Im Antonis from Cyprus, Europe.
I'm the Bass player in the metal band Armageddon since the first years of the band in the 80's.
I'm mostly a low end, fixated on the bass drum, groove player than a soloist.
I started as a self taught guitarist back in my school days. I only played at home apart from a few school gigs, until a band asked me to join them.
It was Armageddon.
In only a short time i switched to bass, for a gig we booked, since
No Bass was much worse than no two Guitars.
Never looked back since then.
(Unless you count that time when a bass player could be found, but no second guitarist, so i went back to the guitar for a few hours of rehearsal, couldn't take it for a second one though, and also the ten some gigs, i did as a guitarist with some friends in a bar, for fun)
Apart from Armageddon, i was working as a bass player in live clubs mostly in Nicosia but also in other cities.
Also all these years, i've played with a lot of Greek major artists as a bass player for their gigs in Cyprus, but although i've received invitations from some of them to follow them to Greece as a permanent bass player, in their bands i never accepted.
I had a "mental note" in my head then, that i would go to Greece only if, i was asked by my favorite band at the time
the one i respected mostly, Katsimiha brothers and that, for some years just for the experience.
Armageddon was too important for me to let go permanently.
And then IT happened.
Katsimiha Bros asked me to be their new bass player.
And i was for a few years.We toured around Greece in the summers and had club gigs in the winters.
Me and the other members of the Katsimixa bros band, were also working, as a house band, at THE most succesful bar of those years (96-01), in Athens Greece : STAVROS TOU NOTOU (Nothern Star).
Also with some other friends, we formed the band
"Tesseris Epoches" (Four seasons), and after a successful
cover song on a tribute for Vaggelis Germanos, a greek trobadour, released two CDs and a cover of the Zombies "She's not there" for the soundtrack of the movie "Piso porta" before i left Athens to return home.
Six years later i returned to Cyprus from Greece and i went back to the club scene till today.
I also rejoined Armageddon, once the player who took my place,left for studies abroad.
Ever since we continue playing in bars and concerts around Cyprus and created a couple of side projects,like
"Juke Box Heroes", and "Breakers on stage", bringing friends as guests to join us and play all our loved cover songs, since with Armageddon we play our own material.
Also with Chris the drummer of Armageddon, and Mihalis Mitsi singer and guitarist, we created a Greek rock trio called KONTROL, released a CD and gave a song,
Taxidi Makryno (Long Journey) as a title and soundtrack of a tv series that aired recently on the Cyprus National TV channel.
My bass of choice is an Ibanez BTB1005 Prestige.
I was always fond of Ibanez,all my basses were from them.
I used to have a 5-string SDGR before the one am using now and also an Ibanez Musician Fretless.
I still own my first bass,an Ibanez X-series wich is now a collectors item.
As for Amp i'd say Gallien Krueger is the only one for me.Even though, after deciding to go from the GK400RB to something with more power, i went through many amps to decide, i chose the GK800RB and now the GK1001RB.
With an SWR Goliath III cabinet. SWR cabinets are great.
Their amps are good too but i prefer the simplicity of a GK than the complicity of an SWR.
