Heavy Metal
band and what are the ambitions for the near future?
As I told you from the beginning of our discussion, we started the band
in order to satisfy our deep
desires for music creation. Our lust from the very early school years was the Heavy Metal so we formed a Heavy Metal band. As
every band ,we have a lot of dreams and ambitions. But we don't fly on the air we know that
the success recquires constant and very hard working. After the CD release
we will do everything our label wants in order to promote the album. I hope that
we will play many gigs in every place we can and and we ll continue writing good music.
Were some of the members in previous bands before
joining Inner Wish?
Tony Mazarakis played in a famous Greek band called WISDOM and Terry Moros was
member of
a band called CRYSTAL CLEAR. The guitar players and the vocalist didnt play anywhere before joining INNER WISH.
Tell us a bit about how an Inner Wish song is constructed. What immediately
strikes me about the bands music is how well-orchestrated it is.
The process is always the same. The 2 guitarists write all the basic music
and melodies, then in the studio
with the contribution of all members we make all the necessary arrangements in order to be every
song that's you called a well-orchestrated song.
How do you write your songs? First the music
followed by the lyrics or vice versa?
The music and the vocal melodies are always firstly written. When we feel
that all our music ideas are a full and good song then we write the lyrics. The lyrics must follow the whole songs atmosphere so we give much time for writing the words
of each song.
I'm curious about the Metal scene in Greece. I'm
not aware of any other bands that come from there besides you all. Do you have any underground Metal movement happening there?
There are many great bands in our country. I must inform you that 3 of the domestic
Black Metal
bands are in big labels and they make huge sales all over ther world. These bands are ROTTING CHRIST, SEPTIC FLESH and NIGHTFALL.
In our style such as melodic, power and epic metal there are a lot of bands with great CD's but the the support from the local
labels and magazines and radios doesn't exist so the majotity of the bands stop playing after
many years of hard efforts.Here in Greece another big problem is the lack of good studios
and professional producers
for our music. Check out all the following great bands and their cd's: MYSTERY, MARAUDER,
BATTLEROAR, AIRGED LAHM, REFLECTION. CASUS BELLI,
SPITFIRE, BLOODSTAINED, POWER CREW, SOUND OF SILENCE, DREAM WEAVER,
etc
To be honest, I haven't heard one single song from
Innerwish so far. Can you give me a list of all the released stuff so far and if there is a new album on the way, introduce
that beast if you like. Tell me everything I have to know about that.
We have released a full lp called WAITING FOR THE DAWN back in 1998 from the very small local label NMC, only in 500 copies, and a split CD
called REALMS OF THE NIGHT from the same label
in 2000. At this moment we belong to LMP music and our new record titled SILENT FACES will be on stores the 15 March for Europe and the 20th APRIL for USA. This album has been recorded here in Greece and mixed and mastered in Germany by
R.D.Liapakis and Carl Schmid. It contains
10 songs of pure Melodic Heavy Metal !
What about the distribution stuff? Whos in charge
for it?
Limb Music and Publishing is our label and the distribution in
Europe will be take place through SPV and in USA via NAVARE corp.
How difficult is it to release a Heavy Metal
album these days amongs so many other bands who showing up with their own album. Hard to make it true as a Metal band or just
playing and having some fun with the lads and see what's next.
Nowdays its more easier with
all the new technology from PC's, for a band to record its music but it's very difficult to sign to a big label just because there are many great bands all over the world. I think that the groups are not playing music just for
having good time but to show what exists in the musicians souls . Of cource if the fans like our records we will continue playing music professionaly.
What is your biggest lifetime interest besides
playing in a Metal band and why?
All the band members have their own works. None of us so far isn't a professional
musician. We all want to spend a lot of time
with our famillies, we all have other hobbies but the main interest is our music.
How are you guys on stage, do you often play
live and some more about your greatest live experience so far.
We've played many lives all those years in our country, we enjoy playing
live and loud. The major problem is the lack
of stages here in Greece there are a few places and a very small number of promoters which can organise some good gigs. But all the local bands try to arrange some lives in order to promote their musical staff. Our geatest lives are when we played support to UDO
and VALLEYS EVE in a festival last summer and the 2 gigs with HELLOWEEN and 1 gig with MYSTIC PROPHECY last december.
We have been headliners in a lot of festivals with domestic bands and also we played with THERION and BRAINSTORM a few years ago.
I mention some of my personal faves of all time.
I want you to give a meaning about those mentioned bands.
HELSTAR:
Great band. Huge voice(..Hail to James Rivera!!).
EXODUS: I dont like that thrashy staff a lot but I know they are a very
good band.
ATTACKER:
I havent heard of them.
NASTY SAVAGE:
Another awesome 80's Metal band which are
never been famous as they deserves.
HEIR APPARENT:
Their 2 lps are in my 20 favourites of all times.
DARK ANGEL:
Great!
VIO-LENCE: Awesome band too.
ZANDELLE:
Great band with greek singer
DIO:
simply the greatest voice in our music. The 4 first
albums are some of the better moments of our
music although the following records were disappointing.
THUNDER RIDER:
I havent heard of them.
MANILLA ROAD:
The Epic Metal gods !!
What are the future
plans Manoli?
Many live performances as possible , new records and honesty from
our hearts of heavy music!!
Hope
everythings going straight and thanx very much for your time. Some last words for all the Metal To Infinity Readers?
INNER WISH would like to thank
you for supporting all the underground Metal bands all over the world and wish you success for the webzine and in personal. Keep up the great work Stefan!
